Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 27.05.2009
Godīs chosen people
God's mercy will choose you, if there is room in you for His mercy. If you are properly called, you can be firmly chosen.
Choosing tests
Have you ever asked why do you exist? You exist for choosing. Your life is a choosing test. Already before God created the world, He decided to gain a certain number of persons whose hearts are so similar to His that they can be called children of God. Who are they? That God has not decided. He foreknew them like anonymous children of God. Therefore also you have the possibility to become one of the elect. Now He is waiting for the full number of the chosen people.
God has planned the choosing tests well. He is the Master of planning which you can see in nature. We all have failed in the first part of the tests. He has put the knowledge of right and wrong into every person. We all have wronged.
In the second part of the tests He calls wrongdoers to regret their evil deeds. Some have passed this test and repented their evilness. These persons are many and the third test is only for them. God calls them into the salvation. God shows to them how He became man in Jesus Christ and atoned their sins so that they could get forgiveness.
There are less of those who passed the third test than those who passed the second test. However we can say that many have received the gospel. The forth test is only for them, because Jesus says: "Many are called, but few are chosen." Mt.22:14 Only by passing the forth test your name is written into one of the anonymous children of God and you become one of God's chosen people.
Have you ever asked why do you exist? You exist for choosing. Your life is a choosing test. Already before God created the world, He decided to gain a certain number of persons whose hearts are so similar to His that they can be called children of God. Who are they? That God has not decided. He foreknew them like anonymous children of God. Therefore also you have the possibility to become one of the elect. Now He is waiting for the full number of the chosen people.
God has planned the choosing tests well. He is the Master of planning which you can see in nature. We all have failed in the first part of the tests. He has put the knowledge of right and wrong into every person. We all have wronged.
In the second part of the tests He calls wrongdoers to regret their evil deeds. Some have passed this test and repented their evilness. These persons are many and the third test is only for them. God calls them into the salvation. God shows to them how He became man in Jesus Christ and atoned their sins so that they could get forgiveness.
There are less of those who passed the third test than those who passed the second test. However we can say that many have received the gospel. The forth test is only for them, because Jesus says: "Many are called, but few are chosen." Mt.22:14 Only by passing the forth test your name is written into one of the anonymous children of God and you become one of God's chosen people.
Grounds for choosing
Jesus told the parable of the wedding to where a man had come without a wedding garment. Therefore he was casted out of the wedding. In this parable Jesus said that only few are chosen by God although many are called. This event describes the fourth and the final test of God.
We can accept the call of God in a way that doesn't clothe us in the righteousness of God, but leaves us on our own goodness. Be careful not to allow the forgiveness of your sins make you trust in your own goodness so much that you dare to go before God in the dress of your own righteousness! A called one has received Jesus as his own Redeemer, but if you are a chosen one you have allowed Jesus to own you.
The experience of getting forgiveness is mercy from God to a person who replied to the call, but it doesn't necessarily make everybody Jesus' own. You can harden your heart so that you don't allow Jesus to own you, although you got forgiveness and you were cleansed. Your purity separates you from the world, but your cleansed heart is in danger of becoming occupied by the world again. Jesus should live in you so that there is no room for the world in your cleansed heart. Many are out-called from the world, but only few are chosen into the grace of God.
How do you reply to the grace of God? The forgiveness of sins has encouraged many to live more carelessly their sinful life. They have received God's mercy as the insurance against damage. They don't allow Jesus to own them, because it would crucify their selfishness. "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Ga.5:24-25
God chooses a person whom He can select by grace. The grace is His ground for choosing. We cannot just take the grace of God to ourselves. He gives it to us if there is room for His grace in us. "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 God who shows mercy." Ro.9:15-16
Many connect God's mercy only to forgiveness of sins, but if it stops in us only to that, we have stopped it halfway. I know that many called ones take pains under this test and I hope that God's mercy may succeed in their heart. Paul, the apostle had great pain in this matter. "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him." 2Ti.2:10-11
In the call of God it is written: "Jesus died for you." In the selection of God it is written: "You died together with Jesus." When you replied to the call, you were allowed to taste the heavenly gift in the forgiveness of your sins. When you allowed God's grace to choose you, Jesus lives every moment with you.
The God's chosen people has always been a remnant of the called ones. When Elijah complained to God about godlessness of the Israeli, He answered: "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ball." Ro.11:4 Paul, the apostle says about this: "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Ro.11:5
Notice, what is the characteristic feature of these people elected by grace. They were faithful to God. They didn't yield submission to idols but obeyed God. It is grace if we are able to love God, and not only experiencing His love!
Jesus told the parable of the wedding to where a man had come without a wedding garment. Therefore he was casted out of the wedding. In this parable Jesus said that only few are chosen by God although many are called. This event describes the fourth and the final test of God.
We can accept the call of God in a way that doesn't clothe us in the righteousness of God, but leaves us on our own goodness. Be careful not to allow the forgiveness of your sins make you trust in your own goodness so much that you dare to go before God in the dress of your own righteousness! A called one has received Jesus as his own Redeemer, but if you are a chosen one you have allowed Jesus to own you.
The experience of getting forgiveness is mercy from God to a person who replied to the call, but it doesn't necessarily make everybody Jesus' own. You can harden your heart so that you don't allow Jesus to own you, although you got forgiveness and you were cleansed. Your purity separates you from the world, but your cleansed heart is in danger of becoming occupied by the world again. Jesus should live in you so that there is no room for the world in your cleansed heart. Many are out-called from the world, but only few are chosen into the grace of God.
How do you reply to the grace of God? The forgiveness of sins has encouraged many to live more carelessly their sinful life. They have received God's mercy as the insurance against damage. They don't allow Jesus to own them, because it would crucify their selfishness. "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Ga.5:24-25
God chooses a person whom He can select by grace. The grace is His ground for choosing. We cannot just take the grace of God to ourselves. He gives it to us if there is room for His grace in us. "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 God who shows mercy." Ro.9:15-16
Many connect God's mercy only to forgiveness of sins, but if it stops in us only to that, we have stopped it halfway. I know that many called ones take pains under this test and I hope that God's mercy may succeed in their heart. Paul, the apostle had great pain in this matter. "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him." 2Ti.2:10-11
In the call of God it is written: "Jesus died for you." In the selection of God it is written: "You died together with Jesus." When you replied to the call, you were allowed to taste the heavenly gift in the forgiveness of your sins. When you allowed God's grace to choose you, Jesus lives every moment with you.
The God's chosen people has always been a remnant of the called ones. When Elijah complained to God about godlessness of the Israeli, He answered: "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ball." Ro.11:4 Paul, the apostle says about this: "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Ro.11:5
Notice, what is the characteristic feature of these people elected by grace. They were faithful to God. They didn't yield submission to idols but obeyed God. It is grace if we are able to love God, and not only experiencing His love!
The chosen generation
God's people has never reproduced in the same way as the mankind is naturally reproduced. "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." Ro.9:6-8
In the gospel there is an equal promise to the one Abraham received. We feel incapable of doing right, like a hundred years old person feels incapable of having a child. However Jesus has promised to live in us producing His own goodness in us. This is like the promise to almost a hundred years old Sara and Abraham of having a child. If you believed the promise of the gospel, also you are a child of the promise? "We through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Ga.5:5
Everyone doesn't believe in the righteous life promised by Jesus. Therefore they don't obey the teachings of Jesus. "They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 1Pe.2:8-10
We can proclaim His praises only by living according to His teachings. You love Jesus, because He died for you, but do you love Him so much you are obedient to Him? Jesus says: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word." Joh.14:23
You chose Jesus when you heard His gospel and believed it. Did you allow Jesus to choose you while you were enjoying grace of forgiveness? He says to His own: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Joh.15:16
When God's love "has made its breakthrough in us" and has not remained halfway, we have become God chosen people. God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If you don't want to live Jesus-life, you don't want to be chosen by God. "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1Jo.2:4-6
John, the apostle speaks about keeping the commandments of Jesus, not as a condition but as a consequence of the salvation. We obey Jesus because we have experienced His love. "We love Him because He first loved us." 1Jo.4:19
God's people has never reproduced in the same way as the mankind is naturally reproduced. "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." Ro.9:6-8
In the gospel there is an equal promise to the one Abraham received. We feel incapable of doing right, like a hundred years old person feels incapable of having a child. However Jesus has promised to live in us producing His own goodness in us. This is like the promise to almost a hundred years old Sara and Abraham of having a child. If you believed the promise of the gospel, also you are a child of the promise? "We through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Ga.5:5
Everyone doesn't believe in the righteous life promised by Jesus. Therefore they don't obey the teachings of Jesus. "They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 1Pe.2:8-10
We can proclaim His praises only by living according to His teachings. You love Jesus, because He died for you, but do you love Him so much you are obedient to Him? Jesus says: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word." Joh.14:23
You chose Jesus when you heard His gospel and believed it. Did you allow Jesus to choose you while you were enjoying grace of forgiveness? He says to His own: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Joh.15:16
When God's love "has made its breakthrough in us" and has not remained halfway, we have become God chosen people. God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If you don't want to live Jesus-life, you don't want to be chosen by God. "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1Jo.2:4-6
John, the apostle speaks about keeping the commandments of Jesus, not as a condition but as a consequence of the salvation. We obey Jesus because we have experienced His love. "We love Him because He first loved us." 1Jo.4:19
Unfaithful love and loveless faith
Maybe you say that I am preaching a salvation obtained with deeds. Precisely that claim proves against you by revealing that you oppose God's love which would like to win you to be His own. Do you want to be conscious of the fact that love without faithfulness is powerless? Show me love without faithfulness, and I will show you faithfulness with love.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so love without faithfulness is dead also. The living grace never leaves man under the domination of lawlessness. Therefore man is saved through faith by the grace of God. If you don't obey Jesus, your love is unfaithful love. If you obey Him, but not out of love for Him, your faith is loveless. Many have lost their love to God. Jesus says: "Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Mt.24:11-13
Preachers of lawlessness introduce themselves as messengers of God's grace. In this way they try to deceive those who love God. The love of believers grows cold, when they are tempted with a skilful and "merciful" speech to abandon the teachings of Jesus. Reject their sentimental speaking so that your love to Jesus would remain strong to the end.
"For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Mt.24:24 When you realize that antichristianity is a menace for their salvation who love God, you understand that it must present itself as a real Christian force. If possible, it tries to make God's chosen people only called ones again.
Maybe you say that I am preaching a salvation obtained with deeds. Precisely that claim proves against you by revealing that you oppose God's love which would like to win you to be His own. Do you want to be conscious of the fact that love without faithfulness is powerless? Show me love without faithfulness, and I will show you faithfulness with love.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so love without faithfulness is dead also. The living grace never leaves man under the domination of lawlessness. Therefore man is saved through faith by the grace of God. If you don't obey Jesus, your love is unfaithful love. If you obey Him, but not out of love for Him, your faith is loveless. Many have lost their love to God. Jesus says: "Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Mt.24:11-13
Preachers of lawlessness introduce themselves as messengers of God's grace. In this way they try to deceive those who love God. The love of believers grows cold, when they are tempted with a skilful and "merciful" speech to abandon the teachings of Jesus. Reject their sentimental speaking so that your love to Jesus would remain strong to the end.
"For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Mt.24:24 When you realize that antichristianity is a menace for their salvation who love God, you understand that it must present itself as a real Christian force. If possible, it tries to make God's chosen people only called ones again.
The rapture of the elect
It is often spoken about the rapture of the Church, but the Bible is speaking about the rapture of the elect. Of course the Church and the elect is one and the same thing but the word selected has a special purpose in this bible text. "He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Mt.24:31
Who were left behind when the rapture occurred? No-one of the elect was left behind. Therefore the Bible uses the word 'His elect'. You get ready for the rapture so that you take care of being one of His elect.
Jesus speaks to us both with parables and openly about those who thought they would get the resurrection of the righteous, but were left here. In His parable (Mt.25) He calls them foolish virgins, who had lamps but no oil vessels from which their lamps could get the fuel. A lamp without oil describes dead faith. The oil vessel describes Jesus. If I belong to Jesus, He lives in me and so I always have an oil vessel with me.
Jesus says openly that many Christians who have operated in His name will perish. In their life will be fulfilled the prophecy of the called ones who never became God's chosen people. "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!'" Mt.7:22-23
Jesus didn't say that their miracles would not be genuine but He said that they had not lived according to His teachings. In other words, they didn't love Jesus. "If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him." 1Co.8:3
Jesus uses many parables when He speaks about people who received the gospel of God, but didn't allow it to affect their practical life. Therefore they were called, but not chosen.
He reveals this in His parable of the servants to whom their lord delivered his goods. The Gospel is a treasure that is given every called one and in the parable of Jesus this person is called the owner of one talent. At the beginning everyone has only one talent. Who puts the gospel into practice, will get more treasures of the faith.
On the day of reckoning it will be revealed for many called ones that they had not passed the choosing test of God, because they had not put the gospel into practice, but had hidden it for bad days. "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'" Mt.25:24-25
He hid the talent of his lord because he was afraid of losing it. He is one of them who are afraid of spoiling God's grace, if they do something because of God's love. They are afraid of doing deeds of the law, which makes God's grace passive in them. There is no room for God's grace in their heart, although it is often on their lips.
"But his lord answered and said to him. 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" Mt.25:26-30
Is this a strange sentence, isn't it: "From him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away"? If you don't accept that the salvation can remain halfway, you cannot understand this sentence. That servant did not love his lord, but was afraid of him. Notice that God doesn't wait for great deeds of love but faithfulness. If God's love in Jesus Christ has not been able to cause love to God in us, even a little, we are not chosen by God.
It is often spoken about the rapture of the Church, but the Bible is speaking about the rapture of the elect. Of course the Church and the elect is one and the same thing but the word selected has a special purpose in this bible text. "He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Mt.24:31
Who were left behind when the rapture occurred? No-one of the elect was left behind. Therefore the Bible uses the word 'His elect'. You get ready for the rapture so that you take care of being one of His elect.
Jesus speaks to us both with parables and openly about those who thought they would get the resurrection of the righteous, but were left here. In His parable (Mt.25) He calls them foolish virgins, who had lamps but no oil vessels from which their lamps could get the fuel. A lamp without oil describes dead faith. The oil vessel describes Jesus. If I belong to Jesus, He lives in me and so I always have an oil vessel with me.
Jesus says openly that many Christians who have operated in His name will perish. In their life will be fulfilled the prophecy of the called ones who never became God's chosen people. "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!'" Mt.7:22-23
Jesus didn't say that their miracles would not be genuine but He said that they had not lived according to His teachings. In other words, they didn't love Jesus. "If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him." 1Co.8:3
Jesus uses many parables when He speaks about people who received the gospel of God, but didn't allow it to affect their practical life. Therefore they were called, but not chosen.
He reveals this in His parable of the servants to whom their lord delivered his goods. The Gospel is a treasure that is given every called one and in the parable of Jesus this person is called the owner of one talent. At the beginning everyone has only one talent. Who puts the gospel into practice, will get more treasures of the faith.
On the day of reckoning it will be revealed for many called ones that they had not passed the choosing test of God, because they had not put the gospel into practice, but had hidden it for bad days. "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'" Mt.25:24-25
He hid the talent of his lord because he was afraid of losing it. He is one of them who are afraid of spoiling God's grace, if they do something because of God's love. They are afraid of doing deeds of the law, which makes God's grace passive in them. There is no room for God's grace in their heart, although it is often on their lips.
"But his lord answered and said to him. 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" Mt.25:26-30
Is this a strange sentence, isn't it: "From him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away"? If you don't accept that the salvation can remain halfway, you cannot understand this sentence. That servant did not love his lord, but was afraid of him. Notice that God doesn't wait for great deeds of love but faithfulness. If God's love in Jesus Christ has not been able to cause love to God in us, even a little, we are not chosen by God.
Make your election sure
Also Peter, the apostle was worried about the matter that believers' love to Jesus is growing cold. Maybe the previous parable of Jesus was in his mind when he wrote this: "For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue." 2Pe.1:5
Then he lists a group of practical virtues. Thus he urges us to be diligent in grace. He advises us to practise deeds of love, because then "you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he has cleansed from his old sins." 2Pe.1:8-9
If we are not able to receive God's love, we are not able to love God either. Therefore it is essential how you experience the death and the resurrection of Jesus. You can receive them so that your love to God remains. You should be "well called" so that you could be "firmly selected". "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2Pe.1:10-11
A God loving person never becomes a backslider. Love must first grow cold so that apostasy would be possible. Many believers are in that dangerous state. Still they now are inside God's grace, although they have already lost their love to God. However soon a moment of trial will come that causes them to desert their faith completely. Therefore be cleansed from your unfaithfulness and confirm your Holy Covenant with Jesus.
Also Peter, the apostle was worried about the matter that believers' love to Jesus is growing cold. Maybe the previous parable of Jesus was in his mind when he wrote this: "For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue." 2Pe.1:5
Then he lists a group of practical virtues. Thus he urges us to be diligent in grace. He advises us to practise deeds of love, because then "you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he has cleansed from his old sins." 2Pe.1:8-9
If we are not able to receive God's love, we are not able to love God either. Therefore it is essential how you experience the death and the resurrection of Jesus. You can receive them so that your love to God remains. You should be "well called" so that you could be "firmly selected". "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2Pe.1:10-11
A God loving person never becomes a backslider. Love must first grow cold so that apostasy would be possible. Many believers are in that dangerous state. Still they now are inside God's grace, although they have already lost their love to God. However soon a moment of trial will come that causes them to desert their faith completely. Therefore be cleansed from your unfaithfulness and confirm your Holy Covenant with Jesus.
The Bible version used in references is NKJV