WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.040 Good morning. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:07.200 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:20.399 Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Padam Aram, the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.879 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:29.519 And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:37.280 The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:49.600 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. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.320 The older shall serve the younger. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:59.039 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:06.000 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called him Esau. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:12.640 Afterwards his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.159 Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:25.280 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:31.280 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:32.799 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:34.079 Please be seated. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:38.000 Good morning. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.120 Welcome to Church This Morning. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:41.920 Thanks for joining us. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:43.280 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:46.079 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.760 I've got a couple of announcements to make, and then we'll get into today's text. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.000 Liz Carr, would you stand up and wave to everybody? 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:55.599 Yeah, totally. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:57.840 Yeah. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:58.640 That's right. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:01:59.359 Encore. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:00.239 Encore. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:07.760 Liz is beginning a prayer team here at Redemption Church. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:24.000 So if you would like to be a part of that prayer team, uh, which will involve things such as praying, intercession, supplication, thanksgiving, you may join uh Liz after the service on February 6th. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:25.199 February 6th. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:26.159 That's just a week? 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:27.360 Yeah. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:28.400 Next week. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:29.199 Wow. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.840 Next week, uh, yeah, right after the service, like 15 minutes, and talk about what that means. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:39.439 There's uh I I hear so many of your stories, y'all need prayer. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.840 So we're gonna need to uh um let's ramp that up a bit. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:52.560 Uh February 20th, right after the service, we're having a become a member thing. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:03:04.400 If you want to become a member, uh, this is where we'll describe what membership means and describe the uh what the mission of the church is and how membership really fits into that. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:09.759 Membership is the main mechanism that we use for intentional disciple making in our church. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.560 It is the way to be a part of our church. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:29.919 Um, in a lot of church structures, membership is is it doesn't, it doesn't amount to much, but we've really built our church around membership, where we make a mutual commitment to one another between the leaders and the members in our church, and we commit to shepherding and discipling. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:38.400 That looks like things like monthly dinners in elders' homes, or in our my case, we just have brunch after church once a month. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:48.240 Not to angle for mine, but um the uh uh in in groups we call parishes, it is it is the main way that we seek to connect. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:54.879 We think it fits the biblical model of being explicitly a part of the church body. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.000 So uh if you want more information on that on that, stick around. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:01.439 It's about an hour and a half after church on February 20th. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:20.079 And then later that evening, uh, if you want to be like a real like reformed church and have service in the mornings and service in the evenings, uh, we've got a uh uh an event that um uh a couple of churches in the area, and we're sort of partnering with them as well, are hosting Nancy Pearcy. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.079 Is that name familiar to anyone? 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:23.839 Krista. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:25.759 Want to tell us about her? 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.959 So Nancy Pearcy is um uh a Christian scholar, and she's brilliant. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.160 I like to describe her as the best disciple of Frances Schaefer. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:35.680 Does that name bring any bells? 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:36.959 Yeah, that's right. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:37.439 Come on. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.519 Francis still brings the heat. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.439 You know, his name does, of course, he's passed away. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:51.759 But Nancy Pearcy is an excellent teacher, and she is speaking regarding her book called Love Thy Body. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.639 Uh, you can uh grab a copy. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:56.560 I thought it would be fun to do like a giveaway. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:06.000 So the first person that signs up for uh this event, the Love Thy Body event, which you can uh sign up for in the app, will give you a book. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.040 Cool, uh welcome to church. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.000 T-shirts are coming later. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:26.639 Her book is dealing with some of the most important um issues in our culture right now that relate to how we understand how we understand our bodies as Christians and how the culture understands our bodies. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:33.680 Uh is there such a thing, for example, as separations between our gender identities or our uh physical sex? 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:43.680 Is there uh it what does it say about the way we understand bodies as we understand pregnancy with regards to issues such as abortion and things of that nature? 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:54.160 So it's a lot of challenging topics that are at the forefront of people's minds, and I think she does a wonderful job of thoughtfully thinking through those things from a Christian perspective. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:56.639 So I highly recommend this event. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:04.160 And uh also just one last thing, uh, March uh 4th and 5th, we're hosting the If Gathering. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:05.439 It's a women's conference here. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.000 I don't think that's up there because I only included February announcements, but put that on your mind, March 4th and 5th. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.360 Let's pray and move into today's text. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:30.399 Holy Father, we pray that you would attend this time, that your word would show us clearly who you are, and that our preconceptions of you might be transformed. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:45.839 Lord, I pray that the the little caricatures of you that we carry around in our hearts and minds might be destroyed today, as the realness of who you are shines forward. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.439 Lord, teach us what it means when we talk about God. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:51.920 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:52.800 Amen. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:01.120 Now, today's sermon deals with one of the most challenging doctrines in all of Scripture, the doctrine of election. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:13.920 And I think when we see this doctrine in all of its vicious detail, it has the capacity to create uh it's almost like a second conversion. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.120 For me, that was the experience with this doctrine. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:24.879 And I realized that the vision of God that I had been carrying around was one who was ultimately subservient to my whims. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:36.800 But this doctrine pushes directly at those thoughts, and it makes us see that when we talk about God, we are not talking about a man who is stronger than us. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:50.879 We are talking about one who is absolutely sovereign and in control of all things, who writes the end from the beginning, who holds all of creation by his will. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:56.879 And that God is the one who transforms us, calls us to himself. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:04.720 So my hope is that our imaginations begin to get sort of broken by today's text. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:18.879 Maybe for some of you, it will be a journey into these questions that was like mine, one which was uh profoundly important to my faith, and which I began to see God much differently than I had before. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:26.240 I think that it was through this doctrine where I had a first encounter with something like glory. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:29.519 So perhaps that will happen this morning. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:38.000 After having our second kid, uh, we had a boy and then a little girl. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:45.120 And uh what was just confirmed by that is uh kids just come out different. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.600 They come with their own personalities just built in. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.960 Now, this morning they were both wearing cowboy hats to church. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:54.799 Both of my children were. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:57.600 I don't know why. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.200 Um but they're both very different. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.519 My son is more like me, he's more sensitive and introspective and a little bookish. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:10.879 My wife, uh my daughter is much more like my wife. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:15.120 She's very adventurous and uh, you know, outdoorsy and exciting. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:20.639 And um uh and then in all of these other ways, they're just not like either of us. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.000 But they they just they just came out that way. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.639 Like these personalities were things that we just received. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.360 Personality, it shipped from the factory. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:30.960 It's an OEM part. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:37.679 They they showed up and the OS was just pre-installed on these kids. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:42.320 And and we had to learn, like, okay, how do we how do how do we deal with this? 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.120 Where did these sorts of differences come from? 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:55.679 And then you, you know, it doesn't just happen when you have kids, it happens when you're an adult and you just talk with other people, and you realize we are just surrounded by these differences in ourselves. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.240 We're so different from each other. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:11.759 The ways that we think and experience things are so different from broad categories like race and nationality and uh uh you know, cultural backgrounds, and in categories like that, there's this broad diversity in the world. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:23.919 And then when you get to know each other, you realize that each of your stories have this dynamic strangeness to them, and your own personality has this dynamic sort of strangeness to it. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:37.679 There's this incredible diversity that's just built into the world from uh things just like hair color and musical preferences to whether or not you thought the uh second season of Ted Lasso was better or worse than the first. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:44.639 That's a personality test right there that can only be attributed to just differences in demeanor. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:51.519 Now, these differences and these distinctions among us, they also carry all sorts of different types of powers. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.240 I'm looking at you, boys, that Ted Lasso thing. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:01.360 The uh these differences all uh play out in all sorts of ways in our lives. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:08.879 Some are born to families of incredible means, others are born to incredible poverty. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.679 Some saw such great pictures of what a marriage might look like as they were growing up. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:19.519 Others were informed that marriage is only dangerous and a terrible institution to be part of. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:23.360 None of those things were chosen by the children. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:26.639 Their personalities weren't decided upon. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:32.879 You had no opportunity to decide how you would be or what type of world you would be thrown into. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:41.679 And then one day you found yourself a part of it, interacting with people of all sorts of different backgrounds and different stories. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:49.200 Now, any worldview worth its salt needs to account for these differences. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:54.480 How is it that we understand these great differences that we have between us? 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.240 What do we do to account for them? 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.080 I'll give you three options. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.720 Option number one, karma. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.200 You are a part of a sort of, I don't know what's happening in kids, it sounds crazy. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.960 Figured it's better if I reference it, then we can come back here. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:18.639 You're part in a karmic lens, you're part of an infinite sort of regress of cycles. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:29.120 And the reason that you are experiencing the world in the way that you're experiencing it now is because of something that you did in some sort of a past life. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:33.519 You see, there's a there's a wonderful justice to this type of view. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:45.679 Because when you pull up in your car at a stoplight and you see someone standing next to you asking you for money, you you can kind of think, you know, I deserve to be the one in the car. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.840 And they deserve to be the one asking me for money. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:59.840 And so there's an infinite sort of regress of cycles that can be used to explain the current diversity in the world in which you experience it. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.399 Why some are higher in the hierarchy and others are lower in it. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.519 It's very just. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.720 But it's also very cruel in its justice. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:26.799 When this is absolutely applied in a society, we get a rigid caste system, which makes sense because the station in which we are in is a station of justice that ought not to be violated. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:29.759 So there's one option: karma. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.519 It explains the diversity that we experience in the world. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:49.519 Second option, and this theory, this worldview uh is much more modern than a karmic cycle, and it but it deals directly with this idea of uh the diversity that we experience uh in its natural selection. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.039 How do we explain the diversity that's in the world? 00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:00.639 Imagine if you sailed off on a boat, we'll call it something after a dog, like a beagle, great example. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:12.960 And you sail off on a boat called the Beagle, and you go to an island uh somewhere off the coast of South America, we'll call it, I don't know, Galapagos or something like that. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.320 And you find this incredible natural diversity on this island. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:20.960 And you think to yourself, how do I explain this? 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.879 It seems like an isolated place. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:26.240 I think we would find much more uniformity or conformity. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:37.279 And then you develop this idea, you know, there's a sort of chaos in the world that's constrained by just facts of temperature and geography. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:47.840 And those, that sort of chaos plays itself among these constraints towards no particular end, but it creates this sort of diversity of life. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:15:00.960 And so the position of natural selection says that it accounts for the diversity that we see in the world, but it doesn't apply any sort of moral meaning to it. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:08.639 In fact, there's no moral meaning or significance within that worldview whatsoever. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:23.200 In order to say that a quality or something that that worldview has going for it is its fairness, in that it is simply a drive of natural selection rather than some sort of moral judgment that's being made. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:32.879 Well, you'd have to smuggle in the idea of fairness as a good thing from some other worldview in order to see that as something positive. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:45.759 Because the reality is all that matters in a world that is composed of natural selection is just passing on your genetic information to the next generation. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:58.159 And beyond that, no matter what cruelty or terror might be required to do that most efficiently, it would all be justified within the frame of that view. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.919 Karma, it's cruel. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:05.679 Natural selection is wildly indifferent. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:11.759 And here's the third option that we have: election. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:20.399 The sovereign choice and will of God that He chose. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:57.279 In Isaiah 46, 9 and 10, the Lord says, I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:13.519 It is the consistent, over i i it's the nonstop teaching of scripture that shows over and over again that the reason that we face the distinctions that we face is because of God's sovereign choice. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:22.559 It is his will, his desire playing itself out into the world, and he consulted none of you. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:25.599 It is his alone. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:35.119 In today's text, we see the clearest statements of God's control in Scripture, in the story of the birth of Jacob and Esau. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:47.920 And this becomes the sort of archetypal example that other biblical writers cite over and over again to show that the distinctions that we experience in the world are God's sovereign choice. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:53.279 And so as we look at this story, we're going to be given the tools to understand that. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.720 We're going to have the question framed for us in its most ultimate terms. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:04.319 Then we're going to see how Paul, in his letter to the Romans, interprets this section. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:10.480 And we're going to ask the question: what does this mean about the God that we worship? 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:15.279 Let's begin with Rebecca. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:18.400 Genesis 25 and 21. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:24.160 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:29.359 And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:43.279 Remember the story last week, Isaac and Rebecca, uh, they get married, but the story is mostly about this wonderful side character in the Bible, the servant who goes out to find Rebecca, and all of these little close calls happen. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.359 You know, uh, will he get to the right town? 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:46.960 Will he find the right family? 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:50.720 Will the woman that he's seeking ask to water his camels? 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:57.279 Uh, questions like that, that we all it's part of the 29 dimensions of compatibility on e-harmony. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:10.640 And in that story, we see Isaac and Rebekah are married, and then we encounter this verse. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:20.240 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:34.640 Now remember, the promise that was given to Abraham and his offspring is that their offspring would receive the land of Canaan and would be fruitful and multiply, and from them the whole world would be blessed. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.039 And so there's high stakes here. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:43.519 In order for God's faithfulness to prove itself over time, they must conceive and have a child. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:45.440 This lineage must continue. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:49.039 It is where the promise of God is manifested in the world. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:20:05.599 And then they get married, probably seeing the providence of God working in their hands to bring them into this marriage, and then immediately they encounter this obstacle towards the promises of God being fulfilled, which is that Rebecca is barren. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.000 She's unable to conceive. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:14.480 Now, this verse is almost unthinkable in the spareness. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:20.240 You know, if I were to describe how spare the writing is, I might use a word like biblical. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:33.440 But there's a uh what's packed into this verse is twenty years of barrenness and Isaac interceding on behalf of his wife. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:42.079 We find out in this text that Isaac uh was 40 years old when he and Rebecca got married. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:47.279 He is 60 years old when Rebecca finally conceives. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:54.720 In this verse is 20 years of wondering, has the Lord's providence failed? 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.279 Why has he brought me to this place? 00:20:57.599 --> 00:20:59.200 What is he working here? 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:12.720 I thought that we were so in line and were so following and in tune with perceiving what the will of God is, and for 20 years they just wondered and prayed. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:20.559 That means to put this in some context, Abraham and Sarah. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:34.319 Remember all of for last year when we were moving through Genesis, we saw the story of Abraham and Sarah, and that story is basically defined by a longing for the child who would be Isaac. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:40.720 Now, that whole all of all of last year's preaching through Genesis was 25 years. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:49.519 So in this one verse, we basically see Genesis 12, chapters 12 through 21 contained. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:55.279 All of that difficulty, all of that uncertainty is built into this one verse. 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:58.240 That is the background for today's text. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.880 Now in Genesis 25, 22, the children struggled together within her. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:11.599 And she says, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.720 So she went to inquire of the Lord. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.519 Okay, so 20 years of intercession. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:19.599 She finally conceives. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:24.400 And then she feels in herself this struggle between them. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:33.519 There seems to be some risk that's taking place, a risk for her pregnancy that she is now experiencing in herself. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:39.759 And she wonders, the phrase that she uses, it's this cut-off sort of phrase. 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:43.680 Translated, if it is thus, why is this happening to me? 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.000 More literally, it would be translated, if it is thus, why am I? 00:22:50.319 --> 00:23:01.440 If we're going to struggle this long, finally conceive, and then and then come to this point where we won't be able to give birth, if it is thus, why am I? 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:09.920 Pregnancy is an anxious time for mothers, I'm told. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:22.880 Because it's this strange dynamic of you, the mother, you're in one sense like absolutely in control. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.400 Who else is this happening to? 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.960 This is taking place in your body. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:28.079 It's yours. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:32.880 As much as anything could could possibly be yours, this is yours. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:41.359 And then at the same time, in a way that's perhaps even more true than what I just said, it's not yours at all. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.160 It's completely hidden from you. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:24:04.720 You can get signs, you know, and experiences and feelings and little kicks and changes of position and you know, little little insights, but they're all dark and hidden and imperceptible and full of this what is happening inside of me. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:10.799 Both of those things are completely true at the same time. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:12.799 It's this is yours. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:17.759 And then in this much more real sense, it's not yours. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.039 And so Rebecca turns to the only one that she could possibly turn to with this question. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:25.039 She turns to the Lord. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.440 Lord, what is happening inside of me? 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.319 If it is thus, why am I? 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:37.039 Has your smile, which finally appeared after twenty years, turned to a frown so quickly? 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:40.079 The Lord responds to her. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:50.799 In verse 23, and the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:57.359 The one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:08.559 It's not exactly the ultrasound tech shouting, Twins! You've got twins! Woo-hoo! Like at the end of a rom com or something. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.799 Here's the news, Rebecca. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:16.240 There are two nations inside of you. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.799 So twins, you know, you can deduce. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:21.759 Two nations are inside of you. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:23.920 They are divided. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.960 There's something with these twins, they are incomiserable. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.440 They cannot be together. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:36.960 They are a divided, warring people, and they are not equally divided. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:40.799 One of them will serve the other one. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.839 In fact, I will invert it to show the way in which I am controlling this. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:52.480 It is not the typical fashion that the younger will serve the older. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:00.960 But so that you will know that this is just my doing, it is the older who will serve the younger. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:12.400 Now these distinctions that God described to Rebecca are manifest right when they're born. 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:15.200 25 to 26. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.599 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:22.079 So they called his name Esau. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:24.079 Esau kind of sounds like red. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:25.359 Doesn't it? 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:26.000 Can't you hear it? 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:26.640 Esau. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:29.200 Just kidding, in Hebrew, you know. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:36.160 Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.880 So his name was called Jacob. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:46.559 So Esau's born, Harry, red, firstborn, Esau. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.160 We'll name him Harry. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.160 His nickname, uh, that's actually where we get the name Harry. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:55.519 His nickname, well, I that's not true. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:02.559 His nickname will be uh Edom, which means red. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.839 So everybody was just giving him nicknames throughout his life. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.279 They were just looking at him and saying what they saw to name him. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:11.200 Jacob was smooth. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:13.039 We'd find that out later in the text. 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:14.640 I'm not just inferring. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:22.240 And uh the way that Jacob is born is he's grabb he's born grabbing his brother's heel. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:25.359 And that's actually where he'll get his name Jacob. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.319 Jacob, this is not the first instance of the name Jacob. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:32.880 It is scripturally, but there's evidence that this was a common name. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:37.359 And what it means, it's like a all these names are sort of like a prayer. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.200 And Jacob's means, uh, may the Lord be at your heels. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.119 You know, the Lord bringing up your rear guard, your rear guard, offering the sort of protection. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:52.480 But the name will transform over the course of Jacob's life. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:28:06.799 And it will be more closely related to a grabber of the heel as a cheat or someone who is deceitful, someone who sneaks up behind you to take advantage of you and inhibit your going forward. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:12.000 That's what Jacob will really be known for over the course of his life. 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:25.839 So they're born and they come out, and their parents must have thought, you know, what Megan and I thought when our children were born, although years apart, not twins, they're very different from one another. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.839 They're very different. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.119 And this difference extends throughout their whole life. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:33.519 27 and 28. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:42.240 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:47.279 Isaac, the father, loved Esau because he ate of his game. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:50.160 But Rebekah loved Jacob. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:57.759 Even in their demeanor, their disposition, the things that they enjoyed, they are different. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:04.319 Esau, outdoorsy, skillful hunt, skillful hunter, a man of the field. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.960 Jacob, indoorsy. 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:09.759 He likes tents. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:14.480 I think I'll say you're in the tent. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:18.319 You know, I can be quiet here. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:20.799 He's quiet. 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:28.799 Now that word quiet, we see it, it's it carries with it this like coolness or level-headedness. 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:41.680 And throughout Jacob's life, we'll see this sort of cool, calculating, level-headedness that stands in stark contrast to Esau, who is much more wild, much more visceral. 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:51.759 In Jacob's life, we'll see that that sort of cool, calculating stubbornness in some ways will be the worst part of him. 00:29:52.640 --> 00:30:00.480 He will be a cruel opponent who is able to do cruel things while staring you straight in the eyes. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:02.960 He'll look like a very divided man. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:11.759 But at other points, this cool stubbornness will make him demand the blessing of God. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:19.119 The division runs not just through the boys, but through their family. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:25.759 Because we see that Isaac loves Esau and Rebecca loves Jacob. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.480 The division is is clear. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.400 Now, what do we attribute it to? 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.440 What do we attribute their differences? 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:44.000 This is an ultimate case because could we say that it was just nature? 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:50.880 Well, we can't because they they're from the same genealogy. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:52.319 They're twins. 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:54.640 You know, they've got the same DNA. 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:57.519 Could we say that it was just nurture? 00:30:58.480 --> 00:30:59.920 Well, what came first? 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:08.720 The the division of the family that that made them the way that they are, or did they impose this new sort of division in the family? 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:10.400 We can't tell. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:20.079 Or we might ask a question like is asked of Jesus when he's about to heal a man who's born blind. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:23.359 And he's asked, why is it that this man was born blind? 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:32.559 Was it because uh was it was it because of sin in him, or is it sin in his parents that caused him to be born blind? 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:36.799 Do you see what worldview that question is operating in? 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:38.319 It's karma. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:41.759 The question is we want to explain this difference. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.200 Why does this person experience this hardship? 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:50.960 And then we want to be able to offer some reason that we can justify, so we can just make it that person's fault. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:54.799 But that's not available to us either. 00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:56.240 Who sinned in this? 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:00.319 Who sinned in this birth, Isaac or Rebecca? 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.440 The 20 years of intercession to God? 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:06.240 No, we don't see any pattern like that. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:20.559 The only thing which we can name which causes this distinction between Jacob and Esau is God's sovereign choice. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:25.519 It is God Himself who causes this division. 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:26.640 That is it. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:28.880 None of these other questions work. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:32.160 Nothing else that we can apply to it can answer this. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:36.000 So let's talk about election. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:40.960 What does it mean that God chooses his people? 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:49.599 Paul in his letter to the Romans expounds the wonders of the gospel. 00:32:50.400 --> 00:33:03.920 Chapters one through eight come to this climactic point where he's like bursting out of his words, and he's saying that there is nothing that anyone can do. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:08.319 There is no power in the world, not even a power that you contain in yourself. 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:18.559 Nothing in all of creation can separate those who are in Christ from the love of God that is shown to us in Christ Jesus. 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:21.839 We are absolutely held. 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:23.920 Absolutely held. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.160 And he it sort of explodes in this glorious picture. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:40.319 But there's a question that's lurking behind, this glorious exaltation that Paul shouts out at the end of Romans chapter 8. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:54.400 And that question must be dealt with before he is able to get to his most wonderful doxology, which is that all things are from the Lord and through the Lord and to the Lord. 00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.359 To him be the glory forever. 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:03.920 Before he can say that, he has to deal with this question that's lurking behind. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:08.000 And the question for Paul was very particular at this point. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:12.880 The question is, what of the unbelieving Jews? 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:16.079 Paul might think of this personally. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:22.480 What of what of all of the what of all the people that I that I came up through school with? 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:38.960 Who we we memorized the Torah together, and we joked after class, and we listened to Gamelel's teachings, and and then and we would wonder about them and discuss them over lunch? 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:50.639 What of all those friends, those dear brothers who now who now reject Christ, and like I did once, make it their business to reject Christ? 00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:57.760 Does it mean that those promises of God that they memorized and memorized as being for them? 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:02.719 Does it mean that those promises of God have failed? 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:07.360 We can expand that question. 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:22.159 What does it mean for us as Christians to say that although we may be in Christ, our dear friends who are not, are instead destined to an unthinkable hell. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:26.239 Simply for being outside of Christ. 00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:34.320 By what do we use to draw such a distinction? 00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:46.320 Paul, as an answer to this question, appeals to the sovereign choice of the Lord. 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:50.320 He does not appeal to karma, as you might expect religiously. 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:52.719 He does not appeal to some sort of natural selection. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:55.280 The category was not invented yet. 00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:59.840 Instead, he says this in Romans 9, 11 through 13. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:03.599 He says, It has always been this way. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:06.159 It has always amounted to God's choice. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:07.280 Here is the example. 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:22.880 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. 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:28.960 As it is written, this is in Malachi, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:43.679 Abraham was called out of his family. 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:46.320 There's a sovereign choice of God there. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:52.480 But it doesn't, we could imagine something like, well, why did he choose Abraham? 00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:55.840 Well, look how faithful Abraham proved to be. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:06.960 Look, Abraham is about to slaughter his own son to demonstrate the faith that he has that the Lord could even bring him back from the dead. 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:13.679 So we might say, yeah, Abraham was just better than anyone else on earth at that point. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:22.320 But this example places all of the weight, 100% of the authority, onto God alone. 00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:23.199 Why? 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:27.519 Jacob and Esau, look at what the text says. 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:35.280 In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:42.400 When is it that God names the division and chooses Jacob over Esau? 00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:45.760 It is before they were even born. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:54.320 They had no opportunity to perform any work that could win them to the Lord's side or to the side of Satan. 00:37:54.639 --> 00:38:03.519 No opportunity, nothing that we could cite to say, here is the reason that God chose Jacob rather than choosing Esau. 00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:04.960 We can say nothing of that. 00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:09.760 And even more than that, it's more ultimate than just not having been born. 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:18.719 Because they didn't even have a separate identity at all in the mind of anyone except for God. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:24.639 Rebecca says there's some sort of a struggle in me, and it is God who says these are twins. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:26.960 There's two nations. 00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:33.519 God creates the separate identity, and then he draws the distinction between them. 00:38:33.920 --> 00:38:40.239 This is an ultimate example of God's sovereign choice. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:56.239 We can't think of any more of a limit case than him choosing between two twins, unborn, having done nothing, and what does the what causes this distinction between them? 00:38:56.559 --> 00:38:58.000 God says me. 00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:00.880 God alone. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:11.519 So why is it that you, Christian, consider that you place your faith in Christ and your friend doesn't? 00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:21.519 Perhaps it's something like your intelligence. 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:24.960 You know, the Bible's a long book. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:40.480 And you sat down and you read it all, and then you you parsed the details, and you were able to see, you know, this actually makes the most sense as I compare this and I shop this against all of the other possible religions and worldviews. 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:46.000 You were the one who was able to conclude for yourself that this is yours. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:54.719 So when you look at your non-Christian friend, you might think, if only they were as intelligent as me. 00:39:57.440 --> 00:40:01.039 Maybe it wasn't something like intelligence, maybe it was character. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:07.280 You know, we know that it takes a certain amount of character to even pursue the truth. 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:18.480 And maybe it maybe it is that you weren't so cowardly as to uh fall to the whims of whatever culture and society happened to be telling you at this moment. 00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:33.039