Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): When someone hurts you deeply, how will you respond? Instead of holding on to anger, Pastor Jeff suggests praying for them.

Jeff Johnson: Prayer calms the storm within and gives us God's heart. We can be raging. We can say this or that about whoever did this or that, and we can say, "Just snuff them, hang them all, destroy them, let them all die."

That's not God's heart. He sent his son to die for them because he loves them. Now, what we have to check out in our own hearts is, do we love them?

Guest (Male): We've all experienced the pain that comes with being falsely accused of some sort of bad behavior, or we've been the target of a hurtful comment. When that happens, it would be easy for us to grow bitter and angry.

Today on *Sound Doctrine*, we'll learn to adopt a much better response: one of love, forgiveness, and bathed in prayer. The Apostle Paul is our role model on today's message. Turn with us to Romans chapter 9, and let's see together how he responded to those who hated him. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson in Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 3.

Jeff Johnson: In Acts 21:13, he says, "Listen, guys," and this is when they told him, "Please don't go to Jerusalem. They're going to take you, and they're going to do this, and they're going to do that." He goes, "Listen, listen, what mean you to weep and to break my heart? As you're weeping, telling me not to go, you're breaking my heart, guys. For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."

I mean, that's how committed and dedicated he was. "Hey, I know you're telling me they're going to beat me up, they're going to tie me, and they're going to do this, that, and the other. Hey, I'm going because God wants me to go, but I'm ready to live or die for him, whatever the circumstance."

Then later on in that same chapter in verse 30, it says the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul. As they went about to kill him, all Jerusalem was in an uproar. A riot began. Some cried one thing and another another thing. Then the head of the Roman squad there said, "We need to take him into the Antonia Fortress." They pulled him out of the temple area where the riot was going on. So it was that he was taken by the soldiers for the violence of the people. Everybody just wanted him so bad they wanted to take him and shred him.

Now, what's your response? What's your reaction when someone seeks to hurt you or to hate you? How do you respond? Do you remember what Jesus did? Remember when they came, and Peter writes it so well. He says in 1 Peter 2:23, they came and when he was threatened, when he was reviled, they cursed him, they threatened him. At the cross, when he's hanging there, what did he do? He could have called a legion of angels down, and his response and reaction would have been snuff, they're history.

He didn't do that, did he? No, it says there in that verse that he committed himself to him that judges righteously. He gave himself to God so he could deal with the situation. That's when he finally came out with, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." I think we are to follow his example. Peter says we are to follow that example.

Paul, willing to die to go to heaven, but here in this scripture, Romans 9, he said that he would go to hell in their place. How do we respond with his love to those that are unlovable that come through our lives? Those who seek our demise, they seek to hurt us?

How do you respond to your "irregular person"? Now, that person is somebody that bugs you a lot. We'll just call him irregular person, but very unlovely. Always when you see them, goosebumps come and weird reactions happen inside of you. What is our response? Why do you respond that way? There are some things we need to check out when they lie about you and tell untruths about you.

I think the key that we're going to focus in on, we're going to cheat a little bit because we're going to go a chapter ahead, in Romans chapter 10, verse 1. This is the key. Turn one page over. Paul says, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." Paul, willing to die. "I'm willing to die for my kids, I'd die for them. My grandkids, I'd die for them. I love them."

But Paul adds, "My heart's desire, not just to die, but my heart's desire and continual prayer for them is that they could know Christ." Remember Jesus's prayer: "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." It's just an incredible prayer. Interceding for those who nailed him to that cross who didn't know what they were doing.

How were we won but by the cross? By him hanging on the cross. God knew what would get to us. God knew if he sent his only begotten Son, sinless as he was, to die for the sins of the world, that would speak to men's hearts. If you were the only one in this world, he would have died for you. That's his love for you. This is love: the cross. It's powerful.

Over in Matthew chapter 5, listen to what Jesus says here in verse 43. Write this one down, Matthew 5:43. "You have heard that it has been said, many have been teaching this, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate your enemy. That's what they say. You go, that sounds pretty good. But I say unto you," Jesus says, "Listen to what I say. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."

What did he say? Is that contrary or what to everything that we feel? Yet the Lord came and he demonstrated his love, that while we were yet sinners, he died for us. He gave us the demonstration saying, "Here's how I want you to live now with my love in you and my spirit empowering you. This is what I want you to do. This is your response. Love your enemy. Those who seek to destroy you, who don't understand anything, and yet you understand they don't understand."

As Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Who are in rebellion against God? We pray for them. "Lord, save them. Deliver them." I think the most powerful prayer, of course, and I've shared this before, is "Lord, whatever it takes, bring them to the end of themselves. Lord, I know you've got the nutcracker and I know you've got the power to make pressure. So Lord, I give them to you. Apply pressure, your time, your way, but bring them to the end of themselves that they might come to know you." That is a powerful prayer.

So we prove our love by prayer. It's prayer then that produces his love within us. You say, "Well, how does that work? What are you talking about?" Something takes place within me, in my heart, when I pray. Something very powerful. I've found that you can't hate anybody who you're praying for. You just can't do it. That's why Paul is saying, "My heart's desire and my prayer," because Paul knew.

Over in Exodus chapter 32, way back with Moses, do you remember where Moses returned unto the Lord and said, "Oh, Lord, this people have sinned a great sin and they've made them gods of gold." They're stiff-necked, and over and over again you hear that word, stiff-necked. "They're not getting it."

And now, this is in Exodus 32:32, "Yet now, Lord, if you will forgive their sin, and if not, then blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which you have written." Again, all of a sudden you see Moses is saying the same thing as Paul said, or Paul is saying the same thing as Moses said: "Take my name out of your book. May I be forgotten, anathema. May I be without you to see them saved and to see you forgive them."

Moses's heart here, just like Paul's. I started thinking about Paul and Moses. When you look at both of them, both of them said the same thing. Number one, their heart and their love for the people. Number two, they were both educated men, very educated. They both committed murder. Interesting. They both had a desert experience and a spiritual encounter with God.

Both of them experienced a thorn in their side. Moses, he could hardly speak; he stuttered a lot. And of course, Paul, he had a thorn and he had a physical ailment. They both forsook riches to be with God's people. Both of them were leaders. Both of them were Jews and willing to die. They were servants of God.

"Lord, forgive them." Not after what they... well, wait a minute. Wasn't Moses 40 days up on that mount with God? I think being 40 days in prayer up with God really helped him to pray this way. Prayer calms the storm within and gives us God's heart. We can be raging. We can say this or that about whoever did this or that, and we can say, "Just snuff them, hang them all, destroy them, let them all die."

That's not God's heart. He sent his son to die for them because he loves them. Now, what we have to check out in our own hearts is, do we love them? Do we have God's heart? If we don't, we need to fall on our knees and say, "Lord, I want your love. Your love wins souls. Your love is powerful. It won me over, and I was cursing God and I was doing all kinds of nasty things." God's love.

There's two reasons why we need to pray, what I see here. Number one, for your sake, for my sake. I heard of a man who was in New York and he saw a woman that was going into a building, and he opened the door for the woman to let her in. The woman turned around and said to him when he opened the door for her and to let her in, "Hey, you don't have to do this just because I'm a lady." He looked at her and said, "Hey, I didn't do it because you're a lady. I did it because I'm a gentleman."

We pray because it affects our attitude, don't we? Not only our attitude, we pray because it affects our critical spirit, and we can get critical, very critical. We pray. It frees me to be a better person. It frees me to be a loving person.

In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus was speaking. In Matthew chapter 9 and verse 36, the multitude were coming out to him, and it says that he was moved with compassion on them, for the multitude, because they fainted. He saw them fainting and they were scattered abroad. They didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know where they were going. They had no clue about why they were here on this earth and what life and death and this and that was about. They were just lost.

He moved with compassion upon them because they fainted and were as sheep having no shepherd. They had no one leading them, and if he's the good shepherd, then they were being led by the bad shepherd who could care less about them. They were full of parasites and fur missing and they were just gaunt and just barbed wire around them. They couldn't get out, go anywhere, do nothing. They were under the bad shepherd's oversight.

He saw them as sheep with no good shepherd. He had compassion upon them. My prayer is, "God, give us compassion." I don't want to argue, I don't want to fight. I think I would rather pray than get into those other aspects. The flesh loves the other way. It'll change your heart. Bless them, Lord. Save them, Lord. Open their eyes.

Remember with Elisha and his servant? He was so scared they were going to die, the Assyrians were surrounding them. Elisha looked out the window. He not only saw the Assyrians, he saw the angels of God surrounding the Assyrians. Then he went back in and he said a simple prayer: "Open his eyes that he can see what I see." That's what we need to pray. Open their eyes so they can see what I see and behold your mighty hand.

The second reason why we need to pray is we need to pray for Christ's sake. You say, "Well, what do you mean?" In Isaiah 53:5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of my peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." My sin crucified the Lord. My sin put him on that cross.

He was also beaten brutally for my sin. Think about that. I mean, they brutally tore him apart, and yet he turns around and he prays for me. He intercedes for me. "Father, forgive him. He doesn't know what he's doing." He was beaten up by me, and yet he intercedes for me.

So for Christ's sake, we're to love our enemy. For his sake and all that he has done for us. To pray for those who hate us proves our love. Remember what Jesus said? "If you love me, obey my commandments. Follow my teachings. Love God and then love your neighbor as yourself," he says. "And you're going to fulfill the whole law."

Two little simple things. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us if you don't have love in your heart, you don't have anything. You might give your body to be burned or you might do this or do that, but if you don't have love, you have nothing. It's all about love, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

"How can I love these people?" is the question after what they've done and they want to do and this and that. And my suggestion is our response should be to spend time with the Father and ask him about that. And just say, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Oh, I know what I'd like to do, but what do you want me to do? I want to spend time with you and have your heart for what's going on in today's world, which is just crazy.

I need to pray. When your child bugs you and irritates you, what are you to do? When your spouse yells at you and you didn't do anything wrong, when your boss curses you out and threatens he's going to lay you off or fire you, what do you do? I would suggest we need to pray. We need to seek the Lord. As we pray, God will then show us how to respond and how to react right.

So it's time to seek the Lord. He was beaten, he was mocked, he was spit on, crucified, and yet he forgave and he committed himself to God. Great example. Then he won us because of that. Because of the way he handled the situation, there was victory, there was power, there was salvation, and it continues today because of that. It's just as powerful as back then as today, the blood of Jesus, the power of God unto salvation.

Prayer is the proof of love, and love is produced by prayer. Let me say that again. Prayer is the proof of love, and love is produced by prayer. In other words, don't just say it. Nike says what? "Just do it." But the Bible says just do it. "Men ought always to pray," Jesus said, "and not faint."

In fact, I found a scripture in 1 Samuel 12:23: "Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you." You mean it's a sin against the Lord not to pray? Well, that's what it says. "To not pray for you." Paul said that "I would be accursed."

John Knox said this: "Give me Scotland or I'll die." Wow, pretty heavy statement. "Give me Scotland or I'll die." Paul's burden, his boldness, it's interesting, didn't cause revival. Paul's burden and boldness caused riots. I thought about this. This is interesting. It just caused riots.

Jesus became a curse. He died on a cross. You see, here's the thing: our burden is not enough. The key to being a catcher of men is God's work on the cross through Christ. You see, yes, we need to have a burden, yes, we need to be bold, and we need to be trained on how to minister to a Muslim because they like to argue. Well, so does some of the other cults, right? We're not new to that.

But to rightly defend the faith, to stand up with conviction and love in your heart about what God has done with you and how he has forgiven you and what he did for you, and to just share the simple gospel. So powerful: the cross. Remember as Moses, it says in the Gospels, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus said, "So must the Son of Man be lifted up to draw all men unto himself."

When that cross was lifted up and he hung there, that was the power of God unto salvation. So all the world could see. Triumphing over all the world and what it is trying to do against God and Christians or whatever, and it triumphs over all of that and brings deliverance to those who call upon the name of the Lord. To draw all men unto myself.

Even Muslims? Yes, even Muslims. That to me is challenging, isn't it? It's exciting in a way that they can change. Well, look at the Jews. We're seeing Jews come. Not a lot, but they're coming. And it's the gospel. Jewish or Gentile, baptize us in your love and make us prayer warriors. Amen.

Guest (Male): We're traveling through Romans, one verse at a time on *Sound Doctrine*. Today's look at chapter 9 is titled "The Fisher of Men" and can be heard again at sounddoctrineradio.org or oneplace.com. You can also listen through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. By the way, Pastor Jeff Johnson has a bit more to share with us. We'll have that for you in just a minute.

It is our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the word spoken today by Pastor Jeff as we continue verse by verse through the great Book of Romans. The 16 chapters in this amazing epistle from the Apostle Paul contain some of the most important lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus in the 21st century.

Now, if you'd like to hear this study again, there are several ways to do that. The first is online at sounddoctrineradio.org. By the way, you can also donate to this radio ministry right there at sounddoctrineradio.org. The second way to listen is through the Sound Doctrine Radio podcast app. Look for us in your favorite app store. The podcast version of *Sound Doctrine* can also be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. As promised, here's Pastor Jeff with some concluding thoughts.

Jeff Johnson: Our Christian response to Islam is simply this, and I want to close with this verse in Romans. Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. I hope you have it underlined, yellowed, red, everything that colors you got. Mine's like a rainbow in my Bible. Romans 1:16.

He says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and then also to the Greek." My prayer is that God will hide it within our hearts. We're going to see how the Jew is going to be affected by what Paul is saying here.

He's going to give us three chapters on the nation of Israel. We're going to learn about Israel, we're going to learn about the Jew and what's going on today in their lives and in the nation. We're going to learn about God's heart towards the Jews, but God's heart towards the Jews is the same towards the Muslims. God so loved the world. So Lord, Jew or Gentile, baptize us in your love and make us prayer warriors. Amen.

Guest (Male): So the next time you're hurt by the words or actions of another, stop for a minute and pray for them. You just might see your attitude change as you do. Next time on *Sound Doctrine*, Pastor Jeff will speak on God's faithfulness as our series in Romans continues. This program is listener-supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.