[Chapter 9-4] Where Does the Apostle Paul’s Anguish Come from? (Romans 9:1-33)
(Romans 9:1-33)
“I
tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual
grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are
Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the
giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the
fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over
all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of
God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In
Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the
promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At
this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only this,
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works
but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the
younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly
not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very
purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that
My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on
whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then,
‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But
indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed
say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the
potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel
for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His
wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared
beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but
also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea:
‘I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.’
‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.’
Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.’
And as Isaiah said before:
‘Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.’
What
shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law
of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it
were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”
(Romans 9:1-2) “I
tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual
grief in my heart.”
Up
until now, the Apostle Paul has been telling us about the upright
Truth. The Truth told by the Apostle Paul was about the righteousness of
God that has saved sinners from all their sins. In the Word of God
preached by Paul, it is written what the righteousness of God is and how
that righteousness of God was completed and gets applied to us. If we
all know and believe in the genuine Truth preached by the Apostle Paul,
we will get to receive all the blessings that God gives to us. I hope
that all the blessings of God will be with you all.
However,
far from the completeness of the righteousness of God preached by the
Apostle Paul, the people of Israel did not have the faith of accepting
Jesus Christ who has fulfilled the righteousness of God. Because of
this, Paul’s heart was in great sorrow all the while in bitterness and
sadness. He was in grief because of the problem relating to the
salvation of the people of Israel. Therefore, the time when the Apostle
Paul’s grief and sorrow disappears will be when the nation of Israel
accepts Jesus, who is the Hero of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
as the Savior. Thus, the grief that torments Paul’s heart will be
continuing until the nation of Israel gets to stand before God.
Each
and every person of the people of Israel should right now accept in his
or her heart Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the Savior prophesied in the
Old Testament. Should they not do so, they will never be able to meet
the Messiah, and they will never be able to take the New Jerusalem that
will come from above as their land.
Starting
today, the day when the people of Israel will believe in Jesus Christ,
the true Messiah, as their Savior because of the sufferings they have to
go through is close at hand. In the future, there will come a day when
the nation of Israel will believe that Jesus Christ, who had come 2,000
years ago, was the Savior they have been waiting for because of much
suffering.
Paul’s Faith
(Romans 9:3) “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,”
This
verse shows us the heart of those who believe in the righteousness of
God. I am saying that Paul’s heart is like that. He had wished for the
salvation of his nation, his countrymen, and his family even if it meant
that he himself would be accursed from Christ. I am saying that such
heart is the heart of the righteous.
Righteous
finds joy in sharing the God-given salvation with many people. However,
sinners, unlike the righteous, focus on obtaining things that are good.
They do not find joy in sharing what is good.
The
Lord said those who have received much should share much, and He also
said, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be
required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the
more” (Luke 12:48). Therefore, people who have the righteousness of God
in their heart wish to spread the righteousness of God throughout the
entire world, just like the heart of God. Even though they may lose
much, they wish for it to be so.
Even
now, those who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit
find joy in sharing many things for numerous souls. Such a heart is the
heart of the righteousness of God given to those who have become
children of God. People who possess the righteousness of God are going
through troubles for the spiritual salvation of others. It is because
doing so is most comforting to their heart.
Even Though the Israelites Have Received the Special Love of God
(Romans 9:4-5)
“Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ
came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
The
Israelites are a nation that has been granted many blessings from God
both in the flesh and in the spirit. For them, God had personally become
their God, and He had granted them the commandment of God and the
promise of blessings as the nation of priesthood that can offer
sacrifice to God. But because they did not believe in the blessing of
God, they drove away Jesus Christ, who is God’s blessing, from their
country. Therefore, the Gentiles were permitted to receive many
blessings due to their knowledge of Jesus Christ who has become the
righteousness of God. Because the nation of Israel did not believe in
Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the blessings of the righteousness of God
have reached those among the Gentiles who believe in the righteousness
of God.
Jesus
Christ, whom the nation of Israel did not accept into their heart, was
fundamentally God and the Savior. Thus, they should have known that God
was more than enough to receive love, praise, veneration, and glory from
all of us. This Truth was a very important Truth; so much so that much
emphasizing is never enough.
We
all must know and believe in the fact that Jesus Christ is God. We must
realize that knowing and believing that He has fulfilled the Savior’s
mission for all the sinners is extremely important.
God’s Plan Did Take Effect
(Romans 9:6-9)
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are
not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they
are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’
That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the
seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and
Sarah shall have a son.’”
God works like this. When God works on people, He works by making them a promise first.
For
example, we can look into the work He had performed after having spoken
to Jacob and Esau. Also, we can see that God gave Isaac to Abraham
after having given him the word of promise first.
God
promised to give Abraham a son, and that promise meant that He would
give a son through Sarah’s body. However, because the fulfillment of
that promise seemed tardy, Abraham’s heart flowed in the direction of
the fleshly ways, and he gained a son named Ishmael. But, after having
promised Abraham to give a child through Sarah, God had fulfilled that
promise 20 years later. When God said He was going to give a son to
Abraham, He meant that He was going to give a child of the faith, not a
child of the flesh. Likewise, before God, we must understand Him as God
who promises and fulfills the prosperity of our spiritual faith rather
than the prosperity of our flesh.
There
are times when we wait to fulfill the prosperity of the flesh, while
ignoring the spiritual faith that God requests of us. However, we
ourselves must continue our life of faith with our goal placed on the
Word of God. If we were to perceive the Word of God by placing our
purpose on the fulfillment of fleshly desires, we would in turn be
making a big mistake. The Word of God always requests a faith that is
absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of the Word. Having faith in
this spiritual principle, we must live out our faith before God.
The
faith that God desires is the faith that always believes in the
realization of the Word of God. God requests of us the faith of always
believing in the Word of God. You must also wholeheartedly believe in
the Word of God which tells us that all the righteousness of God has
been fulfilled by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Was the Election by God Carried Out without Any Purpose?
(Romans 9:10-13)
“And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man,
even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor
having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to
her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I
have loved, but Esau I have hated.””
Regarding
election, the Bible says, “Jacob was elected not because of works but
of Him who calls.” People must take this truth to their heart.
We
must realize that concerning God’s electing of His people, it is said
that it is done not by the works of people, but only by the One who
calls, because God wants to give us the righteousness of God. God is
saying that it was to call upon all the sinners who were born as sinners
by the whole righteousness of God through Jesus Christ, and to make
those who have answered His call God’s people by saving them from sins.
We
must know the righteousness of God. The Bible says that regarding the
calling of God, there is a reason for having called someone like Jacob,
but not Esau. Do you know the reason why God said, “The purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls”?
You must understand that the reason was for God to save sinners like
Jacob from sins.
God
loves someone like Jacob but hates someone like Esau. It is because
someone like Esau, for he had much righteousness of his own, had
disregarded the righteousness of God and did not accept it into his
heart. God wants to break human righteousness; God actually breaks human
righteousness with His righteousness in order to save humans. God wants
to deliver sinners from all sins by His own righteousness.
Between
Jacob and Esau, who were inside Rebecca’s womb, God chose only one of
them one-sidedly because He knew which one would accept the
righteousness of God into his heart and which one would not do so and
reject it. Thus, God said He chose Jacob who would accept the
righteousness of God into his heart instead of Esau. Some people say
that between Esau and Jacob, God had one-sidedly loved one and not the
other without any particular reason. But I say to you that there is
never an instance where God acts without a reason.
God
is the God of the Truth, and you must realize that there is something
wrong with those who think that God, who is the Truth, does not carry
out truthful judgments and acts. In no way does God elect untruthfully.
Why is that? The fact is that “calling” is predestined inside the
election by God. If there is no predestination of whom to call in the
election by God, God will say that there is an error in His electing of
people. But you must realize that God does not make mistakes. It is
because God says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” It means that
God is the Truth, the Master who gives life, the Way to obtaining
everlasting life and receiving the remission of sins. It is because God
knows everything.
Aren’t
you and I someone who is fundamentally vile and weak, deceiving others
as often as possible? Given this, if God has chosen us because He could
not but choose us through Jesus Christ, is that an error? Never. Rather,
God excluded those who are arrogant, have much righteousness of their
own, overflow with self-styled justice, and believe that they do not
have that much lacking from God’s choice.
Then,
is it right for God to elect people who are arrogant and have much
righteousness of their own before God as His people? God of the Truth
will never do that in the least. We praise the fact that God had chosen
Jacob, who was lacking, weak, and had not much of his own righteousness,
instead of someone like Esau, who was full of pride and arrogant.
God
isn’t the God of someone like Esau. Instead, He is the God of someone
like Jacob. God is the Father of compassion. God is the God of the
Truth. God is the God of mercy. But He is the God who pours down His
wrath upon those who are full of pride and breaks those who are
arrogant.
As
God the Father elects and loves people, He disperses and brings His
wrath upon those who are full of pride; but He shows mercy to those who
are humble. He wants you to have the insight to know that God the Father
has saved you through the baptism of His only begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, and the blood He shed on the Cross.
God
elects people, and we needed the knowledge of realizing and knowing
that God has given the blessing of becoming God’s children to those who
believe in the righteousness of the One who has called us through the
baptism received by Jesus Christ and His blood of the Cross. I hope you
would have the knowledge of the righteousness of God and the blessing of
realizing why God had to love Jacob but hate Esau, and then believe in
Him properly. The fact that God loved Jacob with the righteousness of
God and hated Esau who had refused the righteousness of God is a truth.
Truly Are the Ones on Whom God Has Mercy
(Romans 9:14-16)
“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly
not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy.”
Is
it wrong for God to love Jacob but hate Esau? The fact is that it is
not so. When God looks at people, He personally saves the pitiful from
all their sins by having compassion on them. Therefore, those on whom
God has compassion become people of God by having worn the love of God’s
salvation and having been delivered from all their sins. Actually,
becoming God’s people by having received the remission of sins from God
depends on whether or not one has received compassion from God, and not
at all by living out a life until one reaches sanctification.
We
must all know that in order for us to receive the remission of sins
before God, we must throw away our own thoughts. If you do not throw
away your own thoughts before God, you will fall into the
misunderstanding of trying to receive the remission of sins by having
done something good on your own. All who want to receive the remission
of sins before God must throw away their thoughts. Only from then on,
are we able to believe in the salvation, the righteous act that God has
done for us. This in turn means that if we want to receive the remission
of sins, we must first do away with our own thoughts instead of trying
to do something. When we put away our thoughts, we get to see the work
that God has done for us.
Up
until now, have you and I been trying to receive the salvation by doing
well in the footrace of faith? No, not at all! If so, let us put away
our thoughts. Let us look toward the love of God’s righteousness that
God has done for us. If we do so, the baptism received by Jesus in order
for Him to take on our sins, the blood of the Cross, and His death and
resurrection will be shown to us clearly. Then, the righteousness of God
will truly be shown to us.
Like
Jacob, do you want to receive God’s love? If so, I hope you will also
confirm and acknowledge the fact that you are a person like Jacob. I
hope you will realize the fact that a person like Esau does not get
saved from sins because he or she hasn’t received compassion from God. I
want you to believe in the fact that the righteousness of God which has
come by the water and the Spirit has saved you perfectly from all your
sins.
The Wrath of God to Those Whose Heart Is Hardened
(Romans 9:17)
“For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have
raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be
declared in all the earth.’”
It
is also the will of God to show His Omnipotence by raising someone like
the Pharaoh up. Among those living in this world, people whose heart is
hardened suffer destruction for having fought against God. But in the
midst of that destruction, God has made it so that we will be able to
see that God lives and works, and thus, they can be seen by us.
Recently, there was a happening in which someone who had been slandering
the servants of God who were spreading the gospel of the water and the
Spirit had died because of skin cancer.
In
the Bible also, God had Egyptians drowned in the waters of the Red Sea
because the Pharaoh did not free the people of Israel because his heart
was hardened. In the Bible, there also were the occurrences of the
armies of Assyria and Babylonia losing their land for having fought
against Israel. Likewise, whether it is an individual or a nation, all
of them suffered destruction by the power of God for having fought
against God and His people.
The
fact that each and every person whose heart is hardened suffers
destruction just like Esau and the Pharaoh had for not having believed
in the righteousness of God shows us the power of God. Those who are
like Esau are hated by God and suffer destruction for not having
believed in the righteousness of God. The power of God and the fact that
God lives are also shown through the destruction of those whose hearts
are hardened. Therefore, God displays the power of His wrath to those
who are like Esau, but shows the love of mercy to those who are like
Jacob. Thus, God shows the fact that He lives and His power to both
types of people living on this earth.
We
must learn the lesson that one must not become someone who will be
suffering destruction because of his or her hardened heart before God.
We must become those who wait for the mercy before God. Why would we
need to become hardened in our hearts before God? The fact that one’s
heart is hardened before God means that the heart is arrogant. What I am
saying is that are we so good that we need to be raising our hearts? Do
we have any reason to exalt our hearts even before God? God has given
us God’s righteousness freely, yet what reason is there for us not to
believe in it?
The
righteousness of God is fully instilled in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, yet what reason could there be for us to receive hate from
God by not believing in it? By believing in the love of God’s
righteousness, we must become those wearing the love of God. Thus, why
do we need to become those who disbelieve by exalting our hearts?
Regardless of whom, there is no benefit in raising their heart before
God. However, because those whose hearts are haughty before God get to
receive the wrath of God; God’s name gets spread more and more because
of such people.
God Bestows Justice and Mercy
(Romans 9:18) “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”
This
verse tells us that God gives the righteousness of God that gives the
remission of sins to those who have nothing to show off, for they lack
righteousness of their own all so much in God’s view by taking great
pity on them.
How
about the will of God toward men? Toward the pitiful, God has the will
to be clothing them with His love and mercy and the righteousness of
God; but toward the proud whose heart is haughty, the will of God is to
have them receive the punishment of hell by making their heart even more
hardened. Therefore, you must become a humble person who asks for mercy
from God, instead of becoming someone whose heart is full of pride
before God.
When
God sees people, He sees them by dividing them into two types: the
proud and the pitiful. He practices according to His will. He casts
punishment upon those who are full of pride and He bestows the love of
the righteousness of God’s mercy upon those who are pitiful.
We
must not think of God as a despotic God who has no reason, discretion,
or truth. God is the God of the Truth. We must know and believe in the
fact that God acts with reason, discretion, mercy, and a sense of
justice.
You Should Acknowledge the Justice of God and Yearn for His Mercy
(Romans 9:19) “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’”
The
question at hand is, “How can God rebuke those who have been born as
the seed of sin for their trespasses?” But the fact of the matter is
that because it is the will of God to make people—those who acknowledge
God and believe in the love of God’s mercy by making their heart humble
before God, despite the fact that they were born as the seeds of sin—His
children and clothe them with blessings, God casts curses upon those
whose heart is full of pride and grants blessings upon those who are
humble. Therefore, we cannot say that the blessing and the curse God
bestows upon human beings are wrongful. The work that God does is a just
work. Who can fight against the work that God does? There is no one.
Why? It is because the work that God does is perfect and just.
We
human beings may seem all same from our viewpoint. In God’s view,
however, there are some people who are so pitiful that God wants to
clothe them with His love, and then there are some people who are so
hardened and arrogant that God wants to pour His curse over them instead
of His love. Therefore, because it is the will of God to bestow the
love of mercy to some human beings who are all so pitiful, no one can
stop that. Neither can anyone stop the will of God to cast His wrath
through His power to some other human beings whose hearts are so
arrogant and hardened that they do not accept the righteousness of God.
No one can oppose the work that God does, and no one can obstruct it.
Can We Rebuke God?
(Romans 9:20) “But
indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed
say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’”
This
verse is asking what is wrong with God bestowing the mercy of His
righteousness to those who deserve pity. We cannot protest to God by
saying to Him, “Why have you made me such an arrogant person?” If some
man is such a person, then he became so not because God has made him
like that but because he did not accept the love of God’s mercy for
having hardened his heart on his own.
No
human being can swear at God. What wrong did God do? Is there something
God did unjustly? That is never so. God has given the righteousness of
the salvation of the remission of sins to human beings who have fallen
into sin. Despite of it all, there are those who believe in Him and
those who do not; and thus, people were divided into those who are to
receive the blessing and those who are to receive the curse.
But
still, people swear at God saying that He isn’t just. It is because
they have the misunderstanding that God has allowed blessings and curses
because He arbitrarily loves some people but hates others, being biased
instead of being fair to all human beings. However, God was never
biased or unjust. Rather, because God is so just, it is the people who
are misunderstanding God, unable to understand His justness.
Human
beings can love with a bias, but because God cannot, that is something
that people have misunderstood for having thought of God like a human
being. By sending His only begotten Son to the world, God the Father had
His Son receive the baptism from John the Baptist in order to have Him
take on the sins of the world, and all the righteousness of God were
thus fulfilled to save all human beings. Jesus received the baptism,
died on the Cross, and became our eternal Savior by His resurrection.
Like so, the love of God is absolutely fair, but people are swearing at
God because they have misunderstood Him with their own thoughts. People
must repent.
God Has the Right to Do Things Justly
(Romans 9:21) “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”
This
passage means that all the authority rests with God Himself. It is
saying how could God not have the authority to make people His children?
Certainly, God has the authority to make people His own children. It is
also saying how could God not have the authority to send His enemies
who do not accept the will of God but rather fight against it, to hell?
Of course, all the authority belongs to God. There is nothing wrongful
about the work that God does, not even a little. Should there be
something wrongful, it would be in people’s thoughts, heart, and faith.
People’s
wrongful faith is insisting that only their thoughts are right, all the
while not accepting the righteousness of God. According to their
thoughts, it is right for them to complete their lives as children of
God and their faith of salvation by offering prayers of repentance every
day and living out a life of gradual sanctification. But, God did not
set His will like that.
The
will set by God is to enable people to obtain everlasting life by
believing in the righteousness of God. The will of God the Father is to
save the sinners from all their sins by sending His Son to this earth,
having Him take on the sins of the world through His baptism, and having
Him nailed to the Cross. That is the righteousness of God. In other
words, it is the will of God for Him to make those who believe in the
righteousness of God His own people and to make those who do not believe
in His righteousness the servants of destruction. God has all the
authority along with His goodness.
It Is the Will of God That He Bestows His Mercy on Those Who Are Destined to Suffer Wrath
(Romans 9:22)
“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction,”
God
has saved human beings, who were to be destroyed, from destruction by
having them know about the riches of the glory of God and the
righteousness of God. Originally, human beings were all servants of
Satan, having been deceived by him. Those who have been deceived by
Satan and have fallen into his lure were those who had lost communion
with God. Rather, they became those who have fought against God. They
were those whom God had decided to destroy. Those who have sins before
God and those who rise up against God became those who could only
receive the punishment of hell due to their sins. It shows that they
were destined for destruction due to their sins. For such human beings,
God decided to clothe them with the riches of His mercy and the grace of
the remission of sins. He has decided to clothe them with His love, all
the while waiting patiently with tolerance.
Because
God has decided to clothe us with the love of His righteousness like
so, we have no reason whatsoever to protest. Instead, we should praise
God for His great love. If God has decided to carry out the work of
saving sinners from sins, we should all be thankful, and we should exalt
the glory of God. Regardless, no one can interfere with the work that
God does; and even if people want to interfere, they lack the
qualification to interfere.
There Is Nothing Wrong about the Work That God Does, Not at All
(Romans 9:23) “and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,”
Even
if God has decided to save sinners with His righteousness, who can
protest it to be wrong? We who believe in the righteousness of God
cannot say that He is wrong. All of us can only be thankful with a heart
that reveres God who does virtuous work. We cannot dare judge whether
it is ‘right or wrong.’ Who can dare say that the work of the
righteousness of God that God carries out is ‘right or wrong?’ People
who believe in the righteousness of God as well as all those who do not
believe in it can never do that.
(Romans 9:24-26) “Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea:
‘I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.’
‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.’”
We
who are born as descendants of Adam fundamentally weren’t people of
God. But by having received the love of God’s mercy, we have become His
own people. We all were the vessels of wrath before God. Yet, God has
considered the pitiful as the vessels of mercy.
God
has delivered those whom He wants to take in as His own children from
being the subject of wrath. When God sees us human beings, some are so
very pitiful that He cannot but deliver them from the deserved wrath.
And thus, God has adopted human beings as His own people by bestowing
His love of mercy. So, those who have put on the righteousness of God
have become His own children by faith.
People
were fundamentally destined to receive God’s wrath. In the Book of
Romans chapter 11, verse 32, God said, “For God has committed them all
to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all,” and we wholeheartedly
believe this.
We
all were fundamentally the seed of sin, unable to obey God. But God,
who is full of love, has made everyone His people by bestowing them His
merciful love after having put us, the disobedient, amidst sins in order
to make us His people. For this reason, the love of the righteousness
of God resides only with the believers and God.
Does Only the Small Number of People of Israel Become People of God?
(Romans 9:27-28) “Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.’”
Even
if there are a large number of Israelites, God has said only those who
believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior will become people of God at the
end of days.
If
so, does it mean that among the numerous Israelites, only a small
number of them get to become people of God after getting delivered from
the wrath? Yes, that is so. This passage is saying that God will do so
only onto a small number of the Israelites, and He will do so onto a
small number of Gentiles, as well. Among those numerous people who will
receive the wrath from God, only a small number of people will be
wearing God’s mercy, escaping from the wrath, and becoming people of
God.
God
will fulfill all His Word and then finish this world. God will surely
find out those who will receive the love of His mercy among those who
are to receive His wrath, and He will complete the work of making them
His own people by clothing them in His righteousness. When that is
fulfilled, He will finish the history of this world. If we are going to
be wearing the remission of sins from our God, we must be prepared in
our hearts to be clothed with God’s mercy.
God Has Left Those Who Believe in the Righteousness of God on This Earth.
(Romans 9:29) “And as Isaiah said before:
‘Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.’”
This
Scripture passage tells us that the entire world would have been
destroyed due to sins if God hadn’t left those who believe in the
righteousness of God’s mercy. For all the people in this world, the Lord
has left His servants who believe in and preach the righteousness of
God. They are the ones who believe in the gospel Word of the water and
the Spirit. Even though they were sinners who had deserved His wrath, by
believing in the Truth instilled with the righteousness of God, they
have become those who have been saved from all sins. They are the
servants of the righteousness of God who carry out the work of
delivering people from sins that deserved the wrath by preaching to them
the righteousness of God. God has left them on this earth for you.
You
and all others must receive and welcome those who believe in and preach
the righteousness of God. It is because they are the ambassadors of
God’s righteousness. As you think about why God has left them on this
earth, you must realize that it was for you. Those who are fundamentally
destined to receive the wrath from God must accept these people of
faith who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as
ambassadors of God.
You
and all others must know, be thankful, and believe that God has left
those who believe in the righteousness of God on this earth for the
sinners. God has delivered from His wrath all those who believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit preached by the servants of the
righteousness of God.
One Cannot Obtain the Righteousness of God by His Meritorious Works
(Romans 9:30-32)
“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of
faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained
to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith,
but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling stone.”
Up
until now, the people of Israel have been pursuing the righteousness of
the Law before God. Therefore, they have been living having thrown away
the faith in Jesus Christ who has become the righteousness of God. That
is why they could neither receive salvation from God’s wrath nor become
people of God. However, because the Gentiles believed in the gospel
Word of the water and the Spirit instilled with the righteousness of God
rather than following the righteousness of the Law, they were delivered
from all their sins and became people of God.
Right
at this moment, the faith of those among the nation of Israel and the
Gentiles who have followed the righteousness of the Law is destined to
be destroyed because they haven’t been able to receive deliverance from
sins.
Among
those who believe in Jesus today, those who believe without the
knowledge of the righteousness of God shown in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, have arrived at destruction in the end for not having
received deliverance from sins despite their faith in Jesus. Because
they have risen up against the righteousness of God with human
righteousness and legalistic righteousness, and although they believe in
Jesus as the Savior, they cannot but become confined under sin.
Regardless of whom one may belong to, the nation of Israel or the
Gentiles, each and every person must believe in the righteousness of God
to become people of God. The righteousness of God is fully shown in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
One Cannot Properly Believe in Jesus without the Faith of Believing in the Righteousness of God
(Romans 9:33) “As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”
God
the Father has established Jesus as our Savior on the pathway to
Heaven, and whoever does not believe in the baptism of Jesus, who has
become the righteousness of God, at the Jordan River and the blood of
the Cross will not be able to pass through the gates of Heaven. We must
know this Truth.
Today,
there are many people who believe in Jesus as the Savior in order to
receive Heaven and the remission of sins. However, the fact that they
believe in Jesus is good, but there are many people who do not believe
in the righteousness of God. It is because they are not aware that
Jesus’ baptism received from John the Baptist and His blood shed on the
Cross truly constitute the righteousness of salvation and the
righteousness of God to the believers. Thus, their faith becomes a
failure. God the Father has allowed for anyone to believe in Jesus as
the Savior. But He has made it to be so that if people do not know that
Jesus’ baptism and His blood of the Cross constitute the righteousness
of God, then their faith will turn out to be a failure.
Therefore,
those who believe in Jesus as their Savior must bear in mind and
believe that they can be delivered from all their sins only if they
believe in Jesus’ baptism and the blood of the Cross which have become
the righteousness of God without fail. I pray in the faith of believing
in the righteousness of God that God’s blessing will be upon you.
Until
now, I have been working together with God’s Church. I am thankful that
I have come to serve the Lord together with you who also believe in the
righteousness of God. I truly give thanks to the Lord. I hope I will be
able to meet you in my next writing.
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