God's Purpose, According to Election

29 through the end and take a look at the inheritance that Esau despised, learn a little bit more about the family dynamic between Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and his twin. We're very quickly now moving out of the Isaac narrative, which may be surprising considering how long we've been considering Abraham.

And we know of course that the the great patriarchs of God's covenantal promise are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and yet Isaac only occupies very short distance compared to Abraham, compared to Jacob. And so even in chapter 25, we're beginning to transition past the life of Isaac, and we'll see in a moment the genealogical structure that perhaps we haven't seen in a while, but it does form the structure of Genesis, and that includes God's purpose in Ishmael, and I think that's very helpful as we consider Ishmael and Isaac and how that's parallel with God's purpose between Jacob and Esau.

God's Purpose in Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, and Esau

So this morning we want to consider divine election, God's purpose according to election. Now last week in Genesis 24, we considered the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah, not only the historical marriage between Isaac and Rebekah, but theologically the way that that portrays the mystery of marriage which concerns Christ and his bride, the church.

Just like Abraham, we saw Rebekah acting out in faith, willing to leave behind the family and home, the way of life that she knew in Mesopotamia, and to enter into a land that God would give to her. She became the heiress of God's covenantal promises to Abraham and to Sarah.

She takes the place of Sarah, as we said, not just physically in Sarah's tent, not just emotionally as she comforted her husband, but covenantally. She becomes the matriarch of God's promised line. The promised seed will now come through her even as it had come through Sarah.

And so once more we've seen a foreigner prepared by God's grace being brought by God's promise into a land that she would come to inherit, the land of promise. And we saw God's covenantal promise being fulfilled step-by-step, even through the marriage to Isaac.

And sort of chapter close as we begin chapter 25, we consider Abraham in verses 1 through 4, and the offspring that Abraham has through his wife, Keturah, we could say a concubine, Keturah. We should not assume that Genesis 1 through 4 is chronological, meaning that he did not have a relationship with Keturah until after the death of Sarah.

That's possible. It's not required. It's not necessary. The details within this narrative don't follow chronologically. We have several examples of that even in this chapter. So we have no dog in this fight.

Certainly even in his old age, he would be able to sire offspring. But what is emphasized, of course, we have in verse 5 and following. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but, verse 6, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, and while he was still living, he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.

So in verses 1 through 4, we see not only that Abraham takes to himself a new wife and has offspring not only through Keturah, but through concubines, plural, we see that in verse 6. He becomes, as it were, the father of many nations, even in his lifetime.

And so this, too, in a sense, is the fulfillment of that which God had said of Abraham. And so he's not only the father of Isaac and Ishmael, but of other children as well. And he is, before his days come to an end, the father of many nations, nations that are dispersed not only between the promised land, but among them.

Now, historically, of course, we'd have to wrestle with the issue of polygamy within the patriarchal narratives. God does not pronounce either way upon it, but we have it clarified from our Lord and Savior, that which was from the beginning.

Simply because God does not comment on it within the narrative does not imply his approval of it, his acceptance of it, but rather, as with all things belonging to fallen man, he uses it to bring about his greater purpose for the world.

And I think that's as much as we can say about polygamy in the patriarchal narratives, or even among the kings of Israel and Judah. We learn in this passage that God is faithful to his promises. Abraham has indeed become the father of many nations, and in this sense, he's imaging, mirroring the father, who not only has a special land in which dwells his people, and he with them covenantally, but he's the father of all humanity.

He's the father of all of the tribes in the tongues. And so here, I think Abraham is reflecting that. But we also see with Abraham this desire to protect the sole heritage of his son Isaac, to make sure there's no confusion, no false claims between the other offspring and Isaac, the seed of promise.

And so he does two things to ensure that Isaac will be secure within the land, secure as the designated heir of the Abrahamic promise. First, he designates him legally as the sole heir. Verse 5, Abraham gives everything to him.

We saw that even last week in the way that Jesus fulfills the place of the heir of that which is given to him by the father. The father has given all things to me, Jesus says in John. Abraham therefore dispossessed the children he had through Keturah.

He gives them gifts, we read, but he doesn't give them the inheritance. He gives them good things, but they'll have no share in the inheritance. All is given over to Isaac. And we see, secondly, he separates them.

Not only does he give them gifts, but not the inheritance. He removes them from the land. So they have no share in the inheritance. They have no place within the land of inheritance. They're sent away within Abraham's life.

They're sent away eastward. And so notice that Abraham is doing what he can, even in his old age, to clarify God's promise and clarify the designation of God's promise upon Isaac. And then, and this is sort of sad considering the time we've spent tracing the life of Abraham, beginning in Genesis 12, but Abraham's life comes to an end.

He was at the age, even when he sent away the sons of Keturah, he was at an age, as they say, where he had seen more sunsets than he was going to see. You get to that place in life where you realize you've lived more life than you're going to live.

And Abraham, even in his old age, found a certain contentment, we read in verse 8. He breathed his last and died a good old age, an old man full of years. Now that's supplied by the translation, full of years.

It's literally in the Hebrew, old and full. So the translators are assuming full of years. However, you could simply read it as content, old and content. Old and satisfied would be a very good translation.

And of course, that is the connotation of full of years. He lived to a good old age. He lived in hope. He died in confidence. He died, as the writer of Hebrew says, looking for the city whose builder and maker is God.

And that's a contented way to live life. That's a contented way to die. That is, as is claimed by the Heidelberg Catechism, our only hope in life and death. And so I love what Calvin says about this.

He says,.

We see how many in our own day are in bondage to the desire of life, yet nearly the whole world languishes between, on the one hand, a weariness of present life, but on the other hand, an inexplicable desire for it to continue.

Very wise.

Contentment with life, Calvin says, therefore, that which will cause us to be ready to leave life is a favor from God. In other words, it's God that gives you contentment in life, and it's God that gives you contentment to leave life.

But the world is in this tension between wanting more of life, but also desiring to be released from the tensions and the pressures, the weariness of life. And so the world is living between the weariness of life, but the terror of the prospect of life ending.

And God gives his people peace. Not only do they have the contentment, the fullness of life, they're ready to leave life itself without that dread, without that terror that there's nothing that lies beyond, but rather with a sure hope, a living hope, the hope of glory ahead of them.

And so because of God's mercy in the lives of his people, we're able to enjoy life. Even as we come to the end of life, we appreciate the blessing of life, and yet that blessing does not weigh heavy on our hearts.

We're also content to leave. And if you, like I have, have seen elderly Christians who realize this particular illness, this particular health episode is not going to be one they recover from, and other people, of course, are rallying around them, you're going to pull through, you know, we thought that three years ago, you're going to do fine.

And what do they do? They sort of reach out the hand and they just say, I'm ready to go. They're content. I'm ready to go. That is of the Lord. And Abraham had that kind of life. Abraham had that kind of death.

And Abraham is buried with his wife in hope of glory in the cave of Machpelah, which he had purchased for her. So he's buried in the land, knowing that on that great day, the true seed of promise will come.

Call Abraham and his wife forth from their grave, just like he called Lazarus forth from the grave, and they'll enter into the land of blessing, the land of promise to dwell with their maker forever. Well, in verses 11 and following, we shift now from Abraham, that chapter has closed, and we have briefly a genealogy.

We have a genealogy of Ishmael. And you remember, of course, now notice what is book-ending the genealogy of Ishmael beginning in verse 11. First, we have a little note about Isaac. It came to pass after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac.

So the blessing of Abraham has now been poured out upon Isaac. Isaac is now taking the place of Abraham, even as Rebekah had taken the place of Sarah. And we read, Isaac dwelt at Bir Lahai Roi. That's familiar from the last chapter.

Isaac is dwelling in the land of promise. And then we enter into the genealogy of Ishmael. So this little prologue to the genealogy of Ishmael is a reminder of where God's blessing is residing. It's not upon Ishmael, although just like the children of Ketorah, God has given gifts to Ishmael.

And in fulfillment of God's promise, he has become the patriarch of 12 tribes, as it were, 12 princes, 12 groups of people, even as God had told Hagar. And so in verses 12 and following, we have the genealogy given.

You all did such an amazing job pronouncing, I won't even attempt. These are, verse 16, the sons of Ishmael. And these were their names by their towns and their settlements, 12 princes according to their nations.

God gave gifts to the children of Ishmael. And we read, these were the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. And he breathed his last and he died. He was gathered to his people. And they dwelt all across the region.

We read, they dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. As you go toward Assyria, he died in the presence of all of his brethren. But we read in verse 11, God blessed Isaac. And this verb bless includes all of the blessing, all of that which Isaac has received from Abraham.

God has poured that out upon Isaac. It's a pledge of God's continued promise being made sure in the life of Isaac. And we're reminded as we move on to consider details in a moment from Isaac, we're reminded that even though God gives this statement, he blessed Isaac, that Isaac's wife was barren for 20 years.

So we have the divine pronouncement. God is blessing Isaac. But what's the day-to-day reality in the life of Isaac and his new bride? A lot of months that go past with weeping and heartbreak. And yet God's blessing is upon them.

And now we see again a mirroring of the life of Abraham and Sarah, the one out of all the world on whom God's blessing uniquely rests. And yet they're walking through barrenness. They're walking by faith in light of the promise.

And so God now is, just as he tested the faith of Abraham, testing the faith of Isaac, testing the faith of his wife, Rebecca. Will you stay in the land and walk in accordance with the promise, even though you have no visible evidence that this will come about?

Will you do what your father Abraham did and live by faith and not by sight? Trust that you now carry on this great promise, and you will now become the next in the line of the promised offspring, which will bless the nations of the world, even though your wife is barren.

And why do we then go from the blessing of Isaac to the generations of Ishmael and then focus on Isaac? Why do we need to dig up Ishmael's genealogy? Why is that necessary to put here in Genesis 25? We've dealt with Ishmael.

We're done with that. Genesis 16, he's brought back into the fold. Genesis 17, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. No, it will not be through Ishmael. It will be through the Son of Promise. It will be through Isaac.

So we've dealt with Ishmael. Why include him here? It's a reminder by showing the genealogies of Ishmael and Isaac, it's a reminder that God's purpose according to election must stand. And so the whole lineage of God's grace now flows through Isaac, not through Ishmael.

The whole lineage of God's grace, in other words, is discriminating, as we've seen as a pattern throughout Genesis. From the very beginning of God's promised grace in Genesis 3 .15, when He promises an offspring that will crush the head of the serpent, we see God's discriminating, God's electing sovereign grace.

It's through Seth, not Cain, that God's grace will continue. It's through Shem, not Ham or Japheth, that God's grace will continue. It's through Abraham, not Nahor or Haran. It's through Isaac, not Ishmael.

And as we'll see in chapters to come, it's through Jacob, not Esau. God is establishing that His purpose according to His divine election must stand. And therefore, the lineage of God's grace is discriminating.

And so we read, beginning in verse 19, this is the genealogy of Isaac. Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as his wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.

Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was buried, and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. We line up the dates, and we realize that this is a 20-year period.

The term pleading here is not a typical term for prayer. This is not something lackadaisical. Like, oh, you know, we've never really prayed about this. Let's just pray this one time, and God answered.

It's a pleading. So what began as prayer, even intense prayer, becomes a form of pleading, apparently, by verse 21. Isaac is pleading. This is not a very common verb in Hebrew. It's used of someone interceding.

For example, in Exodus, Moses pleads, same verb in Hebrew, for God to cease the plagues. So it's an intercessory kind of pleading. It's a very desperate kind of pleading. And we have simply the reception of that, and then God's answer.

The Lord granted his plea. And so for 20 years, they're living out this life of barrenness, and they're mourning, and the patriarch, the one whom God has blessed, he's pleading for God to intervene, and God grants his wife.

His faith has been proven. We also learn, if we, again, take the time to line up the dates that are given, Isaac was married 35 years before Abraham died, and Rebecca was barren for 20 years. And that means that Abraham would have lived to see Jacob and Esau grow up, at least for a short while.

And so for the 20 years of Rebecca's barrenness, Abraham was there to encourage his son,.

Don't lose faith.

I'm praying for you. I'm praying with you. Let me embrace you, Rebecca. I remember how I used to hold my wife, Sarah, and we wept like you and my son are weeping even now. Let us pray to God, who's able to do abundantly, exceedingly beyond all that we ask.

Let's trust in his purpose. His promise is sure. Rebecca, you're still a young woman. Don't forget how old Sarah was when she gave birth to your husband, my precious son, Isaac. And think of the joy in Abraham's life when the bump began to show on Rebecca's robe, or whatever you would call it back in those days, and the joy he would have had in his old age.

Before he died, God had blessed him. He was able to see that the promise would continue, that God had blessed his son. He was able to know these twin boys, perhaps up until they were adolescent, and he would have been able to teach them the ways of God, the testimonies of God's covenant that would reside on them, the promise that would come upon them.

Now, if we were to anticipate the promise that a man is going to become a father of many nations, we would not choose the barren couple, right? If God said, okay, from among this people, there's going to be a father of many nations, a mighty man, kings and rulers will come from him.

And if we said, okay, who's it most likely to be? You know, who are we going to kind of put our bet with? It wouldn't be the barren couple. It wouldn't be the elderly couple. It would probably be someone like Ishmael.

You know, Ishmael apparently has no problem producing offspring. He's just, look at his genealogy. It's pretty effortless. Twelve princes within his life. He's got a lot more to show for the time compared to Isaac or compared to Abraham, his father.

But where does God's blessing reside? If we had to pick between the two sons, as we'll come to see with Jacob and Esau, who's the one that's going to fulfill God's promise? Who's the one that's going to secure God's testimony in this land and ensure this promise to continue through his lineage?

Well, just by looking at the description, we get the sense that Jacob is deceitful. The heel grabber, the twister. He's deceitful and his life will be deceitful. And he seems rather weak. He's very close to his mother.

His mother is very close to him. His father doesn't seem to have a lot of affection, maybe even respect for Jacob. Not compared to the respect he has for Esau. Esau's a mighty man. He's a hunter. Not like, you know, in the snow with a bright orange vest and a bolt-action rifle hunter.

I mean like spear in hand, you know, running around with a bow like a madman kind of hunter. He's a mighty man. He's the man that when, you know, he walks through the tent, everyone kind of stiffens up.

And his father's heart swells with pride. Oh, that's my boy. That's Esau, mighty Esau. Who's like Esau? And if we had to choose, it's not going to be this deceitful, heel-grasping, treacherous, whiny little brother.

That's not where God's blessing is going to reside. It's going to be on this self-sufficient, self-made mighty man, this man Esau. But where does God's blessing reside? When we talk about these things, we talk about the wisdom of God's election, that it runs counter to the wisdom of man, counter to the way of the flesh.

This is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 1. Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world.

To shame the wise, God's chosen the weak things of the world to shame those which are strong. The base things of the world, the despised, God has chosen. The things that are not, he has chosen so that he can bring to void, he can nullify the things that are, so that no man can boast before God.

Esau has no boast before God. Ishmael has no boast before God. Where does God's blessing reside? It resides upon the despised, the weak, the shameful, the ones who aren't mighty, aren't wise, aren't noble, and God's grace calls and transforms them into his precious bride.

And so here we come really to the focal point of this morning, which is God's purpose according to election. We read beginning in verse 22, the children struggled together within her. And she said, if all is well, why am I like this?

This is so cool about Hebrew. Depending on the emphasis of the character, or perhaps what state of mind they're in, the grammar will reflect that. And you never see that more clearly than when there's broken Hebrew.

We don't do that in English, right? We have certain adjectives to say, she desperately said, or she cried out or something, and that's meant to show you the emotion. In Hebrew, you don't have an adjective.

They'll just break down the speech to give you the sense that she's so desperate, so alarmed that she can't even put out a proper sentence.

Why? Why me like this?

And it's kind of like, you know, it's so desperate. What's happening to me? Which seems to say she thought she was about to miss Carrie. Because she has no idea that there's twins within her that are struggling.

She just knows something's not right. And she probably is crying out in desperation. Lord, why would you bring me through 20 years to give me this positive, rejoicing news if you're just going to take it away?

And so even here, I think we have reflected the desperation and the test of faith upon Rebecca. And so the Lord, in verse 23, is comforting her. I'm not taking away the life, but rather two nations are in your room.

And so we have this prophecy now. Two peoples. They'll be separated from your body. One people will be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. And so when her days were complete to give birth, indeed, there were twins in her womb.

And we read of Esau. He came out red, like a hairy garment all over. What a sight to see, this guy. It's one of those, you know, the old cell phone.

Oh, isn't he sweet?

Look at him. Oh, yes, he's beautiful. Is that a red shag carpet or a baby? He's covered in hair. So he really is a man's man. I mean, this guy's, you know, he's covered in hair at birth. And then the brother comes out, twisting the heel.

The clinger, the desperate one. Not self-sufficient, not mighty, not healthy. Perhaps a sickly boy, a weak boy, a mama's boy is how we might put it in our culture today. Nothing wrong with being a mama's boy.

Come on, guys. And the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a mild man. And that's putting it mildly, dwelling in tents, making soups. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.

Rebecca loved Jacob. So now sin has begun to divide marriages and siblings. And there's not a healthy dynamic in this home. We're going to see how dysfunctional it is in chapters to come. The point of this is what God reveals to Rebecca.

Two nations are in your womb, two peoples that will be separated. And the older will serve the younger. The older who's meant to be the heir, the recipient of the blessing, the one who goes forth in strength, he'll be brought to submit to the younger, the one who's supposed to go out on his own.

He gets nothing, as it were. He gets only a share, if that, and he's forced to carve out a different way of life. This is primogeniture. This is the way it's supposed to be. And God is upturning that, reversing that.

Why?

So that his purpose according to election might stand. So that there's a testimony of the way that God works and that it's not according to the flesh, not according to the will of man, but it's according to the grace of God, according to His divine decree.

God reveals here that He has a purpose according to election, and that even in two twins, He has a view of the two nations that will be formed from them. And that's even before they have done anything.

It is irrespective of who they are, or what they've done, or what they've become. God has a purpose before the foundation of the world according to election. Now, the last time we considered election, we were talking about the seed of promise from Romans 9.

Maybe this will sound familiar. We emphasized it for several weeks in the summer. It is not that the word of God has taken no effect, Paul says. They are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.

But in Isaac, your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. It's the children of promise who are counted as the seed. And this is the word of promise.

At this time, I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. So we considered that when we got to Genesis 17, and we spoke about how God had never purposed to bring about His covenant fulfillment according to flesh and blood.

It was always according to the promise, according to grace. But as we keep reading in Romans 9, we move out of the promise given to Sarah. We move into the promise given to Rebekah. This is verse 10. Not only this, Paul says.

In other words, if that's not enough to demonstrate this concept for you, that God has a purpose according to election, consider this. When Rebekah had also conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac for the children, not yet being born nor having done any good or evil, so the purpose of God according to election might stand.

Not of him who works, of him who calls. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated. And so when we read in Genesis 25, God's word to Rebekah, the older shall serve the younger.

We must read it through the lens of what Paul would draw in Romans 9. In other words, we cannot read this promise, this prophecy, the older shall serve the younger, without a view to God's purpose according to election.

That's what Paul does with it. So that God's purpose according to election might stand. How do we define election? How do we define election? R .C. Sproul, really helpful introductory book to this. Chosen by God, an older book he wrote.

I think that was probably back in the 80s when he had all sorts of hair and somehow he always had a raspy voice from his 30s onward. But a great book. And he says, what election means in its most elementary form is that our final destination, heaven or hell, is decided by God.

He chose some individuals to be saved into everlasting blessedness in heaven. Others he chose to pass over. Very significant term. To allow them to follow the consequences of their sins into eternal torment in hell.

So that is how we're defining election. God's divine choosing of those he would save by his grace to the inheritance, those he would pass over in his justice, that they might receive the just dessert of their sins.

That's divine election. And divine election is a fact whether we like it or not. Divine election is a fact whether we understand it or not. Divine election is something that used to be trembled over. Something that was so profound, so mysterious that you wouldn't want to speak too much about it.

It was something to approach very humbly and very soberly. And it's become a topic that's rather flippant. And people feel a little too free, in my mind, to be able to try to work against it or narrow it down or mitigate it or filter it.

Make it something less than what divine election actually is, which is God's divine prerogative to save a people for himself. And this is not according to the flesh. This is not according to works. This is not of him who wills nor of him who runs.

This is according to God's purpose. Spurgeon said in his own day, in a day that there were more full-throated Calvinists, he said, you might go for 50 years to some places of worship and never hear the word elect mentioned.

Modern ministers, meaning 19th century ministers to him, seem to be ashamed of this grand old doctrine of election. But it was not so with the apostles or the early Christians. They always spoke of each other as the elect of God.

In other words, election as a concept, elect as a word, is throughout the New Testament. It's part of the vocabulary of early Christianity. So why has it disappeared? Why do we no longer embrace this concept, use this language, speak in this manner?

Now, I'm speaking generally. I think in our church, we perhaps speak of the elect more, but perhaps not as much as we should. Election is one of those doctrines, isn't it, that if you don't know about it, you don't see it.

And there's things like this in scripture. Like once you see it, once you grasp something, you can't not see it, to use a double negative.

It's everywhere.

And perhaps you had that experience where you began to understand something about what the doctrine of election is. And once it clicks, it's everywhere. And you can no longer ever read the Bible irrespective of it.

It's everywhere.

Whenever Paul speaks of himself, introduces himself, speaks to the church, whenever he introduces usually the great chapter ones, whether it be Ephesians or Colossians or some of these famous passages, we just see the concept everywhere.

We see it throughout the prophets speaking of the divine election of Israel. We see it on the mouth of our Lord Jesus, who reveals more about the doctrine of election. We see it from the mouth of Jesus, as it were, being handled and taught and declared to the churches under the apostles.

It's everywhere.

Everywhere but the pulpit.

Everywhere but our reflection and meditation upon what Spurgeon calls the grand old mystery. So I've been reflecting on it. I've been thinking about it. And as we sort of come to the body of the sermon, I'd like to give five aspects of election that I think are worth our consideration.

And the first is election and foreknowledge. Election and God's foreknowledge. I think it's very significant that when Paul alludes to Jacob and Esau, he's very clear just before that to say, before they had done anything good or bad.

In other words, we cannot speak of God's divine election as a response to the will of the way of man. To do so means it's no longer divine election. To do so is to injure the sovereignty of God. That's not to say that there is no place for the responsibility of man.

For the way in which God does respond to and interact with man. For the dynamics of free will in accordance with human nature that do exist. I want to be careful not to open up a barrel of fish here, but I just want to say most people come into the concept or the doctrine of election with a straw man understanding of what it really means.

And most Christians that are of this Calvinistic persuasion tend to live most of their lives with an understanding that does not actually resemble biblical Calvinism. It actually resembles something of God being utterly arbitrary and man being robotic.

There's no such thing as free will, it's an illusion. And God is just sort of coldly and distantly ordaining everything that comes to pass. And that is a travesty of how Calvinism has ever been understood or proclaimed throughout history.

I love what Spurgeon says, you know, Calvinism, it's just the gospel. What we mean that when you open everything up at its fullest, we're talking about God's sovereign prerogative to save a people by his grace for his glory.

So it's not that we're robots. It's not that there's no such thing as free will, but as Luther clarified in his great book, The Bondage of the Will, our will is in bondage to sin. It's not that God has nothing to do with the actions and the responses of man.

It's just that election does not depend on these things. It does not respond to these things. God does not decree according to his foreknowledge, even though he has foreknowledge. So we have to make sure we get the horse in the cart correct.

The horse is God's election. That is that which he foreknows, that which he brings to pass. And if we missed it at the beginning when Paul emphasizes, before they had done anything good or bad, we can't miss it in Romans 9, 21 and following.

Does not the potter have power over the clay? Because that's the objection that naturally comes. Well, if it's true what you're saying, Paul, who can resist God's will?

How is it then my fault?

How am I to blame? Why would I have to give an answer if God has that kind of sovereignty? And it's not in response to me or my actions, my will, the way I run, walk or move. Why is God angry with me?

How is that fair?

How is that just? And Paul doesn't say, well, you have to read this book by Paul Helm on compatibilism. And once you understand, no, he just says, who are you? You don't speak back to the potter.

That's his response.

I miss the good old days when Calvin is like, who are you? That's my response.

Who are you?

You're clay. How small is God in your mind?

God is sovereign. God is infinite. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. God is omnipotent. Who are you to talk back to God? That would be Paul's response. Doesn't the potter have power over the clay?

Doesn't God have a divine right to save those by a grace that is undeserved, that he might make them vessels of honor for his glory? And by the same sovereign right, can he not choose to dispense justice on those who he has, he has preordained, he has predestined to be vessels of wrath, a display case of the glory of his justice rather than the glory of his mercy?

And Paul's saying, if this is troubling to you, you probably have a very low view of human sin and a very low view of who God is. Because when you have a high view of the treachery of sin, the hell of sin, and a higher view of the infinitude of God, you recognize that the clay has nothing to say in response to the potter.

God is God. And so we see the force of Paul's words. God acts, Ephesians 1 .5, according to the good pleasure of his will. He doesn't act according to his dialogue and this sort of dance between the will of man and his will.