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Spiritual Defiance (Part C)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
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February 4, 2025 6:00 am

Spiritual Defiance (Part C)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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February 4, 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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The just shall live by faith, relying on God for service in spite of hardship. There really is no true service without hardship. If you're looking to get involved in the church and you think it's just going to be this wonderful experience, you're wrong. It's going to make demands on you. You know, I don't like the thing for pastors is if you're not getting hit, you ain't pastoring.

And not every day, every single moment, but it comes in cycles. Second Timothy, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 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 with the conclusion of his study called Spiritual Defiance in Romans chapter one. 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 don't make, 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's 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 Charlton 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 are following, it's 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, really, 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.

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, and 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 are caught up on a whole slavery thing.

You didn't grow out of that. He is the master. He's 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.

Nothing'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, 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 he talks 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. You know, 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.

And 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 it 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.

Two things. First is, this was a woman of shattered romances, and Christ went after her in love, and he got her. The second thing is, when he made this statement, you worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. When he made that statement, he instantly wiped out every other religion, all of them, in a single swoop. And he affirmed that the message of salvation is passed through the Jews. You should like that. You should, you should, it's an honorable thing to be associated with the Jews of scripture.

They are our brothers and sisters. The Christian faith was born out of Jewish scripture. The church was built on the model of the Jewish synagogue, largely. God's plan of salvation and his revelation to mankind is not random. Jesus didn't just show up and walk out the woods.

I'm here. He laid out his steps in the prophets, through the prophets, and then he walked on those steps. No one else could do it. You couldn't self-fulfill being born in Bethlehem unless you were the one, the anointed one, which he is. The scripture is deliberate. It is supernatural. It is organized. It is pre-recorded. It is documented. And it is preserved. And nobody can stop it.

Others have tried to get rid of the Bible. You can't do it. Not going to happen. You can't get rid of Israel.

Not going to happen. Then he says, also for the Greek. That's everybody else. It's all humanity God has in mind. So it's not God saying, I love the Jews more than Gentiles. He said, I have a process and I'm starting here. And I'm going to map it out for you.

And nobody can change this. Jesus commanded his apostles to begin in Jerusalem, the place of the empty tomb, Luke chapter 24, that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. That gave his critics, the critics of the resurrection living in Jerusalem, that gave them one more chance to believe.

And many did. Israel was the recipient and the custodian of revelations and visions from God as a people. And even the Gentile, in this case Job, even what he had to say was preserved by the Jews. Without them we wouldn't have the book of Job.

We wouldn't even trust it. There are other writings from Gentiles of that age and they're not in the scripture. When God said to Abraham, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed, he's looking forward at Messiah. Matthew 10, these 12 Jesus sent out commanded them saying, do not go into the way of the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He restrained them to the Jew first because he knows what would work best under the circumstances.

And we submit. Now verse 17, for those of you who thought I wouldn't get here, now will I finish. For in it, verse 17, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Well this is all a letter to the Romans summed up in these two verses.

He's going to detail it and we're going to benefit from it. Couldn't go with the last few verses of this chapter because it's just so powerful. And if you love the world, be here next Sunday so we can slap you around. Because he's going to address it from the throne of God. But here we are right now addressing the righteousness, the righteous and the gospel. The gospel Paul is referring to, again is God made, not creature made, thus perfect. Righteous means conformity to what is right, which begs the question, who sets the standard?

Well, the kingdom of heaven, the throne of God. That's our standard for right and wrong, not culture. We don't adapt to a culture contrary to God. We're the salt of the earth.

We resist it and try to turn the lights on so they can see the runway. And today's onslaught of rejected righteousness attempts to undo God's way. Revisionist. We're going to revise what righteousness means, what good and bad is. Well, let's look at verses 28, a little peek ahead at the verse of what's coming next session. Starting at verse 28, this is the world's standard he's dealing with, not righteousness of God. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, because they didn't like God, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. Then he begins to itemize them, being filled with all unrighteous and sexual immorality, wickedness, covetous, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil, things disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death. And not only do they do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. So there you have the perpetrators and their advocates. And God says, I got your number.

And I'm posting it. Hopefully, you'll see yourself in that camp and get out while you've got time. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, get out while you've got time. Christianity, or Christendom I should say, not Christianity, things associated with Christianity, is rapidly losing its sin consciousness. And unwittingly, they are building the apocalyptic apostate church. You see, when the rapture comes, the righteous Christians who submit to God, they're going to be saved. Left behind will be churches that have nothing to do with Christ.

They think they do. It's their Christ. They fashioned him in their own image. Antichrist, you know, you hear me say the devil hates you, and that the devil hates sinners. He hates everybody that's human. Antichrist is going to work with the apostate church, and in Revelation 18 tells us he's going to turn on them too. They're antichrist. And the antichrist is going to trample them. The devil will have his way with those who will not have the way of the Lord. This losing consciousness of God spells doom. Beware of false prophets, Matthew 7, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. See, I don't wear wool. I wear cotton.

No, I'm kidding. Sheep's clothing. Anyway, faith to faith he says here.

I love this because if faith is planted, it will yield righteousness. You will be better off. You may not be all that you want to be, and others will recognize that.

You're not what they want you to be either. Thus critics. But anyway, from redemption to regeneration to sanctification, a process. Again, the world took six days to build. How long does it take to build a Christian? Well, conversion is instant, but sanctification, that's a lifetime.

That's a process. So we're redeemed, and then we are spirit-filled, and this can happen together. And then we're sanctified. We're set aside and then developed. Psalm 84, a pilgrim song going up to Jerusalem to worship.

They go from strength to strength. Each one appears before God in Zion. And that 84th Psalm, they're excited to go worship God as a people. From faith that saves to faith that serves. If all you have is salvation, you've got a lot, but there's more that you're supposed to have, too. And that is that from faith to faith.

Philippians, Paul writes about, what if Paul just got saved? Thank you, Lord. Have a nice day.

He doesn't. Who are you, Lord? Salvation. What do you want me to do? Service. Well, he writes, and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, following rules, puffing myself up.

But that which is through faith in Christ, righteousness which is from God by faith, from faith to faith, trusting God. Choose who you trust. Every time you get in a motor vehicle, you are trusting the other guy's going to stay in his lane. You're hoping everybody's going to stay home. I think, you know, I don't mind sharing the road. I just, I don't want anybody within a thousand feet of me while I'm driving. That's my ideal comfort zone.

And, you know, I spent a lot of gas staying up at 90 miles an hour to do this. As it is written, again, only the Jews had as it was written. Who else had it? No one.

Who else? They had other written things. They couldn't back them up.

How are ours backed up? They came true. The just shall live by faith, faith which relies on God's promises for salvation. Must rely on him for everything else too. You can't, again, you can't say, okay, thank you for saving me. I don't need you after this.

No, we need more. Faith, the just shall live by faith, relying on God for service in spite of hardship. There really is no true service without hardship. If you're looking to get involved in the church and you think it's just going to be this wonderful experience, you're wrong. It's going to make demands on you. You know, I don't like the thing for pastors is if you're not getting hit, you ain't pastoring.

Not every day, every single moment, but it comes in cycles. 2 Timothy, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he told that's a pastor to a pastor. So this great Old Testament, almost done, this great Old Testament quotation from Habakkuk 4 is applied to show that righteousness by faith is not a new concept for the New Testament church. It was there in the Old Testament. Paul repeats it again in Galatians and in Hebrews. Three times it shows up in our New Testament.

How many sermons he preached on it, we do not know, but we do know it shows up three times. It is said, and I'm going to close with this eventually, it is said that the great German reformer Martin Luther, and he was a great reformer, he got in, he went kooky as he got older with the Jews. I disagree with him on a lot of things, but for where he lived and what he had to do, you cannot deny that he was courageous and he had God in mind. And he was, as all the reformers were, he was a Roman Catholic initially. They protested against the Popes in Rome and that's why they were called Protestants.

He's the one that nailed his, you know, 95 Theses on the Wall there in Wittenberg. Anyway, while seeking forgiveness as a Roman Catholic going up the pilot staircase in Rome on his knees, we won't get into what that was all about because it's just crazy, but then just suffice it to say, step by step, a Hail Mary for each step, trying to earn his salvation, trying to get what he can never get that way, then God flashed this verse across his mind. It's from Habakkuk, but he used Romans, the just shall live by faith. You want to live, you want salvation, you got to trust me for that.

You can't earn it. He rose up from his knees, he marched out of the Church of Rome, and he took all of Europe with him. Well, half of it. Christianity burst out from the dark ages of the Pope and that is one bright shining moment. And those with Christ see everybody without Christ as being cheated, being ripped off by a Satan that lies to them. A life of trusting hearsay has to be overcome by the courage to trust the truth and all the facts that support it. And that would be the Word of God. 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 / 2025-02-04 08:06:00 / 2025-02-04 08:15:21 / 9

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