God's Peculiar People
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
God says in Ex: 19:5-6: Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. After saying that, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
And in 1Pet: 2:7-9 it says: Unto you therefore which believe he (Jesus) is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(In studying these two scriptures it becomes evident that Jesus made the way for us to be God's peculiar people, who do his will. Below is how it works.)
Gal. 3: 18-27 says: For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
(So this tells us that the law was the trainer or guardian till Christ came and that now that we have faith in Jesus, we no longer need the trainer, for we have put on Christ. Does this mean that the law is irrelevant now or does it mean that we have grown up and the law and understanding has been instilled in us so that we do not need a written code or a taskmaster standing over us to make us obey?)
Jer: 31:31-34 says: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Rom: 8:3-8 says: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
(So here’s how it comes together--these scriptures are talking about the new heart God promised in the books of the prophets—the last portion of Vs: 5 in the Amp. V. reads: But those who are according to the Spirit and (controlled by the desires) of the Spirit, set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the (Holy) Spirit. This is the new heart God promised us.
Once we receive this new heart, we are reconciled to God and begin our Father/child love relationship with Him. We obey Him because our heart has been changed from one of selfishness and sinfulness to one of trustfulness and obedience. It becomes our desire upon receiving God's salvation to live the reconciled to God life. We have been restored to the place we had before the fall and given everything needed to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. The key is to seek to gratify the Spirit and not your flesh. The flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.
This text in Rom: 8 implies that if you do not learn to walk by the spirit after you are born again, you will continue life no better than before, because the carnal mind cannot submit to God's ways. The carnal person has never become convinced that their ways are death. The saying, "Everything that is fun is illegal, immoral, or fattening" is true for the carnal man--think about it! God's laws and good governmental laws are for the good of the people, but carnal man does not like to obey them.
This is how you become one of God’s peculiar people--you receive a heart to please God and practice pleasing him--you no longer practice pleasing your carnal nature. You will be peculiar to the world, because they walk in death and you will be walking in life.
© Sylvia Huffnagle
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
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huffnagl@verizon.net
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www.straightpaths.truepath.com/about4.html
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