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By Charles Spurgeon
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated."—Romans 9:15.
Do not imagine for an instant that I pretend to be
able thoroughly to elucidate the great mysteries of predestination.
There are some men who claim to know all about the matter. They
twist it round their fingers as easily as if it were an everyday
thing; but depend upon it, he who thinks he knows all about this
mystery, knows but very little. It is but the shallowness of his
mind that permits him to see the bottom of his knowledge; he who
dives deep, finds that there is in the lowest depth to which he can
attain a deeper depth still. The fact is, that the great questions
about man's responsibility, free-will, and predestination, have been
fought over, and over, and over again, and have been answered in ten
thousand different ways; and the result has been, that we know just
as much about the matter as when we first began. The combatants have
thrown dust into each other's eyes, and have hindered each other
from seeing; and then they have concluded, that because they put
other people's eyes out, they could therefore see.
Now, it is one thing to refute another man's doctrine, but a very
different matter to establish my own views. It is very easy to knock
over one man's hypothesis concerning these truths, not quite so easy
to make my own stand on a firm footing. I shall try to-night, if I
can, to go safely, if I do not go very fast; for I shall endeavour
to keep simply to the letter of God's Word. I think that if we kept
more simply to the teachings of the Bible, we should be wiser than
we are; for by turning from the heavenly light of revelation, and
trusting to the deceitful will-o'-the-wisps of our own imagination,
we thrust ourselves into quags and bogs where there is no sure
footing, and we begin to sink; and instead of making progress, we
find ourselves sticking fast. The truth is, neither you nor I have
any right to want to know more about predestination than what God
tells us. That is enough for us. If it were worth while for us to
know more, God would have revealed more. What God has told us, we
are to believe, but to the knowledge thus gained, we are too apt to
add our own vague notions, and then we are sure to go wrong. It
would be better, if in all controversies, men had simply stood hard
and fast by "Thus saith the Lord," instead of having it said, "Thus
and thus I think." I shall now endeavour, by the help of the Holy
Spirit, to throw the light of God's Word upon this great doctrine of
divine sovereignty, and give you what I think to be a Scriptural
statement of the fact, that some men are chosen, other men are
left,—the great fact that is declared in this text,—" Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated."
It is a terrible text, and I will be honest with it if I can. One
man says the word "hate" does not mean hate; it means "love
less:"—"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I loved less." It may be
so: but I don't believe it is. At any rate, it says "hate" here; and
until you give me another version of the Bible, I shall keep to this
one. I believe that the term is correctly and properly translated;
that the word "hate" is not stronger than the original; but even if
it be a little stronger, it is nearer the mark than the other
translation which is offered to us in those meaningless words, "love
less." I like to take it and let it stand just as it is. The fact
is, God loved Jacob, and he did not love Esau; he did choose Jacob,
but he did not choose Esau; he did bless Jacob, but he never blessed
Esau; his mercy followed Jacob all the way of his life, even to the
last, but his mercy never followed Esau; he permitted him still to
go on in his sins, and to prove that dreadful truth, "Esau have I
hated." Others, in order to get rid of this ugly text, say, it does
not mean Esau and Jacob; it means the nation; it means Jacob's
children and Esau's children; it means the children of Israel and
Edom. I should like to know where the difference lies. Is the
difficulty removed by extending it? Some of the Wesleyan brethren
say, that there is a national election; God has chosen one nation
and not another. They turn round and tell us it is unjust in God to
choose one man and not another. Now, we ask them by everything
reasonable, is it not equally unjust of God to choose one nation and
leave another? The argument which they imagine overthrows us
overthrows them also. There never was a more foolish subterfuge than
that of trying to bring out national election. What is the election
of a nation but the election of so many units, of so many
people? and it is tantamount to the same thing as the particular
election of individuals. In thinking, men cannot see clearly that
if—which we do not for a moment believe—that if there be any
injustice in God choosing one man and not another, how much more
must there be injustice in his choosing one nation and not another.
No! the difficulty cannot be got rid of thus, but is greatly
increased by this foolish wresting of God's Word. Besides, here is
the proof that that is not correct; read the verse preceding it. It
does not say anything at all about nations, it says, "For the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger,"—referring to the children, not to the
nations. Of course the threatening was afterwards fulfilled in the
position of the two nations; Edom was made to serve Israel. But this
text means just what it says; it does not mean nations, but it means
the persons mentioned. "Jacob,"—that is the man whose name was
Jacob—" Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Take care my
dear friends, how any of you meddle with God's Word. I have heard of
folks altering passages they did not like. It will not do, you know,
you cannot alter them; they are really just the same. Our only power
with the Word of God is simply to let it stand as it is, and to
endeavour by God's grace to accommodate ourselves to that. We must
never try to make the Bible bow to us, in fact we cannot, for the
truths of divine revelation are as sure and fast as the throne of
God. If a man wants to enjoy a delightful prospect, and a mighty
mountain lies in his path, does he commence cutting away at its
base, in the vain hope that ultimately it will become a level plain
before him? No, on the contrary, he diligently uses it for the
accomplishment of his purpose by ascending it, well knowing this to
be the only means of obtaining the end in view. So must we do; we
cannot bring down the truths of God to our poor finite
understandings; the mountain will never fall before us, but we can
seek strength to rise higher and higher in our perception of divine
things, and in this way only may we hope to obtain the blessing.
Now, I shall have two things to notice to-night. I have explained
this text to mean just what it says, and I do not want it to be
altered—" Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." To take off
the edge of this terrible doctrine that makes real some people bite
their lips so, I must just notice that this is a fact; and,
after that, I shall try to answer the question,—Why was it that
God loved Jacob and hated Esau?
I. First, then, THIS IS FACT. Men say they do not like the doctrine
of election. Verily, I do not want them to; but is it not a fact
that God has elected some? Ask an Arminian brother about election,
and at once his eye turns fiercely upon you, and he begins to get
angry, he can't bear it; it is a horrible thing, like a war-cry to
him, and he begins to sharpen the knife of controversy at once. But
say to him, "Ah, brother! was it not divine grace that made you to
differ? Was it not the Lord who called you out of your natural
state, and made you what you are? "Oh, yes," he says," "I quite
agree with you there." Now, put this question to him: "What do you
think is the reason why one man has been converted, and not
another?" "Oh," he says, "the Spirit of God has been at work in this
man." Well, then, my brother, the fact is, that God does
treat one man better than another; and is there anything wonderful
in this fact? It is a fact we recognize every day. There is a man up
in the gallery there, that work as hard as he likes, he cannot earn
more than fifteen shillings a week; and here is another man that
gets a thousand a year; what is the reason of this? One is born in
the palaces of kings, while another draws his first breath in a
roofless hovel What is the reason of this? God's providence. He puts
one man in one position, and another man in another. Here is a man
whose head cannot hold two thoughts together, do what you will with
him; here is another who can sit down and write a book, and dive
into the deepest of questions; what is the reason of it? God has
done it. Do you not see the fact, that God does not treat every man
alike? He has made some eagles, and some worms; some he has made
lions, and some creeping lizards; he has made some men kings, and
some are born beggars. Some are born with gigantic minds and some
verge on the idiot. Why is this? Do you murmur at God for it? No,
you say it is a fact, and there is no good in murmuring. What is the
use of kicking against facts? It is only kicking against the pricks
with naked feet, and you hurt yourself and not them. Well, then,
election is a positive fact; it is as clear as daylight, that God
does, in matters of religion, give to one man more than to another.
He gives to me opportunities of hearing the word, which he does nor
give to the Hottentot. He gives to me, parents who, from infancy,
trained me in the fear of the Lord. He does not give that to many of
you. He places me afterwards in situations where I am restrained
from sin. Other men are cast into places where their sinful passions
are developed. He gives, to one man a temper and disposition which
keeps him back from some lust, and to another man he gives such
impetuosity of spirit, and depravity turns that impetuosity so much
aside, that the man runs headlong into sin. Again, he brings one man
under the sound of a powerful ministry, while another sits and
listens to a preacher whose drowsiness is only exceeded by that of
his hearers. And even when they are hearing the gospel, the fact is
God works in one heart when be does not in another. Though, I
believe to a degree, the Spirit works in the hearts of all who hear
the Word, so that they are all without excuse, yet I am sure he
works in some so powerfully, that they can no longer resist him, but
are constrained by his grace to cast themselves at his feet, and
confess him Lord of all; while others resist the grace that comes
into their hearts; and it does not act with the same irresistible
force that it does in the other case, and they perish in their sins,
deservedly and justly condemned. Are not these things facts? Does
any man deny them? can any man deny them? What is the use of
kicking against facts? I always like to know when there is a
discussion, what is the fact. You have heard the story of King
Charles the Second and the philosophers—King Charles asked one of
them, "What is the reason why, if you had a pail of water, and
weighed it, and then put a fish into it, that the weight would be
the same?" They gave a great many elaborate reasons for this. At
last one of them said, "Is it the fact?" And then they found out
that the water did weigh more, just as much more as the fish put
into it. So all their learned arguments fell to the ground. So, when
we are talking about election, the best thing is to say, "Put aside
the doctrine for a moment, let us see what is the fact?" We walk
abroad; we open our eyes; we see, there is the fact. What, then, is
the use of our discussing any longer? We had better believe it,
since it is an undeniable truth. You may alter an opinion, but you
cannot alter a fact. You may change a mere doctrine, but you cannot
possibly change a thing which actually exists. There it is—God does
certainly deal with some men better than he does with others. I will
not offer an apology for God; he can explain his own dealings; he
needs no defence from me,
"God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain;"
but there stands the fact. Before you begin to argue upon the
doctrine, just recollect, that whatever you may think about it, you
cannot alter it; and however much you may object to it, it is
actually true that God did love Jacob, and did not love Esau.
For now look at Jacob's life and read his history; you are compelled
to say that, from the first hour that he left his father's house,
even to the last, God loved him. Why, he has not gone far from his
father's house before he is weary, and he lies down with a stone for
his pillow, and the hedges for his curtain, and the sky for his
canopy; and he goes to sleep, and God comes and talks to him in his
sleep; he sees a ladder, whereof the top reaches to heaven, and a
company of angels ascending and descending upon it; and he goes on
his journey to Laban. Laban tries to cheat him, and as often as
Laban tries to wrong him, God suffers it not, but multiplies the
different cattle that Laban gives him. Afterwards, you remember,
when he fled unawares from Laban, and was pursued, that God appears
to Laban in a dream, and charges him not to speak to Jacob either
good or bad. And more memorable still, when his sons Levi and Simeon
have committed murder in Shethem, and Jacob is afraid that he will
be overtaken and destroyed by the inhabitants who were rising
against him, God puts a fear upon the the people, and says to them,
"Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophet no harm." And when a
famine comes over the land, God has sent Joseph into Egypt, to
provide corn in Goshen for his brethren, that they should live and
not die. And see the happy end of Jacob—" I shall see my son Joseph
before I die." Behold the tears streaming down his aged cheeks, as
he clasps his own Joseph to his bosom! See how magnificently he goes
into the presence of Pharaoh, and blesses him. It is said, "Jacob
blessed Pharoah." He had God's love so much in him, that he was free
to bless the mightiest monarch of his times. At last he gave up the
ghost, and it was said at once, "This was a man that God loved."
There is the fact that God did love Jacob.
On the other hand, there is the fact that God did not love Esau. He
permitted Esau to become the father of princes, but he has not
blessed his generation. Where is the house of Esau now? Edom has
perished. She built her chambers in the rock, and cut out her cities
in the flinty rock; but God has abandoned the inhabitants thereof,
and Edom is not to be found. They became the bond-slaves of Israel;
and the kings of Edom had to furnish a yearly tribute of wool to
Solomon and his successors; and now the name of Esau is erased from
the book of history. Now, then, I must say, again, this ought to
take off at least some of the bitterness of controversy, when we
recollect that it is the fact, let men say what they will, that God
did love Jacob, and he did not love Esau.
II. But now the second point of my subject is, WHY IS THIS? Why did
God love Jacob? why did he hate Esau? Now, I am not going to
undertake too much at once. You say to me, "Why did God love Jacob?
and why did he hate Esau?" We will take one question at a time; for
the reason why some people get into a muddle in theology is, because
they try to give an answer to two questions. Now, I shall not do
that; I will tell you one thing at a time. I will tell you why God
loved Jacob; and, then, I will tell you why he hated Esau. But I
cannot give you the same reason for two contradictory things. That
is wherein a great many have failed. They have sat down and seen
these facts, that God loved Jacob and hated Esau, that God has an
elect people, and that there are others who are not elect. If, then,
they try to give the same reason for election and non-election, they
make sad work of it. If they will pause and take one thing at a
time, and look to God's Word, they will not go wrong.
The first question is, why did God love Jacob? I am not at
all puzzled to answer this, because when I turn to the Word of God,
I read this text;—"Not for your sakes, do I this saith the Lord God,
be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways O
house of Israel." I am not at a loss to tell you that it could not
be for any good thing in Jacob, that God loved him, because I am
told that "the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election might
stand, not of works but of him that calleth." I can tell you
the reason why God loved Jacob; It is sovereign grace. There
was nothing in Jacob that could make God love him; there was
everything about him, that might have made God hate him, as much as
he did Esau, and a great deal more. But it was because God was
infinitely gracious, that he loved Jacob, and because he was
sovereign in his dispensation of this grace, that he chose Jacob as
the object of that love. Now, I am not going to deal with Esau,
until I have answered the question on the side of Jacob. I want just
to notice this, that Jacob was loved of God, simply on the footing
of free grace. For, come now, let us look at Jacob's character; I
have already said in the exposition, what I think of him. I do think
the very smallest things of Jacob's character. As a natural man, he
was always a bargain-maker.
I was struck the other day with that vision that Jacob had at
Bethel: it seemed to me a most extraordinary development of Jacob's
bargain-making spirit. You know he lay down, and God was pleased to
open the doors of heaven to him, so that he saw God sitting at the
top of the ladder, and the angels ascending and descending upon it.
What do you suppose he said as soon as he awoke? Well, he said,
"Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was
afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but
the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Why, if Jacob had
had faith, he would not have been afraid of God: on the contrary, he
would have rejoiced that God had thus permitted him to hold
fellowship with him. Now, hear Jacob's bargain. God had simply said
to him, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of
Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to
thy seed." He did not say anything about what Jacob was to do: God
only said, I will do it,—"Behold I am with thee, and will
keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee
again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done
that which I have spoken to thee of." Now, can you believe, that
after God had spoken face to face with Jacob, that he would have had
the impudence to try and make a bargain with God? But he did. He
begins and says, "If—" There now, the man has had a vision,
and an absolute promise from God, and yet he begins with an "If."
That is bargain-making with a vengeance! "If God will be with
me, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to
eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father's
house in peace, then"—not without—mark, he is going to hold
God to his bargain—"then shall, the Lord be my God: and this
stone which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of
all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."
I marvel at this! If I did not know something about my own nature, I
should be utterly unable to understand it. What! a man that has
talked with God, then begin to make a bargain with him! that has
seen the only way of access between heaven and earth, the ladder
Christ Jesus, and has had a covenant made between himself and God, a
covenant that is all on God's part—all a promise—and yet wants after
that to hold God to the bargain: as if he were afraid God would
break his promise! Oh! this was vile indeed!
Then notice his whole life. While he lived with Laban, what
miserable work it was. He had got into the hands of a man of the
world; and whenever a covetous Christian gets into such company, a
terrible scene ensues! There are the two together, greedy and
grasping. If an angel could look down upon them, how would he weep
to see the man of God fallen from his high place, and become as bad
as the other. Then, the device that Jacob used, when he endeavoured
to get his wages was most extraordinary. Why did he not leave it to
God, instead of adopting such systems as that? The whole way through
we are ashamed of Jacob; we cannot help it. And then, there is that
grand period in his life, the turning point, when we are told, that
"Jacob wrestled with God, and prevailed." We will look at that—I
have carefully studied the subject, and I do not think so much of
him as I did. I thought Jacob wrestled with God, but I find it is
the contrary; he did not wrestle with God; God wrestled with him. I
had always set Jacob up, in my mind, as the very model of a man
wrestling in prayer; I do not think so now. He divided his family,
and put a person in front to appease Esau. He did not go in front
himself, with the holy trust that a patriarch should have felt;
guarded with all the omnipotence of heaven, he might boldly have
gone to meet his brother, but no! he did not feel certain that the
latter would bow at his feet, although the promise said, "The elder
shall serve the younger." He did not rest on that promise; it was
not big enough for him. Then he went at night to the brook Jabbok. I
do not know what for, unless he went to pray; but I am afraid it was
not so. The text says, "And Jacob was left alone: and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of the day." There is a great deal
of difference between a man wrestling with me, and my wrestling with
him. When I strive with anyone, I want to gain something from him,
and when a man wrestles with me, he wants to get something out of
me. Therefore, I take it, when the man wrestled with Jacob, he
wanted to get his cunning and deceit out of him, and prove what a
poor sinful creature he was, but he could not do it. Jacob's craft
was so strong, that he could not be overcome; at last, the angel
touched his thigh, and showed him his own hollowness. And Jacob
turned round and said, "Thou hast taken away my strength, now I will
wrestle with thee;" and when his thigh was out of joint, when
he fully felt his own weakness, then, and not till then, is he
brought to say, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless
me." He had had fall confidence in his own strength, but God at last
humbled him, and when all his boasted power was gone, then it was
that Jacob became a prevailing prince. But, even after that, his
life is not clear. Then you find him an unbelieving creature; and we
have all been as bad. Though we are blaming Jacob, brethren, we
blame ourselves. We are hard with him, but we shall be harder with
ourselves. Do you not remember the memorable speech of the
patriarch, when he said, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye
will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me?" Ah,
Jacob, why cannot you believe the promise? All other promises have
been fulfilled. But no! he could not think of the promise; he was
always wanting to live by sight.
Now, I say if the character of Jacob, be as I have described it, and
I am sure it is—we have got it in God's word—there was, there could
have been nothing in Jacob, that made God love him; and the only
reason why God loved him, must have been because of his own grace,
because "he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy." And rest
assured, the only reason why any of us can hope to be saved is this,
the sovereign grace of God. There is no reason why I should be
saved, or why you should be saved, but God's own merciful heart, and
God's own omnipotent will. Now that is the doctrine; it is taught
not only in this passage, but in multitudes of other passages of
God's Word. Dear friends, receive it, hold fast by it, and never let
it go.
Now, the next question is a different one: Why did God hate Esau?
I am not going to mix this question up with the other, they are
entirely distinct, and I intend to keep them so, one answer will not
do for two questions, they must be taken separately, and then can be
answered satisfactorily. Why does God hate any man? I defy anyone to
give any answer but this, because that man deserves it; no reply but
that can ever be true. There are some who answer, divine
sovereignty; but I challenge them to look that doctrine in the face.
Do you believe that God created man and arbitrarily, sovereignly—it
is the same thing—created that man, with no other intention, than
that of damning him? Made him, and yet, for no other reason than
that of destroying him for ever? Well, if you can believe it, I pity
you, that is all I can say: you deserve pity, that you should think
so meanly of God, whose mercy endureth for ever. You are quite right
when you say the reason why God loves a man, is because God does do
so; there is no reason in the man. But do not give the same answer
as to why God hates a man. If God deals with any man severely, it is
because that man deserves all he gets. In hell there will not be a
solitary soul that will say to God, O Lord, thou hast treated me
worse than I deserve! But every lost spirit will be made to feel
that he has got his deserts, that his destruction lies at his own
door and not at the door of God; that God had nothing to do with his
condemnation, except as the Judge condemns the criminal, but that he
himself brought damnation upon his own head, as the result of his
own evil works. Justice is that which damns a man; it is mercy, it
is free grace, that saves; sovereignty holds the scale of love; it
is justice holds the other scale. Who can put that into the hand of
sovereignty? That were to libel God and to dishonour him;
Now, let us look at Esau's character, says one, "did he deserve that
God should cast him away?" I answer, he did. What we know of Esau's
character, clearly proves it. Esau lost his birthright. Do not sit
down and weep about that, and blame God. Esau sold it himself; he
sold it for a mess of pottage. Oh, Esau, it is in vain for thee to
say, "I lost my birthright by decree." No, no. Jacob got it by
decree, but you lost it because you sold it yourself—didn't you? Was
it not your own bargain? Did you not take the mess of red pottage of
your own voluntary will, in lieu of the birthright? Your destruction
lies at your own door, because you sold your own soul at your own
bargain, and you did it yourself. Did God influence Esau to do that?
God forbid, God is not the author of sin. Esau voluntarily gave up
his own birthright. And the doctrine is, that every man who loses
heaven gives it up himself. Every man who loses everlasting life
rejects it himself. God denies it not to him—he will not come that
he may have life. Why is it that a man remains ungodly and does not
fear God? It is because he says, "I like this drink, I like this
pleasure, I like this sabbath-breaking, better than I do the things
of God." No man is saved by his own free-will, but every man is
damned by it that is damned. He does it of his own will; no one
constrains him. You know, sinner, that when you go away from here,
and put down the cries of conscience, that you do it yourself. You
know that, when after a sermon you say, "I do not care about
believing in Christ," you say it yourself—You are quite conscious of
it, and if not conscious of it, it is notwithstanding a dreadful
fact, that the reason why you are what you are, is because you
will to be what you are. It is your own will that keeps you
where you are, the blame lies at your own door, your being still in
a state of sin is voluntary. You are a captive, but you are a
voluntary captive. You will never be willing to get free until God
makes you willing. But you are willing to be a bond slave. There is
no disguising the fact, that man loves sin, loves evil, and does not
love God. You know, though heaven is preached to you through the
blood of Christ, and though hell is threatened to you as the result
of your sins, that still you cleave to your iniquities; you will not
leave them, and will not fly to Christ. And when you are cast away,
at last it will be said of you, "you have lost your birthright." But
you sold it yourself. You know that the ball-room suits you better
than the house of God: you know that the pot-house suits you better
than the prayer-meeting; you know you trust yourself rather than
trust Christ; you know you prefer the joys of the resent time to the
joys of the future. It is your own choice—keep it Your damnation is
your own election, not God's; you richly deserve it.
But, says one, "Esau repented." Yes, he did, but what sort of a
repentance was it? Did you ever notice his repentance? Every man who
repents and believes will be saved. But what sort of a repentance
was his? As soon as he found that his brother had got the
birthright, he sought it again with repentance, he sought it with
tears, but he did not get it back. You know he sold his birthright
for a mess of pottage; and he thought he would buy it back by giving
his father a mess of pottage. "There," he says, "I will go and hunt
venison for my father. I have got over him with my savoury meat, and
he will readily give me my birthright again." That is what sinners
say: "I have lost heaven by my evil works: I will easily get it
again by reforming. Did I not lose it by sin? I will get it back by
giving up my sins." "I have been a drunkard," says one, "I will give
up drinking, and I will now be a teetotaller." Another says, "I have
been an awful swearer; I am very sorry for it, indeed; I will not
swear any more." So all he gives to his father is a mess of pottage,
the same as that for which he sold it. No, sinner, you may sell
heaven for a few carnal pleasures, but you cannot buy heaven by
merely giving them up. You can get heaven only on another ground,
viz., the ground of free-grace. You lose your soul justly, but you
cannot get it back by good works, or by the renunciation of your
sins.
You think that Esau was a sincere penitent. Just let me tell you
another thing. This blessed penitent, when he failed to get the
blessing, what did he say? "The days of mourning for my father are
at hand: then will I slay my brother Jacob." There is a penitent for
you. That is not the repentance that comes from God the Holy Spirit.
But there are some men like that. They say they are very sorry they
should have been such sinners as that, very sorry that they should
have been brought into such a sad condition as that; and then they
go and do the same that they did before. Their penitence does not
bring them out of their sin, but it leaves them in it, and, perhaps,
plunges them still deeper into guilt. Now, look at the character of
Esau. The only redeeming trait in it was that he did begin with
repentance, but that repentance was even an aggravation of his sin,
because it was without the effects of evangelical repentance. And I
say, if Esau sold his birthright he did deserve to lose it; and,
therefore, am I not right in saying, that if God hated Esau, it was
because he deserved to be hated. Do you observe how Scripture always
guards this conclusion? Turn to the ninth chapter of Romans, where
we have selected our text, see how careful the Holy Spirit is here,
in the 22nd verse. "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to
make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore preparded
unto glory." But it does not say anything about fitting men
for destruction; they fitted themselves. They did that: God
had nothing to do with it. But when men are saved, God fits them for
that. All the glory to God in salvation; all the blame to men in
damnation.
If any of you want to know what I preach every day, and any stranger
should say, "Give me a summary of his doctrine," say this, "He
preaches salvation all of grace, and damnation all of sin. He gives
God all the glory for every soul that is saved, but he won't have it
that God is to blame for any man that is damned." That teaching I
cannot understand. My soul revolts at the idea of a doctrine that
lays the blood of man's soul at God's door. I cannot conceive how
any human mind, at least any Christian mind, can hold any such
blasphemy as that. I delight to preach this blessed truth—salvation
of God, from first to last—the Alpha and the Omega; but when I come
to preach damnation, I say, damnation of man, not of God; and if you
perish, at your own hands must your blood be required. There is
another passage. At the last great day, when all the world shall
come before Jesus to be judged, have you noticed, when the righteous
go on the right side, Jesus says, "Come, ye blessed of my
father,"—("of my father," mark,)—"inherit the kingdom
prepared"—(mark the next word)—"for you, from before the
foundation of the world." What does he say to those on the left?
"Depart, ye cursed." He does not say, "ye cursed of my father, but,
ye cursed. "And what else does he say?" into everlasting fire,
prepared"—(not for you, but)—"for the devil and his angels."
Do you see how it is guarded, here is the salvation side of the
question. It is all of God. "Come, ye blessed of my father." It is a
kingdom prepared for them. There you have election, free grace in
all its length and breadth. But, on the other hand, you have nothing
said about the father—nothing about that at all. "Depart, ye
cursed." Even the flames are said not to be prepared for sinners,
but for the devil and his angels. There is no language that I can
possibly conceive that could more forcibly express this idea,
supposing it to be the mind of the Holy Spirit, that the glory
should be to God, and that the blame should be laid at man's door.
Now, have I not answered these two questions honestly? I have
endeavoured to give a scriptural reason for the dealings of God with
man. He saves man by grace, and if men perish they perish justly by
their own fault. "How," says some one, "do you reconcile these two
doctrines?" My dear brethren, I never reconcile two friends, never.
These two doctrines are friends with one another; for they are both
in God's Word, and I shall not attempt to reconcile them. If you
show me that they are enemies, then I will reconcile them. "But,"
says one, "there is a great deal of difficulty about them." Will you
tell me what truth there is that has not difficulty about it? "But,"
he says, "I do not see it." Well, I do not ask you to see it;
I ask you to believe it. There are many things in God's Word that
are difficult, and that I cannot see, but they are there, and I
believe them. I cannot see how God can be omnipotent and man be
free; but it is so, and I believe it. "Well," says one, "I cannot
understand it. My answer is, I am bound to make it as plain as I
can, but if you have not any understanding, I cannot give you any;
there I must leave it. But then, again, it is not a matter of
understanding; it is a matter of faith. These two things are true; I
do not see that they at all differ. However, if they did, I should
say, if they appear to contradict one another, they do not really do
so, because God never contradicts himself. And I should think in
this I exhibited the power of my faith in God, that I could believe
him, even when his word seemed to be contradictory. That is faith.
Did not Abraham believe in God even when God's promise seemed to
contradict his providence? Abraham was old, and Sarah was old, but
God said Sarah should have a child. How can that be? said Abraham,
for Sarah is old; and yet Abraham believed the promise, and Sarah
had a son. There was a reconciliation between providence and
promise; and if God can bring providence and promise together, he
can bring doctrine and promise together. If I cannot do it, God can
even in the world to come.
Now, let me just practically preach this for one minute. Oh,
sinners, if ye perish, on your own head must be your doom.
Conscience tells you this, and the Word of God confirms it. You
shall not be able to lay your condemnation at any man's door but
your own. If you perish you perish by suicide. You are your own
destroyers, because you reject Christ, because you despise the
birthright and sell it for that miserable mess of pottage—the
pleasures of the world. It is a doctrine that thrills through me.
Like a two-edged sword, I would make it pierce to the dividing
asunder of the joints and marrow. If you are damned it shall be your
own fault. If you are found in hell, your blood shall be on your own
head. You shall bring the faggots to your own burning; you shall dig
the iron for your own chains; and on your own head will be your
doom. But if you are saved, it cannot be by your merits, it must be
by grace—free, sovereign grace. The gospel is preached to you; it is
this: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
May grace now be given to you to bring you to yield to this glorious
command. May you now believe in him who came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief. Free grace, who shall tell thy glories?
who shall narrate thy achievements, or write thy victories? Thou
hast carried the cunning Jacob into glory, and made him white as the
angels of heaven, and thou shalt carry many a black sinner there
also, and make him glorious as the glorified. May God prove this
doctrine to be true in your own experience! If there still remains
any difficulty upon your minds about any of these points, search the
Word of God, and seek the illumination of his Spirit to teach you.
But recollect after all, these are not the most important points in
Scripture. That which concerns you most, is to know whether you have
an interest in the blood of Christ? whether you really believe in
the Lord Jesus. I have only touched upon these, because they cause a
great many people a world of trouble, and I thought I might be the
means of helping some of you to tread upon the neck of the dragon.
May God grant that it may be so for Christ's sake.
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