His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pointing people to Christ through our words and actions. Next on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: Our lives are living testimonies and they testify to Christ. Friend, if you're here this morning and your life isn't testifying to Christ, well then who is it testifying to? Who are you drawing people to? Because I assure you you're drawing people to someone. You're pointing someone to someone by the way you live.

Because if we're others focused, which is what the gospel says we're to be, we're told in Matthew 28:19 and on that we're to go forth and preach the gospel, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, to all nations. That's what God commanded. It wasn't a suggestion. Amen?

Guest (Male): Perhaps you heard about the parable of four people and a job to be done? In the end, everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody could have done. All kidding aside, it begs the question: how do you get the job done? It begins with a desire and a call to do it, as we'll hear on His Perfect Love.

In Romans chapter 10 we'll notice that there is a job to be done and that is of eternal significance. It's one we're all to be involved in. Here to tell us about it is Pastor Matt VanderVen.

Matt VanderVen: All right. Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 10. We've come as far as verse 13. We'll be beginning verse 14 here this morning. If you remember, really from chapters 9 through 11, Paul is speaking to Covenant Israel, but he's also going back.

Many Jewish Christians in Rome at the writing of this letter, as they were hearing this, I imagine they're thinking back to their brothers and their sisters that are Jews, that are Hebrews and maybe still under the law and still holding themselves to a righteousness of the law, not a righteousness of faith.

As he's writing this, I believe Paul is appealing to the Jew and he's going to use himself as an example. He's going to come back and say, "Look, if God can redeem me, Paul the Apostle, a Pharisee of Pharisees, killing and murdering Christians. If God can do that in Paul's life, you better believe that God can turn around and do that in everyone's life, especially Covenant Israel," which He's made His promise to. Amen?

That's the God we serve. He's a promise keeper. He makes vows, He keeps His covenants. As we look at this here, in verse 14 he's going to be building on what he was talking about and he first makes the appeal that Israel needs the gospel. They need the word of God. We looked at the Psalms and we went back last week to Leviticus 18:15. We talked about Acts chapter 2:21 and Joel 2:28.

We looked through the scripture again, Paul directing us back to the word of God for the answers. Paul's going to be explaining here as we get to verse 17, it really all boils down to knowing your word. Because at the end of the day, if you don't know the word of God, you will find the faith you have slowly begin to deplete. You'll be praying, "Help me in my unbelief, Lord."

I know that seems odd that I'm speaking to the church that way, but Paul was speaking to the bride of Christ in Rome. He was warning them, not only the believer but even the unbeliever, of why you missed Messiah. Why did you miss Jesus Christ the first time He came? Was it of ignorance? Or was it because you weren't reading the prophets? Or was it a combination that had to do with your heart and the fact that you wouldn't submit yourself to the word?

That's what Paul's appeal is. He's going to make that appeal to say if that's the issue, then soften your heart, read the word of God, and get in right relationship. That's Paul's desire as we will continue on in chapter 11. He's saying it's not over. It's not over for Covenant Israel. There's still a plan and a purpose. Jeremiah 31:31, we'll talk about that next week. God is not done with Covenant Israel.

We ought to understand that. We also ought to be thankful, not arrogant. Sometimes there are Christians walking around so arrogant. "I'm saved and who cares about Israel? Israel's off the map. They don't matter." Wow. If God is a promise keeper and He keeps His vow, that means He's going to keep His promise to you and I as believers in Christ.

If we so quickly dismiss that because Israel's off the map, what happens if we backslide? Does that mean we're off the map? Certainly not, as Paul would say. He wants to encourage us and he wants to let them know it all comes back down to the word. Amen?

Let's look here at verse 14. "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" Now this is specifically juxtapositioned to what's called a bridge verse. If you look at verse 13, verse 13 is a bridge verse. You can't read verse 14 without connecting verse 13 to bring the meaning or context.

In verse 13 he says, "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." That's a declaration, it's a promise, we read it in Acts 2:21 and Joel 2:28. It's commanded and it's promised and it's authored by God. But then in the same breath he goes into verse 14 and he goes, "Well then what happened? How's it possible that much of Israel today doesn't know Messiah, doesn't know Jesus Christ?"

If God said whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved and they say they call on the name of God or the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, what's wrong with this? What's missing? That's why it's a bridge verse. As we look at verse 14 it says, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?"

How is it going to work out if they haven't believed in Jesus? If they haven't believed him, how is this going to happen then? How are they going to be saved? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Why did they not hear? Remember they would stomp their feet and cover their ears. That's what they would do.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, when Jesus would speak truth, they would get so upset they would cover their ears, they'd rip their robes. They would cover their ears. My kids do that. Some of you have little kids in your home, you know what I'm talking about. They throw themselves on the ground in a temper tantrum.

They were stopping, they weren't listening. They had silenced the word of God by not hearing it. He says, "When they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?" Do you recognize that your life is a living epistle read and known by men and women? You may be the only Bible that people read. They may not pick up a Bible necessarily, but your life is a Bible.

What you say, what you do, where you go, what you laugh at, what you don't. It can't be mistaken. Jesus said that when you take a light and you put it on a hill, it can't be hidden. It's for everyone to see. Our lives are living testimonies and they testify to Christ. Friend, if you're here this morning and your life isn't testifying to Christ, then who is it testifying to?

Who are you drawing people to? Because I assure you you're drawing people to someone. You're pointing someone to someone by the way you live. If we're others-focused, which is what the gospel says we're to be, we're told in Matthew 28:19 that we're to go forth and preach the gospel. That's what God commanded.

Well, if that be true, are we not all a royal priesthood, a precious people? 1 Peter 2:9. Every one of us is ministers. We're ministers unto the gospel. Paul's making the point that if Covenant Israel doesn't get the word, where are they going to hear from? Do we think, "Well Lord, that's not my ministry"? Ever heard people say that? "That's not my ministry."

I think of people who get dropped off in the nursery. The little babies are so cute. We just had a baby dedication this morning, first service, it was awesome. Saul and Ivy were dedicated unto the Lord here this morning. I thought to myself, can you imagine if after the dedication they were brought into the nursery and somebody was supposed to be serving and says, "This ain't my ministry"?

What does that mean? How's that possible? Are we not to be ministers to everyone within reach that will listen and hear? There are men and women called to go to Israel as missionaries to spread the word. We have people in our fellowship here this morning that have been to Israel and spent years of their lives in Israel, dedicated, given up their lives so that the Jew, the Hebrew, God's chosen people could hear the word and they were without excuse.

Verse 15: "And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things." Is that how you think of the gospel of peace? Glad tidings of good things? Ephesians 6:15 says that as you put on the armor, one of the pieces is the shoes shod with peace, the gospel of peace, that you walk forward with the gospel.

That's one of your weapons. Some of you are former military. Praise God for your service. When you think about this, when you go into battle you don't take it lightly. You're prepared. You go in intentional. You have weapons. No different for the spiritual warfare and battle you're in today. You have weapons. You have a sword of the Spirit. What's your sword of the Spirit?

It's the word of God. It's an offensive and a defensive weapon. You've got a shield of faith, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, belt of truth. And then shoes shod with the gospel of peace. I love that. He says, "who bring glad tidings and good things." Let's look at this because this is all about salvation.

If you're reading this the first time and you may be unfamiliar with your Old Testament, you may be looking at that and going, "Well okay he's bringing the gospel and it's glad tidings and all that, but what are these good things?" This is a salvation passage from Isaiah. That's what this is speaking about. What does Paul also demonstrate for us? There's nothing new under the sun. This was preached to the Jews.

Look at Isaiah chapter 52. We're going to look at verse 7. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 52, please. If you study this and you go to a synagogue, Isaiah 53 is not read in the synagogue. But it's not for the reason that people think. A lot of people will turn around and say Isaiah 53's never read in synagogues because you can't miss Jesus Christ. That's not the reason. It's traditional that it was not read that way.

But when you look at it, what's Isaiah 53 all about? The suffering servant. You can't really miss it. But if you back up to Isaiah 52, in verse 13, you're going to see something. It says, "Behold my Servant." You'll see some seven or eight times before this in the book of Isaiah that same term servant used. In context, who is that servant being called out to? It's talking about a nation.

A lot of times what they will do is they'll take that and they'll try to spiritualize the suffering servant as though Israel was a nation that would suffer for Christ. I've never seen Israel suffer for Christ. That doesn't make sense. But they'll turn around and say it's speaking to the nation of Israel that way. And that's how they try to explain chapters 52 and 53.

If you went and spoke with a rabbi, that's how they'll exegete it. They'll go, "Hey do me a favor. Turn to this passage, servant, servant, servant. Who's that talking about?" He'll say as a Christian you have all of Isaiah 53 memorized. Most Christians should. It's the suffering servant passage. But he'll sit there and say, "But you don't know 52, 51, you don't know 43," and he'll start to make the argument that servant speaks corporately of the nation of Israel. Which may very well be true.

But then when you get to 52, all of a sudden the shift focuses on salvation redemption. And he introduces the suffering servant. He says he's also mine. God says that. So it's important to read our Bibles in context. Certainly you want to do that with love if you ever speak to a rabbi or in a synagogue, but you want to explain context is king. We need to know Isaiah.

"Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city." Again, Isaiah chapter 52. "For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; sit down, O Jerusalem; loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord: You have sold yourselves for nothing and you shall be redeemed without money."

What is he talking about? What did they sell themselves into? Idolatry. For nothing. You've chased after false idols. You've gone away contrary. And could the nation restore themselves or redeem themselves? No. They would have saved themselves already if they could. Wouldn't we have saved ourselves if we could? We couldn't. We needed God. We needed Jesus Christ.

So he says, "For thus says the Lord," look how many times he'll say this to make sure that everybody understands this time, God. "My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there; then the Assyrians oppressed them without cause." 722 B.C. "Now therefore what have I here, says the Lord, that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them make them wail, says the Lord, and my name is blasphemed continually every day."

What does that word blaspheme mean in the Hebrew? A cutting. It's a cutting with the name, you're cutting with your words. That's why when you take the name of the Lord in vain, it's blasphemy because you're using your words to cut. "My name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks. Behold, it is I." He also said, "I am the great I AM."

"How beautiful upon the mountains." Now here's where we pick up from our reading where we were in Romans chapter 10 there. This is the passage that was quoted. Now look at the rest of the verse in context. What is he speaking about? "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace." What is Israel always looking for today? Peace and safety, peace and security.

He says, "I can give you that peace, but it's not going to come the way you think. It's going to come through one who will bring it to you." Who is that? Jesus Christ. "Who proclaims peace, who brings," here it is, "glad tidings and good things, who proclaims," what? Salvation. Do you see it? You and I can't miss it. It's there. It's always been there. It was prophetic.

God was warning them even at that time, be looking for the one that would come that would bring you salvation, that would redeem you from your sin. This wasn't done in hiding. This was a heart issue. This was an issue of them failing to read their word and believe in faith the word of God to be true. The oracles of God were given to Israel. They're His chosen people.

Praise God the story doesn't end here. We'll read it in Jeremiah 31. He's going to give them a new heart. They're going to cry out and call out to His name. He's going to even give them the ability to not walk the way they used to walk anymore, walking after Him in righteousness and love. He's going to do the work, just like He does the work in you and I.

Praise Lord that we're not dependent on our salvation. That we look to a God that His hand isn't slack. He's the Ancient of Days. What can't our God do? He says, "who says to Zion," I love this. "Your God reigns!" He's still seated at the right hand of the Father. You know when you're looking at a circumstance or a trial in your life and you're just feeling whopped down, you're feeling beaten, you're uncertain, "It's not part of the plan, Lord. What is happening?"

Your circumstances change, your God never does. But he says something very important here. Your God reigns. Praise God he's still seated on the throne. And it's never going to change except when we come back with him for the millennial reign. And guess what? He will still be seated on a throne. It'll be in Jerusalem. "Your watchmen shall lift up their voices." Your prophets.

"With their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem." He will be. He will do this in the last days. We are in the last days. It could be any moment.

But isn't it interesting, Benjamin Netanyahu, the UN, everybody else, what are they all talking about? Peace and safety. Peace and security. More times this year at the UN than any other time throughout history. You can go back and listen to the speeches, even from leaders that have no idea what they're talking about. Literally going back and they're almost like it's right out of the Bible and they don't even realize what they're saying.

Even God can speak through the mouth of a fool. He does it every week. He says, "The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord."

"For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Behold, My Servant," capital M, capital S. Jesus. "Shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." You think about the suffering that our Messiah, that our God went through.

We remember all that our God suffered. He was spat on, punched, beaten, whipped. And He didn't even defend himself. He's God. He says, "I could have called twelve legions of angels down right now." He says, "Peter, put your sword away." Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.

So He shall sprinkle many nations. Startle is the better word for it. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see. I don't understand how we could put the nation of Israel in that when it's singular in the context of the Hebrew here. It's written in the singular. My Servant. Not servants plural. It's a single servant and He will startle many nations. Understand why this isn't the nation of Israel and it's Jesus. And it's only Jesus.

Guest (Male): We're making our way through Romans one verse at a time here on His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen. You can hear this study again at hisperfectlove.org. That's hisperfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts. We also have a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you at the gym, in the car, on your way to work, or as you're getting ready in the morning.

You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website hisperfectlove.org. And thank you for your prayers and financial support. You can make a donation to this ministry and send us your prayer requests through the website, again at hisperfectlove.org. Men, mark your calendars for the Men of Calvary Conference 2026 at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Join us on Saturday, September 19th for a powerful day centered on the theme "Unity in Faith," based on Ephesians 4:12 through 13.

Connect with other men through worship, biblical teaching, prayer, fellowship, and encouragement as we grow stronger together in Christ. The conference will be held at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore, 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg. Registration is just $20 and includes breakfast and lunch. Register today at ccharrisburg.org. Men of Calvary Conference 2026, "United in Faith, Strong in Christ." There is much more to come in Romans. Don't miss a moment of the journey with Pastor Matt here on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Guest (Female): Let the word go out

The perfect love of Christ to shine

Our lives will shout

I am my beloved's and He is mine

Every heart is in His hands

We'll never stop reaching out

This is His perfect love

The word goes out

This is what real love looks like

In truth and life

This is His perfect love.