The scripture reading for this morning is found
in Genesis chapter 25, and so if you
have your Bibles, turn with me there, I
want to read the first 26 verses of
this chapter.
Genesis chapter 25, and beginning with verse 1.
Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was
Keturah, and she bore to him Zimran, and
Jokshan, and Midan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and
Shuach.
And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and
Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were Asherim,
and Letashim, and Leumim.
And the sons of Midian were Ephah, and
Ephur, and Hanak, and Abadah, and Eldahar.
All these were the sons of Keturah.
Now Abraham gave all that he had to
Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines
Abraham gave gifts while he was still living,
and sent them away from his son Isaac
eastward to the land of the east.
You will notice that most of the sons
of Abraham through Keturah became the ancestors of
many of the Arabian tribes.
Verse 7.
And these are all the years of Abraham's
life that he lived, 175 years.
And Abraham breathed his last, and died in
a ripe old age, and old man, and
satisfied with life, and he was gathered to
his people.
Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him
in the cave of Machpelah, in the field
of Ephraim, the son of Zohar the Hittite,
facing Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased from
the sons of Heth.
There Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife.
And it came about after the death of
Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and
Isaac lived by Bir Lahairoi.
Now these are the records of the generations
of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian,
Sarah's maid, bore to Abraham.
You will notice in the account here of
the generations of Ishmael and then the generations
of Isaac that the reference to Ishmael precedes
the reference to Isaac, and no doubt was
for the purpose of recording the generations of
the firstborn.
But notice that the interest of the author
is not in Ishmael, the firstborn as one
might expect according to ancient Near Eastern custom,
but rather in Isaac, for in Isaac shall
the seed be called.
So we have a brief mention of Ishmael
and then a more lengthy treatment of the
history of Isaac.
Verse 13, now, and these are the sons
or names of the sons of Ishmael by
their names in the order of their birth.
Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar, and
Abbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishmah, and Dumah, and
Massah, Hadad, and Temah, Jeter, Naphish, and Kedemah.
These are the sons of Ishmael, and these
are their names by their villages and by
their camps.
Twelve princes according to their tribes.
Well, you notice that particularly because that is
the fulfillment of a prophecy made back in
chapter 17 and verse 20.
So it is specifically set forth here as
being fulfilled.
Ishmael does have twelve princes or twelve sons
and in addition he has become a great
nation.
And these are the years of the life
of Ishmael, 137 years, and he breathed his
last and died and was gathered to his
people.
And they settled from Havilah to Shur which
is east of Egypt as one goes toward
Assyria.
He settled in defense of all his relatives.
That last clause incidentally is very debated as
far as the rendering is concerned and you
probably will note some alternative renderings and versions
that you have.
In the 19th verse we come now to
the generations of Isaac and this is the
important thing for the scriptural author.
Now these are the records of the generations
of Isaac, Abraham's son.
Abraham became the father of Isaac and Isaac
was forty years old when he took Rebekah,
the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan
Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to
be his wife.
And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf
of his wife because she was barren and
the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife
conceived.
But the children struggled together within her and
she said, if it is so, why am
I this way?
That's a rather obscure sentence or interrogation.
It has been thought to mean several different
things.
One, if I have conceived then what is
the reason for these unusual sensations?
Some think the words mean if this is
the kind of suffering that pregnancy began then
why did I try to conceive a child?
And still others think that she's asking why
she even wishes to live.
If it be so, why then am I
this way?
So she went to inquire of the Lord
and the Lord said to her, two nations
are in your womb and two people shall
be separated from your body and one people
shall be stronger than the other.
And then will you notice the last line
of this prophecy?
For this is the line that the Apostle
Paul cites in Romans chapter nine, and the
older shall serve the younger.
Now you can see from this prophecy that
it's a prophecy of the history of peoples
as well as the prophecy of the relationship
of one person to another.
So the prophecy is both collective and singular.
Now that is important because there are some
who when they read Romans chapter nine say,
well Paul is speaking about national election and
not individual election and so therefore we should
not think that it is true that God
does elect some and pass by others.
But the Apostle's selection of the passage that
has to do with the individuals from this
prophecy refutes that viewpoint.
That viewpoint's refuted by other things as well
because it's impossible to choose nations without choosing
individuals in the first place.
But that kind of argument is the kind
of argument that people who don't think about
the Bible might accept because it pleases their
presuppositions.
Verse 24, when her days to be delivered
were fulfilled, behold these there were twins in
her womb.
Now the first came forth red all over
like a hairy garment and they named him
Esau.
And afterward his brother came forth with his
hand holding on to Esau's heel.
So his name was called Jacob and Isaac
was sixty years old when she gave birth
to them.
The cause of Esau's appearance has also been
discussed by as the rabbis and others the
rabbis thought that when Esau came forth hairy
almost like an animal that this was a
portent that he would be a violent man
shedding blood.
And then others have thought that it meant
that he possessed an excessive sensual vigor and
wildness.
And still others have said it was an
anticipation of the animal violence of his character
or an indication of a passionate nature.
Esau's name means the hairy one.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
F.
B.
Meyer who has written a very helpful series
of biographies of important Old Testament characters has
said no human name can vie with Abraham's
for the widespread reverence which it has evoked
amongst all races and throughout all time.
He then goes on to speak about the
pious Jew who thought that he would be
sure to reside in the bosom of Abraham
after death.
The fact that a person could cite Abraham
as an ancestor was regarded as a passport
to heaven.
The earliest Christians thought of Abraham as one
of the truly great men of the word
of God and the medieval church canonized Abraham
among the Old Testament worthies by no official
decree but simply by common consent.
We know that past Mohammedans regard Abraham with
the greatest of praise.
In fact put him next only to Mohammed
the prophet.
What is the secret of the widespread high
regard for Abraham?
Well it surely is not because he was
the leader of a great spiritual movement that
began in Ur of the Chaldees and found
its way to the land of Palestine.
It's not because he was a manly person
who was able to enter into conflict and
win battles on the battlefield nor was it
because of some special intellectual vigor that he
possessed.
And it wasn't because he was a very
wealthy man which of course he did become.
It was rather the remarkable nature of the
spiritual life of Abraham and also back of
that the remarkable choice that God had made
when he selected Abraham and called him out
from among his people to the land of
Palestine.
The basis of the nobility of Abraham according
to Holy Scripture lies in the faith that
he possessed by the grace of God.
It was the kind of faith that enabled
him to allow Lot to make the choice
of the finest piece of the land of
Palestine.
It was the faith that enabled him to
wait for 25 years for the fulfillment of
the promise that had to do with Isaac
the son.
It was the kind of faith that enabled
him to live contentedly even though he lived
in tents and dwelt as a sojourner in
the midst of the land that God had
given to him.
And of course the climax of the faith
of Abraham was that faith that he exercised
when obeying the command of God he offered
up Isaac on Mount Moriah.
One might wonder it has been said when
you read the life of Abraham how the
work of God would do after Abraham died.
This is the kind of thinking that no
doubt went through the apostles' minds too when
the Lord Jesus was crucified.
How will this work go on?
But as someone has said God buries his
workmen and carries on his work.
There is no indispensable man in the work
of the Lord.
It's sometimes rather sad and humbling for us
to realize that as individuals but nevertheless it
is true.
There is no indispensable man in believer's chapel
either so far as that goes because God
does bury his workmen and carry on his
work and he will always do that.
That brings us to Jacob for this chapter
is the chapter that records the death of
Abraham.
Jacob has been called a son of Isaac
who nearly drowned in seas of his own
craft and cunning at length emerges as a
new man a prince with God.
We remember Jacob for three reasons probably.
I'm speaking for myself.
I don't know how you remember Jacob but
I remember him in this way.
I remember him as the one from whom
Israel obtained her name because the name Israel
is the name of Jacob.
Jacob the supplanter became Israel the prince with
God and consequently the nation Israel was given
his name because he was the father of
the Jewish people.
And I remember him too as Jacob the
man of like passions with us.
The man to whom we can look and
say now there is a man just as
we are men and there is a man
who has to struggle with the same problems
that we have to struggle with.
And there is a man who at times
appears to do no better than we but
in the end he emerges as a man
who is very precious in the sight of
God.
He is a man who had hopes and
expectations and he had trials and sorrows all
of the experiences of human life it seems
Jacob had.
And then at the end of his life
as the Holy Spirit brought him to a
kind of maturity that was really remarkable considering
his beginning.
It's this same Jacob who says the God
who has been with me all the days
of my life.
The angel who has redeemed me from all
evil.
So I think of him as a man
of like passions with us and I study
him remembering that if God could do this
with that crooked man that's a planter there
is a possibility he can do something with
me.
But most of all I think of Jacob
as an example of electing distinguishing grace.
That's the thing that Paul makes of Jacob
particularly in Romans chapter 9.
He looks at Jacob and he says now
here is a beautiful illustration of the means
by which God works with men in electing
sovereign distinguishing grace.
He says Jacob have I loved Esau have
I hated.
Now that's remarkable because I think most of
us I'm speaking for myself most of us
and reading the account if we did not
know the end of the story we would
surely be attracted to Esau rather than Jacob.
But we read Jacob have I loved Esau
have I hated.
It is Malachi who says that and he's
just arguing from what we find here in
Genesis chapter 25.
Now there are people who have big problems
with this.
They say how could God hate Esau.
Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated.
But my dear friend the bigger problem is
how he could love Jacob.
And an even bigger problem than that is
how he could love anyone of us according
to the word of God.
The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked.
And it is a marvel of electing distinguishing
grace that he can love any of us.
So when we read Jacob have I loved
that's the thing that's startling.
Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated
I can understand that in spite of all
of the winsomeness of the manliness of Esau.
So I confess when I think of Jacob
I think of electing distinguishing grace.
Now I'd like if possible to spend most
of my time I tried to do this
in the first hour and didn't succeed very
well.
But I would like to spend most of
my time on the latter part of this
section because that's the section that the Apostle
Paul refers to in Romans chapter 9.
And as a matter of fact that's the
section that Hosea has something to say about
and it's the section that Malachi has something
to say about too.
I gather from this that these two Old
Testament prophets Hosea and Malachi regarded that section
as the important section and then the Apostle
Paul the New Testament apostle evidently regarded that
as the important section as well.
But let me make a few comments concerning
verses 1 through 11 in which we have
the last days of Abraham.
Abraham is now finally to learn the truth
of Paul's statement in Philippians chapter 1 and
verse 21.
For me to live is Christ and to
die is gain.
And so Abram will learn that it is
gain to go to be with the fathers
and to be with the Lord.
And I think it is a striking testimony
to the marvelous grace of God that Abraham
dies gracefully.
I know I pray that I may be
able to die gracefully.
Hannah Moore said, no man ever repented of
being a Christian on his deathbed.
The greatest preparation for death is Christian faith.
And Abraham had faith.
He had faith in the triune God.
And as a result when the time came
for him to die, he died at a
ripe old age and satisfied with life.
Now prefacing the remarks concerning Abram's death and
burial are some words concerning Keturah and Abraham.
Keturah was on a level above the level
of concubines but nevertheless she was one of
them.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 1 and verse 32
it is said that she was a concubine.
And so consequently when we read here now
Abraham took another wife, we are to understand
that in the sense of Keturah as one
of his concubines.
Now because chapter 25 follows chapter 24, we're
inclined to think that that followed the death
of Sarah.
But that is not necessarily so, for in
the Hebrew text the particular state of the
verb is a state in which that verb
may be rendered not only as a past
tense but also as a pluperfect tense.
And so we could just as easily render
this.
Now Abraham had taken another wife whose name
was Keturah.
And then in verse 6 we read, and
to the sons of his concubines, and evidently
Keturah is included among that.
So it is possible that Keturah was one
of his concubines while Sarah was still living.
But it must have been after of course
he was rejuvenated physically after the birth of
Isaac and a number of children were born
to Abraham and to Keturah.
But the special place was reserved for Sarah.
These sons were sons who were ancestors of
a number of the tribes of the land
of Arabia.
Now we read of Abraham's final will and
testament in verses 5 and 6.
Now Abraham gave all that he had to
Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines
Abraham gave gifts while he was still living.
So Abraham's final will and testament revealed that
everything was left to Isaac.
And this too was a testimony to his
faith, for God had said, in Isaac shall
thy seed be called.
Isaac shall be the heir.
Sarah had said that too.
And so following the directive of God he
gave all of his property into the hand
of Isaac.
But before he died he made a compassionate
arrangement for the sons by Keturah and the
other concubines.
This is a rather interesting thing because it
does perhaps bear on the way in which
we handle our own properties.
We're inclined to fall into the pattern of
the world about us and consequently as we
prepare for our death and make our wills
we usually signify that our properties shall be
left to our children.
Now there is something else that might enter
into this.
In the final analysis our property is not
our property, is it?
It is a property that belongs to God.
It is His property.
It is not ours.
And we as believers hold our property in
trust.
It is something that belongs to God.
We hold it in trust for the Lord.
And that raises the question of whether as
Christian men and women we should leave our
properties to our unsaved children.
That's something for you to think about.
I don't pass it on to you as
the principles of Believer's Chapel.
It's only a suggestion from one of the
teachers that you consider it and think about
it.
And in fact there is no telling there
might even come some good from that as
a practice.
And certainly good so far as the work
of God is concerned.
Well Abraham's pattern may be a pattern that
is biblical.
I couldn't help but think that we may
have some activity for the lawyers.
I don't like that.
But lawyers are going to heaven.
There is one in the Bible who is
going to heaven which is evidence that even
lawyers can be saved.
The death of Abraham is recorded in verses
7 and 8.
And Moses' words are beautiful in their simplicity.
Listen to what he says.
Abraham breathed his last.
He gave up the ghost and died in
a ripe old age.
An old man unsatisfied with life and he
was gathered to his people.
What a lovely thing it is to die
that way.
The Countess of Huntington who was very influential
among the Wesleys in the days of the
Wesleyan revivals said, I have no hope but
that which inspired the dying malefactor and now
my work is done.
I have nothing to do but go to
my father.
What a beautiful way to die.
Philip Melanchthon who died in the 16th century.
When several portions of scripture had been read
to him he was asked by his son
-in-law if he would have anything else.
And his reply was in these emphatic words,
nothing but heaven.
So Abraham died satisfied with life.
And Isaac and Ishmael unite in the burying
of Abraham.
Now Ishmael was excluded from the covenantal blessings
in the sense that he was rejected for
Isaac so far as the seed was concerned.
But he was given distinctive blessings.
It was said that Ishmael should have twelve
princes and that he would become a great
nation.
So God did bless him.
Furthermore, we shall read in a moment that
Ishmael was gathered to his people as well.
And it's entirely possible in the light of
the statement in verse 17.
These are the years of the life of
Ishmael, 137 years and he breathed his last
and died and was gathered to his people.
But even though Ishmael was rejected as the
one through whom the seed would come, that
nevertheless he did have a definite faith in
the triune God and may well be numbered
among those who are the saved.
It is different with Esau as the New
Testament makes plain.
The next section, verses 12 through 18, I've
already commented upon and so I'll just pass
it by.
It is a section in which the sons
of Ishmael are set forth.
Ishmael is the oldest and so his genealogy
is given first.
But Isaac is the interest of Moses and
so the greatest attention is paid to him.
Ishmael was something of a loner.
He always was something of a loner.
And later on when he has dealings with
Jacob we'll see that he was something of
a loner.
But nevertheless his life ends with the statement,
he was gathered to his people.
Finally now we come to that section that
I want to try to lay a little
stress upon and it is the section in
which we have the births of Esau and
Jacob.
The history of Isaac begins with the birth
of his sons according to Moses as he
records it.
And the birth and the marriage of Isaac
are recorded in verses 19 and 20 only
for the sake of completeness.
The story really begins with verse 21 and
the prayer about Rebekah's barrenness.
And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf
of his wife because she was barren.
Now that's an interesting thing.
Why should he have to pray?
After all had not God confirmed the promises
to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob was
it not definite that Rebekah should have a
child?
Had not God promised and had he not
confirmed his promise in the birth of Isaac
himself that he would fulfill the covenant?
Why pray when it has been predetermined that
there should be a seed to come?
There are people who think that because God
decrees that certain things come to pass that
therefore there is no reason to pray.
They think that because God has sovereignly in
distinguishing grace elected some and passed by others
that therefore there is no need to pray,
no need to witness, no need really to
be concerned.
Now those who think like that only show
that they do not have the spirit of
the Word of God.
Because you see in the predetermination of God
it is predetermined that individuals shall be saved
through prayer, through witnessing.
And just as significantly as it is determined
that the elect shall come it is just
as important, just as much determined so far
as God is concerned that they come through
prayer, that they come through witnessing.
And so this is not something out of
harmony with sovereign distinguishing grace.
Isaac prayed to the Lord and Rebecca too
went to inquire of the Lord when she
thought that something may be amiss.
So Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf
of his wife because she was barren and
God answered him.
And Rebecca his wife conceived because now the
gift of Jacob is not only a gift
of nature but a gift of grace as
well in answer to his prayer.
You know this must have required quite a
bit of patience.
Twenty years after he married, he married at
forty, Esau and Jacob were born at age
sixty.
So at twenty years he waited.
Ishmael the rejected son is having children constantly.
He has twelve princes.
I can see the letters coming.
Ishmael's first child, we don't have any.
Then number two, then number three, then number
five, then number eight, number ten.
And all the time Isaac's waiting, Rebecca's waiting.
What patience that must have required.
Finally Ishmael has twelve sons and Isaac doesn't
have any.
And yet it is Isaac who has the
promise.
I think of the story of the man
who called up what he thought was the
music shop, but he got unfortunately the plumber.
And so he asked, do you have ten
little toes and ten little fingers in Alabama?
And the person who was the plumber said
no, but I have a wife and ten
kids in Alabama.
And he said is that a record?
He said no, but it's doing pretty good
I think.
So all the time now Isaac is looking
at Ishmael producing children and he has none.
And finally, in answer to prayer, Rebecca conceives.
Now in verse twenty-two we read, but
the children struggled together within her.
And she said, if it is so, why
then am I this way?
Now evidently she thought that this violent internal
commotion within her was an evil omen.
She was puzzled.
And so consequently she wanted to inquire about
it.
I wonder is it possible that this incidentally
since there was a struggling going on within
which evidently had some at least divine connotations,
I wonder if this throws any light on
the abortion question.
But she was puzzled over the struggling that
was going on within her womb.
And she went to the Lord about it.
And the Lord said, why Rebecca, I do
exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or
think.
You've asked for one child, I'm giving you
two.
Furthermore, I'm giving you two nations.
Two nations are in your womb.
And two people shall be separated from your
body.
And one people shall be stronger than the
other.
That's what is meant in Malachi chapter one
when God says, Jacob have I loved, Esau
have I hated.
Israel have I loved, Edom have I rejected.
One people shall be stronger than the other.
But then he adds, contrary to near eastern
custom, and the elder shall serve the younger.
That's a surprising last clause.
And it's the one that the apostle cites
in Romans chapter nine, showing that he does
regard Jacob and Esau as illustrative of the
salvation, of the election of one person and
the rejection of another one person.
Well, the birth is described in verse twenty
-five.
Now the first came forth red, all over
like a hairy garment.
The rabbis said that, as I mentioned, that
this indicated that he would be a violent
man, shedding blood.
And so Esau came out with hypertrichosis, an
excessive amount of hair.
I said that for the medical men in
the audience.
You thought that I didn't know any technical
terms.
It was hypertrichosis.
That's what Esau had, all over like a
hairy garment.
And his name is the hairy one.
But Jacob comes forth with his hand holding
on to Esau's heel.
So his name is called Jacob, heel holder.
Later on it is explained as supplanter in
this very book of Genesis.
And so he is the supplanter.
He comes forth that way.
And the text says his name was called
Jacob, and Isaac was sixty years old when
she gave birth to them.
Now what I would like to do, if
I may, is to turn to the commentaries
on this great event, for it is a
great event.
And let's look first at the Old Testament
commentaries and then we'll look at the New
Testament commentary on the birth of Esau and
the birth of Jacob and see what the
authors of Scripture make over this.
I know there are people who think, well,
the things that the Apostle Paul writes in
the New Testament are things that are very
difficult to understand.
Anyone who has ever read Romans chapter 9
has at one time or another stumbled over
that hard predestinarian doctrine that the Apostle seems
to be teaching in Romans chapter 9.
But let me say to you that what
Paul is doing in Romans chapter 9 is
simply exegeting Genesis chapter 25 and passages like
that.
We're not to think that he thought these
things up in his mind, but knowing the
Scripture and pondering the Scripture, his exegesis of
these things is given in those chapters in
the epistle to the Romans.
Now in the Old Testament, two other men
exegete this passage as well.
And the first one is Hosea the prophet.
So let's turn to Hosea chapter 12 and
we'll look at verses 2 and 3.
Now Hosea, remember, is the prophet of unconditional
love.
And since he's the prophet of unconditional love,
you'd expect him to be familiar with this
passage.
In fact, let's put it the other way
around.
Hosea became the prophet of unconditional love because
he learned unconditional love from the study of
the Word of God.
So desiring to exhort the nation Israel, encourage
them to not seek allowances with foreign powers,
but to trust in God, he refers to
Jacob.
And Hosea chapter 12, verses 2 and 3.
I know it's difficult to find one of
these books in the line of prophets.
We could declare a tea break or something
like that.
But anyway, try to find it.
And listen now as I read beginning at
verse 2.
I'll read through verse 4.
The Lord also has a dispute with Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways.
He will repay him according to his deeds.
In the womb he took his brother by
the heel.
And in his maturity he contended with God.
Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed.
He wept and sought his favor.
He found him at Bethel, and there he
spoke with us.
So the prophet, looking back over the life
of Jacob, appeals to two incidents, one of
which is this one.
And he makes a point.
One of his points seemed to be just
like Jacob was a person who longed to
know God and longed to be in the
center of God's will as expressed by his
wrestling with the angel and his grasping of
the heel of Esau in order that he
might ultimately have the right of the firstborn,
the birthright.
So Israel should seek after the Lord and
not seek after the foreign allowances in order
to find protection from those that were troubling
them.
But also the commentators and students of the
prophecy of Hosea have made another point.
It seems evident too that he appeals to
the grace of God.
One of the commentators writes, for Jacob did
not by choice or design lay hold of
the heel of his brother in his mother's
womb, but it was an extraordinary thing.
Infants don't think like that while they're still
in the mother's womb.
It was then God who guided the hand
of the infant, and by this sign testified
that his adoption as the promised one was
by the grace of God.
So here in Hosea, the prophet looking back
at this incident finds in it an illustration
of the sovereign grace of God.
He sees God working before Jacob is even
born to indicate that his future is a
future in which he is blessed by God,
contrary to Esau.
Now let's turn over to the book of
Malachi for the second Old Testament prophet's comment
on that incident.
Again remember this is, for you men who
are theological students, this is the use of
the Old Testament by the Old Testament authors.
Now Malachi begins with the oracle of the
word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
I have loved you says the Lord, but
you say, how hast thou loved us?
Now the Lord answers his own question.
Was not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord?
Yet I have loved Jacob, but I have
hated Esau.
So in order to strengthen Israel's sense of
the love of God, he appeals to the
past history.
He says, just take a look at Jacob
and take a look at Esau and take
a look at the descendants of these two.
Jacob's descendants, the nation Israel, Esau's, the land
of Edom.
And you will see by the way in
which Edom has been treated and the way
in which Israel has been treated, that Jacob
I love, but Esau I have hated.
And so the commentator Malachi finds in this
an illustration of the sovereign electing love of
God.
It was a love of Jacob that was
prenatal before he was born.
It was a love incidentally that was disciplinary.
The fact that God chooses us and makes
us his own does not mean that we're
not exposed to discipline.
As a matter of fact, the saints of
God are those who are especially exposed to
discipline for our father is a kind of
father who wants to bring us and determines
to bring us to maturity.
And consequently, he's not like so many human
fathers who don't care enough for their children
to discipline them.
He disciplines his children because he's bringing them
to a certain stage of maturity.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
Just look at the history of the two
and you will see how I have loved
you, the Lord says.
But now we turn to the final comprehensive
commentary and that's in Romans chapter 9.
And so will you turn there.
Now the apostle in verse 11 of chapter
9 says, and notice now this is Paul's
exegesis of Genesis chapter 25.
I'm not finding anything in this, but that
which Paul found in it.
There's nothing wrong incidentally with inferring from scripture.
This is what the apostle does.
He infers from scripture under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit certain facts.
He says, for though the twins were not
yet born and had not done anything good
or bad.
So the choice of God does not rest
on anything that they do.
In order that God's purpose according to his
choice might stand.
In other words, his purpose is determined by
his election.
Not because of works, but because of him
who calls.
It was said to her, the older shall
serve the younger.
Just as it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated.
Now it's plain Paul makes two points.
Number one, the sovereignty of the choice of
God and Jacob.
Look at the 11th verse again.
For though the twins were not yet born
and had not done anything good or bad
in order that God's purpose according to his
choice might stand.
Sovereignty, the sovereignty of the choice or election
of God.
Don't like that?
And you have not the spirit of our
great triune God.
Notice the second thing.
The particularity of that choice.
It's not simply a choice of nations.
It's a choice of nations and individuals.
He says, it was said to her, the
elder shall serve the younger.
Just as it is written, Jacob have I
loved, Esau have I hated.
And the fact that the apostle cites only
that last line, the elder shall serve the
younger, is evidence that he wants to lay
stress upon the particularity of the choice of
God.
Now I have said this numbers of times
in believers chapel and I want you to
understand that I realize that I am being
repetitious, but I feel that it is necessary.
I would, I long to see you who
sit in the audience Sunday after Sunday coming
to understand the sovereign electing distinguishing grace of
God.
And then of course there are some of
you who've wandered in here by accident today
and it just may be that you have
never heard this.
I'll try to be simple.
There are only three alternatives.
God elects the good.
Oh, but all the Bible cries out against
that.
We're saved not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, but according to his mercy.
And so even the Arminians and those who
believe in the sovereign grace of God agree
that it is not by works.
Well, the other alternative or the second is
that he elects certain people according to the
faith that he foresees that they will have.
And that faith that he foresees that they
will have is the product of their own
free will.
Now, aside from the fact that elevates that
old God daggone free will to the throne,
it's wrong in a number of other ways.
In the first place, foreknowledge in the Bible
doesn't mean that.
Foreknowledge in the Bible means to know intimately
beforehand.
You only have I known of all the
nations on the earth.
Now God knew all the nations, but he
knew Israel in the special sense of election.
And so he said, you only have I
known of all the nations on the earth.
He means you only have I entered into
the intimate relationship of election among the nations.
That's Amos chapter three in verse two.
There are other places in which the same
idea is expressed.
In fact, if God had looked down through
the years to see who would believe, he
would have seen no one will believe.
For the Bible says they that are in
the flesh cannot please God.
Not a single one.
It says that men are blinded.
It says the natural man receiveth not the
things of the spirit of God.
And so if God were to look down
through the years, he wouldn't see anybody believing.
No, he wouldn't see you.
He'd see you wallowing in your sin and
unbelief.
So the idea that God looked down through
the years and saw who would believe is
contrary to the teaching of the depravity of
man.
Faith is not the cause of our election.
Faith is the product of our election.
It is the effect of God's elective decree.
No Arminian can consistently say God foreknew who
we'd be saved and then preach God is
trying to save every man.
What a ridiculous thing.
No Arminian can say God foreknew the lost
and then say that it's not God's will
that they be lost.
Why did he create them then?
But since he did create them, evidently it
was his will that they be lost.
No Arminian can consistently say that God foreknew
who would be saved and then teach that
Christ was punished for the saving of every
single man.
What human would make a useless and needless
sacrifice like that, knowing ahead of time those
who would respond, but then have the Son
of God die for all, knowing that the
death would be senseless and useless, so far
as that purpose is concerned.
No Arminian can consistently say that God foreknew
all things, yet teach that prayer is of
any use.
Should we pray for the salvation of those
whom God knows are going to be damned?
Think for a moment.
What you're saying, when you say things like
this, that God looked down through the years
and saw who would believe and chose those
who would believe of their own free will.
Think!
I sometimes sit at my desk at home
thinking of new ways I can try to
persuade my Arminian friends to embrace the full
gospel of the sovereign grace of God.
About a month or two ago I had
jotted down a little something.
If it's God's will for everybody to be
saved, as the Arminians teach, then when we
pray for everybody we would be praying in
God's will, would we not?
Well of course we would.
Then if he answers any prayer made according
to his will, then all would be saved,
would they not?
But all are not saved.
Even my Arminian friends grant that.
Therefore it must not be his will that
all be saved.
Think about that.
Well the Bible teaches of course that God
elects those whom he has purpose to save
by faith in him.
In the final analysis, is the reason for
our salvation in man and the decision of
his free will or is the reason for
our salvation in God?
And I think deep down within the heart
of even my Arminian friends they'll have to
say, it must be in God.
Do you know why I say that?
Because when the time comes for the meeting
to be over, he'll go over and get
down with his Calvinistic friend and they'll both
pray to God.
An evidence that in the final analysis, it's
God that saves souls, not man.
So he elects according to his sovereign will.
He elects according to the divine choice and
that choice is grounded in his good pleasure.
There's no way to explain why he chose
me and why he passed by someone else.
We would have chosen Esau and passed by
Jacob.
Some people want to pass by him still
and all of his descendants.
But God looks at things differently.
He looks at things sovereignly according to his
good pleasure.
And we will find ultimately that there is
a good reason for the things that God
does.
Now I say all of this not in
the spirit of argumentation although as you can
tell I enjoy arguing.
I say this really because I long for
you to understand the sovereign distinguishing grace of
God because I think it will make you
a better Christian.
It will make you a more effective Christian.
It will make you a more concerned Christian.
It will make you a more loving Christian.
And it will make you a more stable
Christian.
It's a great thing to begin the Christian
life by believing some good solid doctrine.
There are people who are Christians for years
and years and they have different ideas and
almost every year they have a new idea.
But it's good to be solidly grounded in
the truths of sovereign grace.
Constant change of creed is sure loss.
Mr. Spurgeon says if a tree has to
be taken up two or three times a
year you will not need to build a
very large loft in which to store the
apples.
One of the reasons for failure of Christians
to make progress is because they cannot come
to a settled conviction concerning the basic foundation,
the knowledge of the grace of God in
our salvation.
And so they're constantly up in the air.
Oh you will find that people don't like
this doctrine.
The apostles suffered for it.
The prophets suffered for it.
Down through the years Christians have suffered for
it because if anything is bitterly hated it
is the out and out gospel of the
grace of God.
Men just do not like to be told
that their salvation depends only upon the free
grace of a sovereign God.
They don't like that.
That they know, they sense says you have
nothing within yourself with which to commend yourself
to God.
And we don't naturally like that.
So there is raving and raging at the
grace of God.
John Newton used to tell a rather whimsical
story of a woman who said in order
to prove the doctrine of election, ah sir
the Lord must have loved me before I
was born or else he wouldn't have seen
anything in me to love afterwards.
And Spurgeon went on to say the same
thing.
He said I'm sure he chose me before
I was born or else he never would
have chosen me afterwards and he must have
elected me for reasons unknown to me for
I never could find any reason in myself
why he should have looked upon me with
special love.
Then he went on to tell about how
an Arminian brother came to him once and
said that he had read through the Bible
a score of times.
Always doubt people who say that.
I've read through the Bible a score of
times he said and I've never found the
doctrine of election in it.
And furthermore he said to Mr. Spurgeon I
read through the Bible on my knees.
And so that proves that it's not there
at all.
Mr. Spurgeon said he said to him I
think you read the Bible in a very
uncomfortable posture.
And if you had read it in your
easy chair you would have been more likely
to understand what you read.
He said pray by all means because of
course to pray is wonderful but it's a
piece of superstition to think that you can
get more out of the Bible by the
posture in which you read it.
And furthermore as to reading the Bible through
twenty times and never finding the book the
doctrine of election I wonder that you found
anything at all because evidently you galloped through
it so fast that you hardly would have
time to understand anything if you missed the
doctrine of election and read through the Bible
twenty times.
When we are talking about the sovereign grace
of God what are we talking about really?
We're talking simply about the fact that salvation
is of the Lord.
That's all.
We're not talking about any special doctrine called
Calvinism.
Calvinism is just a nickname for the gospel.
We're talking about the sovereign grace of God.
We're talking about salvation is of the Lord.
It's not of man's free will.
It's not of man's good works.
It's of the Lord.
And it's extended to helpless, hopeless sinners in
sovereign grace.
And we do not preach the sovereign grace
of God such as I've been talking about.
We're not really preaching the gospel of the
grace of God.
So we see this harsh so-called harsh
predestinarian doctrine that the apostle proclaims is not
a fabrication of Paul's versatile mind.
It is what he found by exegeting the
passages of the Old Testament.
That's where he found it.
He found it in Genesis 25.
He saw that before Jacob and Esau were
born, before they had time to do anything,
God said the elder shall serve the younger.
It's obvious their salvation did not depend upon
that which they would do.
So he said it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth but of
God that showeth mercy.
That's his comment.
Now if you want to debate this, go
debate Paul.
And it's the same Paul who in the
next chapter of Romans says, whosoever will call
upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.
And that's what we preach.
Whosoever will call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
I don't know the elect.
I know this.
The Bible says that there is provision made
for sinners and whosoever calls upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved.
I know that God passes by some and
elects some.
My concern is that he not pass by
any of you and that you respond to
the gospel message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know when you read the Bible you
find that there are two great rebellions in
the history of the universe.
There is the rebellion of the angels and
there is the rebellion of man.
Now when the angels rebelled, there were some
good angels who were left.
And can you not imagine them saying, oh,
I wish that God would do something about
the lost angels.
We had such good fellowship before they fell.
So perhaps when the Redeemer comes, he will
go to the lost angels.
But the scriptures tell us that the Redeemer,
when he ultimately came, did not go to
angels at all.
He passed by angels.
He took not on him with a view
to helping them angels, but he took on
him the seed of Abraham.
He passed by the angels, left them for
the lake of fire, which was prepared for
the devil and his angels.
In other words, there was distinguishing grace.
He went to the second rebellion and to
the lost men who had sinned in the
garden of Eden, passing by the angels.
Does anybody object to that?
Even my Arminian friends do not object to
that.
They do not see anything wrong about the
angels being left in their sin.
You see, God does pass by.
He does pass by lost beings and he's
come through the Lord Jesus to save the
saints.
Don't be surprised that through the preaching of
the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ on the
human level, seeking to call men to faith
in him.
He's passing through our society, passing through our
age, passing through our century, passing in the
midst of us as we live our days
out and calling men to believe in him.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
If you're here in this audience this morning,
the grace of God is extended to you
and whether you are elect or not, no
one in this auditorium knows until the time
comes that by the grace of God, you've
recognized your sin and you've received the Lord
Jesus as your personal savior.
May God speak to your heart and as
the Lord Jesus Christ gospel goes forth in
its distinguishing grace, may you respond.
May the Holy Spirit convince you of your
sin and of your guilt and of your
condemnation of the ultimate judgment that faces those
who reject him.
May you come.
Come to Christ.
Believe in him.
Lean on the cross of Christ.
Lean on the blood that was shed.
Renounce all trust in any kind of endeavor,
any kind of work.
Trust only in Christ and be saved.
May God help you to come.
Let's stand for the benediction.
Father, we are so grateful to thee for
these wonderful words of magnificent, sovereign, electing, distinguishing
grace.
And we pray, oh God, that if there
are some in this audience who have not
yet come to Christ, that they may recognize
their perilous, dangerous state and flee to the
cross.
The blood that was shed, may, oh God,
in their hearts, they simply say, I thank
thee, Lord, for the gift of Christ for
sinners.
I'm a sinner.
I come to him.
I take as a free gift everlasting life.
May grace, mercy, and peace go with us
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.