Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast that is more serious for Zion's 4th. One of the most
neglected of scriptures, along with its subsequent teaching,
is found in Romans 9, 13. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Here Paul is referring to the
prophecy of Malachi as Malachi is quoting the very words of
God himself. The Lord does here plainly state
that it is his own prerogative to love whom he will and conversely
to hate whom he will. None can deny that he has the
right to bestow his love on whom he will according to his own
desire and purpose. There are usually many collective
gasps that arise from the congregation of the religious when such doctrine
is set forth. Yet this vital teaching cannot
be neglected, lest one should be guilty of misrepresenting
the plain truth of God. It is impossible to exactly define
the moment when the Lord bestowed His love upon the people of His
choice, but it is clear that He describes His love for those
who are hidden in Christ as being the recipients of an everlasting
love. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
While we cannot define the exact beginning of this love for this
people which he has hidden in his Son, the Scripture plainly
tells us that it was from before the foundation of the world.
If we fail to recognize this foundational truth, then everything
else we might try to understand about the Lord's relationships
with mankind in general will be skewed, and we can have no
true understanding of what it is that Jesus Christ came into
the world to accomplish. Most of the error which surrounds
man's misunderstanding and subsequent false teaching concerning the
Atonement of Christ arises out of a failure to grasp the differentiation
which the Lord makes between those who are the recipients
of His love and those who are not. Those who worship at the
shrine of man's free will despise the notion that God's redemptive
love is sovereignly dispensed and reject the notion that man
cannot gain God's favor by an action of that free will. Much
gnashing of teeth is exhibited as they express their disdain
for the plain truth of God and picture the Lord as one who can
only cooperate with that which men would bring forth according
to their decisions and persuasions. Effectively, this puts man in
a position of more power than God Himself, which is, of course,
ridiculous and blasphemous at the same time. When the children
of Israel who had wandered in the wilderness for forty years
were about to enter into the promised land, the Lord made
it very clear that not all of the land which they might traverse
was designed for them to dwell in. Just as the Lord had designed
a land for them to purposely inhabit and delight in, He had
also, in His sovereign purpose, given lands into the possession
of others who were not the inheritors of His blessings. This is illustrated
for us specifically with that people whose lineage could be
traced back to Esau, who was Jacob's twin brother. Esau is
representative, in the matter of redemption, of those who are
not the elect of God. He is also representative of
that man of the flesh, in contrast to Jacob, who is representative
of that man who was born again by the Spirit of Christ. There
is a natural enmity of that which is of the flesh with that which
is of the Spirit. Just as Esau fulfilled the purpose
of God in the place of his habitation, so too does this sinful flesh
fulfill the purpose of God. The land of promise is not ruled
by a carnal commandment. do this and live, but rather
by the principle of expediency. Religious men love carnal commandments,
and libertines love the lusts of the flesh, both of which principles
abound in the land of Esau. Yet the land of promise is ruled
by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which manifests
that its inhabitants are delivered from the law of sin and death.
A man cannot and will not delight in that which he does not love
any more than he will reject that which he delights in. Apart
from a man being born from above by the Spirit of life, he will
gladly inhabit the land of Esau and hate the way of Jacob. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream dot net.