Genesis chapter 25, and let's
begin in verse 21. And Esau entreated the Lord for
his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together
within her, and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in your
womb, And two manner of people shall be separated from your
bowels, your belly. And the one people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there
were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all
over like in a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau.
And after that came out his brother. And his hand took hold on Esau's
heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years
old when she birthed him. And the boys grew, and Esau was
a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a plain
man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because
he did eat of his venison. But Rebekah loved Jacob. And
Jacob sowed pottage, he cooked a stew. And Esau came in from
the field, and he was faint. And Esau said unto Jacob, Feed
me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint.
Therefore was his name called Edom Red. And Jacob said, Sell
me this day your birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at
the point to die, And what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day. And Esau swore to him, and
he sold his birthright unto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and
pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and rose up and
went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright."
Now, in passing before we get to Our main subject this morning,
I wanted to say a couple of things here in a practical way concerning
this lesson. You always see little things
in God's Word that are so practical in our daily lives. And as I
was reading this, I noticed that the Scripture says there in verse
28 that Isaac loved Esau and that Rebekah loved Jacob. Now, that doesn't mean that Isaac
hated Jacob or that Rebekah hated Esau. This word here has to do
with affections. Isaac had affection for Esau,
but Rebekah's affection was drawn out towards Jacob. Now, we're
told why. We're told why. Jacob had affection. He loved to be around. He loved
to sit and talk with Esau. His heart went out after him
more than it did to Jacob. Now, you might as well admit
it. All of us might as well admit it. We don't like to admit it.
But there are certain of our children If we have two or three
or four or five children, there are one or two of those children,
though we love all of them, but there is that one or two that
draws out our affection towards them more than the others. I
asked Jo the other day, Layla came in and she was sitting there,
laying there on Jo's lap. And Jo was kissing her and hugging
her and she was just eating it up. And I said, why do you love
that baby more than you do the rest of your grandkids? Well,
you know what she said, I don't. I love them all. But she said,
this one lets me love on her. This one comes and sits in my
lap. The rest of them don't like to do that so much. That's natural. That's natural. Esau would go
out and hunt. And he would come in with his
venison, and he cooked these stews, these savory meat. And one of the reasons he cooked
it, because he knew his dad loved it. And he would take that stew
and go down where his dad's tent was, and they would sit and talk
and laugh and discuss the ways that Esau had killed his deer. And they would laugh and enjoy
each other's presence. His affection was brought out
to Esau. He was excited about hearing
his tales of hunting his deer and how he shot them. Rebecca
didn't care about hunting. When she saw Esau coming in with
an old bloody deer across his shoulders, that was somewhat
repulsive to her. But she liked Jacob. Jacob was a domesticated fellow. He dwelt in tents. He was a homemaker. He was a romantic type. And she
loved to go sit in his tent and talk with him about homemaking.
He drew out her affection. And that's normal. We may not
admit it, but that's normal. And you and I can learn something
from that, can't we? Affections need to be cultivated If our children are going to
cuss us as their parents, you children, are you going to talk
back to your mom and dad? You're not going to respect them?
You're going to stand in their face and say, I hate you? You're
going to ignore them? You're not going to be kind and
affectionate to them? They'll still love you. They're
your parents. But don't be surprised if they
cease to show affection for you. Don't the Lord do us that way?
You just walk contrary to Him. You just don't abide in His love.
You just not obey Him. And you'll see how He quits walking
near you and manifest Himself with you. He'll put the rod across
your back. If we want to see His affection
to us and understand and know more of His love to us, then
walk near Him. Obey Him. It's that way between
children and their parents. If you want your parents to be
affectionate to you, then you obey them, and you love them,
and you be affectionate to them. And that not only applies to
parents and children, that applies to husbands and wives. Husbands,
you want your wives to love you, then be affectionate to them.
Court them, woo them. Tell them how beautiful they
are. I can't tell you what I told my wife about her on the way
to church this morning. It embarrassed me and her and
you too. I flirt with my wife. I want her to be affectionate
towards me. I want to draw out her affections. And it's the
same way you wife will your husband. It's the same way with brothers
and sisters in Christ. Affections are like a garden.
You may have the seeds sown there in it, and it may come up and
grow, but it has to be cultivated, doesn't it? It has to keep the
weeds plucked out of it. They have the old saying, keep
the home fires burning. Keep the affections warm one
to another. We're told why Jacob was loved
of Rebekah, and we're told why Esau was loved of Isaac. Esau loved Isaac because he did
eat of his venison. That's why his affections and
all that went along with that. That's the first thing. But secondly
is this, and there's something else here I want you to see,
and it's a practical thing too. And it's also found here in verse
28. You and I don't have much trouble
with this today, but there was a time when people thought it
was a sin to eat meat. Just don't eat meat. We don't
have much problem with this today. We do among some. Some have had
their way. We'd never eat another fish.
We'd never eat another cow or a piece of pork or chicken or
anything else. We'd live off of vegetables if
some people had their way. But notice what it says here
in verse 28, that Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his
venison. Isaac was a child of promise.
He was a child of God. He was a holy man, a man who
lived by faith, and he was a meat-eater. He loved meat. They loved to
fix it savory, put all these different spices in it. He called
it savory. And boy, he loved it. He loved
it. Paul tells us about something that would come in the last days,
and he says it like this in 1 Timothy chapter 4. He said in the last
days there would be some that would depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. And
then he mentions two of those doctrines. One, he says, forbid
him to marry, and secondly, command him to abstain from meat. saying not only that you shouldn't
eat meat, but it's wrong to eat meat, that it's a sin to eat
meat. But Paul went on to say, "...which
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving in them that
believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is
good, and nothing to be refused when it is received with thanksgiving."
For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Bob brought
us over, and he often does this, sometimes when the preachers
come up, Brother Bob brings me a bunch of meat, and he brought
me these big, huge T-bones out of a buffalo. And he brought
me some more meat, he brought me that, I mixed it up, put that
in the pressure cooker and mixed it up. Put some pork loin in
it that we'd fix and poured in a whole bunch of sweet baby reddish
barbeque sauce. I think that fed poor families.
You liked it, didn't you, Tim? I love meat. Some think you ought
to bring them to the house, your pigs and your cows, I reckon
your chickens, and sleep with them and everything else. I say
eat them. Don't you? Be humane about it. But eat them. That's what the Lord says. He
gave us these creatures to eat. They're not members of our family.
There's some of them we ain't going to eat. I ain't going to
eat a dog. I ain't going to eat a cat. But
there's some people that do. And I'm not going to judge them
for it. Every creature of God is good
and nothing to be refused. It's sanctified, it's set apart
by the Word of God. What does that mean, it's set
apart by the Word of God? Well, it's this. Here's the way
God's Word sets it apart. Every creature of God is good. He tells us it's good. And it's
sanctified by the Word of God in prayer. We give thanks to
the Lord for our food. I'm not one anymore for praying
out in public over my food. I just can't concentrate. And
maybe you can't either. Be thankful in your heart. Heathens don't thank the Lord.
But when we thank Him, we recognize that it's Him that's given us
our food. And we recognize if He don't
give it to us, then we can't live and exist. Give us this
day our delivery. Two things I wanted to give to
you before we go on to this. Now here in verse 29 and verse
34. Genesis chapter 25. Esau selling his birthright. And this birthright pertains
to the firstborn. You remember as I read here to
you that Esau was the firstborn of Isaac and Rebekah. He came
out first. And to the firstborn son in the
family was given the blessing. He was set aside to receive the
blessing, the firstborn was. And you couldn't withhold that
blessing from him. It belonged to the firstborn.
He had special blessings that come with that, special privileges,
and he always had preeminence in the family. Now I want to
show you a couple of places concerning this. Look with me over in Deuteronomy
chapter 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21. Moses told here about a man that
if he happened to have two wives, and sometimes these Jews did
that, they had two wives. But in verse 15 of Deuteronomy
chapter 21, he says, if one wife is loved, And the other wife
is despised, and yet that wife who is despised, if she has the
firstborn, then that man cannot withhold the blessing of that
firstborn from him because he despised his wife. He had to
give it to him. The firstborn was entitled to
the blessing. Look what he said in verse 15.
If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, And
they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated.
And if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, then it shall
be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that
he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn, because the
son of the hated, which is indeed instead of the son of the hated,
which is indeed the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the
son of the hated for the firstborn by giving him a double portion
of all that he hath. For he is the beginning of his
strength. The right of the firstborn is
his." See that? The firstborn had a right. He
had a right to the blessing. Now look back over here. We have
an example of this in Genesis chapter 27. And look at this
in Genesis chapter 27. Look here in verse 28. Now this is Isaac and he's blessing
Jacob. But if you remember the story,
he thinks he's blessing Esau. But Jacob has dressed up like
Esau and came in and has deceived his father so he can get the
blessing. But I wanted you to see this
in Genesis 27, verse 28. And here is what Isaac said to
Jacob. Here is the blessing that belonged
to the firstborn. Therefore God give of thee the
dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn
and wine. Let people serve thee, let nations
bow down to thee, Be Lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's
sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth
thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." Now, there's
the blessing that belongs to the firstborn. Of course, Esau
didn't receive this blessing because he had sold his birthright. When it come time for him to
be blessed, he was rejected, the Scripture tells us, because
he had sold his birthright for a bowl of stew to fill his empty
belly. Now, you remember the way it
happened back over here in our text. I want you to read this
and familiarize yourself with this at your leisure, but let
me just remind you what happened. Esau came in from the field. He had been hunting. He hadn't
killed any venison. And he was weak, his belly was
empty. He saw his brother Jacob, and
he had this huge bowl of stew. It was a red stew. I don't know
what all it had in it. It said lentils, probably vegetables
and some kind of a meat. But it was red, and Esau said,
Feed me, for I am faint. Well, Jacob said, You sell me
your birthright, and I'll give you a bowl of pottage. I'll give
you a bowl of my soup. And Esau said, what good is my
birthright going to do me if I'm dead? Well, he wasn't dead. He was only faint. And I cannot
believe that Jacob would have let him starve. I know his mother
and dad wouldn't have let him starve. But he was wanting to
remove the guilt of selling his birthright. So he says, I'm at
the point of death. It's not going to do me any good.
So Jacob said, Swear to me. I tell you, he wanted to make
sure that when he got this birthright, it was secure. So Esau swore
to him, and the Scripture says there, then that Jacob gave him
this bowl of stew, and in verse 34, we're told that Esau sat
down, he ate, and he filled his stomach, and then he got up,
and without giving a second thought to what he had done, There was
no remorse for what he had done. There was no second thought.
There was no tears. There was no pleading. He just
got up and went his way. Went on his merry way, and therefore
the Holy Spirit says, thus he despised his birthright. He despised it. Not only that
he had sold it so cheaply, but he had no remorse for it. And
then when it comes time for the blessing that I read to you over
there in the 27th chapter, Esau was rejected and instead Jacob
was blessed. And why was Jacob blessed? He
had the birthright. He had the birthright. It did
not matter who had the birthright. If he had it, he was blessed. And when Esau came and said,
Bless me, Isaac said, I've already blessed somebody. Who was that
I just blessed? Whoever he is, he's blessed. Because when you bless the firstborn,
it couldn't be reversed. He was blessed indeed. But Jacob
received it because he had the birthright. And Esau began to
complain, and he told his dad, he said, my brother has deceived
me two times. He supplanted me two times. He got my birthright, and now
he's got my blessing. But he didn't deceive him, did
he? Jacob did not deceive Esau. That was just an excuse that
he made. His whole problem, brothers and
sisters, was this. He had great regard for the blessing. He wanted the blessing. But who
does the blessing belong to? Those who have the birthright.
If you don't have the birthright, you cannot have the blessing.
He despised his birthright, but he coveted the blessing. But
you can't have the blessing without being the firstborn. And that's
what we want to look at this morning. Jacob never deceived
him. You'll notice a difference right
off the bat. in the passage that I read to
you, the difference in Jacob's attitude towards this birthright
as opposed to Esau. Did you notice the difference
in their attitudes? From their birth, from their
very birth, Jacob had his heart set upon this birthright. He
valued it. He esteemed it. When his brother
went out of the womb before he did, he got him by the heel and
tried to pull him back in. I went out first. And it seemed
like Jacob just laid wait. He thought of nothing else but
how to obtain this birthright. And the first opportunity he
got to secure it, he did it. He did it. But what was Esau's
attitude? Well, he sold it. And for what? One morsel of meat. Just one meal to fill his hungry
stomach. He had no regard. The scripture
says he despised, he despised his birthright. And now when
it comes to inheriting the blessing, in Hebrews chapter 12, we're
told that he was rejected. And he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears. He said, Father,
is there no blessing for me? Can't you bless me? Are you the
firstborn? Not anymore. Then I can't bless
you. I won't bless you. The blessing
is for the firstborn. Now that's a good story in itself,
ain't it? They ought to make a movie about that. Hollywood
could make millions and billions if they would make some good
movies, couldn't they? But within this true story lies
some precious spiritual truths. And that's what we want to look
at right quickly for a few minutes. And it's what these things represent. Now turn over here right quickly,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 12. He saw selling his birthright,
and Jacob securing that birthright, teaches us some spiritual truths,
and we know that because this very thing is spoken of here
in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 12. And look here in
verse 16. Paul talks about this. Look in
verse 15 first. Look indeligently. He writes
to these Hebrews. be tempted to leave Christ and
hang on to these ceremonies and sacrifices that Brother Glenn
read to us about this morning that Christ had fulfilled. Look
indeligently, be careful, lest any man fail of the grace of
God. Lest you come short of God's
grace in Christ, lest any root of bitterness sprang up in you,
trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any
fornicator a profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat
sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
and he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears." So it must have a spiritual application, this
thing about the birthright. It deals primarily with the firstborn. And I want to say three things
about this this morning. This thing about the birthright
that Esau sold, it has primarily to do with the firstborn. He
did not inherit the blessing because he had sold his birthright. He was the firstborn and he sold
it. Now, the birthright has to do, first and foremost, with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't everything have to do with
Him? Everywhere in the Word of God, this business about the
firstborn teaches us of the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
in the Old as well as the New Testament is called the Firstborn. Listen to Psalms 89 and verse
27, what the Father said to the Lord Jesus, His Son. I will make
Him my Firstborn, therefore higher than the kings of the earth.
There we have the Firstborn, And there we have the right that
belongs to the firstborn. Christ is the firstborn of God,
therefore He has the preeminence. That is, He is higher than the
kings of the earth. He is the preeminent one. Christ
is God's firstborn. He is called Mary's firstborn. He is called the firstborn of
every creature. He is called the firstborn from
the dead and the firstborn among many brethren. And because he's
the firstborn, as I said, he has the right, the privilege
that goes along with that. And what is that? Why, it pleads
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. He's given
him a name that's above everything. He has given him all power. He
has given him a people. He has exalted him far above
all principalities and powers, put everything under his feet,
and says, You are my son, my firstborn at my right hand, and
everything you ask me, I will give it to you. Everything your
hearts desire is yours. You are my firstborn son. And therefore, God blessed him.
God blessed him. And the Scripture says, In all
things, He has the preeminent. So you and I can come here this
morning and look at Esau despising his birthright. And it wasn't
just his birthright, per se, that he despised. That wasn't
what was so much and so great the sin of it. But what he despised
was the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jacob valued and esteemed
being the firstborn. He saw Christ in it. Christ is
the firstborn, the preeminent one. That's why the writer of
the book of Hebrews was writing to these Hebrews, these Jews,
and warning them to be careful. Be diligent lest you fall short
of this saving grace that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
you hang on to these ceremonies and try to hang on to Christ.
These ceremonies cannot save you. Christ is the sum and the
substance of them. You must have Him. And if you
try to hang on to them and Him too, what you're going to do
is commit the same sin that Esau committed. You're going to despise
your birthright. And what is it? That's Christ,
the firstborn. And there's the sin of Esau. He despised the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who despise the Lord
Jesus Christ will miss the blessing. They'll miss the blessing. You
can't hate Him. You can't despise Him and have
the blessing. The blessing is in Him, and it's
by Him who is the firstborn. Not only does the firstborn represent
to us the Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed the firstborn,
but this firstborn also represents to us redemption. That is, those who are redeemed
and the means by which they are redeemed. It represents to us
the redeemed and the precious blood of the Lamb by which they
are redeemed. Listen to Exodus 12, verse 12
and 13. You remember this very well down
in Egypt. When the Lord was going to pass
through and destroy, you remember who He was going to kill? You
remember who He was going to kill down in Egypt? The firstborn. And here is what He says, I will
pass through the land of Egypt, and I will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt. And the blood shall be to you
for a token upon your houses." Remember what he told them to
do? You take the blood of that lamb and you put it over the
doorpost and on the sides of the door. Don't put it on the
threshold. Don't put that blood on the threshold.
You can't walk on it. You put it on the doorpost and
over the top of the door. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. And I will not smite you when
I smite all the Egyptians." What was it that protected the Israelites? It was the blood. But who did
it protect? We often say the blood wasn't
shed for those Egyptians, but it wasn't shed for the Israelites
either, except the firstborn. Ain't that right? The blood was
shed to protect the firstborn. Nobody else needed it. It was
the firstborn. The firstborn represents to us,
therefore, all of those who are being redeemed by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my blood of the new covenant
which is shed for many for the remission of their sins. He entered
in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for
us. What is the firstborn? That tells
us about every man and woman and boy and girl who is being
redeemed, who is being washed from their sin and their guilt
before God. Every last soul that is washed
in this blood, that's what the firstborn represents to us. And
that's what Esau despised. He despised that redemption. He despised that blood. He said,
I've got no use for that. I'd rather fill my hungry belly
with a bowl of stew than to be concerned about this blood redemption. I don't want any part in it.
That's what his sin really was. And you despise redemption in
the blood of Christ. You won't have the blessing.
That blessing is for the firstborn. I want to be one of them, don't
you? I don't want to sell my birthright. I want to be a firstborn. I want to be a firstborn. Thirdly is this. The firstborn
represents to us, and I love this, it represents to us the
members of the heavenly church. He represents to us the members
of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know there's professing
Christians who couldn't care less about the church and being
members of it. They just don't care about it.
They don't seemingly care about the fellowship of the saints
and being among them. And though they profess to know
the Lord, they could care less about whether they're members
of that church or not. But you know something? There's
no salvation outside the church. Now, I know that's what the Catholics
say, and they're right about that. It's just not their church.
It's the Lord's church. It's the Lord's church. There's
no salvation apart from the Lord's church. Listen, who is it that
the Lord loves? Is it not His church? Who was
it that Christ gave Himself for? Was it not His church? Who is
it that He has promised to sanctify them and cleanse them and present
them to Himself? Is it not His church? Who is
it that God gave His blood for? It is the church. There is no
salvation apart from the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are members of His body. I'm not talking about a Baptist
denomination, brother Larry, or a Presbyterian denomination,
or a Nazarene denomination, but we're talking about the church. And here's what the Hebrew writer
says about it. It's the general assembly and
church of who? The firstborn. And their names
aren't written on a roll by a secretary down here, but their names are
written of God in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. Who belongs
to this church? Every firstborn soul. And that's
what he despised. I don't want to be among God's
people. I don't want to be numbered with Him. I don't care if my
name is on that heavenly roll. And therefore, he sold his birthright. And when it came time for the
blessing, he didn't have it. Jacob had it. I told a fellow
one time, I said, it's wrong to save our salvation outside
the church. And it is wrong to say that,
isn't it? There's no salvation outside the church. Billy Graham
believes there is. Robert Shuler believes there
is. But there's no salvation outside the body of Christ. And
that's what the church is. It's the body of Christ. I want
to be identified with the Lord's people, don't you? I do. If you're in this church, You're
like Jacob of old. Boy, you esteemed that privilege.
You esteemed that privilege. He did too, boy. He esteemed
it. That's why he got all that ill. He tried to pull him back
in. Any way I can, by any lawful
means I can, I'm going to get this privilege. I'm going to
secure this birthright to myself. Why? Because with that birthright
comes the blessing. And these things are meant, brothers
and sisters, to instruct you and I in these spiritual matters.
Because it was told Rebekah, there's two manner of people
in your world. There's two nations in you. One
people is this, they esteem this birthright. Their esteem is so
highly, they count it more worth than their necessary food. They'll
do anything to secure it and keep it. They love it. They value
it. And there's that other people
that'll sell it for nothing. They'll sell it for nothing.
You value your birthright. You value that. If you can't
have that, you can't have the blessing. It represents to us
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who is the firstborn. It represents
to us that redeeming blood that's comes from His veins. It represents
us members of His body, the church. Those who have been called out.
Those who have been brought into Christ's body by new birth. Those
who have faith and repentance granted to them. Those who cleave
to Christ and follow Him. Members of His body, of His church. I want to be a firstborn. Brethren
and sisters, I tell you, I don't want to sell that to you. You
say, Bruce, you mean a man can sell his birthright? Well, in
this sense, the Scripture says Esau sold his. And Paul, the
writer, was warning these Hebrews, don't you be an Esau. Don't you
be an Esau. Don't you be an Esau. And afterwards,
we're told, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was
rejected. though he sought it carefully
with tears." This is one of the most fearful things I can think
about. I think, to my own hurt, I know one or two people, I'm
acquainted with them, who have sold their birthright, and they
seem to know it. And that's one of the most heartbreaking
things. You know what happens to a person who has sold their
birthright. I'll tell you what happened to Esau when he sold
his. The Scriptures calls him then, a profane person. You see a change in his life
when he sold his birthright, went off into fornication, married
several wives, had little or no respect for his mom or dad.
He became an open and profane person. And there are people,
there are some people who have made a profession of Christ And
they went back out into their sins, and in this sense, they
sold their birthright. They traded Christ for a little
lust, a little worldly pleasure, or something else. And then they
begin to see what they've done. I know one person I've talked
to, I don't know how many times, and I'm beginning to fear that
he's committed this awful, awful sin. And he's loaded with guilt. He's loaded with guilt. And you
talk to him about the preciousness of Christ and Christ's willingness
to receive and forgive, and he's got no interest in that. He just
lives with this certain fearful looking for of judgment. And
I don't care what promises I give to him, he just shrugs them off. That's what happens to people
who have sold their birthright. They either go off into open
and profane sins or they die in utter despair. Ain't that
an awful sin if a person commits it? The Lord Jesus told the Jews. And that's what they did. They
sold their birthrights. He was talking to them one day
and he said, how often I would have taken you under my wings
as a chicken does her brood. And you would not. And you would
not. I would have and you would not.
And remember what he said to them? But now, now, It's time
for you to receive the blessing, but you ain't going to receive
it. Why? You sold your birthright. And
on the Day of Judgment, He said there would be many that would
stand there before Him on the Day of Judgment. And He said,
you'll see Abraham, you'll see Isaac, and you'll see old Jacob
there in the Kingdom of God. And there's going to be men and
women come from the north and south and east and west, and
they're going to sit down with those three people in the Kingdom
of God. And there's going to be others
standing outside saying, Lord, open to us. Open to us. And he said, Who are you? I have
no idea who you are. And you're going to start bragging
about your works. We've done many wonderful works in your
name. We've cast out devils. We've preached in your name.
We've done all these things. And he said, I don't know you.
I don't know you. And remember what the Scripture
said they did? They did the same thing Esau did. They began to
weep. And knock hard, Lord, open to
us. Lord, open to us. What did they
want? They wanted the blessing. Everybody
wants the blessing, don't they? I want to go to heaven, don't
you? Everybody does. But you can't go to heaven apart
from a new birth. You can't go to heaven apart
from union without firstborn Son of God. You can't go to heaven
without being redeemed. You can't go to heaven without
your names being written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Well, I'm
just going to wait around and mess around and I'll inherit
the blessing at last. All right. All right. But there must be something to
this warning that's given. Be careful you don't sell your
birthright. Covet that thing with all your heart. Don't sell
that for this world and a little lust and temporal pleasure or
whatever else it is. Value that like Jacob valued
it. Get it at all costs. And don't
let it go. God bless His Word. Let's pray.