His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Next on His Perfect Love, we'll hear about Paul's desire for the salvation of Israel. And he prays for it intensely. It's a great example that will translate into our daily lives as well. This is His Perfect Love. The word goes out, it's what real love looks like, in truth and grace. This is His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: Hey, thanks for joining us for His Perfect Love. We pick up where we left off in Romans which reveals the way to be made right with God. It's by trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. We're in the new covenant, but many still live as if they were in the old, living by the law, by performance, rather than by grace through faith. We'll be covering Romans chapter 10 where God calls us into a relationship with him based on love, not how well we perform. It's a much-needed reminder. Here is Pastor Matt VanderVen.

I'd ask you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 10. We've come as far as Romans chapter 10 here this morning, verse 1. Now, as God was speaking, specifically through direct revelation to Paul, he, as we've talked about before, this miraculous book, this marvelous book, when you look at how it breaks down, chapters 1 through 8 specifically happens to be—remember, it's a letter, but it's a treatise or a doctrine on some of the richest teaching we have, really, in all of the word of God. Kind of in, if you can, in a summation point of eight chapters where he brings it all together for us and helps us understand the doctrine, really, what I'll call the foundation of the Christian faith.

From there, God then moves him because obviously, God's a promise keeper and he's a God of vows and he keeps his vows and his covenants. And so we arrived at chapter 9 and we are in chapter 10 today. And 9 through 11, what God is doing is he's saying, "Hey, well what about those that ask the question, what about Israel?" God, you are this righteous God, yes, you do have right living, you do these things, but God, are you—are you saying that Israel's forgotten? Have we forgotten Israel? Is the—the vow that you took with him under Abrahamic covenant null and void? And Paul answers that for us and says, "Certainly not."

And what he does is he actually draws our attention, he actually kind of draws our attention back and says, "You know what? Let me explain what happens." And I would suggest to you that this is very much 2,000 plus years later, just as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. It is the same ingredients that we see that when we walk away from the word of God, when we no longer place ourselves under the word of God, when we no longer have a heart of fellowship towards Jesus Christ, we too will find ourselves off the beaten path.

And that's exactly what happened to Israel. It wasn't as though they never intended, they didn't turn around and intend to walk away from God. It wasn't like they had a Kumbaya session where they got a committee together and said, "How can we really anger the Lord?" That's not what happened. It was so subtle. It began in even Genesis chapter 3 where we see that seed and we see that right from that point on, sin began. Well, ever since then, God is—in—or I should say, God has been trying to redeem humanity and humanity's been doing what? "God, we've got this," pushing back.

Well, Paul goes on to explain, well, my brethren, the ones that I love, he says no, they're not forgotten. But he explains further what happened. He explained really in verses 30 through 33 in chapter 9 what was going on with the present condition of Israel. And we kind of studied it, and if you remember, verses 32 and 33 says right now, Jesus, Messiah, he's become a stumbling stone, a rock of offense to the Jew today. And why? Because they chose not to walk by faith, but they chose to trust in the works of the law through—that this in some way that's going to bring about righteousness. They chose to trust their religion instead of a relationship with Jesus.

That's really what he's bringing it about. Not only, obviously, applies to the Jew, but also, I would suggest, to the Gentile that denies him. But he further goes on to explain, you know what, I know what the Jews need. I know what the Hebrews need. What do they need? They need the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you went over to Israel today, you would see that the land is very much and the community is very much a Zionist community, which means much like us in the United States of America, we're nationalists. And what that means is that they are very patriotic, if I can use that term, towards their land and their people.

However, not all of the country, much like the United States of America, not all the country are Christian or Bible-believing, submitted believers to Christ that way. Right? We don't struggle with that, do we? We understand that. We know this is a Judeo-Christian foundation, but we also understand that there are many walking around today in the United States of America that have not made a confession or profession for Jesus Christ. Well, why would we expect it to be any different in Israel? And not only that, but Paul actually argued and said not all are Israel, even those living in Israel, not all are Israel. What does he mean by that? What did we kind of talk about that?

What does the name Israel mean? Right? Governed by God. Not everybody in America is governed by God either, right? And Europe, oh my, which once sent missionaries to the United States of America, how we now need to send missionaries back. Well, let's jump right in here in verse 1 of chapter 10 as he begins to stir hearts and I love his first opening. This is not a man that is anti-Semitic. Do you know that Paul, in some of the seminaries across America right now, they accuse Paul of being anti-Semitic? That he didn't like his own Jewish brethren, that he thought he was better than them, that the fact that he said you don't need to follow the law, you don't need to keep the circumcision.

They look down upon Paul and they said Paul looked down upon the Jews. Well, that's a lie from the pit of hell. When we study our word and we even did in Acts, we saw that Paul was willing to suffer and die and really go to Rome in an attempt that on his way to Rome he would make it to Jerusalem and that he would give the gospel to his own brethren. That was his heart's desire, if you remember. And he brings it out here again, brethren. He says it as plain as can be. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." Is there not a more beautiful opening than that? I mean, he says, "My heart's desire and my prayer, everything that consumes me."

Our prayer is our communication, our language, our prayer language with God, the way we intercede for others, the way we speak with God, and he says, "I—I bring Israel often my brethren, my heart's desire is for them that they would be saved." Friends, do we have a heart's desire to pray that way for Israel today? It's biblical, Genesis 12. It's biblical, we ought to. Zechariah 12. And what about a praying for America, the United States of America? Do we pray for the United States of America, right? What about a revival in our land? What about a revival in the world? There's not much time. Jesus said be ready.

"For I bear them witness that they have zeal for God." I think that's interesting that Paul says that. This is a very zealous man, Paul. I mean, does it get more zealous than Paul? Even when he was Saul of Tarsus, was he not zealous as we read in the book of Acts? Was he not zealous, did he not pursue after the things, but what was he? He was misguided. He was misdirected. He was killing Christians. And he was doing it in the name of God. This is a zealous man. When he says, "I understand their zeal," he's saying, "I—I get it. I understand this."

He says, "I get their zeal for God, but not according to the knowledge." Not according to understanding is what he's saying. He's saying not according to the word. He's already been making that point that the word has been testifying through the prophets, all revealing the fact that Christ, Messiah would come and that even when he came, as we talked about last week, Psalm 118, Isaiah chapter 8 verse 14, Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16, Matthew 21:42 as Jesus Christ himself said it when he was challenging the multitudes and the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes.

That he was going to be that stumbling stone, that stumbling block because they chose not to believe by faith the word of God. That's why when I opened up, I said this 2,000 years ago, this is relevant and pertinent, but guess what, 2,000 years later it's just as relevant and pertinent today because there are people that are walking around and choosing not to read the word of God. We might say they're walking blindly. They're walking blindly, they have no direction. They have no understanding. That's what Paul's saying. They don't understand. We have churches filled all across America where the Bible's not being taught anymore. What's the fate of the church? What was the fate of the Jews?

They missed Messiah because they didn't know their word, because they didn't know the prophets, because they didn't know the times they were living. God tells us we're in the last times. Jesus said look at the fig tree, you'll know its fruit. We are to recognize the times we're living, we're to have an understanding. It's not supposed to be a mystery any longer. We're supposed to—it's all revealed, it's all—we have all the counsel of God, all 66 books. And it is for knowledge. It is for the application of knowledge which is wisdom.

"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness," well, that's the problem, isn't it? Having not submitted to the righteousness of God, if they didn't submit to the righteousness of God, what did they submit to? It says it right there, their own righteousness. What's righteousness mean? It means right living. It means they submitted to their own right living. God right here just juxtaposed that for us. He just created—he created a dichotomy. He sort of drew a line in the sand and he says, "Look, there's a righteousness of God, a right living according to the word of God, and there's a right living and righteousness according to man, his own."

He says, "Which one are you following?" He also used that when he said, you know, there's a broad and a narrow way. The broad way leads to destruction and the narrow way, the blessing of God, heaven, right? Paradise, Jesus. These are not new teachings. And Paul is trying to help Israel see this because remember, in Rome at this time, you have Jews and Christians and you had completed Jews as well, born-again believers that were Jewish. And he's trying to help them to see that this is important and also as they're evangelizing to their Jewish brethren to be able to come back and say, "Don't you see?"

It's just like Jesus on the road to Emmaus. What did he do? He took out the word in his heart because he wrote it, he authored it, and he began to expound the scriptures. He began to reveal himself in the scripture, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through the whole word of God. Can you imagine that Bible study? Well, I believe when we get to heaven, we're going to have a Bible study like that with Jesus. He's going to reveal it because when he—before he ascended and after he was resurrected, that's what he chose to do. He chose to reveal himself to humanity.

And I think we understand a portion of it, but when we get to heaven, I believe there will be a full revelation we'll be given. And we think, wow, we study line by line here, right? We know the word. I think we know—God's going to string pearls like we've never had them strung before. We're going to see things we've never even thought about. The way he connects so beautifully, I look forward to that. But it speaks also of a submission. This is Paul's word, divinely inspired, but he said, "Submitted to the righteousness of God." So it's not even agreeing as though agreeing's enough. It's not as though saying, "Well, I agree there's a godly righteousness or right living and a human righteousness or right living."

He says, "No," he says, "It's more than that. He says there needs to be a submission." Well, that's a bad word today. You mean I'm supposed to submit? Yeah. Yeah. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," and there should be a hallelujah after that. To everyone who believes. Why? Because Christ fulfilled the law, didn't he? "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who does those things shall live by them." He's quoting Leviticus chapter 18 verse 5, and if you went back and read there and if you join us on Wednesdays we just—we're in the book of Numbers now, but we just completed the book of Leviticus.

In that chapter, chapter 18 verse 5, what's he talking about? He's saying if you live after these ways, if you keep my commandments and statutes, while those things are all correct and good, at the end of the day, the covenant was not made by works. The covenant was made as a vow to Abraham as an Abrahamic covenant. It was a royal grant covenant. There was nothing needed to be done on the part of the believer as far as receiving it, but God had done the work. It's not a suzerain-vassal covenant that's sort of a you do this and I'll do that.

I mean, think about it. He even put Abraham asleep so there could be no misunderstanding or twisting of the scripture. Do you remember that? When he takes Abraham and he says, "I'm going to ratify," because back in those days, thousands of years ago, the way they ratified the covenant is almost like what we see in a wedding ceremony how there's people on each side and you walk up the middle of the aisle that way, kind of hand in hand with the person that you're supposed to be keeping this vow or covenant with. That's what the—and I would say even before the Hebrews, that was the practice of that time.

The antediluvian, you know, that's what they did at that time. They would walk through. And when you look at that and you study that, God took Abraham who normally with the covenant would walk up that row with the animals that were cut in two for sacrifice, he would walk up that row, therefore ratifying the covenant. But God put Abraham asleep and God himself walked up that. What was he showing us? That he instituted the covenant. And man's response to it is to acknowledge it and receive it and believe it. That's why it's always been belief by faith.

And that's what he's trying to help them to understand here. He's saying, "Look, the man who does these things shall live by them." Yes, yes, you can do the things of the law. Yes, you can do these things. But if you don't have faith and you don't believe the word, you're going to—well, you're going to miss it. And that's exactly what happened to Israel. "But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way: Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead?"

What—what is he talking about here? The two most important points of—may I say, main points of all of Christianity. The two of them. What are they? The incarnation and the resurrection. I'm going to talk a little bit more about the resurrection in a few weeks. We're going to celebrate that, we're going to come in. So I'm going to table the resurrection and the significance of that. I think we all understand some of that, but I hope to go through and kind of go a little deeper into exactly what was prophesied, exactly what God was doing, and what and how it changed everything.

Well, what about the incarnation? So, I mean, you think about it. It truly is a mystery, the incarnation. It's at the core of the Christian message, right? It is at the core of the Christian message. I'm going to quote Billy Graham, the late Billy Graham who's with Jesus right now, praise the Lord. "It is the mystery over which the rationalists stumble, by which the humanists are offended, and by which the world is bewildered." Just think about that for a minute. It's the mystery over which the rationalist stumble, though those that try to rationalize it. How can it be God came as flesh and dwelt among us?

By which the humanists are offended. "Wait a minute, how can he be divine and human at the same time?" And which by the world is bewildered, has very little understanding God outside of creation came into creation. The natural mind really, if you think about it, isn't—it's not equipped to grasp the truth. I said it before, I don't think we'll fully understand that. It's much like the Trinity and a lot of other things of the faith that we're not going to truly understand until we're with Christ. The apostle Paul said without controversy, "Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory." First Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.

Just think about the power of the incarnation. And I'd really like to talk about two points and then we'll—we'll continue on in verse 8 here. But two main points when—when you think about the incarnation because I don't hear the incarnation really talked a lot about today anymore. Maybe in our foundations class. I know Steve Walters was teaching a foundations class and I'm sure it was brought up in the foundations class, but really, the significance of the incarnation, I mean, after all, Paul brings it up here as the two standing points of all of Christianity.

First, the incarnation is a scriptural fact. The reoccurring theme of the Bible is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The prophets wrote about it, the psalmists sang of it, the apostles rejoiced and built their hopes on the epistles, the very epistle letter we're reading right now, it's filled with it. Christ coming in the flesh, his invading the world, his identifying himself with sinful men and women. Think about it. It's the most significant thing that's happened in all of history. Nothing else like it.

No other religion, I'll use that term, did their deity ever do something like that for the humanity that's supposed to be serving that deity? No one, nothing else like it. Our God came to serve and not be served as an example for you and I. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, again, it was prophesied, "Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and she shall call his name Emmanuel," meaning God with us. Even the Savior Jesus, right? As God, because he declared himself as God in the person, walked and talked with the people.

They were very conscious, you know, they were aware, this wasn't done in hiding or hidden, to the fact that God had manifested himself in the flesh. There was no—"Jesus, are you really here?" Even Thomas, he said, "Touch my side, you know, touch my—touch me, go ahead. For you will not believe until you touch me if that's what it takes. It is you, Lord." And notice that he didn't say, "Ye of little faith" at that moment that way to Thomas. He knew what Thomas needed. We all need that sometimes. Lord, help our unbelief.

Hearts, right? Hearts that have been repelled by empty forms of a religion ran to him as starving men and women. Think of the multitudes that ran to Jesus because they were tired of religion. They were tired of Nicolaitans, people lording over other people, betraying and manipulating God's word. And the fact, if you think about it, runs throughout the whole Bible. God was in Christ. What was he doing? He was reconciling the world to himself. Isn't that what he did? He came to die.

We read in John chapter 1 verse 14, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory and the glory of the only begotten Father, full of grace and of truth." Philippians chapter 2 verse 7 says but Christ "made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men," or man. So that's the first that I would suggest to you is one of the main points of the—the incarnation, that it's a scriptural fact. Well, the second one is the incarnation is a historical fact.

It's a historical fact as well. Christianity has its roots deep, firm, if you will, in the soil of history.

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. We're developing our study in Romans and if you enjoyed today's message, we'd like to know. Email us at our website, hisperfectlove.org, and be sure to include your prayer requests. And while you're there, you'll notice a place to listen to Pastor Matt's sermons, including all of Romans. That's at hisperfectlove.org. You can also listen to us at oneplace.com or wherever you get your podcasts. And we have a free mobile app. You know, this is a convenient way to listen to Pastor Matt on your mobile devices. Just go to hisperfectlove.org for more information. And if you'd like to support this ministry with a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support, you can do so through the website at hisperfectlove.org. Thank you so much for that.

Are you looking for a Christian school that offers a quality education and a nurturing environment for your children? If so, you might be interested in Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Calvary Chapel Christian Academy is a non-denominational Christian school that serves students from kindergarten to 12th grade. The Academy's mission is to provide a Christ-centered education that equips students to love God, love others, and serve the world. The Academy offers a rigorous academic curriculum, a variety of extracurricular activities, and a caring and supportive staff. The Academy is located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit our website at ccharrisburg.org/academy. That's ccharrisburg.org/academy. This has been His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you back here next time when we'll share another study in Romans.

His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. 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 grace. This is his perfect love.