again at Malachi chapter one. I decided just to deal with the
first five verses of this chapter tonight because it deals with
an awesome subject, the love of God. And I've entitled this
message, The Amazing Love of God, because it truly is amazing. The purpose of the prophet Malachi's
message from the Lord to the people of Jerusalem is given
to correct them in their errors, in their corruption, even in
their unbelief. And this correction, this word
of admonition, this word of edification too, word of encouragement,
teaching, is given not only to the general population, the people,
it is given to them, but also to the leaders of the people,
the priest. In fact, his first admonitions and corrections are
given to the priest. The priesthood had been corrupted.
And he does this in correcting them by reminding them, first
of all, of God's covenant love for his chosen people, spiritual
Israel, which includes ethnic Jews, natural Jews, who turn
to Christ. And that's the distinction that
has to be made here. You see, there's no love from
God apart from Christ. Now, there might be manifestations
on earth of good things given to people who don't know Christ,
but even such good things which in and of themselves may be blessings,
will to that person who dies without Christ end up being a
curse. And you have, there's a great
parable that our Lord spoke on that subject, the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man had good things
all of his life. Lazarus had the evil of this
world, the poverty, the sickness. The rich man died and was cursed
forever. Lazarus died and was in the bosom
of Abraham, the blessedness of glory in Christ. And the issue
of that parable, I was talking to some of the men a while ago,
the issue of that parable is this, that for us as sinners
to know the God of grace, the God of mercy, and the God of
love. Now everybody talks about the
love of God today. But for us to really know and
understand the love of God, we must go to His word and His word
alone. You can't judge God's love by
circumstances or by public opinion or by religious exercise. You
can only judge rightly God's love by what His word says. And of course, His word will
always lead sinners to Christ. That's where God's mercy is,
that's where God's grace is, that's where God's love is in
Christ. So, when we speak of the love of God here, he's using
this issue to encourage the people of Jerusalem to turn to Christ,
to look to the future of the coming Messiah, just like today
when we preach the gospel. We don't put a blanket over everybody
and say, smile, God loves you. The Bible doesn't say that. I
know that sounds harsh to people and mean, but it isn't. I'll tell you, I would rather
die knowing from God's word that he loves me than die cursed just
because some preacher lied to me. How about you? There is the love of God, and
we preach the love of God, and I love to preach the love of
God. And every time we preach Christ,
that's what we're preaching, the love of God. And then he's dealing with this
subject in light of the privileges that Israel had, Judah and Jerusalem,
the protection. God had protected them in spite
of themselves. God chose them. God brought them
out of Egypt. God kept them together. Now God
did chastise them. They'd just come out of captivity
here in Babylon. But God kept them together and
God favored them as a nation in a temporal, ceremonial, way
and in light of the promise this promise you know over there in
Romans chapter 9 he said this is the word of promise and then
he begins speaking of Isaac and what he's talking about there
in the context of Romans is that it's through I it's it's not
just blessings to those who are connected physically with Isaac
because multitudes who are connected physically with Isaac died in
unbelief. Hebrews 3 and 4 tells you that. They perished because of unbelief.
But the point of that promise through Isaac is it is through
Isaac that Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come. And
there's salvation. You see, my salvation is not
determined by my connection with any physical population or ethnic
group or denomination here on earth, my salvation is determined
by my connection with Christ. Am I washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness? And that's what Malachi is telling
these people. See, he's correcting them in
light of that promise of the Messiah to come, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who would save his people from their sins. And I'll tell
you what, the prophets, more than anyone else, made it clear
to Israel that those whom Messiah came to save would be God's elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. That's what
got a lot of the prophets in trouble. You remember when Christ
said that in Matthew chapter five, for so they persecuted
the prophets before you? That was one of the main reasons
the prophets were persecuted. is because they spoke of the
future salvation of Gentiles by the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And not only that, but that salvation
that comes by the grace of God in Christ would put the Gentile
believers on the same equal status and plane as the Jewish believers.
And that's what got them in trouble. Now, in order to understand Malachi's
prophecy here, you have to understand that these people in Jerusalem
were not outwardly and openly rebellious against God. It wasn't
like, in a physical way, Sodom and Gomorrah. Wasn't open immorality. See, they were back in the land
after the captivity. Some of these folks may have
even worked with Nehemiah on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
They were offering sacrifices at the rebuilt temple. They were
outwardly seeking to follow the law of Moses and all the prescribed
ceremonies and rituals of the law. You see, their problem wasn't
outward. Their problem was not lack of
activity, religiously. Their problem was an issue of
the heart. First of all, there were false professions of faith
with no heart. Their heart just wasn't in it.
And that was largely due to the corrupt priesthood who taught
the people, actually taught the people to dishonor God and God's
altar. Now they didn't stand before
the people and say, now let's go dishonor God's altar. They
didn't do it that way. It was a more deceptive, subtle
way. It had to do with their sacrifices, and we'll see that
when we get into that. But you know, that altar of God
represented, symbolized, typified God's way of salvation by his
grace in Christ. And see, don't ever mess with
that. The person and work of Christ,
all right. Secondly, there was compromise of God's glory and
God's truth. They were being bothered by outside
foreign nations who would come in, and they embraced some of
the practices and beliefs and idolatry of those nations. They
formed alliances with heathen nations around them, and that
resulted in mixed marriages between the Jews and the heathen Gentiles,
and that was forbidden, mixed languages, disregard for God's
law is compromised. And then thirdly, they robbed
God. by not supporting the temple and the priesthood with their
tithes and their offerings. And so Malachi reminds them,
here's what he does. He's gonna correct them. He's
gonna admonish them. He's gonna tell them the truth.
He's not gonna hold back. He's not gonna sugarcoat it.
But he does it in a way that reminds them that look, the Messiah
is coming. 400 years after this is when
he'd be coming. Now Malachi didn't know that, but he knew he was
coming. And this is the Messiah they
were seeking over in Malachi chapter three and verse one when
he talks about sending his messenger, John the Baptist, and sending
the angel of the Lord, the messenger of the covenant. He says, the
Lord whom you seek. You see, they were always looking
for the Messiah to come. But Malachi shows them that the
Messiah coming into the world would be a time of judgment for
the Jews. to refine them and purify them
and purge away the dross. It would be through his coming
that the self-righteousness and unbelief of Jews who would say
they're looking for the Messiah to come, where it would be exposed
for what it is. And you know what happened when
our Lord came, how the Jewish nation as a whole rose up against
him, along with the Gentiles. But you see, the problem was
here in Malachi is the problem they've always had. It's the
problem people have today with the Bible. They read the Scriptures,
they go through the motions, but they really miss the true
purpose and the meaning of the Bible, just like the Jews had
really missed the true purpose and the meaning of the Old Covenant,
which was to be a schoolmaster, to bring them in guilty, and
to bring them to Christ for salvation. So Malachi is the last word God
speaks in the Old Testament times, and then he fell silent for 400
years as far as Revelation is concerned. I believe God still
had his witnesses even in that 400 year period of darkness.
But as to Revelation, this is it. until John the Baptist rose upon
the scene. And Christ, the Messiah, who
is in himself the very final last word of God, came and did
his great work. And the New Testament opens with
the need that Malachi expressed here, the need of forgiveness
of sins, the need of salvation from sin, met in the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is man's greatest need?
He needs to be saved from sin. Let me give you several things
here. Verse one, here's a weighty, serious message. Look at it again.
The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. The burden, that's a proclamation.
It's a statement, it's a message. But it's a weighty message. This
is a serious message. This message has eternal implications
and consequences. This message says, he that believeth
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved and he that believeth
not shall be damned. That's serious business. It's
a message that weighs heavily on its bearer. The man who has
it on his heart. Jeremiah had it. And he got so
frustrated with the people to whom he was preaching that he
said, I'm not gonna say another word to them. Just let them go
on about their way. But you remember what happened?
He said the word burned within me like a fire. And I couldn't
shut up. That's a serious message, isn't
it? It's not to be trifled with. It's not to be ignored. You may
walk away tonight thinking you're indifferent to it, but you're
not. Because to be indifferent to it is to deny it. To be indifferent
to Christ is to be his enemy. He said that. He said you cannot
sit on the fence here. That's how serious this thing
is. It's a burden on the back of God's preachers and God's
people. And a man does not play when
he has a burden on his back. A man who bears the burden of
the word of the Lord means business because he's pleading with souls
in light of God's coming judgment and in light of eternity beyond.
There's no way out of the mess that we're in but God's grace
in Christ, period. So it's a single message, and
it's a simple message. So that's the burden of the word
of the Lord. Malachi, God's messenger, my messenger to Israel, the people
of God under the old covenant. And then secondly, here's the
amazing love of God to his people. Look at verse two. He says, I
have loved you, saith the Lord, the God of the covenant, yet
you say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Well, how have you loved
us? And then he begins to talk about
Esau and Jacob. Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord, yet I loved you. And I hated Esau and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
That's talking about Esau's descendants and all that they would build
up. It's all curse, that's what he's saying. Esau was cursed,
and Esau was the father of a cursed nation, cursed generation. And
everything that they did, their mountains, their safety, their
security, that's what that refers to, and their heritage, their
offspring, was for the dragons, the serpents, the lizards in
the desert, fodder for them. And he says in verse four, whereas
Edom, that's the descendants of Esau, Edom, saith, we're impoverished,
but we will return and build the desolate places. Now here's
representative of man's efforts to save himself. I mean, even
Esau and his descendants recognize that they're not perfect, that
they're impoverished, that they need to do something. They need
salvation. What are they gonna do? Well,
we will return, and we will build the desolate places. I'm gonna
turn to the Lord now. I'm gonna turn to ourselves.
And thus saith the Lord of hosts, the Lord who cannot be defeated
now, invincible God, they shall build. Now, God says they're
gonna build. Think about history and man's
efforts to build. You know, they talk about the
wonders of the world, the pyramids, the Sphinx, all the monuments,
the buildings. They're gonna build, but God
says, I will throw down. When's God gonna throw down?
Now and later. That's when. There's going to
come a time when everything that man builds on this earth will
be destroyed. This whole earth will be destroyed
and it'll never be built back up again. But whatever man builds
up, God throws down. That's the way it is with salvation.
Whatever man works out of his own way, of his own salvation,
of his own righteousness, God will throw it down. It's not
good enough. And that's why people say, well,
is there any hope in man? Not in man, of man, but there's
hope in God. He says, I will throw down and
they shall call them. Now this is what the assessment
will be of the entire universe, the border of wickedness and
the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. That's
the way they'll be known. Enemies of God. Now in all of
that, Here's what I want us to see, the amazing love of God
to his people. He says back up there in verse
two, I've loved you, saith the Lord. God had joined himself
to the nation Israel in a very special and distinguishing way. Now it was only temporal and
temporary. That's what he's talking about. Turn back to Deuteronomy
chapter seven with me. I'm gonna show you something
here. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Now Deuteronomy is the second
rendering of the law. And it's what Moses wrote and
read to the people just before they would go into the promised
land. And he says in verse 6, we won't read the whole chapter
but listen to this, verse 6. He says, for thou art in holy
people under the Lord thy God. Now what does it mean when he
tells Israel as a nation thou art a holy people? We know they
were not morally perfect. If that's what holiness means,
then there's something wrong here. Because we know they were
not morally perfect. In fact, they were very sinful. Like all of us by nature. And
even as saved sinners, we're sinners saved by grace, aren't
we? I mean, don't we act awful sometimes? We sure do. But we're
always sinners. What does it mean, what he's
saying is you're a separated people, a chosen people. God chose you and separated you.
Didn't have anything to do with you. He says, the Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. Now look at verse
seven, now why did God choose these people instead of the Amorites,
the Hittites, the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Hivites? Why did he choose Israel? Well
he says, the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose
you because you were more in number than any people for you
were the fewest of all people. Now the connotation of the original
here is not just numbers but also quality. You weren't the
most and you weren't the greatest. That's what he's saying. He says
in verse eight, but because the Lord loved you and because he
would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
that's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of Baman.
How did he redeem them? That's their redemption out of
Egypt by power. And the Passover is the type
there, the blood of the lamb. That's a picture of eternal redemption
in Christ. From the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, verse nine, know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is
God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with
them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Now, God joining himself to that
nation and doing all these great things for that nation was not
conditioned on their love for them, for him. Because he'd already
said it was because of his oath that he swore to their fathers. That's the promise. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And the Bible tells us plainly
that God didn't choose Abraham because Abraham was such a good
fella. or Abraham sought the Lord or
believed him. No, he found Abraham in Ur of
the Chaldeas as an idolater. And when God justified Abraham,
Romans 4 tells us he justified who? How did he describe him?
The ungodly. So he says in verse 10, and repayeth
them that hate him to their face to destroy them, but he will
not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his
face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes
and the judgments which I command thee this day to do them. That's
the old covenant. So there God joins himself to
this nation for no other reason but in himself because of an
oath that he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this shows
us that his love to the nation Israel was not his eternal saving
love to his spiritual people in Christ. But he uses his relationship
here and over here in Malachi with national Israel to typify
his love, his eternal love, his unchangeable love, his redemptive
love to his people, his elect people, his church. in Christ,
and it's a great type. Now they asked this question
back over here in Malachi chapter one, they asked this, they said,
well, wherein, wherein hast thou loved us? It's almost like they're
saying, you say, well, well, we haven't seen it. And because of their circumstances,
they'd lost sight of God's covenant favor towards them, even in the
old covenant. Now you think about this nation.
Here, these people, they had been in captivity in Babylon. God preserved them, Judah, and
then they came back to the land. By this time here in Malachi,
they'd been in the land for about 125 years. The temple had been
rebuilt for about 100 years. And then Nehemiah came along
and led the people in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. But there
was really at this time only about 100,000 Jews back in the
land. And that meant this, I mean they
didn't have any army to defend them or protect them from their
enemies. They were still under Persian rule. And then another
thing, Malachi will bring up, you'll see us later, their farms
were not producing well because of a famine. And then think about
this, the message of all the prophets, I mean, you go all
the way back, but even the minor prophets that we've studied,
even the prophets in this return, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi now,
the message of the prophets predicted a golden age for Israel when
the land would yield abundantly, produce abundantly, and the people
would dwell safely and securely under Messiah's reign. Every
prophet spoke of that. Other nations, they said, would
flock to Jerusalem to worship Messiah. And none of this was
happening in their day. And so they asked this question,
well, where in have you loved us? How have you loved us? We
don't see it. Well, what's the problem with
them? What's twofold? And I want you to see this now. It's the
same with us today. if we fall into this sick, sad
state of mind. The first problem was judging
God's love, God's favor by outward circumstances rather than by
the word of God in Christ. Word of God's promise. I guarantee
you there are times in your life, maybe going through a time right
now, you can look around and see the negative and say, well,
man, does God even, does he love me? Does he even think on me? That's
what these people were doing. Judging God's love by outward
circumstance. The second problem is this, not
knowing the scriptures. Remember when the Lord, when
they were asking him all kinds of questions, trying to trap
him up in Matthew 22, he said this in verse 29, you do err
not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. And you remember
in John chapter five and verse 39, he told the Pharisees, search
the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life.
They are they which testify of me. You see, if you don't know the
scriptures, if you don't know what God's word says, how can
you have any assurance of the love of God? It's like these
people were saying this, Lord, we're doing everything you commanded
and we're not being blessed. Now, first of all, they weren't
doing everything God commanded. They weren't. But here's what God does. He
takes them back to their roots, to their beginning. And here's
what he says. Well, now listen, was not Esau Jacob's brother?
Saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob and I hated Esau. That's what
he says. Now, first of all, consider God's
love and favor to Jacob. Let me tell you how it goes with
Jacob. God's love to Jacob is sovereign
love. It's love of God's choice. It's
not love because Jacob's choice. It's sovereign love. God didn't
look down through the telescope of time and foresee Jacob being
a good little boy or choosing him. No, sir. Have you ever read
the biography of Jacob in the Bible? Jacob was a scoundrel. He was. Jacob is a perfect picture
of a sinner saved by the grace of God. I guarantee you that
the way the way the scripture reads now, if you had grown up
with Jacob, he'd have been a fellow you wouldn't have liked. Wouldn't
want to be around, wouldn't trust him. Esau, on the other hand, was
a man's man. He was the star performer. He
was his daddy's boy. He was the hunter. That's right. He was the worker. Some say Jacob
was a mama's boy. I don't know if that's true or
not. But as far as their character, according to the world's view
of things, Esau was the better man. Esau was the firstborn, now they
were twins, but you know what, over there in Romans 9 it tells
us that, and in Genesis, it tells us that Esau came out of the
womb first, Jacob had a hold of his heel. That's why he was
called the supplanter. So God's love and favor to Jacob,
consider that. It's sovereign love, it's unconditional
love towards an undeserving sinner in Christ. And let me tell you
something, that's the only kind of love that God has for any
sinner. Unconditional, sovereign love.
Look over at Malachi 3 and verse 6. Listen to what he says. Now, he says, for I am the Lord. That's the God of grace, the
God of mercy, the God of sovereign love. I change not. Therefore, or for this reason,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. You know what we are by nature?
Sons of Jacob. You know why we're not consumed
if in fact we are not consumed? Because God changes not. What's he talking about? He's
talking about his unchanging grace, his unchanging promise
made before the foundation of the world in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jeremiah knew something of it
in the Lamentations. He spoke it this way in Lamentations
chapter three in verse 22. It says, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail
not. We change, we fail, but God doesn't. Psalm 106 in verse
one says this, praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. How many
times is that repeated in the Bible? His mercy endureth forever.
His mercy endureth forever. We need to hear that repeated
a lot, don't we? Why? Because we need mercy. Psalm
111 and verse 3, His work is honorable and glorious and His
righteousness endureth forever. That's the kind of righteousness
that you and I need. A righteousness that endures
forever. My righteousness is non-existent. But even Adam in the garden before
the fall, his righteousness could not endure forever. It was creature
righteousness. We need the righteousness of
God. What provides the righteousness of God for a sinner? God's love
and mercy in Christ. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation,
the satisfaction, the righteousness, the propitiation. for our sins. God's love is the source and
the fountain and cause of all mercies. It's an everlasting
love. God's love provided for his covenant people what his
law and justice demand. Christ and him crucified and
risen again. Now when Malachi was preaching
there were unbelievers in Israel and there were believers. A small
remnant of believers But God's love brings his people to faith
in Christ. That's the remnant according
to the election of grace. God's love is undeserved. The
scripture tells us that all we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. And what did the Lord
do for his covenant people? He laid on Christ the iniquity
of us all. When? When we'd gone astray.
When we turned our own way, Isaiah 53, six. Not when we were turning
back to him. In 1 Peter chapter three and
verse 18, it speaks of Christ who suffered for sins. And how
did he suffer? The just, that's Christ, for
the unjust, that's God's elect people. That's sinners saved
by the grace of God. Think about it. In Romans chapter
five, look at that with me. Here's God's love, think about
this. It says in verse 6 of Romans
chapter 5, for when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for who? The ungodly. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die. But that's not the way God's
love is. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. And much more than being
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him
for if when we were, what? Enemies. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. When we were enemies. Now what
that says? Again, herein is love, not that
we love God. You see, the issue in salvation
is not what you do to get God to love you. Because if that's
the case, there is no salvation. Read about Jacob. But now turn to Romans chapter
9. Let's consider for a moment God's hatred of Esau. In Romans
chapter 9. Turn over there. You remember
how this chapter starts out. talking about Israel's rejection
of Christ. But God promised to save all
Israel, so does that mean God couldn't save them, wouldn't
save them, decided, changed his mind or what, or that God was
just simply unfaithful? And the answer to that question,
according to the scripture now, is God forbid, no sir. God's gonna save all Israel.
The question is, who is all Israel? And he tells us there that it's
not just because they're the physical offspring of Abraham,
that makes them children of God. The children of God are children
of the promise. What promise? The gospel promise.
The promise of salvation by the free sovereign grace of God in
Christ. Saved by the blood of the crucified
one. Saved by his righteousness alone. Grace, grace, grace. Not of works
lest any man should boast. That's the children of the promise.
That's the spiritual children of Abraham. And then he uses
Isaac as an example. This is the word of promise.
God chose Isaac to bring the Christ through. And he made distinction
in that day according to his sovereign wisdom, his sovereign
will, and his sovereign goodness. And then he goes on to Jacob
and Esau. He says in verse 11, for the
children being not yet born, Now this tells you that God didn't
look down through a telescope of time and foresee what Esau
would do or what Jacob would do. It says, before they were
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 called it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What about God hating Esau? Well,
the Bible teaches that it's a matter of divine justice. It's not emotion. It's not God throwing a temper
tantrum. It's not God being unfair. Look at verse 14. Here's the
next question. I know this question comes up
in people's minds because it came up in my mind. And let me
tell you something. Every book that I've ever read
by men attacking the doctrine of God's sovereign electing love
and grace raises the exact same questions that are raised here
by unbelievers. Look, what shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? Is God unjust? And he says, here's your answer
from the word of God, God forbid. Now I know that this causes a
lot of people to struggle. Causes many to even deny and
even attack the truth. Two of the most popular books
in religion today found on the bestseller list of what they
call Christian bookstores is attacking what Paul's saying,
right? Using the same arguments that
Paul anticipates. And what's the problem? I'll
tell you what the problem is. The problem is that men will
always try to fit God into their own logic and into their own
reasoning rather than submitting to what the scriptures plainly
teach. You know that's what this whole
thing is about? Do you know that's what the whole book of Job is
about? Submission. You submit to God's will and
God's way. Period. There's only three ways that,
you know, just about every major religion has struggled with this
issue in some way or another. God's sovereignty, man's responsibility,
God's fairness, God's justice. There's only three ways you can
go. You can either do what most people do, just simply deny God's
sovereignty and make man's will and man's way the sovereign way.
That's a denial of Christ. Or you can become a fatalist.
There are people who do that. Whatever will be, will be. I
know this brother of mine said, he told somebody, he said, well,
whatever will be, won't be. You can't say that. Or you can
submit to the word of God. This truth affects how you view
God, how you view man, how you view sin, how you view salvation.
All who denied invariably pull God down and exalt proud sinners
by making man's will sovereign. God's word exalts God and humbles
proud sinners by making God sovereign. Now how does it do that? Well,
look at verse five of Malachi chapter one. Now listen to this. Verse five. He says, and your
eyes shall see and you shall say, the Lord will be magnified
from the border of Israel. Now ultimately, that is fulfilled
in the church, those who look to Christ. There are some moments
when Israel as a nation magnified the Lord among the people, but
there are very few. And ultimately, when the old
covenant was over and the Lord destroyed the nation, The borders
of Israel here. Up on and from the borders of
Israel, that's the church. And so what does that show us?
It shows us that God's sovereign election should lead us to magnify
his name. Oh, it should humble us. You
know what the Bible says? You know, when I read these books
about people attacking God's sovereign electing grace, I think
about Proverbs 3 and verse 5. You know what it says? It says,
trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine
own understanding. Somebody says, well I don't understand
these things, therefore I'm gonna call God unfair. No, trust in
the Lord and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Oh, it should
humble us. Do you realize that if we're
recipients of God's love, how that should affect us? God's
sovereign election exalts him as the righteous sovereign of
the universe. That's what he's saying there.
Let me tell you something, whatever this book says God does, I'm
gonna tell you how it is from this word. God does what's right
and good all the time. Everything he does is out of
his sovereign wisdom. You may not understand it. I
mean, well, let's put it this way. We don't all understand
it. But he does. He knows what's best. He's working
all things after the counsel of his own will. God's on the
throne. And then God's sovereign election
should humble us as undeserving sinners. The unbelieving Jews
had turned election into a doctrine of pride. They thought God elected
them because they were Jews, because they were circumcised,
because they kept the law. That's a doctrine of pride. Let
me tell you two things about Jacob and Esau that I know for
sure. Neither one of them deserved to be saved. By nature, neither wanted salvation. Salvation of none of us deserve
to be saved. God's sovereign election is what
causes people to differ as to salvation. Paul said, by the
grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. Think about that. God's sovereign
election should inspire us to seek salvation in Christ. Now
let me show you one more verse and I'll close. Turn to Romans
nine again. God's gonna save his people. Well, then how do we as creatures
here on earth operate? How should we seek to conduct
ourselves? How should we think? Are we just
to deny God? Are we to deny what God says
in his word, what God reveals of himself and exalt man above
his station? Is that what we're to do? Well,
obviously not. Are we to become fatalist and throw caution to
the wind? No. No, I'll tell you exactly what,
we're to bow to God and seek Him. Because the secret things
belong to God, the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the
words of this law. Think about it. You know, there
are verses in the Bible that command sinners to seek the Lord.
I don't have time to show all of them to you. They command
sinners to seek the Lord. Every sinner that hears me preach,
I can justly and rightfully from the book of God say, seek the
Lord. And then there are verses that
tell us that no man by nature can or will seek the Lord. That
right? I could show them to you. I can't
explain them away, I tried to. The way the Lord brought me to
an understanding of these things was me trying to get in here
and disprove them. So what are we to do? Take our
place in this universe as the little gnats that we are and
seek the Lord. The fact that God saves any sinner
at all should give us hope to seek Christ. Why do sinners perish
eternally? The Bible says because of unbelief.
Well look at this. Look at this in verse 30 of Romans
9. What shall we say then? Now this is after Paul had brought
up the issues of God's sovereign electing grace in Christ. God's
electing grace. God's love of Jacob, hatred of
Esau. What shall we say then? Well,
here's what we'll say. That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. He's talking about believers
among the Gentiles. They sought Christ. That's what
that means. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Why? Because they sought it not by
faith. They didn't seek it in Christ. They sought it in their
works. but as it were by the works of the law. They stumbled
at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, not be confounded, not
be disappointed, not be a failure. What are you to do? Seek the
Lord. That's what Malachi is telling
his folks. Seek the Lord. Make your calling
and election sure, Peter said. He didn't say sit around and
think about it, am I one of God's elect? No sir, he said make your
calling. What's your calling? It's the calling of the gospel.
That brings me in full view of my sinfulness and my depravity
and drives me to Christ for forgiveness, for righteousness, eternal life
and glory and Him alone. And in Christ, according to God's
sovereign mercy and grace and love, I know I have assurance
of salvation and assurance of God's love, no matter what happens
to me out here. Ain't right? All right. Let's sing as our closing hymn
for the beauty of the earth, hymn number 54. Let us stand. We'll sing the
first and fourth verses, please. For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies, Christ our God, our God. For thy church that evermore
lifteth holy hands.