Ruling Grace Relentless Grace

The Old Testament reading is from Psalm 115. Please stand for the reading of God's word. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

Why should the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak. Eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear. Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel. Feet, but do not walk. And they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them.

O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.

Our New Testament reading is found in the book of Romans, chapter nine. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descendants from Israel belong to Israel.

Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

For this is what the promise said. About this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only, but also when Rebecca 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.

You may be seated.

We turn again today to another story from the Old Testament. By the way, these stories were given not so that we'd have material for Sunday school with our children, but they were given to us to reveal Jesus to us, as well as to tell us how to live.

You know, the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3 .16 says, for the word of God is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, convicting, and training in righteousness. He had in mind the Old Testament when he said that.

And so this text before us today is intended to help us know how to live before God as a disciple of Jesus. I'm asking you to turn this morning to Genesis chapter 25, a familiar story to us that has much to tell us of God's grace.

Genesis 25, we'll be reading verses 19 through 26. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Padamaran, 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 prayers, and Rebekah, 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, 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. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you again that we are here to look into your word, to hear your voice in our ears. Would you help us now as we consider this familiar story, not just to know it and remember childhood things because we heard it then, but that we would hear it now speaking to us of your grace.

So help us to hear you, in Jesus' name, amen. Many, many, many years ago, this is a long time ago, Becca and I, one night, were watching a movie with some of our grandchildren, and suddenly, little Adney said about the character in the movie, he's the bad guy.

And so I replied, Adney, how in the world do you know that he's the bad guy? And he said, because the music changed. Now he was on to something, wasn't he? He'd already picked out how music worked and how the music foreshadowed something about that character before he turned out to be the nasty guy that he was, right?

That music foreshadowed what was going to happen. Now the text before us foreshadows the story that's going to follow in the next 11 chapters. It sets the stage for incredible conflict between all the characters in this story, and we will hear stories of deception, fear and flight, danger, exploitation, violence, ruthless dealings, and even rape, all coming out of this chapter.

Now remember the foundational promise that God had made, which called this family into existence. And as you read the book of Genesis, you finally see, you see as you read the book of Genesis, it's about God keeping the promise that he made, first of all, to Eve, of raising up a seed, and then to Abraham, where God says to Abraham, I want you to follow me, and out of you I will raise a seed from which will come from you a great nation, and your seed will bless all the nations of the world.

And that's the whole story of Genesis, how God preserves, how God helps that, how God brings about that seed. And here, you see the promise is almost lost in the drama of this generation. You know the story of Jacob, and we'll probably visit him as we go along, but you know the story of Jacob, you know the conflict, you know all that's gonna happen in the next few chapters, and it seems that this story foreshadows horrible things that are going to happen.

But this opening scene foreshadows something even greater than the wickedness to come, and that is the grace of God. It's a relentless grace, a grace that pursues its object until the promises are fulfilled, and the people in the story are transformed.

It's a ruling grace, it triumphs over all the evil obstacles, using them as a matter of fact, even using the evil to achieve God's gracious purposes. Grace makes its appearance here in this story as well in setting the stage for God's working.

So this is gonna set the stage, and this story is a pivotal story in the Old Testament, okay? Now, this story's not a cliffhanger by any means. It's not a cliffhanger at all. There's nothing exciting here.

It's simply the story of the birth of a couple twins. The part about one hanging onto the heel of the other is interesting at least, but there's nothing dramatic going on here, and we could all go, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, thanks for the story, I appreciate it.

I mean, I could tell you the birth story of every six of our kids. I could tell you about that, but I would imagine by about the second one, you'd all be going, oh, when is he gonna be done with this, right?

Like, you're not interested in all the details, and so you're looking at this saying, so what's the big deal here? This is a story of the birth of a couple twins, but it sets the stage, and it says something to us, particularly about the grace of God and how we ought to think of it.

Now, immediately as the scene opens, we see obstacles to the fulfillment of God's promises to make a great nation from the descendant of Abraham to make a great nation, and from that descendant to give us the seed that will bless all the nations.

Immediately, there's an obstacle. How so? As the story begins, we find that Rebekah has no ability to bear children, so let's look at verses 19 through 21 again. Let's just get the story in our heads.

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Padamaram, 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, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived.

Drop down to verse 26, the very last sentence. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. As the story begins again, we find that Rebekah has no ability to bear children. How in the world is God gonna fulfill his promise of a great nation and the seed that will bless all nations?

Well, God, in his grace, chose Abraham out of all the pagans to be the man he would use. He sovereignly placed his mercy on that man, and that's grace, and it seems here that you have a replay of Abraham's story.

The promised seed has not appeared. It has not appeared. You remember the story of Abraham. God called him when he was 75. God gave him a son when he was 100. 25 years he waited for God to keep that promise of the seed.

25 years he waited. Now here you see Isaac and Rebekah responding, first of all, responding in faith. Isaac believed God's promise, and so he prayed to God for him to fulfill that promise, and you will notice it was a persistent faith.

Now, why do I say that? Because for 20 years they waited for this child. Do you realize that Isaac waited almost as long as his own father for the descendant? He's 40 when he marries Rebekah, right? He's 60, he's 60 when the boys are born.

That's 20 years that he waited. It's a persistent faith. He prayed for 20 years, and Isaac also has an undiluted faith. Recall that Abraham and Sarah and their anxiety to see that God keep the promise, what did they do?

Abraham or Sarah gave Abraham a concubine, her servant, Hagar, in order to accomplish the plan, and God says, it's not the way I'm gonna go. It's gonna come from Sarah, but they took shortcuts. Isaac and Rebekah don't do that.

If you notice that, they don't do that. This was not an occasion for anxiety. It was an occasion for sovereign grace. They understood God's sovereignty in his grace here. So in light of the obstacles in God's promise, Isaac responds with faith that is persistent and pure.

All right, now you know the story. Doesn't continue that. He doesn't stay at the same level, but at this point, you see a faith that is persistent and pure. You see Rebekah's faith as well. She, too, had undiluted faith, never suggesting, it seems, that they take a shortcut.

She never suggested like her mother-in-law had, and you see later, look at the end of verse 22. At the end of verse 22, notice what it says. So she went to inquire of the Lord, right? No shortcuts, but she asked God about it.

She's willing to interpret her life by the word of God. She trusted God to give her the answers she needed to understand what's going on. But note, we have to understand, it's not Isaac's faith or Rebekah's faith that overcomes this obstacle.

It helps them in the difficulty, but that's not what overcomes the obstacle. It is the grace of God that intervenes. Faith is trusting, depending, waiting. It's not some kind of power that overcomes God, all right?

Rather, what you find is grace. It is God acting because he chooses to. I love what one writer says here. God is, after all, not the great slot machine in the sky whose arm you twist until you hit the jackpot and he gives you the desires of your heart.

He is not the custodian of a celestial warehouse of delights waiting for you to dial the right number so that he can release your personal prize pack of blessings. Is that not how a lot of people look at God?

If only I pray the right prayer, I'll get what I want. God is the great Santa Claus. God is the great slot machine. God is the great purveyor of gifts. He's all about giving you what you want if only you dial the right number.

That's not God. As you read this account, you see God in his grace to us acts. And as you read this account, you must believe that God's grace overcomes all obstacles. They had faith, but it's God's grace that overcomes the obstacles.

It is God's promise. It is God saying, I have graciously given you this promise and it is my grace that will see it to the end. And they believed it. They believed it. Now, let me ask you, do you believe that anything can thwart God's gracious promises?

I don't know about you, but there are times when I'm looking at myself and I'm saying, God, how could you possibly use me? And I know you have the same thoughts. And you say, God, you know, I'm wrestling with this sin.

Man, I don't know. I'm just, I'm just useless. You think God says you're useless? Do you think, do you think God can still use you? Do you think his grace can still accomplish his purposes? Even not accomplish his purposes despite you, but even accomplishing his purposes using you, right?

You have to believe that God's grace overcomes all obstacles. And then you need to believe that God's grace sets the agenda. It's God's grace that sets the agenda. Look at verses 22 through 25. The children, 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 and the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you shall be, 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. Believe that God's grace sets the agenda. Now, I'm a big believer in agendas. Whenever I go into a meeting, I never go in without an agenda.

To me, going to any kind of a meeting, an elders meeting, a church business meeting, any kind of a meeting, if you go in without agenda, in my view, what's gonna happen is utter chaos. I mean, that's my view.

And it's true, you can't go into any meeting without an agenda. What a list of the things you're gonna talk about, what you have to discuss, okay? And so you go into a meeting with agenda. I have an agenda with my family.

I remember when all the kids were at home, I would oftentimes say, okay, here's the agenda for today. Here's what we're going to do today so that you know what we're going to do. You need to believe that God's grace sets the agenda.

Now, again here, the future does not look too rosy. Rebecca starts experiencing something, a problem in her pregnancy. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe she's not aware she has twins, but something's not right.

In fact, it gets so difficult that she thinks God's frown has replaced God's smile. And so she goes to inquire of the Lord, and an oracle comes back from God. I'm not angry with you. The problem is that you have two incompatible people in your womb, and this struggle between them is just the beginning.

And the older son, contrary to custom, will serve the younger son. And sure enough, two boys are born, one a hairy red monster, and the other a heel-clutcher. And their parents give them names that reflect that.

Esau means red, Jacob means heel-clutcher, if you will. Conniver, even. Now, you're supposed to get a picture from this birth. You're supposed to get a picture from this birth story. You're supposed to see the foreshadowing here.

Here is a foreshadowing of the future. God's grace is setting the agenda. Here's what's going to happen. Now, can God fulfill his purpose in the face of conflict? Okay, the story is foreshadowing, and it's asking this question.

Can God fulfill his agenda, his gracious agenda, in conflict? Can he keep his promise by defying social customs? Remember, the oldest son in the family gets the inheritance. He gets all the money, he gets the farm, right?

Now, if you would read the beginning of this chapter, what you would read is that Abraham buries Sarah, Abraham gets married again, Abraham has a bunch of kids, a bunch of boys, all right? And what does he do?

He gives Isaac the inheritance, he gives gifts to his other sons. But Isaac is the firstborn, and Isaac gets the whole ball of wax. And the boys themselves are gonna be a problem, right? So God's defying social convention, and the boys themselves are gonna be a problem.

As we're going to see, the hairy monster, Esau, is animalistic in his approach to life. He's driven by desire. He's not one who reflects deeply on anything. He's just driven by the moment, driven by his desires, driven by his wants.

He doesn't think deeply about anything, as you go on to read. The heel clutcher proves to be the one who dogs his brother's steps, right? Or he's a betrayer who is tenacious in getting what he wants. As you read the story of Jacob, you see a very tenacious character.

He's gonna get what he wants, all right? So you've got a God-defined social convention, and the boys are gonna be a problem. But God is not bound by circumstances, because his grace sets the agenda. His grace sets the agenda.

All the conflicts that will emerge in the following chapters cannot keep God from fulfilling his promises. In fact, his grace is gonna use the conflicts in order to accomplish his grace. He's actually gonna use the conflicts.

It's not like God's gonna, oh, what are they gonna do now? Oh, what am I gonna do? Okay. It's that he actually uses the conflicts to accomplish his grace. God's grace sets the agenda as to how God's gonna get it done.

And his purpose is not gonna be bound by the conventions of men. Won't the promised blessing come through the eldest son who's supposed to get everything? You know, God's gracious purposes are not tied to what we do or what happens.

Look, this reminds me, especially this year, of many American Christians who think that God's purposes are gonna be thwarted unless the right man gets in the White House. You know? God's gracious purpose isn't gonna be thwarted by anything.

Not even human custom, not even American elections. Keep that in mind this year, would you please? I can feel inside me a whole series of sermons on that topic, but we'll see. No, in fact, Jacob will be the one who ends up stronger and Esau will serve him.

But again, isn't that the grace normally works? Isn't that the way grace normally works? Listen. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29. Familiar to us. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

This is the way God normally works in grace. He doesn't go the way we think it ought to go. He doesn't use the strong. He doesn't use the brilliant. As a rule, he doesn't use those people. I'll never forget.

All right, so, this isn't Maddie, by the way, okay? Because this is someone who's lived with us for a while. It's not Maddie, so. Someone once said to me, "'Pastor Tim, I don't know how to say this. "'Okay, okay, here's, let me just say this.

"'There are a lot of weird people in LaRue Baptist Church. "'No lie,' and I said, "'You're right.'". But isn't that the way God normally works? He doesn't get the brilliant ones. I'm not saying you're dumb, all right?

None of us here have made the headlines, right? He doesn't normally choose the ones with lots of power. He doesn't normally choose, he doesn't normally choose the ones who can get it done, who've got a reputation in the world.

He chooses people like us, right? So it shouldn't surprise us when God says, "'I'm gonna go against what you normally think. "'The younger is gonna be the one "'that fulfills this promise.'". And here is God's sovereign grace.

We heard it in Romans chapter nine. This is why it's interesting. This story is not a cliffhanger, but it's pivotal. Again, let's look at Romans nine, where the Apostle Paul is saying some things about God's gracious purposes.

And we come to the part in verse 10, 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 love, but Esau I hated. Now, it's God's sovereign grace because it's freely bestowed on, with no outside influence in determining whom he favors.

There was nothing in Jacob, there was nothing in Esau that made God choose Jacob over Esau. There was nothing in either of them that moved God to make that decision. Jacob's position is not due to the fact that he was a good guy or that he had great potential.

God chose Jacob because God wanted to choose Jacob, and that's where it ends. Look at those boys. Neither one of them has anything to commend him to God. Neither one has anything that would commend him to God.

Now, some might assert, that's not fair, God, that's not fair, God chose one over the other, that isn't fair. Well, when we say that, we assume that both deserve the grace of God, when neither have a right to expect it.

You see, we will bring that charge to God, that's not fair, because we think they deserve it, when neither one of those boys deserve it. In fact, wow, it almost looks like Jacob is the least that should get it, if we think about it in human terms.

And what about the one left to himself? I want you to listen to Ian Dugan. He says something, I think, that's really fascinating and helps us. He writes this, those who remain outside God's kingdom who have not received his election and calling to become part of his people, do not lose something they sought to have, but rather something they counted of no value.

Now, did you catch that? Those who God doesn't choose are not people who say, that's valuable, I want that. None of them, they're not interested in that. They couldn't care less about that. God continues to choose and call those who are his, but those who are passed over by God will never complain that God is being unfair.

Left to themselves, they have no desire to be chosen. You ever think about that? They don't even have the desire to be chosen. They don't care. God's not being unfair. God instead is being gracious. Nor God's purpose, it won't be thwarted by the character of the actors.

Once more, you see the sovereignty of grace at play. His grace is sovereign because it's powerful and it's effective and it's able to accomplish his purpose. As we can, if we would continue and we pick up on this, I'm sure.

His grace actually transforms Jacob and makes him a different man. God's grace sets the agenda. But consider this, God's grace, instead of being thwarted by evil, actually uses it to fulfill his promise of blessing to the nations.

Consider, Jesus came by the grace of God. Jesus came by the grace of God and was opposed every step of the way. At the very beginning of his life, I want you to note this, at the very beginning of his life, Jesus, descendant of Jacob, was threatened by Herod, a descendant of Esau.

You see, the conflict continued. He was opposed at the very beginning of his life and all through his life, the religious leaders of his day opposed him and the people listening said, he does not speak like one of our teachers but one who has authority.

God's grace was still preeminent. And listen, God's grace used the wicked, humiliating evil of the cross to accomplish the greatest good. You see, the story of Jacob and Esau foreshadows more than just what's gonna happen in the next couple chapters.

It points way ahead. And it says, look at what God's grace does in the worst of circumstances, with the worst of people. Look at how God sets the agenda with his grace. How do you see the grace of God?

Can I suggest to you that the grace of God is more than just an attitude? It is that, right? Undeserving, right? It's an undeserving attitude towards you. That's how God's grace is often described but it's more than that.

It is more than that. It is more than an attitude of benevolence. Grace is the architect of God's action for his people. It is the very thing that plans what happens in your life. It is that which fulfills his purposes in you.

And it is that which sets the agenda for you. And so you have to believe that God's grace will accomplish God's gracious purpose for you. Thank you, Father, for your word. Pray, Lord, that you would, again, impress upon us the very supreme nature of your grace, the very sovereignty of it.

For it is more than just you being, having a gracious attitude. It is the very thing that orchestrates our lives so that your purposes are accomplished. God, all of us could look at these boys and we could see ourselves in them.

We can see ourselves in Jacob, the conniver, the liar, the manipulator. We can see ourselves in him. And yet, Father, we see your grace that takes all of the evil and works your gracious purposes, which includes even transforming us.

So God, I pray, help us to believe the supremacy, the sovereignty of your grace in our lives. We'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen.