Good morning, good to see you
here. Glad to have you with us today. This morning I'm beginning
a two-part series that will be comprised of today's message
and the one I hope to deliver next week. And for the overall
series, I've chosen the title, His People and Their God. So I want to begin with an introduction
to the series before we delve into this, the first of two messages
on this same subject, His People and Their God. And some of you
will recall that the last message I delivered here was taken from
Ezekiel chapter 36. And there in the latter part
of verse 28 we read these words that were spoken by God through
the prophet Ezekiel. As God said, and ye shall be
my people and I will be your God. And while you'll recall
that wasn't the primary focus of that sermon. At the time when
I studied that and I came across those words, I was reminded of
how they had a similar ring to the words spoken by Ruth to her
mother-in-law, Naomi. That passage in Ruth chapter
1, it may be familiar to some of you because it's, if for no
other reason, it's frequently quoted in wedding ceremonies,
or it has been in the past. In Ruth chapter 1, verse 16,
we read of Ruth speaking to her mother-in-law, Naomi. And as
part of that verse reads, she told her, she said, for whither
thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. And as she continues, we see
these words that bear similarity to that phrase in Ezekiel 36,
as she adds, thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
God. And while today we're going to
examine quite a few scriptures, I selected Ruth chapter 1 verses
14 through 18 as my primary text, but we'll come back to that at
the end of this message. But to begin with, in Ezekiel
36, as in many other places in the Bible, we have God's unconditional
declaration to some that they shall be His people and that
He will be their God. And I found it interesting, and
not only interesting, but I think it'll be useful to our better
understanding to see how Ruth, as one among those God has declared
will be His, how she voices her resolution to Naomi, one of God's
people, that Naomi's people, these people who belong to God,
would be her people, and that she would be one with them. and that Naomi's God would be
her God. And so we'll come back to that
again in a few moments, but to begin with, know this, and I
hope to show this in this two-part series, that there's two truths
here that cannot be separated. The first is one, that all of
God's people, that is His elect, are those chosen unto eternal
salvation in Christ, they will be His. You see, there are people
purchased by the very blood of Christ. And so, therefore, secondly,
they all, without fail, they will come to know Him as their
God. They will be saved. Well, to
prepare for these messages, I decided to search the Bible and look
and find where all this phrase and I searched the phrase be
my people could be found because I wanted to study it in its various
context because it's an often repeated declaration. And that
search revealed that there were 16 different places where this
phrase or some slight variation of it was found where God declared,
ye shall be my people and I will be your God. And then after checking
some of the cross references on those 16 verses, I found even
additional passages where the same idea was communicated. I
don't have any idea how many times for sure It appears, but
obviously it's an often repeated declaration. And we're going
to examine that declaration in some of these various contexts,
certainly not all of them this morning. And I hope by doing
so we'll heighten our understanding and appreciation for this very
simple truth. But I hope we can enter in and
see how wonderful this truth is as we learn various aspects
of it by the context in which it's found. This truth that God
has a people of whom it can be said that they, every one of
them, and only them, that they have Him, they have the one true
God as their God, their God and Savior. First, let me let you
in on the fact that if you did this search, you'd find this
idea that most of these passages are found in the Old Testament.
As our recent study in Ezekiel revealed, often when God refers
to His people, it is in the context of referring to His chosen nation
Israel, a people chosen under the old covenant, that covenant
which was a temporary covenant. It was abolished by way of Christ
arriving on the scene and fulfilling all the terms of that covenant. Christ said as much, if you recall
in the Sermon on the Mount, when He said, Think not I came to
destroy the law and prophets, but I came to fulfill them."
So we have Christ abolishing that covenant by his obedience
unto death. The very Christ that was pictured
or typified in that ceremonial law that was part and parcel
to that covenant with the nation Israel. And then you'd also discover,
if you looked at these passages, in some of these Old Testament
passages, where that phrase is found, it's also abundantly clear,
unmistakably clear, that God is there speaking of a chosen
people, but from every nation. A people chosen unto eternal
salvation, called spiritual Israel. God's elect, as they're often
typified by that chosen nation, the nation Israel. And as you
may also recall from our study in Ezekiel, sometimes there is
both a temporal application to this nation Israel, or reference
made to them, as well as an eternal reference being made to spiritual
Israel. Well, today's segment, we're
going to concentrate on the first part of this phrase, God's declaration
to some that you shall be my people. And for that reason,
I titled the first segment of this series just that, Ye Shall
Be My People. And first I want to point out
how this is covenant language. We'll see that in some of the
passages here we'll look at in a moment. And where it can be
applied to a people chosen unto eternal salvation, spiritual
Israel, it's the language of what is referred to as the everlasting
covenant of grace. and being a covenant of grace. That means it is unconditional
covenant. It's unconditional, see, toward
those blessed therein. You know, we view a covenant
as a formal binding agreement or a compact that's made between
parties. And indeed, this covenant, it
refers to an agreed upon determination, and it's one that cannot be broken,
partly because of the parties. involved in the covenant and
also because it is an everlasting covenant. It's one that has existed
from all eternity and shall exist through all eternity because
it's a covenant made between the eternal everlasting Godhead. That is God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God subsisting in three persons
And this one triune God's eternal will and purpose cannot and does
not fail. Those blessed by that covenant,
you see, they're trophies of God's grace. You know, trophies
something you win. And God here won these for himself. He earned or married them, God
the Son, by his obedience unto death. And, you know, a trophy
redounds to the glory of the one holding that trophy, and
as does the very salvation of sinners saved by grace. They're
trophies of grace. That means they do absolutely
nothing to earn or merit this blessing to be found among this
people that God has declared they shall be His people. So, first I want us to see how
This eternal blessing of salvation in that covenant is of grace. That is, it means it's just not
at all conditioned upon anything done by, in, or through those
that are saved thereby. As we begin, I had hoped to go
through some additional passages, but time just won't permit, where
he actually was referring to the nation Israel, for there's
a lot to be learned there as well. Oftentimes, as I say, when
he says, you shall be my people and I'll be your God, he is referring
to that nation, a nation that he declared would be his people. But even in those places, and
one in particular if you want to study on your own, Leviticus
26, but there are others as well. Those places where God declared
that they would be his people and they would continue to be
his people, and he's saying that under that temporary. and that
conditional covenant that He made with the nation Israel.
In each instance, we still see that God's blessing on them was
solely owing to His own goodness and not any deservingness on
their part. And so we see even in that covenant,
that language being the language of grace. In fact, it's abundantly
clear that God kept them as His people in spite of themselves. So the point is, even under that
conditional covenant that God made with Abraham and this nation,
to which those contexts, such as Leviticus 26 and others pertain,
we see that His blessing upon national Israel was never due
to their fitness, you see, for they were a party to that covenant
and they broke it. They're being blessed and a remnant
of them being preserved to bring in the promised Messiah It was
never conditioned on their obedience or else, you see, there would
have been no remnant. For their history was one of continual
disobedience. So rather, the favor that God
showed that nation was solely due to His own sovereign purpose
and will and having determined and so declared that they would
be His people. You see, He did it as we studied
before for His namesake, for His own glory. You know, and
there's quite a lesson there for us in Israel's history and
their inability to keep God's law as it was given to Moses.
Because it's a testimony to us that God's favor toward any of
us is totally by grace. You know, recall what Paul told
the Galatians in Galatians 3.24. He told them the purpose of that
law. He said the law was our schoolmaster, schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ. It was to testify of our inability
to measure up to God's standard of perfect obedience. So, as
we see God's chosen people unto eternal salvation being typified
by that nation, we actually see even there the truth of salvation
by grace, as Ephesians 2.8 and 9 says, for by grace are ye saved
through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast." So you and I as
sinners, we can't do anything to merit or earn favor before
a holy God. Salvation is not in any way,
to any degree, a condition on those who are saved. We'll look
at this phrase first in Jeremiah chapter 31. And here we're going
to see this same covenant language, and it's the covenant language
of as it's made in reference to spiritual Israel. Beginning
in verse 31, we read, 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. So that is, now
he's speaking of an entirely different covenant, unlike that
temporal one I just mentioned. He continues saying, which my
covenant, that old covenant, they break. Although I was a
husband unto them, God is always faithful to his promises, saith
the Lord. But he says, but this shall be
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. And
from the description now that follows, we're going to see that
he's referring to spiritual Israel. As he says, 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 man,
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me." We'll be dealing
with that some more next week. 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." So we see here, he's speaking of those forgiven in
Christ. By virtue of His blood payment,
His death, paying the penalty due unto their sins. Whereby God's justice is satisfied,
and they are forgiven. and that forevermore. God says
of these forgiven, eternally saved sinners, using here the
unconditional language of the everlasting covenant of grace,
that they shall be His people. And it can't be broken, as I
said, because the terms of this covenant are conditioned on God.
God provided Himself a sacrifice. God the who cannot fail and did
not fail. The Lord Jesus Christ has already,
some 2,000 years ago, fulfilled its conditions perfectly and
completely by His finished work of obedience unto death on the
cross, and that is a substitute and a representative for these,
His people. You know, it's called a covenant
of grace because the salvation promise therein is unearned and
unmerited by those blessed in that covenant, His people. But
never forget, this great blessing of eternal salvation, it was
earned and it was merited, just not by the sinners saved therein,
but it took some doing. And if you ever grab hold of
what it actually took to satisfy God, you won't dare stack up
your belief, your faith, your acceptance, your baptism, anything
that you do, part of this done through you, you won't stack
it up against in rivalry against that which it took. For you see,
it took no less than the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, and that imperfect satisfaction to the justice of
God. He earned or merited the salvation
of God's people for them. Now, we see further how this
language refers to the everlasting covenant, a covenant of grace,
if we look over into the next chapter of Jeremiah, chapter
32. We read there, beginning in verse 38, God says, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God, and I will give
them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them. and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me." There when he says
he'll put his fear in their hearts, as in most places in scripture,
that doesn't mean he will make you scared. that fear of God
refers to the reverence and regard for the honor of His character.
You see, here they were going along and he says, as part of
this everlasting covenant, I will, as we'll major on next week,
in time, I'll reveal myself to them so that they will have a
different perspective. You know, the scripture says
of all of us by nature when we're born and come into this world
that we've all gone out of the way. We don't come to God by
nature. It says there's no fear of God
before their eyes. That means we don't look at things
from God's perspective. We're busy figuring out what
we must do in order to be saved. We listen to those who would
promote to us, have you accepted Jesus? As they culminate their
sermons with that appeal. Now if you'll just do your part.
And it never crosses our minds until God puts His fear in our
hearts that, wait a minute, that's not the issue. The issue is how
can a holy God accept me, a sinner? This thing's about God and His
glory and honor. And when we see what it took
in the person and work of Christ, we dare not approach God based
on anything that proceeds from us as sinners. You see, it took
some doing and dying. Now, it says there, he says,
I'll put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from
me. You see, those whom God does his heart work for, they may
have doubts. They're still sinners, but they're
sinners saved by grace. He preserves and keeps them.
You see, they can't go anywhere else. It's much like when the
disciple says, where will we go? They've been convinced of
something. in their very heart of hearts
that keeps them looking ever to Christ for all of their salvation.
Well, listen, this is the covenant language of grace. I kind of
got into next week's message there a bit, but what we see
here is no conditions whatsoever required of those whom God saves.
This God who said of Himself that He declares the end from
the beginning, who says, My counsel shall stand. He does everything
according to His will. Well here he tells us something
about his will as he says again and again, here, I will, I will,
and they shall. That's covenant language. And
look, notice here, God does not promise salvation here by saying,
I will if you will. That's the prominent view of
most of even so-called Christianity in our day. And that in the face
of clear scriptures, it says, it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth mercy. If salvation is conditioned in
any way to any degree on you, if it's based on your decision,
your exercise of faith, your willingness to receive that which
others would not. And make no mistake about it,
God makes His people willing. But if that plays a causal role
in your salvation, then know this, that is not salvation by
grace and it would be contrary to this covenant language of
grace. So much so that that describes another people, not these which
our sovereign God declares shall be His people. Well, having seen in the first
part of this declaration that the declaration, ye shall be
my people, how this speaks of a covenant of grace, now I want
us to see secondly how it's also described in God's Word as a
covenant of peace. We see that in the language of
Ezekiel 37, beginning in verse 26, where we read, Moreover,
I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting
covenant with them, and I will place them and multiply them
and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them. Yea, I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. So we see that the everlasting
covenant of grace is also referred to here as a covenant of peace. Peace. Now that should direct
our thoughts toward the reconciliation made by Christ whereby peace
is made. Between these elect or chosen,
listen, ungodly sinners in and of themselves and a holy God
who cannot commune with sin. See what God justifies as the
scripture says, the ungodly. what good news to be found among
his people for he's made a covenant of peace with them." You know,
that's what the angel said, wasn't it? Upon Christ's arrival, peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. He's speaking of that peace Christ
would establish for his people. A bunch of sinners who by nature,
the scripture says, of us come into this world at enmity, with
enemies with God in our own mind. Now, that's hard for a lot of
us to imagine, especially people like me that were raised in a
church from toddler age on up, you know. Why, I was always taught
there was a God and I believed many things true about this Bible. But, you know, the testimony
of God is until We're born again, and He gives us new eyes and
ears to see and hear that which we didn't know before, whether
unbeknownst to us or not. We really were enemies with this
God of the Bible. So we needed, desperately, having
fell in Adam, we needed a peace to be made for us. You know,
you often hear at funerals or when someone's on their deathbed,
well, he made his peace with God. Friends, you can't make
peace with this God. And peace was made for these
people some 2,000 years ago by the Prince of Peace, based on
an everlasting righteousness, and so it's an everlasting peace. And as we'll see next week in
time, these people in their respective generations and in their lifetimes,
they'll come to know of that peace that's been made. And then
finally, as we consider God's declaration here, ye shall be
my people. I want you to see that these
people are a people of inheritance. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses is speaking
to the nation Israel again, those under that temporal covenant.
And he's talking to them about crossing over into the promised
land and to that people whom God declared, you shall be my
people. Moses said of them in verse 20,
but the Lord hath taken you and brought you forth out of the
iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance,
as ye are this day." So this people, the people that belong
to God, listen, whether speaking of the nation Israel or those
from every nation chosen unto eternal salvation. When God uses
this language, He is in both cases referring to a people of
inheritance. And that, too, is the language
of grace. So just as this nation, see, they did not deserve, they
did not earn or merit the promised land which God gave them, neither
do any of spiritual Israel deserve, earn, or merit eternal deliverance
into heaven's glory itself. You know, typically An inheritance
is earned by another, not by the heir. You've got to be born
into an inheritance. An inheritance is gained upon
the death of another consistent with the wishes of the dying
party. And here we're speaking of none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ and his death on the cross on the behalf of those given
to him by God the Father. Paul, writing to believers in
that great passage in Ephesians chapter 1, he said in verse 11,
in whom, he's speaking of Christ, also we have obtained an inheritance. How so? Being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of their free will, no, of his own will. Do you hear that language? You know, there are many who
object who, upon first hearing some of the doctrine that attends
the gospel of God's grace, will object, I just can't go there
with this predestination or this election. Well, you might as
well go tear these places out of your Bible then, you see,
because it doesn't matter what you think or I think. It's what
God tells us. God is truth. Here he says, God's
people obtain an inheritance due unto their being predestinated
according to God's own purpose and will. God has determined
and He's declared He's got a people and they shall be His people. And if we go just a little bit
further down in Ephesians chapter 1, we see that all these who
shall, without fail now, be God's people. who have an inheritance,
they shall come to know it." Beginning there in verse 17,
we read of Paul's prayer for them as he prays that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may
know. what is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
Now, that makes a good segue from which to introduce what
I intend to focus on next week, and specifically we're going
to consider how the one true God, who as we've seen today
has a people, a people chosen in that everlasting covenant
of grace, that covenant of peace, a people of inheritance, we see
that this same God shall just as surely in each successive
generation be known by them." And those are the two inseparable
truths I mentioned at the onset. Not only does God declare they
shall be his people, but he also says of these who were chosen
in Christ from all eternity that he shall, without fail, be their
God. See, that speaks of the sure
results of God's purpose to save them. They shall be born again. They shall be made spiritually
alive with the faculties of spiritual life. The very eyes of their
understanding, see, being enlightened to something of which they were
previously ignorant of. Whereby, you see, they come to
know Him, whom to know is life eternal. Well, in the words of Ruth, which
I began this message, we see there the resolve of God-given
faith that gives evidence that she is among those to whom God
has declared, ye shall be my people. All of God's chosen people,
listen, without exception, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ
so as to look to him for all of their salvation. And our sovereign
God, the one we just read about, who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will, He not only declares the end
of all things, but He's ordained the means to those ends as well. They shall know Him, and God's
prescribed how they shall know Him. As Paul said in Romans 1,
the gospel that sets forth how God saves sinners, that good
is the power of God unto salvation. He says, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. God uses the means and the preaching
of this very gospel of God's grace to save His people. And
it's a word of regeneration. It gives life when it's so applied
by God the Holy Spirit. that good news, see, through
which he brings his people to know him, whom to know is life
eternal." In the story of Ruth, we have evidence that Naomi apparently
had shared the gospel of God's grace with her daughter-in-law,
Ruth. Reflect again on the similar ring that Ruth's words had to
God's words when she said to Naomi, thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. You can read the context in which
that was spoken in Ruth chapter 1, but let me just kind of bring
you up to speed in the interest of time. There we're told about
this family from the chosen nation Israel leaving Bethlehem due
to a famine at that time in the land of Judah. Well, after leaving
Bethlehem, this family settled in the idolatrous country of
Moab. The family I'm speaking of was
Naomi, Naomi's husband, and their two sons. Well, at some point
after arriving there, we learned that Naomi's husband, Elimelech,
he died. And then we're told that Naomi's
two sons each married a woman from among the Moabites. One
of them was named Orpah and the other one was Ruth. And it says
they lived there about ten years when tragedy again struck their
family as it's recorded that both of Naomi's sons died. It
doesn't tell us how, but just that they did. And that left
Naomi without any immediate family there in Moab, and it left her
two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth, as widows. And if you read
that story on your own, I want to go ahead and point out that
despite what you will see as her initial guidance to her daughter-in-laws
to stay in Moab, It does appear that Naomi desired that both
Orpah and Ruth would turn from the false gods of their homeland
to the one true God of Israel, her God. But nonetheless, initially
after the death of her sons, Naomi told her two daughter-in-laws
to return to their mother's house to remain there in their home
country of Moab while she planned to return to her homeland of
Israel. Naomi, in her concern apparently
for their future well-being as widows now, she persisted in
telling them to remain, and it would appear out of concern for
their well-being in this life, the possibility, maybe a better
possibility, that they might be remarried, as there's some
dialogue to that effect. Well, beginning in verse 14 of
that first chapter of Ruth, we read, And they, the two daughter-in-laws,
they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed
her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. And she, that is Naomi,
she said to Ruth, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto
her people, but look what else she says here, and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law."
Now, while Naomi had already been suggesting before this that
her daughter-in-laws remain in Moab, notice here she now mentions
to Ruth the gods to which Orpah was returning in having decided
to stay there in Moab. And I believe that is reflective
of Naomi's desire for their eternal well-being. If you want to read
Robert Hawker's commentary on that, he makes an excellent case
for that. I believe it's reflective of
her desire that Ruth actually follow her God, the true God
of Israel. Verse 16, we read, And Ruth said
to Naomi, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following
after thee. For whither thou goest, I will
go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me." And when she, that
is Naomi, saw that she, Ruth, that she was steadfastly minded
to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. That is, she
considered the matter settled. Notice the determined resolve
in the words of Ruth. No doubt Naomi had acquainted
her with the God of Israel. Obviously a higher power had
now influenced her. A heart work had taken place
as indicated by her firm resolve and attachment to Naomi, to Naomi's
people, and listen, to Naomi's God. So unlike Orpah, she didn't
return to her gods. She didn't depart with a kiss,
but rather she clave or clung to her. And Naomi, seeing Ruth's
unwavering determination to go with her, to be with her people
and her God, she considered the matter settled. God has said of a people that
they shall be His and that He shall be their God. And as we're
going to examine further next week in the second segment of
this series, to have the one true God as your God is to know
Him. And it's to know Him as He's
revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. in
God's one way of salvation by Him as set forth in God's gospel. That gospel that is the power
of God and the salvation for therein is the righteousness
of God in Christ revealed. Those whom God saves are brought
to see that what they thought before when they imagined as
we all do by nature that surely there's something we can do to
be included among this people to save ourselves When they see
what it took, when God enlightens their understanding, they discover
nothing I can bring to the table will cut it before God, not before
this holy God. In my hand, no price I bring,
simply to the cross I cling, as the songwriter put it. They
come to see their need of a perfect righteousness that they, as sinners,
have no possibility of producing. You know, all sinners need the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to them, whether
they perceive of that need or not. God's people shall be brought
to perceive of that need. And if we're to be accepted before
God the Father, we discover we must have been made one with
God the Son in the eyes of God's justice, so as to have the merit
of His finished work accounted or imputed to us. And upon being
so enlightened like Ruth, we change gods. And given Ruth's
determination to embrace Naomi's God as her own, it's reasonable
to conclude that Naomi had been given spiritual life and faith
to see the need for that which only the promised Messiah could
and would merit for her, seeing the necessity that his righteousness
be imputed or accounted under her. You see, because that's
what all of God's elect inevitably come to see by God-given faith. So in turn, when Ruth says to
Naomi, as one of God's eternally chosen people, that your God
will be my God, is that not equivalent to a true believer's same attachment
to listen not only like-minded believers, but also to the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself? That's where believers see their
hope and their oneness with Him. So in Ruth's words, we can see
that likewise it would be akin to us saying where Jesus goeth,
I would go. Think of that. When the Lord
Jesus Christ went to the cross and He died, I died. You go,
wait a minute, you weren't even born yet. Not personally, I wasn't
there. But I died nonetheless in my
substitute and my representative. You see, because it was my sins
for which He died. And when he arose from the dead,
so did I. Not personally, I wasn't born,
but I arose in my representative and substitute, having accounted
unto me the very merits of his perfect and complete obedience
unto death, his righteousness, that which he rendered in perfect
fulfillment to the law and justice of God, that perfect everlasting
righteousness that demanded that made peace, that demanded that
he come out of that grave just as sins imputed to him demanded
he die. Righteousness demanded that he
live and it so demands that I too shall live and that forevermore. And listen, the very fact that
I have arisen from my spiritual death in the new birth so as
to clave or cling to him for all of my salvation, it bears
witness of that truth. So where Jesus lodgeth, I would
lodge. For now I lodge there in my representative,
and ultimately I shall do so in my resurrected body for all
eternity. The people that belong to God
in Christ, his people, they shall all look to Christ alone for
all of their salvation, and thereby they identify, see, with their
like-minded kinfolks, their brothers and sisters in Christ. God the
Son's Father is their God and my God, and it's their Father
and it's my Father, all due to our common union in Christ, standing
accepted before God, as the Scripture says, in the Beloved, in Christ,
having His very righteousness as our own. Is the steadfast
resolve of your heart such that you could truthfully say unto
others who believe this gospel, the gospel you've heard preached
even today, that your people shall be my people and your God
my God. Now again, given that the gospel
of God's grace, it sets forth the necessity of God making us
one with Christ so as to be accepted before the Father in Him based
upon having His righteousness imputed or accounted unto us,
then to so identify with other true believers, see, is to identify
with Christ. And that's akin to saying unto
Christ himself that his people shall be your people, and his
Father, God the Father, shall be your God. And if that reflects
the resolution of your heart, then praise God and rejoice,
you see, for that only describes those whom God has drawn unto
himself. by the power of His irresistible
grace, through the means of His gospel of grace, having been
preached, heard, and believed upon. And all who truly believe
God's gospel, they have the evidence thereby to say with all assurance."
He'd been talking to me all along when he said, you shall be my
people. and I will be your God. That's great news. I pray that
he is yours for such are his.