Now, if you'll turn back with
me to Genesis chapter 33, I want to make some comments to you. Jacob and Esau were real men. These are not just stories, but
these were real men. We tend, I think, when we talk
about Samson and his mighty strength and power getting between those
two pillars, we tend to think, I don't even know the word to
use, but it's more of a story to us than an actual count. Do
I believe he actually got between them pillars? You bet I do. Brought
that thing down. You think of David out there
with Goliath, this big nine or ten foot giant standing out there,
his spear as big as a weaver's beak. You tend to want to think
that people puffed that up a little bit. Do I believe Goliath stood
out in that valley? Yes, I do. And ever how big he
was, it was enough to put Saul and all the nation of Israel
and their mighty men up on the hill with their knees knocking. These were real men, Jacob and
Esau, brothers of the same family, both living life as best they
knew how. These were real men, real men,
both reacting to daily circumstances, making decisions, changing directions,
making plans for the future. These were two real men. They
live real lives under real situations. But I'm plainly told in the scriptures
that these two men were examples of something far greater than
simply the lives that they lived. And when I read these things
because of that, I'm not to get stuck in this little ditch here
just reading about their historical account. I'm to look beyond that
to what these men symbolize and what they What they were there
for. Why did God record them in His
book? That's what I want to know. What's their names doing in God's
book? Everybody's name that was born of Adam is not in this book. But some are. We're plainly told that these
two men were examples. Something much higher than that.
Turn back here to Genesis chapter 25. It's been a while since I
brought this message. Maybe some of you weren't here
when I brought it. Back here in Genesis 25, look
at verse 23. And the Lord said unto her, two
nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be
separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger
than the other people. And the elders going to serve
the young. Now, he's not just talking about two boys, is he?
He's talking about two nations, two kinds of people. So when
we read these things about Jacob and Esau, we're looking beyond
this little historic account of these things and looking beyond
some natural explanation of these things. I'm looking to the spiritual. These two men, before they were
ever born, before they ever did anything good or evil, were set
aside according to the testimony of God's apostle. They were set
aside to establish God's eternal purpose of grace and election. These two men. Romans chapter
9, we're given two examples of this type of thing in children
of two of the old patriarchs. Abraham had two sons, didn't he? Isaac and Ishmael. Had two wives, Sarah and Hagar. He had one child by the bondman
that made Hagar, and he had one by the free woman, his wife,
Sarah. And he says here in Romans chapter
9 that he did this. He had a reason for this. And
he calls our attention to it. And he said, it was so that you
know that this thing is according to the Word of God. He said,
at this time, here's what he told Sarah, at this time will
I come and you're going to have a child. Now you can finagle
and you can do all sorts of things, but you're not having this child,
my child, my promised child, until I come. And then this child
is going to be born. That's the way it's going to
be. That's the way it's going to be. Then Isaac and Rebekah
married. And she was married just like
Sarah was, but again, The Lord overruled, and she conceived,
and she had twins in her womb. And God said unto her, the elder
is going to serve the younger. And he said this in Romans 9-11,
that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, might
be established, not of works, but of him that calleth. And
as God purposed this to be, even so it was brought to pass, and
then testified over in Malachi chapter 1. These two people,
these two nations that he talked about back in Genesis 25 that
Paul uses over in Romans chapter 9. Listen to what he says over
here in Mammachai. Now God said that he loved Israel. Said it all the way through the
Old Testament. Constantly verified it to the nation. God said he
was going to bless them. He started telling them that
and Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you. God said he was going to redeem
them. Every one of them. None of them going to perish. But in the nation of Israel,
these promises did not come true. Now Paul said, what's that mean? Was the scripture of no effect?
Was the promise of God of none effect? Didn't it mean anything? Did something override it? Some
circumstance come by? He said, no. No. Some of these men were saved, some
of them weren't. And then he raises this question over here
in Malachi 1, verse 2. He said, I've loved you, saith
the Lord, yet you say wherein hath thou loved us? Was not Esau
Jacob's brother? You didn't love him. Yet I love Jacob. and hated Esau,
and I laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons
of the wilderness." Whereas Edom, that is Esau, but when he says
Edom, he's no longer just talking about Esau. He's talking about
Edomites. He's talking about all those
people represented in him. That's that people he talked
about back in Genesis 25, the Edomites. Whereas Edom saith, And they
all do. They all do. Every one. Every
one that's like Esau has the same thing to say. Talking about
Esau and his descendants. Esau and all that's represented
in him. Edom saith, we're impoverished. We missed the blessing. We sold
it out. But that's all right. That's
all right. We're going to return and build
the desolate places. And they shall build. But God
said, I'll throw it down. Now you're going to build it. And I'm going to throw it down.
And they shall call. What's He going to call them?
He's going to call them the border of wickedness and the people
against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. And He's going to prove
it. And this is the same question
asked over in Romans chapter 9. Does that mean the promises
of God are without effect? No. No, it don't mean that. Why not? For they are not all
Israel which are of Israel. That little tiny nation. Wasn't
Esau an Israelite? Sure he was. Sure he was. But he wasn't. He wasn't. And neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. And you can finagle
and arrange and reason and argue and justify things all you want
to, but in the end, God said, I alone will come and Sarah is
going to have a child. Before these two are ever born,
ever done any good or evil, I'm going to tell you I loved this
one and I hated that one. And I'm going to bless this one
and I'm going to curse that one. And this one here, I'm going
to arrange his life, his whole life. Think about it. Every situation, every circumstance,
every thought, I'm going to turn his heart for my glory, for my
glory. I'm going to establish this thing,
he said, in these two men. All you got to do, open up the
book, read their lives. You'll see the hand of God. You'll
see it. Rebecca's going to have two sons
in her womb, but only one is going to be my son. And he's
going to establish beyond question that salvation is of the Lord
who calls and elects and loves whom he wills. Now a long time
has passed. These two brothers parted company.
They parted company. Jacob went his way and Esau went
his way. Jacob went back over to the land
of his father's to get a bride by his mother's direction. Went back over there to her brother
to get him a wife. A long time has passed, better
than 20 years. These two brothers had not seen
each other poked each other in 20 years. When Jacob left, that
boy Esau was ready to kill him. Just as soon as I quit mourning
for my father, you're a dead man. That's how he lived. They were separated by the hand
of God. They were separated by sovereign
election, separated by the promise and will of God, separated to
different ends, separated to different opportunities, different
circumstances. And now they come to meet. And
there they stand, face-to-face, toe-to-toe, eyeball-to-eyeball.
Here's these two boys. They haven't seen each other
in better than 20 years. Here's the one. He's got 400 men in
battle formation. Here's the other. All he's got
is goats, children, wives. Here's this one thundering down
with a herd of horses, and this one over here is walking, sending
out gifts, sending out gifts. Esau comes to defend all that
he's accumulated in his life. You're not taking anything away
from me. That's how he comes. You're not taking away from me
anything that I've got. Don't tell me it ain't mine.
It's mine. And I'll defend it to the death. He comes to intimidate
and to keep his brother from ruling over his house. His coming
is all together in the power of the flesh, in the wisdom of
the flesh, and for the glory of the flesh. But Jacob comes
in humility, willing to be a soft servant, willing to be humiliated. This was the man that received
the blessing. This is the one who's going to
rule. This is the stronger talking to the weaker. And here he stands
in humility. Jacob comes in love. He wanted
his brother's love. He wanted his brother to be reconciled. He wanted him to be his friend.
He wanted his fellowship. And Jacob came graciously, sending
before him gifts and presents to appease his brother's anger.
And Jacob came by the purpose and will of God. God told him
to go there. He didn't just sit around and
come up with this. God told him. So that's where he went. Came
by the purpose and will of God that directed him there. And
when they finally met here in Genesis 33 verse 9, Esau said,
just keep your gifts. Just keep them. I don't need
them. I don't need them. I've got enough. And Jacob turned to him and he
said, take these things. I pray you. I pray thee. Take my blessings that's brought
to thee. because God hath dealt graciously
with me, and because I have enough." Now, here's these two brothers,
totally opposite, chosen of God for different reasons, as far
from one as the other can get, and one tells the one, I have
enough, and one tells the other, I have enough. Now, my question
to you is this, when is enough enough? Because somebody here
is lying and somebody here is deceived. When is enough enough? I'm not talking about face to
face. These two weren't talking about cattle. Now you're going
to believe that if you want to. These men represent spiritual
matters and the one is telling the other when it came to him.
Just like when you come to a person that you know. They're dead in
trespasses and sins, and you come to them graciously, and
you come to them with gifts. You don't arrange in battle formation. You come in love, and you talk
to them, and you've got nothing but good will and good intentions,
and you talk to them. And what do they tell you? I
got enough. I don't need what you're selling.
I don't need what you've got. I have enough. And what do you
do? Huh? You press them and urge
them to take these things, don't you? Huh? Because you have enough. I have enough. It's obvious to me that one or
the other of these two are deceived. It seems clear to me that one
or the other has a false sense of satisfaction. When is enough enough? When can
I say to my soul, be content? Be content. You got enough. When can I rest? When can I just
lay back and rest and say it's enough? Our Lord did, didn't
He? That's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 10, isn't it? It said He sat down. He sat down, expecting
until His enemies be made His footstool. Why are they going
to be made His footstool? Because He has enough. He has
enough. Now, let's look at these two
men and see if God will teach us something about contentment.
I want to look first of all at Esau, who we know is an ungodly
man, told that in the Scriptures. A profane man. Now, Jacob comes to him in love and
he doesn't come to start a fight. He doesn't come with any kind
of show of power whatsoever. I was telling Catherine, A while
ago, we were talking a little bit about it, and I got a bad
habit of telling her the whole thing before she ever gets here.
So I decided I wasn't going to do that today, but we did talk
about this. I said, when Jacob came, he came
fully exposed. Behind, beside, and in front.
He didn't have anybody guarding anything. Here he comes. Fully exposed. Ain't that how
we come? Why is that? Do you feel like
you have to run around like this all the time when you're pissed
up when you talk? No, you're just fully exposed. You just
walk up there and start talking to them. Why? Because you know
apart from the presence of God and the promises of God that
He's promised you and given you, this thing ain't going to get
done. It just ain't going to get done. There's not going to
be anything come about. Nothing's going to happen apart
from that. Old Jacob comes declaring good
intentions, and he comes exposed without any defense except the
presence and purpose of God that led him there. And he comes giving,
sacrificing. And seeing these things, Esau
said, I don't need these things. I don't need your pity. I don't
need your help. I've got enough. I've got enough. Now why do fallen men, lost,
depraved sinners, think they have what they need to be at
peace with God? and with other men. Why do they
think that? We're plainly told this man missed
out. He sold out his birthright. He
separated himself from God. All these things are gone. And
yet here, he's perfectly content now. He's got a little bit of
holdings. He's got a little bit of money.
And he's got a little bit of cattle. And he's settled his
affairs with his brother there. And he says, I've got enough.
Don't worry about me. Don't worry about me. Where does
this false assurance come from? Well, it comes from many areas. Believe me, I could sit here
for the next two hours. I looked at these things, but
I just chose five of them to talk to you about tonight. First
of all, this worldly contentment or false assurance comes from
an ignorance of their spiritual condition before God. That's
why he was satisfied. I know enough about natural man
because I was a natural man when God found me. I understand what
it is. I know how to speak about it.
I know how to talk about it. I've been there. And Esau saw
himself a victim of circumstance. Huh? He was a victim of circumstance. Now he knew he'd made some bad
decisions. He knew he'd run with the wrong
crowd. You can't tell me he didn't know
that. He knew that. He was raised by godly parents.
Esau knew that he should have paid more attention to his mother
and father's instruction when he was younger. He knew that.
Esau knew he ought to attend to the things of God more than
he did. He knew that. But Esau never
entertained the thought that he might be hated of God, never. I know that. He never entertained
that thought, not one single time. Esau would admit to some
faults and weaknesses, but the thought of being a child of wrath,
a child of wrath, I don't think that ever entered his mind. Natural
men may have some little doubts and troubles and little errors
and faults, But they still got this false sense of contentment,
believing that in themselves is some potential to produce
everything they're ever going to need. He was a self-made man. That's what he was. And he was
satisfied with it. Satisfied with it. You could never convince Esau
that he was cut off from God. Cut off from his own father,
maybe even cut off from his inheritance, but not cut off from God. Huh? You really believe that preacher?
Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. Paul said this, if Christ be
not raised, then your faith is vain and you're yet in your sins.
That's where he was, yet in his sins. Man was placed under that curse
of Adam in the fall. Cursed is evidence by sinful
nature that rules and reigns unto death. There is no possibility
of ever doing what God requires him to do. Our Lord said this
to the rich young ruler. He come and he said, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? Keep the law. Oh, I've done all
that from my youth up. Well, you won't have no problem
with this. Sell everything you got. Take up your cross and follow
me. Well, hmm. And here is what our Lord, the
disciples said, who then can be saved? Now listen to what
God, this is what God said, with man it is impossible. Impossible. Why? Because of his
nature. Because of his nature. Any man who is content believing
that this flesh has any potential to save itself, to please God
or win God's favor is a deceived man. He's got false assurance.
He's not desperate. Why do you think folks don't
sit in the pew on Sunday morning with tears rolling down their
face? I'll tell you why. They're not desperate. They don't
really believe that they've been cut off from God. They don't
really believe that they're children of wrath. You couldn't convince
one. God's been convincing me all
my life. You can't convince a man that God hates him. Only God
can convince him of that. He hated him. Hated him. I don't know how many writers
I read this story by, and when they come to that, Jacob Have
I Loved, the way they quote that second part is Esau, I didn't
love as much. That's not what it says. That's
not what it says. Salvation is of the Lord. He
dictates the terms. He dictates the times. He dictates
the means. God determined before the world
began exactly who and where and how and when. God did. God did. And He did it according
to Isaiah 46, 9, because He's God. That's what He said. I'm
God. And beside me, there is none
other. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient
times of things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall
stand and I'll do all my pleasure. Here's the second thing. Natural men are lulled into a
sense of false contentment, being ignorant of the true character
of God. God's sovereign. We like to talk about that, but
I'm not all that sure we really understand it. God's sovereign. Here's what it says in the Scripture,
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Get a hold of that. He reigneth. He reigneth. Told Moses, Moses said, show
me your glory. He said, I'll show you my glory.
I'll have mercy on whom I will and whom I will I'll harden.
Now you chew on that a while. We know anything about that?
God's absolute, total sovereignty. Sovereignty. You and I ever been
shown that we're just a lump of clay taken out of that same
red dirt? Taken out of that same dirt that
cane come out of? Taken out of that same dirt that
lot came out of that those folks in Sodom came out of? That same
lump? In the potter's hands, he can
spin the wheel and he can make one vessel to honor and one to
dishonor. He not only can, he does. He does. Salvation is of the
Lord. He said, I'm God. Old Jacob came
to Esau a better man than he was, a gracious man, a merciful
man, a wiser man, because the sovereign God arranged it and
brought it to pass. That's right. The circumstances
that faced Jacob was a whole lot different than the circumstances
that faced Esau. Oh yeah, God arranged all that
problem. God arranged it. He arranges
all things in the life, and He arranges it for their good. Ain't
that what He says in Romans 8, 28? And for His glory. Who does He arrange that on?
Those who are the called according to His purpose. Whom He did foreknow them, He
also did predestinate." Sounds pretty sovereign to me. Natural men are allowed to sleep
with a false sense of contentment because they are ignorant of
God's true character. God is sovereign in election,
and sovereign in providence, and sovereign in salvation, and
sovereign in destination. Predestination. Sovereign in means. Sovereign
in gospel. Revelation. Sovereign in preservation. Sovereign in their lives and
in the living and in the dead. He's sovereign. He told Solomon, he said, the
heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. What king? Every
king. It's in the hand of the Lord.
He turneth it whithersoever he will. He could turn Nebuchadnezzar,
and he did. He didn't turn to Hasherez. You
can go on and on and on. God's sovereign. And then thirdly,
natural men have a satisfaction, a false sense of satisfaction,
with what they've accumulated because they have such a limited
vision. Natural men hear with these ears
and see with these eyes. That's all the farther they can
see and that's all the farther they can hear. Faith sees the
invisible. Read Hebrews chapter 11. Moses
endured seeing Him who was invisible. Over in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5,
Paul's talking about these things. He said we endure these afflictions
because we see things that other men can't see. The things that
are seen are carnal. These other things are eternal. They seized the invisible. Nobody else saw that man that
Jacob wrestled with. Just Jacob. Nobody else saw him. Just Jacob. Nobody else saw the
promises, the covenant, the mercy, the grace, And I'll tell you
something else. Faith believes what it's told.
Let that chew on that for a little while. Faith believes what it's
told to believe. I used to tell my kids, I told
you. Don't you tell yours that same thing? Then you have to
make them believe it. Faith believes what it's told
to believe. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly, I told you, he said. I told you. Well, what's the
problem? You're not my sheep. Huh? What distinguished that? His sheep believed what they
were told to believe. Read it. My sheep hear my voice. They
hear my voice. You didn't hear my voice because
you're not my sheep. Stephen told the Jews that God
told them and Abraham and told them and Isaac and Jacob and
then the twelve patriarchs. And then he spoke to them through
Joseph and he spoke to them in Moses and Joshua and David. But he said, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy
Ghost. How did they do that? They didn't
believe what they was told. Faith believes what it's told. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God preached. Preached. Well, preacher, that's
not what that says. You better go back and read Romans
chapter 10 again. How shall you hear without a
preacher? How shall he preach except he be sent? Huh? Right after that is when he said,
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Faith believes
what it hears. It believes what it's told. And
it sees what it's told to see. The Gospel tells me to see that
rock that followed Israel through the wilderness. That's Christ. That's not a rock. That's Christ.
And to see that water coming out when Moses smote it with
the rod, see that water come? That's Christ. Nobody else saw
that. All they saw was a rock and drank
the water. Joshua and Caleb saw Christ. They saw Christ. They were talking to Christ about
how old he was. Well, you ain't nobody. You're
just 33 years old. You're just a pup. You're talking
about before Abraham was, I was. And he said, Abraham, rejoice
to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. How
did he see his day? Because he was told to see it.
That's right. He believed God and God told
him to see it. And then fourthly, this contentment
of ungodly men arises from a religious conviction of self-sufficiency. The natural man cannot calculate
from an experience that he's never had. Now let me tell you
how Brother Barnard, I'm going to convert that into Barnard
language. Brother Barnard said you can't
tell what you don't know anymore. You can come back from someplace
you haven't been. Believers are men and women who
have been born of God. New creatures, new hearts, new
motives, new desires. Believers are men and women who
wrestled into submission by Christ. There's nothing in natural men
to reason divine matters. You can sit out on that river
bank all night, all week, all year, do everything in your power
to convince them, stand there with this Bible, and it's highlighted
from one end to the other. Just hit the highlights and go
through. And they'll just stand there
and, huh? I'm telling you the truth. Why?
Because they don't have anything to reason these things with.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
because there is foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them. Why? Because they are spiritually
discerned. It comes by revelation. It doesn't
come any other way. It comes from God. It comes from God. And then fifthly,
Esau and all the other Edomites have a false sense of satisfaction
because they have an inward contempt for the ways and means of God. I don't care, I don't care if
God chose a frog to do something with, man has something bad to
say about it. He'd go, well, I just believe God will use a
turtle instead of a frog. Why? Why? Because he has an inward contempt. for the ways and means of God.
The natural mind is enmity against God. Reason with Him all you
want to. All you want to. There's a contempt
there. Let me ask you a couple questions. If you knew for sure, I mean
100% for sure, that next Sunday morning God Almighty was going
to come down in His Shekinah glory and fill this church house,
just like He did the tabernacle. Just come down in a cloud, a
burning cloud, and settle on this place and just fill the
inside of this building with His Shekinah glory. You reckon
you'd be here to see it? Uh-huh. What about if you had a football
game? You reckon you'd Cancel out and come over to see that?
You'd rather see that in a football game, wouldn't you? Huh? I'll
tell you where we'd be. We'd be huddled out there by
those trees, watching whoever God's messenger was go up to
that place and speak to him, and we'd want to hear what God
said to him when he come back out, just like Yisra did. They
set out and they said, go in! Scared to go in there where that
glory was. Scared to go in there because
men get consumed that go in there. We're not going in there. Moses,
you go in there. Moses go in there and God would
speak to him and he'd come out and put a veil on his face. They
couldn't even look at him for the glory. And they'd sit there and listen,
see what God said to Moses. Huh? I think we'd be out there. I'd
be right out there by that tree. Huh? Do you know that that's exactly
what happens when His church is gathered together in His name? That's right. He said, where
two or three of you is gathered together, there I will be in
the midst. Now God's not changed. He's not
changed. He just don't show that visible
flame. He just don't show that visible
glory anymore. He reveals it through the preaching
of the gospel. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I'll be in a minute. Paul said, now
then, he said, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did
beseech you by us. You believe that? You believe that? I tell you,
when you believe that, you'll be sitting there in that pew
hanging on every word when you believe that. God has ambassadors
that He sets apart. They can't set themselves apart.
They can't go down to what I call seminaries. Some people call
them cemeteries. You can't go down there and learn
this. God has to set you apart. And He does. He takes men and
sets them apart. Boy, I tell you, when He does,
you better hear what they had to say. You better not be like
that foolish bunch that say, go ye up, you old bald head.
Just a bunch of kids out there. I'll tell you why he's making
fun of that prophet, because the parents made fun of him.
That's exactly right. And those kids went out there
and said, go ye up, you old bald head. God caused a she-bear to
come out of the woods and swallow them up. Killed every one of
them. Listen to this. He that despised
Moses' law. I never have had this thought
until a while ago when I wrote this down. Moses gave those people
the law. The law came by Moses. That's
what he says in John chapter 1. Moses gave them that law. He ordered it. He enforced it. He spoke it to the people. No
man saw God give it to him. No man saw God. They saw his
presence on the mountain, but nobody saw God give him this
law. Nobody heard what the law said. Moses come down and told
them what it said. And he that despised that authority
and despised that law that Moses gave, that's why he called it
Moses' law. It wasn't Moses' law, it was
God's law, wasn't it? But it was Moses' law because
God gave him that authority. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Two or three men saw him, went
out there and testified to the guilt, and the congregation stoned
him to death outside the camp. They had taken out and stoned
him to death with no mercy. Now listen. Of how much sore
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God, have counted the blood of
the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and
done to spite under the Spirit of grace." Paul said, I'll tell you this,
it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. A fearful thing. Men and women have a calm satisfaction
about them as you go through this life. even having been told
the truth because they have an inward contempt for the ways
and means of God. I'll get saved when I get ready.
Huh? That's right. One of the brothers
here was talking to a man here recently and trying to reason
with him now the Word of God. And he said, I don't care what
the Word of God says. Actually used a few choice words
before that. Huh? content for the ways and means
of God. I've got enough, he said. I have
enough. Keep what you've got. I've got
enough understanding and enough love and enough grace and enough
mercy and enough compassion. I have enough. When is enough
enough? When is it? When, like Jacob,
we find Christ. That's when it's enough. After
wrestling with this man, Jacob said, I'm going to call this
place Peniel, for I've seen God face to face, and my life is
preserved. The man who has Christ has God. Let that settle in. The man who
has Christ has God. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. The man
who has Christ has enough." Down here in the Scriptures, old Esau
said, I have enough. That word is a little different
from that enough up there that Jacob talks about. Up there with
Jacob, if you've got a marginal reference Bible, look over there
where it says enough. What does it say out there beside
of it? It says, Jacob had all things. That's what you need. You need
all things. When you have all things, you
have enough. You have enough. That man who
has Christ has all things. The man who has Christ has the
beginning. He has the end. And he's got
everything in between. Paul, when talking about Christ
to the Colossian church, said he's the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature.
By him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he's before all things, and
by him all things consist. And He's the head of the body
of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things, A-double-L, all things, He might have the
preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And here's what Paul says. Y'all
down here bickering over who got saved under whose ministry.
He said, y'all be ashamed of yourself. He said, all things
are yours. All things are yours whether
Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to
come. All are yours and ye are Christ. And Christ is God's. The man
who has Christ has enough. He has enough. When is enough
enough? When a man has Christ. When a
man has Christ, he's found the treasure. He settles out, buys
the field, because he knows the treasure's there. Takes it to
himself. Opens the pages and says, there
it is. There's that pearl. There it
is. Look over here. Here's this big old bar of gold.
Look at this. Look at that. Man, look over
here. Here's a crown. He found the
treasure. He buys the field. That's where
Jacob was coming from when he said, take these things. Take
these things. Do you realize that it took Jacob
20 years and just in the last few years to accumulate these
things that he had? Huh? And here he is giving them
away. Here, take them. I've got plenty.
He didn't have nothing. Take them. I've got plenty. Where
was that plenty coming from? He realized where them came from.
They came from the same place. Don't worry about me. I've got
enough. My question to you. Have you
got enough? Have you got enough? It takes
all things to have enough. And all things are just in one
place, in Christ.