Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 3)

> [!title|noicon] **Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 3)** ^top   [< Part  1](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%201).md)   [2](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%202).md)  &nbsp3   [4](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%204).md)   [5](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%205).md)   [6 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%206).md) **Salvation Is By God's Sovereign Election And Good Pleasure** Salvation is selectively given by the sovereign Will of God. Romans 9 explains this in clear terms beginning in verse 10: >*And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.* (Ro 9:10-13) The Israelites believed they were God’s chosen people because they were physical descendants of Abraham. But God demonstrates here how both Jacob and Esau were descendants of Abraham (through Isaac), yet one of them He loved and the other He hated *before they were even born and had done any good or evil*. It's not that God simply foreknew how they would live and then chose Jacob. Rather, God is teaching that our works do not enter into the picture with regard to whom He chooses to love unto salvation. He continues in verse 14: > *14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. > 15 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. > 16 So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. > 17 For the scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. > 18 Therefore he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. > 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? > 20 No but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? > 21 Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? > 22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: > 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto glory, > 24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? > 25 As he says also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. > 26 And it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.* Salvation is according to God's good pleasure, glory and sovereign election. And we cannot debate this because God is Just and True. God saves those He has chosen, whether Jew or Gentile, just as He loved Jacob before he was born and had done any good or evil. Further, God declares that those He saves become the *spiritual* children (and heirs) of Abraham because they possess the faith in God that Abraham possessed through the Promise of God (by grace, not by our works): >*Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.... And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.* ([Gal 3:7](Galatians%203.md#^7), [29](Galatians%203.md#^29)) > >*Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.* ([Ro 4:16](Romans%204.md#^16)) The faith which is given to Abraham and to his spiritual seed (all the elect) through Christ is by God's elective Promise to save them, as it was given to Jacob but not Esau. So when the Bible speaks of God choosing Abraham and his seed by Promise, God is teaching that He saves the elect and brings them into the *spiritual* family of Abraham who are related through their common faith in Christ. The focus of the Promise is not limited to nor does it encompass much of the *physical* bloodline of Abraham. So salvation is neither obtained through someone's free will, nor by physical identification with Abraham (ie. as a descendant through the nation of Israel). Likewise, it is not by association with a specific church or denomination in our day. Rather, God saves His chosen people out of the nations through the proclamation of His Word, the Gospel of Christ, and He alone knows whom He has chosen. And through this they are given the spiritual ears to hear and the spiritual eyes to see the kingdom of God in Christ. Incidentally, God saved some of His chosen people out of the Gentile nations even during the Old Testament time period, such as Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab the harlot, Naaman the Syrian and the Queen of Sheba, among others. So again, this demonstrates that salvation has never come to someone simply because they came from the line of Abraham. It is by the electing grace of God. As we read above, God says that he will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. That is, God will have mercy on whom He chooses. Similar language is seen in [Jeremiah 50:20](Jeremiah%2050.md#^20): >*In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.* This is language of salvation. Salvation has to do with being pardoned of the guilt of our sins through the atoning work of Christ. And God pardons those He has reserved. Then they become the *spiritual* Israel and Judah spoken of here through the Promise of God as spiritual children of Abraham. Again, in [John 15:16](John%2015.md#^16), Jesus says: >*You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, that you should go and bring forth fruit...* This is parallel to what we saw in [Psalm 65:4](Psalm%2065.md#^4): >*Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts....* God does all of the choosing. And, as we also saw previously, God’s election is entirely according to His good pleasure and glory, as [Ephesians 1:4](Ephesians%201.md#^4), [5](Ephesians%201.md#^5), [6](Ephesians%201.md#^6) declares, >*According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.* As this passage indicates, it is not that we accept Christ. Rather, *He makes us accepted in the beloved* according to the good pleasure of His sovereign Will. This cannot be any more clear and direct. Thus, it shows just how deceptive it is when many ignore this Truth to claim that we must accept and choose Christ in order to take some small measure of the glory in salvation. The Bible teaches the very *opposite* from this. Indeed, not one of us will even *seek* after God of our own will because, as God says, we are all unrighteous before salvation: >*As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.* ([Ro 3:10](Romans%203.md#^10), [11](Romans%203.md#^11)) So again, we will only seek God and believe in Jesus once God has drawn us and given us *new life* so that we are born again. Only God can create us anew and reconcile us to Himself by Christ: >*Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation* ([2 Cor 5:17](2%20Corinthians%205.md#^17), [18](2%20Corinthians%205.md#^18)) See how "all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ?" This means that when God predestinated His people, it is NOT because He looked down the corridors of time and predestinated those He knew would seek Him of their own free will. God contradicts that and even doubles up on it: >*The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.* ([Ps 14:2](Psalm%2014.md#^2), [3](Psalm%2014.md#^3)) > >*God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one.* ([Ps 53:2](Psalm%2053.md#^2), [3](Psalm%2053.md#^3)) **[< Part  1](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%201).md)   [2](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%202).md)  &nbsp3   [4](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%204).md)   [5](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%205).md)   [6 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%206).md)** Tags: #library #grace