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Sermon
Genesis

The Birth of a Nation

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April 14, 2024
Genesis 25:1-34
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Birth of Christ (Advent)

Election & Predestination

The Sovereignty of God

Transcript

0:23Our text this morning is Genesis chapter 25. And so I do invite you to turn in your Bibles there as we continue our series in the book of Genesis. You can find that in the blue Bible in the seat in front of you on page number 19. And as you turn there, Genesis 25 is a significant transition point in Genesis. It shifts from Abraham who has dominated chapters 12 all the way to 24 and transitions now to his grandson Jacob, who will dominate Genesis 25 all the way to 35. So we're gonna look at that this morning. And would you join me now in prayer?

1:20Heavenly Father, we wanna see more of who you are this morning in your word. And we wanna see ourselves in light of what you have revealed to us in your word. And so open our eyes and open our hearts. And would you speak? Because now your servants are listening, come by the power of your spirit and help us to see wondrous things in your book for our good, for our joy, and for our encouragement and for our christlikeness. Do this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

2:03See if you can tell who this is, and especially I'm thinking of you kids here. Now this morning there's a orphaned boy who learns on his 11th birthday that he's not just any other orphan. This now explains the scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. He's the survivor of a dark wizards attack that took his parents and now he discovers that he has powers that will be honed and developed at a place called Hogwarts. This is none other than the origin story of Harry Potter. That's right. Harry Potter. Some of you're too old for that. So this one's for you. Uh, a small child is born on the doomed planet of Krypton and sent to earth by his parents.

2:52You guys know this one raised in Smallville, Kansas eventually uses his super superhuman powers for good. This is the origin story of Superman. Superman, that's right. So origin stories are everywhere In popular culture, Simba f Flees the pride lands believing he's responsible for his father's death. Elsa isolates herself fearing that her icy powers are going to hurt her sister or her family. Luke Skywalker grows up unaware and sorry, spoiler alert that Darth Vader is his father. Batman is a vigilante billionaire who fights crime to avenge his parents' murder. Spider-Man uses his radioactive powers only after the loss of his Uncle Ben.

3:42And he now realizes with great power comes great responsibility. We all have origin stories. Think about your phone family here this morning. Your family has an origin story. Some of you are among the millions of Swedish immigrants who came and settled here in Minnesota. I'm not one of those Swedish immigrants. Uh, I'm a transplant from California. And so my kids know that we root for the 49 ERs because I grew up watching Steve Young and Jerry Rice, but they were all born in the Midwest because in college I read a book by the name of Desiring God and we decided to pick up and move to Minnesota.

4:24Many of you are long suffering twins, timber wolves, and yes Vikings fans because the love of Minnesota sports was passed down from your father or your grandfather. And perhaps you're a glutton for punishment as well. If, if you think about the United States, we have an origin story as well, don't we? And depending on the year that you mention, it can have very different origin stories. If you say 16, 19, something comes to mind. And if you say 1776, it refers to a very different origin story as well. Our church has an origin story. We started in 1871 as the first Swedish Baptist Church, then became Bethlehem Baptist Church.

5:08And then in 2002 became the north campus. And in 2023 became the North Church. Origin. Stories shape our identity, origin stories shape our present identity. And Genesis 25 is the origin story of the nation of Israel. In fact, Jacob who's later gets his name changed to Israel, is the father of that very nation. But Genesis 25 is not just the origin story of Israel, it's our origin story as well. It's the origin story of God's people because in Christ we're grafted into Jesus. And now we become the true spiritual children of Abraham. Were members of God's one, united people. He doesn't have two different people, Jews and then Gentiles.

6:06The dividing wall has been broken down and there's one people of God and we're among that one people. So what does Genesis 25 tell us about our identity and our beginnings? That's the question I wanna look at this morning. What does Genesis 25 tell us about our identity? Now let me just give us a little bit of an overview of the chapter before I read it. But verses one through 18 bring closure to Abraham's story. It ties up all the loose ends and then verses 19 through 34, introduce Jacob and Esau and we'll spend the bulk of our time looking at this latter half of the chapter. And comparatively, if you get kind of more than about 15 chapters, less than 15 chapters on Abraham and about 10 chapters on Jacob, Isaac gets very little airtime.

6:59So what we're gonna do is read verses one through 18. I'm gonna make a few observations and then we're gonna spoke focus the rest of our time on 19 through 34. This first half, I'm calling the end of an era. It's the last will and testament of Abraham. Now why don't you follow along as I read it, verses one through six, Genesis 25, starting in verse one, Abraham took another wife whose name was Cura. She bore him. Zim ran Johan Meen, Midian Ishak anda Han fathered Sheba and Dein. The sons of Dein were Asam Ian and Lu. The sons of Midian were Efa, efer, Hanock, ABIDA and Elda. All these were the children of Ketura.

7:46Abraham gave all he had to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts and while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country. So what we see is that after Sarah's death, Abraham remarried, he married Ketura who bore him six children. And we notice also in verse six that he had other concubines who also bore him sons. But yet notice and zoom in on verse five, Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. This is really significant. The main concern here in this first section is what happens to the inheritance? What happens to Abraham's vast wealth that God has blessed him with?

8:33It's a little bit like the family meeting that you might have when mom and dad are about to pass away. And you say, who gets the lakeside cabin? Do, do we share it? Do we put it in a trust? Do we sell it and spread the proceeds? And and it's clear the entire inheritance goes to Isaac. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac these other sons, he sends away to the east with gifts signifying that Isaac is alone the promised offspring who receives the inheritance. Now look with me at verse seven. These are the days of the years of Abraham's life. 175 years Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years and was gathered to his people, Isaac and Ishmael.

9:27His sons buried him in the cave of Ella in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hitite east of Mamre, the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites there Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife, after the death of Abraham. God blessed Isaac, his son and Isaac settled at beer laja Roy. Now verses seven to 11, tell us when Abraham dies 175 years in a good old age, an old man full of years, this is important because it clues us in that God has indeed fulfilled his promise to Abraham. Back in Genesis 1515, he told them that he would be buried in a good old age and he's buried in the same cave as Sarah, which he purchased in Genesis chapter 23.

10:22So his body, his bones are in the promised land that his inherit, that his descendants would inherit someday. Now verse 11 says, after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. This is again very significant. We found out what happened to Abraham's stuff. Now we find out what happens to God's blessing that was on Abraham, that sevenfold blessing from Genesis 12, Abraham, I'm gonna bless you and make you a great nation. What happens to that now that he's dead? Well, it passes on to Isaac. It's the passing of a baton of promises and blessing from one generation to the next. Now look with me at Genesis 25 verse 12.

11:13These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son whom Hagar, the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, boar to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael named in the order of their birth. Na, the firstborn of Ishmael and Qar, ab Abbi, SSAM, Ishma, Duma Masa Hadda, Tema Jeter, NA Fish and Kema. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names by their villages and by their encampments. 12 princes according to their tribes, these are the years of the life of Ishmael. 137 years he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people. They settled from hala to sure, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria.

12:02He settled over against all his kinsman. So these verses 12 through 18 tell us about Ishmael and his descendants. So this is Abraham's firstborn and God again fulfills his promise, doesn't he? Genesis chapter 17, he told Abraham, I will bless Ishmael. I'm gonna make him fruitful and multiply him. I'm even going to make him the father of 12 princes. And we see that fulfilled here. Not a single word of the Lord fails all of them come true, even those made to Ishmael. It's a reminder for us this morning as we see God's hand of providence, that none of his promises ever fail. God never makes a promise he doesn't intend to keep.

13:02And it's a good reminder for us this morning that we can always take God's promises to the bank. Now in verse 18, we see Ishmael's descendants settle outside of the promised land and it says over and against all his kinsman right at the end there of verse 18. And this is the exact wording from Genesis chapter 16 verse 12, when Hagar was sitting under the tree and Ishmael was at a distance away because she didn't want to hear him cry out and she didn't wanna see him die. And an angel comes to Hagar and says, don't worry, I'm gonna make I Ishmael like a wild donkey. And it says that he shall dwell over against all his kinsman.

13:47Genesis 1612. His life is going to be marked by conflict. So what this first section does, these first 18 verses tie up all the loose ends. So we find out what's gonna happen to Abraham's stuff, we find out what's gonna happen to Abraham's blessing, and we find out what happens to the firstborn and his descendants so that we can now zoom in on the child, the offspring of promise. Our focus is going to be on Isaac's son Jacob for the next 10 chapters. So it kind of ties off all the other branches of the family tree so that we can now focus in on the one that matters. So we're gonna look at verses 19 to 34, and I call the second section the birth of a nation.

14:37So after the end of an era, we get the birth of a nation. I'm gonna read verses 19 to 28. So follow along as I do Genesis 25 verse 19. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son Abraham, fathered Isaac. And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethel, the arama of Patra, the sister of Lavin, the arama to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord granted his prayer. And Rebecca, his wife, conceived, the children, struggled together within her. And she said, if it is thus, why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord.

15:21And Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger when her days to give birth were completed. Behold there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. While Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents, Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob.

16:08So what's going on here? Why all of this detail that Esau was hairy and red. What? What's with Jacob grabbing the heel? What is this all about? Well, this is the origin story that tells Israel who they are and how they began. This chapter shapes Israel's identity, but it's also our origin story and it ought to shape our identity in some ways as well. So we're gonna walk through it and then I'm gonna try to draw out the significance of it. Look at the beginning again. These are the generations of Isaac. This is the todo formula that structures the entire book of Genesis. And notice in verse 20, Isaac is 40 years old when he gets married.

16:55And how old is he when Rebecca finally gives birth 60 in verse 26, Rebecca has been barren for 20 years. That is a long time when couples get married and you know, maybe they don't want kids right away. And then when they say we want kids, now they try for a few months and then they realize, oh, it's not happening. And they say what's wrong? Just after a few months and imagine Rebecca and Isaac a few months turn into a year, which turn into three years, which turn into five and then 15 and then 20. You can imagine how hope had been gone probably by year five at that point for them they're wondering and waiting and it's heart wrenching.

17:48And I know that many here in this room who have experienced bareness have know this firsthand. The sorrow of that these 20 years though are covered just in one verse. Look at verse 21. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord granted his prayer. And Rebecca, his wife, conceived the accent. Mark in this story is not on her barrenness like it is with Sarah's, but the accent mark here is that God is the one who gives life. You see that 20 years of trying produce nothing, the essentially the plumbing was not working for them. Like Sarah before her getting pregnant was impossible, not because of her age, but just because something was not the way it was to be.

18:35And so Isaac prays and God answers. And what we're supposed to see in this section is that God is the one who creates life, the birth of Jacob and Esau is a miracle birth because it's by God's good design. And I just wanna pause here for a moment because this is so counter-cultural to where our world is at these days. This truth has been under assault in our world. We have bills in the Minnesota legislature that are seeking to legalize assisted suicide. And and in our world and in our culture at large, we just want children when we want them at our timetable, like on demand, right? We we we use contraception and in vitro fertilization and abortion and surrogacy and freezing your eggs.

19:26If a baby doesn't fit my plans right now, then I'll just eliminate it. Here in our state we've enshrined the fundamental right for a woman to murder her baby. And I just wanna underline this for a moment. Just a month ago, vice President Harris visited a Minnesota Planned Parenthood facility. And this is what she said, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling women what to do with their body. So she basically is trying to say your faith is fully compatible with abortion and nothing could be further from the truth. Supporting the murder of an infant within its mother's womb is evidence of Romans 1 25 that we've exchanged the truth about God, that he's the creator of life for a lie, that we can give and take life when we choose, and that we're worshiping and serving the creature that we are God rather than the creator.

20:33Abortion is like the issue of biblical sexual ethics today. One cannot support either of these two issues. And I think rightly no God, God is the one who gives and takes away life. And that's something we should never compromise. Now back back to the verse, look at verse 22. It says, the children struggled within Rebecca. Inside Rebecca is not just mass, not just a little conglomeration of cells. These are children. And, and the word struggled there could mean jostling or like wrestling in, in a sense. So these are not just the cute little kicks and hiccups that new moms feel when the baby gets to that point.

21:17This was full on WWE WrestleMania, UFC, mixed martial arts going on inside her tummy. And and she just can't explain it. And so she says in verse 22, why is this happening to me? And God responds with an oracle that reveals to her that you're having twins. Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. This is verse 23. The one shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. The two children within her represent two nations. And contrary to tradition and customs, the younger brother would end up being the stronger one and the older one would serve the younger one.

22:00So he, he's foreshadowing, these two brothers are gonna be rivals from day one. In fact, in the womb they're already fighting. And this is foreshadowing the animosity between the people of Israel and the people of Edem. Now verse 24 to 26, tell us a little bit what one of these twins looked like Esau's red and covered in hair. It kind of makes me think of, you know, the Geico caveman in in the commercials and, and he's hairy. And the, in the Hebrew, this sounds very similar to Sierra, S-I-S-E-I-R, which is where the Edomites ended up living. And the word red Adam sounds like Edam, which is becomes another name for Esau, becomes his nickname essentially.

22:46So there's all these word plays within the Hebrew here Jacob is hanging onto Esau's heel and so he's named Jacob, which means he grasp the heel or he supplants. And so there's a word play again also on heel and deceived. And it foreshadows Jacob as this trickster and schemer and deceiver. And we see in verse 28 that the parents from day one play favorites. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. So Isaac's love for Esau is driven by his appetite. He, he likes what he brings home just like Esau who's also driven by his appetites and the sibling rivalry rages on from the beginning.

23:31Now I want you to look at verses 29 to 34. I'm gonna read Genesis 25, 29. Once when Jacob was cooking, stew Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted and Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew for I am exhausted. Therefore his name was called Edem. Jacob said, sell me your birthright. Now Esau said, what am I to what am, what am I am about to die of? What use is a birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me now. So we swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

24:20So, so the brothers are young men at this point, maybe teenagers and Jacob is scheming and Esau is rash and, and so there's this play on the words with the red brother getting duped by the red stew. So Esau's portrayed not as a very smart man. He's, he's strong but he's a bit impulsive. He's a bit of an o. If you're familiar with the Marvel cinematic universe, I know there's a lot of pop culture references here this morning. Esau is like Thor and Jacob is like Loki. So Esau is no match for the trickster. Esau is playing checkers while Jacob is playing chess. So he comes in famished and depleted.

25:02He's been out tracking game maybe for the last several days. He comes in empty handed. There's irony here. The skillful hunter is unsuccessful and he becomes the predator becomes the prey. As he steps into Jacob's trap, the hooks are in and Jacob pulls on the line demanding that Esau trade his birthright for stew. Now a big question is what is this birthright? We're not entirely sure. It could be similar to the mosaic law of receiving a double share of the inheritance which is articulated in Deuteronomy 2117, the first son. We get a double share of the inheritance though this is prior to the mosaic law.

25:43So it was something that Esau could sell or trade away and it's something that Jacob saw as valuable, but it's also different from Isaac's blessing that we see later in Genesis 27. And so the rash an ill tempered older brother sells and trades away, barters away his birthright. And the chapter concludes thus Esau despised his birthright. He voluntarily, voluntarily trades it away. He didn't value it. So what we see is Esau, this classic man's man, blue collar with the dirt under his fingernails to prove it and and he despises his birthright revealing his character. And on the other hand, Jacob is tricky and devious and smooth skinned and a quiet man dwelling in tens.

26:32He's the domesticated man. Yet he would be kind of the type of person who would run the Ponzi scheme to the tune of millions. And what we see is that neither brother is particularly honorable, neither one is godly. And Jacob shows through his mind that he's the stronger brother. So how does this all fit together and what does it mean? The main thing we're to see in this origin story is this God miraculously chooses his people apart from works. God miraculously works a miracle in order to choose a people for himself apart from anything they have done. Now how do I get this? First we see that the birth of Jacob and Esau is indeed a miracle on their own.

27:27Isaac and Rebecca would remain childless and Isaac prays, God intervenes. And so the birth of Jacob and Esau is a miracle of God's grace. And it's a reminder not just that physical life is a gift from God, but spiritual life. Every time someone comes to saving faith in Jesus, God is the giver of life. He's the one who saves. It's so to, is this true of our salvation? We didn't come to him, he came to us and he saved us. The second thing we're to see is God miraculously chooses his people. Verse 23, the one shall be stronger than the other and the older one shall serve the younger. So before they were born, God chose Jacob over Esau and it reveals that God has the divine authority to choose to exercise divine election.

28:26He chooses as he wills. And this is contrary to what is natural. It subverts the natural order choosing the younger sibling over the older sibling. And yet scripture has this pattern throughout. Have you ever wondered this? Every time you kinda read throughout scripture, it's always the younger sibling over the older sibling. We see this with Cain, his offering is rejected, he kills Abel and then the youngest brother Seth is the line of the offspring. Or Ishmael is the firstborn. Isaac is the child of promise, or Rachel is the younger daughter. She's chosen over Leah. Joseph is used instead of his older brothers.

29:07David is made king instead of his older brothers. What's the point of this pattern? It's to reveal God's electing grace. It's to show us that God doesn't just work according tradition, he does what He wills. Now why? Why is this significant? Genesis 25 is answering the question, how did we get here? Why are we special? How did we become God's chosen people and treasured possession and holy nation as Israel wanders in the desert, desert and as they come into the promised land, they're wondering, is it because we were smarter than all the other nations around us? Is it 'cause we were bigger and better and more moral, more deserving?

29:51No, it's because God set his love upon them. It's divine election. And one of the best ways to read the Old Testament is to see whether any New Testament writers refer back to that section of text in the Old Testament. And we see that in Romans nine, Romans nine verses 11 and 12 refer directly back to Genesis 25. And I'm gonna read Romans nine 11 here for us. It says though they speaking about Jacob and Esau were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls She was told the older will serve the younger.

30:35Now the the sentence structure makes that a little bit confusing. But basically when they were not yet born, she was already told the older will serve the younger. Now what purpose was that for In order that God's purpose of election might be seen, not because of works. So why does the older serve the younger? Not because of anything they did. Esau didn't bite Isaac while they were in the womb. This was to reveal God's purpose of election that God chooses who he wills. And we're gonna draw out some of the implications and application of that in just a moment. But whenever you talk about election, I think people have lots of questions related to this.

31:17This isn't the sermon where I can get in depth into that. But let me just point you to two resources. In 20 22, 1 of our elders, Andy Elli, preached a series of four sermons on predestination which covered that topic of election. So let me commend that to you. You can find it on the Bethlehem Baptist Church's website. And those sermons were the research for a book that's now been published called Predestination and Introduction, which I also commend to you. It's probably there in the bookstore and that deals in depth with all the questions that come up with election. But let me make sure we don't miss the main point.

31:58How did you get here this morning? If you are a Christian, how did you get saved? Is it because you were smarter? Is it because you were more logical than your neighbors and your friends or your family? Is it because you were more studied in the scriptures? Is it because you were more moral or ethical or deserving? Maybe you had better parents than your neighbor? The answer is that God chose you before the foundations of the world. God chose you to be his son or daughter. And some might immediately think, but that's not fair. It's not fair to Esau that he chose Jacob. It's not fair to others. And Paul anticipates this in Romans nine.

32:42He says, is there any injustice on God's part? By no means Romans nine 14, God's election reveals not only his divine authority that he alone is God, he has the authority to choose who he wills, but in fact it's to reveal his mercy and his compassion. No one deserves anything but condemnation. And yet God graciously saves. There's a story in in the gospels where Jesus says, you know, there's a man who hired day laborers to go out into his field and you know, some he hired at the beginning of the day and they worked 12 hours and some he hired right at the end of the day and they worked one hour and they come and they all get paid the same.

33:27And the guys who came early in the morning that probably worked a full 12 hour day say, whoa, wait, that's not fair. The guys who just worked an hour get the same exact wage. And what does the landowner say? He says, no, I'm fair, but I'm more than fair. I'm gracious and compassionate and merciful. I give what you don't deserve. If I gave what you all deserve, we would all perish. And so we see God's grace and mercy on display. Now I imagine that there, there's some here in the room who aren't followers of Jesus and you think, well I guess I'm just not elect. 'cause if God chooses who's in or out, I'm currently on the outside looking in, then I guess I'm just not elect and, and I couldn't choose otherwise.

34:22And, and that would be wrong. Who are you to know the mind of God? God right now through my words, holds out to you a genuine offer of salvation. There is an authentic call right now for you to relinquish your autonomy and to trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. So, uh, uh, imagine this. All you have to do is to realize your spiritual thirst and then come to the fountain of life and drink in, in the Book of Acts, when Paul and Silas are in jail and the Philippian jailer feels the earthquake, the the doors are flung open, the chains come off of Paul, he's about to kill himself. And Paul says, no, no, stop.

35:06And then he's like, okay, there there's a God. And then what does he say? He says, what must I do to be saved? And in that moment, what does Paul say? What does Silas say? They don't say, well, you gotta figure out whether you're of the elect and then, and then if you are, then you can be saved. And if you're not, then you can't be saved. What? What do they say? Believe in the Lord Jesus. And you can be saved. You will be saved. Acts 1631. So the call of the Gospel goes out right now to any and says, if you're thirsty, come and drink at the fountain of life. Jesus Christ rejects no one who comes in faith.

35:51If you would believe in him and surrender, he will receive you as his children. And then you will discover that before the foundations of the world he had called you and now it's come to pass the author of life and salvation right now is still writing your story. And so come and be satisfied to the only one who can satisfy our soul. Now what I wanna do is to draw out a few applications from this text for us. The first is this, it's a warning that comes from Hebrews 12 verses 15 to 17, which is also referring back to Genesis 25. Here Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.

36:46And by it many become defiled that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Now we don't have a really good record of what this sexual immorality of Esau necessarily was, but we could sort of convey that idea even in those words of this idea of idolatry. That the infidelity he displayed in his relationship with God, he, he was worldly and ruled by his appetite and he exchanged his birthright, his God-given identity for a single meal and he turned his back on God and his saving purposes.

37:35And so the warning here this morning is to beware, forfeiting your birthright and blessing from God with instant gratification. Very practically don't trade short-term pleasure for eternal rewards. Short-term pleasure for eternal rewards. And this is a, this is not just, you know, something that other people deal with. This is something we deal with all the time. Don't squander your marriage for the fleeting pleasures of pornography or the thrill of adultery. Don't compromise your integrity to get ahead or make a little bit more money. We are to beware the hooks and trap of instant gratification that is costly in the long run.

38:31That's what Esau is. An example is to, for us second, our election undercuts any boasting that we would otherwise have in ourself. Paul says to the Corinthians, he says, not many of you were wise. Not many of you were noble. Not many of you were strong. Instead he says, you were weak, you were foolish, you were low and you were despised. And then he says, for what reason was this for is so that no one could boast before almighty God. No one could say it's because I was so intelligent that God saved me. It's because I was so good looking. It's because I was so much taller, so much stronger ethnically pure that God saved me.

39:14But rather all people come before a holy God. And they say, all I have is Christ, we are undeserving. And yet in that deserved state, we are deeply loved by the God of the universe. And that should make our hearts well up with rejoicing and joy. That we didn't do anything to deserve God's love. And we've been lavished all of his love because of what Christ has done for us. Oh, what a precious savior we have in Jesus. This is why we worship him all the days of our life. And we will never fully understand how we could be saved marvel at his saving grace. The third thing we are to see is to see God's good providence in the things we can't change.

40:14God's good providence in the things that we cannot change. Jacob and Esau had no control of who their parents would be. They didn't choose to be twins, they didn't choose their birth order. They didn't control their ethnicity or their appearance or their genetics. Esau had no control over his redness or his hairiness. Jacob didn't choose to be smooth skinned. But in all of those details was God at work? Yes. And similarly, there are things that we have no control over here this morning. Your ethnicity, your height, your appearance, your citizenship, your parents, perhaps even some of your earliest memories.

40:58Perhaps there's been some recent experiences that you would not wish upon your worst enemy, but now you can't go back and change it and and you could say, well, what if, and maybe I could have redone it. And yet you just can't change it. You don't have control over those things. You can't go back and relive it. And some of those things are hard things filled with suffering and heartache and even deep anguish. And yet God is at work in the things that we cannot change and that we cannot control. And why does He do it in order to display his mercy, his compassion, and his wisdom. That's the marvel of God's election, that none of us deserve it.

41:48We didn't do anything good or bad. And he said, I'm gonna set my love upon a people and gather them from the four corners of the earth so that I might make them a emblem of my grace. And even now today, you can look at someone else's life and say, how come they have it so much better? And you could look at your own and say, how come I have it so much harder? And yet God has given you the story He's given you so that he might show you his mercy and his compassion and so that you might look to him and call out to him and so that he might meet you where you're at. And so that you would know that he's your God.

42:30He's writing your story and he's the perfect author of life. Origin stories are written by authors who know the beginning and the end. And so it is with the divine author. He chose us before the foundations of the earth and all those who he's called and chosen. He will justify all those He's justified. He will sanctify all those He's sanctified, he will surely glorify. And so he will keep us until the very end because of what Jesus Christ has done. No one can snatch them out of his hand and he leads us all the way home. So God miraculously chooses his people apart from works and sets his love upon them to do good to them all the days of your life.

43:19And he's doing that for us this morning. That is our God, a God who is doing us good in all of his wonderful providence and sovereignty so that we might love him and know him and be conformed to his image. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are the good and gracious God who is leading us all the way home. And we thank you that you've called us, chosen us before the foundations of the Earth. And for those who don't know whether they have been chosen, oh, we pray that they would come and drink and receive the life-giving water that comes from Christ alone and that we would marvel this week at our exalted state as being your miraculous chosen ones.

44:10Holy and beloved, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jump to live

Jump to live

Sermon Text

Genesis 25:1-34

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