nkjv Romans:9 SEEK
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I tell the truth in Christ ,
I am not lying ,
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit ,
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that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart .
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For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren ,
my countrymen according to the flesh ,
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who are Israelites ,
to whom pertain the adoption ,
the glory ,
the covenants ,
the giving of the law ,
the service of God ,
and the promises ;
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of whom are the fathers and from whom ,
according to the flesh ,
Christ came ,
who is over all ,
the eternally blessed God .
Amen .
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But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect .
For they are not all Israel who are of Israel ,
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nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham ;
but , "
In Isaac your seed shall be called ."
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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 .
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For this is the word of promise : "
At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son ."
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And not only this ,
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man ,
even by our father Isaac
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for the children not yet being born ,
nor having done any good or evil ,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand ,
not of works but of Him who calls ),
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it was said to her , "
The older shall serve the younger ."
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As it is written , "
Jacob I have loved ,
but Esau I have hated ."
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What shall we say then ?
Is there unrighteousness with God ?
Certainly not !
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For He says to Moses , "
I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy ,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion ."
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So then it is not of him who wills ,
nor of him who runs ,
but of God who shows mercy .
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For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh , "
For this very purpose I have raised you up ,
that I may show My power in you ,
and that My name may be declared in all the earth ."
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Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills ,
and whom He wills He hardens .
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You will say to me then , "
Why does He still find fault ?
For who has resisted His will ?"
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But indeed ,
O man ,
who are you to reply against God ?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it , "
Why have you made me like this ?"
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Does not the potter have power over the clay ,
from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor ?
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What if God ,
wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known ,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction ,
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and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy ,
which He had prepared beforehand for glory ,
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even us whom He called ,
not of the Jews only ,
but also of the Gentiles ?
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As He says also in Hosea : "
I will call them My people ,
who were not My people ,
And her beloved ,
who was not beloved ."
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And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them , "
You are not My people ,'
There they shall be called sons of the living God ."
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Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel : "
Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea ,
The remnant will be saved .
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For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness ,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth ."
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And as Isaiah said before : "
Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed ,
We would have become like Sodom ,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah ."
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What shall we say then ?
That Gentiles ,
who did not pursue righteousness ,
have attained to righteousness ,
even the righteousness of faith ;
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but Israel ,
pursuing the law of righteousness ,
has not attained to the law of righteousness .
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Why ?
Because they did not seek it by faith ,
but as it were ,
by the works of the law .
For they stumbled at that stumbling stone .
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As it is written : "
Behold ,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense ,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame ."