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To Whom Much is Given, Much is Required
I. God's choice of the nation of Israel. "You only have I chosen of all
the families of the earth."
A. God created man that He might have a meaningful loving
relationship with him. He created man a threefold being,
spirit, mind, and body. Man was a spirit, living in a body,
possessing a consciousness.
1. The relationship with God would be a spiritual
relationship, so that as man walked in the spirit,
he would be conscious of God and could commune with
Him.
2. For the relationship to be meaningful, man had to be
created with the capacity of choice. Else he would be
as a automated robot.
3. For choice to be valid, there must be something to
choose, hence the tree in the midst of the garden.
4. The choice to be truly valid, the alternate must be
very attractive and desirable to man.
5. God warned Adam of the dire consequences of eating of
the tree in the midst of the Garden. He said that in
the day he ate of it, he would surely die. I believe
that in the fruit of that tree, there were those
elements that would enter into the genetic code of
man's cells that would begin the break down of the
cells or the aging process. It was destructive to
man's body, as all sin is destructive.
6. In time, through the coaxing of Satan, Eve ate of the
tree and offered the fruit to Adam also, who also ate
of it.
7. In that moment, the essential part of man's nature
died. His spirit, that part of his being that
connected him with God was dead. Fellowship with God
was broken. Paul tells us that by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so
that death passed unto all men for all sinned. With
the spirit dead, man existed still in a twofold state
of body and mind. The spirit being dead, he lost that
beautiful consciousness of God, and his mind was
filled primarily with the consciousness of his body
needs. He is going to have to think of how to provide
for his body needs, he will earn his bread by the
sweat of his brow.
8. God still loved man, and desired still for the
fellowship that had been severed.
9. So God began to put into place His plan of redemption
of mankind, so that those who desired could have a way
back to fellowship with God.
10. This plan involved sending His Son into the world to
reveal the love of God to the world.
11. God needed first a nation through which he might
reveal His plan, and through which His son might be
born.
12. He needed a man to begin the nation, this man must
possess a unique quality of faith and trust in God.
A man who would obey God without understanding the
reasons for the commands.
13. So God called Abraham to leave his country, family
and friends, and strike out on a journey to a land
that God would show him and would give to his
descendants as an inheritance.
14. Abraham's faith was not perfect, he had lapses of
faith, he at time had doubts, but overall, he
believed God and his faith grew strong as he walked
with God over the years. God honored his faith and
blessed Abraham, and began to reveal His purposes
to him. He told Abraham, that through his seed
all the nations of the world would be blessed. God
now has the family through which the Messiah will be
brought into the world.
15. Hence our text, "You only have I chosen of all the
families of the earth."
B. Why would God choose the nation of Israel? In Deut. 14:2 God
said, "For you are a holy people unto the Lord, thy God, and
the Lord hath chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself,
above all the nations that are upon the earth." But why?
1. My little grand daughter got into that why mode the
other day. "Gramps, why is the sky blue?" Because God
made it blue. But why did He make it blue? Perhaps
because blue is a beautiful and soothing color.
Why is blue a soothing color? At this point
I caught onto her game and decided to throw the ball
back into her court, and I asked, Why do you ask me so
many questions, and she answered, "Just because."
2. Why did God choose Israel? He said it was not because
they more in number than any people. Again He said it
was not because of their righteousness, or the
uprightness of their heart. But because He loved them
and to keep His oath He made to their fathers,
Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.
3. But why did God love them? Just because.
C. God had chosen them to reveal His plan of redemption of the
world through them, so that all men who desired might have
fellowship with God.
1. For true fellowship to be restored, man must again
become a spiritual being. Jesus said to the woman of
Samaria, "God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship Him in Spirit, and in truth."
2. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a man was born again,
he could not enter the kingdom of heaven. He explained
to Nicodemus that He was talking about a spiritual
birth, he had had a physical birth, but it was
necessary for him to have a spiritual birth.
3. When Nicodemus asked how this might be accomplished
Jesus answered, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
II. Fellowship with God, that is what it is all about, but to have
fellowship there must be unity. "Can two walk together except they
be agreed?"
A. To walk in fellowship with God, you must be in agreement with
God.
1. I must agree with the rules that God has set.
2. It is not mine to set the terms of our relationship.
3. I cannot strike a deal with God. "Now if you will do
this, and this, and this for me, I will walk with you
and serve you."
4. I am in no position to declare terms.
5. I come to Him as a poor helpless sinner destined for
destruction, begging for his mercy and grace to be
extended toward me.
6. He does not save me because of my promises of all that
I will do for Him. My promises, like Peter's are
worthless.
B. When you come to Jesus Christ to receive Him as the Lord of
your life, the very title of Lord signifies a submission of
yourself to be His servant.
1. He then declares of you, that He has chosen you above
all the people of the earth, to reveal His plan of
redemption through you to others.
2. You have been chosen in Christ, to be the beneficiary
of the grace of God throughout all eternity. And in
the endless ages to come, God is going to be revealing
to you the exceeding greatness of His love and mercy
toward you in Christ Jesus.
III. Being God's chosen people brings a greater responsibility. God said
to them, "Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquity."
A. We live by a higher standard. We will be judged by a higher
standard.
B. Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required."
1. Man will be held accountable for the amount of light
he has received.
2. Peter in his second letter declared, "It had been
better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than after they have known it to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
3. Jesus declared that the cities around Galilee would
fare worse in the day of judgment than Nineveh, for
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and a greater
than Jonah was here. That the judgment that would fall
upon Sodom and Gomorrah would be less, because they
had lesser light.
4. Hebrews says, "Of how much sorer punishment do you
suppose a person will be found worthy of who has
trodden under foot the Son of God and hath accounted
the blood of His covenant an unholy thing and has done
despite to the Spirit of grace. It is a fearful thing
to fall in the hands of a living God.
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