Turn to Genesis 25. Genesis chapter 25. Our subject is Esau despised
Berthright. Esau despised Berthright. Esau and Jacob were twins. and
they had great advantage. These boys had great advantage
over everybody in the world. And they had the same advantage.
God gave them the gospel. Just like He's done you sitting
here. That gives you great advantage
over everybody in this world. God gave them a mother and a
father who knew God, rested in God, and taught them the truth
at home. That's a great, great blessing
for children who have believing fathers and mothers. From their youth up, both of
these boys were taught the truth of God. They were both taught
the truth of God. These boys were very different.
They were very different. Esau was the firstborn. He was the firstborn. Look at
verse 25. The first, the first came out
red. Red like dirt. Red like the earth. That's symbolic. He came out
earthy. All over like a hairy garment.
Like an animal. like a lower creature, an animal. And they called his name Esau. He's the first. He's the firstborn.
What does it mean to be firstborn? What's the significance of that?
God ordained the firstborn, primogenitor. He ordained this. God did. And
what it meant is you were the head of the house, the firstborn. By birth, Wright was head of
the house. He became the prophet, the priest,
and the king over all his brothers and sisters in that house, and
in the extended house. He was over the whole, his father's
house. Prophet, they came to him to
be taught. Priest, he represented them to
God, taught them things, sacrificed for them, and king. His word was the rule. That's
what they went by. That's the firstborn. He had
preeminence in power. His father gave him. God determined
this. His father gave him a double
portion of everything that he possessed. So that he had preeminence
in power in all possessions and land over all his brethren. And
as a descendant of Abraham, the firstborn had the promise of
God that he would inherit the land of Canaan. And every true
spiritual child of Abraham, every true believer knew that that
land of Canaan was symbolical. You read Hebrews 11, he tells
you that. They knew. They were just sojourners in
that land. They were looking for God's heavenly city. They
knew it represented God's heavenly inheritance. The land and city
of God. And then through the one that
God recognized as the firstborn. This was included in the firstborn. Through the one that God recognized
as the firstborn, the Messiah was coming. And that meant great
honor. That meant the greatest honor
that could ever be bestowed upon anybody. To have the seed of
Christ in you. That's what it is. That's what
it meant. You got the seed of Christ in you. The seed, Christ
Jesus, is in you. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, All the
way down. David, all the way down the line. So, all this belonged to Esau
because he had birthright. He had birthright. Well, Jacob
was God's firstborn though. Even though Esau came first in
time, Jacob was God's firstborn. That's who God recognized as
firstborn. Look at verse 26. After that
came his brother out. And his hand took hold on Esau's
heel. Now, don't look at that as being
a crafty, cunning, deceitful thing. He came out already trying,
striving to enter into God's presence. He came out striving,
the righteous, God's people strived to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. He came from his womb striving to enter. He took the
heel of his brother and tried to get out first. So he would
have the right of birth. And it says, and his name was
called Jacob, supplanter, because he grabbed his heel, supplanted
his heel. Isaac was three score years old when she bare them.
Alright, now here's a little something else how they were
different. The boys grew. Esau was a cunning hunter, a
man of the field, and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents.
Esau was a man of the world. Esau was a man of the world.
Esau grew and he became a cunning hunter, a man of the field. He
was active, he was strong, and he was ambitious. He wanted to
hunt not only animals, he wanted to hunt men, get followers, he
wanted to get land, he wanted to get possessions, he wanted
to be a CEO of a major corporation. Esau was a worldly man. And Jacob was a plain man. Jacob
was ordinary. He was quiet. He dwelt in tents. It means he stayed close to home.
He was a shepherd. And most of all it meant he was
not ambitious for this world. He was just a stranger in this
world. He didn't put down stakes and roots in this world. He just
put down stakes that could be taken up. Because he had a land
he was looking for that God provided. See that you got a worldly man
and you got a godly man here. Verse 28, and Isaac loved Esau. The father loved Esau because
he did eat of his venison. But Rebekah loved Jacob. Isaac
looked on the outward appearance, and he ate his son's venison.
And this was his firstborn son. It was his pride and joy. But
he looked on the outward appearance. And for that reason, he loved
Esau. But Rebekah heard the gospel.
Rebekah heard the word of God. Back up in verse 23, God said,
the elder shall serve the younger. And she heard Christ in that
message. Adam is not the reigning leader
of his people. Christ is. The elder serves the
younger. Now we come to our story. Alright,
verse 29. And Jacob sought pottage. And
Esau came from the field, and he was faint. Jacob was making
a big old pot of red beans and rice. He was making red lentils. Red from the earth. Red, earthy,
because it took on the color of the ground it grew in. Now
some, they say this was the meat of mourning. This is what you
made when you were in mourning. And so for that reason, many
think that this was the day Abraham, their grandfather, died. And
if that's so, that makes both Esau and Jacob to be 15 years
old. They can be figured to the day. They're 15 years old, if
that's so. Alright, but here comes Esau.
He comes in from the field and he's faint, he's weary, he's
exhausted, he's starving. Now, get this symbolically. This is what every sinner is
in our flesh. Esau is weak in his flesh, And
His lust is strong. Now that's what you are in your
flesh. Weak. Weak to do what's right. Weak
to hold on your way. Weak to hold on God's way. But
strong in the lust of the flesh to have the earthy. To have the
carnal. To have the food of this earth. That's what we are in our flesh.
And verse 30 says, And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee,
with that same red pottage, or that same red, that red red,
for I am faint. And therefore his name was called
Edom. Because he said, Feed me with that red red, his name was
called Edom. That meant that all the nation
that would be born of him was called Edom. Red, earthy, just
like Esau. He craved the earthy meat, the
red meat, that lentil. And so, all his seed came forth
just like him. They craved the earthy. Now,
Esau right here is a picture of Adam. In that, he's a picture
of Adam. Adam came first, but Adam sinned. Adam lusted, he hungered after
the earthy fruit. And he ate it and he died. And
so everybody that was born of him, all his descendants, came
forth earthy just like Adam. Just like Adam. But now Esau
also represents a worldly man. A worldly man hungering for earthly
things rather than hungering and thirsting for Christ and
His righteousness. That's who Esau represents. That's
how we're going to look at him. Verse 31. And Jacob said, Sell
me this day thy birthright. Here comes Esau, faint, hungry.
He says, give me some of that red stew. And Jacob turns around
and he said, sell me your birthright. Sell me your birthright. I'll
pay you with this red herb. Sell me your birthright. Now,
Rebecca, no doubt, had taught Jacob the truth of the gospel.
Jacob heard the elder shall serve the younger. He heard in that
through the Spirit of God, Christ Jesus who's coming after Adam,
He's going to be the reigning firstborn son. And He's going
to reign over Adam. And He knew that to be a firstborn
son, He had to get that right of birth from Christ the firstborn. And to get it, to have the right
of firstborn, everything God would give, He had to get it
from Esau the firstborn. He had to get it from his brother.
And so, he waited, he looked for an opportunity to seize birthright. He wanted it. And when his brother
came in, he saw the opportunity and he seized the opportunity.
And don't look at this as deceitful and cunning, though it was a
little deceitful and cunning. But here's the thing. Jacob typifies,
first of all, Christ. Christ was second in time after
Adam, but he was God's true firstborn son. And like Jacob took hold
of Esau's heel from the womb, Christ from the womb was serving
God. He was coming forth to undo Adam's
transgression. He was laying hold of Adam's
heel from the womb, Christ was. And He came to redeem all His
people from our sin. But Jacob's also a true elect
child of God. And here he pictures an elect
child of God. This is what happened. We hear
the Gospel just like his mother taught him the Gospel. We hear
the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified. And we look for every
opportunity to seize the birthright. We want to seek the firstborn
to have the firstborn freely give to us the birthright. We want birthright from Christ. That's the only way we can get
it. through faith in Him, and we seize the opportunity just
like Jacob did. Buy the truth and sell it not,
the Scripture said. And we seek the opportunity,
because we've heard this good news, and we seize that opportunity. Verse 32, And Esau said, Behold,
I am at the point to die. What profit shall this birthright
do to me? Esau was hungry at that moment in time. He was hungry
right then. And to him, to hear that gospel
promise of Christ the bread, that was way off. Just like when you sit here and
you hear this gospel of our eternal inheritance, right now to some
of you, that sounds like that's a long ways off. And you get
to thinking, I'm hungry right now. I want something that's
going to give me some pleasure now. Not have to wait till then. That's what Esau did. And Esau
saw that opportunity. He said, I'm at the point to
die right now. What prophets is this birthright
going to do me right now, right this minute? Esau represents
a man who is willing to give up eternal divine blessings,
to give up Christ, to forsake Christ for the temporary earthly
gain of the immediate present. Now verse 33, Jacob said, Swear
to me this day, enter a covenant with me. That's what the believer
wants from the firstborn, isn't it? We want to enter covenant
with him. Swear to me. Promise me. That's what you want
from Christ. And he swore unto him and he
sold his birthright unto Jacob. And then Jacob gave Esau bread
and pottage of lentils. He got what he asked for. Now
look at what Esau did. Verse 34. He did eat and drank
and rose up and went his way. He didn't give it a second thought.
Esau sat down and he ate that bowl as fast as he could eat
that bowl. And he got up and he wiped his mouth and he walked
out and went back to his business. He didn't give a second thought
to what had happened. And God said, thus Esau despised birthright. He despised righteousness by
birth. He despised God. He despised
Christ. He despised the gospel. He despised covenant grace. He despised birthright. Now, we're going to look at Esau
selling this birthright as a sinner who trades Christ for the temporary
earthly things of this life. The firstborn and the blessing
of the firstborn the blessing of birthright. That typifies
Christ and the blessing He gives to all who trust Him. The firstborn,
birthright, it typifies Christ and the blessings He gives to
all who are born of Him, to all who believe on Him. Now turn
with me to Hebrews 3. Christ is the firstborn. Christ
is the firstborn. Now listen to me carefully. Romans
8, 29. You be turning to Hebrews 3.
Romans 8, 29 says, Whom God did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son. That Christ might
be the firstborn. The firstborn among many brethren. Christ is firstborn. That's who
Jacob typified. Now, God's firstborn is Christ
Jesus. And Jesus was faithful as the
firstborn. He was faithful to God as the
firstborn. When you had a firstborn son, the purpose of the firstborn
was that son was faithful to take care of your whole estate
as a father. He would take care of everything
for you. He would do everything for you. Everything. Remember,
who was Joseph's firstborn? Unstable as water. He couldn't
do a thing. He was unstable as water. But
Christ, that's us by nature. Unstable as water. But Christ
came for the faithful firstborn son. And he did everything to
honor his father. And now, he's the head. He's the priest. He's the king.
All preeminence is his. All honor and power is his. because
he's the firstborn. Listen to this from Colossians
1.18. He's the head of the body, the church. That's firstborn
language. He's the head of the body. He's the beginning. He's the firstborn from the dead.
That's what Joseph called... Who was it that was so unstable
in water? Reuben? I can't remember right
off the top of my... Anyway, God told him, you're
the beginning. Christ is the beginning. He's
not unstable. He's the beginning. He's the
firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the
preeminence, because it pleased the Father that in Christ the
firstborn should all fullness dwell. Now look here, Hebrews
3, verse 1. Wherefore, holy brethren... Oh,
I like that. Because you see, what I'm fixing
to show you is, the firstborn Christ Jesus, He makes all His
sons that are born of Him, firstborn sons. You see, when that firstborn,
as a father he has the firstborn, but when that firstborn son has
a son, you know what that son is? That firstborn son is? He's
the firstborn. And when Christ the firstborn
makes us to be born again, you know what He makes us? Every
one of His children, firstborn. So He says here, wherefore holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." Christ is our
apostle. He's our prophet. He's our preacher.
And He's our high priest. He's the firstborn. "...who was
faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful
in all his house. For this man was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, and as much as he who builds the
house has more honor than the house." For every house is built
by some man, and he that built all things is God." He's saying
he's God and he built God's house, so he gets more glory than you
and I who are the house. We're seeing how these are the
apostle and high priest, the faithful firstborn. Moses verily
was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken after, but Christ as
a son. Christ as the firstborn Son was
faithful over His own house, whose house are we, if we hold
fast to confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
You see, Christ the firstborn faithfully honored God the Father.
He faithfully fulfilled the law of God His Father. He faithfully
redeemed all the children of God His Father. He's the faithful
firstborn and so the Father glorified Christ the firstborn. And now
He's given Him all preeminence and He's given Him all these
blessings to give to all His firstborn sons. He did that for
you and me who rest in Him. That's what He did for us. And
if today He gives you faith to believe on Him, He did this for
you. And He'll teach you that. Now turn to Hebrews 12. When
you get to Hebrews 12, mark it. Mark Hebrews 12. We're going
to come back. We're going to leave it and we're
going to come back. Now, God the Father has given
Christ all the blessings of the firstborn. All the blessings
of the firstborn. And Christ makes each of His
brethren firstborn sons in Him. If you and I had a firstborn
son, we can just have one. But not Christ. Christ makes
all His firstborn sons. Let me show you Hebrews 12, 22.
You come unto Mount Zion. This chapter is all about following
Christ, seeking Christ. It starts with run the race,
looking to Christ. It goes through talking about
Christ being our holiness, follow after Christ our holiness. You
won't partake of any seed of the Lord if you don't. And then
it comes to this. Now, if you're troubled, run
to Him. Don't faint. Make a straight
path to Him because you've not come to Mount Sinai. Verse 22,
you've come to Mount Zion. You've come to the city of the
living God. You've come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly. You've come to the
universal church that God Himself assembled. I hear people say,
there's no such thing as a universal church. When did you ever see
a universal church assembled? I'll tell you when I saw it.
When Christ came out of the grave, and all the church of God came
out of the grave in Him, and He sat down in the right hand
of the Father, there was the general assembly, gathered together
at the right hand of the Father. Look at here, and who are we?
We are the church of the firstborn. We're the church of the firstborn.
Our names are written in heaven. There we are. There we are. God
has assembled us in His book. He's written every one of our
names in His letter. Men say, how do you get to be
a member in your church? God writes your name in the member
book in heaven. That's how. and we're members
in His body. We're the church of the firstborn.
Every one of us are firstborn sons in Christ the firstborn.
You've come to God the judge of all, to the Spirit who has
just been perfect. Look at verse 24. And to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling that
speaks better things than that of Abel. That's where every believer
has come. Unity, unity, unity. Oneness,
oneness, oneness. Sin divides. Satan divides. Carnal
men argue for division. Christ unites His people. That's
what we are. Firstborn sons united in Christ. Now, every child of God, every
regenerated, redeemed child of God, we have the birthright. We have birthright. We have the
right of birth, of being born, of being firstborn sons, born
of Christ the firstborn. And what does that mean? We saw
Christ as the head of the house. He's the prophet, priest, and
king. And the scripture says, by His
blood and by His Spirit, He's made us kings and priests unto
God. The firstborn had all the preeminence. A double portion of the inheritance
was given to Him so that He had all the preeminence, all the
power over all His brethren. The Scripture says of us, we're
complete in Him. He's given us a double portion.
We're complete in Christ. So that now, the Scripture says,
we're going to reign with Him. We have everything He has. Christ
received His Father's eternal inheritance, the heavenly city
of God, and He made us heirs of God and join heirs with Christ.
You've come to that heavenly city, believer. And Christ has
that high honor. Remember, if the firstborn that
had the seed in him, that was the highest honor that could
be given under the old covenant. Well, under the new covenant,
you know what we have? We have Christ the seed in us.
That's the highest honor you could be given. That's how we're
firstborn sons. We have Christ the seed in us.
That's how we're firstborn sons. So the birthright, the blessing
of the firstborn, they represent the blessing that believers are
given through Christ the firstborn. Every believer is a firstborn
son in Christ. Do you get it now? Do you see
how important birthright is? Do you see what birthright means?
Birthright is everything. Birthright is the gospel. Birthright
is Christ. Birthright is eternal, everlasting
continuance with God. Birthright is salvation. Now,
let's learn from Esau. Let's learn from Esau. Now, I'm
speaking both to us. You keep the Hebrews 12 mark. I'm speaking to you who believe
on Christ. It's one thing to profess we believe on Christ.
One thing to profess it. It's another thing to really
believe on Christ. It's one thing to say, I have
a broken heart. It's another thing to have it. The one that has a broken heart
will say, I have a broken heart, but he'll object and rebut and
keep on saying, I think this is better. The one that has a
broken heart will say, yes Lord. Yes. That's a broken heart. And the one that's a firstborn
son is going to continue to the end. I'm speaking to you that
believe, and I'm beseeching you, continue to the end. Continue
to the end. And I'm speaking to you who have
not yet believed, and I'm telling you now, believe on Christ and
continue in Him. Now, consider what God gave Esau. God gave Esau the privilege of
having the gospel preached to him just like you have. Just
like we have in this place. Now, for you who believe, don't
ever take for granted the gospel. Don't ever take for granted birthright. Don't ever take for granted that
you are a firstborn child of God. Don't take that for granted.
You be ever pressing to Christ, ever looking to Christ, ever
following Christ, ever running this race looking to Him, ever
going to His throne of grace, ever seeking His faith. Don't
take for granted you're the firstborn. This world can come between you
and me so easy and so quickly, and we take for granted, oh,
I'm a child of God. It won't matter if I fall off
into this sin. Scripture says, quench not the
Spirit of God. Sometimes I wonder, Lord, have
I quenched the Spirit? Have I sinned away every privilege I had so that
I'm proven to be a castaway that never even knew God? It's so
easy to take for granted birthright. It's so easy to take for granted
that you're a firstborn child of God and to run off into sin
and to cease sanctifying God in your heart so that you follow
Him in everything. So easy to do that. And to everyone
here, I want you to hear God declaring this Gospel. He's declaring
here in this Gospel that through faith in His Son, He gives us
the greatest joy that can be had. That's what He gave to Esau. The greatest privilege that could
be had was birthright. That's what He gives us through
the Gospel, through faith in Christ. The greatest privilege
that can be had. God says to you and me, repent
from your works, turn from trusting in anything else, and He says,
cast all your care on My Son and continue resting in My Son. He says Christ is all. Nothing
else. Christ is all. You can't add
anything, you can't take anything, but Christ is all. Continue in
Christ. Now that's birthright. That's
birthright. That's to be born of God and
to continue in Him. And the blessings of the firstborn
are unsearchable riches. He's given us unsearchable riches. What could possibly make anyone
want to trade these blessings for anything in this earth? What
could make us want to trade these unsearchable riches for anything
in this world? What could make us do that? Now,
everybody who's resting all our hope in Christ, You have the
joy. What are these riches? You have
the joy of total absolution of all your sins. These priests,
men go to these men, they say, I absolve your sin, my son. A man can't absolve your sin.
Christ is the only one who can absolve our sin. And Christ did. Christ removed every stain of
sin from His people. He made it so God sees no sin
in His people, past, present, or future. It's gone. It's blotted
out so that it can't be seen. God says now to every needy sinner.
Are you a needy sinner? Do you need your sins blotted
out? Do you need peace of conscience? Listen to what God says in the
Gospel. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
your sins be as scarlet, though they're red like Esau, they shall
be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. What do I do? Nothing. Stop doing. What do I do? Stop trying to earn salvation
and rest in Christ. He says to all who believe on
Christ, I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin
no more. Here's some of the riches we have. Everybody that believes
in Christ knows what it's like to have the lost curse totally
removed from us. Oh, do you know what a weight
it would have been to live under the old covenant? Do you know
what a weight that would have been? to have six hundred and
something laws that you have to constantly keep on your heart
and mind to try to keep. You couldn't. Ladies, is there
anybody here that's wearing some kind of mixed blend of fabric?
You broke the law. You couldn't let corn and beans
grow together. You couldn't let two different
crops grow together. You couldn't wear mixed blend clothes. I'm
talking about, if you're out walking and you walked over a
grave. Somebody died there a thousand years ago. You don't even know
there's a cemetery there. You just walk along, you walked
over a grave. God said, you're defiled. You've touched the dead. You couldn't keep it. And that's
the design of the law, to show you, you can't keep it. You can't
keep it. You're a sinner. He's showing
you in the garden when Adam sinned, you sinned. Now here's a law
to show you the effects of that sin. You can't keep it. Any man
that thinks he can keep the law proves he's blind as a bat. Are bats really blind? I don't
know, but if he's blind, I'm telling you, blind if he thinks
he can keep the law. But brethren, we know what it
is. You know what the law is? You know what the breaking of
the law is? It's the neglect of perfect love. That's what
the breaking of the law is. God took every offense of His
people for the neglecting perfect love toward God and toward brethren.
And He put all the fury of His justice on Christ the firstborn. And Christ satisfied that justice
so that now that curse of that law is fulfilled, it's gone,
and While he took away the negative, he was fulfilling the positive.
That was the love of the law. To lay down his life to the point
that he was forsaken of God the Father and the brethren that
he was doing it for. So that's love, brethren. Selfish,
unselfish love that is forsaken of everybody because you love
somebody so much. That's the fulfillment of the
law. And he did that taking away our sins by burying our sins
in his body on the tree. You see that? It's inward righteousness
and holiness and outward satisfaction of justice. All together. We
have that. Can you measure, can you put
a price on the value of a clear conscience? Can you say what... I don't have... Brother Donnie
said, I don't have any guilt. Spence Longstaff had any guilt.
We talked about that later. You know, you feel ashamed because
you can't live like you want to live. You want to be without
sin and honor God and everything. He wasn't talking about that.
We have that. Because we just... It's like
a child that loves his father so much, he wants to honor his
father in everything he does. And when he knows he's disappointed
his father, it breaks his heart. That's how we feel as sons and
daughters of God. But as far as guilt, as far as
walking around with a guilty conscience, and walking around
thinking, God's going to get me for something. No! He's my
Father. I'm righteous in His sight. I'm
made righteous by His Son. I'm accepted. I'm accepted. I
don't have that curse anymore. I don't have that weight. I'm
not trying to keep the law. I've kept the law in Christ.
Through faith in Christ, He's given us the peace of reconciliation
to God. I can come to God. He's my Father. And He smiles at me. He doesn't
frown on me. He smiles on me just like He
smiles upon His only begotten Son. Just like He smiles on His
firstborn Son. That's how God smiles on me.
He delights in me. I can crawl up to Him and lay
my lay my head on his breast just like John there at that
table that night. And he says, wraps his arms around
me and embraces me and loves me. That's what he does. Oh, we can let this world come
between us and the gospel so easy. Sell our birthright and
our heart, Ribby, to where we don't pay God any attention,
pay Christ any attention. That fast. That fast. Ah, here's what we have. We have
inheritance with Him. We saw that this morning. Everything
He possesses, we possess. Join heirs with Christ. We've
been quickened by His Spirit. We've been called by Christ and
made a firstborn child. This is what God says to you
and me. Listen to this. This is from 1 Corinthians 3,
21 through 24. I'll just read it to you. He
says, All things are yours. Every pastor He gives is yours.
He says, The world, life, death, things present, things to come,
all are yours. There are things in there we
look on as bad things. Death? He says, no, death is
yours. It's for your good. It's to usher
you into God's eternal presence. To give you this inheritance.
to take you off this soap bubble and bring you into real life. He says, and you are Christ and
Christ is God. That's all inclusive, isn't it? Everything. A throne of grace
is yours. You can come to Him, pour out
your heart to Him and tell Him things you can't tell your nearest,
dearest loved one. Isn't that something? In Christ
we have boldness, liberty to enter in His house anytime and
He will hear us and speak comfort to our heart. You have the Holy
Spirit. It's yours. He's yours. The Holy
Spirit is yours. He comes and He gives you a heart
and He keeps you looking to Him and He keeps you trusting Him
and He keeps you assembling with your breath. He keeps you. Now,
what I'm trying to say to you is, I'm trying to convey to you
the unspeakable riches of birthright. I'm trying to convey to you the
unspeakable riches of being firstborn. In Christ the firstborn. Now,
these things are all represented by the birthright. These things
I've been telling you in the Gospel. Now, are we going to
be like Esau? Esau sold the future for the
present. Esau traded all these spiritual
riches for the temporary earthly riches of this life. Are we going
to be like Esau? Will we despise immeasurable good? Will we despise
God, His Christ, His righteousness? His salvation, His heaven, all
that He is and all that He gives. Will we despise Him and trade
Him for something of this world? Now let me ask you a question.
Now I want you to think of this question seriously. What could
it possibly be that entices you so that you'd
want to trade all these riches and how? Is it the pleasures
of your senses? I love to hear music. I love
to taste delectable food. I love to touch, feel. Is it pleasure? All the senses
are going to go with this flesh just wither, wither, wither,
wither, wither, wither. But the Scripture says there
are pleasures at His right hand forevermore. Don't you find this
so, believer? As your body withers and decays,
the pleasures of God get sweeter and sweeter. Because as your
body decays, you can't trust in your senses as much. You have
to trust in God more. And the more you trust in God,
the sweeter it gets. I'm telling you. Is it earthly
honors? Maybe you just want to hear this. I was with a boy one time, he
wanted to be a country artist. We were backstage at the Ryman
and we were standing there and a crowd, a boy went out and a
crowd went to applaud him, you know. And he said, you hear that? He said, I crave that. I crave
it. That's what I'm doing, everything
I'm doing for. Applause of men. A pat on the
back by a man. Well, why would you want a crown
that men can give you? When you get that crown and that
applause of men and those honors for men, there's going to be
somebody else coming to try to steal it away as soon as you
get it. But Christ says He gives you a crown of righteousness
that fadeth not away. He gives you honor that will
never diminish. What about bartering these unsearchable
riches for earthly riches? Riches that will rust and canker.
Men will go into a business and they'll be so feverish at that
business, just like Jesus sat at that table eating that red
stew. And they'll get up and they'll go about their business
and never even give a second thought that they've left the
birthright. They've despised birthright.
Suppose you go through life never giving a second thought to these
things. Suppose you go through life and you become a great success
in the world's measure of a great success. And you get everything
you want. Esau did. Later, Jacob meets him and he
says, I have enough. I don't need anything from you,
Jacob. I got enough. And he did. He had a lot. And he didn't think
about that birthright. It didn't bother him. But there
came a time when it bothered him. He stood before his father
and he wanted the blessing. Now, turn back to Genesis 27.
Hold your place in Hebrews 12. Let's wind this up. Genesis 27.
I'm not going to go into great detail here because I'm going
to preach on this on the next popular story, but I just want
to show you Esau's part of this. The time came that Esau stood
before his father, and he greatly desired his father's blessing,
but it was too late. Too late. Isaac, his father,
gave the blessing to Jacob. God's going to give the blessing
to all His Jacobs, to His firstborn children who rest in Christ.
He's going to give the blessing to them that wouldn't barter,
they wouldn't sell this truth, they wouldn't give it up. He's
going to give the blessing to them. Esau, look here, I want
you to see this. Genesis 27, let me find it here. Verse 32, look at the end there. Genesis 27, 32. He saw his brother
came in from his hunting. He came in from his hunting.
Now let me tell you something, you sitting here that don't believe
God, you got bigger fish to fry, you despise birthright, despise
this gospel because you want all these riches of the world.
One of these days you're going to come in from your hunting.
You're going to come in from hunting this world and the riches
of this world and the fame and fortune of this world. You're
going to come in from your hunting and you're going to stand before
God the Father. One of these days. One of these days. And
look. Look here now, you put yourself,
you consider God, Isaac here as God the Father, you consider
this the day of judgment, you consider Esau as you standing
before the Father without Christ to be your mediator, without
Christ the firstborn, without birthright. Alright, look at
verse 32. It says, And Isaac his father,
did I say, oh wait, I meant verse 30 when I said Esau his brother
came in from his hunting. It looks like 32 in my book.
I think I'm going blind. Alright, now 32. And Isaac, his
father, said unto him, Who art thou? Isn't that sad? Here comes Esau, finally comes
in from his hunting, and now he stands before his father.
And his father says, Who are you? One day he's going to come
before God the Father, and he's going to say to every sinner
without cry, Who are you? Who are you? Look at this. Look at this. He says, and he
said, I'm thy son. Then he makes it more specific.
I'm thy firstborn. I'm Esau. Don't you know me,
Lord? He thought he still had the firstborn
birthright. He didn't have it. He took it
for granted. He sold it for earthly riches,
for earthly bread. There's going to be many standing
before Him in that day, Christ said. And they're going to say,
Lord, Lord! And He's going to say, Who are you? I never knew
you. Who are you? Look at this. So his father told him it was
too late. He said, Jacob received the blessing and he'll be blessed.
And look at verse 34. And when he saw, heard the words
of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter
cry. I can't even imagine what that
cry is going to be like in the day of judgment, can you? An
exceeding great and bitter cry. And he said unto his father,
Bless me! Even me also! O my father! Can't you just picture? The proud
sinner that went through life and got all his heart desired
in this world and died without Christ. Can't you picture him
standing before God the Father and crying out, Father, bless
me. Bless me also. Verse 37, And
Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him
thy Lord. That's what God's going to say.
I've made Christ your Lord. And all His brethren have I given
to Him for His servants. And with corn and wine have I
sustained Him. I've given Him all the inheritance.
What shall I do now unto thee, my son? That's what He's going
to ask you. When you meet Him without Christ,
God's going to say, now I've given everything to Christ my
Son, and I've given all His firstborn sons to Him to be His servants,
and I've blessed them with all the inheritance, because they
trusted in my Son, they rested in my Son, they glorified my
holy name. Now what should I give you? And look at this. In Esau, verse
38, Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my
father? Is there just one blessing you
can give me? Bless me, even me also, O my
Father. And Esau lifted up his voice
and wept. Now back to Hebrews 12 and we'll
be done. I want you to see this. Hebrews
12, God gives the application. He says to you and me, He starts
this chapter and He says, now you run this race looking to
Christ. Don't faint, don't tremble, don't look back, because when
God chastens His child, brethren, He's doing it to make you a partaker
of Christ our holiness. He's doing it to keep you out
of this world and keep you in Christ. And he says here verse
12, Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble
knees. Remember how Esau came running in, faint, and he just
gave up and sold birthright for just to satisfy his flesh. He
says lift up your feeble hands and your feeble knees and make
a straight path for your feet. Straight to where? Straight to
Christ. straight to Christ. Lest that which is lame be turned
out of the way. Lest you prove to be not ever
born of His grace and you be turned out of Christ's way. But
let it rather be healed. Run to Christ and you'll be healed.
Follow peace with all. Capital P. Follow Christ our
peace with all. In everything you do, at all
times, whether you're faint, whether you're strong, whatever,
at all times, follow Christ our peace. And follow Christ our
holiness, without which no man will see the Lord. looking diligently
to Christ, to be like Paul and be found in Christ, not having
my own righteousness, but His righteousness. Lest any man fail
of the grace of God, because the grace of God is in Christ
alone. Look at this now. Lest any root of bitterness spring
up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be
any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance." Well, it looked like he was repenting.
It's not talking about him repenting. Oh, he was repenting alright.
He was begging his father, give me the blessing. But he found
that his father would not repent. His father would not turn and
bless him. His father said, Jacob's blessed, Jacob shall be blessed.
Even though Esau sought it carefully with tears, it was too late.
Rather now is the day of grace. It will be too late when you
meet God in judgment. He won't repent and give you the blessing.
No, sir. No, sir. Now the context shows
you this is all about fleeing to Christ. Now look at Hebrews
12, 24. He says, you've come to Mount Zion, you've come to
the throne of grace, you're the church of the firstborn. Verse
24, you've come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.
You've come to the blood of sprinkling. See that you refuse not Him that
speaketh. That's what He's teaching you.
See that you don't refuse Him. Follow Him. For if they escape
not who refused Him to speak on the earth, much more shall
not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven."
Do you hear Him speaking from heaven? He's speaking right now
in the words that you're hearing preached from heaven. And He's
speaking into the hearts of some. Do you hear Him? This is what
He's saying. When you're weak, run to Christ.
When you're chasing, run to Christ. At all times, run to Christ.
And never ever think of selling. this birthright, not even for
a moment, not even for a moment. It'll be proven we're truly firstborn
sons in Christ if by His grace He preserves us unto the end
and we're found trusting Him in the end. We'll be blessed. Next time we'll see how Jacob
received that blessing. We'll see how every believer
receives that blessing from our Father. Alright, let's pray.
Father, thank you for this word. Thank you and oh, make it effectual. Make us hear it. We're fools running after fools'
gold. We spend 10, 12 hours a day seeking
earthly riches, teaching our children the earthly books And
we don't even bother in the last hours of the day to pick up your
book or seek the riches from you. That's as backwards as backwards
can be. And that's who we are, God. Turn us right side up. Turn us
and make us truly, truly, truly rest in you. Make us seek you. Make us eat the bread from heaven.
Make us turn away from this earthly red lentil porridge. And make
us feast on Christ constantly. Don't let us take it for granted.
Make straight paths for our feet to Christ. Make us lay hold of
Christ our holiness. Lord, we don't like to be chastened,
and it hurts to be chastened, but if we got to be chastened
to be a partaker of Christ our holiness, chasten us, Lord. Spank
us. Make us partaker. We thank You, Lord, for these
blessings. We thank You and pray that You've made us Your Jacob,
given us birthright, made us firstborn son. We pray, Lord,
that You'll give us the blessing, robed in Christ our righteousness.
Ah, what a day that'll be. Lord, turn the Esau's, turn the
Esau's and make them believe on Christ. We pray that in Christ's
name. Amen.