What a wonderful sermon! I was glad to be able to read it all last night, and just wanted to remember some of the high points before moving on today.
It is not possible for man to understand everything, so we should not merely try to understand election. It is a fact that we may not like, but it is undeniable fact: God loved Jacob, who did not deserve any love, and God hated Esau. Instead of trying to understand these two facts with one explanation, Spurgeon offers two: one for the first, another for the second.
First, God loved Jacob. It wasn't because of anything Jacob did. He was a schmuck, a "bargainer", who even when he had God's unchangeable promise of blessing, made an offer of service to God, IF and THEN. It was a deplorable lack of faith. Yet God accepted Jacob and blessed him. And God made this decision even before the two boys were born. So it could not have been anything one did or the other. God loved Jacob simply out of one-sided grace.
However, God did NOT love Esau. It was not because God simply decided he could not love this boy. It was because Esau did not deserve to be loved. He, as all, are fallen and despicable.
Thus, those God loves and elects are purely recipients of God's grace. Those who go to hell absolutely go there by their own choice and deservedly.
This is the reality, a fact. Argue all you wish about election and freewill, the fact is unarguable, and it is futile to try to explain the two opposite things with one argument, as most people object to them. Spurgeon has explained, as me and my friend Bill agree, that both election and freewill are real and important. By our freewill, we are lost in sin. By God's grace we are saved.
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