Edom Sowed And Edom Reaped

I'm sure you've all heard and many of you even have mentioned it some to me after last week, but I'm sure many of you have heard that what you, that we reap what we sow and that is a very important thing for us to know and to let ourselves know because it comes from Scripture.

It comes from actually from the book of Galatians so we will definitely touch on that at some point.

We reap what we sow. It is not just a biblical fact but it's a very common principle of life that even non -christians, atheists, and people that reject

God's Word would have to, if they're being honest, recognize it. Now some people will falsely call this karma.

I'm sorry there's no such thing as karma. There is the principle that what you sow you will reap but there is no fake religions and all these different things you hear about.

So you'll hear people talking about well you know that's just like karma or what goes around comes around.

Well yes it's true that what goes around comes around but it's because of the biblical nature of sowing and reaping.

Well we talked about the pride of Edom last week and I want you to understand that when we sow pride, when you sow self -exaltation, when you sow self -sufficiency, if you sow or plant self -importance, you may actually see growth at first.

You'll feel taller, you'll feel stronger, you may even feel that you are above correction.

But my friends, pride never produces true nourishment for your mind, for your soul, for your spirit.

It cannot and it does not actually feed the soul. It robs the soul.

It never builds lasting fruit. It only spreads thorns into your relationships, into your decisions, and ultimately into your walk with God.

Scripture is clear. This should all be very familiar to you. We typically say pride goes before a fall.

Well the actual verses in Proverbs chapter 16 verse 18 it says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

If like Edom, which was known for their pride, if you sow pride you'll reap destruction.

And the thing is, it may not come overnight. Sometimes people get away with it for a long time.

People become very crafty in how they hide their sin, they hide their pride, they hide behind walls of pride.

We even see this when we study things like narcissism and how people are so able to convince themselves that it's everybody else's problem.

If they would just get in line it would all be fine because there's no way it's me.

Well, Edom was like this. Ah, it's Israel's problem.

Oh, we didn't let them pass by. Remember we talked about this in the book of Numbers last week. They're coming out of Egypt.

They wanted to pass by and Edom's like, nope, figure it out. This goes all the way back to Jacob and Esau.

We talked about this and how Esau pursued Jacob and hated his brother. In fact, in Genesis chapter 27 and verse 41 it says, so Esau bore a grudge against Jacob over his birthright and because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him and Esau said in his heart the days of mourning for my father are near then

I will kill my brother Jacob. And this history which started with Jacob and Esau has gone all throughout the

Old Testament history. Dealing here in Obadiah when Edom now is still giving

Israel grief and we're gonna see that when Babylon came in and did what they did,

Edom just sort of stood back and was like, nah, you deserve it. And that's what your pride will do to you.

And it may not come overnight, the harvest of your pride, but it will come.

You see, the mercy of God is like this though. We can choose what we plant today. Humility sows peace and repentance sows restoration, but pride, if left in the ground where you plant it, especially in your soul and spirit, will always grow into something that will wound you in the end.

See, have you ever been around someone that's really prideful, really arrogant, really narcissistic? They come off as they've got it all together.

Everything's great, everything turns up roses for them, they don't have any problems, you know, they constantly tell you, look at me,

I've got this and I've got that and I'm this and I'm that and they have this this air about them when they walk and how they talk and all these things.

And what you don't realize when you study this stuff is they're actually extremely insecure people.

If you ever worked under a micromanager or somebody that is one of those real extra just negligent, bossy, just not a good person to work for, but they come off as a really high producer or really, you know, we really just care a whole lot and all this stuff, it's because they're really insecure.

They don't trust their people, they don't trust themselves, they have a whole lot of self -doubt. It comes out as pride and in their minds and in their souls it is prideful, but the problem is they're putting all their trust in something that can't produce anything for them.

They're putting all their trust in what they can do. Self -exaltation, their own self -sufficiency, their own self -support.

And when you put yourself full bore into yourself, yes, you'll see some growth.

I mean, if you think about it, if you were to plant certain things that were very prone to getting weeds, you know, you don't have to do anything to grow weeds in your yard.

We just seem to grow and they grow quickly and annoyingly so. You have to actually do something about them to get them gone.

They just grow very naturally and, you know, people sometimes will move up that ladder or have, you know, what looks like a good circle of friends or they'll do very well and, you know, it seems like they're doing very well so you say, well, they must be doing something right.

But see, down deep behind all that there's sin and there's weakness and insecurity and all these things and it sets you up for destruction and that harvest will come.

And see, Edom sowed and Edom reaped. This place of Edom in the south, they certainly sowed and planted a lot of things.

And if you were to go and look through their history and, you know, the Chronicles and all these different places in the

Old Testament that talks about them, you'll see them constantly attacking Jerusalem, causing problems.

We saw this in Numbers where they wanted to pass by safely through their land on the King's Highway and they said, nope.

And if you try it, we're gonna come out and meet you with the army force and deal with you. And so you see this all throughout their history.

And here we are in Obadiah, this prophecy by the vision of Obadiah. Last week we looked at what pride can do to you and it eats you up, it spits you out, it leaves you vulnerable, it leaves you lonely.

And we saw all this and now what I want you to see is the different ways that Edom sowed their own pride and their own self -exaltation and self -sufficiency.

And I want you to see what they reaped as a result. Well, Edom sows and Edom reaps.

Number one, Edom sowed violence. Look at verse 10. It says, because of violence to your brother

Jacob, you will be covered with shame and you will be cut off forever. We saw in Genesis 27

Esau said, look, there's gonna be a period of mourning for my father dying, but then

I'm coming after you. I, in my heart, am determining today I'm gonna kill my brother,

I'm gonna seek my own retribution, and I'm gonna make this right as I see it fit. This violence starts in Genesis, it carries all the way through.

So many times you see them causing violence for Jerusalem, causing violence for Jacob.

And it says, because of this violence to your brother Jacob, you're gonna be covered with shame and you'll be cut off forever.

We know from history that when there was a time, when after the events of Babylon in the 70 year captivity,

I believe it was in the Persian Empire, that Edom was basically wiped off the planet. They came under judgment, they came under an army force, and they were taken out and cut off forever.

And there's no traces of them today as a result. Well, Edom also, we see they sowed indifference.

Look at verse 11. It says, on the day that you stood aloof. Now this word here, stood aloof, in the original is a word that simply means you're standing on the other side, or you're standing on a side in front of what's happening.

And the implication here, and the reason why they say aloof here, is the idea of that you're standing somewhere, you're seeing what's going on in front of you.

You know that you should act, but you don't.

For whatever reason, you decided I'm not getting involved in that.

Now, this was certainly wrong for Edom because, and we're gonna see here, they actually found great joy and triumph over the day that Babylon comes in in 586

BC and destroys the temple, kills many of the people, and kills all the priests in the streets, and whoever's left gets taken off to slavery.

And you know, Edom's sitting there saying, hey, I ain't getting my hands dirty.

I'm not getting involved with that. Complete indifference. And as much as they may have wanted to separate themselves from Jacob and Esau, as much as they wanted to say, well hey look, you know, it's not our brother anymore.

God doesn't allow that. And these people, we talked about this last week, they would still trace their heritage all the way back to Jacob and Esau.

But when it came to the time to step up and to help them when

Babylon's coming, they're like, hey, nah, we're just gonna stay over here at our side.

We're gonna stand aloof. It said on the day he stood aloof, on the day that strangers took his wealth captive and foreigners entered the gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you too were as one of them.

Notice that there. In their minds, they're standing aloof, they're standing back, they see what's happening, and their argument would be, well hey, we didn't attack them this time.

We're not destroying the temple. We're not killing them. We're just not getting involved. Is that what

God says about it? No, he says you too were as one of them. You're involved.

You're a part of this. Now we can look at this and say, well, you know,

I mean, this is Old Testament. This is something that Edom did. My friends, we're not

Edom. We're not the people that Obadiah was specifically written to. We're not in this time frame or in this time period involved in these events.

But there is application. There is principle to take from this. Have you ever stood by and been indifferent to one of your fellow

Christians' plights when you knew you should have done something? Have there ever been times where you say, well,

I know I should preach the gospel to this family member or this friend or this person

I see in the grocery store. I know that, you know, this person's hurting and you know, I have funds or I have clothes or I have whatever it is

I could do to provide for their need. But we, for whatever reason, we say, well, you know, I don't want to get involved. I don't want to get my hands dirty and I don't want to have to get involved and mess with this.

I just, it'd just be better if I just stay back. I'm sure we've all, for honest, done this at some point in our lives.

Indifference is just a horrible thing for a Christian to have. You say, well, you know, it's not action.

It's not, I'm against them. Well, you're just coldless.

Your heart's cold. Indifference is the result or the product of a cold heart.

One that, this cold heart that isn't, you know, you're not for anybody and you're not actively against them.

You're just there, taking up space, not helping.

Not hurting, but one of your brother's sisters has need. We should never be indifferent in our lives.

We should never sow a sense of indifference in our minds and our hearts. It's not what we're called to do.

Edom is here as an example for us of what not to be. And look, you know,

I'm not even talking about, you know, people outside our walls here. We start here. We shouldn't be indifferent to our fellow

Christians. And I think we do a good job of this here. We pray for each other. On Wednesday nights, y 'all are very quick to say, well, there's this person or that person, or you'll mention something here in service like we had today if somebody needs to be prayed for.

That shows that your hearts aren't cold. That shows that you're thinking of others. That shows that you've got other people on your mind that you know there's a need.

We readily, whether it's this American Cancer Society, or was Lottie Moon, or whatever, we have these things that come up throughout the year.

And, you know, as you can. Some of you may not can. That's fine. But those that are able, you'll give to these things.

Or maybe there's something you give your time to. So in our church, I see a lack of indifference, which is a good thing.

I don't see us saying, well, I don't know that we really should give to that. I mean, plenty of people take care of it.

They don't need us. No, we say, hey, here's a need. Here's someone that's hurting.

Here's someone that's just lost someone. Or maybe they're having a tough time at home, or whatever it is.

And maybe all we can do is pray for them. But maybe there's something more we can do. Having a heart that's bent towards loving the

Lord supremely, loving your brothers and sisters in Christ, loving your neighbor as yourself. God will impress on your heart what he wants you to do.

And you have to be careful, because there's always the Pharisees lurking that says, well, what you did wasn't good enough.

You should have done what I did, or you should have done this. It's between you and the Lord. Sometimes the

Lord will move you to give money, or give your time, or to pray, or to do, maybe literally give clothes off your back to someone.

And sometimes he'll move you not to do something in a certain situation, because maybe he's moving someone else.

This is why prayer is so important. Interfacing with God, talking to God, letting him know that, hey,

Lord, I see this person, or I see this need. Do you want me to get involved here, or do you want me to hang back?

That's not what's going on here with this. This is Edom saying, we know we should get involved.

This is our heritage. This is our family. We know we should do something. But you know what?

If we go over there, Babylon's just gonna kill us too. So you know what? I think we're pretty good right here.

Indifference is...there's a lot of things that can kill a church. But my friends, indifference is one of those things that will kill it quicker than anything else.

I don't care if you have three people, a hundred people, a thousand people, or ten thousand people.

The state of health of a church is not based in quantity or how many people occupy the pews.

It's based in spiritual health. And there are churches like ours that may have few in number, and we can be far healthier than churches with far more people if they're completely indifferent.

If they're completely indifferent to the needs of the people or the needs of their community, they're not doing anything for God.

They're building a kingdom unto themselves. Don't ever shortchange us because we may not have full pews.

God could certainly bless us with that in the future, but I am far more concerned with your spiritual health.

Because if you're spiritually healthy, that is far more valuable than anything else.

And that's what they were lacking here. Well, Edom also we see that they sowed prideful superiority.

Look at verse 12. It says, Now do not look on your brother's day with triumph.

What he's saying here, don't look on Jerusalem's day here with Babylon coming in and destroying them with a sense of triumph, the day of their misfortune.

Do not be glad over the sons of Judah in the day when they perish, and do not let your mouth speak great things in the day of their distress.

This one might hit home a little bit, too. It hits home for me because I certainly have been guilty of this sin.

Have you ever had somebody in your life they gave you trouble that was just a thorn in your side?

Maybe it's a work associate, maybe it's a boss, maybe it's a family member, whatever it is. And you knew this is a prideful person, this is an arrogant person, they don't love

God, or maybe they're not living like they should, whatever it is. And then one day their harvest comes, their chickens come home to roost, so to speak.

And instead of hurting for them, instead of wanting to try to maybe help lead them to a better way, you stand back and say, yep, let me turn on the

TV because it's about to get good. Oh, I'm loving this. They're getting just what they deserve.

Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, did that happen? Oh, it was too bad you deserved it.

See, I can do that easily because I have done that before.

I'm not proud of it. Certainly something I had to repent of and get it out of my system, but I've done that.

I've had people where you almost salivate the mouth just hoping, is this gonna be the day they finally get it?

Oh, man, let it be today when I'm here to see it. Oh, man, so much repentance.

I hate that I would be like that, but I've done that. I hope you haven't, but I'm pretty sure we're all human here, so we've probably been tempted at the very least to do that.

That's what they're doing here. Superiority. They're getting what they deserve. Look at us.

We're still over here. Our nice mountainous terrain and our city of Petra and our nice rock, you know, mountains that protect us and, you know, poor little old

Judah down there. They're getting slaughtered. Their temple's getting destroyed. You know what? I don't feel bad for them.

They're getting what they deserve. We've been telling y 'all for years, you're gonna get it. You just wait, and now here it is, and you're just like, yeah, boy.

They sowed and planted this prideful superiority. That's not who we, that's not who

I should be. It's not who you should be. It's not who we should be. I struggle with this with some of the people have done wrong to me recently.

Sometimes it's still a struggle. You hear if they had a misfortune, and you're tempted to think, well, you know, they had it coming.

This is a very, very hard sin for us as Christians to deal with, y 'all.

It's not easy. Look, I don't think pastors are excluded for this. It's hard for me.

I think because it's so based to our flesh, it's so very natural to want to get back at people or see people get their just due, or to see yourself succeed and them not.

It's so, it takes a lot of humility and a lot of courage and a lot of strength, spiritually speaking, to overcome that.

Now, the good news is, with the power of the dwelling Holy Spirit, we can. And we should be learning to do this.

But it's very, very difficult temptation to overcome. We also see that they sowed sinful desires.

Verse 13, it says, do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their disaster. Indeed, you do not look on their calamity with triumph in the day of their disaster, and do not send out for their wealth in the day of their disaster.

What's being said here when it says, do not send out for their wealth in the day of the disaster? It says, do not enter the gate of my people.

So, what would happen is, maybe not literally on the day, but at some point shortly after that, these people would go into a city that had been destroyed and like scavengers.

Well, you know what? Babylon might have missed something. So, let's look under this rock. Or, you know what?

They might not have thought to go in that room. Let's go see if there's some gold or some treasure. There might have been something they left behind.

So, we can go in like little vultures. And I'm sure you've all seen it, right? You can always know when there's roadkill nearby.

Because you'll see the vultures circling, right? Or you'll see them on the ground. Well, my friends, we don't need to be vultures circling around other

Christians, especially. But anybody, for that matter, that's getting there just do.

I mean, when it's finally happening, we don't need to be looking at it with a sense of superiority or a sense of like circling vultures.

We need to be looking on them with concern. And that's what's doing. He says, don't go in there. Don't go in there and take what you can find with your sinful desires.

We also see that Edom sowed wicked betrayal. Look at verse 14. It says, do not stand at the fork of the road to cut down those among them who escape.

And do not deliver over their survivors in the day of their distress. What is this verse saying?

What it's saying is the people that survived, refugees or, you know, maybe they're not in the city anymore.

Or maybe, you know, Babylon comes through and maybe somehow by the grace of God they got missed.

And, you know, they weren't killed or carried off into slavery. And Edom was going in and fighting them. Hey, hey,

Babylon, you missed one. You missed one. Got this person over here. Turning them over.

Cutting down those who escape. Instead of letting them get by and get gone, they say, oh, hold on. Hey, hey,

Babylon. It was modern days. They'd be getting on their phone and saying, hey, Babylon. Yeah, hey,

Babylon, you missed one. Come back. Wicked betrayal. This is betrayal.

Now they may not have seen it that way, but God considers it to be that. He said, because this goes all the way back to Jacob and Esau.

You're tied at the hip. You're blood. This is your brother you've done this to. And so now we see all these things they've sowed.

All the things that Edom has planted here. Let's see what they reap.

First, we see that Edom reaps judgment. Verse 15, it says, for the day of the Lord, the day of Yahweh draws near on all the nations.

And here's what we were talking about earlier. The whole, you know, what goes around comes around kind of idea. It says, as you have done, it will be done to you.

Your dealings will return on your own head. Now look, if you were saved by the grace and mercy of God, you are forgiven.

There is no condemnation on your sin. There's no wrath that you will face. I don't matter, you know, if you sin or have faults and all these things, we can live knowing we have eternal life, knowing that we're forgiven.

But my friends, just as there's no such thing as sinless perfectionism in this life, because we still reside in sinful flesh and we have temptation to sin, it's also not true that when you're saved, that somehow you're saved from all consequences of your sin for the rest of your life.

You're saved from the judgment of your sin and you receive eternal life. But my friends, consequences for sin in this life will still exist.

You say, what do you mean? Well, there's some obvious natural consequences. You go outside and drive erratically or drive drunk or go excessively over the speed limit and run into a tree.

At minimum, your car's destroyed and you're hurt and or dead. That's a consequence to sin.

You can't just go out and sin and do whatever you want and there's not gonna be any consequences. Sometimes there's natural consequence, sometimes there is, you know, sort of like unintended consequences, sometimes there's disciplinary consequences.

Sometimes like this, if you're gonna be prideful and sinful, sometimes God's gonna let you get away with it for a period of time and then he's finally gonna bring some judgment into your life to teach you how not to live.

Because as any father would, they're gonna chastise their child. While we're in this life and we are saved from the penalty of sin, but we're not saved from the ability to sin yet.

We one day in eternity will have sin will be eradicated, it will be no more, we'll have a body fit for eternity where we will get to enjoy that.

But for now, we still have the ability to sin and if you give yourself over to it, it will come back.

Your dealings, your actions will return on your own head. You cannot go out as a

Christian and lie and lie and lie and lie and think there's gonna be no consequences.

You can't go out there and murder someone and think there's not gonna be any consequences. Now there is consequences to sin, that's what they're seeing here.

Now here specifically, this was a specific day of the Lord, a specific day of judgment that was prophesied in the books, in the prophetic books, that we're saying, we think of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah is saying, hey Babylon's coming. Isaiah deals with this, yes Babylon's coming, but also there's prophecy that when after Babylon comes, after the 70 years, then

God's gonna bring judgment on all the nations involved. Even on Edom, that basically said, look what we know, hey we didn't go in there and destroy

Jerusalem, we didn't destroy their temple, we're just hanging back, we didn't do nothing.

God says, no, you're gonna get judgment because of your pride, because of your indifference, and all that.

And so this was a day of judgment that was gonna bring back on Edom their own dealings and their own sin.

They also reaped of the drunkenness of their sin. Look at verse 16, it says, because just as you all drank on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually, they will drink and swallow, and they will be as they never were.

When you drink of the cup of sin, it's one thing when you, now it just doesn't excuse it, excuse it by any stretch, sin is sin, but it's one thing to just taste of sin and say, ugh, that's wrong,

I shouldn't be doing that, I repent and move on. But these nations, and sometimes some people will get drunk on their sin, they'll get drunk on this sin, and this is the drunkenness of their sin and coming back on them.

They also reaped a total loss. Look at verse 17, but on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

What's being said here? God's saying, yes, they did go to Babylon, yes, they did,

Jerusalem faced judgment for their sin, and I was right in bringing that day of the

Lord upon them. But I'm telling you, Edom, and other nations that have been involved in this, there's coming a day where my mountains gonna be holy again, my people are gonna be in it again, and they're gonna possess your possessions.

Everything's gonna be turned around on you. And we can read about this in other Old Testament books like Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, when the people do come back and they rebuild the temple, and you know the big thing from Haggai is all the younger ones are looking at the new temple going, yay, we have a temple!

And all the older generations sitting back going, yeah, but it's not as glorious as that other one.

So you see generational differences even in Scripture, don't we? How we look at things differently.

The last thing we see here is that Edom reaped total destruction. Look at verse 18, it says, then the house of Jacob will be afire.

So at the end of all this, he's saying when now when judgment now comes back on you for your part in this, and I bring my people back to their land, and they rebuild their temple, and all these things, he says it's gonna be as if they're like a fire.

The house of Joseph, a flame. Notice the contrast here. But the house of Esau, he didn't say the house of Edom.

See, Edom was trying to separate themselves. Oh no, I know we come from Esau, but no, we ain't got nothing to do with them over there.

That's all their fault. We're just standing back. We're indifferent. Inspired Scripture, he calls them the house of Esau.

He's saying go all the way back to Esau. The house of Esau will be a stubble, completely destroyed, nothing left.

It says, and they will set them on fire and consume them so that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau, for the

Lord has spoken. It's God's kingdom.

It's God's world. We're not going to read it now for time purposes, but if you go in and read verses 19 and 20 later, you see how it says, for example, those of the

Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, and so on, so forth. The exiles of this military force of the sons of Israel, so on, so forth, will possess this city, and so on, so forth.

This is Obadiah in his vision explaining, this is what God's saying he's about to do. These people are going to come in and take over this place.

This nation is going to possess this nation. I'm going to make it all right. I'm going to restore it. I'm going to bring judgment.

Why is all that important? Because verse 21, it says, the Saviors, now don't misunderstand here.

It's not talking about Jesus Christ, the Savior. It's talking about saviors in a sense that if you had a group of people that were coming in and helping you, you may refer to them, oh man, you saved me.

You're my Savior here. You saved me out of a ton of trouble. The Saviors, lower case

S, Saviors will ascend about Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to the

Lord. We see these Saviors brought out in other scripture that we don't have time to read, but if you look at the book of Nehemiah chapter 9, it talks about how the

Saviors and all the different people that were involved from the writing of the decree to return to the land, to Nehemiah and his crew that rebuild the walls, and all those things that went on, all those different people that were instrumental to restoring back to where they were.

The Saviors, the different nations that are possessing other nations, the judgment coming on Edom, all of it because it's part of God's kingdom.

God decides who possesses what. Just as God sent judgment on Jerusalem, he will bring judgment on their enemies and restore

Israel. And that's what we see here, and that is the message of the book of Obadiah.

Your pride will lead you to a fall. Don't be indifferent. Don't have a sense of superiority towards others.

Don't act and live like they did. Heed the warning of what happened to Edom. Now, we're not a nation that doesn't mean, okay, well

God's going to completely destroy America like he did Edom. No. This prophecy was to Edom. They were the nation that was told you'll be brought to stubble.

The principle applies to us. If you live your life in such a way just like the folks of Edom, God would have to bring a judgment on you at some point.

You cannot get away with sin forever. It will find you out. So what are you sowing? What are you planting?

What are you sowing in your life? What is our church planting? Are you serving the king?

Are we serving the king? Or like Edom, do you think you're the king?