back to index2021-07-04 Esau, Immoral and godless brother
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to be reading from 00:00:10.360 |
Our focus will be on verse 16 and 17, but I want to read it in context. 00:01:02.040 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would guard this pulpit, Lord God, that only your word 00:01:10.840 |
I pray, Father God, that your word that you have ordained would convict our hearts, cause 00:01:16.360 |
us to be sanctified in a greater and clearer vision of Christ, that we would live and invest 00:01:23.360 |
in eternal things, Lord God, not for temporary. 00:01:27.000 |
So open our eyes, soften our hearts, our ears, that we may hear and understand and be convicted. 00:01:39.000 |
Alright, so the text that we were looking at is verse 14 and 15, the previous weeks. 00:01:46.120 |
It was given to us in the context of encouraging and also warning us that no one missed the 00:01:54.200 |
And so we looked at last week how the grace of God can be missed by people who are not 00:02:01.880 |
Grace of God can be missed by a nominal Christian who believes or at least accepted the cultural 00:02:12.080 |
Or even for genuine Christians who are just fatigued and is thinking about quitting or 00:02:16.840 |
taking a break to not miss the grace of God and to continue to strive after God. 00:02:21.600 |
And so we've been given examples in chapter 11 about what that perseverance looks like. 00:02:27.920 |
The cloud of witnesses that have gone before us who lived a life of faith and because of 00:02:34.240 |
Some of them who experienced great joy, great fruit, and some of them who were martyred 00:02:41.880 |
And all of them as an example of what it means to persevere in their faith. 00:02:46.120 |
This morning we're looking at verse 16 and 17 with all the examples that are given us, 00:02:50.400 |
the positive examples that are given us in chapter 11. 00:02:53.160 |
We're given one example in chapter 12 of what not to do. 00:03:00.080 |
Of Esau's example when he says that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau 00:03:05.360 |
who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 00:03:09.320 |
And that one particular act is highlighted above all the things that are mentioned in 00:03:19.520 |
So I know that some of us, you know, we have people that we may have looked up to in the 00:03:25.440 |
It's like that's the kind of life that we want. 00:03:27.360 |
Whether they are, you know, people in ministry or somebody who's really committed their life 00:03:35.480 |
My guess is that you also have people that have gone before you that you've told yourself 00:03:39.940 |
at some point, it's like I'm not going to turn out like that. 00:03:42.760 |
They may have been people who actually said that they were going to go into full-time 00:03:53.440 |
And so whether it is a positive example or a negative example, they are given to us in 00:03:59.880 |
And so Esau's example here, he says that his sin is something that we ought to learn from 00:04:05.960 |
because in verse 17 he says, "For you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit 00:04:13.540 |
For he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears." 00:04:16.640 |
So we want to look at this morning, what is it about Esau's sin that is so hideous that 00:04:24.000 |
in verse 16 that it is called immoral and it's called godless? 00:04:30.300 |
And that even when he wanted to repent, he said God rejected it. 00:04:34.940 |
What was it about what he did that above all the cloud of witnesses, his single act is 00:04:40.960 |
highlighted for us saying that do not be like Esau, immoral, godless, who could not repent. 00:04:49.660 |
Just in case that maybe we missed something in Genesis. 00:04:53.480 |
So let's go back and take a look in Genesis chapter 25, 28-34 because this particular 00:05:00.200 |
event that is highlighted for us where he forsook his birthright is mentioned in these 00:05:06.820 |
So I want you to take a look at it so that we'll know what we're talking about when 00:05:12.600 |
Verse 28 it says, "Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah 00:05:19.060 |
Now when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished. 00:05:24.000 |
And Esau said to Jacob, 'Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am 00:05:32.280 |
Up to that point it just sounds like any other family, right? 00:05:34.800 |
You had an older brother who likes to go out hunting, like manly man, right? 00:05:46.400 |
Nothing wrong with cooking, but it's just highlighting for us that that's a distinction. 00:05:56.340 |
And then the mother favored Jacob, the other son. 00:05:59.840 |
He comes back and so this is the event that caused the course of history for these two 00:06:06.360 |
Verse 13, "But Jacob said, 'First sell me your birthright.'" 00:06:13.640 |
He's like, "I'll give you some stew, but give me your inheritance." 00:06:17.840 |
Now, if Esau was a smart guy, he would have responded by saying, "My whole inheritance 00:06:26.640 |
But he says in verse 32, "Behold, I am about to die." 00:06:42.320 |
The course of these two families' history changes because of this particular event. 00:06:47.840 |
He came in, he was hungry, his younger brother was scheming with his mom so that he can have 00:06:55.080 |
The birthright basically at that time was the oldest son would get two-thirds of the 00:06:58.360 |
inheritance and then the other parts of it would be divided among the other siblings. 00:07:04.360 |
And all it was was a change of birthright where Jacob would get the two-thirds and Esau 00:07:13.840 |
He was so hungry, he said he was about to die and what good is my birthright? 00:07:26.120 |
So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 00:07:29.360 |
So I want you to understand culturally that in our culture, unless it's signed on paper 00:07:35.840 |
and you have a witness and then it's filed somewhere and the money is transferred and 00:07:43.120 |
If you're buying a house, unless the money is wired in and everything is complete, it's 00:07:50.920 |
At this particular time in the oral tradition, the promise in and of itself, the oath in 00:08:03.920 |
And so Jacob knew and Esau knew that the moment that he said, "Okay, I swear to you," that 00:08:14.240 |
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went on 00:08:24.960 |
Everything that he's warning us about, verse 16 and 17, is based upon this particular event. 00:08:37.960 |
And then course of history has changed because of that. 00:08:48.000 |
Do not be like Esau, who is immoral and godless. 00:08:57.360 |
Because we can look at this event and say, "Oh, I could see any one of us doing that." 00:09:06.180 |
And at that moment, you're famished and maybe say, "Oh, I'm about to die." 00:09:12.560 |
But how often do we say, "Well, what good is this? 00:09:30.540 |
How often do we say ... We don't say no, but it's just not that important right now. 00:09:38.280 |
I know it's important, but as of right now, it's not that important. 00:09:42.280 |
How often do we postpone or reject God's promises in our lives simply because of the things 00:09:53.440 |
And yet, God looks at this event and he says, "This was an immoral act. 00:09:59.280 |
First of all, in order to understand what's going on, we have to understand the context 00:10:04.600 |
That in a typical family, the firstborn, we get two-thirds of the inheritance, but this 00:10:12.120 |
You have to remember, Abraham was already a rich man when God called him out of the 00:10:17.440 |
He risked everything because God made a promise to him in Genesis that if you come out and 00:10:22.440 |
follow me and trust me and go out into this wilderness, I will bless you. 00:10:28.520 |
Your descendants are going to outnumber the sands and the stars. 00:10:31.880 |
I'm going to give you this land and I'm going to bless you so that you may be a blessing 00:10:37.160 |
Now, that is described in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3. 00:10:41.080 |
And if you continue to read the book of Genesis, you'll see that revelation, that covenant 00:10:46.040 |
is clarified even further that God's intention wasn't simply for Israel. 00:10:51.200 |
That that promise is really a promise for mankind, that God was going to establish what 00:10:56.600 |
he was going to establish through them for the salvation of mankind itself. 00:11:00.760 |
So the covenant promise, this birthright that he is talking about, is that promise that 00:11:07.800 |
And it's that promise that he held onto, that he was even willing to sacrifice Abraham's 00:11:14.080 |
son Isaac, and then God stops him at the very end and says, "Do not do that, for God will 00:11:21.120 |
All pointing to how God was going to fulfill this promise in Christ. 00:11:26.080 |
And so now, this birthright he's referring to is that covenant promise that's being passed 00:11:31.040 |
down from generation to generation to generation. 00:11:33.520 |
So when he says, "What good is this birthright to me when I'm about to die because I'm so 00:11:42.400 |
He's rejecting God's covenant promise that his whole generational family was based on. 00:11:48.560 |
If wealth was what they were pursuing, they could have packed up and just went back home. 00:11:53.360 |
They could have just went back home because they were already wealthy. 00:11:55.780 |
Why risk being out in the wilderness marching where there's fortified cities, where there's 00:12:01.360 |
Egypt and the Canaanites, who's much stronger than them, can easily crush them if that was 00:12:08.560 |
They risked everything simply because God promised them that through them, that through 00:12:13.480 |
their blessing, that it was going to overflow to the nations. 00:12:18.320 |
Now do you think that Esau and Jacob knew about that? 00:12:21.560 |
I can almost guarantee that this was probably talked about in that family constantly. 00:12:27.840 |
Every time they misbehaved, it was like, "Do you not know the covenant promise?" 00:12:33.080 |
I think this was passed on every family gathering, every Bible study, every festival. 00:12:46.040 |
So when he says, "What good is this birthright," he's saying, "What good is God's covenant 00:12:57.040 |
Think about how often we compromise because of our immediate need, the tyranny of the 00:13:02.840 |
urgent, because there's something urgent in my life right now, that this promise of following 00:13:09.480 |
Christ, the promise of eternity, it just doesn't seem practical at this moment. 00:13:15.920 |
So much of our compromise doesn't happen because we say, "No, I don't believe you, God. 00:13:23.520 |
We simply compromise and we just postponed obedience because I have something urgent 00:13:32.360 |
From our perspective, we can look at that and say, "Well, I can easily see myself in 00:13:39.240 |
But from God's perspective, He describes at the end of verse 34, "Thus Esau despised 00:13:52.400 |
He didn't recognize the weightiness of what it is that he had. 00:14:03.400 |
He didn't take God's covenant and say, "I don't believe you. 00:14:10.280 |
He just simply said, "Right now, what good is it? 00:14:14.700 |
Yeah, in eternity, yes, but right now, this is what's urgent. 00:14:21.040 |
Drifting in apostasy doesn't happen because we hate God. 00:14:26.440 |
Drifting in apostasy happens simply because we value something more urgent today than 00:14:32.520 |
the promises God has made for us in eternity. 00:14:36.360 |
So it's not something that, for most people, they consciously choose. 00:14:45.120 |
That's why it may seem like it's something innocent, but from God's perspective, He didn't 00:14:54.160 |
And so the warning that we are given through Esau's example is probably one of the most 00:15:02.360 |
How often we talk about, "I want to be a better Christian." 00:15:08.920 |
We talk about if somebody came and put a gun to your head and said, "If you don't deny 00:15:15.200 |
Jesus, you're going to get shot," and then we fantasize about what we would do in that 00:15:22.200 |
And we think about a scenario that probably isn't going to happen to 99.99999% of us. 00:15:28.400 |
And somehow we hang our hats on these big picture things like, "If we're persecuted, 00:15:33.440 |
if they came in with the guns and said, 'If you don't deny Jesus, we're going to kill 00:15:36.600 |
you,' I wonder what I would do in that situation," which is probably never going to happen. 00:15:43.080 |
We might get made fun of, maybe lose our tactics and status, the way that things are going 00:15:50.520 |
I mean, there are a lot of crazy things that are happening in our country right now. 00:15:55.460 |
But the practical stuff, where the rubber meets the road, is the example of Esau. 00:16:01.440 |
It's not the guns, it's not the military, it's not the militants, it's not the terrorists, 00:16:08.120 |
it's the day-to-day constant temptation of choosing what satisfies our flesh versus the 00:16:20.760 |
Let me show you this chart, which I've shown before, but I think this is one of the most 00:16:25.240 |
helpful things that I learned when I was younger about different categories of priority. 00:16:32.040 |
Everything in our life falls into one of these categories. 00:16:36.800 |
Important and urgent things are kind of like work, pay bills, school. 00:16:40.120 |
If you're not good at this stuff, you're going to fail in life. 00:16:45.840 |
You're not going to be able to graduate school. 00:16:53.840 |
Somewhere between high school and out of college, you realize, "Oh, shoot, I better get this 00:17:00.480 |
There's some of you who are in that category right now, where you're not good at that, 00:17:04.400 |
but you better be because if you're not good at this, you're homeless, basically. 00:17:10.320 |
The only reason you're not homeless is because your parents are covering you for that period. 00:17:13.720 |
But once you get out of that period, if you become an adult, this is important and urgent. 00:17:23.400 |
You don't just wake up one day and say, "I don't feel like going to work." 00:17:28.960 |
The second category is not important, but urgent. 00:17:37.320 |
You're in a softball tournament and you chose to be the captain of the team. 00:17:47.800 |
It became urgent because you took on that responsibility for yourself, but it's not 00:17:52.960 |
If you fail in that category, you're just a flake. 00:17:57.480 |
If you're not good in the first category, you're a bum. 00:18:01.520 |
If you fail in the second category, you're a flake. 00:18:07.040 |
You're just going to have a bad reputation if you're not good at it. 00:18:09.680 |
If you are a responsible human being, you'll be good at that too. 00:18:13.160 |
Don't volunteer for things that you're not going to carry out. 00:18:22.360 |
Those are when you become the local champion of some video game. 00:18:36.200 |
You joined fantasy football and you're dedicated 30 hours of your week to win whatever that 00:18:49.200 |
You play video games and your wife is always complaining and they have the right to complain 00:18:58.560 |
You're not a good husband if you spend too much time on this. 00:19:01.280 |
It's not sinful, but usually when you're tired and you're busy, you end up doing that to 00:19:18.880 |
But those are things that really don't matter. 00:19:22.440 |
There's nothing in that category at the end of your life you're going to regret. 00:19:26.840 |
"Oh, I wish I could have gone to the next level. 00:19:30.720 |
I didn't get to finish season seven of The Office. 00:19:39.040 |
The things that you're going to look back and wish you had more time or to reprioritize 00:19:44.840 |
are all in the last category, important but not urgent. 00:19:50.680 |
These are the things at the end of the year when you evaluate and say, "I'm going to have 00:19:53.680 |
my New Year's resolution," it's usually in that category. 00:19:58.880 |
If you ask most Christians, "What's the most important thing?" 00:20:03.560 |
Whether you genuinely believe it or just know the right answer, you'll say, "God," because 00:20:15.840 |
And then maybe you'll say, "Church," if you have your right theology. 00:20:24.720 |
Then after that, you'll say, "Myself," or "Health," or whatever that may be. 00:20:28.820 |
But these are all things that are not urgent. 00:20:30.360 |
You don't see immediate consequence if you neglect this stuff. 00:20:35.920 |
But the greatest consequences come from this area when you neglect it. 00:20:42.120 |
But because it's not urgent, what ends up happening is we live by whatever is urgent. 00:20:48.440 |
And so what's urgent is in the first category. 00:20:53.000 |
And then we feel guilty about the third category. 00:20:55.660 |
And then by the time we get to the fourth category, we don't have time. 00:21:00.720 |
Sad to say, so many people live in this manner, and then a year, 10 years, 30 years go by, 00:21:08.800 |
and they say, looking back at their life, "I wish I spent more time investing in this." 00:21:23.320 |
Because that's where the rubber meets the road. 00:21:26.360 |
When we talk about following Christ, and I want to be a great Christian, what does that 00:21:31.940 |
If persecution comes, like what am I going to do? 00:21:37.720 |
But the reality is, in the way you spend your time, in the way you spend your money, does 00:21:48.120 |
Does it reflect the things that you say are the most important in your life? 00:21:52.800 |
Or does that always end up being like if the situation is perfect, if I have all the time 00:22:02.360 |
The reason why Esau's example is so practical is because this is what we struggle with on 00:22:14.320 |
Even with all the crazy things that's going on with the government, and on July 4th, we 00:22:19.120 |
have the freedom to be able to make choices and vote and participate in civil things. 00:22:25.200 |
All of these things are the privileges that we have living in this country. 00:22:28.340 |
But the thing that where the rubber meets the road, where you struggle today, is what 00:22:37.280 |
What good is God's promises when I have to pay my bills? 00:22:44.160 |
What good is eternity when right now I have to find a job? 00:22:51.520 |
What good is giving glory to God if right now I have struggles with relationships? 00:23:00.360 |
And so this tyranny of the urgent is what causes people to drift, neglect, and then 00:23:06.840 |
wake up one day realizing that they don't believe anymore. 00:23:11.080 |
Their hearts have become so hardened away from God that they no longer feel anything. 00:23:23.160 |
It was day after day, week after week, month after month of choosing what satisfies our 00:23:35.280 |
There's a reason why this act is called immoral. 00:23:39.160 |
You know what's interesting is immoral in Greek is pornea, where we get the word pornography. 00:23:48.880 |
So in the ESV, in the NIV, it actually says, "Do not be like Esau who committed sexual 00:23:56.600 |
Which is strange because there's nothing sexual about what happened. 00:24:08.280 |
Well the word for pornea here, although it encompasses sexual immorality, literally it 00:24:14.480 |
means to prostitute yourself for something else. 00:24:19.240 |
So it is used in the context of prostituting, whether you're watching pornography or you're 00:24:23.680 |
engaged in something sexual or immoral, you're using your body and giving it to something 00:24:36.360 |
But the broader understanding is to sell yourself to something that you should not. 00:24:43.040 |
And that's how the word is used, the idea is used in the book of Hosea. 00:24:47.040 |
When God describes Hosea's rebellion against God, he uses basically an adulterous gomer. 00:24:54.040 |
And Hosea is called to love her and continue to chase after her while she prostitutes herself, 00:25:04.200 |
And so that's what he's saying here is that Esau prostituted himself for a bowl of soup. 00:25:10.240 |
He gave this birthright that God gave to his family in order for the salvation of mankind. 00:25:17.200 |
But his answer was, "What good is it when today I need this soup?" 00:25:25.920 |
You know what's also interesting is the next word that he uses is godless, immoral and 00:25:31.320 |
In some translations it'll say profane or unholy. 00:25:36.480 |
That word literally means to be outside the temple. 00:25:43.280 |
To be outside the temple means that in his act, in his immorality, in choosing what is 00:25:49.560 |
urgent now versus the promises of eternity, he placed himself outside of the temple. 00:26:00.560 |
Temple represented where people would come to meet God, give sacrifices, to give worship, 00:26:06.680 |
And so when he chose his flesh over the promise, he physically removed himself from God's blessing. 00:26:16.580 |
And that's why he said they use the word unholy or profane or godless because that which is 00:26:23.860 |
And he removed himself from there from the blessing of God. 00:26:28.480 |
The safest and the happiest place for every Christian is to be at the center of the will 00:26:37.260 |
And so his imperatives in the New Testament aren't simply to test us to see so that we 00:26:45.600 |
All the commandments of God that is given to us is because that's exactly where the 00:26:52.100 |
When he tells us to be faithful, it is in faithfulness where we find the greatest satisfaction, 00:27:00.320 |
That's why when he says to pick up our cross if we want to follow him, he's not saying 00:27:03.740 |
suffer and die and have hardship in life if you want to follow me. 00:27:07.380 |
He says no, because through this path is where you're going to find your life. 00:27:12.860 |
And the greatest hindrance to true life is our own flesh, where we convince ourselves 00:27:18.840 |
that if our pride, if our flesh is satisfied, if we can have some of the stuff that the 00:27:28.760 |
Everything about the secular life is to improve ourselves to be better. 00:27:36.960 |
If it's a small church, we have to have a bigger church. 00:27:38.640 |
If we have a bigger church, we need to have a bigger platform. 00:27:41.060 |
If we wrote one book, we have to write many books. 00:27:44.480 |
And so we apply the same temptation outside the world and we bring it into the church 00:27:49.560 |
and it is our own flesh that we feed if we're not careful. 00:27:53.680 |
And so what God's calling, said if you do not deny yourself, the thing that's going 00:27:59.200 |
to stumble you the rest of your life is yourself. 00:28:03.640 |
Before the government, before what's happening out there, it's our own desire to satisfy 00:28:09.240 |
our own flesh that is the greatest hindrance to God's greatest blessing. 00:28:15.160 |
So the first and greatest thing that he calls us to do is to die to ourself, to die to ourself. 00:28:21.600 |
He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:28:34.320 |
I don't know how many times I've done quiet time and go through passages going back to 00:28:37.880 |
that, but that's what he meant when he said that. 00:28:40.080 |
Oh, that's what he meant when he said that, to die to ourselves. 00:28:45.000 |
That's what he means when he says Esau, when he chose his flesh over God's covenant promise, 00:28:55.360 |
That's why in James chapter four, verse four, it says, "You adulterous, do you not know 00:28:59.040 |
friendship with the world is hostility toward God?" 00:29:04.120 |
You notice the extreme words that he uses here? 00:29:10.400 |
He didn't say friendship with the world is probably not good for you. 00:29:18.440 |
He said if you are trying hard to function in this world and be somebody in this world, 00:29:32.840 |
He goes on further, he said, "Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself 00:29:43.400 |
In our generation, with again, and I'm going to say this again, with the seeker-friendly, 00:29:48.560 |
market-driven type of ministry, where the primary thing is how can we get non-Christians 00:29:53.740 |
to feel comfortable and welcomed in the church? 00:29:57.400 |
Desire to win non-believers to Christ is noble. 00:30:05.920 |
But to think that somehow we're going to be in friendly terms with the world, he says, 00:30:18.440 |
The God of this age is Satan, who is directly in contradiction to what God desires. 00:30:24.680 |
So how can we mix Satan's desires and God's desires, and somehow we think that we're going 00:30:35.240 |
Even the desire to be friends of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 00:30:41.840 |
First John 2.16, it says, "For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh." 00:30:47.000 |
You notice that the first thing that he mentions is lust of the flesh? 00:30:51.240 |
It's not by accident that Jesus' first temptation in the wilderness is to turn the stone into 00:30:59.680 |
After 40 days of fasting, he said, "Give that up. 00:31:04.680 |
He was trying to tempt him with his flesh, just like Esau. 00:31:12.000 |
If you remember, Satan takes him up to the temple, and then he shows the world, and he 00:31:16.520 |
says, "If you would bow down to me, I will give you all of this," which is a ridiculous 00:31:21.320 |
proposition since he knows that Jesus Christ is his creator. 00:31:27.160 |
But for the very first time, Jesus took on humanity, and he looked frail. 00:31:32.740 |
The God who created the universe took on frail humanity, and so if there was any time that 00:31:38.240 |
Satan thought that he may have a chance to usurp his glory was probably at that time, 00:31:43.440 |
and he says, "Well, I'll give you all of this, lust of the eyes." 00:31:53.040 |
The Bible says that the angels are going to catch you. 00:31:55.040 |
If you really are the Son of God, they're going to catch you. 00:31:59.560 |
These three things, lust of the flesh, what's immediate now, lust of the eyes, the things 00:32:05.240 |
And this usually happens when you're younger. 00:32:08.120 |
You look at the world and you think that every single person in this room who are under the 00:32:19.320 |
People go through a midlife crisis because they realize that potential is probably dead. 00:32:24.600 |
It's just like, "Well, if I didn't become a millionaire by now, the odds are you're 00:32:31.760 |
But when you're 20, how often, even in the church, you say, "My goal is by the time I'm 00:32:44.200 |
By the time I'm 30, I'm going to buy some cryptocurrency. 00:32:51.480 |
And you're just investing, you're watching, and you're doing all of this stuff because 00:33:05.840 |
Lust of the eyes, we're coveting things that the world has and not knowing that your heart 00:33:10.600 |
is where your treasure is, your mind and your heart, your time, your energy, your money, 00:33:15.800 |
all being spent because of the lust of the eyes, because of things that are coming. 00:33:20.840 |
And then when you get a little bit older and you're somewhat successful, you kind of pass 00:33:25.740 |
the midlife crisis age and boastful pride of life where your reputation is everything, 00:33:34.360 |
your experience, your age, what you've accomplished, and then pride creeps in. 00:33:38.960 |
And so you work hard to maintain your status. 00:33:43.080 |
When you're young, the temptation is that you might miss out if you're too serious. 00:33:48.240 |
If I make these decisions, if I do this and don't do this, I might not get this. 00:33:54.320 |
But when we're older, the temptation is actually the opposite. 00:33:56.880 |
If we do this, if we do that, I might lose this, whether it's money or our reputation 00:34:05.800 |
Boastful pride of life, these are all hooks that Satan uses to draw us away from him. 00:34:13.680 |
So it is not this big picture like if the world came in, if the terrorists came in and 00:34:21.760 |
I mean, that's entertaining to think about, but it's probably not going to happen. 00:34:27.440 |
But where the rubber meets the road is today, tomorrow, next week. 00:34:44.880 |
Is Christ's covenant relationship, the promises that he made, more important than your bills, 00:34:56.520 |
The saddest people in the church are the people who are the closest to God's covenant grace 00:35:05.040 |
This is why where you and I are is so, so, so dangerous. 00:35:11.300 |
Because out in India, where there is real persecution, Christians and non-Christians 00:35:16.720 |
are not difficult to see, because there are serious consequences for following Christ. 00:35:23.360 |
There are certain parts of the world that you literally risk your life to get to church 00:35:28.700 |
In North Korea, you can get executed by just owning a Bible. 00:35:33.800 |
But the danger that you and I live in is we live in a post-Christian culture where it 00:35:38.320 |
is difficult for us to determine who is and is not a Christian, even in the church, even 00:35:48.480 |
Because of that, the deception is if we look like everybody else and we're jumping through 00:35:54.480 |
the hoops like everybody else in our culture, we just assume that we're in the grace of 00:36:03.320 |
We need to test our faith by the plumb line of the word of God, not by our culture, not 00:36:09.600 |
by people that you respect, not by people with great reputation, not by people who have 00:36:16.660 |
We need to test with the plumb line of God's word. 00:36:21.400 |
You need to test it, and I need to test it, to make sure that you and I are not compromised, 00:36:29.120 |
that we did not walk outside the temple, that we did not give ourselves to something. 00:36:35.320 |
But because we're in a post-Christian culture, there's no consequence. 00:36:44.800 |
All the positive examples that are given in chapter 11, one example that is given in Esau 00:36:49.920 |
is that is the example, is the greatest example, because the greatest number of people fall 00:36:58.840 |
More than a gun to our head, more than the government, more than anything else, it's 00:37:04.280 |
just a simple temptation to satisfy our flesh over the promises of God. 00:37:13.040 |
More people will stand in the judgment seat who thought that they were Christians because 00:37:21.280 |
they simply followed the culture of the church. 00:37:30.640 |
For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, 00:37:35.480 |
for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it for tears. 00:37:41.840 |
Is that a particular sin that God has pointed out and said, "If you reject this covenant, 00:37:48.840 |
Is he saying that all other sins you can repent of, but this particular sin you can't? 00:37:54.680 |
If you look at it, he says, what did he desire? 00:38:06.560 |
He wasn't saying that God says, God's not telling him, "Oh, you can't be my child. 00:38:11.520 |
No, what he was repenting of was that particular act because what he regretted was, "I can't 00:38:16.600 |
believe I let go of that and I wanted the inheritance back," and he couldn't get the 00:38:24.960 |
Because at that particular time, he knew exactly what he was doing. 00:38:33.120 |
We just think, "Oh, he was just an innocent guy who just went out hunting and came out 00:38:41.280 |
But at that moment, the stew was more important than his birthright. 00:38:52.440 |
If you look at the book of Hebrews, we are told over and over again today, if you hear 00:39:00.240 |
Hebrews chapter 3, 7-8, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear 00:39:04.800 |
his voice, do not harden your heart, as when they provoked me.'" 00:39:08.160 |
Again, verse 13 and 15, chapter 3, "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is 00:39:13.080 |
called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sins, for 00:39:19.960 |
If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, 'Today, 00:39:24.700 |
if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, as when they provoked me.'" 00:39:27.960 |
Again in chapter 4, verse 7, "He again fixes a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David, 00:39:32.720 |
'After so long a time, just as he has been said before, 'Today, if you hear his voice, 00:39:42.280 |
Most people who drift away from Christ never say no. 00:39:47.400 |
They understand enough to say no means to reject God. 00:39:59.280 |
I know I need to give my life to Christ, but not today. 00:40:04.160 |
Not realizing it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. 00:40:08.720 |
When you hear the voice of God, through the revelation of Christ, it is the kindness of 00:40:16.960 |
It is the kindness of God that illumines us, that at that particular moment, he leads you 00:40:23.560 |
But if you harden your heart at that moment, you may understand the revelation tomorrow, 00:40:32.520 |
It says that the conviction of our sins come from the Holy Spirit. 00:40:36.760 |
The Holy Spirit comes, he said, he convicts the world of sin. 00:40:40.480 |
The Holy Spirit may be convicting today, but tomorrow when you hear your voice, you hear 00:40:45.960 |
the revelation and the information, but you no longer have the illumination and the power 00:40:54.320 |
God is not somebody who you can just shelve and say, "When I'm ready, I will come." 00:41:00.000 |
And that's why he says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." 00:41:08.920 |
There's an urgency when you hear the voice today, not to postpone it until tomorrow. 00:41:14.720 |
There's so many people who walked away from their faith, not because they rejected Christ, 00:41:19.200 |
but because they said, "Tomorrow, when I'm ready, when I'm out of college, when my kids 00:41:23.640 |
are a little bit older, when I get a job, when my bills are paid, when I'm a little 00:41:30.240 |
And then they wake up tomorrow realizing the Holy Spirit is no longer convicting them. 00:41:34.920 |
The kindness of God that leads us to repentance is today. 00:41:39.840 |
There is a time appointed for all things under heaven, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, 1-4. 00:41:45.300 |
There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under 00:41:50.820 |
A time to give birth, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. 00:41:55.780 |
A time to kill, a time to heal, a time to tear down, a time to build up, a time to weep, 00:42:00.460 |
and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. 00:42:11.860 |
You know, there's a period when you're young, it's time to study. 00:42:14.980 |
If you miss that period, it's hard to go back. 00:42:18.860 |
There's a time God has appointed for us to rest at night, and if you don't sleep during 00:42:27.740 |
And that's why he says, "When you hear his voice today, do not harden your heart." 00:42:34.140 |
You know, this particular section of Scripture in Ecclesiastes was put into song back in 00:42:46.700 |
This is even before my era, because it came out in the '60s. 00:42:49.580 |
So I remember it being sung in the '70s, the birds. 00:42:54.620 |
And it says, "And Bob Dylan was a part of this band before he broke off. 00:42:58.540 |
To everything," you don't know who Bob Dylan is either, so, "To everything, turn, turn, 00:43:04.820 |
There is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven." 00:43:08.740 |
So that part is not Ecclesiastes, but the next part is, "A time to be born, time to 00:43:14.700 |
And so basically, it's the exact verbatim of Ecclesiastes 3. 00:43:20.940 |
You know, what's interesting was I wanted to, I wanted to say, "What does he mean by 00:43:26.500 |
I Googled it to see, like, what did they mean? 00:43:29.780 |
Well, if you know anything about Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan actually became a Christian for 00:43:37.060 |
And so there's a lot of songs being, that was written during the '70s that kind of 00:43:40.820 |
had a mixture of Christian theme and secular theme kind of mixing together because a lot 00:43:45.060 |
of celebrities and musicians, rock stars, were turning to Christ during the '70s, the 00:43:53.860 |
He didn't write the song, but the interpretation was very interesting because, like, what is 00:44:00.780 |
He said that, they said that the first turn is to turn from the world, to repent. 00:44:11.140 |
If you hear God's voice and you are convicted, the first turn is turn. 00:44:26.340 |
Turning of the world meaning there are seasons. 00:44:33.700 |
I don't know why I couldn't remember that in the first service. 00:44:41.580 |
So physically there is a turning of the earth. 00:44:44.220 |
And then just the times of, there's a period in the earth, right? 00:44:50.340 |
There's seasons of war, seasons of peace, seasons of prosperity, seasons of poverty, 00:45:01.660 |
So purpose of that is in the, in different seasons as the world turns, there's period 00:45:06.660 |
when you are young, period when you are old, period when your marriage is great, period 00:45:14.380 |
And so the point of that, to turn, is to recognize that God is sovereign in all of this. 00:45:21.900 |
Sometimes it's like this, sometimes it's like that. 00:45:26.820 |
The third turn is reference to your turn will come. 00:45:33.460 |
This is coming from the band, describing this, what these three turns mean. 00:45:36.780 |
There's a season for everything under heaven. 00:45:39.500 |
So turn from your sins, recognize that the seasons will change and God is sovereign, 00:45:47.260 |
Whatever God has ordained for you to have, it will come if God has ordained it. 00:45:53.480 |
But so much of our trouble gets, is we look at the world and we want our turn to be today. 00:46:00.860 |
And we're afraid that we're going to miss if we don't do these things, if we don't make 00:46:03.580 |
these decisions, if we don't go here and do that. 00:46:06.180 |
And as a result of that, instead of patiently waiting for what God gives, we are going to 00:46:13.060 |
And as a result, we forfeit or we drift away from God. 00:46:25.480 |
What they do in the club, but everything's in the club, right? 00:46:28.360 |
They don't make songs like this anymore, right? 00:46:32.160 |
Ironically, Bob Dylan fell away from his faith, right? 00:46:37.640 |
He faithfully followed Christ in the seventies and then he just said, oh, that was a phase 00:46:43.320 |
And his very warning from this song, he did not heed himself. 00:46:49.500 |
The warning that are given to us as an example of Esau is probably the one of the most practical 00:46:59.060 |
Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God by doing what Esau did. 00:47:06.100 |
That we value eternity, even though we don't see it, even though it seems far away, that 00:47:11.220 |
his promises that he has given us in eternity, that when we say we have been crucified with 00:47:16.420 |
Christ, it is no longer we who live, that we believe that and we practice that. 00:47:23.060 |
The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave 00:47:31.300 |
It's no longer about my fulfillment, my pride, my pursuit. 00:47:37.580 |
And when he comes in glory, we will be glorified with him. 00:47:46.480 |
I pray that the word of God would penetrate our hearts beyond just theory, that we would 00:47:53.500 |
apply the warning that God has given us, that we would live for eternity and not for the 00:48:03.220 |
Again, take some time to pray and allow the word of God to bear fruit in our hearts. 00:48:16.600 |
What areas of my life is God warning me and encouraging me that this needs to be applied? 00:48:23.820 |
Take some time to meditate and ask the Lord to open our eyes. 00:48:27.540 |
Lord search me and know me, see if there's any hurtful ways in me. 00:48:31.540 |
Is there a desire in my heart to befriend with the world? 00:48:36.220 |
Or have I already been compromised that I need to turn and recognize that now is the 00:48:44.940 |
As our worship team leads us, let's take some time to pray.