Elect Nations and Individuals

Romans 11:28-32    
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

The Jews were opposed to those in Christ when this was written, so were as enemies to the gospel, yet as a nation were still among the elect.  God made promises to Israel and also to all nations through them - this does not negate nor replace Israel, but adds other nations to His chosen ones.  We both have been born in sin and turned away from Him until called out to Him and away from sin.  There is not one righteous, so we must be humble.  So when he handed them over to disobedience, we of the nations were able to obtain the same mercy and grace as we await God to have mercy on them.  

Blindness to the Full

Romans 11:25-27   
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:  “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

The breaking off of the branches, Israel, from God’s family and the grafting in of those from the nations into His tree of eternal life is indeed a mystery at first.  We need to see through His mercy and forgiveness in grace with humility to know God’s work.  The blindness of God’s disobedient nation is to save from all people as promised to Abraham.  But this is to bring back a remnant from God’s original chosen nation when enough of the chosen from all nations is complete.  God will then take away the sins in turning Israel from sin to join Him with us.  We should not choose to remain ignorant of these things.

Grafted In

Romans 11:19-24   
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

We who were not Israel were grafted into God’s people as branches added to an olive tree to bear holy fruit to worship Him, just as the olive oil filled the temple’s lamps.  The natural branches were severely cut off as the tree was pruned, while we were added by faith.  This goodness and severity of God should humble us, the unnatural ones added by grace through faith, knowing God took the wild in mercy while the natural cultivated ones may yet be grafted back into where they belong.  So we pray for Israel to be drawn back by faith, and are ever thankful to be called His in Christ... 

Root of Humility

Romans 11:16-18   
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

The first harvest for God was Israel, and we are the lump of the other nations.  Because of God’s first people called to be holy, so are we as His chosen out of the other nations to be grafted into His people.  Our boasting then against the first who rejected Christ should turn to humility and thanksgiving for we who did not seek God as they did.  It is the root and fatness of His marvelous grace and mercy that should make us stop to thank and tremble with joy for what we do not deserve.  It should also compel us to tell others, boasting in Christ alone. 

Falling for the World’s Riches

Romans 11:11-15   
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!   13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Israel was chosen as a people of God, yet stumbled in disbelief and disobedience.  This was to open the door to others from all nations to enter into His rest through Christ to be adopted by His calling them out, as many were promised to Abraham.  This was not to replace Israel with the Gentiles, but to humble them to see God’s call to those of all peoples of His creation.  So God shows all who are chosen are His people in order to strike jealousy also for truth in humility for Israel to turn to Him.  Because they fell away, many others have been reconciled to God; now they also can find life from death. 

Of Grace, Not Works

Romans 11:6-10  
6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” 9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.”

Because God gives salvation as a completely unearned and a gift that cannot be worked for, it is not by our good deeds that we could ever enter paradise.  If we add these works, then we no longer have God’s grace, but our good deeds alone, and are hopeless. Israel sought by good Law keeping to be good people in their efforts and could not see the grace promised, but were instead blinded and deafened by God, unable to understand.  But the elect were able to gain what God gave in sheer grace alone, and were thankful.  The chosen were alone given the choice of that grace; the rest were not, but were kept from seeing and hearing, lost in their sin and self righteousness of earnings with no return on their investment in works. 

Remnant Saved

Romans 11:1-5   
1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

God did not cast all of the nation of Israel aside because of their disobedience, their sin. Those He knew and chose as a people were not all lost.  Those of the remnant who did not turn from Him to other gods were reserved by God, chosen, to not bow to those others - this was as now a remnant by means of grace as elected, chosen before time by God to be His.  We also are chosen, known, and caused to not go to another god, but to the only true God through the Lord Jesus Christ.  God calls and chooses few from the many called, as the road to Him is narrow compared to the wide way to judgment.  The gospel has gone out to the whole world as the Law to all Israel, yet He knows who are His out of the many.  If it were not so, either all or none would come to salvation. 

Found While Not Seeking

Romans 10:18-21   
18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 21 But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”

God’s people heard Hid word all along, but they did not hear, refused to listen, and opposed the very God they were called to follow.  So He provoked them to be jealous by calling another people in Christ, the Christians, those who would be humbled and take heed to the word spoken by the prophets and Moses, with the final word from God’s own Son.  We did not seek Him, yet He sought and found us, calling us out as His.  Here the writer points out what God is telling Israel, to want what His people have - a justification and relationship with Him in Christ alone.  Not the shadow of yearly sacrifices, but the one once for all. 

Faith Given to Call on Christ

Romans 10:14-17   
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”  16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

To call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, someone must be willing to go through the world with the words of life first.  And the one going must be sent by God to preach that message, or how can one hear it?  This is the wonderful privilege, to be called and sent by God with life in this message of hope of good in spite of our sinful evil deep within us all from birth.  But not all listen to what is heard, many will refuse to believe that word which alone by God’s working creates faith.  So we do not tell entertaining tales or philosophical explanations, but Christ and Him crucified.  We bear witness to the words of true life, and God creates the hearing to call out of darkness into His marvelous light. 

Believe to Confess

Romans 10:10-13    
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Believing from all that is within us what God has done in Christ which we could never attain to, we admit the truth revealed by God by His Spirit to ours.  So He regenerates us and we are reborn as if a new man.  It is promised from the Old Testament to the new for deliverance from the justice of God’s wrath on the sin of each one of us, no matter the race or country.  So we cry out, and so He answers with the good news to save we who are called to see who were blind, and have the faith to respond from that changed heart to grace and mercy.

Righteousness of Faith

Romans 10:5-9  
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

God gave the law as a set of commands to adhere to for life and acceptance.  But that law of faith, the true law hidden all along, was through Christ who came from heaven down to earth, died and was raised again. (Here it is expressed in the hyperbole of the negative, but that is the meaning).  So His word tells us it is not of doing to earn salvation, but believing with our acknowledged assent of that message of belief and trust (faith).  It means we admit it is all Christ alone who justifies and has risen from death as proof.  We believe what God has said and done in Him for deliverance, something not obtainable by our efforts.

End of the Law to Salvation

Romans 10:1-4   
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Israel had a zeal to please and serve the God who chose them as a people, but it was not based on knowing Him and what His word really meant.  So, by not understanding God’s righteousness, they tried to work up their own in adding to that word and misapplying it to make themselves appear righteous.  They did not submit to His righteousness in Jesus the Christ when He stood before them to confront them with these truths, and many refused to accept that faith in Christ was all that was required.  Even now many people attempt to earn what is not possible, and cannot see what grace by faith in Christ offers, choosing to disbelieve God’s word and work as if they can gain His favor with sorely insufficient means. 

Righteousness is Given

Romans 9:30-33   
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 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. 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.”

The people God chose to gain righteousness by keeping the Law, but found that it is impossible to completely obey Commandments, let alone all the 600 ceremonial regulations added with their own interpretations to excuse some sin.  They missed the heart of obedience in rule keeping, while the other nations did not even look to please God by His standards. The end was God’s grace in Christ’s righteousness by faith as a gift unobtainable by efforts of man.  So many stumbled in Israel in refusing to stop working and start trusting God to do it all.  Their pride to earn God’s favor tripped them up.  But even now the nations do the same in seeking to be good enough for deliverance from God’s wrath in judgment, yet the answer remains the same: by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone.  It is for God’s glory and not ours.

His People: Lo-Ammi to Ammi

Romans 9:25-29   
25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” 26 “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.” 27 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. 28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” 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.”

God spoke through the prophets to say that His people would be called out from those who were not worthy of love, from being outsiders to the chosen people Israel to His chosen (Hosea 2:23).  And even though Israel wandered off, a remnant would be called back from them as well, or they would have been destroyed also in judgment.  God promised His descendants through Abraham from many nations, as the sand of the sea and stars of heaven.  We know now that He gave Christ to accomplish all this. 

Vessels of Wrath for Destruction

Romans 9:22-24   
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, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

God prepared some for destruction and some for mercy.  He demonstrated His absolute power and patient restraint in holding back His due wrath on sin.  He also showed mercy on those He determined in advance would have it, so that He could also make them know the endless value in His glory through that undeserved mercy (grace).  He called us to Himself out of both Israel and the other nations promised to Abraham, and so also He did not call from these the ones prepared for His wrath on the sin we are all born with.  It is His choosing of mercy that any of us are spared our due justice. 

Will Clay Reply Against God?

Romans 9:19-21   
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 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?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

We blame God for His sovereign right to choose who to show mercy to and who to raise up to be hardened to Him in order to show His power to us all.  We may even be so bold as to call God unrighteous when He does not do as we think He must, to give mercy to everyone, but He has always had the right to form each of us as His creations for the purposes He designed from before He made any of us, to honor Him or for dishonor so His holiness and glory can be seen by the rest.  He alone is the potter, and as the clay from the dust of the earth, we are in His good and almighty hands.  We should be humbled how He made us, not demanding creation to be according to our design.

Mercy, Not Right to Choose

Romans 9:14-18   
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 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.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 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.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

God chooses the ones He shows grace to.  Moses asked, “Please, show me Your glory.”  God replied that He chose the ones He shows Himself to, and He alone sets the terms.  He is right and just to do so, for we all come short of His righteousness, and deserve only judgment anyway.  It is His right, therefore, to choose to show mercy or harden the sinful further.  It is not up to our desire or effort, but His will alone.  So those as Pharaoh were brought up with a heart chosen by God to be hardened to show God’s power and deliverance for His glory, and not according to our sense of fairness.  He chooses the whosoever who will believe in His love to not perish as we ought, but be delivered to life forever with Him.  This is a hard saying, but true.

“Esau I Have Hated”

Romans 9:10-13   
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (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), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

When Isaac was born (Israel), his children as heirs were not given the inheritance by flesh but by God’s promise.  The younger was to inherit, not the elder as was traditional.  God hated the elder Esau but loved (chose) the younger Jacob. This was not because the children yet did evil or good, but the promise was before they were born.  So it came down to God electing, choosing, one and not the other as man would choose.  God’s calling is what saves us now as well; we do not earn our inheritance, but obtain it fully by God’s good grace by His choice alone. 

Children of Promise

Romans 9:6-9   
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 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. 9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

Being God’s child is not based on physical inheritance.  Children of the flesh are not automatically His children, as demonstrated here - descendants of Abraham are only God’s if also by His promise.  He had promised many nations from Abraham, not just Israel, so the promise was of His spiritual children to inherit the kingdom of God.  And such we are who are in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile.  It is God’s promise which calls us to be His children, and each cannot claim being born to Christian parents or growing up in church apart from that call and promise of and by faith delivered to each. 

Grief for Israel

Romans 9:1-5   
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Paul’s conscience was driven by God’s Holy Spirit within Him.  This is why he had genuine grief for the fellow Israelites who would not see Christ through the Law and covenants of God who chose them.  He wanted them to know the culmination of all their inheritance was Christ himself who came to fulfill all this God who is who He is promised.  Paul grieved constantly until they stopped turning away and saw Jesus the Christ as the sovereign God and Lord of all forever blessed.  He was driven by the gospel. 

Nothing Can Separate Us

Romans 8:35-39   
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”   37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Since Christ justifies we who are united by faith to God, nothing can break that bond. No difficulties, no trying times, no persecution, no want for food or clothing or shelter, and no violence to kill our bodies.  Because He conquered sin and death and hell, we join in the victory parade over all these things.  Nothing in heaven or earth takes His sovereign dominion away.  Absolutely nothing anywhere can take us from our Lord and Savior.  Not now, not ever.  His love covers us in His eternal and all-sufficient justification of mercy in grace.  We who are His are kept safe and secure in His mighty hand.  Be certain of your calling and position. 

Who Can Be Against Us?

Romans 8:31-34   
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Since God calls, justifies, and intercedes to keep and conform us to Christ, who can be against us?  What God did by giving up all in sacrificing His Son on our behalf, that means He gave us all we could ever dream of in the heavenly places in Christ.  So who can accuse us before Him who justifies us completely for all eternity?  We are no longer condemned who He has called out, and His resurrection proves this.  So the Son is at the right hand of power, more than able to keep our souls. 

Good for Those Called

Romans 8:28-30   
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

God is faithful to preserve His saints.  We who are His, called out by His design and reasons, are in God’s good and mighty hand to bring us through to the end.  He put His design for us in place, knowing the good He would work in us and the love with which we would respond.  More than this, He designed that we should be transformed into the image of Christ.  So He designed us, called us, justified us in Christ by faith, and glorified us in Him and forever.  So He worked all these things for good - both ours and His.  His glory is the greater good, and our sharing of it the lesser, but it is all His work for His glory in grace and mercy.  Hallelujah! 

Intercession Assistance

Romans 8:26-27   
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The hope we have by God’s Spirit living in us keeps us on track in the race towards Him.  He gives strength to feeble knees and prays to our Father through us when words and needs fail us.  He searches the nooks and crannies of our souls (our hearts and minds) to align with His desires given us.  He pleads for us with God’s intercession on our behalf, and in alignment with that good and perfect will.  How could we live as His without His life given for us and in us? 

Eager, Persevering Waiting

Romans 8:23-25    
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Not only does all of creation glory in us His children while waiting for all things to be made new with a certain hope, but we are so moved within while waiting.  We yearn for the first fruits of the Spirit working in us to conform us to Christ until that redemption of our bodies, transformed as the Almighty’s children in His very presence past all time.  This absolute hope drives us to persevere, knowing His promise is sure and the glory real. Such we were saved for, and so we live in Christ alone. 

Creation’s Birth Pangs

Romans 8:19-22   
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

All God created yearns to be free from the sin of our Fall at Eden.  When we who are God’s children are freed, then hope is seen as that is made known.  God put all to futile pursuit to show the hope He alone provides in Christ by His planned coming to suffer, die as the only sufficient sacrifice, and rise from death to prove life in and through Himself.  This good news frees us from the futility of sin as well as our own futile efforts to earn justification.   We are free indeed only in Christ, and so all God created rejoiced the day He arose for creation’s victory.  We look forward to the day of final glory when we are not the only made new, but also the totality of creation.

Spirit Witnesses We are His

Romans 8:16-18   
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Because we who are in Christ have the Spirit in us, we are God’s children.  That means we inherit what Christ has in the heavenly places, as His co-heirs to all He acquired from the Father in His obedient suffering, death, and resurrection.  He paid the price for fallen men, and we inherit the glory in Him through suffering with Him - we die daily as we take up our cross with Him in this.  So any suffering here is comparatively nothing next to that glory of His to be shown to us in eternity.  This is how and why we can live towards the eternal because of that glory we will see as His unworthy heirs. 

Debtors Adopted

Romans 8:12-15   
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Because we have been forgiven much, we should love God much in return.  We owe Him our eternal lives and existence, so we must aim to follow after Jesus Christ in how we live.  This desire to have Him transform us into the image of God in the face of Christ should motivate us to kill off the sinful actions and motives in us, which is our sanctification.  If we are not led by God’s Spirit to do these things, we may not even be His children; if we are His, we are so guided along and so respond in lovingly obedience.  We are freed from sin and adopted in Him, so we respect and obey our Father out of reciprocal love to please Him above all else, especially above the love of self-serving sin. 

Spirit of God Inside

Romans 8:9-11   
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

If we have God’s Spirit, Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit living in us, then we are not only His by that act of taking possession of us, but also live in Him because He lives in us.  We don’t pursue living for sin because of His righteousness counted to us and our subsequent death to that tyranny of sin raging in us apart from Him.  So, if this Spirit who raised Christ is in us, we also are resurrected from death in sin to life in Him.  This is only possible by our justification in His righteousness counted to us, sealed by His presence within us.  So we are in the Spirit and no longer in the carnal nature we were born in. 

Spiritually Minded Life

Romans 8:5-8    
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Living for our own desires, ignoring the right to revel in wrong, only results in death - spiritually and physically.  Such thinking and living sets us as God’s enemies.  To be so at odds with God and His commands and refusing to obey the creator is the result of this rebellion called sin.  We can never please God while continually and willingly sinning, no matter how many confessions are made or beads stroked.  Only Christ can set us free to be slaves of righteousness, as His Spirit in the regenerated man provides the ability and will to choose right over wrong.  We are then to live by His Spirit, not our old carnal mindset.