Well, we're going to look this
morning at Obadiah, verse 17. Obadiah, verse 17. We've been
looking in the study, the Bible class, at Romans, chapter 9,
and the sovereign purposes of God, and the way in which this
is a deep, deep mystery. As Romans itself says, God's
ways are past finding out. They're too deep to fathom, but
nevertheless he's revealed them. There are mysteries. We see in
the world around us multitudes who are lost, as Paul describes
them elsewhere, without Christ in this world, and therefore
without hope, and justly condemned for their sin. It's their sin. All of us, we've all sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and are all justly condemned
under the unbending justice of God for that sin. Nevertheless,
in the midst of all of that, God delights in mercy. God is a God who delights in
mercy. God is a God who saves sinners. When justice demands their destruction,
God is the God who saves sinners out of a world full of sinners.
We read two weeks ago, but we mentioned it again this morning,
Romans 9 13, Jacob have I loved? And what he means by that is
Jacob and his descendants have I redeemed? Have I redeemed from
the curse of the law? Have I redeemed from their sin
and its consequences? But he saw his brother, his older
twin, have I hated, in the respect of, I've left him to his own
will, and his own devices, and his own purposes, and the consequence
of his own heart's desire. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. What I wanted to do this week,
instead of continuing in Luke, because what would have been
the next sermon in Luke is actually what I preached on just twelve
months ago, the man possessed by demons in the tombs, the naked
man who was who was clothed and in his right mind and sitting
at the feet of Jesus. It's only a year ago that I preached
on that as a one-off sermon. So because we're looking at Romans
9 I want to turn your attention to Obadiah because the prophecy
of Obadiah is particularly about Esau and Jacob. It's about the
animosity that was between Esau and Jacob, those two brothers
of which God says of Jacob, have I loved? And of Esau, have I
hated? The nation that came from Esau,
the older brother, is the nation of Edom. You'll read about them
again and again in the Old Testament. Always crossing paths with Jacob,
with Israel, and coming into conflict with them. When you
look at the history of Edom versus Israel, you see this constant
conflict between them. Esau is to Jacob like Cain is
to Abel. You know how Cain murdered his
brother. Why? Because God accepted Abel's
sacrifice. Abel came with a lamb. A lamb. Picture in Christ. Abel came
with a lamb. I am accepted by God on the basis
of the substitutionary sacrifice of an acceptable offering. That's what he came with. Who
is that? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one. Abel's
lamb pictured the only acceptable sacrifice. Cain? Came with the
work of his own hands. Well, didn't he do his best?
Shouldn't that have been accepted? Do you know, I can think of people
I know in this world who would say, well, I don't like a God
like that. I don't want anything to do with
a God like that. Cain was only trying to do his best. Surely
he should have been rewarded for that. God rejected it, because
why? He's not good enough. It just isn't good enough. It
does not satisfy his justice. There's only one thing that satisfies
his justice, and that is the shed blood of his beloved son. The precious blood, the infinite
blood, the human blood. of his most holy son, the blood
of God that was shed to purchase his church. That's the only thing
that purchases acceptance with God, that purchases peace with
God. And Esau was to Jacob in terms
of hating that message, in hating that way of approaching God,
just like Cain was to Abel, and just like in our day, all gospel
rejecters are to those who are true believers. Who do I include
in all gospel rejecters? I include all of the irreligious
of this world, of course, because they're irreligious and they
want nothing to do with it, but you know who else I include?
I include all those who use the terminology of the Scriptures
and the terminology of the Gospel, but they're actually Gospel rejecters,
because they do not believe what it says. They do not believe
what it says concerning what Christ has done. They don't believe
what this word says when we get to the next chapter of Romans
where it tells us, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. They don't believe that. They
twist their way around it and they put their other rules and
regulations in place. It's the same relationship, Edom
to Israel. That hatred, that animosity,
because of those who despise that truth, despise those who
possess that truth. John says to believers in his
epistle, first epistle, John 3, 13, marvel not, don't be amazed,
my brethren, if the world hates you. If the world of gospel rejecters
hate what you say and what you believe. You know, it's a good
thing when people show an interest. in what we believe and what we
preach. And I pray that they'll look at what we preach and what
we say and what's on our website. But as they look, be prepared
for this, that if they remain in the world as gospel rejecters,
when they look, they will hate you. The Word of God tells us
that. Esau was a man of unbelief, Esau
was. He was a profane person, Hebrews
12 verse 16 tells us. Why was he profane? He despised
his birthright. You know, he was the oldest,
it was his birthright to take that line on from his father
Isaac, Abraham, Isaac. And then it would have been Esau
because he was the oldest one, but he despised that birthright.
Do you know what it means You say, well, what did he despise?
Just getting a tap on the head from his dad, was that what he
despised? No, it was all the gospel that went with it. That's
what he despised. He despised his father's gospel. He despised his father's God.
He despised his father's God's way of salvation that he declared. He despised God's revelation
of sovereign grace. That's what he despised. Isn't
that what so many despise today? Sovereign grace in a substitute
who must come, who was pictured in the animal sacrifices, long
before the beginning, the giving of the law, in the days of Isaac
and Jacob, long before the giving of the law. They sacrificed animals
to picture the coming of Christ. And what did Esau do? He despised
that birthright and he intermarried, willfully. It was his sin. He
willfully, he willfully went his own way. He saw have I hated. He saw have I left to himself
and his own desires and his own will. And what was his will?
He saw the beautiful women, the pagan women, all around him,
and he desired them. And one wasn't enough, it was
more than one. He wanted anything that his heart desired. And then
in the end of it he said this, Genesis 27 41, then I will kill
my brother. That was his intention, to kill
his brother. We know that God graciously intervened,
graciously intervened when they did meet that great troop of
Jacob and his wives and his children and his flocks and herds and
he was terrified when he came up to Esau because he was convinced
Esau was going to try and kill him there. and God intervened
and gave Esau a sort of a friendly disposition towards him. But
nevertheless, that was the intent. That was the intent of Esau's
heart. It says of Esau to his mother,
you know, to Isaac and Rebecca, it says of Esau that he was a
grief of mind to them. A grief of mind to them. You
know, I think all that have been parents have known times when
you thought that aspects of your children have been a grief of
mind to you, a grief of mind. Some of you mothers will know
what I'm talking about. That's what Rebecca felt about about
Esau, a grief of mind because he despised his birthright. He'd
intermarried with these pagan women. He'd gone his own way.
He despised the God of grace who'd showed himself again and
again to Isaac when Isaac built altars at Beersheba and in these
other places. And Esau's descendants occupied
the country to the south of Canaan and they constantly afflicted
Israel. You know when Israel, years later,
went down into Egypt. You know, Jacob, and they went
down into Egypt and then four hundred years later when they
were coming out of Egypt and they were in their wilderness
wanderings. And about Numbers 21, 22, that sort of area, you
will read about Edom being an aggravation to Israel. Israel
was their brother. You know, they were descended
from Esau and Israel was descended from Israel, Jacob. And yet,
they made life difficult for them. They wouldn't let them
pass through their territory. In the days of Balaam and Balak,
when the Amorites and all of those are doing what they can
to oppose Israel, Eden was there amongst them. And in Numbers
24 verses 18 and 19, We read there, Edom shall be
a possession. It's a judgment being pronounced,
one of Balaam's prophecies. Edom shall be a possession, for
out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion. The truth
is going to lie in what shall come from Jacob, the seed of
Jacob. In Jacob's descendant, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is going to come salvation So there was extreme
aggression of Edom to Israel. There was extreme opposition,
and it's like the opposition of this world, of gospel-rejecting
world, to the truth of the true gospel. You read of a couple
of incidents. In 853 BC, we read about Amos
and Joel referring to Edom's hostility towards Israel. And
in 586 BC, the time of Nebuchadnezzar, in Psalm 137, We read there that
the Edomites told Nebuchadnezzar, raise it to the ground, Jerusalem,
flatten it, raise it, obliterate them, take them captive, wipe
them out. You see? Extreme aggression.
But this is what God promised Abraham. God promised to Abraham,
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse
you. That was God's promise to Abraham.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse
you. Genesis 12 verse 3. And Obadiah
pronounces God's certain judgment on Eden. Look at verse 10 of
the prophecy. Verse 10, For thy violence against
thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be
cut off forever. The judgment of God is coming
upon them for their violence against their brother Jacob.
And so it is, God's judgment is on this irreligious, this
gospel-rejecting world, this religious gospel-rejecting world. for its opposition to the true
gospel of grace. In Malachi chapter 1, the first
few verses, there's yet more judgment pronounced and it's
from there, Malachi 1 verses 2 and 3, that Paul quotes in
Romans 9.13 when he says, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated. That's where it comes from. And even coming up to the
day of Christ, there was that opposition between Edom and Christ,
or as it is in the New Testament, Edomia and Christ. Do you know
Herod the Great, who was the tetrarch, the figure king of
that land in the days of the Roman conquest. And when Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
he, Herod, was an Edomite. He was an Edomian. And he opposed
Christ, didn't he? You know what he did? He had
all of the boys under two years old killed. in case there should
come one who would usurp his position. And then when Christ
was about to be crucified it was one of the followers of Herod
the Great, it was Herod Antipas, and he regarded Christ as an
object of entertainment to be viewed at before his crucifixion.
It's all in line with what's revealed in Revelation 12 about
the purposes of Satan in devouring the child that comes from the
woman. The woman is the church, the child is the Christ that
comes from the church, and Satan's purpose is to destroy that Christ
before he can accomplish his purposes of saving his people. Now what's its relevance for
today? All of us, the whole world, by nature, are Edomites. Whatever our status, whatever
our race, whatever our wealth, whatever our influence, we're
all sinners. We've all sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. As Romans 1 to 3 says, it doesn't
matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, you're all under the
same condemnation. All have sinned. All natural
man is opposed to the gospel of God's grace. The natural man
doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness
to him. neither can he know them. All, by nature, Edomites. All
under the same judgment that's pronounced in Obadiah. Look at
verses 15 and 16. This is not just Edom. This is
not just the descendants of Esau. This is all who stand in the
place of Esau, which is gospel-rejecting. For the day of the Lord is near
upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee. You're going to be paid back,
is what he's saying, for all your sins. Your reward shall
return upon your own head. For as ye have drunk upon my
holy man, he's talking about the cup of judgment, the cup
of the judgment of the Lord, so shall all the heathen drink
continually until God is satisfied. Yea, they shall drink, and they
shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not
been. His judgment will go on until his justice is satisfied.
You know it says of the Lord Jesus Christ that he drank the
cup of the wrath of God on behalf of his people, for his people,
that they, his people, might not have to drink that cup This
is the way the world is. Full of sin. Full of deliberate
sin. Because people have been left
to their own devices, and their own devices are sinful. Their
own desires are sinful. Their own heart's desire is God-rejecting. It's self-exalting. It's to do
its own will. And he says, Jacob have I loved?
And he saw, have I hated? Have I left to his own self?
But, Verse 17, don't you love the buts of Scripture? The situation
is spelled out so clearly, the just justice and judgment of
God is coming upon sin. Verse 17, but upon Mount Zion
shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house
of Jacob shall possess their possessions. there is a place
of deliverance, is what this scripture is declaring to us.
You know, we're thinking of the sovereign purposes of God, the
electing grace of God, the reprobation of God. That, you know, he hardens
whom he will harden is what Romans 9 says. How do we understand
this? there is a place of deliverance. And that place of deliverance
is this, it's Mount Zion. On Mount Zion shall be deliverance. Mount Zion is the kingdom of
God. Mount Zion is the new Jerusalem,
the heavenly Jerusalem, the place of peace. of God's peace. Romans 11 verse 26 quotes Isaiah
59 verse 20 and Romans 11 26 says this, there shall come out
of Zion, except with an S because it's translated from the Greek
in Romans, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer. Is that not exactly what Obadiah
17 says? Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance.
They shall come out of Zion, the deliverer, and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob. Look at what it says in the margin
reference, if you've got a marginal reference, it says on Mount Zion
shall be they that escape. On Mount Zion shall be they that
escape. They that escape what? they that
escape the curse of the law. How do they escape the curse
of the law? Christ has redeemed us from that curse of the law.
They escape the condemnation of sin, the just condemnation
of sin. There's a world full of sin that
God must judge, for he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,
but on Mount Zion shall be they that escape. They that escape
the condemnation of sin. They that escape the judgment
of God and the just reward of that judgment, which is hell.
They that experience salvation accomplished. Upon Mount Zion
shall be the people that he has saved. Upon Mount Zion, it could
be translated, shall be that which has been saved. And this
is how they've been saved. They've been saved firstly from
all eternity. You know, we read a few weeks
ago, Romans 8, 29 and 30. Let me remind you of it again,
I think I mentioned it earlier on in the study. But, whom God
foreknew. He causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, who are called according
to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, for whom
he foreordained, for whom he loved with an everlasting love
is what that means. In sovereign grace, for whom
he foreknew, These he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his son. And those he predestinated, these
he also called with the name, the marriage name of his son,
when he put them in his son. And those he called, having called
them, he must justify them, because they cannot be with his son in
the state that they're in, he must justify them. So these he
also justified. How is he going to do that? By
sending his son. to purchase them from the curse
of the law. And these he justified, then
he also glorified. It's done. The deal is done. The transaction's finished. Salvation
is accomplished from eternity. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 9
and 10, where he talks about God who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works. Oh, thank
God for that. You know, that's such a blasphemous
term used so frequently, isn't it? But I really mean that. Thank
God for that fact, not according to our works, not in any respect
whatsoever, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He's
justified us and saved us from all eternity. From all eternity. But in this world, this universe
of space and of time, the transaction must be done. The promise transaction
must be completed. The covenanted promise must be
fulfilled. Christ who promised to come as
the basis of justification for his people must come. A body
must be prepared for him. He must come down from glory. He who was in the form of God,
and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, laid aside
that glory, laid aside that glory, and came down to this sinful
earth, this sinful land of Edom, came down here, that he might
walk this earth in a human body, with human blood, but infinite
human blood, and infinitely holy human blood. perfect human blood,
tried and tested under the law of God, and found in every way
righteous, because he is the righteousness of God. And that
blood was shed because he was made sin for his people, that
his people might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And so we read Cursed. Galatians 3.10. Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them. That's you and that's me. In
every detail. Cursed before the law of God.
Justly cursed. Justly cursed. That judgment
of verses 15 and 16 of Obadiah is totally deserved. And not
one who will be subject to it will say this is unfair and not
right. Let every mouth be stopped, says
Romans 3.19. Every mouth be stopped and all
become guilty before God. Is this judgment just? Yes, it's
just. Absolutely just. Let every mouth
be stopped. The justice of God must fall.
everyone that continues not in all things written in the book
of the law to do them, cursed. But, verse 13, Christ has redeemed
us, brought us back, purchased us, paid the ransom price for
our release from the curse of the law, having been made a curse
for us, having taken that curse upon himself, having taken that
sin upon himself, having paid its price to the fullest, to
the fullest. That's why he died. That's why
he really did die. He died to the fullest extent
of the justice of God. He went down into hell to the
fullest extent of the justice of God, to pay for the price
of the sins of his people. So that Hebrews 9 verse 12 tells
us, it's not the blood of calves that accomplishes salvation,
of animals, of goats, calves, they were just pictures. But
with his own blood, he entered once into the holy place. That
was the blood. The high priest used to go into
that picture of the holy place, which was in the temple, with
a picture of the true price, and was accepted because it was
a picture. But Christ went into the real holy place, in the heavens,
with his own blood. as the offering, as the price
of payment. With his own blood he entered
into the holy place because he has obtained eternal redemption
for his people. At Calvary He saved us. Upon
Mount Zion shall be that which has been saved. In this world
of Edom, upon Mount Zion shall be that which has been saved
from eternity, in time at Calvary. How important it is! You know,
we have a Savior who is not just some abstract notion, we have
a Savior who was a real man, who came. Our God came in human
flesh and walked this earth, and we have the record of it.
And he actually died and shed real blood on the cross of Calvary.
That blood was on the ground at Calvary. he actually came
to redeem his people that there might be upon Mount Zion deliverance
or that which has been saved and we're saved experimentally
we're saved that among Mount Zion shall be deliverance that
which has been saved in their own experience turn over to Ephesians
and keep a finger in Ephesians because I think we'll be making
some reference to it in the next minute or two Ephesians chapter
two I know these are very familiar verses, but it's worth reminding
ourselves. Chapter two, the first nine verses,
and you, hath he quickened? This is in your experience, who
were dead in trespasses and sins. You didn't believe God, you didn't
know anything of him. in your sins you walked in them,
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this
world, like everybody else does. I'm only doing what everybody
else does, you might say. That's just what all my friends
do. Yes, they're all walking according to the course of this
world. They're all dead in trespasses and sins. They're all doing the
bidding of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He's the one
who's doing it, among whom also we all had our conversation.
We joined in with it, we loved it, we had a good time together
in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things that
our flesh selfishly wanted to do, fulfilling the desires of
our flesh and of the mind. Anything we thought of, we thought
we could go and seek after. And we were by nature This is
our flesh, the children of wrath, even as everybody else, there's
no difference, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, but God. We were like that, we were dry
bones, dead dry bones, but God, who is rich in mercy, although
he's a judge and just and must punish the guilty and cannot
forgive sin, He's a God who is rich in mercy. He delights in
it. For His great love wherewith He loved us, He foreknew. Before the beginning of time,
He loved with an everlasting love. And when did He love us?
Even when we were dead in sins, God commends His love to us in
this, that when we were sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't
wait for us to get better. While we were sinners, Christ
died for us. Even when we were dead in sins,
He has quickened us, made us alive together with Christ. By
grace are you saved, not by the will of man, not by the will
of the flesh. but the will of God. Verse 6,
and he's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Do you know these things by faith?
Well if you do, you experience the deliverance that is there
in Mount Zion. It's something that you know
in your heart. It's something that you experience.
If a crisis of life comes along, like a cardiac arrest or something
like that, it is well with my soul because you know in your
experience that these things are true. that Christ has saved
you. By grace are you saved through
faith. That's how you experience it.
Not of yourselves even the gift of faith. It's not something
that you were good enough to have when others were bad enough
to reject. God gave it to you. It's the
gift of God. Not of works. None of it. Not the slightest
bit. Lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. Experimentally, he saved us.
He's also, incidentally, saved his people to proclaim his gospel
in this fallen world of Edom. Look at verse 18. Let me turn
back to Obadiah. But as I say, keep a finger in
Ephesians, but look at verse 21 of Obadiah. And saviors shall come up on
Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall
be the Lord's. Do you know, I think that is
talking about the witness, the witness to the gospel of grace.
We read about it last week, about putting your candle on a candlestick. It's saying that preachers shall
be raised up on Mount Zion, in the Church of God, to proclaim
the Gospel of Grace, to judge the Mount of Esau, to proclaim
it in this world, by the foolishness of preaching, to judge Mount
Esau. By the foolishness of preaching,
to proclaim the Gospel. Saved also, not to be quiet about
it, but to proclaim it. And that's what we're doing here
this morning. And when it goes out on the internet, Secondly,
that's the first promise, there shall be deliverance upon Mount
Zion. In this fallen world of Edom,
there shall be deliverance on Mount Zion. But then, there shall
be holiness. There shall be holiness. Holiness,
without which, no man shall see the Lord, says Hebrews. Pursue
holiness, follow holiness, without which, no man shall, are you
holy enough? to see God. Do you reckon you
are? No, not at the moment, no, but
I hope that maybe by the time I die I'm going to be holy enough.
I tell you what, in your flesh you will never, ever, ever be
holy enough. But if you're in the Lord Jesus
Christ, God declares you are holy in Him now. You are the
righteousness of God in Him. He made Him who knew no sin,
to be made sin for us, our sin placed on him, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. He's justified his
people. He's made his people just. I
know it's an often used paraphrase, it's just as if I had never sinned,
but of course I really know that I have. In the judgment of God,
if you're in Christ, you have never sinned. You haven't. You
haven't. How else could God say he looks
for the sins of Jacob and of Israel and finds none? Because
there's none there. And why is there none there?
Because Christ has taken it away. Christ is holy. He is holy. On Mount Zion there shall be
holiness and he clothes his people with his holiness, making us
the righteousness of God in him. Another verse in Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 1, again, you know it well. What's the eternal purpose
of God? According, verse 4, as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, couldn't be clearer,
could it? That we should, why? Why did he do that? That we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. He's done it that
we might be in that situation. Another thing that this holiness
could mean is there shall be a sanctuary, or there shall be
a church, dwelling place of God, a place
where God dwells in His holiness. And what's that? That's the church,
the gathering of His people. Ephesians 2.22, again, talks
about being a habitation of God in the Spirit. Let me just turn
that up. In whom ye also are builded together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit. There shall be a
sanctuary through the Spirit. There shall be a people who are
made holy in Christ, in this world. Upon Mount Zion, where
there is deliverance, where there is that which has been saved,
there shall be holiness. There shall be holiness. Are
you holy? Am I holy? This is what John
says in his first epistle, chapter 4, verse 17. As he is, as Christ
is, so are we in this world. In this world, so are we. That's
how he counts us. That's how we are in his judgment.
So are we. Holiness. In Mount Zion, there
shall be holiness. Thirdly, and the house of Jacob
shall possess their possessions. Jacob's possessions. If they're
Jacob's possessions, he didn't deserve them because Jacob was
a cheat. Let's put the other side of the
story. Jacob, with his mother's help, swindled Esau out of his
father's blessing. It was because he despised his
birthright, but there was deceit involved with it. Jacob's possessions
are totally undeserved. They're all of grace. We don't
have time now, but read verses 3 to 14 of Ephesians chapter
1. These are the possessions of
the people of God. We've redemption through His
blood. He's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He's
given us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Him. He's
predestinated us to the adoption of children. We should be to
the praise of the glory of His grace. And so it goes on. It's
just overflowing with that which is ours. our possession as the
people of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're blood-bought
possessions, as Hebrews 9 tells us. We already read the verse
earlier on, not with the blood of calves, but with his own blood.
He bought, he purchased the possessions of his people. Jacob's possessions
are the sinner's possessions by grace. And we possess them
by faith in Christ, experimentally, now. We possess peace with God. What a blessing! Jacob's possessions,
peace with God, in this world of Edom and the judgment coming
upon it, in this world of the sovereign grace of God revealed
and we don't understand it, but in this world, it's it's possible
for a people to have peace with God. They have it through the
sovereign grace of God. They have assurance of it. That's a possession. Assurance
of eternal life. And the possession of eternal
life itself. These are Jacob's possessions.
Romans 5.11 says, We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have received the atonement. We are the true people
of God, the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, who
rejoice in Christ Jesus, who have no confidence in the flesh.
And what else do we possess that this world doesn't possess? I
tell you, it's so precious. We possess treasure in heaven.
Lay up for yourselves, said Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, treasure
in heaven where moth and rust doesn't corrupt. This world will
corrupt everything that you hold dear. If you leave it long enough,
I don't care what it's made of, it will tarnish and corrupt and
wear away everything. But treasure in heaven, nothing
will corrupt that. That's eternal. That's the possession
of Jacob now. That's what you have if you're
Christ's now. You have a confident hope of
glory. You have a confident hope that
come the day of judgment, when we all must stand before the
judgment seat of Christ, you will rejoice in this. There is
therefore now no condemnation, not one scintilla of condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. So where are you? Where am I?
In Edom or in Zion? Is this not the great thing?
You look at Obadiah, it's either Edom or upon Mount Zion. Whereabouts? In a state of reprobation, under
the sovereign purposes of God, or in a state of election? In
a state of condemnation, justly for my willful sin, or in a state
of deliverance on Mount Zion? Surely it's all determined by
God's sovereign purposes. Yes, it is. He's declared it.
So does that make us sit back in fatalism and say, well, that's
it? What about this? You know, I
love the words of that hymn, and if free grace, why not for
me? You know what Jesus said? to
those who are burdened. I often quote it, you know it
so well. Come unto me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Is there anything in that
which would say to the seeking sinner, you're amongst the reprobate,
it's too late, it's already fixed, it cannot be altered. It cannot
be altered, but the fact is that you're burdened and heavy laden,
and if you are, Jesus says, come unto me and I will give you rest. He says in Isaiah 55, ho, everyone
that thirsts. Has he made you thirst? Have
you got a thirst for the things of the living God? Oh, everyone
that thirsts, come by without money and without price. At the
end of the book of Revelation, chapter 22, about four verses
from the end, come, the spirit and the bride say, come, come,
take of the waters of life freely. God says to his people, to the
house of Israel, in Ezekiel 33 verse 11, say unto them, he says
to Ezekiel, say to them, the house of Israel, as I live, he
means it, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. What he means by that is his
justice isn't satisfied in the death of the wicked, it goes
on and on and on eternally. But it pleased the Lord to bruise
the Lord Jesus Christ because his justice was satisfied. That's
why it pleased the Lord to bruise him. His justice was satisfied.
He says, I have no pleasure. Justice isn't satisfied. in the
death of the wicked alone, it goes on eternally. But that the
wicked turn from his way and live, the unbelieving, the irreligious,
the gospel-rejecting, turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn
ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Do you hear anything in that
Word of God that tells you that you are barred by reprobation? No, it says It says, why will
ye die? It says, come unto me, all ye
that labour are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. As
we close, I just want to show you this, and we've gone on longer
than usual, but just turn to Mark's gospel, chapter three. Remember, we're talking about
Edom and Jacob, Esau and Jacob, the sovereign purposes of God.
Mark chapter three, verse seven. But Jesus withdrew himself with
his disciples into the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee
followed him, and from Judea, and where else? And from Jerusalem,
look at that, and from Idomaea, and from beyond Jordan, and they
about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard
what great things he did, came unto him. Edom, Edomir. People from Edom came. Many from Edomir followed Christ. So today, whosoever believes
on the Son has everlasting life. And in believing, you know that
you are among the elect of God.