Jesus, greatest, highest, I will
obey. OK, Genesis chapter 27. Keeping in mind what our Lord
said there in Matthew 10, verse 21, I'll repeat that verse. The Lord said, And the brother
shall deliver up the brother to death. Father of the child,
the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them
to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end
shall be saved." Brother against brother. God's sovereign providence is amazing how the
Scriptures tie together Genesis 27. I've been wanting to get
back into Genesis for some time, but we've had an ongoing Bible
conference. But it was amazing to me as I
turned back over here and started reading it again how this just
fit in perfectly with what we studied this morning and what
I just repeated to you, what the Lord said. Brother against brother is exactly
the case here of Esau and Jacob. Let's read again with verse 41. This is where we left off the
last time we studied here. It says, Esau hated Jacob because
of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau
said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father at hand,
or that is, my dad's going to die soon. And then I will slay,
I'm going to kill my brother Jacob. And these words of Esau,
her elder son, were told to Rebekah. And she sinned and called Jacob
her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau
is touching thee, to comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my
voice. Arise, flee thou to Laban my
brother, to Haran. Tarry with him a few days, until
thy brother's fury turn away, until thy brother's anger turn
away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to
him. Then I will send and fetch thee from thence. Why should
I be deprived also of you both in one day? This is exactly, brother against
brother, what our Lord said is exactly what happened here. It
is exactly what Cain and Abel, what took place with them in
the very beginning. Ever since there have been siblings, and always as there will be,
there will be this conflict But this is more than a sibling rivalry. This is more than two brothers
just vying for the attention or affection of their parents. This is a picture, a very clear
picture, of the sons of Adam who are against the sons of God.
A very clear picture. And we saw one other time when
we were studying here. Now that within ourselves, this
is a picture of the struggle within us, how the old man is
against the new man. That old nature is against that
regenerated man, created in Christ. All right? All right. What was the cause for this enmity? Why did Esau hate Jacob? Why did he hate him? Look at
verse 41. Here's the answer. It says that
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father
blessed him. It wasn't Jacob he necessarily
hated. Did you notice his words? He
said, that old man's going to be dead soon. That's not respect,
is it? That's not love. He hated Jacob
because of the blessing that Isaac had blessed Jacob with. He hated him because of that
blessing. That reminded me of Genesis chapter 4. Turn back
over there. Genesis chapter 4. That reminded
me of Cain and Abel. Very similar. Genesis chapter
4. Look at this again. And this
is, and I, if anybody This is the very foundation. Genesis means beginning. And
I advise anyone, if you want to know the truth of doctrine,
you need to study where it all began. Genesis means beginning. And here in Genesis 4, we have
the beginning of all religions. All religions can be found under
two headings. All religions, there's either
the religion of Cain or the religion of Abel. Cain, well look at it, Genesis
4 verse 4, it says Abel, or verse 3, Genesis 4 verse 3. In the cross, now there's two
brothers coming to worship God. They both knew that you go to church on Sunday. So
they both were coming to worship God. And look at what they both
brought. Look at how they each came to
worship God. And one was rejected and one
was accepted. Verse 3, "...in the process of
time came, brought the fruit of the ground, an offering unto
the Lord." He brought what he did, his works. His works. And Abel, verse 4,
he also brought something. the firstling of his flock, and
the fat thereof." Fat, that means he killed this sheep or this
lamb. He killed a lamb, shed its blood,
and he brought that. And it says here, "...and the
Lord," verse 4, "...had respect unto Abel, and to his offering."
God accepted Abel because of his offering. Cain, verse 4,
and his offering, he had no respect. And Cain got mad. And you know the rest of the
story. Cain killed Abel. Why? Because God accepted Abel
and his offering and rejected Cain. Those are two religions. Two religions. The religion of
man's works how he can get to God by being a good boy or a
good girl or whatever they do for God. Well, he's going to
get there by the blood and the righteousness of a substitute. Jesus Christ. There's only two.
Only two religions. And God rejects hands down, thumbs
down, everybody that brings the one work of theirs to be accepted. One work. Because Isaiah 64 says,
all our Righteousnesses, that means religious
works, are filthy rags. Know what it says? But it says
Jesus Christ is made unto us righteousness. His righteousness
is a pure, spotless garment that he puts on his people, and God
accepts that. Two religions. And it's always
been so, and it will always be so, that those who are rejected,
those who believe God ought to accept what
they've done, get mad at and hate those who merely come by
faith in Christ alone. Right? Because of the blessing.
The blessing. That's why Esau hated Jacob. That's why Cain hated Abel. God
accepted him. It wasn't because of him. It
wasn't him at all. Sovereign, I'm talking about
sovereign electing grace is what I'm talking about more specifically. Sovereign electing grace. Now
God, God told Rebekah before these boys were born what was
going to happen to them. He said, the elder shall serve
the younger. Henry Isaac knew that. He knew that. Yes, he did. But he sought to change it, didn't
he? It can't be changed. Remember
that? It can't be changed. Isaac was
going to bless Esau. It couldn't be done. The elder was going to serve
the young. God said that. God said it. God said it. And you know, John, you know
that Jacob and Esau probably heard that too. You know they
did. But they all sought to change
it. But God had purposed it, and it wasn't going to be changed.
God had purposed one over the other. God's choice of one over
the other. God's sovereign electing grace. And it's the same today. It's
the same today. If you dare to say that God has
chosen a people, that God has elected some people to salvation
and not all, you're going to have a fight on your hands. And
this is their argument, why God loves everybody. They'll say
every man deserves a chance. But the fact of the matter is,
people, every man deserves hell. Jacob deserved to be rejected
just like Esau, didn't he? Esau deserved what he got,
didn't he? He sold his birthright for a
bowl of oatmeal. It showed how much he cared for
religion. I'm hungry. Forget that. If it
had been today, it would have been like going to the races. He didn't care about religion.
He didn't care about God. He deserved to be rejected. So did Jacob.
But God made Jacob the different. God says, But I've loved Jacob.
And that's what it said there in Malachi. It said, Wherein
dost thou love us? He said, Was not Esau thy brother? Yet I love Jacob. And Esau I
hated. Sovereign electing love. Sovereign
electing grace. That's the point of contention. Here's the answer in a question. Here's the answer to salvation
in a question. The wisdom of God in a line of
Scripture. 1 Corinthians 4, 7, I believe
it is. Who maketh thee to differ? That's a question, but that's
the answer, isn't it? Who maketh thee to differ? That's right. Who makes you feel
different? Who makes you different? Do you
have any brothers or sisters here? Do they love the gospel? Who makes you feel different? Why do you love the gospel? Who? Somebody made you feel different.
Sovereign elect in grace. Now you don't rise up against
that, do you? They do. That's the answer of
why some people are saved and others not. Sovereign grace.
Sovereign mercy. Distinguishing, discriminating
grace. God discriminates. God discriminates. Discriminating grace. But not
unfairly. Not unfairly. God is no respecter
of persons, the Scripture says. Because there's nobody worth
respecting, he said. The scripture says, in the psalm
says, what is man that God would be even mindful of him? Scripture
calls man a worm. What is man? If you look down
on this mass of humanity writhing in filth and iniquity like it
is, if we look at it as it is, as God see it, we would see a
cesspool of iniquity. Look down on the inner cities.
Open the roofs of the houses of even just this little country
town, and you'll see filth, mankind, wallowing in it. And God sees
the heart. What is man that God would even
pay any attention to? Did he save any of them? Well,
God is rich in mercy. And he loves some, and he chooses
to save some. He said, I will be merciful.
That's great isn't it? Isn't that glorious? Exodus 33
says, I will be merciful. To whom I will be merciful. The
glory is that God's merciful to anybody. Because all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. All are guilty.
The scripture says the wages of sin is death. That's what
man, all men and women deserve. But God who is rich in mercy,
says, I will be merciful. Doesn't have to, John. He didn't
have to. But he said, I will. But here's my divine prerogative,
he said, as God. I'm the creator. I'm the owner
of all things. Cannot I do with my own what
I will? He said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'm going to choose whom I'm
going to be merciful to. And he goes on to say, I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious. Now, sinners don't argue that.
They just glory that God chooses anybody, especially themselves. See, the Scripture says all are
guilty and deserving of condemnation. People quote John 3.16 all the
time, but they don't quote John 3.18. They don't quote John 3.14. They have Bursitis, don't they?
Bursitis, not Bursitis. Henry has that. Bursitis. They pull a verse out, and they
base all their theology on one verse. You can't do that. You've
got to take it all in contact, the whole counsel of God. John
3, 18 says, He that believeth not is what? Condemned already. Already condemned. All men and
women by nature are unbelievers, and they're under the condemnation
and wrath of God. But God chooses some. You see, you don't have to elect
anybody by the hail, does you Rick? That's where they're headed.
But God, in sovereign electing graces, you're not going You're not going and you're not
in a number which no man can number. One would be glorious,
infinite, condescending mercy. He says, I've got a people I've
elected more than the stars in heaven. You're not going. You,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're not going. You're
coming to Christ. You got any problem with sovereign
election? It's the glory of God. Glory
of God. God chooses some, and he merely
passes by others and gives them what they deserve. The men and
women say, but all men deserve a chance. All right, let's give
them one. Let's give them one. Will you believe and bow to and
worship And yes, they use the word accept, this sovereign God
who reigns and rules over all, who chooses whom he will, who
elects whom he will, and this Christ who is Lord over all and
does what he will with whom he will, has the keys of hell and
death at his side, and his blood is only for the elect. A man
is dead and trespasses in sin, and Scripture says that God must
elect a people, and Christ's blood saves everyone he died
for and the Holy Spirit must call or they won't come and so
on and so forth and they will be preserved. Will you believe
that? Let's give them a chance. Ask
them. Will you have this man, this
one, this God reign over you? You know what they'll say unequivocally? Is that the word? Without exception? What did they say back when Christ...
Preachers like to say this, all right? What will you do with
Jesus? Don't preachers like to say that?
He's in your hands to accept or reject. What will you do with
Jesus? You know what they said back then when Christ was on
earth? Give us Barabbas. Crucify us, Jesus. You know what
they say today? Give them a chance, so to speak.
Will you believe that The God of the Bible, sovereign grace,
will say, no, we don't want it. All right, you had your chance. But God makes his people willing
in the day of his power. Right, John? Psalm 110, verse
3, thy people shall be made willing, all the people God elects and
chooses to believe, they will believe. He says one day, in
sovereign, discriminating power to somebody like old Joe Parks,
will you have this man reign over you? And Joe says, I most certainly
will, gladly. Let who make a thing to differ? The answer's in the question.
The answer's in the question. Abel was no better than Cain.
Jacob was no better than Esau. Believers are no better than
the people of this world by nature, right? There's nothing in anyone
to cause God to show mercy. It's all in himself. And I told
you, Cain and Abel, they both were taught the way to come to
God, blood. Cain was taught how to come to
God just like Abel, blood. Adam taught him that. What'd
Cain do? Don't like that. I don't like that substitution
stuff. I don't like that. I like my works. I like what
I've done. Surely God will like it, too.
No, He won't. Abel, they talked, by the way.
Remember that? When it says that Cain and Abel talked, by the
way, that's what they were talking about. Abel was telling his brother
John, he was telling him, God won't be spoken to or speak to
or have anything to do with a sinner like us set by blood. You know
what Daddy told us, Cain. It's the blood to make the atonement
for the soul, and that's a picture of the Christ who's to come,
the only one accepted by God, the only man approved of God,
the perfect substitute, the sinless sacrifice, the spotless Lamb
of God that'll take away the sin of the world, who'll come
and shed His blood for the remission of our sin, be our substitute,
in our stead. That's the only way a holy God
can have us. You know that, King. Daddy taught us that for 700
years now. or however long they live. Long
time. And Kay said, I don't like that. We'll see. And then he found out, didn't
he, what God would accept. And here in our story, he saw
in Jacob, they were both sons of Adam, they were both sinners,
but God chose one over the other. Why? Jacob's a good boy. Which one would you have chosen,
Stan? Which one, now really, of these
two would you have chosen? Esau. Wouldn't you? Rick, I know you wouldn't. Huh? Who would you have chosen?
I would have chosen Esau. Jacob was a conniving, scheming,
little, mama's little nerd. Mama's boy, Esau was a strong,
robust fella. Seemed like he just delighted
in going out and hunting for his daddy and bringing him good
meat home and all that. Just a fine, good old boy, you
know? And Jacob was a rotten little
snake. He was planting this thing all
along. Steal his brother's birthright, wasn't he? Planted it. And caught
him at a time of weakness and schemed it out of him. What a
rotten little runt. But that's who God chose. That's
who God chose. In spite of him. And that's what
you say about yourself, isn't it? That's what I say. I look at somebody like Charles
Russell, I think. How's the Lord? I'd choose Charles.
He wouldn't choose me. Now what you say? You look at somebody admire and
respect. But God chooses sinners. And this is how the Lord dealt
with Jacob. Rebecca called him. Look at this. It says the second time Rebecca
called him. Look at this, verse 42. It says,
Rebecca sent and called Jacob her younger son. Do you remember
back in this same chapter how that Rebecca represented the
Holy Spirit. Now, he called one hope of your
calling. Stan, there's one hope of you receiving the blessing
from the Father, and that is the Holy Spirit calls you and
instructs you how to come to the Father to obtain the blessing.
Otherwise, you wouldn't know, would you? You weren't seeking
him. And Rebecca called him. You remember back in the same
chapter, Rebecca called Jacob and said, Come here, come here.
You need to be blessed by the Father. And this is how you're
going to get it. Remember that? And the Holy Spirit's
got to call us to saying, come here, come here, John, John,
come here, come here and hear this gospel, come here. Come up, come
up, come here. Where? Down here, wherever you
heard it the first time. Not down here. It's not everywhere.
Come here and hear this gospel. This is how you're going to obtain
the blessing. This is how you're going to be accepted by God.
Come here. Come. And you came by his sovereign
mercy. And Rebecca instructed him. She
revealed, see the blessing for Jacob was revealed by Rebekah,
wasn't it? It was a revelation. Jacob didn't
know. And Rebekah revealed, now here's
the plan. Here is it. You're going to have
to appear to be just like Esau. You're going to have to smell
like him, look like him, feel like him. You're going to have
to have some venison your daddy likes. You're going to have to have
everything. You're going to have to be like, if your father's going
to bless you, you're going to have to be just like the eldest
son. It was a revelation one. He didn't know that. And the
Holy Spirit reveals that to us in the gospel. He said, Polly,
if you're going to be blessed by a holy God, you're going to
have to be just like Jesus Christ. He can't accept you like you
are. It's not good enough. You have to smell like Christ,
you have to look like him, feel like him. You're going to have
to have that blood applied to you. You're going to have to
have that sweet savor of Christ all over you. For the father
who smells sin, who sees all, knows all, he can't have any
of it on you. He can't have anything to do
with you. Like a, you know, a surgeon. Why are they so careful to scrub?
in the operating room and so forth. Why are they so careful
to sterilize all the instruments? They want to keep out anything
that would defile it. God Almighty is the same way
in His holiness. God Almighty is holy and loves
righteousness. It says the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, and He hateth iniquity, and He cannot even
look upon sin. He won't have one sin in His
presence. sinners, we're all together sin,
going to be holy, to be in his presence. God sterilizes us.
God washes us. How? In the blood. In the blood. Blood's the only thing God can't
see through. And Rebecca clothed old Isaac. Her old Jacob. Remember that?
Rebecca clothed him and said, Come here, son. Come here, come
here. Let me tell you something. I want to reveal something to
you. You need the blessing. You need it. Now here's how it's going
to happen. And she said, Now I'm going to
go get the sacrifice. I'm going to clothe you. I'm
going to make you just like Esau. Just stand there and see what
I'm going to do. And the Holy Spirit says the
same thing to us, doesn't it? Stand still. Don't do anything. Stand there and be saved. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. You're passive in this thing.
The Holy Spirit says, watch what I'm going to do. And he clothes
us in Christ's righteousness and imparts his righteousness and gives us
faith. The flowers of blood do. And
the Father blesses Jacob. You remember the story? The Father
blessed Jacob, old Isaac blessed Jacob in the stead of Esau. You want the gospel in a line?
In the stead of. Genesis 22, Abraham killed that
ram in the stead of his son. That's substitution. Somebody
taking his place. And so old Jacob was made to
appear like Esau and the Father accepted it. Well, Esau, you
know what Esau cried later on? Not fair. Remember there? Remember how we read in Hebrews
12? Look down at verse 34. Remember what he read in Hebrews
12, 17, where it says that Esau, when he heard of this, he sought
repentance with tears and couldn't find it? He saw, this is it,
he saw, heard the words of his father, he cried with a great
exceeding bitter cry, that's not fair. And isn't that what, isn't that
the clarion cry in today's generation against sovereign grace? That's
not fair. Like I said before, He sold his
birthright, didn't he? It's not as if, and for lack
of a better word, he didn't so to speak have a chance. Did his
thing. He sold his birthright. He said,
I'm not interested. All of a sudden he's interested.
And so will everybody when it comes to a sickness or a deprivation
to become deprived of something, or some trial, or at the deathbed,
everybody's going to say, but, but, but, bless me. Right? Bless me. That's not fair. And
Esau said he doesn't deserve it. He does not deserve it. Verse 36, he said, Is he not
rightly named Jacob? He doesn't deserve this blessing.
That's what Esau said about him. Well, I'm better than him. That's
what Esau said about his brother. I'm just as good as him. And
Isaac, if he said anything back to him, he said, True, that's
right. You're both rotten to the core. Both you boys ain't
fit for nothing. Do you remember verse 33? But
Isaac said, But I have blessed him, and yea, he's going to be
blessed. He doesn't deserve it, I know
it, but I blessed him, and he's going to be blessed. Well, I'm as good as he is, no
doubt about it, you're both no good at all. But I have chosen
him, I have blessed him, and yea, he shall be blessed. And that made Esau mad, and it
made Jacob glad, didn't it? What made Esau stark, raving
mad made Jacob absolutely, unbelievably glad, didn't it? The Father's blessing, and nothing
can be done about it. Hear what Isaac said to me? I'm blessed, and I shall be blessed." And it's the same today. God's
electing grace is despised by self-righteous, worthy people,
good, sweet, kind, civil, moral, religious, you know. Oh, it's
despised. Oh, I tell you, old, unworthy,
guilty, rotten sinners love it. Oh, how they love it. They love
him, but choose him. They love the God who chooses. And because men and women can't
do anything about this arrangement, this way of salvation, and they
cannot disprove it from Scripture, they absolutely despise verses, portions of Scripture like Ephesians
2 and Romans 9. So absolutely despise it. And believers absolutely love
it. You can hear a man preach on
Ephesians 2 ten times in a row and not get enough of it. Right?
Or Romans 9. Right? And because men and women
cannot disprove it, it's there. It's as if God says, What I've
written is written. He does say that. But the Lord
hath Spoken what the Lord hath written, it shall be done. I
have blessed, and yea, he'll be blessed. I have chosen, and
yea, I do the choosing. I have elected, and yea, they'll
be elected, and nobody else. And it's not as if people can't
be saved that want to. That's not it at all. Nobody
wants to. All who want to, God gave them
the want to. And the reason they want to is
because God elected them to want to. Right? God gives them the
want to. Man's will is dead. He will not. Christ said, you will not come
unto me that you might have life. You could have said that about
me when I was 16, 17, 18, 19 years old. You will. That boy
just will not come to Christ that he might have life. But
God said, yes, he will. How? I'll make him willing. I'm
the Lord over the will. Watch my power. Well, he won't
come. Watch him. He's the last person. The last should be first. Watch
him. Here he comes. I can't believe
it. Here he comes. That's the power of our God,
isn't it? Men today say God can't work
against man's will. I don't need a God like that. I wouldn't be saved today if
that were God. I wouldn't be saved today because
I would not come. I will not come. Well, look back at Matthew 10
with me, would you, just for a moment, Matthew 10. Christ
said the brother shall rise up against the brother. That's what
happened with Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau, brother against
brother, father against child, children against parents, hated
by all men for my name's sake, he said. hated by all. But, and
some of you have experienced this already. Just dare to go
home and tell people what great things the Lord has done. They'll let you get religion.
They'll let you accept Jesus. They'll let you do, you know,
what you do. Give up your drink and smoke. Just don't go talking
this sovereign grace stuff. Right? They'll take anything
but that. Don't be talking, right? You know it's up. You know it's
up. So they like you religious, but
they don't want to say. And it isn't that they hate you,
it's the God that you believe that they hate. That's what the
Lord said. Isn't you? They hate Moses. It's
me. It's me. The gospel brings peace
to your heart, to the heart of an old sinner. It brings peace,
but it brings war in the family. Look at it here in Matthew 10,
verse 34. Remember this? The Lord said,
Don't think that I'm come to send peace on earth. He's come
to make peace between some sinners and God, but not make peace on
earth. The war, he said, I came not
to send peace, but sorry. I've come to set a man at barrens
against his father. Is this tender Jesus, sweet,
meek, and mild, that the Catholics like to say about him? Tender
Jesus, meek and mild. He said, I've come to make a
man and his father at enmity against one another. Well, I thought he was all love
and create love in the family. If Jesus comes in the family,
everybody's love, love, love. No. That's not what He said,
is it? That's not the way it is. Some
of you have experienced it. That's not the way it is. Oh,
if you talk about this Jesus they're talking about today,
they will. There's nothing wrong with that. They won't get mad.
But talk about the Lord of glory, sovereign, electing Lord, you've
got a fight on your hands. Right, Jeanette? Right, Mary? Right, some of you, right? Heather? There's some people I just named
who parents just will not allow them
to talk about that. Oh, blessed are you, Jeanette
Berry. Just blessed are you, Mary Park. She has come to set a daughter
against her mother. Why? For Christ's namesake. Just for His namesake. Just for His namesake. And people,
this is proof of the utter enmity of man against God when blood
relations get mad at blood relations over what they believe. They
don't kick you out for being a Democrat, do they? Well, for
being a Republican. You are a Republican, aren't
you? They won't kick you out for your political persuasions,
would they? Oh, you might have a few arguments
and so forth, but they won't want to kick you out and disown
you. They'll sure disown you for believing the sovereign God,
won't they? Listen to this. Listen, Mary.
Mary, that's a good name, isn't it? Listen, Mary, "'No man hath
left, no woman hath left father, mother, wife, children, or lands
for my sake in the gospel, but he or she shall receive an hundredfold.'"
Now, in this time, houses and brothers, sisters
and mothers, children and lands, with persecution, doesn't mean
it's all going to be roses, hunky-dory. And in the world to come, eternal
life. And over there in Psalm 2710,
John, it says, Though my father and my mother forsake me. When my father, it doesn't say
though, when my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will
take me up. Who really matters anyway? Huh? And it causes you great grief
and anguish when your very blood relations come down on you. But, my, my, you've got fathers and
mothers. You've got people that love to
mother you, don't you? Fathers and mothers, and your
brother and sister won't have anything to do with you because
of what you believe. You've got plenty here, a hundredfold. Not just
in this little group, there are churches all over. Brothers,
houses and lands. You've got houses everywhere
with persecution. And the Lord promises that persecution. And every now and then, he'll
send you a Shimei to curse you, like me. A fellow named Shimei,
one time David was traveling, and a fellow named Shimei came
out and started cussing David out. He called him a dog. called David the king. Cursed
thing. And oh, who's Abishai, whoever
David's right hand man was, says, I'm going to go cut his head
off. David said, no. The Lord sent him to cuss me.
I need a good cuss in everything. Sent him to cuss me. Why? Why
does the Lord, why does the Lord allow this? Why did, you know,
all of this, listen, this persecution The Lord sends it. These people
are secondary causes. The Lord sends them to persecute
you. Just like the Lord sent that
fellow to cuss David out. He was wrong. He lied on him.
He was wrong, but the Lord sent him. And the Lord brings this
persecution to you. He's sovereign in it. And he
tells people, persecute her. Why? Why? He said, I've come to send a
sword. He sent it. He sends the persecution. Why? He creates enmity. Why? I'll give you a couple of reasons,
all right? Good reasons. Number one, to
keep us humble. Keep us humble. A good cousin
will humble you, believe me. He'll humble you. keep you humble. Number two,
it will start you crying, calling on the Lord, Lord help, calling on the Lord. Number three, because if everything was just
smooth and rosy and everybody was your buddy and there were
no problems in this earth, would you want to leave it? If everybody
was your friend, And everything was going smoothly and no trials
no trouble no persecution if everybody just got along real
well why would you want to leave his blood. You'd find all your
happiness you'd find all your friends. But you can't. You can't have fellowship with
dark they don't want your film they don't want you so what does
that make you do share and make you sick and tired of this world. You say, I've had it. I don't need them. I need my
brothers and sisters. Number four, write that down.
It makes you need God's people all the more, doesn't it? I've had it, Mom, Dad. I've had
it. I'm going somewhere where somebody
loves me. Where somebody loves my Lord.
And this gospel that I hold so dear, that's where I'm going.
You can sit here and rot all you want. I'm going to hear the
gospel and be with the people who want to worship the living
God. It makes you appreciate them
so much more, so that you won't find anything here. You'll get
tired of this place, get tired of the people of this place.
When did I start? Brother Fred Wood says when I
go down there, he said, don't bring your watch down here. He
said, we've got a calendar. That's all you need. Calendar. You quit sometime tomorrow. That's
what they said to Paul, I guess. We preached all night. Well,
I'm not preaching much longer. But you've got to see this, though.
And I hope all of that gave you some comfort. Gave you some comfort. You have here no continuing city
and you have here no continuing family. Your mama and daddy aren't
going to be your mama and daddy in heaven. There are no relations
like that in heaven. Your husband or wife are not
going to be your husband or wife in heaven. The Lord said that.
In heaven, there's no marriage or giving in marriage, but they're
all as the angels of God. No male or female. There are no roles. If mama was
my mama, that'd make her bigger, better than me, wouldn't it?
If daddy was my daddy in heaven, that'd make me less than him.
No, we're all the same. We're all going to be brethren
in heaven. If mama's there, she's going to be my sister. I won't
know her as mama. If she's my sister, I'll rejoice
to see her. If she's not there, I won't be
disappointed." You see? Because who are my mother, who
are my brethren? The Lord said, these that do
the will of God, this are my, behold my mother, behold my father,
behold my brethren. Them that love, they'll have
the same father. And when we get in heaven, there
aren't going to be any relations. God's going to be our father.
Christ will be our mother, our brother, our all. Right? And if he's all, you don't need
anybody else at all. And you won't be disappointed
if you don't see anybody else at all. All right. I hope that blessed
you a little bit, but you got to see this. All right? Genesis
27 again. Genesis 27 is a beautiful type
of Christ right here. A beautiful type of Christ in
this story. Look at it. Genesis 27 again.
We have four characters here in just a few minutes. Esau represents
the law of God, the justice of God that is on our trail. Jacob
represents us, the sinner. Rebekah represents the Holy Spirit.
There is a fellow named Laban dwelling in Haran that represents
Christ. All right, let's look at it.
It says, verse 41, Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing
wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart,
The days are mourning for my father at hand. I'm going to
slay my brother. You know, the law is against
us. You read that, Terry, in Colossians 2, the handwriting
of ordinances that's against us. The law of God is against
us. You have the desire to be under
the law. Paul said, don't you hear it? It says, die, sinner. That's what the law said. People
want to keep the law, John. They don't understand it. Because
the law says, you deserve to die. You're guilty on every point. To offend in one point, guilty
of it all. You don't just try to keep what
you can, and the Lord will make up the rest. No. Guilty. On all
points. The law says die. That's all
the law says to an old sinner. Die. You deserve to die. The
law is on our trail. The law and the justice of God
demands our death. The soul that sinned it, and
who does it? Shall surely die. Verse 42, And these words of Esau, her
elder son, were told to Rebekah. And Rebekah sent and called Jacob,
her younger son, and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau
is going to kill you." The Holy Spirit of God, the first
thing he does to an old sinner is warn them of God's laws against
you. You deserve to die, and you're
going to die, unless, unless That's the first thing
the Holy Spirit of God warns a sinner, does to a sinner. He
doesn't come with this message they're preaching today, God
loves you. No, no, no. No prophet in all of the Bible
ever said that one time. One time. Ever came into a city
or stood up in a pulpit or stood to preach and said, everybody,
God loves you. None of them said that. None
of the apostles ever, in any of their sermons, ever said that. God loves you, first thing out
of the minute. God loves you, and Jesus died for you. Never.
They never said that. That's all they're saying today,
isn't it? They're liars. All of the books of Acts is filled
with the sermons of the apostles. You know, the word love is not
even mentioned. One time. Not one time. In all
the sermons recorded by the apostles in the book of Acts. Not one
time. That's telling me that the preachers
today aren't preaching the message, Henry, are they? What's the message
for? God is holy. What Jonah come
preaching? Repent! God's holy! Going to destroy this city! Repent! You've sinned against
a holy God! That's the first message. We've
sinned. Jesus Christ came preaching the
first words out of His mouth. Repent! Didn't He? Repentance toward a holy God
whom we've sinned against. God is angry with the wicked
every day. The law is against us. Justice must be satisfied. He warns us. That's what the
Holy Spirit does—warns us. What does he say there in John
16, Brother Ed? He says, when the Holy Spirit
has come, when he has come, he will convince the world of what? What? Sin. Sin. and righteousness and judgment.
Not love. Right? Once a man is convinced
of his condemnation and his utter guilt before God, then, then,
then the Holy Spirit says, God loves you. But God loves you. And Christ died for you. Right?
Then and then only. All right, look at it. You'll
see it right here. She warned old Jacob, your brother's after
you. He's going to kill you. Look
at her advice to him. She says she called, look at
that, didn't it say she called Jacob? She sent and called him,
and she said to him, your brother's going to kill you, verse 43. Now therefore, my son, listen
to me now. Listen to me now. Jacob, do you
have ears? Then hear me. Listen to me now. Arise! Flee to my brother Laban."
He's in Herod. You'll be safe there. The Holy Spirit says, Listen
to me, sinner. Listen to me. The law is on you. You're guilty. You deserve to
die. Listen to me. Would you listen? Be obedient
to the faith now. Arise and go to the Savior at
Calvary. Go to this, flee to that city
of refuge. You'll be safe there. Run to
Christ at Calvary and stay there. Look at it, verse 44. You stay
there with Him till the fury be turned away. Isn't that glorious? You stay right there. Tarry there
until the fury be turned away. You stay at the foot of the cross
till God shows you they're gone. Justice is satisfied. The law
is not against me anymore. It's been satisfied. Christ magnified
the law. I see now why he came and lived. He magnified the law and made
it honorable for me. He kept the law for me. I see
why I live now. You see here why I die? I see
why I died now. My sins had to be paid for. I
had to die. The soul that sins must surely
die. I see why he's dying now. He didn't deserve it. I did.
He's doing that for me. I see now. Do you see now? I see now why he died, why he
came, why he lived, why he died, and where he is now. And we look
to him, and verse 45 says, until your brother's anger turn away
from thee, and he forget what you've done to him. He forget. You stay right there
with my brother, The Holy Spirit says of Christ, his brother,
that you stay with him, sinner, until the wrath be passed, until
his fury is gone, until the law forgets what you've done to him.
And the God who never forgets said, he finally said, God says,
the God who never forgets said, their sins and their iniquities,
I'll remember no more. They're gone. They're gone. That's beautiful isn't it? But
the accuser says, ah, but he's guilty. But God says, no. He's innocent. He's righteous. The accuser says, he's a sinner.
He's a sinner. He's done everything there is
to do. God says, all right, let's look.
He opens the books. Can't find a thing. No, I can't find the thing against
him here. Not one thing written against
him. There is therefore now no condemnation. He opens the
book and it's all red. Every page is red. Blotted out. All the black marks blotted out. Red. Covered with blood. It was all written down at one
time. Not there anymore. All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, your Word
is so marvelous, so glorious, deep, so deep, that we get into
it and we feel like we've fathomed full and deep ocean, yet we come
back out of it and realize we just touched our foot in it,
not even ankle deep, just a drop of water from your finger, and
the vastness and the fullness of your Word. One little obscure
passage, Thy people shall see out of obscurity, one little
short portion, three or four verses, that glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ is revealed in wonder and amazement. How
we thank you for this book and revealing it to us, the revealed
things belonging to us, your chosen people. How we thank you
the secret things belong to thee, and we pray that you will reveal
more of your glory unto us. Show us thy glory, Lord. Show
us thy way. Show us thy glory. Bless these words, Lord, to the
comfort of those who are persecuted. Your words speak to them as you
did to your disciples in that day that they were recorded. Speak to us as really as you
spoke to them. Speak in comfort to those who
are persecuted, yea, even by their own families and friends. Speak to them. Speak peace to
their hearts. and give them strength. Keep
them by your power. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.