How To Be Right With God

One day, at the right time, God will end everything as we know it. Many will spend eternity in Heaven with Him, but sadly, many, many more won’t. Who will go where?

Concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.” Romans 9:27-28

Isaiah wrote this verse that Paul quoted a few hundred years before Christ walked on the earth. Abraham’s seed, God’s chosen people, won’t automatically get into heaven.

When Jesus walked among men, the Jewish leadership rejected Him. On the morning of His crucifixion, they instigated His death by persuading the crowd to continually shout crucify Him.

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Centuries before Jesus, the Israelite people gave the Lord numerous occasions to destroy the nation. They had a hard time doing things right, according to God’s instructions.

The Jewish people served God faithfully for a while, but as usual, they would stray from Him. So, God would send them into captivity or bondage until they cried out to Him for deliverance.

Thus, the reason we find Jewish people scattered throughout the world. The Apostle Paul continued to quote Isaiah about why the Jewish nation still exists.

And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.” Romans 9:29

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

At the Last Supper, when Jesus took the cup and the bread, He established a New Covenant. The ways of the Old Covenant would cease, which meant that He fulfilled the law of Moses.

Jesus assembled a core group of disciples to establish the church after His death and resurrection. After the outpouring on Pentecost, God’s salvation message began to include the Gentiles.

What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. Romans 9:30

This new way introduced by Jesus created problems for many Jews. The law and especially their traditions in keeping it were rooted deep within them.

But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Romans 9:31

The religious leaders would add requirements to make it easier to keep the law. In time, they turned into traditions that kept them from succeeding by creating more bondage for the people.

When we try to override God’s instructions, we will fail. Jesus came to make having a relationship with God much more manageable. Doing things our way means we won’t succeed.

Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. Romans 9:32

Jesus taught us that we must build our lives on a firm foundation. When we follow His teaching and obey Him, the storms of life can’t wash our lives away.

Get Right with God Through Obedience

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. Matthew 7:24-25

The bulk of the Jewish nation didn’t see Jesus as a rock to build their lives on. They viewed Him as a stumbling rock because He went against their teachings and traditions. Paul continued with.

God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Romans 9:33

God not only warned His people in the Old Testament, but He also encouraged them with a similar illustration. This rock that makes people stumble also serves as our rock of salvation.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. Psalm 62:5-7

Even today, many churches and their congregants stand on traditions more than they trust in the Lord. However, when traditions rise above Jesus, He becomes a stumbling stone.

Stumble Over or Stand On the Rock?

I don’t want to completely trash traditions, or if you don’t like that word, we can call them methods. When you go to church on Sundays, don’t go because that’s what you always do.

In other words, don’t do things just to do them. Go to church to worship the Lord. Let the songs you sing usher you into His presence. When the pastor preaches the message, let it speak to you.

Then, to stay right with God, allow that Sunday morning worship experience take you through your week. Did traditional things happen? Absolutely! Did they override your worship of God?

Only you can answer that. You can’t purchase your salvation, neither can you work to maintain it. God wants you. He wants your love, devotion, and your worship. Paul called it a living sacrifice.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1

Our main verse for today says that of all the Jewish people, only a remnant will be saved. We can expand that thinking. Of the billions who have lived on the earth only a remnant will get saved.

Serve God the Right Way

Some have served other gods and missed out. Others will trip up because they didn’t serve God right. They either didn’t accept Jesus, or they only made Him a part of their equation.

Let’s talk about a remnant. When a carpet layer completes a job, we call the worthless piece leftover a remnant. People keep it just in case of an accident, but often it gets in the way.

The remnant of God isn’t the leftover piece but the choice piece. It is the church, the Bride of Christ. One day, Jesus will come for the remnant, for you and me to live with Him forever.

Dear God, we want to live right in your sight and become a part of the remnant. And we look forward to the day when Jesus takes us home with Him.

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