God's Election and Man...

We have been looking at Abraham for some time. And a question I have to challenge you is, have we all learned to trust God like Abraham yet? Have we all learned to trust God like Abraham? Have we learned to seek him in our failures? Have we learned to trust him in his greatest demands and commands on our life? Well, I'm assuming you're like me and the immediate answer is no. See, we got to look over a period of weeks what Abraham enjoyed and experienced over 50 plus years. We got to watch Abraham grow in the grace of God over years in just a few pages. So there's a difference between hearing the word of God and learning the word of God. We can come here every week and hear it, but never learn it. In order to learn it, you've got to take what you hear. You've got to take the word implanted and you have to walk in that word. You have to walk by that faith. We must hear and learn. Abraham's faith was completed with his walk of faith, with his trust and obedience. Now, it's kind of difficult because we climbed that mountain with Abraham. Maybe we're talking about Mount Moriah. Maybe we're talking about his great journey of faith. I think they coincide. And after reaching such a mature faith of Abraham, getting to that pinnacle point, now we're going to go all the way back down. And we're going to start with Isaac from square one. A man who has little faith. A man who is not trusting God. So we went all the way up the mountain seeing Abraham grow as a man of faith. Now we're back at the bottom again with an immature father, Isaac, and his two squabbling boys. But what we still see is the same thing we saw throughout Abraham's journey, through Noah, Adam. God is faithful even when we are not faithful. God will be patient with them just like he was with Abraham. Despite their sin, he will bring about his kingdom and his promise and his purpose through them, even though they disobeyed him. Today, we're looking at the weighty doctrine of God's election. Today, if I were to give it a thesis, we're looking at the God who elects his children and his election is sure. God elects his children and his election Sure. Say another way, in case you find the word election offensive, God shows mercy on whom he chooses and never changes his mind about it. God shows mercy on whom he chooses and never changes his mind about it. So what you see about God is there's nothing outside of God that causes him to do anything. Everything that God does, he does it according to his own counsel. There's not someone advising God as to what he should do. There's not a God who's always responding. He chooses what he's going to do. He isn't a father who lashes out with wrath and anger that's not proper, that's not just. He's not a God who falls in love with people as if it's something about us that makes God love us. No, God sets his affections on us. God intentionally chooses to love us. He's not compelled by passions. He is impassable. There's nothing that compels him outside of us. This relates to our doctrine of election, because as we'll see, It's not us being good that causes us to be called out by God. God calls us out because He loves us. God calls us out because He chooses to do so. See, there are not two different kinds of people. There are not good people who get salvation and bad people who get wrath. No, we're all sinners. Everyone has sinned against God and God has chosen to save some. God has chosen in His own wisdom that some centers will receive grace and some centers will read that will receive their just wrath. All this leads to God's glory, which is really what it's all about. If we look at Chapter 25, which is where we're going to start this morning, that a summary, we have to flesh that out a lot more. But if we look, I'm not going to read this section, but if you look briefly just at 12 and 18, Remember, Chapter 2 of Genesis begins a different storytelling. Genesis 1 was the grand hymn to the Creator. Genesis 2 began the generations of men. And those generations are repeated over and over again with a new line. Well, here, 12 through 18 introduces Ishmael's line. And Ishmael doesn't really get a lot of coverage. He's mentioned because he is a child of Abraham. He had a significant part in the story of Abraham, but now his part's over. He gets a brief mission. And the reason it's brief is because he is not the chosen son. Isaac is. So there we begin in verse 19 with our main focus, our child of promise. Let me read verses 19 through 28. These are the generations of Isaac. Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac. Very intentional repetition. And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean, of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban, the Aramean. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. The children struggled to gather within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? 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 that first came out red, all of his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out, his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilled hunter, a man of the field. While Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents, Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. But the first thing we see here is that God is faithful to bless because of His promise. We saw the repetition. Isaac, Abraham's son. God has already called out Abraham who was a pagan. to be his promised father of the generations of the promise line. And here God is going to remain faithful to that promise. Remember 24 was a long account of how God meticulously and precisely provided Rebecca to be Isaac's wife. And Rebecca runs in the same problem that Sarah has. She's barren. The curse is heavy in the covenant family. The curse is on Rebecca. There will be pain in childbearing. There will be difficulty. Here we are. God has provided the promised child a barren wife. Because this promised child, like Abraham, he had to have a son. And 20 years in waiting, after 20 years, God provides this child. Now, why does the curse attack the covenant family again? Well, first of all, the curse is opposed to the blessed family. The blessed family is supposed to reverse the curse. The curse is that fighting against principalities that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. It's attacking the covenant family because it seeks to destroy it. Because if the curse doesn't destroy the covenant family, well, the one that's going to be born from the covenant family is going to destroy it. But even more so, I believe God allows this curse to attack the covenant family like this because God wants to show everyone that he is the one who blesses. He is the one who's providing the child. He is the one who is providing salvation. He is the one who is sovereign over the curse and he will reverse it. Now, if you look at this, we can see that the predicament that they are in is difficult. The temporal situation, the temporal experience must have been weighty for Isaac and Rebecca. Here they are, the covenant family again. And Abraham's alive during this time. Here they are, the covenant family again, not able to have that promised child. Thankfully for this covenant family, they always had Abraham there telling them, no, God will provide. No, God will provide. As we look at this, though, the immediate pain is difficult. The immediate pain of not having the child is difficult. But they had to set their hope in what God would promise, what God had promised and not be weighed down by their temporal circumstances. Next thing we see is that God blesses the covenant family again to show he is the one who provides. He blesses abundantly. There's twins. There's two this time. He blesses in correlation to Isaac's prayer. And then after Rebecca is pregnant, she feels the turmoil going inside. They're kicking and fighting, and the turmoil is too much. And she says, Oh, am I to live? We don't know if this is a request for suicide, if she's just saying, I wish I were dead because this turmoil is too much, or will I ever live through this? We don't know. But whenever she asks that question, she receives the great oracle. 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. God blesses. God blesses her with an oracle, the older will serve the younger. Now, let's look at these two people real quick. We we have two people and they represent two nations. Well, of course, it's Esau and Edom, the nation that follows Esau, and Jacob here is going to represent Israel, the nation of Israel. We also could look at this as not God's people and God's people. God is going to choose one of these sons to be the line, and the other son will not be chosen. Now, they're twins, so of course, there's twice the trouble, twice the sinners, twice the sin. One, number one, Esau, He's red and hairy. This is peculiar. He's red and hairy and he loves, he is loved by his father because he provides game. Now, this is a unique, interesting relationship here. The author makes sure to point out that Jacob loves Esau more than Isaac because he gives him the game he loves to eat. And as we already know what's coming up soon, there's an appetite problem with these two. Esau gives up the birthright because he wants some porridge. There's an appetite problem that continues to plague Isaac and Esau. Maybe the hairiness is representing that he's somewhat animal-like. Maybe being red represents he's somewhat of a passionate fellow. He is a hunter. He's a man of the earth. He is industrious. He's independent. He's a man's man. He's going out and he's killing animals and he's bringing them home. He's a man's man. We know a lot about him. In this introduction, we actually know more about Esau than Jacob. Number two, the ankle grabber. OK, would you rather your name be ankle grabber or be red and hairy? He's the conniver. He's the manipulator. He's like Laban, his uncle, who he's going to have a battle of the wills and the wits. He's going to have a duel of the wits with him. He's devious and plodding. In verse 27, it says he's simple. I think ESV says that it's a quiet life. He enjoys the easy life of home. He's civilized. Really, he's a mama's boy. So, we've got Esau, who's red and hairy and hungry. We've got Isaac, a conniver, and we need to look here at what Paul actually talks about in Romans 9. Neither one of these boys are really good. One is compelled by his appetite. I think Esau would have been a bit of a drama queen. He's very dramatic. But Jacob, Esau is passionate. He's compelled by his appetite. And Isaac, he's driven by his selfishness. He's a manipulator. Rebecca loved Jacob. Now, it's not clear why she loved Jacob. Maybe she loves him more because she heard the promise. She knows the younger one is going to be the promised child. Maybe she has aligned her affections with the covenant, with God. We don't know. But it says Isaac loved Esau because he gave him the venison. He liked to eat his venison. Now, there's a big problem here. Isaac would have known this oracle too. It's most likely that the oracle came with Isaac there. Isaac would have heard about it. Isaac would have known. Isaac would have known Jacob is the promised child. But yet, he loved Esau more. He was his choice. He is not aligning himself with God's will. He is aligning himself with his appetite. Not what God has chosen. Now, let's just look here for a moment. It's Father's Day and here we have a father. We are not called to prioritize our children, so that's descriptive, not prescriptive. We are not called to prioritize our children. You should not do that. But I think what should challenge us here is what we desire for our children. Do we want our children to have worldly success or spiritual growth? Do we desire for our children to be strong, independent, rich, well off and happy in this world? Or do we long more for them to be wise, courageous, faithful and godly? What do you want more for your children? And that's in another way. What do you teach them? If your children look at you, do they see more desire for things of this world and riches and pleasure and comfort? Or do they see more of a desire to be wise and godly? Do they see more of a love for this world or a love for God from you? Because they're going to learn more from watching than from hearing. So, fathers, it's a great responsibility. You are responsible for your children. It's your responsibility. Yes, they may be home with their mother more, but it's your responsibility. They need to see you loving God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind. So they see you loving the things of this world. They're going to follow suit. Again, we've mentioned already that Abraham was probably still alive. He was definitely still alive. Probably the boys were 15. He was 100 at Isaac's birth, and that means he was probably about 160 years old at the twins' birth. Can you imagine having Abraham, even if he's just lying there on his bed? The stories he can tell. Papa, tell me again the story at Mount Moriah when you almost killed Dad. Okay. Sons that are grandchildren. That's not the way it goes. It's when God provided. It's when God provided. God elects according to his wisdom. God elects according to his wisdom. Let's just meditate here. The older will serve the younger. That is a packed few words. The Oracle about the twins. The older will serve the younger. The younger will have lordship over the older. This is not the way it's supposed to be. The firstborn is supposed to be the privileged, preferred child. He's supposed to get two-thirds of the property. He's supposed to be the family head. He's supposed to be the leader of the family. But here, God reverses that order. He chooses the unlikely. He chooses the lowly. He chooses the second. And He's got a long history of this. He chose Abel over Cain. He will choose Joseph over his brothers. He will choose the tribe of Judah, not the firstborn of all the children of Israel, over the other brothers. He will choose David, the eighth little guy, over his brothers. God doesn't choose the likely candidates. God doesn't choose the strong and the wise and the smart. He does not show partiality. God chooses who He will choose. The gift of salvation is not from what we deserve. The gift is because God is a gracious giver. You see, they talk about the doctrine of election. It's all about what God does. That's what's so glorious about the doctrine, is it says God does it all. Let's listen again. It's already been read, but let's listen again as to how Paul explains that verse in 23. The older will serve the younger. Let's hear how the Old Testament explains the New Testament. And not only so, 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 worse, but because of Him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, Esau I hated." Now, the love-hate language there, that's I have chosen, I have not chosen. I have intended to set my affections on, I am not going to set my affections on. Here we see Paul give an explanation. There was nothing about Jacob or Esau, good or bad, that made God choose one over the other. It had nothing to do with their works, but it's all because of him who calls. It's all based upon him who calls. There's no partiality. It's not the strong or the rich or the smart. It's not some are not chosen because they're better or because God foresees anything in them. Because if we were chosen because God perceived something in us, we have something to boast about. But no, we're only going to boast in Christ. It's good news, friends, that God does not choose based upon what we bring to the table. But let me pause there and say there was there is one exception. There's one time in the history of man that God chose one person because of his credentials, and it was his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was chosen to be the Messiah because He alone had the credentials to be the Messiah. Jesus Christ was chosen to be the Savior because He alone lived a righteous life. He alone was perfectly the Son. He alone had the infinite power to forgive our infinite amount of sin. God the Father did choose once based upon power, wisdom, strength, and might. And it was His own Son. And he chose to send him to the cross to die for us. So that when he chooses us, he is just in saving sinners, because when he chose to send the son to die for us, he placed all of our sins on him and he gave us his righteousness. Praise God that he chose that one so that then every other choice is without partiality. Now, let's look at this. This is this concept of choosing freely. God alone is free to choose. God alone is free to choose. He elects according to his goodwill. Now, let's let's step out for a second. What about free will, Keith? There's a lesson. All right, we're hearing all about what God does. Let's talk about free will. I think the concept of free will is confusing just by the way that word is phrased. Free will. Are you looking at the volition and the desires of man that are free? You know what? They have a free choice. Well, I think Paul makes it very clear in Romans 6 that our desires, our will, our volition is not free. Our desires are enslaved to sin. By nature, when we are born into sin, when we are born, we are born sinners. We are born with a heart that's bent towards sin. We are born with desires that naturally desire sin, that naturally are bent towards sin. We are enslaved to sin. Our desires can only love sin. And this is where the freedom comes in. You have the freedom to choose. You have free choice. You can choose to sin however you want. You have free choice. You can choose where you're going to eat and where you're going to be a button. You can choose to sin however you want. I don't believe you have an absolute free will. You can't choose to do whatever you want. You choose to do what you desire. Your desires lead you. Your desires give you only a certain set of options. And when your heart is only sinful, when your heart only loves sin, you're only going to choose sin. And then we are held accountable for those choices. So this is where the good news gets so much sweeter. God lets us choose freely to sin. And he's held guilty for that sin. We look back at Adam and we can see that he had the most free choice. If anybody had a real free choice, Adam looking at the tree after God said, Don't eat. He had the free choice. Eat or not eat. He could actually choose either way. But once he chose to eat, to disobey, all was lost. But God said, I want my people to have a choice to live or to die. to be saved, to be caught in the wrath of their sin. And so God provides new freedom. A new freedom because He gives us new desires. God the Father sent down His Son so that His wrath would not be against us. God provides real freedom because He in His freedom has chosen to love the world. He has chosen to love His children. He sent His Son down. And then He sent His Spirit. See, the Spirit comes and He indwells the heart. The Spirit comes and He begins to show you how dark the heart is. He begins to show us that we are sinners. He comes to show us that we're selfish. He comes to show us how depraved we are. And then He begins to show us God. The Spirit begins to show us God. And the Spirit begins to work in our heart and provide new affections. You see, without the Spirit of God moving in our hearts, all we can choose are those sinful options. But once the Spirit of God comes in, he begins to do a regeneration. He begins to give us new desires and then we can choose to follow God. You see, the Son, apart from the Spirit illuminating our hearts, he's offensive to us. The Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior, he's offensive to sinners because he tells you you're a sinner. He's offensive to you because he says you're a sinner. You need me. Jesus Christ says you need him. He also says that your sin is offensive to God and that you will have an eternal hell to pay for your sin. That's offensive. It's offensive unto death. Knowing that he claims I'm the king of your life. You're not supposed to be the king of your life. I am the king of your life. You see, whenever we hear the gospel without the spirit, it's offensive. Because he's telling us there's a lot wrong with us and that God is opposed to us and they're not supposed to be the ruler of our life, that all is offensive, but thankfully he sends his spirit. So that those who he calls, they see the truth and it's not offensive, it's refreshing. It's wonderful when God sends his spirit into our life. We have new eyes to see, we have new ears to hear, and we hear the gospel. It's sweet. Friend, is the gospel sweet this morning? Is the good news really good news? Is the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins, is it good news? But as we think about the doctrine of election, we need to praise him and thank him. It's the only response, because what we see is that we bring nothing to the table. He has done it all. Our lives are then called to be nothing but a doxology. We need to learn to be that doxology. So we're talking about here is God is the one who does all the proactive work. You receive, he gives. God does all the work. He does all the work in the sense that the Son comes and provides all the salvation, all the forgiveness. Then the Spirit comes to show you the Son and His salvation and His forgiveness. The whole point here is that God doesn't elect based upon what He sees in you. If that were the case, you could boast of something, but Scripture says you will boast only in Christ. Now, some people are offended by the doctrine of election. That's hard for me to understand. Because I like a God who initiates. It's encouraging to see a God who loves me so much. He's initiating. He's a proactive God. He's a God who's doing all the work. Because the more I learn about my sin, the more I realize if there's anything dependent upon me, it's failed. Praise God that salvation is all in His hands. Friends, this is why grace is so amazing. It has nothing to do with us. We respond to what God does to us by faith. How do we respond? Christian, boast in Christ. Boast in Christ. This is your only proper response. Here are the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to the worldly standards. For many were powerful, not many were of the 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. Here we see what he's already said in Romans 9. There's nothing about us. There was nothing about Jacob or Esau, good or bad, that brought God's election upon one or the other. There is nothing about us that's good enough to bring about God's election. Verse 30. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus. whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and our sanctification and our redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. If you think you figured out Christianity, if you think you're the one that's smart enough to see this is the truth, you're boasting. Realize it's God alone who illuminated your hard heart that broke that hard heart. Realize it's God alone who gave you the wisdom and the perception to realize that He is your Savior. It's God who revealed Himself to you. You can't discover God. Yes, we can look out and see there's a God who's a Creator and He's glorious and He's beautiful, but we don't see a Savior unless God reveals Himself as that Savior. We can only boast in Christ, boast in His death and His resurrection, boast in His love. boasting God alone and what He has done. The second thing we can do as Christians is cease clinging to your freedom to sin. Stop clinging to your freedom to sin and begin living a new life with your new freedom found in Christ and the Spirit. Rejoice in your freedom. He has set you free from sin. We're never going to be able to completely be sinless until Christ comes back and gives us glorified bodies. That sin is going to reside in your heart. But you now have the Holy Spirit that gives you new desires. You have the Word of God. Read it and set your heart on the things above, not the things of this world. Imagine an African-American born in 1820. He was born as a slave. He was born as a slave. All he ever knew his whole life was slavery. He was beaten and abused by his master. He heard about the Emancipation Proclamation, but then the 13th Amendment comes. It's official. The freedom papers are handed to him. And he stays in slavery. He chooses to stay under his master's hard hand, his abuse of power. He chooses to stay in slavery after it's abolished. You say this is ridiculous. You don't want to go shake that person and say, what are you doing? Go enjoy the freedom. Friends, how much more have you been declared free in Christ and yet you still play in the sin? You still submit yourself to it as your master. Friends, we have a newfound Christ that we can both sin. We have a newfound freedom. Let us stop waddling in the muck of sin. Let us begin walking by faith in Christ. If you're here and you're not a Christian, you're hearing the gospel. I ask you again, is it good news to your ears? Is Christ dying for your sins and rising again to give you up? Is that good news? Is recognizing yourself as a sinner under a God who will punish sin, is that good news that Christ has taken that sin away? Friend, does that news ring in your ears and down in your heart? I ask you, because if it sounds like good news, we need to start talking about if Christ and spirit are doing a good work in you to draw you to the Savior. Repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ. Let's turn back to Genesis 25. God's election is good news because God does all the work and it's in God alone that we boast. Let's look at our final section of 25, verses 29 through 34. Here we see that God's election of Jacob is revealed in Esau's hunger. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted. Therefore, his name was called Edom. Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. Esau said, I am about to die. Of what use is a birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Now here we see a very intense squabbling. We see as already been set up Isaac's sitting at home. He's cooking stew. Jacob is sitting home cooking stew. Esau has gone out. He's done a manly hunt. He's come home famished and exhausted. And he wants some stew. And what we see here is Jacob, who probably knows of the oracle. Mom, who loves him, has probably told him about the oracle. Hey, Jacob, God told me Esau's going to serve you. Don't tell him. I don't want to hurt his feelings. But just so you know, you're the chosen child. You don't want to hurt Esau's feelings, but the mother who loves Jacob, she would tell him that. He knows God has said, I'm the one. But here we see Jacob really being a bad boy. He is trying to get the promise with manipulation and deception and conniving. He's trying to figure out how to trick Esau to give him the promise, to give him the birthright. He's not trusting God. Besides that, he's not being a good brother. Think about the scene. He's not a good brother. He's not a good guy. If your brother comes in and he's famished and you've got a big pot of porridge and he asks for it, are you going to say, well, if you're going to die, I'll trade you my soup for your birthright? Of course not. If you're a brother and you love your brother, you're going to give him the soup because that's what he needs. That's what you've been making. Jacob's not a good guy. He's not a good guy to Esau. And now you see him not even trusting God. He's trying to manipulate his way into what God has already said is going to be his. Let's look at Esau. He's famished. He has to have some food. This is where the drama, I think, comes out. Oh, I'm going to die. All right, Esau, calm down. He's a man of passion, but most of all, here we see he's short sighted. He is clung to immediate gratification. He's unwilling to deny a moment of pleasure to wait on the Lord and the blessing. He gives up two-thirds of his parents' property. He gives up the headship of the entire home for a bowl of porridge. Listen to what the author of Hebrews has to say about this in Hebrews 12, the beginning of verse 12. He's speaking to the church. The Hebrews were being persecuted by the Jews. The Hebrew Christians were being persecuted by the Jews. Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which one will no one will see the Lord so that See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. The challenge here is for Christians not to deny Christ in the midst of persecution, not to let go of that, not to give in to that temptation for an easy, comfortable life. The challenge is, do we trust God enough to persevere in his promise? Do we trust God enough in his promises to resist the temptation of sin? I remember an analogy that C.S. Lewis used of Christ. Someone would ask, I remember someone asking him, did Jesus really suffer sin or suffer temptation like we do? I mean, he never sinned. How do you know he never suffered temptation? Well, C.S. Lewis used the analogy of a weightlifter. Who feels the pressure of the weight more? The person who throws it up over their head and then drops it immediately or the person who throws up the weight over their head and holds it there forever? See, Christ never gave in to that temptation. The temptation continued to get weightier and weightier and weightier upon him. The more he was tempted in the desert for 40 days without food, that temptation to make that stone of bread got weightier and heavier. Friends, do you feel the heavy weight of sin? You see, we think that Christianity is supposed to make life easy. Well, no. You're supposed to feel the heavy weight of temptation, that desire for immediate gratification to give in to that sin so you no longer feel the weight. That's what we're talking about here. That's what Esau can't do. He can't hold back the temptation. And he gives up his birthright. He gives up two thirds of his parents estate. Friends. Be challenged and encouraged today that Christ has held back the weight of sin. Christ has held back the temptation so that He died an innocent death so that you can be forgiven. But also know that as we live as Christians, we can't look for the immediate gratification because as we walk in this life, sin gets heavy. The temptation continues to grow and grow. And we cannot give in to that sin. As we close, I'm going to pick up chapter 26 next week due to time. Let us walk away looking at Paul's explanation. There was nothing good or bad in either one of these boys. There's nothing about them that made God say, I need this one. God doesn't need us. There's nothing about us that makes God fall in love with us. There's nothing about us that makes God choose us. God loves us because He loves us. One of the sweetest declarations He gives in Deuteronomy 7. He loves us because it's His own internal love that sets the benefits of being children of God on us. As we look to God, let election sink in. Let His absolute control and sovereignty over every step and every measure of salvation. Let it sink in. Let God be the one who's in absolute control of your salvation. Because as we walk with that temptation, we know if there's anything that depends upon us, it fails. But God's election is sure. What God has done for us is sure. It's our steadfast anchor. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Your gospel is powerful, God. Your gospel is the only thing we have. Let us boast in it. Let us boast in you. Let us resist the temptation to think that there's anything about us that draws you to us. Let us realize it's everything about you that draws us to you. Let us, by faith, claim the promises. Let us, by faith, claim all that you have done for us. Let us know that it is all for your glory. It is all for our gain. Lord, your ways are unsearchable. Your secret providence is not ours to look into. Let us, Lord, be humble enough to know that we can't understand everything about You. But let that, Lord, sink in. Let it grow into a great awe and mystery and reverence for You. We praise You, our King. We praise You, our Savior. In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen.