All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Obadiah. This book is one chapter long,
and the message of this book is the same message that has
been proclaimed by every God-called, God-sent preacher from the beginning. It is the proclamation of God
Almighty who is a just God and a Savior. I'm going to try I'm
going to try to preach the first 10 verses of this book this evening,
and the next time we look at it, I'll try to preach the rest
of it. But here is the message, and
I'll try to go verse by verse. And we're going to see that this
is the message. God Almighty has mercy. on whom he will have mercy. And whom he will, the scripture
declares, he hardeneth. He leaves to themselves. Now, as we look at this book,
you're going to see that it's dealing with actually the heritage,
the history of two men. Two men, this book is concerning
and deals with two men, but we're going to see that in these two
men, Jacob and Esau, these two men are the men that represent
one of only two groups that's in this world. God's sheep and reprobates. was a reprobate, left to themselves. Left to themselves to do what
they want to do. Do what they want to do. Left
to themselves to rebel against God. They're either, all men,
all women, are either objects of God's mercy, or they're objects
of God's wrath. And God is not the author of
sin. If a man or a woman rejects God
Almighty, What does God have to do for a man or a woman to
reject Him? You know the answer. Leave them
alone. Just leave them alone. Thanks be unto God that God Almighty
does not leave His people to themselves to do that which they
would want to do by nature. Now to understand the thoughts
God's thoughts toward these two men. I want you to hold your
place right there and turn to Romans 9, Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Here, we're gonna consult. I'm
gonna try to go slowly. And I'm saying I'll go through
verse 10 and we'll see, we'll see. But I'm gonna try to just
take this little book and I'm just gonna try to go slow and
just look. Don't you know that when God
Almighty moved upon the prophet to write this book, this book
right here, this book was God's message. And in this one chapter,
it just impressed upon my heart the importance of it. If it's
one book, just a few verses, May the Lord bless us as we read.
Now here's the understanding of this book, Obadiah, out of
the book of Romans. Romans chapter nine, verses 11
to 18. It's talking about some children
that was born to a woman named Rebecca. Verse 11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, but that
the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not
of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, that was
unto Rebekah, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? You know that question's asked
by men when men, women hear the truth of God's electing grace. God has the right to show mercy to one and leave
another to themselves. You know what the natural reaction
to that is? That's unrighteous. That's not
fair. God needs to give everybody a
chance. You know all the excuses. Here
the apostle Paul was moved to write these words. Verse 14,
what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, That ought to settle it, shouldn't
it? That should settle it. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy. Whom he will, he hearteneth. Two nations, Genesis 25, 23,
I'll read this to you. Whenever God told Rebecca, when
she was going through the struggles, when these twin boys were in
her womb, and she wanted to know, why am I thus? Why this war? There's a battle that's going
on in my womb. And the Lord told her in Genesis
25, 23, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people
shall be separated from thy bowels. One people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. Now from these scriptures right
here, we know this, two things. God is just to show wrath for
rebels against him because of man's rebellion. That's the first
thing we know. God is just. Any man, any woman is found to
be cast out. God's right. He's right. Here's
what else we know. God is merciful. He's merciful. people of his choosing, having
spewed out his wrath that was due them upon the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious substitute of his people for
God's glory and the good of his elect. Now, I want us to look
at a few of these verses tonight, and I pray that the Lord's blessing
might be upon us as we look at the book of Obadiah. Now we're
going to, let's just read this first verse. The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God 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. Now here is a vision. God has sent a vision to a prophet,
a prophet named Obadiah. And it says concerning this vision,
in Obadiah, is going to relate this. I want to be careful here
how the wording of this is. It's easy to miss what's being
said, so I want to try to take it easy so you can understand
it and I can too. The vision of Obadiah, thus saith
the Lord concerning Edom. Now let me tell you who Edom
is. Edom was a nation. And Edom,
the nation, came from Esau. Esau was the father of the Edomites. So whenever we see this word,
Edom, it's talking about a people, and it's a picture and type of
all the rebels against God, all that's left to themselves. That's
what Edom pictures. And the Lord is going to be talking
about the judgment, the judgment of God against Edom, which again
is a type, is a picture of all rebellion against God. Esau was
one man, Esau was one man, the father of the Edomites. Edom
came from Esau. So we've heard a rumor, that's
what the scripture says. Thus saith the Lord God concerning
Edom. God is gonna tell us something
about all the rebels, all those that are gonna be left to themselves.
And here's what it's saying. Where the next verse says, we
have heard a rumor from the Lord. Now I'm going to tell you something,
this rumor or this order or this announcement from the Lord concerning
Edom. Now we, we is actually spoken
of concerning all of the prophets that were sent to Edom. picture
of all rebellion. It's all one group of rebellion. You know, you got this group,
and this group, and this denomination, this one, this one, this one.
All of them are Edomites. They're all Edomites, spiritually
speaking. And the prophet here is saying
something. It says, we have heard, we've
heard a rumor from the Lord. We've heard a rumor from the
Lord and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise and
let us rise up against her in battle. Now this rumor, this
announcement, this word from God concerning Edomites is a
word that God is going to destroy all rebellion against him. This is the rumor. Whenever we
give this report and it's concerning this group of rebels, how many
different kinds of people are there in this world? Two, there's
only two. They're either the elect or they're
Edomites, those left to themselves. And these ambassadors, thus saith
the Lord God concerning Edom, we, That is every God called
preacher, every witness against the Edomites. We have heard a
rumor from the Lord and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. I
was looking at this and it was an amazing thing. An ambassador,
one that brings a word from another. Everything, everyone, every preacher
that witnesses against the Edomites. Every witness, every preacher,
and there was, when I was looking up there, I was looking at all
the different, Jeremiah, Amos, they were all sent with the same
message. Almost to the letter, the same
words were read. I read it out of Jeremiah, I
read it out of Amos, I read it out of prophet after prophet
after prophet. And he was talking about it,
he said, we've heard a word. We have, all the God called preachers,
we've heard a word from the Lord. And it's concerning Edom. And here's what God has told
him to do, latter part. Arise ye and let us rise up against
her in battle. Now this is going to be the,
there's a battle going on. There's a battle going on in
this world. And it's a battle that is raging,
has been raging from the fall. And it's between two people.
Two people that all fall under one of two categories. Elect
Edomites. Group them, call them whatever
you want to. Give whatever name to the denomination you want
to give it to. Whatever name you give it, if it's not God
called, God sent preachers, they're Edomites. Heard a word from the
Lord. And the Lord gave this command,
latter part, What does he say in the latter part of this first
verse? Arise ye. Stand up. I've got a word. I've got a message. I got a message to the Edomites.
All God called preachers, all God called ambassadors has got
a message against the Edomites. Arise ye. And then that latter
part of that first verse, the last part, and let us rise up
again against her in the battle. Arise ye is the command from
the Lord. Let us rise up against her in battle is the response
of those that are from the Lord. Now this is why I told you, I
said, I'm gonna try to take it easy on this first verse, especially
because when I first read this verse, I had a hard time understanding
what it was saying. The Lord has given a command and the immediate response of
all those that God calls is rise up. The Lord says rise up and
those that are called says we will arise and we will go. So
the vision of Obadiah, thus saith the Lord concerning Edom. We've
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. Behold, I have made thee small
among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. Now this is the word of the Lord
to Edom. In comparison to other countries,
Edom was obviously a small place. According to these words, behold,
I have made these small among the heathen. He's talking to
Edom. He's talking to these ancestors from Esau. I made them small
among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. God
had made them so, but though they were comparatively speaking
small, They thought themselves, we'll see in the next few verses,
they thought themselves to be mighty. Can you see, I mean,
just all, now you just listen to what's being said right here
and you begin to see the foundation. This is the word of the Lord
to all those who are rebels against God. Rebels against his mercy,
rebels against his goodness. They thought themselves to be
mighty. That's man by nature. That's
all men by nature. I can handle it, I can do it.
I'm strong, I've got a free will, I'm faithful, I'm faithful, I'm
a good husband, I'm this, I'm that, I'm the other. Man by nature
does not look upon himself as wretch against God, a wretched
sinner, he doesn't. He sees himself as being someone
who is capable. The Lord's gonna send him a message.
He says, I got a word for you. I got a word for you. Got a word
from the Lord. Look at verse three. The pride
of thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou that dwellest in the
clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart,
who shall bring me down to the ground? You see how the scripture
now begins to just unfold before us. And a believer reads these
things and they say, you know, yeah, that's all of us by nature. That's how we are. Man esteems
himself to be something. When he's nothing, God proclaims
him to be Incapable, unable, unfit, man, but he's nothing
but a mass of rebellion, Isaiah 1.6. The crown of the head, sole of
the foot, and everything in between that. I mean, go all the way
to the top, go right, just right there, right there, there, all
the way to the foot. Putrefying source. Man thinks
he can. Man is deceived by sin, and pride
is the evidence of that deception. Man exalts himself as Satan,
as Satan did. Just turn to Isaiah 14, 13. Isaiah
14, hold your place there. Lord willing, be right back.
Isaiah 14, 13. You look at this. This is the
word of the Lord, the speech of Satan that we're about to
read. This is the heart of Edom. This is the heart. Remember,
there's only two. There's only two. There's only
two representatives. Jacob, Esau. This is what Satan It said to God, but this is the
heart of every person born naturally into this world. Eat them, eat
them. Isaiah 14, 13, 14. Isaiah, let's look at verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground? which does weaken the nations.
For thou hast said in thine heart. I think about that. I think how
exact the scripture is. People would say, well, I never
did say that. Maybe you didn't say it outwardly. But the Lord
said every one of us outside of Christ has said this in our
heart. I will ascend into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also
among the Mount, the congregation, and the sides of the North. I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High. That's us. And the Lord is saying in Obadiah,
He said, I've got a word for you. I've got a word for you. This is the way we are. Esau, Esau, one of the sons of
Jacob, that God hated. And I said, well, you don't have
to be so blunt. I'm just, I'm not being any more
blunt than the scriptures. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. Esau sold his birthright. and gave it up as Adam did in
the garden. That's man. That's man. I'll
not have anything to do with the things of God. I don't want
to have anything to do with God. I'll not have this man rule over
me. And with that attitude, man still thinks he has the right
and the power to obtain heritage, life with God by an act of his
free will. The Lord said, I got a word for
you. I've got a word. Almighty God does as he will. And all men by nature are spiritually
dead. They don't do anything. The carnal
heart thinks that its self-righteous works and its strong actions
and thoughts is going to sustain him. The Lord said, I got a word
for you. Oh, the pride of thine heart,
verse three, has deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the cliffs
of the rock, whose habitation is high, that sayeth in his heart,
who shall bring me down to the ground? Verse four, though thou
exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among
the stars, thou thence Thence, while I bring thee down, saith
the Lord. Pride. Pride. Hold your place right there.
Turn over to Proverbs 6. Proverbs chapter 6. Pride, I
was gonna say, is the enemy that strikes against God's honor. Pride. Pride. And the Lord is
gonna destroy it. God's gonna destroy it. He's
gonna destroy it in the man himself personally, or he's gonna destroy
it in the man's substitute before him that has borne all his guilt.
But he's gonna destroy it. He's gonna deal with it. Proverbs
chapter six, verses 16 to 19. Listen to this. These six things
doth the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination
unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that devises wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discard among
the brethren. Six things, and of those six
things that God hates, number one, a proud look. I looked it up. Haughty eyes,
haughty eyes. One that thinks he's something
when he's nothing. Man is deceived as to the extent
of his misery. We do not, by nature, we don't
know. We don't know. Number one, we don't know who
we're dealing with. Number two, we don't know the depth of our
own deception. pride and arrogance. Verses five
and six. If thieves came to thee, if robbers
by night, and then I thought about this, look what the spirit
of God moved. How art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till
they had enough? If the grape gatherers came to
thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are these things
of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought
up? Common thieves would leave something. They'd leave something, but sin
has robbed a man. Man's rebellion has robbed him
of everything. He has nothing. He has nothing. The Lord said if thieves came,
they'd leave something. There'd be something there. They
may break in your house, but I mean, probably they won't take,
they won't take the foundation of your house. It's too much
trouble. I mean, there'll be something left. But with sin,
man has nothing. He's lost it all. He's lost everything. It has robbed man of all good. When we say man is totally depraved,
what are we saying? Right here. If these came to
thee by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen
till they had enough? Sin steals and there's nothing
left in man's original state, but death, there's nothing there. It's gone. Oh, how are these
things of Esau searched out? The things that Esau, that Edom,
that man by nature has thought was good and profitable, they're
searched out. And he's dead. He's dead. The Lord said, I got a word for
you. I got a word for you. See how deceived man is by nature. We think, we think, we think
we have something. We think we have something to
offer God. We have nothing, nothing. Verse seven, 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. The men of thy confederacy, those
that rebelled against God and bind themselves together Again,
it doesn't really matter what category you put them under.
If they're not God's Jacobs, if they are Esau's, if they're
Edom, they're all together in one confederacy. They're in that
state of rebellion. And here's a confederacy. I got
to thinking about that. I read that and I said, these
men of our confederacy, Sin, Satan, self, all the men of thy confederacy
have brought thee even to the border. I looked at that and
this seems to be the consensus of what that means. They brought
thee to the border. The men of your confederacy,
those you've bound yourself with, sin, Satan, self, pride, arrogance,
rebellion, the men of your confederacy all want birds of a feather,
all flocking together. They brought you to the border,
meaning they brought you to the edge, promising you, we'll go
with you, we'll carry you over, we'll be with you. They brought
you to the border. These men that were at peace
with thee, we love you. We're your friends. We're with you. We'll stay with
you to the end. What does the scripture say? They've deceived thee. They've
lied to you and prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread
have laid a wound under thee. is none understanding any. Those that you've pampered with
your false hope, those that you've cuddled and to be at peace with,
in the day of God's judgment, the scriptures are saying they're
all gonna forsake you. Nobody's gonna stand with you.
Nobody's gonna be your help. They're going to forsake you
in the day of your greatest need. They came to the border with
you. Let's go on in. They're lying
to you. They're going to lay a wound
under you. The Lord says the everlasting
arms of his peace. is the only comfort that anybody's
going to have. And all those of Edom are going
to be forsaken. This is the message. Lord, I
got a word for you. That's what He's saying. Verse 8. Shall I not in that
day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom? Shall I not destroy the wise
men out of Edom? and the understanding out of
the Mount of Esau, the horror of that day, finding out that
you've trusted in a deceived heart, that you trusted in your
own work, and that all of your righteousness is, or is filthy
rags, and now you're under the burden of the judgment of God,
The Lord is speaking. He said, I've got, I've got a
word for you. All these prophets, this vision
of Obadiah back in verse one, saith the Lord concerning Edom.
We've heard a word, we've heard a rumor from the Lord. An ambassador
is sent among the heathen. Arise ye, arise up against your
embattled. Listen to what the Lord is saying.
Listen to thus saith the Lord. They shall not be able in that
day, to sustain a man, a woman, against the wrath of God. It's
important that a man wants to die in the judgment. In verse
9, thy mighty men, O Teman. I looked
up at, find out what Teman was. It was a part of the country
of Edom. Edom was an actual country, but
it's a picture, it's a type. The Lord is setting forth that
Edom represents something. And there was a group of that
in that country, a part of that country of Edom, and it was,
that part of the country was known for the mightiest of men. You know, if you think about
in our day and age, if there was, we're gonna, You know, who
you gonna send in? We get in trouble. We're gonna
send the mightiest, the most elite of the select forces that
we've got. I mean, SEAL Team Six, whatever
they do. But they can get it done. That
was teaming. That was teaming. It was the
mightiest, supposed to be the mightiest of the mighty. The
best of the best. If it had to be done, you send
in Timon. Timon will do it. Timon. Okay,
that's what he says. Verse nine, and thy mighty men,
O Timon, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the
mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. Everything, even
what one thinks is the mightiest part of his allegiance before
God. The mightiest, the most stable
part of his stand with the Lord going to be cut off. What was the crime laid to the
charge of Esau that God judged? And I'll stop with this verse.
Verse 10. for thy violence against thy
brother Jacob. Shame shall cover thee, and thou
shalt be cut off. Here's the Lord, he's still talking
to Edom. He's telling Edom. He said, because
of the way you treated your brother Jacob, shame is gonna cover thee. and
you're going to be cut off forever. Injuries to God's people are
offensive acts, thus saith the Lord, against
Him. All unrighteousness is sin. God reveals it to be the greatest
of aggravation when evil is spewed out toward his people, his people. You know, this world is just,
right now, they're just happy-go-lucky, everything's fine, everything's
great. We got a new, you know, we just turned the page. We got
a new chapter getting ready, everything's good. They have
no idea that Almighty God takes Every act, no matter how good
things appear, every act of rebellion against God's people, every word,
every thought against His people is against Him concerning the
Lord. Evil toward God's people, those
that He's everlastingly loved, those that He's redeemed by His
precious blood, called by His Holy Spirit, those for whom the
son was forsaken by the father. That violence that is done against
God's people is against Him. Acts chapter 9. I'll wrap it
up. Turn with me to Acts chapter
9. I'll prove what I'm saying here. Acts 9. Verses four. And Saul, breathing out threatening
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues.
If he found any of this way, whether they were men or women,
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus. Suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven. He fell to the earth, heard a
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Why are you persecuting me? When you've done it unto the
least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Enmity against
God's people is enmity against the Lord. Man by nature doesn't
think anything about talking about, slandering, lying on God's
people, and the Lord takes it personally. The why, I jotted
this down just a few moments before we were ready to come
over here. Why is it such an evil in the sight of the Lord? I jotted down, why? Because the
church is his beloved bride. We are the sheep of his pasture. We are the ones that he died
for, or our guilt in his own body and died for. We are the
Father's gift. We're the Father's gift unto
the Son. We are the Father's gift unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says back in Obadiah,
the vision, verse one, of Obadiah, thus saith the Lord God concerning
Edom. We've heard a rumor from the
Lord and an ambassador's ascent among the heathen. Arise ye and
let us arise against her. Beloved, this blessed book, one
chapter long, just a few verses, sets forth the totality of God's
attitude toward his people, and toward those that he's left to
themselves. I pray that the Lord impress
upon our hearts the importance. Lord, give me, give me an understanding. Lord, teach me of the importance
of hearing your word, seeking your face, thanking you for the
mercy that you've shown me. Lord, don't let me take this
for granted. To the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the good of his people.