Family, will you join me as we go to our God in prayer? Let's pray together. Father, we give thanks to you for your incredible goodness to us and your constant kindness to us, and that you are always drawing our attention more and more to you, even in this... Song that Nate just played during the offering, this reminder that whatever we encounter, because we know that you're sovereign, because we know that you're good and kind, because we know that you work all things for your glory and our good, we can say, whatever comes, it is well with my soul. And so, Father, for whatever it is that weighs on our hearts or minds this morning as we surrender those to you, as we wrestle with them in our lives, would you give us such grace to trust you that we can say it is well with my soul? We pray that God for the things on our hearts and for these I name on our behalf. I'm thinking this morning of Martine Wessel, these missionaries we support in France, Hugh and Martine, and with her ruptured aneurysm in her brain and continuing to remain in a coma, we ask God for your mercy. We pray God for Hugh and for their kids as they Stand watch around her, we pray, God, that you would help them to experience and know your kindness even in this really hard situation. We pray, God, if it would please you for healing and for restoration. Pray, God, you would draw your people to yourself. We pray that, God, for the McKnight's as they continue to watch and wait on this war in Congo and consider their own future as they're waiting about whether or not and when they can go back. Would you guide and lead and provide, Lord? We pray for those recovering from the severe earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand, the many lives that are lost. We know that you care about life, you love life. We pray, God, for those who are grieving, those now who are rebuilding, even for the ongoing search. God, would you have mercy? Would you draw your people to yourself? Would you provide for those in need? We pray, God, for Eileen, our church neighbor who's been recovering from pneumonia in a care facility. Would you comfort her, draw near to her? Would you give grace to her, God? We pray that for my dad who goes under open-heart surgery tomorrow. We pray for your mercy and grace and for my mom and family. As we wait on you, would you draw us to yourself? Pray that for Chris Renner. We thank you that we get to be with his family in this season as he had a heart valve replacement this last week. God, continue to show mercy to your people. Continue to draw us to yourself. And God, as we wrestle with our life and with you, would you draw us nearer and nearer to you? We would trust you. We could say whatever befalls, it is well with my soul. So lead us by your grace, would you do that as we turn now to your word? We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. The people of God, would you please turn with me now in your copy of God's Word to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25, if you're using the Pew Bible there in front of you or underneath you, if you're in the front or back rows, our text is on page 19, page 1-9. We're actually starting at verse 19 of chapter 25. So chapter 25, verse 19, page 19. I'm gonna read to the end of the chapter these few verses. When you get there, if you're able, would you please stand with me for the reading of God's Word Page 19 in the Pew Bible, Genesis chapter 25, beginning at verse 19. Family, this is the word of the Lord. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer. Rebecca, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her, and she said, if it's thus, why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the 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. And 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 Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew, for I'm exhausted. Therefore his name was called Edom. Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. Esau said, I'm about to die. Of what use is a birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate, drank, and rose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Family, this ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray and give thanks to him now for it. Will you pray with me? Indeed, Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you that we get to encounter you in it. And we pray, God, even here as we wrestle with your sovereignty and salvation, that you would grow our view of you, that you would be enlarged in our heart and mind, that our hearts would be lifted up in worship. And so, Holy Spirit, would you open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to understand, Cause us, Father, here in your word to know you more, that we might love you better, that we might love like you love. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? A friend of mine, many years ago, was attending a Christian high school. And as one would expect, they have a semester where they're working their way through the New Testament. So in his Bible class, taking the New Testament class, they're working their way through the books of the Bible. I mean, they're not going super deep, but they are covering each chapter of each of the books. So we get to Romans. They go to Romans chapter 1, and they go over Romans chapter 2, Romans chapter 3. Again, not too detailed, but still decent work through the Bible. Well, they're in class, and they get to Romans chapter 8. I mean, Romans chapter 8, you know this chapter. Glorious chapter. There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We're adopted into God's family. We're heirs with Christ. The Holy Spirit is within us and calls out, Abba, Father, praise for us in times of weakness. Nothing gets separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's a glorious chapter. And the bell rings. So they go home. Next day, they come to class, sit down in a class, a teacher comes up and says, okay, we're working our way through the book of Romans, open your Bibles, and let's start with Romans chapter 10. Well, what happened to Romans chapter 9? Why would you just skip Romans chapter 9? Well, if you're aware, in Romans chapter 9, the Apostle Paul is, among other things, explaining to us the doctrine of election, God's sovereignty in salvation, God choosing some for eternal life and passing over others. The reason I'm starting with the story about Romans chapter 9 is because the Apostle Paul, as he explains this doctrine for the church in Rome, he uses this story from Genesis 25. He uses this story from Genesis chapter 25 to show us the Bible really does teach this doctrine. He uses a story of these two boys in the womb to demonstrate God really is God. He really is the sovereign ruler of the universe. He really does ordain whatsoever comes to pass. He really does govern and preserve all his creatures, all their actions. The God of the Bible is truly the sovereign God of the universe. And that means he's also sovereign in salvation. Now we're gonna look at this more closely as we work through our text this morning, but just to start us off, here's the Apostle Paul's point. He says that salvation is simply the free gift of the sovereign God. It doesn't depend on our works. It doesn't depend on our birth order or our status. It doesn't depend on our race or our gender or anything else, save only the sovereign mercy of God. So here in our text, we have these two boys. They're still in the womb. Neither has done anything. Neither has made a profession of faith. Neither has expressed any kind of faith. There's no works, either good or bad. They have the same parents, right? So we're not talking about different ethnicity or race or who their parents are. They're both boys. We're not talking about a difference in sex, gender here, right? And the text tells us, verse 23, God has chosen one. and passed over the other. In fact, God chose the younger, so it's also clear it's not about status or social order or birthright either. God has chosen one, passed over the other. So the Apostle Paul, he summarizes our story in this way. This is Romans 9, verses 11 and 12. It says this, though they 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's told, the older will serve the younger. This is God's sovereignty in salvation. His sovereign election of his people to receive mercy, receive grace, receive his eternal promises. Now this doctrine's really tough. It can be tricky to understand, and then as we start to grasp it, it can really start to weigh on us as we consider some of the implications, and what does this mean? And for some folks, it's just crushing, right? It's disorienting. Some people, they hear any hint of some teaching of predestination or election or God's sovereignty and salvation, and they just reject it angrily. Or we just ignore it. It's too hard. We don't want to deal with the implications. And for some of you, that might be you this morning, this might be the first time you're seeing this in the Bible. Or maybe you've wrestled with this some, and it just leaves you disoriented or angry. I mean, you feel it in your gut, right? As you come in here, I just invite you, would you hang on as we work through, just hang in with me as we work through the text. And I also wanna invite you, consider maybe coming back this evening. So we have a Sunday evening service at Westminster, and our Sunday evening service, we're designing kind of like a hybrid small group. So maybe you're not in a small group, maybe you're not ready for that level of vulnerability that a small group sharing has, or maybe your small group just doesn't meet as often as you would like. We've got this evening service where it's this halfway point between a worship service and a small group, and during our evening service, we talk about the morning sermon and text together. So I'll share some things that maybe don't make it into this sermon, maybe there wasn't time or space or just wasn't fitting for a Sunday morning service or we'll bring out a particular aspect of the text and then we have question and answer, just some time to wrestle together. So if you're really feeling disrupted, I just again invite you, consider coming back tonight where we'll have some time for some questions and to wrestle through this together. Because God's sovereignty and salvation, this doctrine of election, it can get really tricky. Again, some people get angry, some people ignore it, but there is actually another response. There's a different response to it, and we see it in 2 Peter. So one more New Testament text before we look at Genesis 25, 2 Peter chapter 1, the apostle Peter says this. be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and your election. Those who belong to Jesus, those who are called to Jesus are called by Jesus to then grow in their faith. Confirm that you belong. The Apostle Paul says, work out your salvation because it's God who works in you. And so the Apostle Peter here, he continues, he says, confirm your calling and election. Make your calling and election sure because if you practice these qualities, you'll never fall. What qualities? What qualities? Well, if we go back a few verses, 2 Peter 1 still, he tells us, he says, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love. In other words, the apostle Peter says here, if you belong to Jesus, grow in Jesus. If you belong to Jesus, cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. If you belong to Jesus, grow in that following of Jesus. You'll say, well, I thought we were in Genesis 25. Well, I want to start with this second Peter text, because the call of Genesis 25 is what the Apostle Peter tells us here. As we see God's sovereignty and salvation, it ought to lift our hearts up in worship and adoration. As God gets bigger in our hearts and minds, as we see the only ruler, the only wise God, and as we marvel at his sovereign mercy, that mercy ought to drive us to more and more godliness. Be all the more diligent. to confirm your calling and election, work out your salvation, because it is indeed God who works himself, sovereignly working salvation as he draws his people to himself. So let's look now at our text, God's sovereignty and salvation. We're gonna look at God's sovereignty and salvation this way. These three points, God exposes the wicked, God accomplishes his purposes, God sanctifies his people. We're gonna see God's sovereignty and salvation so that we might lean more and more into that, draw near to God, work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We're gonna look at God exposes, God accomplishes, God sanctifies. Let's look at God's sovereignty and salvation by seeing first God exposes the wicked. So we're working our way through the book of Genesis. Remember the very beginning of Genesis, God creates humanity after his own image and his own likeness. Our first parents disobey God, bring all of humanity into a state of sin and death, but immediately, God immediately meets that sin with a promise of salvation. God's gonna send a savior. God's gonna send a rescuer, someone who's gonna come and heal the world and make it new and whole and right again and rescue God's people. Right as he sends this promise, at the same time, God also promises that the enemy, that ancient dragon, the serpent, Satan, he's gonna keep hunting God's people. Of course, he's trying to prevent the Savior's rescue of his people, and then he's gonna constantly show himself in hostility over and against the Savior's people. What I find really remarkable in Genesis chapter 25, is we see this battle between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the dragon. We see that battle right here in the same family. Verse 23, these two boys are going to become two nations, and these two nations are going to be opposed to each other. The seed of the woman, the seed of promise, God's people are going to be constantly pursued and hated by the seed of the dragon, by those who hate Jesus and hate Jesus' people. And again, really clear here, this is before either boy is born. God's already chosen to rescue the younger. God's chosen Jacob to receive God's mercy, receive God's grace, be the means of God's promise to the nations, and God's gonna pass over Esau. Now what transpires in the rest of the story is God is revealing his people And he's exposing those who are not his people. Esau is passed over by God's mercy. Esau is left to his own sinful heart. As time passes, his sin nature, his evil heart, is more and more exposed as he shows himself to be an enemy of God and an enemy of God's people. Now I want to be really clear here. God doesn't cause Esau to sin. There's no injustice here. That's not fair. Remember, our first parents sinned in the garden. They act as our representative. They bring all of us into the state of judgment and death. And Esau, just like you and just like me, is born with a sinful heart, born with a dead heart, born with a wicked heart. But God in his justice allows Esau to continue following the devices and desires of his own nature, of his own heart. God allows Esau to continue in his sin and in his selfish ways. And that's how he's exposing Esau. He's exposing his heart. He's exposing his nature. He's exposing who Esau is. Esau's nature, then as we read through the text, even just in chapter 25 here, we see his nature clear even from the beginning. Notice in verse 27, Esau is a skillful hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob's a quiet man. Other translations say he's a sound man or he's a solid man, right? He's the level-headed one. He's the one at home. He's the one that gets up every day and goes to work, right? This is a solid dude here. I see these cultural references are a little bit lost on us. Don't read this. We're tempted to read this this way. Don't read the text here to say Esau is a man's man and Jacob is a mama's boy, right? That's not what the text is saying. Rather, in the Bible, through these cultural expressions, when we see people described as hunters in the Bible, often it's characterizing somebody as wild, somebody who's experience-oriented, somebody who's just running around looking for a good time. Here in particular, we see Esau as opposed to the things of God. Whereas Jacob, Jacob has taken up the family business. He's a cattle rancher, right? He's still tough, right? He's responsible. He's leading the business transactions of the family. And the contrast here is already hinting at their contrasting priorities. Esau loves adventure. Esau loves experience. Esau lives to satisfy his appetite. Jacob's thinking about the future. He's taking more and more leadership roles in the family. He's taking over the cattle ranch and taking over the business. And what happens as time passes is God continues to let Esau chase after the desires of his own sinful heart as God continues to expose Esau's heart. This gets really explicit in the stew incident. Now here's Esau, right? He's fresh from another hunting expedition, right? He spent his day out playing and having fun while Jacob was working. And he comes in, and he's hungry, and he's tired, and he demands food. You read this in the Hebrew, you see how brutish, how animalistic Esau is depicted in the text. It says this in Hebrew, let me taste that red stuff, the red stuff. where his nickname comes from, Edom, right, means rad. And Jacob takes advantage here. He's already been practicing the family leadership role, and that's what the birthright is, right? It's the right of the firstborn to become head of the family when the dad dies. And you can buy it and sell it. We have some ancient Near East examples of people selling their birthright for sheep or for other things bartering with it. The father can take it away. We're gonna see that later in Genesis in a different story. And so Jacob here, he takes advantage of his brother. And we see his sinful heart here, don't we? Jacob's got a sin nature in need of salvation, just like Esau, just like you, just like me. Instead of hospitality, he takes advantage of the weak. And we're going to see as the story goes on in coming weeks, Jacob's going to experience God's refinement later. But the point of our story here is God exposing Esau after selling his birthright. Look again at how the text describes Esau, verse 34. He ate, he drank, he rose, he left. Again, really brutishly. He's acting on instinct. He's just like a wild animal. Esau is a slave to his appetites. And the text ends by telling us the point. Verse 34, last words. Esau despised his birthright. He didn't care about leaving the family. He didn't care about, he grew up hearing the promise of God to Abraham, the promise of God to his father Isaac, right? He's the inheritor of these promises, these spiritual promises. He didn't care about God's promise to Abraham and Isaac and not him. He doesn't care about the future. He doesn't care about spiritual things. He only cares about his belly, his hunger, his adventure, his appetites. God, having passed over Esau in his sovereignty, God leaves Esau to his own sinful heart. Esau loves his appetite more than the things of God. God exposes the wicked. Now before we move on from Esau, I want us to go back to the Apostle Peter's words again. We're gonna keep coming back to this text this morning. When we contemplate God's sovereignty and salvation, the Apostle Peter says this, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Make your calling and election sure. So there's a warning to each of us here about Esau. We see it in another New Testament book, a New Testament book called Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. Esau is taken up as this picture of people who love their appetites more than they love the things of God. Now in our culture today, this is really tempting, isn't it? It's tempting for us to care more about our comfort, more about our experiences, more about this moment. It's tempting to care more about what's right in front of me than about the future or about spiritual things or about eternity. Family, beware of Esau in your heart. Beware of casting aside spiritual things for that momentary indulgence, to satisfy an urge, to fill up a longing, to feed an appetite. God exposes the wicked, so be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Make your calling and election sure. And so we see God, sovereign in salvation, passes over Esau, he exposes his sinful heart. God exposes the wicked. At the same time, he confirms his word to his people. He exposes the wicked, and he accomplishes his purposes. He brings his people to himself. So let's look at this next. God accomplishes his purposes. We've got two babies in the womb. They're already at war with each other, and the boys are born, and as they're born, they're given their names. Esau is Harry, so they name him this form of the Hebrew word for Harry. Esau sounds like the Hebrew word for Harry. Jacob comes out grabbing, holding on to Esau's heel. So they call him Jacob. Jacob means something like God takes my heel. It means something like God watches my back. So I'm thinking about Psalm 139, you hem me in before and behind, right? God is watching over him. God at my rear guard, God watching my back. Of course, Jacob's name though, you look at your footnote, it also sounds a little bit like the word for cheater or deceiver. And this becomes a way to mock Jacob by his name, rather than God keeps you, you're a deceiver, right? And he is a deceiver. A couple weeks from now, we're gonna see he's gonna lie and cheat and deceive his own dad to cheat his brother out of his inheritance. deceiving his dad, cheating his brother. So we see these two sons, their womb in the war, they come out already, contrast to each other. We've seen God's sovereignty and salvation. God's gonna be the recipient, or Jacob's gonna be the recipient of God's promise. Jacob is this means of carrying on the blessing of Abraham to all the nations. Jacob is gonna become Israel, the father of the people of God. And through Jacob, all nations on earth are gonna be blessed. So the story goes, just like God exposes Esau, God reveals Jacob. God accomplishes his purposes of election. And we're gonna see this even in the story of the stew. Now you read the story of the stew, Jacob doesn't appear like a moral hero, does he? He's not very hospitable, takes advantage of his brother, even if, we presume the best, say, well, Jacob's thinking about the future, he's thinking about the promises of God, he's thinking about spiritual things, maybe, but he still rubs us funny, doesn't he? Notice, even through Jacob's shady dealings, God's accomplishing his purposes. Remember, the firstborn son is the inheritor. The firstborn son has the rights. The firstborn son gets the privilege of leading the family when dad passes away. Esau's the firstborn son. But we also have this promise to Rebecca, verse 23. The younger will be stronger. The younger will take the lead. The older will serve the younger. God's blessing's gonna go to Jacob. We read the story, what happens at the end of the story? Jacob is left holding the birthright. Legally sworn, legitimately transferred, Jacob is now the heir. It's that promise of God to Rebekah, it's been brought forth. God's will has been enacted, God's purposes have been accomplished. We zoom out and think about God's sovereignty and salvation. This is an important aspect of that sovereignty. So in John chapter six, Jesus tells us, no one comes to the Father, no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him. John chapter six, Jesus tells us, all those that the Father gives me will come to me. God's purpose in salvation, God's will for his people, God's perfect election will be accomplished and his people will come to him in faith. And this is great comfort for us, actually. When the Apostle Peter tells us, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, to make your calling and election sure, he says that because we can actually be sure. We can actually have confidence in our calling and election. And so we see this in the story in Jacob, we see God bringing about his promise, we see God revealing his election, and that reminds us God does this in our lives too. When we see the Holy Spirit at work in us. When we call on the name of the Lord, what does the promise of Scripture say? All who call on the name of the Lord will be what? All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. When we call on the name of the Lord, we really do experience salvation. When we see fruit in our lives of growing closer to Jesus, when we see evidence of dying to sin and living more and more unto righteousness, when there's real spiritual growth, it's all evidence in our lives of God accomplishing his purposes. of assuring us that we're calling an election. There's real comfort for us here. There's comfort for us here also as we watch for the people around us to come to the Lord. Some of you have adult children who have wandered away, grandchildren who have wandered away from the faith. family, and friends, and neighbors, and loved ones, and we're praying, we're begging the Lord for their salvation, we're sharing the good news. Even as we pray, even as we share the good news, we can be comforted, we can have courage knowing all God's people will indeed come to Him. Now again, to be clear, we still pray, we still share the word of God, because it might be through those very means that God accomplishes his purposes. And through the exercise of those means, we actually get more evidence of our own calling and election. All this is comfort. We rest in God's sovereignty, taking comfort that God will bring all his people home. The God who sovereignly saves his people. who chooses them from before the foundation of the world to receive his mercy and grace, to inherit his promises, this same electing God will keep them until the end. And that brings us to our last point this morning. God sanctifies his people. We've been working kind of backwards through our text. We come now finally to the beginning, and I want you to notice verse 20. Genesis 25, look at verse 20. Isaac is 40 years old when he marries. and his wife has difficulty conceiving. So Isaac prays, it's verse 21. He prays and God gives her a child. Now look, a couple verses down, look at verse 26. Isaac was 60 years old when she gives birth. It's been 20 years. Isaac prays for 20 years for his wife to have a baby. It's a similar story to Abraham and Sarah. In all these years, they waited for Isaac to be born. And what was God doing there with Abraham and Sarah? He was revealing their faith to them, wasn't he? He was refining their faith, proving their faith, sanctifying them, making them holy, drawing them nearer to himself. Isaac here, in this time of waiting, turns to the Lord. God's sanctifying him. We see the same thing with Rebekah. Rebekah gets pregnant. But it's a hard pregnancy. You see this in verse 20. Remember, there's no ultrasounds there. All she knows is something is happening in here, right? She starts to fear for her life. She's in such distress, she cries out, why God? What's happening to me, God? Why is this suffering, God? Have you ever felt like that? Maybe in a season of incredible pain, or there's a crisis, it just leaves your heart just oppressed, and the only thing you can do is cry out, why God? Notice what Rebecca does in the midst of her crisis. It's verse 22. She turns to the Lord. She runs to Jesus. And again here, the Lord is revealing Rebecca's faith, he's proving it, he's refining it, he's sanctifying her, drawing her more and more to himself. The same thing's gonna happen in the coming chapters with Jacob. You see, family, God in his sovereignty over salvation, he doesn't just choose us, he doesn't just elect us, he effectively calls us. He gives us faith, he deepens our faith, he refines our faith. And look, sometimes it's through really hard things. But even those hard things are a gift of God's mercy in his sovereignty over salvation because he's turning our hearts more and more to himself. Because he's turning our hearts more and more away from the things of this world. God sanctifies his people. And here, too, we see the Apostle Peter's call. Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Make your calling and election sure. In hardship and difficulty, Isaac seeks the Lord. In physical pain and distress, Rebekah seeks the Lord. Jacob, too, in these coming chapters, when he sees hard times, he finally seeks the Lord. God sanctifies His people so that we make our calling and election sure by drawing near and near to Jesus, by seeking the Lord. In Genesis 25, we see God's sovereignty in election. Again, some people, they rage against this doctrine. They hate it. It threatens our belief that we're our own gods and we make our own destiny. Others, it's just too difficult, so we just hide from it, right? We just skip over it, as my friend's teacher did. But the Bible actually calls us to wrestle with it. Even as Jacob will in a few chapters from now, wrestle with the Lord, wrestle with his word, because when we do, God gets bigger in our hearts and minds. We encounter the living God. As we do so, we make our calling and election sure. Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election by pursuing life with Jesus, by adding to your faith virtue, and knowledge, and self-control, and steadfastness, and godliness, and brotherly affection, and love, and by worship. Worship this God who is sovereign over all things, even over our salvation. Will you pray with me? And so, Father, as we encounter you in your word, we ask, God, that you would humble us by it. That we would be again and newly reminded that your mercy to us is not because we've somehow achieved it or purchased it or earned it or deserve it in some way, but it's simply because of your sovereign mercy. God, would you grow bigger in our heart and in our minds Would we worship you and pursue you? You loved us, now help us to love you and love like you. Would you do that as we turn now to your table? We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen.