And Merry Christmas everyone. As some of you are ready for that you're like, hey, wait a minute. You guys realize it's December we can say this now. Merry Christmas. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Hey, it is great to have all of you here. I know we have some people who are visiting because of our prestigious kids choir that just took place. Can we give them a warm welcome here this morning. Thank you for joining us. We do want to wish everybody here a merry Christmas. And we want to talk about what Christmas is all about. And a lot of times when you come in here to church, we have the title of our sermon up on the screen. This is the title of our sermon today, Jacob I Loved, Esau I Hated.
So, you can see why we didn't put that up on the screen when you came in here this morning. Can you imagine somebody's like those kids were really cute. Except for that one kid, I hated that kid. That doesn't sound quite right. And so, I think that's actually what people think this verse says. It is like God is hating a baby that's been born or something. And so, I want to make sure we all understand what this means. So I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 9. And we're going to open up and we're going to study God's purpose of election. What does he mean when he says, Jacob, I Loved, Esau I Hated. So, if you've got a Bible, if you could turn with me to Romans, chapter 9, I would really appreciate it, and we're going to look at verses 9 to 13. And out of respect for God's word, I'm going to ask if we would all stand up for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to ask if you would give this your full and undivided attention as we talk about for a few minutes together, what Paul is writing here, and what it means about God. So, this is Romans 9:9-13. Please follow along, as I read.
For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 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 was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and grab your seat. And if you’ve got a bulletin when you were coming in, there's a handout in there. And I would love for everybody to pull out their handout right now whether you regularly take notes on these handouts or not, I just want you to see what's going on here in Romans chapter 9, as we are studying our way through this chapter. And the question that Paul's really answering is, how do you think about what's going on with the Jews? Because the Jews are God's chosen people. The Messiah came, but they did not receive the Messiah; they rejected the Messiah. And so what are we supposed to think about? What's going on with the Jewish people because they're not believing in Jesus? But look back up here at the top of your handout, it says, but the word it's not as though the word of God has failed. Or the positive way to say it would be, the word of God has not failed. Okay? So, it's not as though the word of God has failed. And then what I want you to see by looking at the text, look how many scriptures Paul then quotes to prove his point that God is doing exactly what he said he's doing. God is keeping all of his promises, whatever God says in His word, that is exactly what's going to happen. Can I get an amen on a Sunday morning, everybody? Right? So really, one of the main purposes that Paul has in writing Romans 9 is to show that yeah, there's a problem between God and his people, the Jews, but you can't blame this problem on God, because God's word has not failed. And so he starts to quote different passages to prove to us that God has always been doing what he says. And we looked at the first one last week in Genesis 21, where he was explaining to Israel that not all Israel is really Israel. Just because you were born a Jew, just because you're born a descendant of Abraham, doesn't mean you're really one of the children of the promise. Remember, Abraham had Ishmael. He didn't get the promise. Isaac got the promise. And so he picks it up. Look with me at Romans 9:9. This is where we're picking up and we want to see what are some of these scriptures he's referring to because the few verses we just read together have three different quotes of other scriptures that Paul's expecting his readers to know. Maybe we know them, maybe we don't. But we want to put Jacob Loved, Esau I hated. What is that back in its original context?
So, let's pick it up here in Romans 9:9. And it says, “This is what the promise said.” Or in the Greek, it's literally like “for this is the Word of Promise.” And that's his whole emphasis, God's word. Whatever God promised he was going to do, that's exactly what you can count on has happened, and is going to happen. God does what he says. And the Word of Promise was this, here in verse 9. About this time, next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son. So, he's still referring to Abraham and Sarah having a baby Isaac, who will be the child of the promise. And he's quoting, you can see there on the handout. He's quoting Genesis 18. And so if you've got a Bible, why don't we all turn to Genesis chapter 18 together and make sure we know exactly what he is talking about. And if I don't know if you just come to our church, when we do the kids choir, we have visitors every year when we do the kids choir to see the cute children. And if you came to the kids choir last December, last year, you might remember that we did a sermon about Abraham and Sarah being too old for a baby. And we in fact, we decided that the biblical way to say old was advanced in years. Maybe some of you remember that. I've heard some of you saying that over the last year. And so we actually looked at this same exact passage, because we were in Romans chapter 4 last year, and the emphasis there was on Abraham's faith, and that if you believe like Abraham believed, God will declare you righteous, not on the basis of your works, but on the basis of your faith. And so, the point last time was looking at the faith that Abraham had in response to God. Well, the point this time is, let's take a step back from Abraham, look at the promise God made to Abraham. don't look at the man's faith. Look at the God who said what he was going to do, and then did it. That's where we're going here is like the well the Word of Promise was this.
Look at Genesis 18:10, you can see where the quote is, from where “The Lord said,” or YHWH said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year. And Sarah, your wife shall have a son.” And Sara was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, or we say that she was advanced in years. Let's get very specific the way of women had ceased to be with Sara. “So Sara laughed to herself, saying, after I am worn out, and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? And the Lord, or YHWH “said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” So, you can see in Genesis 18:10, you get the promise, there's going to be a son born to you, and then you get well. Why would this seem hard to believe? Well, Sarah and Abraham are now past childbearing years. In fact, Sarah has been barren for all of her life. So, at this time, if they had a baby, it wouldn't just seem like a natural thing. For them to have a baby. This would have to be a supernatural miracle at this point for Abraham and Sarah to have a child, and that's what God promises. And he asked this question. Look at Genesis 18:14, is there anything too hard for YHWH. And so this idea of is anything impossible for YHWH? Or you could translate it as anything like too marvelous or too wondrous? Is there anything that God can do? And if God says he's going to do something, is God going to do it? The answer to that is, yes. Even if it seems impossible. No, God does marvelous things, wondrous things.
Let me show you another verse where this same Hebrew word is used as anything too hard for the Lord. This is Psalm 119:18. We'll throw it up here on the screen. This is a prayer for whenever we gather together as a church, for whenever you open up your Bible to read it by yourself, or with your family, you might want to pray open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things from your law, marvelous things and impossible things, even things that might be hard for me to understand. God will you open my eyes so I can see that you do wondrous, marvelous things? And so, Sarah was laughing because there were human limitations. There were physical factors and why she seemed like she would have a baby about a year from that. But if God says, if God promises, then you know, it's going to happen. And so don't think about it like how it's going to work out from your perspective, Sarah, you’ve got to think how if God says it, see it from God's perspective. Whatever God says, that's what he is going to do. God always keeps his promises. God is faithful to always do what he says.
Let's get this down for point number one: “You want to believe what God says is what goes.” Believe what God says is what goes. And the purpose of this study here today is to increase your faith in the word of God's promise. And is anything too hard for the Lord? And if God says it, well, then you should believe it. And an example of that is wow, look at how God said that a barren lady and her old advanced in years husband, they’re past childbearing, but God says, they're going to have a son. So you’ve got to start really thinking with me here this morning. I know, it's the early service here today. But I want you to really think that you we often are reacting in our life to circumstances, we are reacting to people and places and things. God is deciding what is going to happen. God is speaking what's going to happen, and then God is doing it. God is causing things in a proactive way. We are reacting to things. And so, you’ve got to stop seeing life totally from your perspective, where it seems like well, we can't have a baby. So, how are we going to have a baby? And that can be a tough thing. Let's just talk about that for a moment. Having a bunch of cute kids up here, trying to get kazoos out of their shirts, and all of us just praising God for these children. Well, that can be hard when you're a family and you are hoping to have a child, but you find yourself not able to have a child. See, that can be one of the things that really make an exciting time, a challenging time. And see that's how it was for Sarah, and for Abraham for years. And Sarah came up with the alternative solution of maybe you should have a child through my maidservant Hagar. And that's where Ishmael came from. But that wasn't really what God had promised that Abraham and Sarah would have a son and you got to realize that Isaac was born, not because Abraham and Sarah were capable, but because God promised and our God is speaking things into existence. Our God says something. You know what? As light our God speaks for six days, you know it as Planet Earth. Our God says it's good and it is your life. See, when God speaks, and maybe you've heard this phrase, of manifesting it or speaking it into existence. And sometimes you say something, and then it happens and you feel super cool for a moment. You're like, Yeah, I know how to talk. I know how to call my shots, right? No, that's actually what God does. When God says something, it happens. And so, we're supposed to be realizing that Isaac's born of promise, he's born, not because of the physical factors, he's born because God said, so.
See, God said that A virgin would have a child. You know her as Mary. God said that this little town of Judah would have the King of kings and Lord of lords. You know it as Bethlehem. See, God said that there would be a Savior who would be born who would be for all of us good news of great joy. You know him as Jesus. The whole story of Christmas happens. Why? Because God said so. So we’ve got to start realizing that life happens because of what God says. And that is the Word of Promise.
Now go back to Romans 9 with me because hopefully, you would agree with that. And maybe if you're a regular part of our church family, I know you, you're here. You like studying the Bible. You want to hear what God says you have. Have you believed all Scripture is inspired? We want to take the thought a little bit deeper. And that's what Paul does here. Yes, what God says is what God does. Let's increase our faith, our confidence in the Word of God's promise. But he's got another example here in Romans 9:10, where he says in not only so, but also so. Hey, I gave you the example of Abraham and Sarah and God's promise to them of Isaac being the child of promise and remembering context here. He wants to prove that God keeps his word. And the problem is that not all Israel is Israel, just because you're born of Abraham, doesn't mean you're one of the children of promise. Ishmael was born to Abraham and Isaac was born to Abraham. They weren't both child of the promise. And maybe there's an objection that could come up. See, Paul, when he's writing Romans, Romans is Paul's masterclass on the gospel. And Paul is a great teacher. And what good teachers do is they already hear people's objections. But while they're still teaching, they already had kind of the questions and the objections off at the pass. And we're going to see Paul prove himself as a master teacher here in Romans 9, because he's making points and it's like he already knows what counterpoints people are going to try to bring up. Yeah, well, you can tell me there was Ishmael and there was Isaac, but Ishmael the way that Abraham had a child with his maidservant Hager, that wasn't God's plan, there were two different moms. And so he's like, Okay, well, if you're not going to buy that Abraham had two sons, and only one of them was the child of the promise.
Let's go to the next generation. Let's talk about Rebecca and her baby. So that's where he goes here in Romans 9:10, when Rebecca had conceived children, look, it was by one man, it was actually by Isaac himself. Abraham's son grows up, he gets married to Rebecca, and look at verse 11, 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, not because of what these two babies would do, but because of him who calls. Rebecca was told, the older shall serve the younger. And then let's talk about these two guys, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. So here we have twins, we got it, we got the two, two boys born at the same time from the same dad, same mom, and in the same womb, and here they come. And one of them is the child of the promise, and one of them is not. So here's kind of Paul saying, well, if you didn't accept my first example, let's go to the next generation. And let's talk about Jacob and Esau. And let me show you that God already knew what he was going to do. He wasn't reacting, he was already saying his purpose. And he said two different things, it gives us here, two different quotes. The first one is “the older will serve the younger,” and that's from Genesis 25.
So, everybody grab your Bible, we’ve got to go back. I want to make sure we look up all these quotes. And we get them in their original context, because a lot of people talk about Romans 9, but I don't know if they look up all the passages that Paul is referring to. And then you think God's just out here hating on people. If you don't really look up and get the full context. And so God's trying to make it clear that even before Rebecca is going to have her twin boys, Esau and Jacob, God already has chosen, he's already has this purpose of the election. And he already knows he's already decided. And now he's saying it to Rebecca, that the older is going to serve the younger, which usually means the older would get the blessing. And so that is going to be different than how you would expect it to be. Look at the quote here in Genesis 25:23. And you can see there's more to it. A lot of times when you look up the actual quote, there's more to it than just the part that gets referred to. And so here you can see the full quote of YHWH said to Rebecca, “two nations are in your womb,” two peoples or people groups from within you shall be divided, the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger. So right away, you can see that what God is deciding, what God is choosing for these two babies is not just about two little twin babies, but it these guys are going to become two nations. So, God's thinking big picture, God's starting with these babies, but he's thinking far into the future for generations of nations, and the younger one is actually going to end up having the nation that rules over the older one’s nation. Now let's get the full context here. Look back at verse 19. As we're kind of moving from Abraham and Sarah, and we're telling now Isaac and Rebecca story. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’ son, Abraham fathered Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebecca. And he talks about who Rebecca is. She's the daughter of Nahor. She's the sister of Laban, verse 21, notice this, and Isaac prayed to YHWH for his wife, because she was what? Parents wow, Generation, same story, same problem that Sarah had. Well, now Rebecca is having that same trial, that same challenge. And so, Isaac, and this is a great example. Hey, if you're having problems in life, before you get discouraged, before you go call a friend, and vent to them great thing to do is pray about it. That's what Isaac does here. He prays to the Lord for his wife. And look, the Lord granted his prayer. And Rebecca, his wife conceived. They have their own little double double project going on here, all of a sudden, and the children struggled together within her so, oh, wow, this, this seems like something's really going on. And she said, if it is, thus, why is this happening to me? So she goes, and she can tell something's going on inside of her. So she went to inquire of the Lord to seek the Lord to ask of the Lord. And that's when he says, hey, yeah, not only do you have a baby, you got two babies, two nations are in your womb, not just two little babies, but they're going to represent two people groups that are going to happen here. And so, after God says that, look at verse 24, when her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb, and the first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Now that is a baby I have never seen before you ever seen that? I mean, I think it's cool when babies have some hair on their head. That looks nice, but baby looking like it's wearing a hairy cloak that is unique right there. Look at that red baby. That hairy baby. Those are words I haven't really heard very much. And then afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, heel grabber. So his name was called Jacob, which is what Jacob means, heel grabber. And Isaac noticed this detail. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. So what did they say they got married when Isaac was forty. These babies are born when Isaac is sixty. That means we’ve got twenty years of Rebecca being barren before they're blessed with these two boys. And then the boys grow up and Esau he's a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game. But Rebecca love Jacob, and anybody who's a parent, you know, we’ve got big problems. We’ve got drama coming in the future chapters of Genesis right there. If you're a parent, and you love some of your kids more than you love others of your kids you’ve got to repent here today. You know what I mean? That's a whole another sermon. But you can see, is it drama because of the parents? Is it drama because the kids don't really have the same personality? No, God already said, there's going to be two nations going against each other here. And God has already said that Jacob, the younger one, grabbing on to his brother’s heel, Jacob, he's going to end up being the one who gets the promise, and the older one, Esau is going to end up serving Jacob. Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. Now we just read the account here in Genesis it didn't say I love little baby Jacob. But I don't I hate red hairy baby. So it didn't say that here. Okay. So that's not maybe that's what comes to your mind is like God's choosing one baby over the other?
Let me actually take you to the book of Malachi. Everybody turn with me to Malachi. This is where it actually talks about what? Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated. So Genesis is the beginning of the Hebrew Bible. Malachi is right before Matthew, it's at the end in our English translation. It's the end of the Old Testament right before Matthew. Malachi is the last book of in the chronological order. Malachi is a prophet after the Jews come back to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. Malachi is the last word we have kind of in the chronology, the last of the prophets. And if you turn to Malachi with me, so this is really like, Genesis being the beginning of the story, Malachi being now like kind of the last scripture coming to us in Hebrew here. And so really, it's like going from the A to the Z from the beginning to the end. And here in Malachi, pick it up with me at the beginning of Malachi. This book of prophecy, it's an oracle of the word of the Lord, the word of YHWH to Israel by Malachi. And look what God says to his people, I have loved you, says YHWH. But the people are like, how have you loved us? The people are kind of like, well, what have you done for us lately, Lord, like how have you loved us? Where can we see your love? We're not feeling your love. And here's God's answer. You say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau, Jacob's brother, declares YHWH, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. And so that's when God actually says, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. He says it way after Jacob and Esau were alive, way after they became nations, way after those nations have had tension with one another for a very long time. I don't know how well you know your Hebrew Bible, but maybe you know that Jacob becomes the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, the people of the promise, but then Esau becomes… who does anybody know what the country is? It's a country called Edom. And Edom means red, so I'm wearing my Edom sweater today, everybody. And based on Esau, they are known as the Red people, right? And so Edom becomes a neighboring nation of Israel. And you can read about Edom throughout the Hebrew Bible. Did you know that Edom has a whole book of the Bible written to them? You could go read it today, the whole book of Obadiah. The prophecy of Obadiah is to the nation of Edom. And you could go read it. It's not very long. It's 23 verses of prophecy to Edom, warning them that they're going to be judged because they are in sin, and one of their sins they're guilty of is their sinning against God's people of Israel. Edom and Israel became rivals. And guess what? Edom ended up serving Israel, God gave Israel victory over Edom. God, when he makes a promise, he keeps his promise forever for generations. And so God's now saying, hey, what do you mean, do I love you, I have set my love upon you, my love goes all the way back to when I set my love on Jacob and not Esau. So that's really the context of this statement.
Let's talk about what this word hated means. And I want to throw up a verse that I think really helps explain it, which is Luke 14:26. This is something that Jesus says, and maybe you've heard this verse before, when Jesus had a great crowd of people that he was preaching to, and a lot of people are. Jesus is popular. A lot of people are coming to hear Jesus. Well, he says something very clarifying like this, “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father, and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” So, Jesus is calling people to follow me. He's saying, hey, deny yourself, take up your cross, and come follow me, come and be my disciple. But if you're going to come and be my disciple, you've got to hate your father and mother, you’ve got to hate your wife and your kids, you’ve got to hate your siblings. Well, what does Jesus mean when he says that? Does Jesus actually want us to go and hate people, to be against people to go and do evil towards them? Is that what Jesus is advocating? Absolutely not. What Jesus we know wants us to honor our father and mother, Jesus, we know he wants us to love our wives in the same way that he loved us. Jesus wants us to teach his word to our children. Jesus wants us to love our brother and our sister. Can I get an amen from everybody on that? Some of you need to give a stronger Amen. About Love and your brother, your sister here this morning, right? But Jesus is saying, you're going to have to make a choice. Because at some level, you're either going to please other people, or you're going to please me. And you need to decide that you're going to follow me and not what other people tell you to do. And so when you are choosing to follow Jesus, it might come across even to your loved ones, like you hate them, because you're rejecting what they say, because you're putting Jesus in first place and you're following him. Instead, what Jesus is presenting here is a choice. You're either going to love Jesus, and if you love Jesus, that means you might have to hate people now just Jesus. I mean it when it says hate here. Does Jesus want us to hate even his own life? Does Jesus want you to live in a low self-esteem does he want you to live in a place of self-love thing where you're like, I hate myself, I'm a terrible person. Is that what Jesus is advocating here? I don't think so at all. I think Jesus wants you to know that God loves you that God sent his Son to die for you, that God actually really, in a personal way cares about you in his life, he just wants you to say you're not living to please yourself anymore. You're living to deny yourself and follow Jesus. So, the word hate is used when you have to make a choice; when you have to make a choice. You can't choose Jesus and pleasing other people. You can't choose following Jesus and living for your own pleasure, for your own desires. You either have to put Jesus first and say, I'm going to follow him, no matter what, no matter what I want, no matter what other people want. I'm doing what Jesus wants, or you're going to end up following other people or following yourself. So, what do you choose because if you want to be the disciple of Jesus, you're going to have to reject following your own desires and reject living for other people, you're going to have to hate but hate here is used in a way of choice like, hey, there are multiple options. Only one can be chosen, you can only set your love on one. So that means you're hating the other option. That's what God's saying here about Jacob and Esau, he said, hey, I decided that I was going to choose Jacob. And I decided that back in Genesis and look exactly what I promised is what happened? How can you know that I love you? Well, let's just look at the whole history of Jacob and Esau, who did I set my love upon? Who did I choose to love? See, now we're taking it a little deeper? It's not just what happened, it happened because God said it was going to happen, because God promised it. And why did God promise that Jacob would be the one, that the older would end up serving the younger because God chose, because God elected. That's the thing is God is making a choice that he's going to set his love upon Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and that that's going to be his people. So this is really insightful because the people here in Malachi, they're back in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem has been beat down for seventy years, Jerusalem got destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and they're trying to rebuild, but it's a fixer upper in Jerusalem. And maybe they're looking around, and they're feeling down, and they're like, this isn't very awesome. Have you loved us Lord, and gods like, hey, even if it doesn't look right now, in your circumstances, like I love you, let me just make it very clear, I have chosen to set my love upon you way beyond your current circumstances, I've chosen to set my love upon you. For generations, I've chosen to set my love upon you for eternity.
That's what the doctrine of election really is. And when I was reading about this passage, and Malachi, I've got this book that I really recommend called The Message of the Twelve. Here's what they said about these verses. In Malachi, the people disappointed in their apparent lack of prosperity, were questioning God's love for them. The love relationship pictured in Malachi, one, two and three is not a matter of God loving Jacob more, and Esau less, this love was a matter of choice, a matter of election to a privileged covenant position. Israel received grace for her sins while Edom received judgment. That's the point is God has chosen to set his love on people. And we should think of it in a very positive way, like a parent deciding to adopt a child God has chosen, I'm going to love Jacob, and he sets his love upon them. And now those people get to receive the grace of God, where he shows his goodness and his mercy even when they sin, and they had to get exiled as the consequence of their sin. God loves his people to keep his promise and to bring them back to the land because God has chosen Jacob, but he did not choose Esau. That's the point we're supposed to see. So we're talking about this idea of election, this idea of God choosing has become this controversial doctrine. But the purpose of God's election is supposed to be this beautiful picture of God setting his love on his people, for no other reason than God chose to set his love upon his people.
Now that we've seen the example of Jacob and Esau, Go back with me to Romans chapter 9 and look with me at Romans 9:11, where it says this like a doctrine, and I don't know what you've heard about the doctrine of election, this teaching that God chooses his people, but this is how it's presented here in verse 11. It says it like this, this is Romans 9:11, though they were not yet born before it, but I mean, really God's saying that before. But yeah, before they're born, I mean God even is answering the prayer before they're even conceived that she would even have children. And then they're struggling within their her womb. And that's when God says this. So, he wants to point out before they were born, when they had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue. That's the point. The point is that you would see that God has a purpose, and he's choosing things to accomplish his purpose. That's the story of Jacob and of Esau. There's a famous quote from a preacher, Charles Spurgeon, if you've heard of Charles Spurgeon before, where people would come to him and they'd say, doesn’t it bother you that God hated Esau? And he's like, well, I can actually understand why God hated Esau. It bothers me. Why did he love Jacob? See, like, Jacob, if you study the life of the heel grabber, a guy who deceives his own dad into giving him his brother's blessing to be the guy who will inherit everything from the family, Jacob, he doesn't seem like the best guy. At the start of his story. A lot of people have said that to me at church, they've been like, wow, why would God choose Jacob, Jacob wasn't the best guy. That's the whole point. God chose Jacob because God, in his purpose of election, wanted to set his love upon Jacob and wanted to show us God's not responding to people and what they do. God is choosing to love people. That's because of who he is. Because God takes initiative. And God sets his love on people. It's not based on us or anything that we have done.
Now, God's purpose, when you see that word there, the Greek word is prothesis here for purpose in verse 11. Go back to Romans 8:28, because that's where we saw this verse in the recent context here, in Romans, maybe you can remember all the way back to our study of Romans 8:28. And we know it says here, if you're looking at it, “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Okay, so what we learned, and maybe you weren't here with us, or maybe it's been a while and you forgot, what we kind of think that verse means is I'm living my life, and everything's going okay. And then all of a sudden, something bad happens. And God now he's got to, like, fix this bad thing that happened. And he's got to somehow work the evil thing and kind of twist it around so it'll be a good thing. Because God does that for all of his people, we found out that's not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying is God's got a macro purpose that he's working all things toward. And if God has called you, if God's elected you, if he's chosen you according to his purpose, then you're now in line and all the things that are happening, are all working towards God's macro purpose. And that's all going to work for good now in your life, because your life is aligned with the purpose of God. So, God's not like reacting to things that happen, like how can he fix them? God's causing things to happen on a much bigger scale than what you and I typically even see. Unless we study what the Scripture says we can't even really see how God's working in his massive sovereign purpose throughout all of history all over the world. And in fact, we know what that purpose is. Look at the next verse, verse 29. For those who mean for new, “He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he,” Jesus “might be the firstborn among many brothers. God's purpose is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord and the Father will give all things in creation as an inheritance to his son, and won't just be Jesus there. And all of his glory, there will be many, many of us, and even referred to us as the brothers or sisters of Christ, that we will all be there celebrating and sharing in all the glory that Jesus will receive. And so verse 30, said, Hey, if you've been predestined, if you've been chosen, well, then you you've also called, and if he called you, he also justified you, and everybody he justifies, he will also glorify. And so then the question is, well, if that's true, and God's got this awesome plan for all of his people, how do you explain what's going on with the Jews? And that's where Romans 9 comes in. But he's still trying to prove to us God's purpose of election. We know what God's purpose is, is all the glory going to Jesus and God is choosing a whole people that are going to be there with Jesus, God's going to have a people and he's going to say, I am your God, and you're my people. And I, you're my people for no other reason than I love you. And I wanted you and I brought you and it's not because of who you are, where you came from. It's not because of anything you did. No, the reason you're here is I chose you to be here, because I love you through my Son, Jesus Christ. Is that good news for anybody here today?
See, here's the way we think about election. And I was reading this preacher, Martyn Lloyd Jones, and he says, most people, when they hear the purpose of election, they immediately have a wrong thought on misapplication because they think there's all these people out there, and God is choosing to save some and forgive them and bring them by his grace into a new life in Christ. And then other people he's just deciding not to choose. But no, actually what election is is that from the very beginning, when God decided that all things would be for the glory of Jesus, God also chose a people who would be there to share in the glory of Jesus. And God has been speaking those people into existence, from the very beginning of the story. Not when there were a lot of people, before there were any people, God had already chosen his people. Let me show you an example of how this works out. A very personal example in my own life. Because if you know about me, I'm a child of the Jesus Movement. My dad, Bruce Blakey, he got saved in the 1970s, when there was like a revival going on in Southern California and on the college campuses. I know a lot of people who got saved in the 70s because the word was just spreading on the college campuses, UCLA, USC, Cal State Long Beach. I know people who have testimonies of getting saved, and people just came and started sharing the gospel with them. And that happened with my dad, my dad was at USC, and they've got this guy there that they think is a big deal. Tommy Trojan, if you've ever heard of him, you may love him, you might hate him. See, look at some of you hate and on to poor Tommy. But Tommy, there's actually I believe a 24/7 webcam, if you want to obsess on what's going on with Tommy. When my dad, he was one of the cool guys on campus back in the day. He's sitting right there at Tommy Trojan and two guys come and they tell my dad this good news. And the good news is that God loves him and has a plan for his life. And God, actually, there's this thing called Christmas, where God loved us so much, he sent his one and only Son to seek and to save the lost. And that's my dad, and they begin to explain to my dad a gospel message, the good news that Jesus is the Savior, the Anointed One. And my dad, he's not really familiar with this. He grew up in Southern California, but he didn't go to church. He didn't read the Bible, his family they didn't believe. And so this is like new good news that my dad is hearing. And these two guys that are telling him this, they have this conversation for like forty-five minutes, and my dad's hearing it, and he's actually believing it. And I've heard my dad tell this story so many times. And one of those guys, he looks right at my dad, and he puts his finger out. And he says, this means that from today on, Jesus needs to call the shots in your life. And so, my dad right there, decides he's going to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Jesus. And I'm still praising the Lord for that. Because after that, my dad gets on fire, he starts getting discipled, he starts carrying this Bible all around campus. And my mom's sitting there at USC one day, and she's like, who’s this guy carrying his Bible all over campus? And that's where I come from everybody. That's why this is such a great story for me, right? I see, we understand what those guys meant, like, hey, they're looking at it from our perspective of how should my dad respond to this good news, hey, you need to have faith. You need to believe what we're telling you. And you need to see who Jesus really is. You need to see that he's the Son of God, and he died on the cross to pay for your sins. And he rose on the third day. And he's now at the right hand of God. And you need to see that Jesus is Lord. And so Jesus, he gets to tell you what to do now. And yeah, your family may not like it, and you may have to deny yourself, but you’ve got to go now and obey the Lord Jesus, you’ve got to let Jesus call the shots, and see, that's a great story. But that's not what we're saying here today. What we're saying here today is that Jesus was calling the shots in my dad's life way before that moment. What we're saying here today, is that Jesus, he actually chose to save my dad. Not only just even before that moment, not only even before my dad was born, geez, he got God chose to save my dad, before even time began, before the foundation of the world, think of it. Think of it this way, if you would consider yourself a saved person, if you would say that you've left everything to follow Jesus, and Jesus is your Lord, and you're living for him.
Well, let me ask you a question. Who saved you? Did you save yourself? Or did God save you by His grace? Who saved you? Who would you say? God saved you? So, did God save you? Because he decided to in that exact moment when he saved you? Or does it make a lot of sense that God could actually have decided to save you before that moment? And actually, since he's God, and since he's outside of space and time, and since he's actually the one speaking all things into existence. Does it make sense that God could have decided to save you? Before there even was anything? See, that's what we're saying. And that is supposed to be to you this overwhelmingly beautiful thing. Why would God choose to save me if God's getting a people, and they're all going to be there with Jesus and share his glory? Why did God pick me to be on his team? Why did God elect me to be one of his, wow, I don't. It's not because of the way I was born. It's not because of anything that I've done. Wow. See, God loves me in a way that is so profound. It's beyond like, how do I feel today, or how's my life going? See a lot of us, we just ride the roller coaster of our emotions, we just live on the roller coaster of circumstances. And some days feel up. And some days feel down. And what the purpose of election is that God has decided to set his love upon you. So, no matter what's happening today, he chose to love you before there even was a day and he will love you after space and time. See, in the age to come because he chose you, before the ages began. This is a love that that is beyond.
So, point number two, let's get it down like this: “You need to submit to God calling the shots.” You need to see that God is not only doing what things that he promised that he would do, but God is the one who chose or elected to do those things. And that God's goal is to set his love upon the people, of people who would be his treasured possession, and that you would be one of God's people. And you would know his love in your life, a love that will go beyond this life. So, one of the things I kept reading over and over about Romans 9 is that God chooses his people by grace and not by race. And see that was the problem is the Jews, they actually thought they may be the opposite of what some of us think they thought that they all were chosen just because they were in a specific race of people. And so Paul, he's kind of gotten to buss that thought up here, the common objection today, and maybe some of you have this objection here today. Well, the common objection here is like, well, why isn't God choosing everybody? Why are there people being left out of this choosing? And that's the objection a lot of people want to bring in and Paul, the master teacher, look at Romans 9:14, he knows exactly where this sermon is going to go in people's mind. And he gets right to it right after he says, I hate it. He knows that line’s not going to go down very well. And so, he says, “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? What's the answer to the question there? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means,” which we've seen as a common way that Paul has been teaching we know the question best, shall we continue in sin? “And shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means.” Right? Well, so are you saying and really, when it says injustice on God's part here in verse 14, really you could translate that, is God unrighteous? Wow, is God doing something that's wrong here? Is God doing something that's not fair? Is God unrighteous? That's what a lot of people I've heard. I've definitely heard the volume on people blaming God, when there's so many problems in the world. I don't see many people saying, we are the problem. I am the problem. My sin is a problem. It seems like more and more in our American culture, people are ready to start acting like our God is a big problem. And aren't God isn't doing things the right way. And that leads them to not believe in God or even to blaspheme the name of our God. And so Paul, he wants to ask, Are you going to say, shall we all say that God is unrighteous because of his purpose of election, and then he gives the strongest possible negative “by no means.” The whole point of the book of Romans is to reveal to you the righteousness of God. Going back to Romans 1:16-17, the righteousness of God is revealed that the just shall live by faith. Wow, look what God has done through his son Jesus, that Jesus died and paid for all of your sin. So, everybody who believes in Jesus, God is just to justify them. God is righteous to declare sinners righteous based on what his son has done. And anybody who believes in Jesus God, the Righteous One, will declare you righteous on the basis of your faith. That's the whole point of the book of Romans, the righteousness of God. In fact, if you are unrighteous, Romans 1 gets right into the fact that God actually has wrath on all unrighteousness. And if you're going to say, Well, if it's all by grace, then why don't I just keep sinning because it doesn't matter, God can just save me. So, I'll just keep sinning, Hey, watch out because you will be judged for your unrighteousness. So Paul has been writing for eight chapters before he gets to chapter 9, teaching us that God is righteous, God is going to judge unrighteousness. And God has judged on righteousness on Jesus, so that anybody here who believes in Jesus, you are declared righteous by God forevermore. So now you're going to start saying God is not righteous, you should really think about that by no means. And if you want to talk about the objections, you're going to have to come back next week, everybody, because we don't have time here today to get into all that it said next, in the next few verses, it's going to lead us to a whole another argument here. But you might even know people who are objectors to God, they don't like this doctrine of election, because they think it's God kind of looking at people and picking some and then rejecting others, not what Paul's saying here. And if you hear if you think that yourself, if you know people like that, invite them to come here next week, as we start to get into the objections. But before we get to the objections, I want to end on God's purpose of election. And all the election is, is God is choosing to have a people, that's what it is. God wants to be your God. He wants to have a people, and God is setting his love on his people. That is the doctrine of election. It's not meant to start a debate. It's meant for you to think that's amazing. Why would God give me that grace? Why would I not get judged for what I have done? I don't deserve this. I have not done anything to earn this. Why would God choose to love me? Wow, that blows my mind. That's the purpose of election.
Go to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. Let me just end with this other reference here to God's purpose and how it leads us right into Christmas. So, on the back of your handout there, there's a Christmas question like, What has God decided to do and said he's going to do, and then he did, like, how does this whole thing we're talking about where God makes a choice, and then God makes a promise. And then God keeps his promise. And whatever God says goes, how does that play out in the whole Christmas story? How does it play out in your life, we want to increase our faith. And we want to say, Yeah, God is making choices. And I'm so glad that God did choose me. Is anybody else here glad that God chose you here today? Because if it was just up to you, and the way you were born, and the sin you are living in, wow, how would you have been saved? What could you have done about the situation you were in? See, people are kind of thinking like, well, it's all neutral. And then God's kind of choosing and God's choice is making it up. No, it's all hostile to God down here on planet Earth. It's all fallen short of his glory. It's everybody being born in sin, their mother conceived them. And God is choosing to save, to call, to justify a people for Himself. Look how it says it here in 2 Timothy 1:9, when it's talking about the gospel, being the power of God to produce a people for himself. It says, God saved us and God, he's the one who did all of it. So, he gets all the glory. It's all his story. God saved us. And God called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus. And when does it say he gave it to us in Christ Jesus, everybody? When does it say? Before the ages began. Yeah, there was a moment when you heard the guy like my dad say, well, Jesus calls the shots in your life, but that wasn't the moment God shows my dad that that was the moment maybe my dad chose to follow Jesus. But see, God didn't even choose my dad when he sent Jesus for us on Christmas. No, he chose before the ages began. And you realize that in God's mind, there is this whole massive family tree, there is this whole tapestry where because he promised to Abraham and Sarah, that led to Isaac and Isaac, he married Rebecca. And then came Jacob and Esau. And then through Jacob were the twelve tribes. And someday we'll be able to go back and see, hey, where did those two guys who talked to my dad come from? And what faithful parent taught them the gospel, what bold missionary came across the world, to share the good news with them. And then they shared it with my dad. And then my dad, from the moment I can remember, he's reading it to me, he's taking me to church, and then I believe, and then I'm going and trying to share it with other people. And someday we'll get to see that God has this epic story of glory and amazing grace, and it all goes back to God, choosing to love all of these people, before the ages began. It's all based not on our works, but on his purpose, and grace. And, how does this get seen? Look at verse 10. Look at the next verse. Now, this has all been manifested God, God has spoken all of this to us. It's all been revealed to us. And how has it been revealed? Through His Word through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, God had chosen and God had his purpose beforehand, but through Jesus coming on Christmas, that's how it gets made known to us. That's how the story gets told. And Jesus, He abolished death, and he's brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. There's no better time of the year perhaps, to have your eyes opened to see that God has decided to set his love on his people. Then the time where Jesus came, and he made it manifest, he appeared. And when you see Jesus, God's Son, being given out of love for us, then maybe you can see wow, there is a God who really chooses to set his love on his people. And maybe before we start debating, and before the controversy breaks out, maybe we can just take a moment to give God glory, and say, God, the fact that you would decide to set your grace on a wretched sinner like me, that's amazing. And I want to worship you today. I want to give you glory, because you've given choosing your people. And I don't know why, but you chose me. That is God's purpose of election. Let me pray for us.
Father in heaven, we just want to confess that we are always trying to figure out life from our understanding, we're always reacting to what's going on in space and time and I pray that today, we could submit ourselves to your understanding, and we could see what your purpose has been before the ages began before the foundation of the world. So, God, I know this, this can be a hard thing for us to understand this might be too marvelous for us. But Father, I pray that we could say Is anything too hard for you, is anything impossible for you? And so, I pray that you would open our eyes to see wondrous things that you have set your love on your people. And there is no one who can separate your people from the love that you have given them in your Son, Jesus. And this has been true from before the ages began. And it's been made known through Jesus appearing and coming for us at Christmas. And so, Father, let your love be made known here today. Let the fact that you would choose people who did nothing, and were unworthy, but you chose them just because you wanted to let your name be lifted high today in Huntington Beach. Father, and I pray for all your people here that we could see, hey, we were saved, not because of who our parents were, or not because of something we did before. But that we were saved by grace and grace alone, by you deciding to be good to people like us, of the fact that you would choose us back, that's even hard for us to understand how that all works. But the fact that you had a purpose, to give glory to your son Jesus, and you wanted to include me in your purpose, Father, you wanted to adopt me to be your son. And on the day that Jesus will come riding on the clouds, and every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess, that I will be a part of your family, sharing in your eternal glory. Father that is amazing grace. And we just need to confess to you Father that we're always trying to figure you out and we're always bringing you down to our own understanding. And today we want to submit ourselves to you and we want to say, Father, forgive us for our prior to thinking we could figure you out. And thank you for revealing yourself to us that you're doing it because you said it. And the reason you said it is because you chose to do it. And the reason you chose to do it is because you are love. Do you love us? You love us way beyond today and so we praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.