Pastor Barry's "Chapter & Verse"  Day 21

January 21;   Romans 9:8;   126/260(II);   ‘Two Kinds of Jews’

Romans 9:8 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.

What an incredible verse to make a clear distinction between Christianity and religion.  We also must know that the Lord is not being unkind when He clearly teaches and shows us the difference.  He is doing it so that the religious can see the truth and turn to the living God.  Abraham was the father of the Jews.  To the Jews, the Lord gave the Law.  The Law was not to be kept, because no one could keep it.  The Law was to reveal to the Jewish people that they were sinners and had a great need for God’s help.  Since the Lord gave them the Law, they thought that because they were physical Jews they were in proper relationship with God.  As time went on, the Jews added their own regulations, so that slowly, the religious leaders did not know the Law of the Lord from the doctrines they added.  This is religion.  It has some Bible, enough to ‘sound good,’ but then their own religious ‘truths’ are added.  Religion is a tool of the devil.  How incredibly cruel religion is, when those who desire to know the Lord are deceived by the doctrines of men.  That is why the Lord gave us the Word of God.  Our relationship with Jesus must be grounded on the truth of God’s Word.  I went to church all of my young life and if anyone had asked me if I was a Christian, I would have said yes.  But I wasn’t.  When Abraham believed that God would give him a son, God did.  Isaac’s offspring are the children of promise, the promise God gave Abraham.  These were the ‘spiritual Jews.’  What the natural Jews tried to earn (religion) was given freely to Abraham when he believed God’s Word about the Messiah.