Thursday, January 3, 2019

GOD'S SOVEREIGN CHOICE


Romans 9:1-29

I speak the Truth in Christ--
I am not lying, my Conscience confirms it
IN THE HOLY SPIRIT--

2 I have great sorrow
And unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish
That I myself were Cursed and Cut Off from Christ
FOR THE SAKE OF MY BROTHERS,
4 Those of my own Race, the people of Israel.

THEIRS IS THE ADOPTION AS SONS'
THEIRS THE DIVINE GLORY, THE COVENANTS,
THE RECEIVING OF THE LAW,
THE TEMPLE WORSHIP AND THE PROMISES.

5 THEIRS ARE THE PATRIARCHS,
AND FROM THEM, IS TRACED
THE HUMAN ANCESTRY OF CHRIST,

WHO IS GOD OVER ALL, FOREVER PRAISED! AMEN.

6 It is not as though God's Word had Failed.
FOR NOT ALL WHO ARE DESCENDED FROM ISRAEL ARE ISRAEL.

7 Nor because they are his Descendants
Are all Abraham's children.
On the Contrary,
'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be Reckoned.'

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.

9 For this is how the Promise was stated:
'At the Appointed Time I will Return,
And Sarah will have a son.'

10 Not only that,
But Rebecca's children had one and the same father,
Our father Isaac.

11 Yet, before the Twins were born
Or had done anything good or bad--
IN ORDER THAT GOD'S PURPOSE IN ELECTION MIGHT STAND:

12 NOT BY WORKS BUT BY HIM WHO CALLS--
SHE WAS TOLD,
'The Older will serve the Younger.'

13 Just as it is written:
'JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.'

14 What then shall we say>
Is God unjust?
Not at all!
For He says to Moses,

'I will have Mercy on whom I have Mercy,
And I will have Compassion on whom I have Compassion.'

16 IT DOES NOT, THEREFORE,
DEPEND ON MAN'S DESIRE OR EFFORT,
BUT ON GOD'S MERCY.

17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh:

'I raised you up for this very purpose,
That I might display My Power in you
And that My Name might be Proclaimed in All the Earth.'

18 THEREFORE GOD HAS MERCY
ON WHOM HE WANTS TO HAVE MERCY,
AND HE HARDENS WHOM HE WANTS TO HARDEN.

19 One of you will say to me:
'Then why does God still Blame us?
For who resists His Will'

20 BUT WHO ARE YOU, O MAN,
TO TALK BACK TO GOD?

SHALL WHAT IS FORMED SAY TO HIM WHO FORMED IT,
'WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LIKE THIS?'

21 DOES NOT THE POTTER HAVE THE RIGHT
TO MAKE OUT OF THE SAME LUMP OF CLAY
SOME POTTERY FOR NOBLE PURPOSES
AND SOME FOR COMMON USE?

22 WHAT IF GOD,
CHOOSING TO SHOW HIS WRATH
AND MAKE HIS POWER KNOWN,
BORE WITH GREAT PATIENCE THE OBJECTS OF HIS WRATH--
PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION?

23 WHAT IF HE DID THIS
TO MAKE THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY KNOWN
TO THE OBJECTS OF HIS MERCY,
WHOM HE PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR GLORY--

24 EVEN US, WHOM HE ALSO CALLED,
NOT ONLY FROM THE JEWS
BUT ALSO FROM THE GENTILES?

25 As He says in Hosea:

'I will call them 'My people'
Who are not My people;
And I will call her 'My loved one'
Who is not My loved one.'

26 And.

'It will happen that in the very place
Where it was said to them,
'You are not My people,'
They will be called 'sons of the Living God.'

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

'Though the number of the Israelites
Be like the sand by the sea,
ONLY A REMNANT WILL BE SAVED.

28 FOR THE LORD
WILL CARRY OUT HIS SENTENCE ON EARTH
WITH SPEED AND FINALITY.'

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

'Unless the Lord Almighty had left us Descendants,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been like Gomorrah.'
(Romans 9:1-29)

Christians should understand the Sovereignty of God.
The World is His Creation;
We are his Creation, each one of us.

God Almighty gives every person the opportunity
To choose to be Saved out of this Wicked World.
But only those who choose to Love the Truth are Saved;
ONLY A REMNANT;
Only a Remnant out of all that is called Christianity,
As there has always been Apostasy in the Church,
As there is today.

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