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When
Adam &
Eve sinned, God chose to show how just he
was by sending His Son
Jesus Christ to pay for our sins.
He displayed
His uncompromising character by not forgiving any sin without full payment
of the penalty of that sin.
God had
created
Adam &
Eve in His likeness and His image; and
because of this, God’s enemies thought His plan of establishing His
righteousness thru mankind had failed. But before His enemies could
rejoice and mock Him; God had a solution
God’s amazing
solution to the problem of how He could remain just and still justify us
was to send
Jesus Christ to redeem us.
If we fail to
understand God’s plan to save all of us, we will fail to live above the
accusations of the enemy. Guilt, shame, offenses, and unforgiveness etc.
will continue to minister to us and will keep us bound and living under
condemnation.
We will live,
always trying to earn our approval and look for ways to please God by
earning our way to Him by works instead of accepting His love and grace by
faith.
This is not
God’s plan for your life. God loves you and has a plan for your life. His
desire is to see you rise above those issues of life which attempt to keep
you in turmoil.
Even so; there
are some questions that arise as we look at current events as well as
world history or your current state in life.
Has God been just in the way He
has dealt with His creation? Is He a just God? Can
we trust God to be just?
Can we trust Him to be just even when so many of God’s old
covenant nation; the Jews are lost to eternal damnation because they
refused to trust
Jesus? The Gospel declares God’s
righteousness and upholds it thru out the scripture. It also declares how
in spite of man’s unrighteousness and man’s desire to follow his own will;
yet sinners can still be saved.
With this in mind another question arises;
How can we say that God is righteous or just if according
to the gospel one must trust in
Christ in order to be saved. Where does this leave the
good person who has lived a “good” life, always obeyed every law of the
land and yet has refused to trust in
Jesus Christ.
Where does this leave the Jewish people who know God and
yet do not know
Jesus. This would mean that many Jews who
have not trusted in
Jesus Christ are lost in spite of God declaring them to
be His people.
But if this is true;
How could God be true to His promises given to the Jews as
His own people?
Paul does answer these questions in the
Epistle to the Romans in chapters 9-11.
Let us read chapter 9:1-6a
O Israel, my people! O my Jewish brothers! How I long for
you to come to
Christ. My heart is heavy within me, and I grieve
bitterly day and night because of you.
Christ knows and the Holy Spirit knows that it is no mere
pretense when I say that I would be willing to be forever damned if that
would save you. 4 God has given you so much, but still you will not listen
to him. He took you as his own special, chosen people and led you along
with a bright cloud of glory and told you how very much he wanted to bless
you. He gave you his rules for daily life so you would know what he wanted
you to do. He let you worship him and gave you mighty promises. 5 Great
men of God were your fathers, and Christ himself was one of you, a Jew so
far as his human nature is concerned, he who now rules over all things.
Praise God forever! 6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promises to
the Jews? TLB
In writing about this
Paul does not actually wish that he was cut
off from
Christ; (VS 3) but his grief for them is so deep that it
brings him virtually to that very point. He understands the God is
searching and looking for those who would walk in faith and would respond
in faith believing in His Son Jesus.
Paul knows that by refusing the richness of
life placed before all mankind, can and will result in a spiritual death
for his brethren. We must understand, it is not God’s desire for mankind
to be lost; rather it is God’s desire that all be saved. This salvation
comes thru the faith in
Jesus Christ.
Yes, it is that simple. This was the faith God was
searching for.
As we Study the Jewish people in Romans, those that refused
to trust their salvation in
Christ are the reason
Paul was so grieved. They thought they knew
everything to know about God and yet they missed their savior. God’s
purpose is that when the unbelieving Jew would see many Gentiles turn to
Christ, they would become jealous and would repent coming
to faith in
Jesus Christ.
What happened to the unbelieving Jew can still happen today
to a believer in
Christ. Yes they are saved, but;
After an individual has been with the LORD several years;
if their relationship with
Jesus has grown to become mundane with
little passion and become a relationship of convenience;
The temptation is to justify themselves by their limited
revelation to the point of missing out on the whole truth.
We must be careful as followers of
Jesus Christ to never think, we know all that needs to be
known of the scripture and of God.
In vs. 8
Paul comes completely clean as he makes the
bold statement in Rom 9:8; In other words, it is not the natural children
who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are
regarded as
Abraham's offspring. (from New
International Version)
Paul
understood the Jewish people were missing out on an important revelation,
that the physical decendants of God are not necessarily children of God.
Paul understands that the promise is given
to those who accept
Jesus Christ by faith. This is why God so longed for His
people to respond to Him in faith rather than thru religious or ceremonial
acts. The Jewish people failed to grasp the whole truth.
Paul knew that God being sovereign chooses
to bless those who will come to
Christ in faith. By focusing on their limited revelation
they missed out on the whole truth. We cannot afford to do likewise but we
must remain humble and pliable before the Holy Spirit. Always believing,
hoping and trusting in Him by faith and never by who we think we are.
Now why did God bring the Israelites out of
Egypt only to tell them later
that in order to be saved they had to trust in
Jesus Christ. First of all God brought the Israelites out
of
Egypt into the wilderness for
one specific reason. The reason He brought them out of
Egypt was so they could once
again have fellowship with their creator. By releasing them from the
bondage of
Egypt they were now free to
worship and seek after their God. Note something here; God brings them out
to a place where they would never be in need of anything, He would provide
everything from shoes to food, clothing, health, and so forth. All they
had to do was trust Him, hope in Him and believe in Him.
In the same way God brings you and I out of our
Egypt (Egypt
represents the world and its bondages) and God in His faithfulness will
provide for us. Ladies and gentlemen; we are the spiritual
Israel as declared in 1st
Peter 2:10
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people
of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(NIV)
But if we fail to understand the full work of redemption,
even as believers we will wander in the wilderness never actually
achieving the fullness of the promised land in our lives. We will fail to
grasp the truth of the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. We will fail to grasp that
Jesus died on the cross so we could be
healed from sickness, so we could have a sound mind and our emotions would
be stable. Our will would be to please God and live our lives unto Him.
The very nature of God is righteousness, we not only have
God’s righteousness covering our debt, but we have God’s righteousness. It
is imparted to us by His Holy Spirit as we release our faith in
Christ.
If you can grasp this and start living your life
accordingly you will not be stopped by
Satan’s lies. You can take hold of what is rightfully
yours in God’s kingdom. Such as; good health, finances, peace, joy,
wisdom, and will enjoy the favor of God. Your families will be saved and
prosper.
You won’t have to struggle with jealousy, envy, offenses or
unforgiveness.
This is the truth the Jewish people failed to grasp and
this is why
Paul was so grieved. God showed His mercy
to the Gentiles by allowing them to partake of the promise by faith.
Look what Galatians says;
Gal
6:15 Neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
What counts is your heart or the condition of your heart.
The truth is God wants to give you a new heart and all you have to do is
trust and believe in
Jesus Christ.
Gal
6:16 Peace and mercy to all who
follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. (from New International
Version)
God is a merciful God and in His sovereignty He chose to
have mercy on those whom He wills. Thru out scripture this is repeatedly
affirmed.
Whoever calls on the Name of Jesus will be saved. The
appeal is to unbelievers and is found in the Old as well as the New
testament. So then; is God just? Ladies and gentlemen, God exercises His
sovereignty in abundant mercy not in strict justice.
God is more than just; He is merciful.
Receive His mercy and trust in His Son Jesus for your
salvation. Receive this new life found only thru faith in
Christ.
Rom 10:8 For salvation that comes from trusting
Christ-which is what we preach-is already within easy reach of each of us;
in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. 9 For if you tell
others with your own mouth that
Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart
that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by
believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his
mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation. 11 For the
Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in
Christ will ever be disappointed. 12 Jew and Gentile are
the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives
his riches to all those who ask him for them. 13 Anyone who calls upon the
name of the Lord will be saved. TLB
God bless you,
Pastor
Cesar.
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