We worship God on his throne. We worship God on his throne. The God of all grace sits upon
a throne of absolute sovereignty, ruling all things exactly as
he will all the time. And that throne is called in
this book, the throne of grace. He who is God gives grace to
whom he will and withholds it from whom he will as it pleases
him. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy and whom he will, he hardens. That's what we just
read a few minutes ago in the ninth chapter of the book of
Romans. This is what that means. If you would find grace, you
must find it at the throne of grace, bowing to God who sits
on that throne in his august majesty, in his absolute sovereignty. And that grace comes to sinners
through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you would find grace, salvation, eternal life, you must bow to
Jesus Christ, our God, who sits on his throne and seek it from
him. He alone can give it. He alone
has it. He alone can bestow it. So confess
your sin to him. Open your heart to him. Call
on Him as your Savior. Believe on Him as your Lord. You must cast away all self-worth
and self-righteousness and trust His righteousness alone. Deny
your good works and trust his works of obedience as the sinner's
substitute. You must bow to God, looking
to Christ. Trust Jesus Christ's precious
blood to cleanse you from all sin. There is no other way for
sinners to obtain mercy. Come to the Lord Jesus like that
publican described in the parable in Luke 18. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Dare you do so? Can you do so? Will you do so now? God, be propitious
to me through the precious blood of your dear son. To me, the
sinner. God, have mercy on me through
the blood of Christ. On me, the sinner. Come to him
like the leper. The leper who was dying, the
leper who had no hope, had no, death was certain, except the
Lord Jesus had mercy on him. And he comes and says, Lord,
if you will, you can make me whole. If you will, you can make
me whole. Why will you not? Why will you not? I'll tell you
now why you will not. You will not come only if you
have no need to come. You will not trust Christ only
if you have no reason to trust Christ. You will not believe
on the son of God only if you think yourself sufficient without
him. There's no other reason why men
and women will not believe on the Lord Jesus. Now, while you're
turning to my text in Romans chapter nine and verse 13, I
want to tell you a true story. Something that happened early
in the ministry of Brother Ralph Barnard, who was an evangelist
God used mightily in the revival of the gospel of his grace in
this country. This took place back in 1951.
At the time, Brother Barnard was living in my hometown in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I didn't know him. I was just
one year old in 1951, just in case you're wondering. But Rolfe
was living in my hometown and lived there till he died. But
he was preaching a meeting in Olney, Illinois in 1951 in a
Baptist church there. a Baptist church that had never
heard the message of God's free grace. And as Barnard was preaching,
he said, I felt that I was in the power of God's spirit as
I preached, but trouble was brewing. The pastor and his wife were
rebelling against the message and Barnard was staying in their
home. The wife wouldn't speak to him. She'd serve his meals,
just lay them on the table and walk away. You can imagine things
were a little icy. But after about three nights
of the meeting, the pastor after the service one night called
for the deacons to meet with him downstairs. And so they went
down to the basement and found a room and closed the door and
had a meeting. And the pastor paced back and
forth in front of the deacons a time or two. And he said to
those deacons, This man is going to ruin our church. He's going
to tear up our church. We've got to get rid of him,
and I don't know what to do. We've got to get rid of him.
Don't know what to do. And finally, one of the men spoke
up. Now, remember this back in 1951. He said to Pastor, I'll give you $300 and you can
pay him off and put him on a plane and send him home. You could
do all that for $300 in 1951. I'll give you $300, send him
home. I'll take care of it." And the
pastor said, how does that sit with the rest of you men? And
they all agreed that that was the thing to do. Let's just pay
him off, get him out of here, we'll be done with it. Except
for one old white-haired deacon who'd been around a while. That
old man stood up and said, as the pastor asked him, said, what
do you think? He hadn't said anything. And
the deacon stood up and said to the pastor and those other
deacons, that man is preaching the gospel. You've never heard
it. Preacher, you've never heard
it and you don't preach it. You deacons have never heard it and
this church has never heard it, but I've heard it. And that man's
preaching the gospel. And I warn you, the word of God
says something about touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets
no harm. I warn you, leave him alone.
Just leave him alone. That's all I've got to say, and
he sat down. And they paused a while longer in silence, and
finally the pastor said, well, let's go on with the meeting. And Barnard said they went on
with the meeting for a couple of nights, and one night after
he preached, A man stood up to sing a song, or before he preached,
and the pastor's wife was accompanying him. He sang, why should he love
me so? Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary
go? Why should he love me so? And as he was singing, the pastor's
wife playing the organ, quit playing suddenly, closed the
lid, and just fell over on the keyboard, sobbing like a baby. After a little bit, she got up
and walked over, just fell down right in front of Brother Barnard.
He fell down right in front. His wife, her husband, the pastor,
joined him. And God was pleased to save that
preacher and his wife and several of those deacons and several
others in that congregation by the preaching of the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. God gives life and
faith to sinners only by the declaration of truth. God does
not use religious lies to save sinners. Now somebody, somebody
will hear this. Brother Don said, my mama's not
saved. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. You said that.
You draw that conclusion from what this book says. You draw
that conclusion and you must draw that conclusion from what
this book says. God does not use religious lies
to save sinners. He doesn't do it. It is by the
word of truth that God gives life to the chosen redeemed sinners. Here in Romans chapter nine and
verse 13, let's read what irked that pastor. and his wife, and
what irked that congregation and those deacons, what just
made them mad, just made them mad. And that which still irks
and angers the wrath of man, religious men particularly, in
this generation. I mean it makes them so mad,
they'd shoot you if they'd get by with it. It makes them mad.
As we read the book of God, as we read this book, If we are
gods, we will, and we must bow to what God says in the word. If you don't bow to what God
says in his word, you're a rebel and you hate God. There's no
alternative. Either you bow to what God says
in his word, or you're a rebel, you hate God, and you're going
to hell. There's no alternative between
the two. Are you prepared to bow to the book of God? Prepared
to bow to what God says? Well, I don't understand all
that. You don't have to understand what you bow to. You bow to it. You bow to it. You bow to it. And in time, God may give you
some understanding. Let's read Romans 9, 13 together,
and we'll see. Here the Lord God speaks and
speaks plainly about his absolute sovereignty in the exercise of
his grace. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I loved less. That's not what it says. Jacob
have I loved, and I loved Esau too, but he wouldn't let me save
him. That's not what it says. Jacob have I loved, cause Jacob
was a good boy, and Esau, I hate him cause Esau was wicked. That's
not what it says. Rather, it says in the preceding
verse, the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. This is what God says. Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. If you're one of God's elect,
you're gonna fight that for just so long. Just so long. Sooner or later, God's going
to win. God's going to ride the wild ass's coat till he breaks
you down. And he's going to ride you down
in the dust. God's going to win. And you're
going to bow to him. The sovereign Christ is going
to put his yoke on you and make you like it. He'll conquer you. He'll conquer you. If you're
his, he'll conquer you by his grace. If you're not his, he'll
conquer you in judgment. Either way, he's gonna win. He's
gonna conquer you. Esau have I hated. That's the title of my message
this morning. Last Sunday morning, I preached to you on the easy
part of the chapter. Jacob have I loved. That's delightful. We like that. We like that. Well,
people who experience it like it. But here's the difficult
part. Esau have I hated. Esau have I hated. That seems a strange word from
God, doesn't it? Twice in one chapter, in 1 John
chapter four, God the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to
tell us, God is love. That's an attribute of God's
being essential to him as God. God is love. Is there then a
capacity in God who is love to hate? Can God who is love hate
anyone? Is it possible for God to hate? The book says, Esau have I hated. Now it doesn't matter whether
you read that in English, or Greek, or Latin, or German, or
Spanish, or Russian. It still says, Esau have I hated. Esau have I hated. Understand
the teaching of this book. There was just one real difference
between Jacob and Esau. And that one difference determined
every other distinction. God loved Jacob and God hated
Esau. I don't pretend to understand
the great wonders of election and predestination and reprobation. I don't. But I rejoice in all
God's glorious character. And I bow to him as God, that
one who is absolutely sovereign. That one who is an absolute sovereign
is the only one you can trust. I love Bobby Estes, and I trust
you as well as I can trust a man. But you can't just absolutely
trust Bobby. His daughter's sitting right
beside him. You can't absolutely trust him. He's getting old. And it doesn't matter what he
promises, he might not be able to do it. He has circumstances
come up that control things and they're beyond his control. He
tends to do good, but something happens beyond his control, out
of the reach of his power. So you dare not absolutely trust
him. You can't do it. You can't do
it. Our God sits on his throne. You can absolutely trust him. He is absolutely God. You understand
what I'm saying? The only God you can trust, the
only God you must trust, the only God you can truly worship
is God who sits on the throne of absolute sovereignty and determines
everything, even the destinies of men. Now let me give you five
things stated hear in the Word of God about God's hatred of
Esau. Here in Romans 9, verses 11,
12, and 13, the Lord God declares that he loved Jacob and hated Esau. And he did so before they were
born, before they had done anything good or evil. And he did this
that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, not
of works, but of him that call it. But this is not the only
place in scripture that speaks of God's hatred. Jacob and Esau
clearly in this passage of scripture represent two groups of people. They represent God's elect and
the reprobate in this world. They represent those who are
chosen of God and those who are not. Those who have been redeemed
by the blood of Christ and those who have not. Those who shall
be called by his grace and those who are not called by the irresistible
saving grace of his spirit. And these are the things God
says about his hatred of Esau, his hatred of all who are not
chosen, all who are not redeemed, all who are not called, all who
live on in persistent rebellion against God, all who at last
perish under his wrath. Number one, God's hatred, as
it is set before us in our text clearly, is a sovereign hatred. Sovereign. That's clearly, it's
as plain as the nose on your face, the message of Romans chapter
nine and verse 13. When the Lord God says, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated, he is using those twin brothers
to illustrate his great glorious sovereignty in the salvation
of sinners. Let's read again a goodly portion
of this chapter. Start at verse 10. Romans nine,
verse 10. when Rebekah also had conceived
by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil. Now, you ought
to underscore that in your mind. This took place before they had
ever done anything. And it took place 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. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? How many times have you heard
that? That ain't right. That ain't right. God forbid.
God forbid, for he saith to Moses, you remember Moses said, Lord,
show me your glory. Show me your glory. And this
is what God showed him. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So the very glory of God's being
is wrapped up in this matter of his sovereignty in saving
sinners. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Salvation not by your will, salvation not by your doing, salvation
by God mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Oh, oh,
you can't say that. No, you can't, but God did. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Yes, God
hardens men. Yes, God hardens men, just as
he did Pharaoh, so that those men will continue hardening their
hearts against him. Yes, sir. Thou wilt say then
unto me, why doth he yet find fault? If that's the way it is,
how could God find any fault with me? For who hath resisted
his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replies against God? You can keep fighting it as long
as you want to, but you're going to hell if you do. Who art thou
that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath, underscore this now, fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he, underline this, had aforeprepared unto
glory, even us whom he hath called. not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles. As it saith also in Hosea, I
will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved,
which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. I repeat, The Holy Spirit is
obviously using Jacob and Esau as the representatives of two
distinct groups of people. God's elect and the reprobate. Sheep and goats. Those who must
be saved and those who will never be saved. Those who enter into
glory and those who will never enter into glory. And it's telling
us the difference between the two is a difference of God's
making. Let me show you. Turn to first
Peter, chapter two, first Peter, chapter two, who make it to differ from another?
What has thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst
receive it, why does thou glory as if thou has not received it?
Look at first Peter, chapter two, verse seven. Unto you therefore
which believe, Christ is precious. Christ is precious. If you believe, Christ is precious.
But unto them which be disobedient, that same Christ who's precious
to you. He's a stone of stumbling, the stone which the builders
disallow. The same is made the head of the corner, and a stone
of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, they stumble at the word, they're
disobedient, they've rejected Christ. But this didn't just
accidentally take place, whereunto also they were appointed. But you, you who believe, you
to whom Christ is precious. Oh, grace has made all the difference
in the world. But you, you, me, you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people. a special people, a beloved people, that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy." Any honest interpretation of Romans 9 must
recognize that this 13th verse is used by God the Holy Spirit
to set forth Jacob as the representative of God's elect and Esau as the
representative of the reprobate in this world. And between these
two, the seed of woman and the seed of the serpent. There is
a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from one to
the other cannot do so. God's hatred of Esau, God's hatred
of any of Esau's is a sovereign hatred. Number two, God's hatred
of Esau as it is set before us in this text of scripture, was
a negative hatred. John Gill put it this way. It is a negative hatred, which
is God's will not to give eternal life to some, a neglect of them,
taking no notice of them, passing them by when he chose others.
So the word hate is used for neglect, taking no notice of. Let me remind you what I told
you last week, and I tell you often. That's exactly how our
Lord used the word in Luke chapter 14, verse 26. He said, if any
man come unto me and hate not his father and mother and wife
and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. What does that mean? What does
that mean? I just have three sisters. My
mother and dad are both dead and I love them. I love them. I have this wife and I love her.
I have my daughter and son-in-law, my grandchildren and I love them.
And I've got my family here and I love you. But God requires
that I hate everyone. that I hate everyone. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean positively despise them. No, no, no, no, no, no. It doesn't
mean be malicious toward them. It doesn't mean be hard with
them. No, my soul, a thousand times no. I get correspondence
and telephone calls and conversations all the time. Folks ask me, they
say, I'm feeling guilty about going to visit my mom and daddy.
They're not believers. They're Roman Catholics, and
I want to be separate from them. That's not what the book's talking
about. No, be gracious and kind and gentle and loving. It's always
right to be nice, always right to be good, always right to be
forbearing, always right to care for people. But there's a very
real sense in which if you would follow Christ, you must hate
everything that would stand between you and the Redeemer. Everything,
everything. If you would follow Christ, you
must hate father and mother and brother and sister, husband and
wife, and your own life also. As Moses despised the riches
of Egypt, Now, what do you think that meant? Do you really think
Moses hated wealth and honor and power? Do you really think
that Moses said, man, that's horrible stuff. I won't have
that. Do you really think Moses hated
the thought of sitting on the throne of the most powerful nation
in the world? Yes, no, no, yes. He hated them in this regard.
He knew who he was and whose he was. And he knew it was his
business as God's servant to slay the Egyptian and to deliver
Israel. And so he, in faith, despised
the riches of Egypt and followed Christ. Those things cannot interfere. Those things must not be considered. Those things must not enter into
the equations of life. They must not. Not if you follow
Christ. Not if you follow Christ. This is true of any faithful
man, any faithful pastor, any faithful preacher of the gospel.
There's no question at all that I could give myself to my wife
and could have given myself to my daughter and could give myself
to my family much more fully as any loving husband wants to
do if I did anything else except what I do. These days, since
Faith is married and out of the house, Shelby travels with me
most of the time, especially these last 10 years since my
health has been some difficulty, but most of our lives, Mark,
I slept somewhere else rather than with my wife every night,
most of our lives. Not because she wanted it that
way, not because I wanted it that way, because I was away
preaching the gospel of God's grace. My life has been spent
Rather than doing things with her to entertain the family and
all those things that you just actually want to do. Studying
and preaching. Studying and writing. All the
time. All the time. I make no complaints. I'm doing what I want to do.
I'm doing because I want to. Because I want to. But they must
behave. Ignore it. Just leave them alone. Don't let that interfere with
anything. I've got two grandchildren just like you do. Every Saturday,
they're out involved in some kind of activity, have been all
their lives, playing ball, swimming, all kinds of meets, school stuff.
You know where I'd like to be on Saturdays? You know where
I'd like to be? I'd like, every time that boy's
hitting a golf ball or shooting a basketball or throwing a baseball,
I'd like to be there watching, every single time. And I tell
you what, I would do so if it was on Monday. Because Mondays,
I don't have to do quite as much as I do on Saturday. If it was
on Wednesday, because on Wednesday I've got done with my Tuesday
night message, I could take a little break. But Saturday, no, no. And they just know not to ask,
because it ain't going to happen. It ain't going to happen. It's
just not going to happen. Why? You can't follow Christ
if you don't hate everything else. By that, I mean a negative
hatred. Let not those things interfere
with following Christ, with worshiping God. doing the will of God. You can't do it and be my disciple. That's what our Lord meant when
he said, Esau have I hated. God's sovereign eternal hatred
of Esau was a negation of benevolence, a resolution and determination
not to have mercy on him, not to give him grace and life eternal
in Christ, a determination by God to leave him alone. Now, you hear me. You hear me. Molly, are you listening to me
now? Listen to me, honey. All it takes for you to go to
hell is for God to leave you alone. Did you hear me? All it takes
for you to go to hell is for God to leave you alone. That's
all it takes. Well, Might you cry out to God
continually? Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry while on others
thou art calling. Do not pass me by. I can't tell you. I cannot express
in words. How thankful I am. God wouldn't
leave me alone. He just wouldn't leave me alone.
I tried to get him to. I shoved him out of my way all
my life. Get out of my way. I'll do what
I want to. But God wouldn't leave me alone
because the Lord God said, Don, have I loved. But he left Esau
alone. Gave Esau no consideration. His
only consideration was for Jacob. God loved Jacob. He considered
Jacob. He chose Jacob. And the only
reason, the only cause was in himself. The sovereignty and
freedom of God's eternal will. But, now listen carefully. God's
hatred of Esau was a sovereign hatred. God's hatred of Esau
was a negative hatred, but I hasten to tell you God's hatred of Esau
was also a deserved hatred, a just hatred, a righteous hatred. Don't imagine that Esau or any
other sinner is damned or goes to hell because of divine predestination. Now I want you to remember this.
Write it down somewhere and remember it. Nobody goes to hell because
God predestinated that person to go to hell. Nobody goes to
hell because God predestinated that person to go to hell. Nobody. Don't imagine that's the case. Reprobate sinners go to hell.
because they've earned the wages of sin, which must and shall
be paid death, everlasting death in hell. Yes, without question,
God predestined the everlasting damnation of the wicked, just
as he predestined the everlasting salvation of the righteous. but
he predestinated the damnation of the wicked by their wickedness,
just as he predestinated the salvation of the elect by righteousness,
by the obedience of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In both cases, God
eternally ordained the means as well as the end. We read in
Romans 9, as God describes his elect, Jacob, as vessels of mercy,
who obtained the riches of the glory of God in Christ, being
aforeprepared unto glory. Aforeprepared by God unto glory. God's elect are prepared unto
glory. That means they're made fit for
glory. Made fit for heaven. through
the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. They're
made fit for heaven through the sanctification, the regenerating
work of God, the Holy Spirit, making us new creatures in Christ.
We're made fit for heaven by belief of the truth, believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Made fit for heaven through the
instrumentality of gospel preaching so that God's elect, Jacob, are
made fit for heaven in Jesus Christ the Lord, by God's mighty
operations of grace for us and in us. God only saves sinners
by justice. That means if Mark Henson gets
to glory, you're gonna go into glory because it's right for
you to go to glory. God won't save sinners any other
way. He only saves sinners in the exercise of justice. And
God only damn sinners in justice. That means if you go to hell,
you're going to hell, cause it's right for you to go to hell.
That's exactly what it means. The reprobate Esau are described
in verse 22 as vessels of wrath. Fitted, fitted, fitted for destruction. Made fit for hell by their willful
rejection of the light that God gives them. by their sin, by
their unbelief, by despising the goodness of God and the Son
of God. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see light, but the wrath of God abides on him. Listen to the book. He that being
often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be cut off,
and that without remedy. That's what it means. You hear God speak and your conscience
is pricked and you're moved and you say no. You hear God speak
and your conscience is pricked and you're terrified. No! And
you hear God speak, bow to Christ my son. Christ is Lord, bow to
him. And you say, I won't have him.
No, no, no, no. God says, all right, you can't
have him. You can't have him. I'll leave
you to yourself. You'll go to hell. But Charlie doesn't always do
that. You said no. No. To hell with God, I won't
have him. I won't have him. Don't want
him. But God wouldn't leave you alone. And that's all the difference
in the world. If you go to hell, you who hear my voice, you will
go to hell scratching and clawing and fighting and pushing God
out of your way. And God may just shut the door
today. You remember when God brought
Noah into the ark? God brought him into the ark
and God shut the door. And there wasn't a cloud in the
sky. It never rained, there was no
rain falling, not even any dew falling. God shut the door. And when God shut the door, Merle,
nobody could get in. So God doesn't do that anymore.
Read Matthew chapter seven. Luke chapter 13 and tell me he
doesn't. God says, strive to enter in
straight gate. Labor to enter, many will try
to get in and shall not. When the master of the house
arises and shuts the door, it's shut and you can't get in. So
fourthly, the scriptures teach us that God's hatred of Esau
is a positive hatred. God's hatred of any sinner is
a positive hatred. In his positive will, he justifies
the righteous. And in his positive will, he
sends folks to hell. It is God's positive will justly
to punish and destroy those who despise his son. The book of
God is crystal clear. If you refuse Christ's claims
as Lord and Savior, if you refuse to believe on the Son of God,
God may just deal with you as he did with Esau. He may fix
it so you cannot believe. Turn back to Malachi chapter
one. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. God is angry with the wicked
every day. We're told in 2 Thessalonians
that he sins a lie that men might be damned who believe not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Here in Malachi chapter one,
the Lord God gives us the text from which Paul quotes in Romans
nine. The burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi, I have loved you, saith the Lord, yea,
or yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? And God says, was not
Esau Jacob's brother? Saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob. And I hated Esau. And this is
what I did, because I hated Esau. I laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom
saith, that is Esau says, we're impoverished. But that's all
right, we will return and build the desolate places. God may
have put his hand on us and took away all our riches, we're impoverished,
that don't matter, we can overcome God. You know, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, they shall build, but I will throw down. They shall
call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the
Lord hath indignation forever. And your eyes shall see, you
sons of Jacob, and ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from
the border of Israel. One more thing. God's hatred of Esau. God's hatred
of lost sinners is an everlasting hatred. These are the people against
whom the Lord hath indignation forever. It is a mutual hatred. Esau's
been in hell for a long time. And he recognizes that he's in
hell because he fully deserves to go to hell. And his acknowledgement
of God's justice doesn't change one thing. Mark, he hates God
more now than he ever did. It is a mutual hatred and it
goes on forever. Die without Christ. Die in your
hatred for the son of God. And you will be cast off in the
anger, wrath, and just hatred of God forever in the pit of
the damned. Preacher, what am I to do? What
am I to do? Hear what God says for you to
do. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord.
But if I'm reprobate, I can't do that. Return and you ain't. Come to Christ and you are not. Let him forsake his way and return
to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God
and he will abundantly prosper. Come to Christ and live forever. Come to Christ and enjoy the
blessedness of God's free grace forever in Jesus Christ. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Our God, our sovereign God maintains
his universal throne. In heaven and earth and hell
he reigns and makes his wonders known. His counsels and decrees
firmer than mountains stand. He will perform whatever he please
and none can stay his head. All things his will controls
and his all wise decree has fixed the destinies of all and matched
the sovereignty. Jacob, By grace he saved and
gives no reason why, but Esau's heart he left depraved. And who
shall dare reply? Amen. Amen. May God give you
life and faith in our Savior for Christ's sake.