Turn with me, if you would now,
to the book of Obadiah. In the Old Testament, if your
Bible's like mine, it's page 1148, but it's before Jonah. It's after Hosea and Amos. Obadiah. In skimming through the Old Testament,
just reading through the Old Testament, I stopped here. This
is the shortest book in the Old Testament. And in reading these
verses, I saw something that was a real blessing to me. And
I sincerely pray this will be an encouragement to all of us. Obadiah, this, this prophet,
this God called preacher Obadiah is in this, there's only one
chapter in this book, 21 verses. And in these 21 verses, he is
declaring God. He's declaring God and he's declaring
God's sovereignty. He's declaring God's wisdom. and his knowledge and his all
seeing eye, he's declaring God. He's declaring God's justice. He's declaring the standard of
God's holy and righteous law. He declares a lot in 21 verses. He's declaring God for who he
truly is. And he's declaring the judgment
that will come to man for his sin against God. But look with me at verse 17,
verse 17 says, but upon Mount Zion, we're going to read this
here in just a second. And you're going to say, he's
declaring God. He's declaring God's justice.
And verse 17, he said, but upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance
and there shall be holiness. And the house of Jacob shall
possess their possessions. He's declaring this, this great
justice and judgment of God. He said, but upon Mount Zion,
there's going to be deliverance. There shall be holiness in the
house of Jacob, the house of the center. shall possess their
possessions. He's also declaring God's promises. That's what these are. These
are God's promises. He's declaring God's goodness
to his people. And then he ends his book here
by declaring God's glory. Now, this is what struck me about
this tiny little book here in the Old Testament. Just the profoundness
of what it's saying. the greatness of what this is
declaring to us. And I want to tell you what I
see in this. I want to tell you what I believe
the Lord has revealed to me in this. The only thing that is
good about this world and the things that pertain to this world
is God's people in the Lord Jesus Christ because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right. Now let me say that
again. The only thing that's good about this world, and you'll
see why I say this, he is declaring judgment, judgment, judgment.
You read through a lot of these old books and they are judgment,
judgment, judgment, and that's what the world deserves. And
to see a verse like verse 17, that declares to us that the
only thing that is good and redeemable about this world, you know, our
Lord was in the world. And then in John 17, he prayed
to his father, I'm coming back to you. Would you keep them? I was in the world while I was
with them in the world, I kept them. And now I'm coming back
to you. Would you keep them? And our Lord ascended and he
left this world. And now the only thing that is
left in this world that is redeemable, everything's going to be burned
up. Everything's just going to be done away with. And the only
thing that is redeemable about this world is God's people because
of Christ. Everything that happens according
to God's sovereign will and purpose. We know that everything that
happens is according to God's sovereign will and purpose. It's by his all controlling hand. And everything that he does on
this earth is for his people. Everything, sometimes that really
sinks into me. As you turn on the news and you
see everything that's happening in this world, Hard to imagine,
but it's so everything that the all controlling sovereign hand
of God is doing in this world is for God's people. Outside of his people, everyone
and everything is dispensable. That means worth nothing. more than to be thrown away,
dispensable. It's all it's worth, thrown away.
But not God's people. Not God's people, not the children
of the heavenly Father. The Father said, I choose them.
Not the bride of the Holy Son. He said, I love them. And I give
myself for them. And I'm gonna pay an unimaginable
price to redeem them. Everything on this earth is for
them. According to the working of the
almighty God, everything is for God's people. That's just an
amazing thought to me. That is a special, that's a special
thought to me. I have a family and everything
that I do is for them. It really is. I love them. I want the best for them. I feel
like to some degree I sacrifice for them. You know, I'll deny
myself that they might have. And that's how it is for God's
people. Oh, the love that sought us. Oh, the love that bought
us. Oh, the grace, the love and grace
that has brought us to the fold and keeps us and does for us
and orders for us and works for us. Nothing in God's people is redeemable
because of themselves. Nothing about our wicked flesh
makes us special or make us makes us worthy of anything. It's all
Christ. It's all Christ. The value of
God's people is not in themselves. Their value is in Christ. Because of Christ, God's people
have found favor with God, favor from God. Our Lord has declared
that to us here in Obadiah, and he's done it through the illustration
of Jacob and Esau. All right, that's who Obadiah
is writing about. Those two men represent two completely separate
groups of people. Our Lord said, Jacob have I loved,
He represents the chosen. He represents the elected people
of God. He represents the adopted, the
set apart ones that God, the father chose, accepted in the
person, in the body, in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Jacob, have I loved?
He represents every soul in Christ. And the Lord said, Esau have
I hated. He represents everybody and everything
else outside of Christ. It's either in Christ or out
of Christ. It's that simple. Everything
outside of Christ is gonna be forsaken. You think about the
promise of God to his people. He said, I will never forsake
you. There is also a promise outside
of Christ forsaken, destroyed all the promises of God and all
the goodness of God and all the mercy of God and all the inheritance
of God. All of it is for God's people
in the Lord, Jesus Christ, everything on this earth. And that that's
the point of the message. That's what I want to get across
to us tonight. Everything about this earth, if we could only
get ahold of this, everything about this earth is
for God's people. Now let's read that in this book
and then we'll prove it and expound on it in a few other places here.
Obadiah verse one, it says, the vision of Obadiah Thus sayeth
the Lord God concerning Edom. Edom is Esau and it's the descendants
of Esau, the nation that came from him. And that represents
all the world outside of Christ. All right. Verse one says the
vision of Obadiah. Thus sayeth 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. Behold, I've made thee
small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised." They
said, we've heard that that is the declaration of the Lord concerning
you. We've heard that that's what
the Lord has said. Verse three, the pride of thine heart hath
deceived thee. Thou that dwellest in the clefts
of the rock, whose habitation is high that sayeth in his heart,
who shall bring me down to the ground? Man is his own safety
in his own mind. That that's man by nature. That's
the pride of man by nature. Verse four, though thou exalt
thyself as the Eagle, And though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." God has declared
His sovereignty. That's what Obadiah is saying.
God has declared His sovereignty concerning you. He's saying,
in spite of your will, in spite of your wicked, sinful decisions,
in spite of your pride, thinking you're something when you're
nothing, God is gonna do with you as He has pleased. He always
does. He always does. He always does
as he pleases with everything because he's God, sovereign over
all. Verse five, if thieves come to
thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they
not have stolen till they had enough? If the great gatherers
came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the
things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought
up? He said, I've seen everything
concerning you. Everything you've ever done all
the hidden things all the secret things all of it is going to
be exposed and it is It is first And I'll get I'm gonna get ahead
of myself ours was to Ours was to What make us us to differ? He said it's all gonna be exposed
everything you've done. It's gonna be brought out what
makes us to differ Christ Where was ours exposed on the cross
of Calvary? He was all brought up. He was all exposed. God did this
to Christ for us. I felt it was okay to get ahead
of myself. God did this to Christ for us. Okay. Verse seven, all
the men of that Confederacy have brought the 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 under thee. There is none understanding in
him. Shall I not in that day, saith
the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding
out of the Mount of Esau? He said, all of your deceiving
ways have come to nothing and they've left you exposed before
my all-seeing eye. And I've made foolish the wisdom
of this world. And you're going to see that
there's no wisdom and there's no knowledge outside of the wisdom
and knowledge of the almighty God. Verse nine and I mighty
men, old team and shall be dismayed to the end that every one of
the Mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For thy violence
against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt
be cut off forever. Justice is coming to you. That's
the declaration. Justice is coming. Verse 11.
In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day
that the strangers carried away captive his forces, And foreigners
entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou
wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked
on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger."
Speaking of Jacob. representing the people of God.
Verse 12, thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy
brother in the day that he became a stranger, neither shouldest
thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their
destruction. Neither shouldest thou have spoken
proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered
into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea,
thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day
of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the
day of their calamity. Neither shouldest thou have stood
in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape. Neither
shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain
in the day of distress." He said, you've sinned against me. You've
sinned, you've sinned, you've sinned, you've sinned. And he
said, you should not have sinned against me. in them, in my people. In the day you did it to them,
you did it to me. Verse 15, for the day of the Lord is near upon
all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon
thine own head. For as you have drunk upon my
holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yea,
they shall drink. They shall swallow down and they
shall be as though they had not been. Judgment is coming. It's a promise. It's a sure promise. Mark my word, he says. I will
avenge, I will destroy, I will get rid of everything that rebels
against me. Everything. This whole book is
about God's dealing with this world. But one verse right here,
he gives totally to his dealings with his people, verse 17. But
upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness and
the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. That's his
promise too. That's his promise to his people.
He said, that's my decree concerning everything else. And that's my
decree concerning my people. And in that, I'm gonna get the
glory for it. Verse 18, in the house of Jacob
shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house
of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle in them
and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house
of Esau, for the Lord has spoken it. and they of the south shall
possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plain the Philistines,
and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of
Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead, and the captivity of
this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of
the Canaanite. even unto Zarephath, and the
captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess
the cities of the south, and saviors, and that means witnesses,
witnesses of Christ, saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to
judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
That's what's going to happen. The Lord said, I'm gonna destroy
everything. but I'm gonna deliver my people, I'm gonna make them
holy, I'm gonna give them the possession I promised them, and
the kingdom's going to be the Lord's. That's what's going to
happen. That's what's gonna happen to God's people, and that's what's
gonna happen to everything else. In the end, the only thing left
standing from this earth will be God's people. Thus saith the
Lord. Now, again, the emphasis of this
message is the only thing that is going to be redeemed from
this world is God's people. That's the only thing. He is
controlling everything that happens in this world. Sometimes, even
though we know this, I'm telling you something that you know,
but we still get it in our minds that it's utter chaos out there.
And it's just, it is given over, there is a reprobate mind, but
it's still in the all-controlling hand of God Almighty. He's only
allowing to happen whatever He allows to happen. Everything that he is ordering
and controlling, everything that he is doing is for his people. It's so perfect. One of these
days, we're going to see this. He will, we will know as we have
been known, he will reveal to us and we're going to be amazed
at how perfect all of his dealings in this world were for us, for
all of his people. Now, why would he do this for
his people when they are honestly in the flesh, just as greatest
centers against him as everybody else. Why would he do this? It's
because verse 17 says he purposed deliverance for them. If you need deliverance, it means
you're in bondage, you're in captivity, you're in ruin just
like everybody else. He purposed holiness for them. Sinners by nature, he purposed
holiness in Christ. And he purposed an inheritance
possession for them. Why would he do that? My answer
is, I don't know. I really don't. When you think
about God, He is in need of nothing. He is in need of no one. He does
not need our praise. He does not need our worship.
He does not need our company. God, the Father, Son, and Spirit,
why would He do this for us? Here is my answer after much
thought. I don't know. I just don't know. I don't understand
it, but he is God. And that's what he said he purposed
to do. So that's what he did. And I'm
glad. He is God, therefore He has the
right to do it. He is God, therefore He has the
power to do it. And all we can say is, thank
God He had the heart to do it. This makes me want to dwell for
a minute on the heart of our God. Thank God He had the heart
to do this for us. Thank God He orders all of this
for us. Thank God He condescends to men. What is man that you're mindful
of us and that you would do all of this for us? Thank God, that's
all we can say, thank God. Who did He do this for? Who was
included in this promise? If you look at verse 17, it says
he did it for the house of Jacob. You know who the house of Jacob
is? You know who the house of Jacob are? Sinners. If you want to be included in
this, you have to be a sinner. He did this for sinners, wretched,
full-blooded, not partial. 100% in and out, top to bottom,
vile, wretched, miserable sinners. There's my hope. I just told
you my hope. God said, I have done this for
wretched, miserable sinners. That gives me hope. That's what
I am. If anybody ever accused me of
being the worst sinner that they'd ever known, I would have no option
but to say, you're right. You're right. I can't deny it before God. I can't
hide it from God. I don't want to. I don't want
to. Because that's who his promise
of deliverance and holiness and possession is to. Ruined sinners. That makes me want to honestly
say, I'm a ruined sinner. This is all I have to say, I'm
a ruined sinner, and I'm begging for the promise in Christ, the
promise of blood that delivers me, the promise of righteousness
that makes me holy, and the promise of my inheritance with Him, joint
heir with Him. Now, how did God do this for
ruined sinners? What did He do that allowed Him
to treat us in this way. Turn with me over to Romans 8.
A brother read this in my study last Wednesday night. Romans
8. And I told you a minute ago that
I got ahead of myself. You already know the answer to
this. Let's read it anyway. Romans 8 verse 31, it says, What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? That's what the book of Obadiah
is all about. If you want to summarize all that, there it
is. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He's against everything outside
of Christ. But in Christ, if God be for
us, who can be against us? The answer is nobody, nobody. Why is God for us? Why is God
for His elect people? What did He do that caused Him
to be so gracious and so loving and so accepting of sinners like
us? Verse 32, He that spared not His own Son. Our deliverance
came through the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the
Father delivered Him of every promise in those other verses
of Obadiah. That's what came to Christ for
us. God the Father delivered Him
up in the place of every sinner He chose to save. And that's
the proof to us that every single thing that He's done is for His
people. If He did that, that's the proof to us that all of it
is for His people. Verse 32, He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things? Everything. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Every single thing that happens
in this world, God is doing it and He's doing it for us. He's
doing it for us. Our God has this world still
turning for His glory and for the good of His people. And that's
the absolute truth. It's still turning and it's still
going for His glory. and for the good of his people.
Look right here at verse 19, Romans 8 verse 19 says, for the
earnest expectation of the creature, and that word means creation,
this world, the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. This earth is earnestly
waiting for the return of the Lord, when He will manifest all
of His children. The earth is waiting for that.
Isaiah 55 says, when that moment happens, and the Lord's people
rise to meet Him in the air, it says the mountains and the
hills are gonna break forth into singing, and all the trees of
the field are gonna clap their hands. It's waiting, the whole
creation of earth is waiting to give its applause to Christ.
because of what He's done for His people. That's the reason.
Verse 28, Romans 8, verse 28 says, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. Everything that God is doing,
He's doing it for His people and it's good. It's good. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
4. Just read this for our Scripture
reading here. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15, it says, for all things are for your sakes,
all things are for your sakes. That the abundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God for
which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction,
which is, but for a moment worketh for us. You see those three words. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
All things are for your sakes. All things are for the people
of God. And that abundant grace from our Lord causes every single
one of His people to, in turn, give thanks unto the glory of
God. Obadiah ended his declaration
in this way, and so will we. Okay, this is how we'll close
this message. We'll do it in the same way he
closed his. Go with me back to Obadiah. Hopefully you have it
marked. Page 1148, if not. I love this last line. Verse
21, the end of it says, and the kingdom shall be the
Lord's. It is the Lord's. It always has
been the Lord's. But in that day, every soul there
will say, the kingdom is the Lord's. Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the glory. Yours is
the greatness. Yours is the power. And for this
amazing grace that you have shown to us, our eternal
cry will be, it's all yours. The kingdom is the Lord's. From
him, there is deliverance, holiness, and every possession in him.
And to him we cry, the kingdom is the Lord's. All right, Brother
Dwight, you come.