Introduction Today, as in the history of the ages, many claim to be numbered among the people of God. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Like their Jewish counterparts of years gone by, they believe they have done many good deeds in the name of God. Second, we live in a very individualistic age. The focus of our society is inward, not outward. We urge people to act for their own benefit, and we suspect something is psychologically wrong when someone is concerned about the impact of their actions on others. Third, some Christians emphasize the differences between Israel and the church so much that the similarities between these two groups are overlooked. From the beginning of time until now, God has been calling out a people for Himself. The nation Israel became the people of God. They were a people with a very special calling. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. People like Ruth the Moabitess and Rahab of Jericho Joshua 2 and 6 not only become part of the people of God, they actually became a part of the promised line of Messiah Matthew 1:5. We should hardly be surprised that such people were included among the people of God. After all, the Israelites had nothing to boast about concerning their ancestry. They had no reason to feel superior to their Canaanite neighbors. Indeed, the Israelites were of similar stock and no less heathen in their religious practices. God wanted them to remember from where they had come, and that their blessings were entirely a matter of grace, not merit: Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you shall bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; and He has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which Thou, O Lord hast given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household Deuteronomy 26:1-11. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to the
