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God Chooses His People to Work His Pastures

¹ I'm not blowing smoke and Jesus knows it . . . the Holy Spirit has my back in this. ² I'm torn plumb in two ³ because of my kin, the Jews. I'd ride right through the gates of hell and spend eternity there away from Christ if it meant they would be saved. ⁴ God chose these people to work his pastures and be his own adopted kids. God showed himself to them. He made promises to them and told them what it'd take to receive those promises. He allowed them to worship him and come right into his presence. ⁵ Abe, Isaac, and Jake are their ancestors, and Jesus himself was an Israelite by all human standards and nature. But he wasn't just any ordinary human. He was God himself and rules over all of God's spread.

⁶ But just because all the Jews won't be saved doesn't mean God has crawfished on his promise to his kids. ⁷ Bloodline and papers don't make you Abe's kids. The Good Book says, "Isaac is the one whose kids will be counted." ⁸ Remember, Abe (or Abraham as he's known in the old ways) had other kids too. ⁹ God had promised, "I'll ride back in a about a year and Sarah will have a boy."

¹⁰ That boy she had is Isaac, our ancestor. He married Rebekah and they had twins. ¹¹ But before she even gave birth, before the twins took a breath or made a mistake, Rebekah got a message from God. ¹² This shows God cannot be backed into a corner by religious doctrine and will choose who he wants regardless of good or bad works. ¹³ In the words of the Good Book, "I loved Jake, but didn't cotton to Esau."

¹⁴ Does that make God unfair? Absolutely not! ¹⁵ God said to Moses, "I'll show mercy to whoever I want. I'll give compassion to anyone I choose."

¹⁶ It's God's mercy to give and he'll give it the way he chooses. We can't choose for him nor can we be good enough to get it.

¹⁷ The Good Book says God told Pharaoh, "I've picked you as a character on the stage to reveal my fame and power." ¹⁸ You ain't got to like it, but the truth is that God gets to choose who he will save and whose hearts will be hardened against him.

¹⁹ I've heard all the arguments. One might say, "Then why does God blame us for not riding for him? If he's in charge, then it ain't our responsibility."

²⁰ My answer is who do you think you are? You think you are better at making decisions than God? Should the created second-guess the creator who is perfect? ²¹ When a cowboy tools leather, doesn't he have the right to keep some and throw the rest away regardless of who likes it or disagrees with it? ²² That's how it is with God. He is the master tooler and can choose to do what he likes with his mercy and his anger. ²³ He does this to show his power and his glory to those who he has called, who were prepared before the dawn of time. ²⁴ We are some of those he has called, both Jews and outsiders.

²⁵ Old Hosea spoke of the outsiders when he said, "Those who weren't my people I will call to ride for my brand. I will shower them with love, unlike I did before."

²⁶ Furthermore, he said, "At the place where I once rejected them, that is where I call them my kids now."

²⁷ As for Israel, Old Isaiah hollered out, "There's more people of Israel than blades of grass in the pastures, but only a few will be rescued. ²⁸ The Lord will come quickly and with finality."

²⁹ Still, Isaiah said the same thing later, "If the Lord hadn't kept some replacement stock, we would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah."

An Unbelieving Lot

³⁰ So, what does all this mean? Even though the outsiders were not following God's code, he still brought them in and made them right with him. It wasn't by following a code. It was by faith. ³¹ But Israel couldn't wrap their heads around it. They wanted the Code, not mercy. They were an unbelieving lot and never succeeded in becoming right with him. ³² You wonder why? Because they wanted rules instead of faith. They tripped over the great rock in the trail. ³³ And don't feel sorry for them. God warned them when he said, "I'm setting a rock in the middle of Jerusalem that will make them stumble and fall. But those who trust solely in me will never be turned away."