Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 158

June 7;    Matthew 3:9;    3/260(III);    ‘The Seed of Abraham’

Matthew 3:9 and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.  'For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Religion is cruel and deceived.  The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were lovers of money, desirous of attention when they prayed, gave tithes and attended social events.  They were responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ simply because they were jealous of the attention He received from the people.  They were legalistic and put the common people under bondage, teaching the people that they must keep the very laws that the religious leaders could not keep.  The Jewish religious leaders erroneously thought that they were safe spiritually because Abraham, who had a relationship with the Lord was their spiritual father.  This was not true, just like a son or a daughter is not a Christian because their father and or mother are.  Those children have to make a decision for Jesus on their own.  Abraham was Born Again ‘on credit’.  What that means is the gospel message was presented to Abraham by Jesus (John 8) and Abraham put his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus believing who He was and what Jesus would do. Abraham was the founder and father of the Jews.  But not every Jew, simply because Abraham was the father of the Jews, was in a relationship with the Lord.  Romans 9:6 tells us not all Israel (the nation) is Israel (those in a spiritual relationship with Jesus).  This is where religion is so deceptive and dangerous.  You can actually believe that you are fine spiritually when you are not.  Only the Bible shows God’s way to salvation.