The Disdain and Decadence of Apostates (Hebrews 12:16-17) Part 1 | Worship Service

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June 12, 2023

The Disdain and Decadence of Apostates (Hebrews 12:16-17) Part 1 | Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

The Disdain and Decadence of Apostates, Part 2 (Hebrews 12:16-17; Genesis)

09:12: Okay, that was my bad. Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're going to begin our service this morning with a new psalm.
09:21: That's to the tune of Your Great Name We Praise, which is to the tune of Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, which is to the tune of Oh, Bless Me, The Lord God, Psalm 144.
09:31: Would you please stand as we sing? Oh, bless me, the
09:44: Lord God, my rock and my light. He dreams me, your battle, my hands, or the fight.
09:53: My fortress, deliverer, my refuge and shield. He brings down my foes, and beneath me they yield.
10:04: Oh, world, for His man, can you recognize Him? The Son of Man, that you are mindful of Him.
10:14: For man is but made for His three -birthday days, or just like a shadow which passes away.
10:24: Most holy, most glorious, the
10:30: Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
10:38: Your Great Name we praise. Oh, Lord, send
10:53: Your hand from the heavens above. Deliver and save me from strangers and thugs.
11:01: Their tongues speak so falsely, and truth they despise. Their right hand they hold, for You slay through their lies.
11:12: A new song to You, O my God, I will sing. And wonder, my praise, on a harp of ten strings.
11:21: You give peace and triumph, Your hand has no part.
11:27: Kept it in Your servant, from hurt by the sword.
11:33: Most holy, most glorious, the
11:38: Ancient of Days. Victorious, Your Great Name we praise.
11:49: Most holy, most glorious, the
11:54: Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
12:02: Your Great Name we praise.
12:29: They will dwell within the shelter of the kings above.
12:42: Rest beneath the shadow of the Lord. Though a sickness hides in darkness.
12:59: Though a plague destroys by day. I will stand upon His promises.
13:11: Christ will be my hideaway. In You I trust.
13:24: You are strong and here with us.
13:29: In You my hope remains.
13:36: Christ will be my hideaway. Angels gather to protect me when they hear.
13:57: My Savior call. Sovereign hands are ever ready to uphold me should
14:10: I fall. Safe beneath His wings of refuge.
14:19: All my fears are kept at bay. I am shielded by His faithfulness.
14:32: Christ will be my hideaway. In You my
14:40: God I trust. You are strong and here with us.
14:48: In You my hope remains.
14:54: Christ will be my hideaway. A thousand fall around me though death looks me in the eye.
15:19: Evil shall not have a victory while the
15:26: Lord is at my side. God in power raise my
15:34: Savior. I no longer fear the grave.
15:42: God in power raise my Savior.
15:47: I no longer fear the grave.
15:54: Through this fragile life and evermore.
15:59: Christ will be my hideaway. In You my
16:08: God I trust. You are strong and here with us.
16:16: In You my hope remains.
16:22: Christ will be my hideaway. In You my
16:31: God I trust. You are strong and here with us.
16:38: In You my hope remains.
16:44: Christ will be my hideaway. Christ will be my hideaway.
16:55: Christ, You are my hideaway. We're going to sing another psalm this morning out of Psalm 147.
17:06: And it says, Praise YAH. For it is good to sing praises to our God. For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
17:14: Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He is the one who heals the brokenhearted and who binds up their wounds.
17:22: Who counts and numbers the stars. He gives names to all of them. Great is our
17:28: Lord and abundant in power. His discernment is infinite. Yahweh helps the afflicted.
17:35: He brings down the wicked to the ground. And the song we're going to sing is to the tune of the hymn,
17:41: Only Trust Him. And it's, O praise the Lord for it is good. O praise the
17:57: Lord for it is good. To sing unto our
18:03: God. It is bright and pleasant for His saints.
18:10: To tell His praise abroad. The Lord built up Jerusalem.
18:19: He seeks the exiled sons. He binds their wounds and gently heals the brokenhearted one.
18:38: Our Lord is great. He calls by name and counts the stars of night.
18:47: His wisdom is unsearchable. And wondrous is
18:55: His might. The Lord lifts up the poor and needy.
19:02: He brings to Him and gives
19:10: Him thanks. And He shows to fear and He delights in those who trust
19:36: His love. O Zion, praise the
19:41: Lord your God. His wondrous love God has.
19:47: In your strength He will your children bless.
19:57: You may be seated. And for our scripture reading today, will you please turn to the book of Romans to chapter 9.
20:11: Romans chapter 9. And while you're turning there,
20:20: I'll just make mention of one announcement that needs a little bit of an explanation. If you were at the conference last weekend and you were here for lunch, then you know that we got smoked pulled pork sandwiches for lunch during that conference.
20:34: That was kind of a game changer for us because Brian Ashby brought his massive smoker and did all of that work for us in preparing that meal for us to enjoy.
20:43: And that kind of opened up a whole new horizon for us as a church body in terms of what we can enjoy.
20:50: It kind of feels like we are Dorothy and we've stepped out of the house. It was black and white. And now we've come out into a land of brilliant and bright colors.
20:58: So it was suggested to me last week that maybe at our church picnic this year that we have smoked meat of some sort.
21:06: Someone suggested smoked tri -tip. And I seconded that motion. So that's what we're going to intend on doing for our church picnic the last
21:18: Sunday in July, July 30th. So mark that on your calendar. Take note of that. Now here's something that is always a challenge with a body of believers this size is getting the food approximation correct.
21:30: And we've tried this where we have people sign up on a sign -up sheet. But then we always have people sign up who don't show up or show up who don't sign up.
21:39: And then there are people who signed up and or sorry, there are people who wish they had signed up, but they didn't sign up, but they intend on showing up.
21:47: And they think they're probably people who signed up but aren't going to show up. So it all come out in the wash. And it just ends up becoming a big mess up.
21:52: So we want to avoid that this year. And since we're talking about tri -tip and not just hamburgers, it's obviously a more significant investment.
22:00: We've decided that we could probably just if everybody who plans to come pitches in $5 per person per head, that would cover the expense of it.
22:09: So there will be a registration process at some point next couple of weeks where you'll be able to put a little bit of skin in the game.
22:15: If your intention is to be here. And then anything that's left over, we will freeze and put away for the harvest dinner at the end of October.
22:28: So that is the plan. And I just want you to put that on your calendar and keep that available and know that that's coming in the next couple of weeks.
22:35: Romans 9 beginning at verse 6. We're going to read from verse 6 to the end of verse 18.
22:43: But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, nor are they all children because they are
22:52: Abraham's descendants. But through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
23:05: For this is the word of promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but there was
23:11: Rebecca 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.
23:32: Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then?
23:38: There's no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
23:44: I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
23:55: For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.
24:03: So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. Will you stand with me as we pray?
24:13: Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we are here because of your sovereign grace and your sovereign choice and your goodness which you have put upon us before the foundations of the world by choosing us in Christ and bringing us to your
24:28: Son. We thank you for your sovereign grace which has redeemed a people for your own possession who are zealous for good works.
24:36: We thank you that all of this was accomplished by the work of our triune God, a Father who chose us, the
24:42: Son who came to offer a sacrifice for our sins and the Spirit who draws and woos and regenerates those who belong to Yahweh.
24:51: So we thank you for this great mercy, we thank you for your great salvation and for the joy and delight that it is to be called your people and to gather together to worship your great name.
25:01: So we pray that you would strengthen us in our faith, in our love for you, in our affections for Christ, in our unity together, our love for one another.
25:10: And we pray that you would be honored and glorified through our worship and in the affections of your people this day, both now and forever, we pray in Christ's name.
25:48: And rise upon the storm His darkened hands
25:57: With never failing skill He fashions all
26:04: His righteousness His sovereign will
26:33: No fearful sin But trust
26:57: Him for His grace As His will ride
28:02: But sweet will be the flight To bear
28:11: And scan His work in vain God is
28:16: His own interpreter And He will make
28:21: Him lay So when tears are great
28:59: We trust in You When tears are great
29:16: And comforts new We hope in mercies ever new
29:22: We trust in You ...focus
29:36: to the Lord's table, which will be observed after the service this morning. So we go to Romans chapter 5, verses 18 to 21, which says,
29:46: So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
29:58: For as through one man's disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many were appointed righteous.
30:15: Now the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
30:23: So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign, through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
30:30: Lord, we're going to sing, Have Mercy on Me. My sins against You can't be ignored, they will be punished.
31:02: I know Your law demands it, for You are just.
31:14: If You would count everything that I've done wrong, who could stand?
31:27: But there's forgiveness with You, God. Have mercy on me.
31:37: Have mercy on me. A broken and a contrite heart
31:44: You won't turn away. Have mercy on me.
31:54: Have mercy on me. Because of Your steadfast love.
32:07: Have mercy.
32:18: You gave Your Son to make atonement for wrongs
32:27: I have done. And You, with Jesus, fulfilled
32:37: His servant. I never would if You would stand.
33:00: But there's forgiveness with You, God. Have mercy on me.
33:09: Have mercy on me. A broken and a contrite heart
33:16: You won't turn away. Have mercy on me.
33:25: Have mercy on me. Because of Your steadfast love.
33:43: Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me.
33:50: A broken and a contrite heart You won't turn away.
34:01: Have mercy on me. Because of Your steadfast love.
34:17: Because of Your steadfast love. And now in your
34:36: Bibles will you please turn to the book of Hebrews to chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12.
34:51: Specifically verse 15. And when you've found your place there, let's pray together before we begin.
35:00: Our Lord, we ask You to sanctify us today by Your truth. We pray that You would make
35:07: Your word live to us. That You would give us eyes to see it. We may behold in Your word light and truth and wonderful things.
35:18: The Spirit would be our teacher and that Your word would be our guide. And that Your glory and our contribution to that may be our everlasting concern.
35:28: Be honored today we pray through our meditation upon Your word. You would draw us near to You and sanctify us by this truth in Christ's name.
35:36: Amen. We are provided a number of examples in Scripture. Some of them exemplary examples of men and women who were above reproach in their lives.
35:47: Some examples are rather questionable where you kind of wonder where were they at spiritually? What exactly became of this person?
35:54: And some of them are just examples of utter corruption and depravity and evil in every way.
36:00: Good examples would include men like Joseph of whom very little ill is said of Joseph at all in the record.
36:06: Some people would even argue that the revealing of his dreams to his brothers was not itself anything sinful or prideful.
36:15: And if you rule that out, then there's virtually nothing said of Joseph that would make you think he had any problems or faults at all.
36:22: His record is almost without blemish. Then of course there's Moses and Paul and Peter and John in the
36:28: New Testament. Jonathan, Old Testament Jonathan. Those are men that are noble and admirable.
36:34: Then you have, and that's not to say that they're without sin by the way. They obviously are sinners but it's to say that their record is virtually unblemished in terms of major marks against them.
36:44: David, if it were not for the sin with Bathsheba and the killing of Uriah, which admittedly is quite an ugly mark on his otherwise prestigious resume,
36:54: David was a godly man, a man after God's own heart. Then there are questionable examples in Scripture.
37:01: Men like Samson. What do you do with Samson? He's an intriguing character, isn't he?
37:08: Was Samson saved or not, do you think? Think he was? I wouldn't have wanted to be handcuffed to him when he died.
37:16: I'm not sure, and Solomon is the same. Now, early Solomon is different than later Solomon. Early Solomon is good
37:23: Solomon, later Solomon is bad Solomon. When Solomon dies at the end of his life, did he die in faith as a man of God justified or did he not?
37:31: If you follow the record of Ecclesiastes, you say at the end of Ecclesiastes, which was written towards the end of Solomon's life, you get that commendation of live and fear
37:40: God and this is the whole duty of man and his commendation to remember God in the days of your youth. Well, is that Solomon just saying, look,
37:47: I've rolled the dice and I've done everything I can to sort of find the best way to live and here's what I think is probably the best way to live, whether Solomon really longed for and loved that advice or not is a matter of questionable record.
37:58: I don't know. Jephthah, what about Jephthah? Balaam, here's the guys, everything bad about, everything about Balaam that you see in Scripture is bad.
38:09: And yet he was a man who was credited to be in profit and spoke the word of God. These are kind of questionable examples. And then there are men who are just outright evil men like Pilate and Caiaphas and Judas.
38:21: And then Judas's Old Testament counterpart, Esau. Esau is
38:27: Judas's Old Testament counterpart. Esau is a man that is held forth to us as an example in every bad way.
38:36: Nothing good is said about him. And he actually is mentioned here in this introduction to the final warning passage in Hebrews in verses 15 through 16 and 17, 15 through 17.
38:48: Let's read these verses together. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled, that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
39:03: For you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
39:12: Notice that Esau is mentioned in a context that speaks of falling short of the grace of God.
39:19: That describes an apostate. He is mentioned here in the introduction to this final warning passage in Hebrews.
39:25: He is, in fact, an example of an apostate. He's also listed right after the bitter person or the one who, the root of bitterness that springs up and defiles many people.
39:37: He's mentioned in that context. He is an example of an apostate. One whose mind, affections, whose loves, whose perspective is entirely carnal, entirely fleshly, entirely of this world.
39:51: That is Esau. Now the last time we were together we looked at verse 15 and we saw there that there is an exhortation to us to guard against apostasy in our own midst.
40:02: And we notice there the essence of apostasy in verse 15, that is coming short of the grace of God. That describes the essence of what apostasy is.
40:10: Then we saw there the effect of apostasy. It is a bitter root that springs up and defiles many. And now we come to the example of apostasy, which is
40:18: Esau in verses 16 and 17. Esau's actions and his significance were probably, assumedly well known to the original readers of this epistle, but they're probably less known to you and I, at least some of us who are here, probably well known to many of you.
40:37: But I could assume that there are some people here who would wonder, okay, who is Esau and why is he held forth as an example of an apostate?
40:44: Why does scripture regard him as an immoral and godless person? What justifies that? So here's what we're going to do over the course of the next couple of weeks.
40:53: Today, we're going to observe here in this passage, just briefly in verses 16 and 17, three things that define or describe
41:02: Esau. We're going to notice them here. And then we're going to go back to the account of Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis, and we're going to do a kind of a biographical sketch of Esau.
41:13: Now, we did something similar to this back in Hebrews 11 with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now we get to sort of take a bit of a rabbit trail, as it were, and we're going to talk about Esau and how different he was from both
41:25: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his brother. And then with that background, and we're going to observe when we get back to Genesis, we're going to observe the three things that we're going to note here in Hebrews 12.
41:36: Then with that background, we will come back next time into Hebrews 12 and we'll take a look at those three things about Esau.
41:43: Now, notice, first of all, here's our outline. If we were going to get to the outline today, this would be it, but this is your outline for maybe next week.
41:50: So the rest of this is just going to be a biographical introduction to the person of Esau. First, we notice
41:56: Esau's carnality. Look at verse 16, that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau.
42:03: Immoral and godless, driven by his lusts, driven by his flesh, a man of sight, a man of sensuality.
42:10: That is Esau, a carnal person. Second, we'll notice Esau's contempt. That is, he despised his birthright.
42:17: That also, verse 16, he sold his own birthright for a single meal. His carnality and his contempt for God's promises, they come together to create this action whereby he sold his entire birthright for a mere meal.
42:33: And then third, we'll notice the consequences in verse 17, for you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
42:45: His rejection by God for his act of selling his birthright, by the way, that brings up two other related theological issues that we will address at some point in connection with Esau in the next several weeks.
42:57: One, God's sovereignty in the whole affair. Because God said of Jacob and Esau, Jacob I've loved and Esau I've hated.
43:06: This describes his sovereignty over this because God said to Rebekah, the older will serve the younger.
43:12: So God obviously chose Jacob, as Paul says in Romans 9, before either of them had done anything good or evil.
43:19: And so how is it that God is sovereign and yet the sins of both of these men play out in their lives to accomplish
43:24: God's purposes? That is the joining of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
43:31: So that's one thing. The second thing is that very, what some people regard as a difficult statement, I don't regard it as all that difficult, that you find in the book of Malachi in Romans 9,
43:41: Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated. That's not his uncle saying that of him.
43:46: That is not a cousin saying that of him or an enemy. That is God who says of Jacob and Esau, Jacob I've loved and Esau I've hated.
43:52: That's mentioned in the book of Malachi and it's repeated in the New Testament in Romans 9. So we're going to wrestle through that at least in some regard regarding these two men.
44:02: So his carnality, which is his character, his contempt, which is his action. Character always expresses itself in actions.
44:09: And then the consequences of that, which was Esau's destiny. Now keep that in your mind and we will return here at some point.
44:17: Turn back now please to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25.
44:25: Once you land there, I'm going to give you a little bit of a background and some context here. We covered many of these events when we went through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in Hebrews chapter 11 and we looked at the order of those patriarchs is significant.
44:40: We looked at their lives and the things that were in their lives that the author of Hebrews points to as evidences of the kind of faith he commends in Hebrews chapter 11.
44:50: We looked at the example of those four men. So let me offer a little bit of background.
44:55: If you were to turn back and don't do this to Genesis chapter 12, you'll see that when Abraham comes on the scene,
45:00: God promised him a son and made a covenant with Abraham. Abraham at that point was somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 years old.
45:08: Ishmael was Abraham's attempt to fulfill that promise through a handmaid because Abraham had the promise that God had given him of giving him that land in which he was to sojourn.
45:20: Descendants, a lineage, as well as one seed, one through whom all of the nations of the world would be blessed.
45:25: That was what God promised to Abraham. So Abraham was 86 when he tried to fulfill the promises of God in his own way by taking his wife's handmaid as a wife, a concubine, and having a son through her.
45:38: That was Ishmael. He was 86 then, but then Abraham was promised again after multiple other reiterations of this promise.
45:46: Abraham was promised a son at the age of 99 and finally his son
45:51: Isaac, the son of promise, was born to Abraham when he was 100 years old. And Abraham's wife,
45:56: Sarah, who had been barren up till then, was 90 at the time that Isaac was born. Now, in case you are new here and you're wondering, does
46:03: Jim take all of the ages in Scripture as literal? Like Methuselah 969, Abraham 100,
46:09: Sarah 90 when she was born. The answer to that is yes. Because those ages pose no problem at all for somebody who holds to a young earth creationist viewpoint as I do and takes
46:19: Scripture in the sense in which it is. It fits within a Christian context and a Christian theology. And when we think of Abraham being 100 years old, don't think of somebody that you know that is 100 years old.
46:28: And think, okay, Abraham was that old and then he lived another 75 years after that, so what must he have looked like and walked like and talked like when he was 175 years old?
46:39: Ages were not calculated in like dog years or cat years back then, so that's not how they counted them.
46:45: But the aging process was different in the early years of creation. And it sped up after the flood.
46:53: So yes, Abraham at 175 years old would probably be like me at 80 or 90. Abraham at 100 would be like me today at 50 because it was about half or double for him.
47:03: Now, before that, it was different. So yes, I take these numbers as actual numbers. So Abraham lived then to be 175 years old.
47:11: Now, if Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born and he lived to be 175, homeschool kids help out your other people, parents went to public school with this one, that means that when
47:23: Abraham died at 175, Isaac was how old? 75. We find out later on in the text that when
47:29: Isaac was 60, that is when his sons Jacob and Esau were born to him. If Jacob and Esau were born when
47:35: Isaac was 60 and Abraham died when Isaac was 75, then
47:40: Jacob and Esau would have lived how many years with their grandparents? 15 years. And we have every right to presume that Jacob and Esau would have grown up in the same tribe, in the same neighborhood.
47:52: They would have been very familiar with Abraham. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Esau, they would have lived together for at least 15 years.
48:01: Now, Isaac was the son of promise, not Ishmael, which was Abraham's firstborn. God's choice was for Abraham's lineage to continue through Isaac, and for all of the blessings of the covenant and the blessings promised to Abraham, they would continue through Isaac and not through Ishmael, which included the land blessings, the physical blessings, material blessings, as well as the spiritual blessings.
48:21: Now, Isaac was 37 years old when his mother Sarah died, and he took a wife three years later at the age of 40.
48:29: And at the age of 60 is when Rebekah, his wife, had Jacob and Esau.
48:35: Hoping I'm keeping all of the numbers correct, as well as the timeline and the names. So now
48:41: Genesis 25, verse 19. Now, these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son.
48:48: Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the
48:53: Aramean of Padon Aram, the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife. Isaac prayed to the
48:59: Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren, and the Lord answered him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And again, he was 60 when this happened.
49:08: So they'd been married for 20 years, obviously trying to have children. She was barren and unable to conceive.
49:13: So Isaac begins to pray to the Lord for a child, for his wife to conceive. Why would Isaac be praying for that?
49:20: Isaac would be praying for that because he knew that the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, everything God promised to Abraham, would be given to him.
49:28: And if he has no child, nobody to whom to give those blessings and to pass those things on to, then the promise of God would fail.
49:36: But Isaac was convinced that God would keep his word, and so he is here praying in accordance with God's word.
49:41: I know that there has to be somebody who comes from my loins. I am the child of promise, and therefore I must be able to have children at some point.
49:48: His wife is barren, so he begins to pray for a child in order for God to fulfill his word. Verse 22,
49:54: But the children struggled within her, and she said, If it is so, why am
50:00: 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.
50:09: And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. She was going to have twins, and these two twins would be the heads of two different nations.
50:18: Esau became the father of the Edomites in Scripture. Jacob became the father of the Israelites.
50:23: His name was changed to Israel later in the record, and he becomes the father of those twelve sons who become the twelve tribes of Israel.
50:30: Now, Rebecca could not foresee how this pregnancy was going to come about, so she inquired of the
50:35: Lord, and the Lord revealed that she was having twins, and that in these two twins something would happen which would be unexpected and out of the ordinary, namely that the older would end up serving the younger.
50:46: Now this is the opposite of what would have been expected in that culture. In that culture, what would have been expected was that the older would, the older one would be born, who was born first, would end up receiving the inheritance and the blessings and the family lineage and all that encompassed that, and then that anybody else born after him, the younger, would end up serving and being part of that family by serving the older.
51:10: But here the Lord reveals it's going to be the opposite. The older one is going to serve the younger one. Verse 24, when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
51:20: 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 they named him
51:30: Jacob, which means a trickster, a tripper, one who supplants or trips somebody else. And Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them.
51:37: Now this is the birth order, Esau first and then Jacob. But God had said that the older one would serve the younger.
51:43: In other words, in terms of the purposes and promises of God, this birth order would be reversed. And it would actually be the older that would serve the younger instead of the younger that would serve the older.
51:53: Now this structure of the older one receiving the inheritance and the promises and the blessings and everything, that was known as primogeniture.
52:02: Primogeniture. And it was the primo meaning first, and genitura, a
52:08: Latin word meaning person's birth or referring to a person's birth. This was the practice that was customary in ancient cultures.
52:15: It was almost universally practiced at the time. And in fact, there are places today and cultures today where this is still what is practiced.
52:22: And that is that the firstborn son would receive the entire estate of what was handed down to him.
52:28: And everybody else that was born into that family would then become servants or contributors to that household. And this estate then would belong in the sole possession of the firstborn son.
52:39: Now, if you're a firstborn child here today, you're thinking to yourself, we need to get back to the Bible. Why have we ever departed from God's law and God's word and such sound economic principles?
52:50: If you're not a firstborn child here today, then you're thinking to yourself, I'm glad we got rid of that practice and we don't do that in our culture.
52:57: But observe how much different this is than the way we practice it today. And there's a case to be made that this is a superior way of doing this.
53:05: Not that I'm going to do this with my kids, but there is a case to be made that this is superior to what we do today.
53:11: What we do today is we take an inheritance or an estate and we give half to the government because of roads or something and then the other half we distribute equally amongst all the children and the grandchildren so that everybody gets enough to know that they got something but nobody gets enough to do anything with.
53:32: In an ancient culture, the firstborn child could receive the training and the discipline and everything that was necessary so that when the entire family business, the entire family estate was trained and transferred into his possession, he could handle it well and all of his siblings would also contribute to that and that wealth could be passed on from generation to generation to generation and only increase in size and expanse over time.
54:00: See how superior that is? We just take it now and we just divvy it up, everybody gets a little bit and then it's gone.
54:06: Not in those ancient cultures. Which is why Abraham who was a very wealthy man would have handed down his entire estate to Isaac who himself was a very wealthy man and so when he gets ready to give this on to his sons, the firstborn,
54:18: Esau, would naturally get this but God had said the older is going to serve the younger. This is going to be flipped on its head with these two boys.
54:26: This was a practice regulated by the Mosaic Law. I'm going to give you Deuteronomy chapter 21 verses 15 through 17.
54:32: Here's how the law of Moses regulated this practice. If a man has two wives and the one loved and the other unloved and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife, then it shall be in the day he wills that he wills all that he has to his sons.
54:50: He cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved who is the firstborn.
54:56: But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all he has for he is the beginning of his strength.
55:04: To him belongs the right of the firstborn. In other words, if a man has two wives, one of them he really prefers, one of them not so much but the one that not so much has the firstborn son, he can't take the child of the woman that he loves and give him the inheritance and the rights of the firstborn.
55:18: He has to honor the birth order and give it to the woman, the son of the woman whom he doesn't love as much because that is his firstborn son.
55:25: Now this passage in Deuteronomy does not prescribe polygamy, it doesn't endorse polygamy, it doesn't excuse polygamy.
55:31: It regulates the law of transferring inheritances in a polygamous situation. It's quite different. So the law provided for a way of passing on wealth from one generation to another.
55:40: In the case of Jacob and Esau, the birth order and the blessings would be flipped. Paul uses this as an illustration of God's sovereignty in Romans 9 which we read at the beginning of the service.
55:52: Rebekah also when she had conceived by one man, our father Isaac, for though the twins were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad, listen, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand before they had done anything good or bad,
56:07: God chose Jacob. And that's described in Romans 9 as well as Malachi, Jacob I've loved and Esau I have hated.
56:15: The purpose of God in choosing Jacob over Esau is secured in two events in Jacob's life.
56:22: Two events. And here they are. First, Esau sells his birthright to Jacob.
56:28: Second, Jacob stole the blessing from Esau. These are two separate events. Esau sells the birthright to Jacob.
56:36: And then second, Jacob steals the blessings from Esau. Those are the two events through which, and they happen years apart, those are the two events through which the predetermined plan and purpose of God in choosing
56:47: Jacob over Esau would end up fleshing out in time and history to accomplish what
56:52: God had predetermined should happen. Let's look at the first one. Esau sells his birthright. Genesis chapter 25 verse 27.
56:59: Now verse 26, where were we at? Yeah, that mentions Isaac being 60 years old when she gave birth to him.
57:07: Verse 27. Yeah, I'll catch up.
57:12: I appreciate the help over here. That was good. Genesis 25 verse 27. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents.
57:23: Now the exact age of the men when what is about to unfold happens is a bit hard to determine. Obviously, the men are grown by this point.
57:30: We can, later in chapter 26 verse 34, Esau is 40 years old when he takes wives.
57:36: So we can presume that this exchange over the birthright happened when they were probably in their 20s, maybe their early 30s.
57:43: In other words, these are not teenage boys sitting out in the sandbox playing with their Tonka Troys bartering over things that they know nothing about where one makes a flippant comment.
57:53: Yeah, I promise I'll give you this if you give me that. It wasn't that at all. These were grown men who understood everything concerning the implications of what is about to go down here.
58:02: Verse 28. Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game but Rebecca loved Jacob. Now, obviously, this is dysfunction in the family to some degree here.
58:11: We talked about that earlier in Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 29. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished.
58:19: And Esau said to Jacob, Please, let me have a swallow of that red stuff there for I am famished. Therefore, his name is called
58:25: Edom which means red. Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright. Esau said,
58:31: Behold, I am about to die. So, what use then is the birthright to me? Now, Jacob wanted the birthright.
58:38: Before we go on to the rest of this exchange, what was the birthright? The birthright for Jacob and Esau, listen carefully, was not just the entire wealth of the family which is
58:50: Abraham and Isaac and everything that had been accumulated for multiple generations. It wasn't just that.
58:56: It was more than that. For these two brothers, the birthright included the promises given to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12 that are reiterated in chapter 15 and 17.
59:07: In fact, when we were in Hebrews chapter 11, we spent two full Sundays just tracing the theme of what
59:12: God promised to Abraham all the way through the book of Genesis. Two full Sundays. All the way to the end of Genesis chapter 50 with Joseph in Egypt and the promises that he made his brother make concerning his bones.
59:25: This promise to Abraham of a land, a nation of descendants after him as well as all of the physical materials, spiritual blessings, all of that is incorporated in that.
59:36: It is not just a promise of physical blessings but also the promise of spiritual blessings that is at stake with Jacob and Esau.
59:44: So everything that belonged to Abraham physically, materially, yes, but all of the promises that concern eternity that belonged to Abraham are also to be handed off to either
59:55: Jacob or Esau. That is what is at stake. In fact, if you look up at verse 5 of chapter 25 you see that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
01:00:05: So now Isaac possesses everything that Abraham had including the promises, including the covenant.
01:00:11: It's all coming through Isaac and will go to either Jacob or it will go to Esau. God's purpose was that the older would serve the younger.
01:00:19: In other words, God's purpose was that Jacob would receive all of those blessings. The Abrahamic covenant was physical blessings but it was also immense spiritual blessings which were far more important.
01:00:32: In fact, the crowning jewel of the Abrahamic covenant, the crowning jewel of what God promised to Abraham was not physical blessings and it wasn't the land and it wasn't the nation.
01:00:42: The crowning blessing of the Abrahamic covenant was God Himself. God promised
01:00:47: Himself to Abraham. Genesis chapter 15 verse 1, after these things the word of the
01:00:53: Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying do not fear Abraham I am a shield to you your reward shall be very great.
01:01:01: Some translations translate that I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.
01:01:07: What God what God promised to Abraham was Himself. He swore Himself to Abraham.
01:01:13: That was the crowning jewel of the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 17 verse 8 I will give you and your descendants after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their
01:01:24: God. See the land came with the promise that God would be their God. That they would be His people and He would be their
01:01:30: God. And they would worship Him and He would bless them. And there would be this eternal relationship between God and Abraham's descendants who were
01:01:37: His descendants by faith. That was the promise. God promised Himself to Abraham and it is that over which
01:01:43: Esau is bartering. Not just an earthly inheritance. It's not just all the food in the cupboard and the animals and the servants.
01:01:52: It's God Himself who is leveraged by Esau for a bowl of soup. In the covenant
01:01:58: God Himself was the jewel of it and this is what Esau is dealing with. Now back to the event verse 29.
01:02:04: When Jacob had cooked stew Esau came in from the field again he was famished and Esau said to Jacob please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there for I am famished therefore
01:02:12: His name is called Edom. But Jacob said first sell me your birthright. Esau said behold I am about to die so of what use is the birthright to me?
01:02:20: Now Esau was hungry and he wanted to satiate his hunger. Jacob had prepared a meal whether he was expecting
01:02:28: Esau or not we don't know but Jacob had prepared a meal. And here's something that is key and I want you to notice two things here in this exchange between Jacob and Esau.
01:02:36: Here's something that was key. Esau was hungry and the scripture testifies that's using the word famished twice.
01:02:43: So he was hungry. He wasn't hungry he was really hungry. He was famished the passage says. But here's the key.
01:02:50: Was this the very last meal that Esau was ever going to eat? You probably felt hunger.
01:03:00: Has maybe there's a couple people here but I would venture to say that most of us here have not felt hunger in a way where we thought if I don't eat in the next 20 minutes
01:03:09: I genuinely will die. We may have felt that we would die but we could wait until the next meal right?
01:03:17: And here's the thing this was a wealthy family you're never going to convince me that this was the only food within walking distance.
01:03:26: They had servants they had animals they had other people around them this is probably a tribe of people and a tribe of people attached to Abraham and his descendants probably living in a community probably could have walked next door and got food for nothing but he doesn't do that instead he is famished and look how he describes it here his description give me a swallow of that red stuff there for I am famished.
01:03:51: He saw it and he craved it. Esau felt in that moment that he had to have not just food he had to have that food just that red stuff there
01:04:02: I want a swallow of that I'm famished. Give me something to eat it was pleasing to the eye of Esau.
01:04:09: He saw what he wanted and he desired it and he feels a craving and a lust over it a hunger for it and he yields control of himself his faculties his mind to that lust to that craving and ends up trading for that his entire birthright.
01:04:26: This is why scripture in Hebrews chapter 12 refers to him as an immoral and godless man because this is the heart of immorality.
01:04:34: A craving that you have in the moment that you say I am willing to trade anything at this moment for that thing.
01:04:42: And that lust and that craving will make you do the most foolish and irrational things imaginable.
01:04:49: And Esau as a man who was given over to those lusts yielded everything rational everything logical everything sensible to satisfy to satiate that craving that desire that lust in that one moment it was all about food.
01:05:04: I'm convinced that he could have gotten food nearly anywhere else around him within walking distance and I'm convinced that he was not going to die if he didn't have a swallow of that red stuff.
01:05:14: But this is the trick with lust. It convinces you that you will die if you don't satiate that desire.
01:05:20: That's a lie. Always a lie. Every single time it is a lie. If you don't satiate that desire in the moment you will not die.
01:05:30: And this is what Esau says. I'm about to die. What use is the birthright to me?
01:05:36: That is peak drama queen language if there ever was any in Scripture. I am about to die.
01:05:42: Was he about to die? He wasn't about to die. But his lusts convinced him in that moment that if he didn't satiate them he would die.
01:05:53: That is a lie then. It's always a lie whenever we believe it. It's always a lie. If you've had young kids then you know what it's like to hear this same plea at 2 .30
01:06:01: in the afternoon. Son, we're going to eat dinner at 5 .30. You can wait three hours. No, if I don't have something to eat right now
01:06:07: I'm going to die. And so every day of their life is trying to convince them that they can go three hours without food.
01:06:13: That no, you're not going to die. We are going to eat just like we do. Every evening at that time you'll get another meal just like you did yesterday, the day before, the day before that.
01:06:21: You can go three more hours without food. But no, in the moment for people who can only think about what they feel and what they desire in the moment.
01:06:29: In the moment they can think about nothing else but satiating that desire. That is exactly where Esau was.
01:06:35: If I can't have this right now I will perish. And he wouldn't have perished. Fleshly lusts become merciless tyrants.
01:06:46: Merciless tyrants. They cajole us. They threaten us. They lie to us.
01:06:51: And then they enslave us. And they make men and women willing to do the most irrational and foolish things for a moment's gratification.
01:06:59: This is why Paul says in Romans chapter 6 yield your members as instruments of righteousness to life or of sin which leads to death.
01:07:06: You become the slave of the one you obey. Obey righteousness you become a slave of righteousness. Obey sin you become a slave of sin.
01:07:14: And the more you yield yourself in obedience to those two things the more enslaved you become to them. Esau was a man who was given to yielding himself to every lust and craven desire imaginable over the course of his whole life.
01:07:27: So that when the desire for food struck he felt like he was going to die if he didn't get some food. Now, he wasn't about to die but look at how nonsensical his thinking is.
01:07:37: If he was truly about to die let's grant the premise of his argument for just a moment. But if Esau was truly about to die without that food listen that is when the birthright would mean the most.
01:07:49: Right? That's when it is at that moment you would not want to exchange the birthright for food.
01:07:54: Because if you are about to die then you know that one of two things is going to happen. Either you are going to die and you are going to get all of the spiritual blessings that are promised to Abraham and his descendants in which case if you're about to die you don't want to sacrifice that for a bowl of soup.
01:08:08: Or you are going to God is going to so preserve your life so as to fulfill
01:08:13: His word by giving you descendants and at this point Esau is not even married. So this birthright should have been of utmost importance to him because he should have seen in the birthright
01:08:23: God's promise to give him everything and if that is what God is promising to give through that birthright then that's when he wouldn't want to have gotten rid of it at all.
01:08:31: But the fact that he is willing to trade it for a bowl of soup demonstrates that in Esau's mind listen this is key all he could see were the physical blessings of the promise.
01:08:40: In other words Esau is thinking this I feel like I am about to die if I don't have this soup.
01:08:46: Jacob wants to offer me a bowl of soup for my birthright. If I deny the bowl of soup then I am going to die and everything that my father
01:08:52: Abraham gave to my father Isaac all of that is going to be given to Jacob anyway in which case all of the blessings promised to me mean nothing to me how could he say that?
01:09:01: Only if he was thinking solely in terms of the material aspects of the blessings. Just the material inheritance.
01:09:08: What good does an inheritance of a million dollars do if you are dead? Right? But what good does eternity and the land and heaven and God do you if you are dead?
01:09:20: Everything. But all Esau could see was the physical blessings promised. And he realized or at least he reasoned to himself
01:09:28: I am willing to exchange all of that for this bowl of soup because if I die what good does all the money in the world do me?
01:09:35: That is his carnality. This is why Hebrews 12 verse 16 says let there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal.
01:09:44: The word godless means common or worldly or profane. It describes someone with no room in their thinking for God who leaves
01:09:51: God out whose reasoning and mental math does not include any spiritual verities at all.
01:09:58: Somebody who thinks only in terms of the moment only in terms of the immediate. Esau was in every sense of the word carnal.
01:10:06: Look at verse 33. And Jacob said first swear to me.
01:10:12: And he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. I would love to have been a fly on the wall inside the tent when that happened.
01:10:22: When Esau came in and he was hungry and Jacob did he prepare it thinking Esau was going to be there?
01:10:28: Was he setting a trap? We don't know. It doesn't say. But he has a bowl of soup and Esau says I'd like a bowl of soup.
01:10:34: And Jacob says all right sell me your birthright. When Esau said all right did
01:10:41: Jacob go whoa whoa wait what did you say? Seriously? This was not a rash decision by Esau because he realized once Jacob said okay let's swear to it first.
01:10:56: Here's my piece of paper. I Esau devote to Jacob hereafter called the one who receives this and all the legal language all the way down sign here at the bottom let's call in a notary have them notarize this.
01:11:08: What Esau did was not a rash reasoning on his part. It was in fact a determinate well thought through intentional act because when
01:11:19: Jacob said all right swear to it Esau swore to it. So it wasn't just words that slipped out that Esau then had to live with.
01:11:27: It was a decision that Esau made. He did the math in his mind and said I'm willing to exchange everything for a bowl of soup.
01:11:37: So verse 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and he drank rose went on his way.
01:11:46: That next line verse 34 is one of the most stunning sentences in all of the book of Genesis.
01:11:53: Thus Esau despised his birthright. That's his contempt. His carnality
01:12:00: I will trade you anything for a bowl of soup. His contempt he despised his birthright.
01:12:07: In other words this was not an exchange that was just haphazardly worked out through trickery and sleight of hand and deceptive language by Jacob.
01:12:16: This was in fact an expression of Esau's contempt for the promises of God as well as the
01:12:24: God of the promises. You see scripture says Jacob I've loved Esau I've hated. Esau hated
01:12:32: God. Now you can understand why
01:12:37: God would say that regarding Esau? I can. He hated everything God loved.
01:12:43: He hated everything God valued. He hated everything of any worth or significance. He is a profane and reprobate man in every sense of the term.
01:12:53: Thus he despised his birthright. And listen if you if you were somebody reading Genesis for the very first time and you saw what
01:12:59: God promised Abraham back in chapter 12 and reiterated again in chapter 15 and expanded then in chapter 17 and you've been following this whole thing you think man what
01:13:07: God has given to Abraham is literally everything and then he hands it off to Isaac and Isaac gets all of that cherished possession it's incredible Isaac's going to give it to one or two of these boys and it's due to Esau he's next in line
01:13:22: Esau despised that birthright you'd have to stop at the end of verse 34 and catch your breath at such a statement thus
01:13:28: Esau despised his birthright. And here is Esau's contempt and herein lies the lessons for us let me give you three of them.
01:13:35: Number one Esau showed contempt for the eternal and he preferred the present. He traded eternal blessings eternal riches eternal joys for the satiation of one desire in the moment this is as immoral and profane in thinking and reasoning as it can possibly get
01:13:53: Esau said to himself I want that now I will give anything for it I have to have it now I will trade anything to satiate this desire.
01:14:01: That was what was in the back of his mind. And here is the sad irony of the whole thing
01:14:07: Esau would be hungry again in a few hours. So it's not even a lasting satisfaction because that satisfaction is not going to last is it?
01:14:18: This is exactly what happens in the heart and the mind of everyone who is addicted to or looks at pornography.
01:14:25: They think I have to have this now I will satisfy this desire now they give into it they trade away spiritual and eternal things for temporary present now gratification and how long does it take before the desires come back?
01:14:41: You will never permanently satisfy that lust. Never. Never permanently satisfy that lust.
01:14:51: Notice how different Esau is than his grandfather Abraham. Abraham is commended for his faith back in Hebrews chapter 11 when he was called he obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise as a foreigner in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob fellow heirs of the same promise for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is
01:15:15: God but as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
01:15:20: God for he has prepared a city for them. In other words Abraham's faith Abraham is commended for a faith that was able to see what he could not see with the naked eye and so he lived by faith looking forward to something he never realized he believed that promise and he was not willing to trade anything even the convenience and comfort of permanent dwellings in the land that he was promised he wasn't willing to trade anything for that promise how different is that than Esau?
01:15:46: Abraham saw things you cannot see with the naked eye a city a future a land the fulfillment of a promise resurrection none of which can be seen with the naked eye and Esau saw only things that can be seen with the naked eye
01:15:59: Abraham lived by faith and not by sight Esau lived by sight and not by faith know how the mighty have fallen this is the grandson of the great
01:16:06: Abraham a man whose faith is renowned and Esau had no part in it second
01:16:13: Esau showed contempt for the spiritual and desired the physical he traded something of inestimable spiritual worth for a bowl of soup the king
01:16:21: James back in Hebrews chapter 12 says he traded this for he sold his birthright for a piece of meat but the word there is not translated meat it doesn't mean meat it's a word used for food or for eating so it wasn't even meat now there may have been some meat in the lentil soup that Esau got for this but it's not like it was a beef stew it was lentil soup it's like one of the worst soups you can make it's not even a good soup it's not clam chowder it's not midwest chowder it's nothing like that it's just lentil soup red lentil soup that's what he sold all that for was red lentil soup not even meat a single bowl of that not a a buffet of smoked tri -tip crab legs shrimp scampi ribs lentil soup
01:17:15: Phil Johnson regarding this text he said that it's pretty plain fair over which to barter away eternal blessings same thing can be said about every time we give into a craven desire that's pretty plain fair over which to barter away your eternal blessings third
01:17:34: Esau showed contempt for what is valuable and desired the worthless utterly worthless
01:17:41: God's blessings his favor his presence his heaven the land the eternal dwellings the resurrection to life
01:17:50: Esau bartered all of that away he was a godless man who had no room in his mind for what was truly valuable in fact he had no spiritual eyes with which he could see the value and the promises that God had given to him no ability to perceive that whatsoever and thus we see his carnality and his contempt and they go together
01:18:09: Esau was a man driven by his earthly sensual fleshly appetites despised real riches and the person who that describes will trade away anything for the most temporary worthless and temporal things in this world see to it that there be no one among you who is a godless and immoral person like Esau who traded away everything for a bowl of soup as the worst exchange in human history thus
01:18:41: Esau despised his birthright he is an immoral person who committed a short -sighted immoral act he did it deliberately he did it intentionally and his act was an expression of his contempt for the god of the covenant now we're not going to get to the stealing of the blessings today which was the second event
01:19:02: I told you it's two events the first Jacob Esau sells the birthright the second is Jacob steals the blessings so we'll get to that next time then we'll go back to Hebrews chapter 12 now what about Jacob is
01:19:15: Jacob without any sin in this he certainly is not couldn't he just have given his brother a bowl of soup is there anybody here who was thinking that the whole time couldn't he just have given his brother a bowl of soup wouldn't that be the kind gracious and godly thing for Jacob to see
01:19:30: Esau famished and even if Esau is given to his lust he thinks I have to have this soup right now give me that bowl of soup
01:19:36: I'm willing to give anything for it couldn't Jacob just have said brother look you helped me out a couple weeks ago when you helped me shear the sheep
01:19:42: I'll give you a bowl of soup it's no big deal couldn't Jacob just have done that was Jacob scheming here he was was
01:19:50: Jacob in sin here I think he was I think Jacob was sinful in his intentions he was sinful in his ploy to get this from Esau and Esau was sinful in his despising of God and is willing to trade all of that for a bowl of soup but God was working through the sin of both of these men to accomplish what
01:20:10: He predetermined from before the foundation of the world God is behind the scenes orchestrating even their sinful choices and their sinful actions to accomplish something that is for the good of His people and for the glory of His name so we can acknowledge
01:20:25: Jacob's sin because the narrative here does not excuse it it doesn't commend Jacob's actions but whatever else we may say of Jacob we can also say this he valued the birthright didn't he?
01:20:37: he valued the birthright was he a schemer? a trickster? yes was he deceptive? you'll see next time yes he was very deceptive but he knew the value of the birthright he knew what was promised by God to Abraham and to Isaac and he knew he wanted that we can say this of Jacob he didn't despise
01:20:55: God is he a sinner? yeah he was a sinner but he didn't despise God he didn't despise the
01:21:00: God who was promised to him in the birthright now the apostate which is the one that we're talking about here
01:21:05: Hebrews chapter 12 remember Esau's mentioned the context of warning about the presence of apostates in our midst the apostate thinks little of what is promised in the gospel and walks away from the temporary gratification walks away from them for temporary gratification of his lusts when things are good and being outwardly attached to God's people meets a need or scratches an itch or satisfies a desire the apostate is willing to be among us and hang out with us and pretend to be one of us but once along comes something that scratches a different itch and meets a different need and satisfies a different desire comes along they're gone for the first thing that comes trotting by that offers something better than what they think they get by being among God's people that's the heart of apostasy that is what
01:21:48: Esau demonstrated that is what we are to be on guard against it is trading
01:21:54: Christ and his gospel and every blessing that we are promised to satisfy temporary desires that's the heart of apostasy and listen though every sin that we commit is not the sin of apostasy every sin however small or big it is is in essence doing the exact same thing that Esau did you and I are
01:22:14: Esau every sin we commit is trading an eternal reward for the satiating and satisfaction of a temporary desire that is what is behind every single sin we make a transaction
01:22:26: I want this right now more than I want God that is the heart of every transgression that we commit and so every person in this room has been
01:22:37: Esau at one point in your life where you in an act that is unwise immoral craven and carnal in your thinking and in your desires have traded something of eternal worth for something of temporary value of worthless value because that is what is the heart of every sin in order to fight against sin we have to teach and train ourselves to see in God's promises and in His provision the things that are of true value so that we do not exchange those for the committing of sin we are called to fix our eyes on what is valuable in the gospel
01:23:15: God has pledged Himself to us as well just as God pledged Himself to Abraham in the covenant in the gospel
01:23:22: God has pledged Himself to us God in Christ said this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me this is my blood in the new covenant this is the new covenant in my blood do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me
01:23:37: Christ has pledged Himself to us He has betrothed Himself to us His chosen people He has provided Himself to us in the gospel
01:23:45: Christ who is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant came and when He died on a cross He gave Himself for us and He gave
01:23:51: Himself to us to the fullest extent so that you and I may have life so that son of Abraham that descendant of Abraham the
01:23:59: Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect sinless life and never disobeyed the Father because He was
01:24:05: God in human flesh and in His obedience He suffered the curse and the wrath of the
01:24:11: Father so that you and I even in our disobedience may be blessed by God and not cursed this is a great exchange
01:24:19: He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness so that yes every sin we have ever committed is in itself a betrayal just in the same way as he saw betrayed
01:24:30: God it is in fact the same kind of betrayal the same kind of expression of a fallen heart but because of what
01:24:36: Christ has done for us on the cross you and I can be forgiven of those sins and declared righteous in His sight and we can only have that because Christ has pledged
01:24:45: Himself to us in His death and His resurrection in the new covenant which we celebrate when we observe the
01:24:51: Lord's table as we turn our hearts to communion I just want to remind you that if you are not a believer here today do not eat and drink of this cup you are eating and drinking judgment to yourself accountability and judgment you have been warned that if you are not in Christ you are partaking of something that only increases your judgment on judgment day you must repent and believe in Jesus Christ turn from your sin first and you can let the cup and the tray pass from before you nobody is going to judge you it is not what this is about nobody is paying any attention to you whatsoever if you are a believer we partake of the
01:25:25: Lord's table after we confess our sin and acknowledge not only our unworthiness to partake in this but also
01:25:30: Christ's worthiness which gives us the ability to partake in the Lord's table we remember
01:25:35: Him and His death His forgiveness that He the forgiveness that He has purchased with His blood and the righteousness
01:25:42: He has provided by His very life so we'll take a couple of moments here we'll pray quietly I'll ask the ushers to come forward and then we'll begin with we'll close in prayer
01:26:11: Our Father we thank You for the great mercy that You have lavished upon us undeserved grace
01:26:17: You have given us not only forgiveness for our sins but the righteousness of Your Son We thank
01:26:24: You that the One who was worthy of all glory and comfort and convenience and honor was
01:26:31: Himself disfigured and dishonored for our sake so that He may pay the price for our sin and so we remember and recognize before you this morning that we are
01:26:42: Esau He is the perfect illustration of every sin we have ever committed that has dishonored
01:26:47: You we turn from Your grace and Your promises Your provision and Your righteousness so that we may satisfy ourselves do what we desire in the moment we confess that to You and we are thankful that there is forgiveness in Christ if we were to name and recount all the things that we have done wrong we could never even if we had a thousand tongues to do it ever ever do it completely for our hearts are wayward and we were without Christ we were without grace we were dark dead in our trespasses and sins we thank
01:27:21: You that You have loved us we thank You for Your grace electing grace as well as Your redeeming grace which has brought us near by the blood of Your Son thank
01:27:32: You for doing everything that is necessary for our salvation and thank You for the blessings of forgiveness in Christ's name