But when Rebecca had conceived
by one, even our father Isaac, for the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. The title of the message this
morning is The Purpose of God. We get that in our text, that
the children not yet being born, neither having done good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election, might stand not
of works, but of him that calleth the purpose of God. Now, the apostle has showed us
in the previous verses, the purpose of national Israel. The purpose of national Israel,
who God chose above all other nations, blessed them, gave them
his word, put his presence among them, blessed them by conquering
other nations and setting up his worship, they were blessed.
But we know this, that not all national Israel were saved. Not all those who were the seed
of Abraham were saved. In fact, the rulers of the Jews
at this time, most recently, this was written, had crucified
the Messiah. They had put to death the one
they professed to be waiting for. Killed the Lord of glory. And
so Paul then, after they had renounced and rejected the Messiah,
he asked this question, does that make the word of God of
none effect? He says that in verse six, not
as though the word of God had taken none effect. What does
he mean by that? All the scriptures in the Old
Testament declare God's purpose of saving Israel. I'll give you
one illustration of this in Psalm 130. It says this let Israel
hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with
him is plenteous redemption and Listen the promise he shall redeem
Israel from all her iniquities. Now how can that be true? And
yet the nation of Israel, for the most part, had fallen away. They had not believed Christ. How then could this be true?
Paul said, no, that's not anything. That's not disannulling the word
of God. Why? He says, for Israel, not
all Israel, Israel. What does he mean? He said not
all the descendants of Abraham are true Israelites. The Word of God is not made void. It did not fail to accomplish
its purpose. And we can reconcile this by
knowing this, that not all the national seed of Abraham are
the children of God. In Galatians 3, Paul deals with
this as well. He says, even as Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness, know you therefore
that you which are of faith are the same are the children of
Abraham. You who believe in Christ, you
realize that you are the sons of Abraham. You are the Israelites. So therefore, when God says,
I'm going to redeem Israel from all her iniquities, who is he
talking about? He's not talking about that Jewish
nation. He is talking about spiritual
Israel. He is talking about his elect
in which Paul is fixing to deal with in this passage. The purpose
of God according to what? Election, election. And so in this text, not all
the seed of Abraham are the sons of God. And look what Paul does.
He's going to prove it. And he does this, first of all,
by the seed of Abraham. He goes right to the source.
Abraham had two sons. Did he not? Ishmael and Isaac
both were the sons of Abraham, yet Ishmael was cast out. He was rejected of God. And Isaac was the inheritor. He was the one that God purposed
to raise up the seed. He said, in Isaac shall thy seed
be called, which is Christ. And so what made the difference?
What made the difference? Well, Paul tells us, for this
is the word of promise. The word of promise, at this
time I will come to Sarah and she shall have a son. You see,
Isaac was one of a miracle birth. Isaac was one of promise. Ishmael was one of the flesh.
Yet, there may be some who would say, well, you see, Ishmael was
cast out because he had the wrong mother. See, they weren't born
of the same mother. So therefore, people would object.
The Jews would say, ah, you see, there's a difference, Paul. What
made the difference is the mother. The mother made the difference.
Isaac was born of Sarah, and that's why that we are the seed. That's why he was chosen. He
was one of the free women. Well, in order to clarify this
and make this a better example would be that of the two sons
of Isaac, and that's what he does to reassure his argument. Look at that in verse 10. Not
only this. That's an example, but here's
a better one. But when Rebekah also conceived by one, even our
father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that called it, it was
said to her, the elder shall serve the younger as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now these two sons
of Isaac, they had the same father and mother. Even more so, they
were conceived at the same time. Even more so, they were born
of the same womb. They came out at the same time,
one holding the heel of the other. And yet there was a difference.
There was a difference. Jacob was saved. Esau was rejected. Esau was rejected. What made
the difference? Paul tells us, the purpose of
God according to election. This made the difference. God
made the difference. If there's any difference among
the human race, it is this, God made the difference. God chose
one and hated the other. The election of God. The purpose
of God. God, willing to show his sovereign
purpose, his will regarding spiritual Israel, said before these two
children were born, before they had done any good or evil, that
the purpose of God's own free will according to his own sovereign
purpose should stand. God chose and loved Jacob, rejected
and hated Esau when? Before they were born. You get
that? Before they were born. See, then Jacob was of the true
Israel of God and should receive all of the promises afforded
to Israel by Jesus Christ. Why? Because God loved him. Because God chose him. Because God purposed that Jacob should be saved. Why
was Jacob saved? You listen, God purposed it. It's the only reason. Therefore now let us by the grace
of God consider, and that's what I want us to do is consider this
morning the purpose of God. Consider his purpose, his purpose. Since our salvation is wrapped
up in his purpose, I wanna know more about his purpose. I want
to know about this purpose of God. How sure is it? How confident
can I be in the purpose of God? I tell you this, God's purpose
is just as sure as God's throne. And to remove God from his purpose
is to remove him from his throne. For God to fail, God would cease
to be God. That's how sure this purpose
is. Here, Jacob and Esau represent the whole of mankind. These two
men are a microcosm of all men as they are born into this world. You remember in the end of this
whole thing, our Lord's going to wrap it up. You remember he
will separate all men into two groups, right? He will take the
sheep and put them on his right hand, and he will divide the
goats and separate them and put them on his left hand. You see,
in these two men, you can see all men. All men. And in looking
at these two men, I want us, first of all, to see the necessity
of election. If God purposed election, then
I want you to see why it should be purposed. First of all, the
necessity. These men were born of the same
father. Were they not? Isaac was their
father. And I want you to know this,
we were all born of the same father. Now you have different
parents than I do, but I guarantee you this, we can trace it all
back and we'd be born of the same father. We all have the
same father, Adam. Adam is your father, Adam is
my father. And listen, Adam was your representative
and Adam as our father was my representative. All of us have
this same Father. And when Adam was created, he
was created upright of God, perfect, without sin. He communed with
God. He walked with God. He talked
with God. He fellowshiped with God. He
had perfect communion with our Father, with God. And so long as he obeyed the
one commandment God gave him, isn't that something? One, I
think of this, one commandment, just one, that's it. Nothing else, one commandment. And as long as he obeyed the
one commandment, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, he communed with God. He had fellowship, he had
righteousness. God said, in the day you eat
of it, you shall surely die. And we know this to be true,
he sinned. Our father loved the woman more
than he loved God, and he willfully disobeyed God, knowing full well
what he would do to us. Adam was not eating in ignorance.
He full well knew what he would do. and he did it anyway. He rebelled against God. He disobeyed
the commandment of God and brought upon all his race a curse, curse
upon every one of us. Death fell on every one of us. Wherefore, as by one man, one
man, sin entered into the world. I just don't care how men feel
about that. and I know God doesn't either. I don't like Adam to be my representative,
too bad. God said he was and he was. And
when he sinned, you mark it. You and I sinned in him. We sinned. And when our father
died, so did every one of us. Isn't that what it says? And
both of their eyes were opened. When he ate, what happened to
Eve? Her eyes were opened. Why? He represented her. She came from him. He represented
her. I tell you, he represented all
of us. Therefore, we were all born dead in sins. We were all
born liars and thieves. Little baby right there is a
liar and a thief. I came forth from the womb, what? Speaking lies. And every one of us grow up robbing
God of his glory. Robbing God of his glory. What
do we say? I will not have this man to rule
over me. I will have my way. Let that
baby go just one minute without what he wants and see what happens.
Why? He thinks he's God. He thinks
everybody should bow down and serve him. That's all of us.
That's what we are. By nature, we are vile and wicked
people. Wicked people. Born this way. We would rather worship the creature.
We would rather bow down to idols of silver and gold, the works
of men's hands. We would rather submit ourselves
to a God of our own imagination than to bow to the true and living
God of heaven and earth. When I mention election, you
know what men do? They stick up their nose and they despise
it. You know why? Because they despise
the rule of a sovereign God. They said, no, I must have my
free will. No. That's just your imagination.
Free will is nothing more than a product of man's imagination. God is sovereign. Now you have
a will, I guarantee you it's not free. We'd rather worship the creature
rather than the creator. And the result, this is the result
of the fall. That all of us by nature are
at enmity against God. Now what the scripture says in
one chapter over, you can see it, Romans eight and chapter
seven, because the carnal mind is, listen, enmity. hatred, variance
against God. What's the proof, Paul? For it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It
is depraved, it is dead, it is unable and unwilling to obey
the law of God. That's what we are. Fight it
if you will, you'll always succumb to it. There's no way to get
over it. That's our nature, it's who we
are. Ruined. dead what is the result Paul of this
so then verse 8 of chapter 8 so then they that are in the flesh
listen cannot cannot cannot please God I don't care what you do
I don't care where you go how hard you try you cannot please
God in the flesh Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not. Why? Because it's all sin. Everything we do is sin. Everything
we touch is sin, is full of sin. It contaminates it. And so like
these two sons, we were conceived in sin, born dead in trespasses,
no difference. What's the difference between
Jacob and Esau? What physically was the difference? There was
no difference. They were born of the same father,
born in the same womb, came out at the same time, no difference
in them. None whatsoever. No difference. If man by nature is given the
best of preachers, the clearest message of Christ that can be
heard, and it was preached for a thousand years, do you realize
that none of us would ever come to Christ? regardless of all the signs and
miracles and wonders that could ever be performed, none of those
would convert our souls. And listen, if you don't believe
that, it's just because it proves my case. You just don't know
the depravity of your own self. Matter of fact, our Lord Jesus
Christ was the best preacher ever preached, wasn't he? Think of any other preacher that
you'd like to hear besides the very voice of the Son of God?
He did miracles, didn't he? Proved his deity over and over
and over again. He said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me, he that believeth on me shall never hunger
and never thirst. He that believes on me shall
be saved, saved, saved. That's the clearest message that
ever was preached. And what'd they do? They murmured
and they complained. How dare he? I am the bread.
How can he say that? And Jesus said, don't murmur. Save your breath. You know what murmuring does
to God? Nothing. Nothing. Don't murmur. Jesus said, no man can come to
me. No man can come unto me. That's as plain a language as
you can get concerning the nature of man, the depravity of man. No man can come to me. Yet, I
praise God because I know this, some do come. Isn't that right?
You and I have come. You believe on Christ, you've
come. What does it mean no man can?
It's talking about ability. Yet some do come. Some believe. Jacob believed, didn't he? He
believed. And so will all spiritual Israel. Those which are chosen of God,
those which are redeemed of Christ, all of them shall be called by the Father, brought in. How do we come? No man can come,
but those who do, how do they come? No man can come except
the Father, which has sent me, draw them, quicken them from
the dead. Now let me ask you, was this
fall of Adam an accident or was it on purpose? Have you considered
that? That this fall was purposed? Some men are appalled at that.
I know they are. How dare you say God purposed
the fall? How can you see it any other way? Did this escape God's attention?
Did God miss this? No. Friends, God purposed this. God purposed the fall of Adam. It was not on accident. You see,
God did not desire men to be saved by the obedience of Adam,
and because of his sin, he must change his purpose. See, that's
how you and I would be. Now, we understand that, because
that's our plans all the time, isn't it? They're always having
to change. Why? Because we didn't know.
We may purpose to do many things. We may have all the good intentions
of doing good, but we are not God. And so our purposes fail. Do not put your failures on God. God doesn't fail. His purpose
is sure. God didn't have to change his
plan and say, oh no, what am I gonna do now? Adam's sin, what
am I gonna do? Okay, okay, Jesus, come here. Let's just make a quick plan.
Put it together. Nope, no. We know that cannot
be because God says, I am God, I change not. Therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. All that God has purposed and
decreed from eternity must and will come to pass and how much
of his purpose will fail? How much is God purpose that's
going to fail? Nothing. Go with me, Isaiah 46. Hold your place here, Isaiah
46. purpose of God shall not fail
Isaiah 46 and look at verse 9 he said I want you to remember the
former things of old remember back as far as you can go back
as long as you will Go back in all ancient times and histories
and events and circumstances and providences. Think of anything
you want to. Recent past, ancient past, it
doesn't matter. Remember, remember things of
old. For I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there is none like
me. Now what distinguishes the true
God from every other God? Our Lord said there'll be many
false Christs. So what distinguishes a false
Christ from the true Christ? What distinguishes a false God
from the true God? Here it is. The true God has
a purpose. The false God only has a wish. Our God's purpose declaring the
end from the beginning. From ancient times of things
that were not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. Then he gives that illustration
of calling Cyrus that ravenous bird. He said, I'm gonna take
a man that doesn't know me, doesn't love me, that hates me, hates
my people, and I'm going to use him to bring my people from this
land and put them in this land. You watch, I'm gonna do it. Did
he do it? Called Cyrus by name hundreds
of years before he was born. Did he do it? Look back in history,
tell me. Did he do it? You know he did.
He moved Israel from that land and he put them in their own
land, established their worship. Why? Here it is, here's his purpose.
He says, I will bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Now hearken unto me, you stouthearted,
you far from righteousness. Now this is why he did it. I
will bring my righteousness near. It shall not be afar off and
my salvation shall not tarry. I will place my salvation in
Zion. For who? Israel, my glory. You see, I'm
gonna bring Christ. That's what he's doing it for.
He said, I'm gonna bring Christ, my salvation, my righteousness.
I'm going to bring him near, for who? Everyone, for Israel. I'm gonna do it for Israel, my
glory. My glory, my church, my people. And so then the difference
between a false God and a true God is purpose. Purpose. Our
God is a God of purpose. You know, everybody says God
has a plan for your life. You bet he does. It's just not what you think
it is. Not what men want it to be. And
God's plan is not moved by your prayers. You get that? God's
plan is not moved by your prayers. God includes your prayers in
his plan. And you pray according to his
plan. And he listens according to his plan, which he purposed
before your prayers. Friends, all the acts of God
in providence are fixed and settled by divine and sovereign purpose. I want you to see this, because
I'm gonna use this for the rest of the message. Go over to Job,
and I want you to mark this. This is great. Job chapter 23.
Job chapter 23 in verse 13. I want you to see this. Talking about God, Job says,
but he is in one mind and who can turn him? What his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. He has one mind, one purpose,
one will, and then who can turn it? Can anyone change his purpose? No. Why? He does what he pleases. He does what he desires to do. Children of God, you may take
great solace in this truth, that God's plan and all that takes
place in time and eternity is according to that plan. He's
of one mind. He has one fixed mind that doesn't
move from his purpose. All our suffering, all our griefs,
all our pains, sorrows, as well as our joys, blessings, and goodnesses
are according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. You see the rise and fall
of nations, The calamities of time and providence all ordained
of God. You got that? What happened to
you this morning? You brush your teeth. Ordained. Now you did it, and you did it
willingly. God ordained it. Or you'd have missed it. How
many times have we missed it? But God, everything, to the minutest
detail, to the greatest things, God ordained it all, and not
all, all of it is within His confines of His purpose, everything. Your sin and your salvation,
all of it, all of it. According to the purpose of God.
All is taking place according to his purpose, the will of God,
who is of one mind, one purpose. I like this. His purpose is as
one drama in many acts, one book with many pages, and one tree
that has many leaves, but it is one. It is one purpose. Now Job asks, concerning this
purpose, who shall turn him? Who will change his mind? Since
he is of one mind, who shall change his mind? See, God doesn't
listen to the counsel of men. God is his own counselor. Who
has counseled God? Well, you counsel God. I know
many times we try to. Lord, don't you know? Well, of
course I know. I purposed it. I designed it.
I brought it to pass. I'm God. And there is none else
doing my will, my sovereign will. Fall of Adam did not come by
chance, but by plan. Though Adam freely sinned, yet
he did exactly what God ordained. seeing God's purpose is decreed. Who shall change his mind? Job
concludes, what is whatever his soul desires, that's what he
will do. Look now at man. He's born dead
in sin, born opposed to God, despising the word of God, the
son of God, the law of God. Man by nature, daily seeks to
overthrow God's rule, reject his son, persecute his church.
Satan and hell are set out against God's rule. But friends, who shall stay his
hand, thwart his will, or say unto him, what doest thou? So then if God has planned and
decreed all providence, if he had a plan, a purpose for all
the events and circumstances, what is it? That's a good question. If God has a purpose and it doesn't
move, what is it? Why would he purpose such a fall
as Adam? What is the purpose? What is
the reason, Lord, for your plan? I tell you, it's all wisdom.
It's all wisdom, his plan. What is his wisdom, his immutable
purpose? Listen. to save Israel. Don't be confused about what's
going on. Everything moves in precision
clockwork to save His people. One purpose. You that are believers in Christ,
this should comfort you to no end. God is moving everything
to save you. Everything. I don't care if you understand
it or not, that's just so. He's moving it to save you, to
keep you, to call you, to bring you to himself. That's what he's
doing, his purpose. It is a purpose according to
the election of grace. Because we fell in Adam, there
was no hope of salvation by works or will. Therefore, God, before
the fall, purposed to save some of Adam's race for his own glory. See here, God, before we were
born, chose Jacob. Why? Because Jacob could no means
save himself. Is that not wisdom? God knowing
you could not save yourself, God choosing rather to save you,
purposed your salvation even before your fall. God was not taken by surprise
at your fall, but rather is going to use it for his glory, to save
you. God in love for us, for the spiritual
seed of Israel and sovereign grace willed and purposed that
his elect should be saved. You know, a man's got to really
work hard to do away with election. He got to work hard. Just as reference Isaiah 45,
Jacob, my servant, Israel, mine elect. whom I have called by
thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. You see, God chose us even before
we knew who he was. Our Lord said, false Christ and
false prophet shall arise, show signs and wonders, and seduce,
if it were possible, even thee elect. Romans 8.28, for we know all
things work together. Romans 8.29, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Paul said, to the elect, according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You see, you gotta work
hard to do away with election. It's all through the scriptures. Well,
because men cannot deny election, they would rather twist it, right? Can't deny that God has a purpose.
Can't deny God's purpose is going to happen. Can't deny that he
has elected a people. So what do they do? They begin
to twist it and say, ah, well, election then is based on what
we would do for God. Twist it. You say, oh, God elected
people. God elected me, but he looked
down the portals of time, saw what I would do for him, and
on the grounds of that, he chose me based on what I would do. This text completely destroys
any thought of freewill Armenian works religion concerning election. It's silly. God says this, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand, listen,
not of works. Not of works. How do we know
it's not of works? Because he chose them before
they did any works. The children not yet being born.
When did he choose them? Before they were born. So their election was not based
on what? Works. It was based on purpose. It was based on God's purpose. God chose Jacob on purpose. Listen, believer, God chose us
on purpose. And his purpose was not vague
as to how we should be saved. According as he had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him. That's a purpose, isn't
it? That you should be holy and without blame. In love, having
predestinated, the motivation of God is love. Love, having
predestinated us to be the sons of God, the adoption of children.
But how is all this going to take place? Listen, by Jesus
Christ. You see, all things are purposed.
Even your salvation is purposed. How it is that Jacob should be
saved was purposed by Jesus Christ alone. It's by works, not yours,
his. It's by blood, not your blood,
his blood. Jesus Christ came into the world
as a man to represent who? Jacob, his people, Israel. He came for all that the Father
gave him. He prayed for all that the Father
gave him. He lived for all that the Father
gave him. He died for all that the Father
gave him. He rose again for all that the
Father gave him. Who then is he going to call?
Is there any question as to who will be called and saved? Jacob
will be saved. Israel will be called. The Spirit
of God will quicken them. They will believe. Why? God has
purposed it. That's why. God purposed it. God willed it. God decreed it.
Oh, friends, if there had not been election, there would have
been no salvation. And election is not salvation. Election is
unto salvation. But listen to this, if there
had not been election, there would be no salvation. Isaiah
makes that very clear. He said, if God had not left
a remnant, we would have all been as Sodom and Gomorrah. We've
all died. That's not God's purpose, is
it? That all die. But that his elect should live. And so Christ, he came into the
world, and with one mind, you see Christ had one mind, didn't
he? What was his one mind? To do the will of the Father.
I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. What is this will? Holy perfection was his will
as the man, and none could move him. Satan couldn't move him,
could he? Satan tempted him. He couldn't move Christ from
his will, from his purpose. The Jews persecuted him. They
couldn't move him from his purpose. I like this, he set his face
toward Jerusalem. Strictly, straightly, he set
his face. You know what that means? It
means he was compressed to go to Jerusalem and die. He said,
for this purpose, I came into the world. Shall I say, Father,
deliver me from this hour? No, for this hour I came. Why?
To die for Jacob. You see him suffering on the
tree. I want you to know that that was his purpose. He was
dying for you. He was suffering for you. It
was the purpose of God. And it is his purpose to call
all of his elect. It says, we are bound always
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How? How should this salvation come?
Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
The Spirit will call you. The Spirit will set you apart.
The Spirit will give you new life. The Spirit will give you
a new heart. The Spirit will cleanse you with
the blood of Christ. Apply it to your soul and you
will believe on the Son of God. Is that not your experience?
It is the experience of every believer in Christ that the Spirit
of God cleanses us from all our sins. Convict us and cleanse
us. Isn't that the order? Convict
us, show us our need, and then show us Christ. This is the purpose
of God. See it in your own heart. Our
Lord Jesus Christ was as one knocking on the door. And what
did we do to such a gospel that would compel men to come and
believe on Christ? To receive Christ, I compel you
this morning, receive Christ, believe on Christ. And yet what
does man do? He bars the door. He bars the
door. I will not have this man to rule
over me. I will have my own way. That's
what we said. Until when? Until he put his
hand to the hole of the door and the perfume of God's grace
and love filled our hearts. The Spirit of God moved on our
dead souls. We lived and we opened. We believed. This is the work of God. It is
the purpose of God that you should be saved. He is of one mind.
Who can stop him? You get that, that the purpose
of God is for your comfort, right? God is of one mind to save you. Who can stop Him? He desires
to save you. And He gets whatever it is He
desires. He gets what He wants, every
time. All of his people will come, not one of them. And so
then you have men now begin to object and they say, well, what
about Esau? What about Esau? Did God hate him before he was
born? What does the text say? How do you explain it? I don't
care to. Why do I ask? God doesn't have
to explain himself. Matter of fact, when Paul gets
done with this, he says, who are you to reply against God? That's where
you come to because you can't explain it. You can't reconcile
it. I don't have to reconcile it. God hated Esau before he
was born. I guarantee you Esau is in hell
because of his own sin. Esau rejected the birthright.
He rejected Christ and despised him, sold him for a bowl of soup. That's how much Esau cared about
Christ. Why was Jacob different? But
God. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that hast not received? And if you
receive it, why you act like you haven't? Purpose. The only reason I am
saved is the purpose of God. The only reason Christ came and
died for my sin is the purpose of God. The only reason the Holy
Spirit came to me and quickened me is the purpose of God. The
only reason I shall ever enter into glory is the purpose of
God. So then, who gets the glory for
this? Who gets all the glory? God. And as a sinner saved by grace,
I wouldn't have it any other way. I want no glory. I have no glory. Christ is my
glory. Christ is my... And so then in all your trouble
you can see this, God purposed it. For what? for the salvation of Israel.
I don't see how. You don't have to. It's for the
salvation of Israel. May God bless us.