I ask you if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to the little book of Obadiah. Obadiah, right after Amos and just before Jonah. 21 verses in this book. I'm reminded of what Paul said to the church in Philippi in Philippians chapter 3 when he said, for me, to write the same thing unto you is not grievous. But for you, it is safe. How often we need to hear the same thing because how prone we are to forget and to lose sight. I say that in order to say that a couple of things I want to introduce this message with we considered this past Sunday. But I think in order for us to get to our text, it'll be safe for us. It'll be profitable for us to be reminded who it is that Edom represents in the book of Obadiah.

The name Edom, the descendants of Esau, The one that the Lord said he hates, Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated. And now the Lord is pronouncing judgment against Edom, the descendants of Esau. And this judgment is going to be a total and complete judgment. Oftentimes in the Old Testament, when there were battles against the enemies of Israel, There would be a remnant left and they would go off and lick their wounds and regather their strength and come back and continue to be a problem to Israel. But in the book of Obadiah, the Lord says in verse five, look at verse five, if thieves come to thee and if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till they had enough? And if the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? Would they not have left something in the field for the poor gleaners to come behind? If someone broke into your home, wouldn't they take what they wanted and what they thought was good for them and leave the rest?

Now verse six, how are the things of Esau searched out? And now how are his hidden things sought up? All the men of thy confederacy, and that word confederacy is the word covenant, or everyone. What the Lord is saying here is when I come in, I'm taking everything. I'm not going to leave a little bit. I'm not just going to take some and leave part. When I glean the field, I'm going to not leave a single grape for a gleaner to find when they come behind. And as for your covenant, your promises, that's what a covenant is that you've made, All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border. The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread have laid a wound unto thee. There is none understanding in him. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men of Edom and the understanding out of Mount Esau? and thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the Mount of Esau shall be cut off by slaughter." I mean, this is scorched earth judgment. There will not be anything left.

Now, Esau, as we saw someday, is a picture of our earthy man. Matter of fact, the word Esau, the name Edom, who were the descendants of Esau, Adam, Adam's name, earth. And in Genesis chapter 3, when God says, from dust you came and to dust you shall return, All of those words have this in common with them. They come from the word red and they are representative of our earthy nature. Our fallen, sinful, Adamic nature.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul is concluding this letter with some glorious reminders of the hope that we have in the resurrection. Receiving a new body, this is the passage where he said the corruptible, this old fleshly nature, will be made incorruptible. This mortal dead body will be made immortal and we will see him as he is and be made like him. But there were some that were denying the resurrection. And so he says in verse 35, but some man will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? How's this going to be? We take our dead loved ones and family members, we place them in the earth, you're saying that they're going to be raised again? Thou fool, verse 36, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. It can't be made alive, that's the word quick and mean. It can't be made alive until it dies. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, that it may chance of wheat or of some other grain. In other words, what you plant in the ground and what you harvest is different. But God giveth it a body as it had pleased him and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of birds. There are also celestial bodies. He's using these to contrast the difference between this body of flesh, this old Esau nature that came from the ground, and the new body that we'll receive in the resurrection.

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, and one star different from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, and it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, and it is raised in power. Just as we observe in the natural world the difference of bodies and types and glories, so it will be in the resurrection of the dead. Now here's what I want you to see, look at verse 45. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The last Adam is the Lord Jesus. And so he's telling us that we were born after the likeness of our father, Adam, and in the new birth where it created new in Christ Jesus. How be it? That was not the first which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterwards that was the spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. And as is the earthy, so are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Now, go back with me to Obadiah. Let's begin at the beginning. Verse one, the vision of Obadiah. This is the revelation that God gave to the servant of Jehovah. That's what Obadiah's name means. Thus saith the Lord concerning Edom. We have heard a rumor from the Lord and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle. Oh, what a What a battle there is when the new man is born after the spirit in the new birth in the body of the natural man, the old man. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen, and thou art greatly despised. He's talking about Esau, talking about Edom, talking about that old earthy man Adam, that one that was born after the flesh. I love what the Lord tells us when he says, they that are after the flesh, they do mind the things of the flesh. If we are seeking the hope of our salvation in fleshly means, either by will or by works, or as our text tells us, by wisdom, If we think that we can make some contribution to our salvation any bit whatsoever, then we have never understood the gospel. We've never understood the gospel. And I believe that's what the Lord's telling us in the book of Obadiah. I'm not gonna leave you any hope of salvation outside of Christ. When I come in and destroy, when I come in to rob you of your righteousness and of your glory, there's not gonna be anything left. When I glean the field of your fruit, the fruits of your flesh, the fruits of Edom, there's not gonna be a grape left for the gleaners.

Oh, brethren, how often. And here's the battle, here's the struggle that we have. We find ourselves so oftentimes trying to find comfort, assurance, trying to find the hope of salvation, trying to find happiness. What a blessing it is when the Lord does for us what he prophesied through Obadiah that he would do. I'm not going to leave you with anything you can rest in. The unbeliever, they can be perfectly at ease. with what they've done or what they know or what they think they know. But every time you seek to find the hope of your salvation in anything other than the Lord Jesus, I'm gonna show you what that Esau is and you're gonna despise him. That's why Peter said, to whom coming. This coming to Christ is a continual daily work of grace in the heart that the Lord causes his people to do because of this work.

Look what he goes on to say, the pride of thine heart has deceived thee. We see how we lift ourselves up, how we promote ourselves, how we often think that we've done something that we can look to and rest in. Or as we saw Sunday, how oftentimes we think that I can remedy, and that's just pride, I can remedy my unbelief and my sin problem running to the mountain of the law and just doing better. I can fix this. I can fix it. And again and again and again, the fulfillment of this prophecy is made so that the Lord, that's why Paul said, I die daily. That old Esau man, that old Edomite, he's got to be put back in the dirt every day, doesn't he? We came from the dust of the earth, We're gonna return to the dust of the earth.

Even the pottage that Esau sold his birthright for is called red. Even it's called red. You see, all of this is pointing to where we came from. Say, well, I thought we were created in the image of God. Yeah. until that image was marred. That image was marred and we were created in the image of Adam. That's how we came into the world. In order to be made in the image of God, we've got to be reborn in Christ. We've got to have a spiritual birth, a spiritual nature. And when that spiritual nature is given to us, The pride of thine heart has deceived thee. Thou that dwellest in the cliffs of the rocks, whose habitation is high, that sayeth in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thy set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down. That's a mercy. That's a grace that the unbeliever knows nothing about. To be brought down, to be stripped naked before God Almighty, to have no hope outside of Christ, to be shown that there is not a clean square inch of flesh anywhere on your body that you're leprous with oozing sores from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Oh, what a blessing. It's only the leper that's healed. It's only the one who goes before the priest, our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he inspects him and he finds no clean flesh on him. Only he does the priest say,

The unbeliever will look to something. They will believe the lies of the false prophets who say peace, peace, when there is no peace. And as often as we seek to try to find peace outside of Christ, we can't find it. Why can't we find it? Why can't we find it? Because the Lord won't let us. He won't let us.

Now I love what the Lord tells us in Psalm 103. He says, the Lord knoweth our frame and he rememberest that we are made from dust. He remembers that Adamic nature. He remembers that old man. He remembers that earthy first creation. And oh, what mercy he gives us when he robs the house. He robs it empty. He doesn't come in like most robbers and just take a little bit here and there. He takes it all. He takes it all. He won't leave you any hiding place. He won't allow you to rest in anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes Christ to be everything in your salvation. And even the expectation of being better doesn't satisfy, doesn't give you a place of rest.

You know, they say that addictions that aren't really driven by the behavior itself, but it's the expectation of that behavior providing something that it never provides. For instance, the alcoholic is still chasing his first buzz. The gambler is never really He's never really happy when he wins, it's the anticipation of finding happiness. The person who is a sex addict, they say it's all about power and it's all about control, but that person's completely powerless and out of control, completely. Satan is called a liar, isn't he? He presents us with these possibilities, and yet, What do they say the definition of insanity is? Keep doing the same thing over and over and over again expecting a different result and it never happens? That's the flesh. That's what the flesh does.

The point I'm trying to make is it's the anticipation of perhaps being able to achieve some acceptance before God based on something that I've done or based on something that I know or based on some decision You see, even that the Lord takes from us. When God, when the Lord fulfills this prophecy in the heart, he causes us to realize, Lord, that's an empty promise. The Lord calls the mammon of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, why? Because Satan, as the liar, deceives us when thinking that, well, if you just had a little more, it would scratch that itch. It would fulfill that need. And all of these things that the world can find, and in religion, they, you know.

Look at our text again. Let me show you something. As I understand, Verse 9, Teman, Teman was the grandson of Esau. And the land of Teman was in the south. And the descendants of Teman were known for their wisdom. They were known for their wisdom. And worldly wisdom, not spiritual wisdom, worldly wisdom. They were the intelligentsia of the Edomites. And if anybody wanted to understand something, they would go to Timon in order to get the information.

So not only does the Lord empty the house, he takes everything away. He doesn't leave any fruit left when he takes away all of our righteousness and leaves us naked before him and makes us, but he also will not allow us to find any respite in knowledge. And this is very important. The scripture says that, and we already read that he's talking about the pride of Esau, how he lifts himself up. And the scripture says that knowledge puffeth up and love edifies. And the Lord also tells us that that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God.

Now, what is it that men highly esteem? What is it that they compete with? Is it not knowledge? Is it not? And what does the Lord do here? He takes that away from us. I used to read the Puritans. I haven't read them in years. And if I look at them now, after about three pages, my eyes glaze over. And then if I do figure out what they were trying to say, I realize that what it took them three pages to say, they could have said in three sentences. And so much of that spirit, that teeming spirit, is found in religion, particularly in Reformed religion and in Calvinistic religion.

And here's the promise that the Lord, the gospel's not complicated, the gospel's simple. You know, I'm convinced that what was really happening during the era of the Puritans had a lot to do with what we're seeing today in the advent of the internet and the proliferation of knowledge and everybody wanting to be on social media and you can espouse your opinions to the whole world. is sitting at a keyboard, and what is all that? It's just boosting up men's pride, thinking that there's somebody. Well, just before the Puritans was the Enlightenment period, and just before that was the creation of the printing press. And the Puritans came along at a time when they had an opportunity. The scripture says, of the writing of many books, there is no end, and much study, where is the flesh? And so they were doing back in the 16th century what we see being done now through the advent of the internet. They were glorying in their flesh, promoting themselves to know something. They were the demons of the day.

Now here's my point in all of that, is that when the Lord fulfills this prophecy, to Arezal. And when he comes into the house and leaves nothing left, and when he harvests the fruits of the flesh so that there's not one grape left for the gleaners to find, he causes us to realize it's not just our free will and our works of righteousness. glory in our knowledge. Doctrine and all the things that... Lord, make the message of Christ simple. Simple. We complicate it. We so complicate it, we so confuse it.

Let's read verse eight again. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men of Edom? Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin, those those proud, highly educated men. And the scripture says that after they spoke, after Peter and John spoke, what did Peter and John say? Peter stood before those powerful men and he said, well, you decide for yourself what you're going to do. As for us, we must obey God. And the scripture says in Acts chapter 4, when the Pharisees saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were ignorant and unlearned men, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. All the things that those men prided themselves in, all the knowledge that they had, Peter and John stood boldly before them. And it was obvious these men have been with Jesus. They've been with the Lord. And what a glorious thing it is when the Lord comes. He takes all our hope away in anything other than Christ and the simplicity of the Lord Jesus.

Paul said, I fear, I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve in the wilderness, I mean in the garden. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. What is the simplicity of Christ Jesus? It's finished. It's finished. Christ is all, and he's in all. And all the things that men confuse the gospel with, here's what the Lord says, I'm gonna do for Esau. He's gonna lift himself up. The pride of his heart's gonna deceive him. He's gonna try to find safety in the cliffs. Exalt himself, but I'm going to come, and I'm going to bring him down.

Saul of Tarsus, taught by Gamaliel, the leading theologian of the day. Paul, later, after he was converted, he said, I excelled among my peers. He was somebody. Everybody knew Saul of Tarsus. Well-educated, influential, powerful. What'd God do? Put him in the dirt, didn't he? Put his face in the dust of the earth. Caused him to realize what I, Paul said this, what I thought was gain, I now consider loss. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Oh, that I might just know him. I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I press towards the mark for the prize, the prize, the Lord Jesus Christ, the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. All those things that he gloried in, he now realized was the very thing that was keeping him from Christ. All the things that the flesh would glory in. Yes, most especially in our text at least, the mighty men of temen. The things that men think they know. Oh, that I might Know Him and be found in Him. Be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness, which is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all my righteousness. He's all my salvation. He's all my desire.

Lord, keep killing Esau. whatever covenant, promise. How many times, child of God, how many times, you know the gospel, you know this is so true, and yet, how oftentimes you've fallen back on a confederacy. You've fallen back on a covenant. You've fallen back on a promise. And somehow, in the pride of your heart, you thought, Verse seven, all the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border. The men that were at peace with thee, they've deceived thee, and they've prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee, and there is none understanding in him."

Anytime we look to a covenant promise that we've made instead of the covenant promise that he made, that's what Esau, we saw that Sunday, that's what Esau did. He despised the birthright. He despised the firstborn. He wanted the blessing later, years later, when his father Isaac was dying, he cried with weeping and found no place for repentance. Why did he find no place for repentance? Because that old Esau man had never been killed. He despised his birthright. The firstborn, he didn't see a need for that. What a blessing it is when the Lord takes away all of our hope.

Rock of ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in thee
and from thy wounded side.
Let the water and the blood
from thy wounded side
which flowed be of sin.
the double cure,
save from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow,
and could my zeal no longer know,
these for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone.

I believe that's what our Lord's giving us here in these first, well, the whole book of Obadiah. It's not judgment against the world, it's judgment against us. Judgment against that old earthy man that was born after Adam. What a mercy it is when God judges him. What a mercy it is when God causes us to lose all hope of salvation in anything attached to that red man, that man of the earth. The Lord remembers our frame. He knows our frame. He remembers that we're made of dust. And so he's going to keep doing this. He's going to keep doing this for us and keep pointing us to Christ and keep bringing us to that place where we lose hope, lose comfort, lose lose happiness in anything outside of Him. Got to have Christ.

Can we sing that hymn, Rock of Ages? Let's stand together. 126.