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Spiritual Defiance (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
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February 3, 2025 6:00 am

Spiritual Defiance (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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February 3, 2025 6:00 am

Paul states “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…” There is a lot to unpack in that statement. Paul lays out a pathway for believers to follow, reminding us that “the just live by faith” and salvation is availed to all, Jew or Gentile.

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There's one thing to say, I'm going to die for you. It's another thing to rise up and say, see, I'm in control. No one took my life, I gave it up.

And I picked it back up too. The message of eternal life comes through the message of temporary death. And none of us should like it. None of us like to curse. Woohoo, Adam and Eve, glad you did that.

That would be crazy. Well, it is the power of God. And there is power of God to save or power of God to destroy. 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. Today's message is entitled Spiritual Defiance.

Pastor Rick will be teaching in Romans chapter one. A sociopath, they feel no shame. They have no regard for the feelings of others, for right or wrong. They use intelligence, they use charm, they use guilt to manipulate others. They have no shame.

Lying and harming others comes easy to them, especially if they can take advantage of the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves. The Bible sums it up very quickly though. I mean, you can go out and I'm sure buy psychological books that have a whole book of, you know, 400 pages on this topic. Or you can read 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. I like getting to the point, so I'm going to take a little time doing it because, you know, you go to, you see a YouTube, you know, how to do something in five minutes and they take 30 minutes to get to the point.

And you fast forward and try to find it. Anyway, the Bible gets to the point. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. The wicked have no shame, as Zephaniah said. They can do something about that but they opt to stay in their wickedness. Now hypocrisy is, a hypocrite is an actor when they're not supposed to be acting. When the others think they're not acting. That's what a hypocrite is. They act like they mean it but they really don't and they know it.

It's intentional. If the wicked though are not ashamed of their wickedness, why do we find that the righteous are ashamed of the gospel? I hope if you have been in that spot, were you afraid to tell your peers, your coworkers, your co-workers? If you're afraid to say, look, I serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who died for my sins, who loves me and has prepared a place for me. I serve him. Not your opinions, not your culture, him. I don't mean to be sounding rude but I do mean to spiritually defy everything that is against my Lord.

Well, stand by for a counter attack if that is where you find yourself. We are not to be ashamed. That's why Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Now he's not imprisoned yet but he's taken some beatings already.

He's not yet made it back to Jerusalem where he will be arrested but he stands his ground until his death. And so it is natural to be ashamed of righteousness in a world that is boastful of sin. So if you find yourself ashamed of Christ, understand that is natural. It is not spiritual. It is spiritual to defy any shame attached to Christ. Unfortunately, there are many counterfeits out there and they attach things to Christ that don't come from him and we have to learn to discern what needs to be rejected, rebuked and what is embraced.

Now our Christ, why would I be ashamed? Jesus died in someone else's place, in a literal sense and a spiritually literal sense. He died in the place of Barabbas.

Barabbas was an outlaw. He was the one that was supposed to go to the cross. But Christ went in his place. Well, he went in my place and your place too. His dying for Barabbas was dying for me and everybody who's born, everyone who's created.

I have to add that because Adam and Eve, you know, they weren't born, they just were created. Well, he was buried in someone else's grave. Joseph of Arimathea, a righteous man. But still, there was no grave for Christ, he borrowed the grave. Well, the grave is that place of death and that death is forever if you have not the Lord. And so he dies in my place, he's buried in my place and he bore someone else's shame to that public execution. That was my shame.

It was your shame. So that we don't have to be ashamed in front of the Lord God Almighty. Isaiah, he writes about this in advance and I want to hit that when we get to the Jews having the word first. But right now, Isaiah said, this is Messiah speaking through the prophet about his crucifixion.

That's over 700 years away from the time Isaiah writes these words. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from the shame and the spitting. Well, when people attack you, Christ is spitting, spitting out and spewing out all sorts of things that they may think is true but are not. And you want to say, you know, you think you're right, but you're not right.

But that's not enough. Paul, he realized the supremacy of Christ and that made him unashamed. And so if you are ashamed of Christ, remember the supremacy of Christ.

He's put you in that place, not for you to be bashful about who you serve, but to be spiritually defiant. That's what the other guy needs. What they're going to do with it is up to them, but that's what they need. You don't get anything from a Christian ashamed of the Christ they claim. And anytime the world tries to shame you, remember you're not the first one.

You won't be the last one. And they can ramp it up very quickly. They can introduce two other things to that. Death, which might not be that bad, but torture. Well, that one's bad. But the Christians have faced that.

They've faced lions. Remember, the world, they are the ones that should be ashamed of themselves for what they do in the presence of a holy God. The apostles wrote about this and I'm going to take them out of order because I just want to.

But I'll just read various New Testament statements. The operative word is shame or unashamed. Paul wrote, for this reason I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed for I know in whom I believe and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. That's spiritual defiance. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. I know in who I believe and I'm persuaded.

That persuaded is not, you know, a curious persuasion. That is a committed viewpoint. In another place, he writes to Timothy, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Share with me in the sufferings of the gospel according to the power of God. Well, we're reading about him saying, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God. Peter rings in on this, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. Again, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain.

I know I've been reading some of these over the last few weeks, but they're fun to read again. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that God is not ashamed of us. But now, they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Yeah, we want to go to heaven.

That's where our primary citizenship is. Therefore, God is not ashamed, recall their God, where he has prepared a city for them. Well, I believe that.

I go to prepare a place for you. I believe every word of that. Jesus said, if it weren't so, I would not have told you. Which is kind of tough when you're looking for the promises of God to blossom in your life and then not. Then you got to hang tough. You have to persevere. The proverb says, the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Yeah, because they're not ashamed of what they're doing. And that's what Paul is, boldness. I'm ready to preach the gospel to you. I'm pulling to preach the gospel to you. So we come now in verse 16 to the gospel. There is no message of Christ's gospel without his cross and his empty tomb. The cross, of course, condemns sin. And it condemns it at a price. God's saying to man, this wasn't cheap.

This is not casual. This is God the Son dying for you. Power over sin is expressed in the empty tomb. It's one thing to say, I'm going to die for you. It's another thing to rise up and say, see, I'm in control. No one took my life, I gave it up.

And I picked it back up too. The message of eternal life comes through the message of temporary death. And none of us should like it. None of us like to curse. Whoo hoo, Adam and Eve, glad you did that.

That would be crazy. Well, it is the power of God. And there is power of God to save or power of God to destroy. Which brings me to Matthew 10, verse 28. I memorized the Bible, but why should I show off?

I have not. Well, Matthew 10 is in here, I know. Verse 28, you'll know this, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Pretty serious stuff. So the power of God is not something God has, it is part of what He is. God is love. That love is powerful, because God is powerful.

Nothing weak about God in Him is nothing that is unattractive. If you look at it through the world's eyes, you're going to have a hard time with that. The antidote to that is stop looking at it through the world's eyes. Receive the revelation. Hear what God has to say about the whole thing. The only justification of the Gospel is that it is powerful.

And if it weren't powerful, it wouldn't be the good news. Because I need power to overcome what sin has done to me, just like you. Reading the Gospels, for me, was the power of my salvation. Now I've met many Christians that have come to Christ from different books, some Ecclesiastes, some Romans, various of John's Gospel. For me, it was Matthew or Mark. I don't remember which one.

I was moving at such a fast pace, gobbling it up. 1 Corinthians 4, Paul writes of the Corinthians. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Not that junk heresy doctrine of power, you know, a positive confession.

That is heresy. That is the world's regurgitated positive thinking, trying to blab it and grab it from God. We believe we are to ask God for what we need to supplicate. However, at the end of it all, we say, not my will, but your will.

Not I claim it in Jesus' name. And sadly enough, those things are powerless against the indulgences of the flesh. Next time you are facing some great temptation, try that positive confession.

Or the next time someone is sick or someone is lost in their sins, try the positive confession. It's not what we do. We're spirit-led. We're spirit-fed. We're sons of the king. We take his orders.

We don't give him orders. And that whole positive confession thing is all about giving God orders to get what I want. And so they dangle the carrot before their congregations. God wants you rich. Even the socialists know better.

Anyway, I mean everybody can't be rich. Where's it going to come from? Anyhow, coming back to this, I've had my say for now. He says, to salvation. That's deliverance from the final judgment.

That's what I want. Hell is the last place a person wants to be. There are no exits. And you know, there's this idiotic bumper sticker.

I haven't seen it in a while. It said, heaven doesn't want me and hell is afraid I'll take over. That's the dumbest thing a human being could ever think. Heaven does want you. God does want you.

But he won't take you on your terms. And in hell, you aren't continuing whatever you started in this life. In hell, you will be a prisoner. Whatever hell means, it ain't good. In fact, it's very bad. It's so bad that God was willing to die to keep people out of it. So, make no mistakes. The person that says, well I've gone this far without Jesus.

I'll make it all the way. You will make it all the way to hell. There's not enough preaching on hell anymore it seems.

People are sort of numb to it. Satan has overused the word. But may we be focused and understand there is a real judgment. And there is a real place of judgment.

Don't be there. The way to salvation is always the same. God says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. See, that's where we get the Passover from. That's a quote from Exodus 12 verse 13. Anybody here superstitious?

Believing in some powers out there that have a say so in your life? The number 13 is bad. Well, verse 13 says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Thank God. Yes, you can applaud, but it's not me.

It's not me. So let's fake it just for a second to see what happens. Well, anyway, you know the Exodus story.

You've seen Chalton Heston acted out, some of you, most of you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. You will not get the judgment of death. Peter, all the New Testament writers just hold that before us.

But I'm going to single out Peter because he just says it so perfectly. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. You weren't bought by a man with money or something like that. From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

He just hits it hard. He says, whatever folklore you've got going on that doesn't come from God the Father that you were following is wrong. It's damning your soul. And you were not redeemed with those things. Not believing what your fathers believed in, but believing the Father.

He continues. He says, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's the Paschal lamb. That's the lamb of Moses. That was Moses' lamb and the blood on the door was a type of Christ. When John the Baptist said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Peter just puts it into two verses for us so we can understand. Salvation is a gift. It is a gift received by penitent guilty people. By people that own it and say, yeah, I am guilty before a holy God. He sets the standards.

I messed them up. But when he sees the blood of Jesus Christ, he will pass over me in judgment. I will be pardoned from the guilt. You say, that's not a fair deal.

What is fair about you going to heaven to God? Oh, look at you. You're here now. Now we can have fun. Well, there is an element of truth in that. If the blood of Christ is on you, everybody that will be in heaven is wanted by God to be in heaven. There's not, well, you know, I was really not voting for you.

You creeped in. No. It's going to be passionate. Not going to be a ho-hum thing. When Jesus said, well done good and faithful servant, it was not a monotone event. It's enormous. J. Vernon McGee says, salvation is not a reward.

It is a free gift. Now those of you who know Vernon, you should be hearing this in that voice of Vernon. He says, you work for your reward, but not for your salvation. That is doctrinal. Jesus worked, suffered, and died for my salvation. We work and suffer and maybe die for our rewards, but not our salvation.

You can't earn salvation. Individual salvation is not to be decided by familiarity with Christ or his word or genuine surrender. I mean, many archeologists have, you know, dug up sites that were listed in the scriptures and still remained atheists or unbelievers. You'd think that this evidence would support that the scripture is worth heeding. They were familiar with the scriptures. They're familiar with the God of the scriptures.

But they did not submit. Judas Iscariot was more familiar with Jesus Christ on earth than any of us, and yet look what happened. It's not enough to come to church and be familiar with Jesus. Do you have a relationship with him?

Have you received him? It means everything. John chapter 1 verse 12, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. That right is inherited. It is not earned. It is something he extends to us.

An inheritance comes from someone else. And in this case, it comes from the throne of God as Savior and Lord. I prefer as Savior and Master.

That irritates some folks because they got caught up on the whole slavery thing. He didn't grow out of that. He is the Master. He has done nothing higher. He's sovereign. I would be terrified of his sovereignty were it not for his love. But he has that love, and that love is a sovereign love in this sense. Nothing can take it from him. For everyone who believes.

He's going to take that from you. God Almighty's terms are for everyone who believes. You choose to accept it or you don't. God does not ask men to first behave and then believe. He says to believe, we're going to get to that behaving. It's called sanctification.

We'll develop that. We'll come to that in a little bit also when we talk about faith to faith. For everyone who believes, John chapter 3 verse 36, for those who refuse to believe, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Stays on him. Nothing about that verse is confusing. What does that mean? It's very clear. To the Jew first. I love this kind of stuff in the scripture. Three times Paul quotes Habakkuk. He's quoting, well, we're going to get to Habakkuk.

Let me not get ahead of myself. To the Jew first. Well, three times in Romans he makes this statement, and only in Romans do we find this. To the Jew first and then the Greek. I believe wholeheartedly that Paul wanted the Gentiles to appreciate how God used the Jewish people, because the Holy Spirit wants us to appreciate that.

Many so-called Christians over the centuries have turned against the Jews. I wouldn't want to be them. There's no need for that.

Not only is there no need for that, the warnings are stark. There's no mistaking them. The gospel was first given to Jewish apostles. We get to chapter 2 of chapter 3, Paul writes, because to them were committed the oracles of God.

That's just one reason. Since the Jews knew the Old Testament, messianic prophecies, it made perfect sense that to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. What we have here is a flow, not an elimination. Not, well, the Gentiles are eliminated. I'm going to the Jews first.

I love them more. It's a process. Here it is. Where else would we learn about creation's origins, but from the Jews, who were entrusted with the oracles of God. How about the fall of man?

What about the tactics of Satan? How about the Ten Commandments? This gave this to the Jews first having the word of God. It had to be somebody.

It happened to be Jacob's kids. This gave the gospel message the head start needed to establish itself in a pagan infested world. How would you preach Christ if you had no Bible? What would you say to somebody? Why would they believe? Anything you said would just be hearsay.

How do I know it means anything? God saw that coming. And so he developed his scripture, not in a day. He could have. He created a visible creation in six days. He could have done the scripture. He could have done it in a day. But when he created creation before our eyes, he said, I'm going to roll this out, sort of a time release creation, to show us some of his character. He's not in a hurry. Although when it was late on that six days, well, I only got like ten minutes, but he could wrap this up. And then he made the woman.

Don't go after my truck tires, please. It's just a joke. Well, not a funny joke. I know, maybe so. But my mom was a woman.

She identified as one, too. Anyway, without the gospel, without the Old Testament scriptures, there would have been no spread of Christianity again. It's hard enough with the gospel. John chapter 4, verse 22, Jesus speaking to the woman at the well who was not spiritually well. You worship what you do not know.

We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 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 / 2025-02-03 08:48:12 / 2025-02-03 08:58:05 / 10

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