The Sovereignty of Grace

Introduction: Jacob as a Pattern of Salvation by Grace

0:02 This message was delivered at the 1991 Northeastern Reformed Baptist Family Conference. Now, I'm reasonably sure that all of you who have come to the conference have consulted the schedule of the various sessions when we will gather for the ministry of the word. And if so, then you know that this week in the evening sessions we will be focusing our attention upon an Old Testament character called Jacob who later on in his life was given another name by God, the name Israel, Prince with God. And for those of you who know something about Jacob, and most of you kids do, for you've at least heard about Jacob in some of your Sunday school lessons and in some of your earliest Bible story books that mom and dad read to you, and perhaps in family worship and even in some of the preaching you have sat under, you've been acquainted with this man Jacob. And for most of us who have any acquaintance with the biblical narratives pertaining to Jacob, it's difficult to suppress thoughts which immediately focus on the roguishness of Jacob. Jacob the heel snatcher, Jacob the supplanter. For example, when we think of how he took advantage of his hungry brother Esau

1:28 in order to secure the birthright, we somehow feel... we feel this was not quite the right way to go about getting the blessing of God.

1:39 And then we remember his calculated lies and deception in taking advantage of his dim-eyed old father Isaac and tricking him in order that he might have the blessing pronounced over him instead of upon his twin brother Esau. And later on we see him out scheming, the scheming uncle, So when you say Jacob, you normally do not think of noble character traits that you'd like to imitate and emulate. And then you add to that some of the sermons that many of us have heard on Jacob, and for the most part, his vices have been underscored and his virtues either overlooked or touched upon in a very minimal way. Yet our subject for these four evening sessions is Jacob, a pattern of salvation by grace. And some might ask, well, on what basis, Pastor Martin, can you set forth Jacob as a pattern for anything, let alone a pattern of salvation by grace? Well, I want to give you three simple reasons in our introduction as to why I have chosen to focus upon certain aspects of the life of Jacob,

3:02 particularly those aspects in which Jacob is indeed a pattern of what it means to be saved by the grace of God. And the first reason is that God again and again identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob. And whenever God identifies himself with men, he is manifesting that he is, he is supremely a God of grace. For Abraham, Isaac, along with Jacob, are part of that race that fell in Adam and came under the condemnation of God and by nature deserve the wrath of God. And so for God to identify himself with Jacob is God's way of saying, I'm unashamed to declare that in Jacob my grace, is indeed manifested. For there is no question that Jacob is a saved man who is even now in the presence of the Lord Jesus. For Jesus said in Matthew 8, verses 11 and 12, many shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God.

4:31 Furthermore, in Hebrews, chapter 11, Jacob is explicitly mentioned as one of those old patriarchs who looked for the hope of eternal salvation and has that wonderful promise fulfilled in his life. Hebrews 11, 21. So that's my first reason for taking Jacob as a pattern of salvation by grace because God himself identifies himself with a fallen child, with a fallen child, helpless, ruined, hell-deserving son of Adam, and calls himself the God of Jacob. But then secondly, the nation formed to be the recipient of special covenant blessings and the great channel through which God would bring the Savior is not called the nation of Abraham, not primarily the children of Abraham or Isaac, but predominantly the Hebrew nation after God, the nation that God enters into covenant with them is identified as the children of Israel. That is the children of Jacob when he has been renamed by God into prince with God. And that nation is a picture of God's free, sovereign grace and love marking out a people

5:59 and giving them favors and blessings, which they do not deserve because of anything in them, but solely because God willed to place such blessings upon them. This is clearly taught in a passage such as Deuteronomy 7, 6 through 9, where God says, I did not choose you because you were better than the rest of the nations. I chose you because I loved you. And I loved you because I chose to love you.

6:30 And God gives no other reason, for setting his love upon this nation, but that he chose to do it. And therefore it's right that we should take the head of that nation, the one from whom the 12 tribes of Israel came as a pattern of salvation by grace. And then thirdly, I am bold to venture on this theme because of a very simple fact of Old Testament history. And though I know that many of us, have traveled long miles today and are a bit tired, I do ask you to think with me for the next few minutes on this very simple fact of Old Testament history that for many of you may really help to unlock new treasures when you read the Old Testament. And the simple fact is this, that as God is working out his saving purposes through the Old Testament, leading to that point in history called the fullness of the times when he would send the Lord Jesus to accomplish salvation for his people throughout that entire period, all the while God is preparing for the coming salvation, he does so in such a way that he is illustrating again and again the leading features of the very salvation

7:56 for which he is preparing the world. He is not only preparing the world, through all that Old Testament history, but he is illustrating throughout that history how that salvation will be provided, how it will be applied, how it will be worked out in the lives of those who possess it. It is for this reason that Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 10-11, taking a whole section of Old Testament history out of the book of Exodus, and he says, these things were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages are come. In other words, he says, that Old Testament history of God preparing that people in the wilderness wanderings is not just there to let us know what God did then, but God was superintending, pulling the strings of all of those events that we who now possess that salvation might look back and learn vital lessons from those who were experiencing the very things recorded in the book of Exodus. A similar statement is found in Romans 15-4. Old Testament history is written that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

9:24 Well, you say, how does that apply to the life of Jacob, as a pattern of salvation by grace? Well, it applies in this way. From the time that God announced in Genesis 3-15 that He would take the initiative to bruise the head of the serpent, and that through the seed of the woman He would bring salvation, God was illustrating the major facets of that salvation from the very beginning. Adam was not found wandering around in the garden saying, Oh, God, I sinned, but I want to find You, I want to find You, I want to know You.

10:03 No. After he sinned, he ran away from God. He hid behind bushes and tried to escape God. And it was God who came and said, Adam, where are you, Adam?

10:18 And that's the voice of grace seeking out the guilty hiding sinner. So in the very first instance of God's dealings with fallen man, God is saying, My salvation is one in which I take the initiative to find the sinner. The sinner doesn't grope after Me until he finds Me. I come with purposes of grace to find the sinner.

10:42 And so as we read through Old Testament history, it's interesting, we come into the New Testament and Paul is bold enough to say that even the timing of Abraham's being circumcised was ordered of God to teach a wonderful lesson. Genesis 15 tells us that Abraham was justified when he believed God. Genesis 15, 6. Abraham is not circumcised until Genesis chapter 17.

11:12 In Romans chapter 4, God says the very timing of Abraham's circumcision was ordered of God to teach us a marvelous truth. And the truth is this, that salvation comes to men not on the basis of external rituals, but it comes on the basis of grace alone. Abraham was justified before he was circumcised. And in that very fact of history, God says, I'm teaching you a lesson that Abraham is the father of all believers, whether they are circumcised or not circumcised, whether they are Jews or non-Jews.

11:53 And God teaches that in Old Testament history. Now, when we come to the life of Jacob, and we read about Jacob's chicanery and Jacob's deception and Jacob's vices, God didn't allow those things to be written and direct them to be written just so we could say, naughty, naughty Jacob, don't be like Jacob. No. In all of the history of Jacob, God is giving to us a marvelous example of salvation by grace.

12:26 And this is why so much of our Bible is history and biography, so that the great doctrine of salvation by grace fully expounded in such books as Romans and Galatians and Ephesians might be illustrated in concrete, specific people such as Jacob himself. In fact, Alexander White, in his classic set of volumes on Bible characters, this is what he writes in his opening sentence in his chapter on the life of Jacob. There was no Old Testament saint of all of them who first and last saw more of the favor and forgiveness of God than Jacob. Why is Jacob in heaven now, in the presence of the Lord Jesus? Because God is a God of grace, a God who shows favor and forgiveness and kindness to those who deserve just the opposite. So for those three simple reasons, I'm bold enough to take up this subject, Jacob, a pattern of salvation by grace.

The Sovereignty of Grace in its Subjects

13:40 And the way I propose to handle the subject is under three major divisions. Tonight, we'll take the first one, the sovereignty of grace as to its subjects. And then the next two nights, God willing, the operations of grace in its application. And then our final night, the privileges of grace in its outworking.

14:04 But tonight, the sovereignty of grace in its subjects. In other words, we're going to see in the life of Jacob the great principle that when God's saving grace comes to any man, any woman, any boy, any girl, it comes from a God who doesn't leave his throne simply because he chooses to show mercy. And if some of you wonder, what does this sovereignty of God in salvation mean? Well, really, it's not that complicated.

14:40 It is simply saying that the God who sat on his throne and created what he created, when he created it, and how he created it, and did it all according to his own purpose, never stepped off his throne, and the God who governs and directs everything that he created according to his own will, he doesn't step off his throne after he creates, that God who does all that he does from a throne of unrivaled right to rule is the God who, when he chooses to save, does not step off the throne and save from another posture. He's the enthroned king when he saves, even as he is the enthroned king when he creates and when he governs his world. And in Jacob, we have perhaps the clearest Biblical statement of the sovereignty of God's grace as to its subjects to be found anywhere in Scripture. Now, as we open up this subject, we want to look first of all at the specific historical incident which forms the basis of this teaching. What specific historical incident in the life of Jacob forms the basis of the teaching that Jacob illustrates the sovereignty of God in salvation?

The Historical Incident: Jacob and Esau's Birth

16:07 Well, it's the incidents surrounding his birth. And I want you to turn now to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25. And I'll read verses 19 through 26.

16:23 Genesis 25, verses 19 to 26. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian, of Pavanaram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren.

16:51 And the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her. And she said, If it be so, wherefore do I live? And she went to inquire of the Lord.

17:07 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau.

17:36 And after that came forth his brother, and his hand had hold on Esau's heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. Now according to this passage, all facts are very clearly established. Within the framework of that most moving love story in Genesis chapter 24, God brought into the life of Isaac this woman named Rebekah to be his wife.

18:08 And those of you that lack the ability to have holy sentimental feelings about pure marital love, you need to read that chapter until it does something to your unfeeling heart. Because even a dour New Englander ought to be moved with some feelings of romance when reading that love story of how God brought into Isaac's life his dear Rebekah. But no sooner are they brought together into marriage than they begin to face the burden of childlessness. And according to our passage, for twenty years, Rebekah was a barren woman.

18:52 She bore the grief and the pain of her barrenness. For verse 20 says, Isaac was forty years old when they were married. He was sixty years old when these first two children of Rebekah were born. And during this time, Isaac and Rebekah had to learn what many of the patriarchs had to learn and what we must learn, that no matter how sure are the covenant promises of God, they await fervent prevailing prayer to be fulfilled in us.

19:28 For the text says that it was when Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren that the Lord was entreated of him. And there seems to be some indication that there was some close proximity between the time of her conception of these twins and Isaac getting desperate enough to do something more than merely wish and hope and began to lay hold of God with earnest entreaty. And God was entreated of Isaac and these twins were on the way. Imagine that day when Rebekah is convinced she's pregnant. She's gone one, two, three, five, ten, fifteen days beyond her due date of her monthly cycle. She begins to feel some tenderness in that part of the anatomy that women feel when they get pregnant. And Isaac begins to get excited with her.

20:37 And then maybe she had to go out behind the tent once a day when she had morning sickness and have her whoopsies. The people were no different. Read between the lines when you read the Scriptures. And then the excitement that day when she first felt that flutter of life in her womb and she runs in.

20:57 Isaac, Isaac, I felt something strange in my womb today. And she went through that entire period of those early months until apparently well on into the pregnancy instead of the normal punch and kick and nudge of a child in the womb, she begins to feel as though there's a wrestling match going on in her womb. Look at verse 22. And the children struggled together within her.

21:26 And the Hebrew word is a very strong word. It could be rendered, they bruised themselves by struggling. And her pain became so great that she cried out, wherefore do I live? If I'm going to go on this way, why do I yet live?

21:43 There's an agonizing struggle going on in my womb. And she didn't know what to do. And so the text says she went to inquire of the Lord. And the commentators love to make guesses.

21:54 How did she do this? Abraham was a prophet? Did she go to Abraham who was still alive at the time? Did she?

22:00 We don't know. The Bible is silent but all we know is she went to the right place. She went to the Lord with this unusual distress from this struggling within her womb. She went to the Lord with this unusual distress from this struggling within her womb.

22:13 She went to the Lord with this unusual distress from this struggling within her womb. And as she inquires of the Lord, God speaks to her by what means we do not know. And this is what God says to her. Verse 23.

22:27 Two nations are in your womb and two people shall be separated from your bowels. He says, Rebecca, you have twins in your womb. And those twins are going to be the father of two nations. And from the very beginning, the very beginning the word separated from the womb does not mean that they will merely be born of you and in that sense separated from your womb but they shall be separate individuals from your womb.

22:56 Each will go his own distinct way. And then furthermore the Lord reveals to her that there will be an inequality of strength. Look at the passage. The one people shall be stronger than the other people.

23:09 There is going to be an inequality between these two nations. There is going to be an inequality between these two nations. There is going to be an inequality between these twins and then something very strange. There will be a reversal of the natural order.

23:25 The older one shall serve the younger. That wasn't the way it was done. It was the younger who would serve the older. And even with twins you have a younger and an older brother.

23:36 The first born is the first born even though the second may be five minutes later. Still there is a first born. One is older. One is younger.

23:45 And in this case it's not going to be the younger serving the older but there will be a complete reversal. Now these words find a strange validation in the actual birth account in verses 24 to 26. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb and the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment and they called his name Esau. His very appearance at his birth was one in which he appeared distinctly in what we would say if ever a newborn could be looked upon as having the marks of being a macho man it was Esau. Born ruddy and hairy but Jacob comes out clutching to his heel and therefore he is called one who supplants one who trips up in other words you want to trip the best way to do it if they're walking in front of you when they're this way is to what kick their heel and those of you that know anything about wrestling I'm not talking about what those jokers do in Madison Square Garden but real wrestling you try to take the other man down and the coach says shoot shoot and what do you shoot for you shoot for his lower legs to do a takedown. Well Jacob was born a takedown artist he was shooting for the heels from birth his brother

Biblical Commentary: Malachi's Revelation of God's Disposition

25:14 is born first but Jacob is found born clutching to the red heel of his hairy brother and in that very incident we see as it were a preview of what is going to come to pass in the lives of these two men now these are the bare facts of the historical accounts as they are given to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through Moses and you say oh that's all interesting I see it's there but what does that have to do with Jacob seeing a pattern of salvation by grace especially the sovereignty of God's grace in the objects of its salvation well consider with me in the second place having looked at the historical accounts the additional biblical commentary which necessitates this very teaching of the sovereignty of God in salvation first of all one passage in the old testament the last book with Westel Malachi chapter 1, here is the additional biblical commentary and one of the great truths that came out of the Reformation, which you children and young people as well as you adults must cling to and be willing to spill your blood for it, is that the Bible is its own infallible interpreter.

26:39 And we don't need a body of experts to tell us what it means. The Bible expounds itself. It is its own infallible interpreter. And as we try to understand the significance of that historical incident in the life of Jacob and Esau, we let Scripture interpret it for us.

27:02 The book of Malachi chapter 1.

27:10 Now as the prophet is about to denounce Israel's sins, he begins by saying, By underscoring the special privileges she enjoyed which only heightened her culpability and her guilt. And when the prophet begins to underscore the peculiar privileges of the nation of Israel, notice where he starts. He starts by affirming God's peculiar love for Israel. I have loved you, saith the Lord. But so backslidden is Israel that she cynically answers and says, Where have you loved us?

28:19 Proof is there that you have any special love to us. And the prophet answers in the name of Jehovah, God of the Covenant, Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, but I did not love Jacob. Yet I loved Jacob, but I did not love Jacob.

28:37 But Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation. When Israel cynically says, Where have you loved us? God says, My love found expression when I marked out Jacob and set my distinguishing, free, electing love upon Jacob, while I had in my heart the righteous disposition of Jacob, the righteous disposition of Jacob, the righteous disposition of Jacob, that I should despise Esau, the sinner that he was, but I chose to set my love upon Jacob while he was equally deserving of my hatred. And I chose to hate Esau. And my subsequent dealings with Esau and his offspring, the nation of Eden, proved that I had cast him While you, Israel, in spite of all your sin, I still have purposes of grace and mercy, and though I must bring judgment and discipline upon you, I still will bring to you the messenger of the covenant. I still will bring to you Messiah. I have loved Jacob, but Esau have I hated.

29:58 Now, what fundamental element is added by this statement of Malachi? We looked at the historical narrative, and all it said was that the Lord revealed to Rebekah that she had twins in her womb. And from those twins would come two nations. One nation would be stronger than the other, and there would be a reversal of the natural order. The elder would serve the younger.

30:26 Nothing was said about love. Nothing was said about hatred. Nothing was said about the disposition of God's heart. So the prophet Malachi adds something that we do not see in the bare narrative.

30:41 That behind God's strange dealings in Rebekah's womb, that tremendous struggle that caused her so much distress that she said, in essence, it would be better that I die than go on with this wrestling match in my womb day after day. Okay. God says behind all of that struggle, and behind the difference that will be manifested in those two boys, and behind the ongoing history of the nation that comes from the one, and the nation that comes from the other, is the disposition of my heart. Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.

31:24 Behind the historical facts, and behind the results. Behind the results of those facts, God is saying through Malachi, there was a previous disposition in the heart of God. He loved Jacob, and he hated Esau. Do you see that in the passage?

Biblical Commentary: Paul's Exposition of Electing Grace in Romans 9

31:43 Now we turn to the New Testament for the additional commentary of the inspired Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9. And then we see the teaching flowering out into its full-blown and glorious beauty. Of God's free, sovereign love of his people.

32:07 Romans chapter 9. Now for some of you who are new Christians and not too familiar with the development of argument in the book of Romans, very briefly, Paul has shown that the gospel which he's expounding in this letter is needed equally by Jews and Gentiles alike. Furthermore, he has demonstrated that that gospel which sets forth God's, saving mercy in the person and work of Christ, is adequate for Jew and Gentile alike and is freely offered to Jew and Gentile alike. A salvation in Christ that saves from the guilt, and from the power, and one day from the very presence of sin.

32:50 Now we come to chapter 9, and Paul speaking, writing as an experienced preacher, missionary, and church planter, has learned by bitter experience that many of his own race, of the Jews, are the most bitter enemies of the gospel that he preaches, and this breaks his heart. I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie. My conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

33:23 I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Who are Israelites, the descendants of Jacob? I have this peculiar burden in spite of all their privileges. They are the most opposed and the most set in their opposition to the gospel.

33:47 Now why? Is it because their unbelief and impenitence is an indication that God's promise to save Israel has failed? Verse 6. But it is not as though the word of God has come to naught, for they are not all Israel that are of Israel, neither because they are Abraham's seed are they children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

34:16 That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. Putting it in simple language, here's what he said. God gave marvelous promises throughout the Old Testament. That there would be a seed of Israel that would be saved, and that seed would be a multitude of sinners who would be brought to embrace the promised Messiah.

34:41 And now Paul is preaching in many of the physical descendants of Jacob, those who are of the nation of Israel, are impenitent, unbelieving. They throw Paul in prison. They stung him. They whip him.

34:53 They do everything to get rid of him. He says, does that mean God's ancient promises failed? God said that he would save Israel. Has God's promise failed?

35:03 He says, no. May it never, never be so. And he says, here is how we know his promise has not failed. Not everyone who is a physical descendant of Israel, verse 6, is included in that promise that God would save the seed.

35:23 Rather, he says, there is an Israel within Israel. It is only those envisioned as children. Children of promise, and not children of the flesh, who are truly included in the mind and heart of God when he made those promises. Now, that's not spiritualizing the promises.

35:43 That's the Holy Ghost expounding the promises. And when people say, Israel means Israel, don't spiritualize. Excuse me. The Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, says, they are not all Israel that are of Israel.

35:58 This is not artificially twisting the word. This is the Holy Ghost. Interpreting his own word. Now, he says, I want to show you this.

36:07 I'm going to demonstrate it. Here we come back to our principle from the introduction. All the way through the Old Testament, what is God doing with Old Testament history? He's not only preparing the world for the coming of the Savior, but he's showing us how that salvation will work.

36:21 So, what does Paul do? He gives two historical realities that demonstrate this truth. The first one is pertaining to...

36:31 To the incidents connected with the birth of Isaac. Verse 9.

36:36 For this is a word of promise. According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

36:46 You remember what happened? There was a promise that Abraham would have a seed that would become as numerous as the stars of the heaven and the sand upon the seashore. And Abraham got impatient to have that promise fulfilled, and so did Sarah. So, they worked out a scheme.

37:02 And Abraham... Goes in and has relations with Sarah's handmaid, and Ishmael is born, and Abraham says, Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee.

37:11 God says, no. He is a son according to the flesh. But my promise that will eventually be fulfilled in Christ and all of the seed that are in Christ, it must be evident that the basis is not the flesh and human effort and human scheming, but divine promise and divine effort and divine will. So, the child of promise eventually comes.

37:36 Isaac. God's illustrating the truth. But now he says there's a second historical incident that demonstrates it. Look at verse 10.

37:43 And not only so. And here we're right back to Genesis where we began. But Rebekah having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything...

38:02 Good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of worse, but of him that calls, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Genesis 25. And now notice what he adds. The very words we looked at in Malachi.

38:26 Even as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now do you see all the building blocks? Once together, Genesis 25 gives us the historical facts. The elder shall serve the younger.

38:40 Jacob is going to be in the posture of being above Esau. There are the facts. Malachi comes along and adds to it this fact. That behind that working of God, that purpose of God, there was the love of God set upon Jacob.

38:56 And there was his righteous hatred toward Esau. Now Paul comes and adds another block. And he says, All of this is to the end, that we might see that when God saves, he saves according to the purpose of electing grace. Look at the text.

39:18 The children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that is, in their own life history, they had not yet begun to tell lies and fight with one another and cheat when they went to school. They were bad. But in their own life history, we did not yet begin to see a very passionate, flesh-loving, carnal temperament developing in Esau, and a more gentle, contemplative, spiritually-minded temperament developing in Jacob. And God said, Oh boy, now this is the one that looks like he's spiritually sensitive.

39:53 I'll choose him. He said, No, no. The children not having yet been born, not having done anything to indicate a difference of character, God said when they were still in her womb, the elder shall serve the younger. Malachi says, And the reason for that is, I've set my love upon the younger Jacob, and I've bypassed the older Esau.

40:17 And all of this to illustrate in order that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works. It wasn't that God foresaw that Jacob would be a mother. Jacob would be a more sensitive, spiritually-minded man, and Esau would be a more passionate, earthy, profane man. That would be according to works.

40:42 Not according to works, but of him that calls. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, even as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, Paul knows that this teaching will not go down well with the carnal mind. The carnal mind and the carnal heart.

Anticipating Objections: God's Righteousness and Sovereignty

41:04 So he immediately anticipates an objection in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? I mean, that doesn't sound fair, it doesn't sound right, it sounds unrighteous.

41:19 He anticipates an objection. Is there unrighteousness? And his answer is, whatever the answer is, you must never raise a question about God's rights to be God. May it never be.

41:31 And then he quotes again from the Old Testament, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. In other words, I won't vacate my throne when it comes to showing mercy. When I choose to have compassion upon sinners, I will not be constrained by anything in sinners, or constrained by sin. I will not be constrained by anything from any other source other than my own holy will.

42:08 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that hath mercy. Then he gives the illustration of Pharaoh, and then he concludes in verse 18, so then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he wills he hardens. Then he anticipates another objection.

42:32 And he answers it in a similar way, culminating in that statement, Nay, O man, who are you to teach God right and wrong? You are but a creature of the dust, and you are a fallen creature at that, who was conceived in sin, whose spiritual senses are twisted and marred and perverted by sin. Who are you, little man, to be telling a holy God how to do his business? Put your hand upon your mouth.

43:01 Put your face in the dust and by the fire. Put your face in the dust and bow before this great God, for he could have justly and righteously hated us all, and there was enough hateful in every one of us to send us all to hell. And that is why Spurgeon said when someone expressed problems with this verse, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, and he asked him, what troubles you with the verse? He said, what troubles me is, Esau have I hated, and Spurgeon's answer is classic.

43:28 He said, I am troubled with the verse too, but I am not troubled with the statement, Esau have I hated. There was plenty in Esau for a righteous God to hate with a holy sinless hatred, as there is plenty in me and in you for God to hate. What troubles me and mystifies me is that a holy and a righteous God would say, Jacob have I loved. What amazes and astounds and battles my mind and my spirit is not that God hated Esau, but that he loved Jacob.

43:58 And so the apostle brings this whole development around. Full circle. And says, yes, we are to learn from all of that birth incident, this great truth, that God's salvation to any man, in any age, in any place, at any time, will always be a salvation that follows the channels cut by the sovereign electing grace of God. And so I say, Jacob then.

44:33 Is a pattern of salvation by grace, first of all, the sovereignty of grace as to its subjects. God is teaching us in his choice of Jacob, that he loves some with an everlasting love, while he righteously bypasses others, and with a hatred not at all, pinched in the slightest way, with anything that is evil. He chooses to bypass them and lead them to the just desert of their sin. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.

Facets of Election: Essence, Basis, and Man's Responsibility

45:14 Now, having looked at the historical incident, secondly, the additional biblical commentary on that incident, now then, thirdly, and very quickly, let me just touch upon the major facets of this election of grace, as illustrated in the experience of Jacob. What are the major facets of this election of grace, illustrated in the experience of Jacob? Well, first of all, the essence, the very essence of the election of grace. What is the essence of God's election of grace?

45:50 It is God's choice of specific, hell-deserving sinners to become the recipients of God's saving mercy. Jacob was a specific, hell-deserving sinner. And Jacob became the specific object of God's amazing love and mercy. As our Confession states, chapter 3, God's decree, paragraph 3, By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace.

46:29 Others, Esau's. Esau's being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice. Let us not take for granted, my brethren in the ministry, that because we have a Confession that we subscribe to, and we say we are reformed Baptist churches, that we have a generation that understands this truth, unless it is expounded and we show them its bare roots in Scripture. The essence of the election of grace is that out of the mass of equally hell-deserving humanity, God has set his love, not on a faceless group of people, but on specific individuals, out of every kindred, tribe and tongue and people and nation. And he has freely, sovereignly set his love upon them with a purpose that that love will actually redeem them through the work of Jesus Christ, the Mediator. And whatever national implications there were in the original revelation of that inter-uterine wrestling between Jacob and Esau, it is a travesty of Scripture to say that, well, this

47:49 is not personal individual election, this is just national election to privilege. How does that square with Romans 9? The true being not yet. The true being not yet born.

48:02 Those are individuals in whom is illustrated, in whom are illustrated, these marvelous actings of God's free and sovereign grace. And when we say we believe in election, what are we confessing? That for reasons known only to God, God has set his love upon specific hell-deserving sinners. Before they had any life history that would allow them to live.

48:29 A life history that would make them more deserving than others or less deserving than others. God freely, sovereignly chose them to life and salvation through a Redeemer. And that brings us, secondly, to the basis of this election of grace. On what basis was the choice to love Jacob and to hate Esau made?

48:50 It was not the basis of foreseen character, susceptibility to spiritual things. We are told it was according to the good pleasure of his holy will. It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. The reasons are locked up in God's own heart.

49:14 And we know from the account of the subsequent history of both Jacob and Esau that they were both great sinners by nature and practice. Yet one of them is now in the very presence of the Lord Jesus, free from every stain of sin. And one of them is in hell awaiting the day of judgment of ungodly man. And the basis of that difference ultimately lay in the heart and in the mind and in the will of God himself.

49:47 And our confession again is very clear in paragraph five. Those of mankind predestinated to life. God before the foundation of the world was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will hath chosen in Christ to everlasting glory out of his mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto. That states the truth clearly.

50:21 The essence of the election of grace, God has said, is love. God has set his love upon specific sinners. The basis? It is his own free, sovereign, loving, wise choice.

50:34 And then we see in these two men the relationship between election and man's responsibility for his sin. As the narrative of the subsequent history of Jacob and Esau unfolds, it's clear that Esau manifests the disposition of a reprobate. We'll get into more of that in subsequent messages. But you remember from Hebrews 12.14.

50:55 The Holy Spirit focuses on the fact that he despised the spiritual privileges that were available to him, and God holds him responsible when he said, What is the blessing? What is the birthright? What is this that should be mine because I was first born? I've got a hungry belly.

51:17 And God says he was damned not because God didn't elect him. He was damned because he was a profane man in his own life. He treated holy things like dirt. Like some of you do.

51:30 What's the fight? What's Sunday school? What's family worship? What's going to church?

51:36 What's the preaching? I'd rather be home watching MTV. I'd rather be out with the guys. I'd rather be on a date.

51:43 What are all these holy things? My dear young person, listen to me. You show yourself to be an Esau in temperament and God will hold you accountable as he held Esau accountable. Esau's in hell not because...

51:57 God didn't elect him. He's in hell for his sin. He's in hell because he chose to love his belly more than the privileges that were set before him in that godly father Isaac. You say, well how can that be?

52:14 It is. Don't split your head open on facts. And if you sit here in your sin, God holds you accountable right now. And he says it's your sin.

52:25 And he calls on you to repent of your sin. He calls on you to own your sin. He calls upon you to cry to him that he, by grace, would forgive you, break the chains of your sin, give you a heart that will love him and love his ways. And this is seen in the life of Jacob and Esau.

The Practical Influence of Appreciating Election

52:45 That the relationship between election and man's responsibility for his sin is one in which man's salvation is wholly due to the grace of God and man's damnation is wholly due to his own sin and his own guilt. Don't ever make the doctrine of election a hiding place from having dealings with God, young people. And that's one of the things that amazes me as I've been in one place long enough now for almost thirty years to see a whole generation come up not only under biblical preaching but unashamed preaching of the doctrine of election. I've yet to meet the young man or woman who is now an open, confessed disciple of Christ, walking in the ways of God, who has come to me troubled about the doctrine of election. It's amazing. Now, there may be some, but they haven't come to me. And I've even asked them.

53:40 I said, being brought up in a home where you were taught a catechism, where the doctrine of election was in the questions, being brought up in a church where election was preached, wasn't that a trouble to you? They said, no. The first trouble I had was with my sin and the realization that if I didn't repent and get cleansed, I'd go to hell. But I knew Jesus.

53:58 I knew Jesus. I knew from the preaching that Jesus was a willing and an able Savior. And I knew whatever the Bible taught about election, it didn't teach it, either to harden me in my sins or to keep me from Christ. And dear children, I say to you, whatever the Bible teaches about God loving Jacob and hating Esau, it doesn't teach it in order that you can have a hiding place for your sin or have a warrant to stay the distance from Christ.

54:24 Your sin is your responsibility as it is your responsibility to God. It is your responsibility to go to Christ, the only one who can forgive you. And then finally, we learn the practical influence of an appreciation of the election of grace. Jacob came in due course to discover his election as God was pleased savingly to reveal himself to him.

54:47 We'll get into that tomorrow night, God willing. What effect did it have upon Jacob? Did it make him look down at Esau and say, ha ha, I'm elect, you're not? No.

54:59 It didn't puff him up with pride. The first discovery in his own heart that he was a vessel of election, you know what it did? It overwhelmed him. When God came to him and revealed himself to him, as I hope to prove tomorrow night, that Jacob's conversion, if we may use that term, is to be located there, when God comes to him that night when he sleeps with a pillow, a rock for his pillow, and God comes to him at the place later named Bethel.

55:28 And the first response of Jacob when he understands in his own heart, God has set his love upon me and made me a vessel of mercy, is he's overwhelmed with a sense of the wonder of God's mercy. Genesis 28, 17, this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven. I've seen heaven opened and God coming in his messengers from heaven to me, Jacob, who's out here in the wilderness. Because I've been such a scoundrel and I've deceived my brother and listened to the coaching of my mother, and yet God comes to a wretch like me and opens heaven and gives me promises of mercy.

56:10 It didn't make him proud. It humbled him. It overwhelmed him. Later on in Genesis 32, he speaks of being humbled by the goodness of God, conscious of the grace of God.

56:23 In Genesis 33, 11, when he meets his brother Esau, he said, God has been gracious to me. And that sense of awe and wonder and being humbled and full of gratitude made him the willing servant of the God of his Father. And that's what the discovery of election will always do when it is taught by the Holy Spirit to a truly converted man or woman. I wonder if it's become old hat to us, dear people.

56:56 Think back when the Holy Spirit first began to make claim to you that behind those months or years or days, whatever the process was, when you began to take seriously your condition before a holy God, began to feel something of the terrors of God's law and his wrath upon you, and you began to seek the way of salvation in earnest, whether by personal Bible reading, going to church, whatever the particulars were. Can you remember when after having become a child of God, you first began to realize it was not that I did seek thee, choose thee, for Lord, that could not be. This heart had still refused thee, had vowed, not chosen me. Can you remember when this doctrine meditated upon overwhelmed you, humbled you? Bound you to God with a sense of what else can I do but serve a God who could have justly hated me forever, but freely chose to love me from eternity?

58:11 How long has it been in your personal devotions that with a sense of wonder and awe you've thanked God that you're an elect sinner? Don't ever allow this truth. To just be tucked away on the shelf of things you believe, to which you point when asked, but pray that the Holy Ghost will keep it alive in your heart, that this very day, as you have driven by thousands of people on your way to this place, you've driven by thousands of Esau's, and you could have been an Esau, that God freely, sovereignly loved you. Oh, may the wonder of it come to you. May the wonder of it grip our hearts afresh and cause us to fall down like Jacob did, lost in wonder, love, and praise. And if you're here, someone who is not a Christian, you say, what is there for me to learn from such a truth? I followed it as you've opened it up from those passages in Pastor Martin.

Application to Unbelievers: Come to Christ

59:20 I can't argue with the Bible. The Bible is clear that from that historical incident in the comments of Malachi and then Paul, surely the doctrine of election is taught. But what does that say to me? How can I discover if I'm a Jacob or an Esau?

59:37 My friend, there's only one way to know that you're a Jacob, and that's to go to the God of Jacob and find his mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. God says to you in the Gospel, not discover your election, and then you may come. He says, no. Take seriously your horrible sinfulness, knowing yourself to be a sinner whose only hope is in Christ.

60:06 Come to the Lord Jesus, who is freely, sincerely, urgently offered and set before you in the Gospel. And coming to the Lord Jesus, you'll find all of his promises are true. And then having come, you can say, oh, why was I made to hear thy voice? And enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come.

60:33 It was the same love that spread the feast, that sweetly forced me in, else I had still refused to taste and perished in my sin. Jacob, pattern of salvation by grace in the first place, the sovereignty of that salvation, as to its subjects. Let us pray. Our Father, we do thank you for the wonder, for the glory of that truth upon which we have meditated tonight.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Supplication

61:09 And we confess with joy that we are glad that you did not abdicate your throne when you chose to save men. And why your love should ever have been set upon us, we do not know. But we thank you for your love. But we thank you that you've made many of us in this place vessels of mercy.

61:39 And we pray, oh God, that you will humble all human pride for those who have yet to come to the place where with joy they acknowledge that their salvation is not only totally based upon the work of Christ for them, but has its tap roots in your free sovereign choice of them in eternity. Amen. Oh God, may they be brought by the Spirit to embrace that truth, and with it be further humbled and filled with gratitude that will express itself in deeper levels of devotion and more intense zeal to serve so gracious a God as you are. And for those who are yet in their sins, gracious God, prevail upon them to see that their only hope is to throw themselves down before God. And to plead that you will have mercy through your Son to such as deserve only your wrath. Bless then your truth, we pray, for the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

62:37 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:47 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:51 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:55 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:59 Amen. Amen.