"I Will Call 'My People'"

I am reading in Romans 9:1-33. Here Paul expressed that he had great sorrow in his heart that so many of his fellow Jews (the Israelites), his kinsmen according to the flesh, had rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and so they were no longer of the household of God. Heaven was not their eternal destiny. But then he went on to explain that just because they were physical descendants of Abraham, it did not mean that they were children of Abraham in a spiritual sense. They were not! For if they did not believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, then they didn’t belong to Israel.

See also: [Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 9:4-8; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22; John 8:18-19,38-47; Jude 1:5; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16]

But the Jews’ rejection of Jesus Christ then brought about the gospel going out to the Gentiles and many of them ended up believing in Jesus Christ. And there were some Jews who believed in Jesus, too. 

“As indeed he says in Hosea,

“‘Those who were not my people I will call “my people,”

    and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved.”’

‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,”

    there they will be called “sons of the living God.”’

“And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.’ And as Isaiah predicted,

“’If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,

    we would have been like Sodom

    and become like Gomorrah.’

“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

“’Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’” (Romans 9:25-33 ESV)

So, who are God’s chosen people now? All who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. They are all who by faith in Jesus Christ have died to self (denied self), have died to sin, who are dying to sin daily, by the Spirit, and who are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. And this includes both Jew and Gentile who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Now, this may sound a little contrary to what we just read in this passage, and I do believe this is a subject that can be confusing if we don’t know the Scriptures and if we don’t study them in their context. For the word “works” is used in the New Testament Scriptures in both a negative and a positive context. And the works this passage was speaking of were the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, which included physical circumcision. The Jews thought they could be saved by keeping those Old Covenant laws.

But this doesn’t mean that we are now lawless or that God doesn’t expect us to do works. We still have to obey our Lord’s commands under the New Covenant, which are primarily his moral laws. And there are works which are required of us still, which are the works that God prepared in advance that we should walk in them as his workmanship. But just as faith without these works is dead, so are works without faith. We cannot just do “good deeds” and expect to be received into God’s heaven. We must live in submission to his will and we must be walking in obedience to his commands.

[Eph 2:10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit 3:8; Jas 2:17]

The same rule that applied in the Old Testament still applies to us in the New Testament. If sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, holiness, and walks of obedient faith to our Lord Jesus, to God, we will not enter into God’s eternal rest. Heaven will not be secured for us regardless of what our lips profess. For faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief. 

And then I want to note for us here that this Scripture states clearly that only a remnant of the physical sons of Israel will be saved and will have eternal life with God. It says the same thing in Romans 11, but many people are misinterpreting that passage and what it teaches regarding the physical nation of Israel and regarding who are God’s chosen people today. Only those who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives are God’s chosen people, his elect. And we are only saved by faith in Christ, but a faith that results in obedience to our Lord and the forsaking of our sins.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

The Lord’s Anointed  

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving. 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to 

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear, 

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior, 

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness, 

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations. 

https://vimeo.com/114836524