Vessels of Mercy
Genesis 25:1-26
October 5, 2014
Well, it’s been three months since we were last in the book of Genesis.
And so allow me for just a second to pull you back into the flow.
Genesis is not a historical study, it is a study of the gospel.
We have called it “The Gospel According to Moses”
And it seems that Moses is demonstrating God’s salvation to Israel
By highlighting various men and how God worked in their life.
From Adam – We learned about Sin
• The garden was perfect
• Creation was flawless
• And one act of disobedience wrecked it all
• Sin stains, Sin ruins, Sin defiles, Sin spoils
That is an important truth to learn in life
You don’t want to mess with sin.
From Noah – We learned about Judgment
• Ever since the first sin entered the world there was only ever one fate
• God must judge sin
• We saw that judgment in the form of a global killer in which only 8 survived
• God was grieved that He made man, and determined to destroy them
This is another important truth – “the wages of sin is death”
From Abraham – We learned about Salvation
• Abraham was a greedy pagan
• But God chose him, granted him faith, and then justified him because of that faith
Don’t mess with sin, it brings death,
But if you want salvation, then give God faith.
It is Moses’ story of the gospel.
This morning we move on to our 4th and 5th characters in Moses’ story.
Those men are Isaac and Jacob
From Isaac and Jacob we learn all about GRACE
Now it is true that grace was seen in Adam’s life, Noah’s life, and Abraham’s life,
For God has demonstrated it from the beginning.
Indeed you will also see it at work in Joseph.
But grace is what God highlights through the life of Isaac and Jacob.
And this grace is first revealed to us
In the mercy that God chose to bestow on each of these two boys.
Each of these men must be considered as “Vessels of Mercy”
And I’ll show you where I get that term from a little later.
What we are going to see revealed here in Genesis 25 is a CONTRAST
The first contrast is between Isaac and Ishmael
The second contrast is between Jacob and Esau
And what I want you to realize is that the only difference between each of these boys is that God chose one over the other.
In each of those contrasts,
• One was a recipient of grace, while one was not.
• One was a vessel of mercy, while one was not.
First let me show that to you and
Then we’ll talk about why it is important that you understand that.
So let’s look at our two vessels of mercy
Let’s look at our two recipients of grace
#1 ISAAC
Genesis 25:1-11
Now even before we dive into these 11 verses,
I do want to remind you briefly of who Isaac was.
• Isaac was that miracle baby.
• He was the promised child of Abraham and Sarah.
And of course you will remember that while Abraham was waiting on this miracle baby to arrive, he actually first took matters into his own hands.
Abraham got together with Sarah’s handmaid named Hagar
And fathered the boy Ishmael.
Isaac was Abraham’s second child.
And by the time we get to Genesis 25, Isaac and Ishmael are both grown, Sarah is dead and buried.
But we learn that Abraham is not finished having sons.
(1-4) “Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.”
So we learn that all total Abraham had 8 sons.
Ishmael was the oldest, Isaac was second, and then 6 by Abraham’s second wife.
Now the demonstration of grace toward Isaac comes in verses 5-6
(5-6) “Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.”
Isaac wasn’t the oldest, but Isaac was the chosen one.
Isaac got it all.
Sure the other sons received a gift, but Isaac got the inheritance.
And then Abraham did to his other sons
What he had already done to Ishmael.
Genesis 21:9-13 “Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”
Why would Abraham send them all away?
BECAUSE GOD DECREED IT
ISAAC WAS THE CHOSEN ONE
And this grace on Isaac continued even after the death of Abraham.
(7-11) “These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. It came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi.”
Ishmael comes back to help Isaac bury his father,
But it doesn’t change who God is favoring.
“God blessed his son Isaac”
Now you can read verses 12-18 and see that God didn’t mistreat Ishmael. Ishmael became a father of 12 tribes just as God had promised.
But Ishmael also became that wild donkey of a man God had said as well.
Genesis 16:11-12 “The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”
And that obviously occurred
Verse 18 says “They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives.”
The point is each of these boys became who God said they would become, the only difference is that Isaac was favored of God
Isaac was chosen
Isaac was the vessel of mercy
Isaac was the object of God’s grace
• Ishmael was older
• Ishmael was obviously resilient
• Ishmael even showed forgiveness coming back to bury Abraham.
Yet, God chose Isaac over Ishmael.
Isaac was the vessel of mercy, Isaac was the recipient of God’s grace
Now let me show you the second vessel of mercy
#2 JACOB
Genesis 25:19-26
I hope you already recognized a striking similarity to Isaac and Jacob.
BOTH ENJOYED SUPERNATURAL BIRTH & SPECIAL STATUS
Both were born as a result of divine intervention.
In both cases we have a barren woman giving birth to a child.
(19-21) “Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac; and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.”
And you will notice that just like Isaac,
Jacob also enjoyed a special status.
(22-26) “But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.” When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.”
There again, the bizarre occurs.
The oldest and most obvious does not get the birthright or the blessing
God chooses the less likely.
Now you must realize that like Isaac, Jacob was not the obvious choice.
If you read on down to the end of the chapter (which we will cover next week),
You will realize that if you are judging things according to the flesh,
Then Esau beats Jacob hands down.
• Esau was the prototypical firstborn
• Esau was the man’s man
• And Isaac loved him for it
• Jacob was the momma’s boy
• Esau was the hunter, Jacob was the cook
• Esau was the beard grower, Jacob was the smooth skinned one.
While Esau shopped at “Bass Pro Shop”,
Jacob went to “Bed, Bath, and Beyond”
You get the idea?
And yet, God explicitly chose Jacob over Esau
Jacob was the vessel of mercy
Jacob was the recipient of grace
Esau was not.
In fact, if you look at the book of Malachi
God even gets more blunt about the choice.
Malachi 1:2-4 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”
Does it get any clearer than that?
God clearly chose Jacob, and God clearly did not choose Esau
And if chapter 25 of Genesis reiterates anything to us
It is the fact of God’s divine election.
You can’t read this chapter any other way than to say
God clearly chose two boys over everyone else.
• Isaac and Jacob were vessels of God’s mercy
• Isaac and Jacob were recipients of grace
• Isaac and Jacob were the chosen, the elect, the favored
That’s clear isn’t it?
You can’t see it any other way.
But honestly people routinely try to look at it another way because people have grown to HATE the concept of God’s sovereign election.
While there are many today who adhere to what is commonly called “Reformed Theology” or “Calvinism” or “The Doctrines of Grace”
There are many who literally hate the doctrine.
(Borrowing from John MacArthur’s sermon on election)
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-273/the-doctrine-of-election-part-1
Tim Lehaye says, “to suggest that the merciful, long-suffering, gracious and loving God of the Bible would invent a dreadful doctrine like this, predestination, which would have us believe it is an act of grace to select certain people for heaven and by exclusion others for hell comes perilously close to blasphemy.”
Another writes, “The flawed theology of preselection is an attempt to eliminate man’s capacity to exercise his free will which reduces God’s sovereign love to an act of a mere dictator.”
Another says, “Five-point Calvinism, makes God a monster who eternally tortures innocent children. It removes the hope of consolation from the gospel. It limits the atoning work of Christ. It resists evangelism. It stirs up argumentation and division and promotes a small angry judgmental God rather than the large-hearted God of the Bible.”
Another says, “To say that God sovereignly chooses who will be saved is the most twisted thing I have ever read that makes God a monster, no better than a pagan idol.”
Another writes, “This doctrine makes God a diabolical monster and reduces man who was created in the image of God to a mere robot.”
I think you’re getting the point.
There are a large number in the evangelical community
Who don’t just reject the doctrine of election, but who adamantly hate it.
Saying it makes God look, “dreadful”, like a “dictator”,
And most choose to use the word “monster”
There is a tremendous movement to completely eradicate any notion
That God might actually elect, foreknow, predestine,
Or choose anyone over someone else.
But I must say their refusal to acknowledge God’s election
Is difficult to swallow Biblically.
Why?
Because the Bible is chalked full of the words
“elect”, “predestined”, “chosen” and the such.
We don’t nearly have time to cover them all, but get a concordance out and seek out the word “elect” and see what you come up with.
Let me give you just a few…
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For 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, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
John 6:67-70 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
And trust me when I tell you that is just the tip of the ice burg.
So you can hate the doctrine of election,
You can call God a “monster” for it,
But that doesn’t change the fact that
It is absolutely everywhere in the Bible.
Furthermore we have stories like the ones we just read in Genesis 25
Where God clearly chose two boys above everyone else.
Isaac and Jacob were clearly chosen above their brothers.
(Aren’t you going to see the same thing again with Joseph?)
AND YET PEOPLE STILL HATE IT.
BUT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO VIEW THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION AND SEE GOD AS A MONSTER. LET ME SHOW YOU HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SEE HIM.
To finish up today, TURN TO: ROMANS 9
You begin Romans 9 by recognizing that
Paul has a great sorrow and grief in his heart over the fact that despite all her enlightenment Israel has failed to trust in Christ.
(READ 9:1-5)
Israel is presently lost, but can anyone blame God for that? No
Clearly God did more for Israel than He did for any other nation.
Israel got it all, and yet remained lost.
Well in Paul’s mind that brings up a very important question.
God chose Israel
God said Israel was His, and now they are clearly not.
They don’t love Him, they don’t trust Him, they don’t follow Him
SO… When God made all those promises about Israel being His people…did God’s word fail?
Was God unable to bring about what He promised concerning Israel?
He said they would be His, and they clearly are not…did God fail?
And you will see that Paul answers that question in verse 6.
(6) “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.”
Paul is going to explain why there are a whole population of Jews
Who do not believe in Christ.
And here it is:
(6b) “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;”
That is an important statement.
Just because they are physical descendants of Abraham and Jacob
Does not make them true Israelites.
John the Baptist
Luke 3:8 “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
Jesus
John 8:39-40 “They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”
John the Apostle
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Just because there are a lot of Jews who don’t trust Christ,
Doesn’t mean God failed.
Being a physical descendant of Abraham
Does not make you a true chosen Israelite.
What do you mean Paul?
You mean that even though I am a physical Jew, a descendant of Abraham, I still might not be one of God’s chosen?
Well, let’s look at the passage Paul quotes:
(READ 9:7-13)
And of course you recognize the two boys Paul highlights there,
It is the two boys we just saw in Genesis 25.
• Isaac who was chosen over Ishmael (though they were both from Abraham)
• And Jacob who was chosen over Esau (though they were both from Isaac)
And please notice that it had nothing at all to do
With the efforts of the boys.
(10-12) “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”
Those boys were selected before they ever did one single thing.
WHY? “so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand”
Why did God choose Jacob over Isaac?
Because He wanted to, and He has that prerogative.
Call Him a monster if you want, call Him a ruthless dictator if you think you must, but it does not change the fact that He did it.
God chose Isaac over Ishmael
God chose Jacob over Esau
And it had nothing to do with the merit of the boys
And everything to do with God’s sovereign right to choose.
• So why are not all of Abraham’s descendants saved?
• Why does all of Israel not currently believe in God?
ANSWER: They were not all chosen.
(If they had been, they would be)
Now, as I said, there is a whole community of people who cry “FOUL” over such a truth. They hate it, they reject it, they say, “That cannot be!”
Well, keep reading:
(READ 9:14)
That’s a good question isn’t…
• Is God unjust in doing this?
• Is it unfair for God to choose Jacob over Esau?
• Is it unfair for God to choose Isaac over Jacob?
• Did God do wrong there?
Paul’s answer, “May it never be!”
And here is why:
(READ 9:15-18)
What is the response of God?
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
That verse explains why people think election is so unfair.
People that think it is unfair for God to choose someone for salvation do so because they have failed to accurately assess the human condition.
Let me ask you a question:
• Is any human righteous in their own account? No
• Is there anyone who has not sinned and fallen short of God’s glory? No
• Is there anyone who does not deserve hell for eternity? No
Paul wanted to know if there was injustice with God.
Well, if God is only just,
Then every single human of all creation goes to hell for eternity.
“There is none righteous, not even one”
So let me tell you what God DID NOT do.
God DID NOT take a population of humans who deserved to go to heaven and then choose to make some go to hell anyway.
(And yet that is what so many assume, and that would be a Monster)
God took a population of humans who deserved to go hell
And mercifully chose to save some from it.
(A Monster doesn’t do that)
If you look at God choosing to bless Isaac and Jacob and then say
“Oh poor Ishmael” or “Oh poor Esau”
Then you have failed to rightly assess who they were.
Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, and Esau all deserved to spend eternity in hell,
And they deserved this before they were ever born,
Simply because they were Adam’s descendants.
But God mercifully chose to be gracious to two of them.
Can you fault God for showing mercy?
Can you fault God for showing compassion?
And then Paul gives the illustration of Pharaoh.
And in Pharaoh Paul begins to show God’s plan
For those who were not chosen.
Pharaoh would be like Ishmael or Esau
Men whom God did not choose,
But men whom God still allowed to prosper to some degree.
And here is why.
(READ 9:17-18)
God let them prosper and grow
Simply so that He could demonstrate His power in them.
If there had been no Pharaoh resisting God’s plan,
Then God would have never had the opportunity to show the Israelites
How powerful He was and how merciful He was to deliver them.
So God actually took those who were not chosen
And set them up as enemies that He might destroy them
And thus show His greatness to those He has chosen.
OH WOW!
Now that’s really not fair! (some would say)
It’s bad enough God didn’t choose them,
But now He actually takes them and brings them to power and then destroys them just to show how powerful He is?
That certainly isn’t fair!
(19) “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
I mean, if God preordained them to be wicked,
How can He punish them for being what He made them in the first place?
Sounds unfair doesn’t it?
Now pay special attention to verses 20-21
(READ 9:20-21)
“Who are you..?”
Might I remind you of a foundational fact?
God will never stand on trial before you.
But you will most certainly stand on trial before Him.
• You are “then thing molded” not the “molder”
• You are “the clay” not the “potter”
And “Does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”
Can a potter take a lump of clay, break it in half and make half of it into a fine platter and the other half into a chamber pot?
And the answer is – YES HE CAN
God has the right to do and choose as He pleases
And you do not have the right to call Him a monster for doing so.
HE IS HOLY GOD, HE SITS ENTHRONED ABOVE THE HEAVENS,
AND IF IN HIS DIVINE PREROGATIVE HE ELECTS OR PREDESTINES,
NO LUMP OF CLAY HAS THE RIGHT TO TALK BACK TO HIM FOR IT.
He chose Isaac
He chose Jacob
BECAUSE HE WANTED TO AND BECAUSE HE HAS THE RIGHT
It is only an egocentric human with an inflated view of self-worth
Who would think they deserved more from God than they were getting.
Now that is fact.
But that is not where I want to leave it this morning.
Much of the evangelical world looks at God’s election
And says if that is true then God is a monster and a dictator.
Let me show you what God expects you to say
When you look at election.
For Paul is about to tell you one of the reasons
Why God chose some and destroyed others.
(READ 9:22-24)
There God had people who deserved destruction (Ishmael, Esau, Pharaoh, etc.)
But instead of instantly killing them,
God actually let them live and He patiently endured their godless ways.
(You will see that Esau was godless and yet God patiently endured him)
God “endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction”
WHY?
(23) “And He did so to make know the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory”
God tolerated those who were wicked and let them remain
So that those who were chosen would understand
“His glory” and His “mercy” toward them.
As the other 7 of Abraham’s sons were sent away with nothing but a gift, what was Isaac supposed to think?
He had better be grateful and he had better see that he had been given far more than he deserved, and he had better glorify God who chose him when he didn’t deserve it.
How was Jacob supposed to respond to the fact that God chose him over Esau? He was supposed to be grateful and praise God for making him a vessel of mercy when he didn’t deserve it.
This reality should have crushed their pride!
This reality should have led them to honor God in unbelievable form!
Those boys were vessels of mercy
God was treating them better than they deserved!
But you see those boys aren’t alone:
(9:24) “even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
Are you a child of God?
If you are, it is because He has chosen you.
He could have left you to you deserve, and that would have been just.
But He instead made you “a vessel of mercy” and object of grace.
• You didn’t deserve what God did for you
• None of us did
• But when we were nothing, God gave us mercy and grace
Do you know what we give Him?
(not scorn, not calling Him a monster – GLORY!)
It is a tragedy that so many who claim to be Christians
Actually refuse to give God glory for His sovereign election
They instead malign Him for it.
I’m not here to malign God for His sovereign election
(He’s God He can do as He wants)
But I certainly want to thank Him that He chose me!
And if you are a child of God then you should to!
• We are vessels of mercy
• We are chosen
• And our God deserves glory for it!
And like Isaac and Jacob we weren’t the most logical choice either.
The Ishmaels and the Esaus of the world were a far more logical choice,
But God chose us.
Not because we deserved it, but because we didn’t,
And because as such we should be all the more willing to give Him glory!
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For 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, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
