I did choose the Lord Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. If you heard the message last
week, we considered the passage of scripture where God said,
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And we considered that
to be an illustration of God's absolute sovereignty in salvation. But I want us to look at Jacob
and Esau from another angle. It's true, they do demonstrate
God's absolute sovereignty in salvation, how He elected one
to salvation and passed by the other. But we read the story
of these two boys in the book of Genesis, and it's important
for us to remember that every story in the Bible, these Old
Testament stories, they're given to illustrate some aspect of
gospel truth. The example of that would be
in Galatians chapter 4, where Paul used the story of Abraham
and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac. Do you remember that
story, how Sarah said, go into Hagar, my servant, and you'll
have a son, and they had Ishmael. And then he was kicked out. Sarah's
the one that's going to have the son. And he went into her
and she had Isaac, the child of promise. And Paul tells us
that that story is given to illustrate the two covenants, the covenant
of works and the covenant of grace. He said these be the two
covenants. This is an allegory. And every
story in the Old Testament is given to illustrate some aspect
of gospel truth. And Jacob and Esau certainly
do that. They represent the old man and
the new man. the old nature and the new nature. Now before we get into Genesis
chapter 25, let me remind you of what took place in Genesis
chapter 24. Abraham sent his servant to find
a bride for his son Isaac. And he said, I don't want him
to marry one of these women of the Canaanites. I want him to
marry one of my own people. And the servant went and the
Lord in his mercy brought him to Rebekah. And he brings Rebekah
back to be the bride for Isaac. And we read beginning in Genesis
chapter 25, verse 20, And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian
of Paddanaran, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She was
like Sarah. She was barren. She could not
conceive. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. She had life put in her that
was not there before. She conceived, and she now had
life in her. Verse 22, And the children struggled
together within her. She didn't know she had twins.
She didn't know she had two different men in her. But there was a fight
going on between these two children even then. And she said, if it
be so, why am I thus? What is this battle going on
with me? If I have life in me, 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 thy womb,
and two manner of people should be separated from thy bowels.
and the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder
shall serve the younger. If it be so, this is the thought
of the Christian, if it be so, and I really have life in me,
why this struggle? Why the sin? seem to have such
a hold on me. I feel like a walking contradiction. I feel as though I really do
believe the gospel, and I really do love the Lord Jesus Christ,
but I feel so very evil, and I feel this struggle going on
on the inside. I didn't used to have this struggle,
But I do now. Why the very sins I tend to confess,
deep down I know I'm going to commit them tomorrow. If it be
so, why am I thus? Why this struggle?" And that
word struggle is also translated break, bruise, crush, discourage,
and oppress. This made her miserable. If it be so, If I have life in
me, why this struggle?" Now, the reason she has this struggle
is because she now has life that she didn't have before. You see,
the seed of Isaac was placed in her, she conceived, and there
was life. Life was put in her that was
not there before, and this reminds me of the new birth. We're born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. There is now
life that was not there before, and when she had this life, that
is when the struggle began. And she said, why am I thus? And she goes and inquires with
the Lord. And the Lord says, because two manner of men are
in you, two separate people, Jacob and Esau, two nations,
two manner of people. And I have no doubt that Jacob
and Esau represent the struggle that goes on in the believer
with the flesh and the spirit, the old nature that's always
been there and the new nature. God, the Holy Spirit birthing
us into the kingdom of heaven. Now you see a believer has two
separate natures, a holy nature and the one he was born with,
an evil nature. And when you have these two natures
in the same person, you have a struggle Paul said in Galatians
5, verse 17, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
lusteth against the flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
If you're a believer, if you're a Christian, you would never
sin again. You would be holy in thought,
word, and deed, but you can't. You always have this evil nature
that brings you down. And it's also true that you would
be a monster in iniquity. The things that you would do,
you would blush if anybody knew what was really in your heart.
But you can't do those things because of the Spirit in you.
He won't let you. You cannot do the things that
you would. Now let's consider these two
men, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn, and it
says in verse 24 of Genesis 25, and when her days to be delivered
were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb, and the
first came out red. Now that's where we get the word
Adam from. He represents Adam and the Adamic
nature, the sinful nature. And it says he came out all over
like a hairy garment. Now, this doesn't just simply
mean he looked like a caveman. No doubt he was very hairy. But
notice it speaks of him coming out with his own garment, a hairy
garment. Now, in the Scriptures, the garment
always represents the covering, the garment of salvation. It's
a covering. It's a righteousness. He came
out with his own righteousness. So he thought. He came out with
his own righteousness. And they called his name Esau.
And after this came his brother out. And his hand took hold on
Esau's heel, and he was called Jacob. And Isaac was threescore
years old, or sixty years old, when she bared them. Now what
else do we learn about Esau? Verse 27 says, And the boys grew,
and Esau was a cunning hunter. A man of the field. He was a
macho man. He was a man's man. A man of
the field. That's not the way Jacob is described.
He's described as a plain man dwelling in tent. But Esau was
a man's man. He was a cunning hunter. Now,
I think this is interesting. The only other time a hunter
is mentioned in the Scripture, it's with reference to Nimrod.
He was a mighty hunter before God, is what the Scripture says,
a cunning hunter before God. And Nimrod was the founder of
Babel and the Babylonians trying to build that tower to God. He
was a wicked man who tried to earn salvation by his works.
That's who Esau came out of. He's called a cunning hunter.
And I know this about a hunter. If you're a good hunter, you
have to be able to deceive your prey. So Esau was a deceptive
man. He was good at deceiving his
prey. Now let's read about verse 28
in Genesis 25. And Isaac loved Esau because
he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. He was the
mama's boy. And Jacob sowed pottage, and
Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to
Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for
I am faint. Therefore was his name called
Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this
day thy birthright. Now, the birthright had all the
privileges annexed to it, all the privileges of grace, all
the privileges of the firstborn was given to The firstborn, you
were the priest, you were the representative of God. And you
know how valuable that was to Esau? He said, I'll trade it
for a bowl of soup. I mean, I'm hungry. All he could
think of is now, I'll trade my birthright, my relationship with
God for a bowl of soup. He didn't think God was worth
a bowl of soup. As a matter of fact, in the New
Testament, Hebrews 12, 16, we read of Esau who was a profane
man who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. And the
word profane does not mean he cursed a lot, although perhaps
he did, but it means accessible. He's someone who could be bought,
and Esau was certainly one who could be bought. He would sell
his birthright for a bowl of soup. He didn't care a thing
about God. Now, Esau represents the old
nature that every believer still possesses. You can read about
him in Romans chapter 7. As a matter of fact, in a few
moments we're going to look at that. Well, what about Jacob? Well, verse 27, and the boys grew,
and Esau was a cunning hunter and a man of the field, and Jacob
was a plain man. a plain man dwelling in tents."
Now, the word plain is translated by four other words of the Old
Testament. Twice in the book of Exodus, it's translated coupled
together, and it's used with reference to of parts of the
tabernacle, how they were coupled together. And it could certainly
represent the two natures. The tabernacle had represented
the Lord Jesus Christ who has two separate natures, the nature
of God and the nature of man. If somebody says, how can a person
have two natures? Well, Christ did. He had the
nature of God and the perfect nature of man, unfallen man. But the word is also translated
perfect, undefiled, and upright. It was said of Job that he was
perfect and upright. It was said of Noah that he was
a just man and perfect. The word is actually translated
undefiled. When the Lord speaks of the Shulamite
in the Song of Solomon, speaking of his love for his church, he
calls her two times undefiled. Jacob is perfect. Jacob is undefiled. This speaks of the new nature,
the holy nature, which is a perfect nature. In Colossians 1, verse
22, we read this description of the believer. Christ is going
to present every believer holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. Now how God sees things is how
they really are. And every believer is holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now this is the
new nature. Esau represents the old nature.
Jacob represents the new nature. Listen to this scripture from
1 John chapter 3. It says in verse 6, whosoever abideth in
him sinneth not. Now I've heard people say, well
that means he doesn't practice sin. That's not what the word
means. It means he does not commit sin. He does not do anything
wrong. He never breaks God's law. That
new nature that's born of God, it sinneth not. Whosoever abideth
him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known
him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth
sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Once again, somebody says, well,
that means they don't practice sin. It doesn't mean that at all. As
far as that goes, your old nature practices nothing but sin. But
that new nature does not commit sin for His seed. the seed of
Christ, the new nature, partakers of the divine nature, as Peter
puts it in II Peter 1.4, for his seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin because
he's born of God. Every believer has two separate
natures. One, the old nature that he was
born with, and the other, the new nature that he possesses
when he's born again. Oh, what a blessing it is to
have this holy nature. This is spoken of by the Lord
when He says, blessed are the pure in heart. This is that honest
and good heart that receives the seed. This is what Peter
calls the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible. This
is the new nature. Now, somebody may be thinking,
how can you speak of Jacob like this when he was such a deceitful
man? Well, I'm speaking like this because this is the way
God speaks. He said he's perfect. He's upright. He's undefiled. That is the new nature given
at the new birth. Now, Jacob in his life, we read
of much deceit. That seems to be the prominent
mark of his character. He was also someone who had to
have the birthright, and he had to have the blessing. These were
absolutely necessary for him. And humanly speaking, he got
them both by deceit. And I don't know how to bring
that all together, except to know that the Lord brings good
out of evil. You meant it for evil, Joseph
said, but God meant it for good. God is in control of everything,
and he brings good out of evil. And in perhaps his most deceptive
act, do you remember when Jacob stole the blessing? His mother,
Rebecca, heard Isaac tell Esau to go out into a field and get
him some venison that he loved and then he would give him the
great blessing when he returned. And Rebecca goes back to Jacob
and she says, you need to pretend to be Esau, here, I'm going to
make some venison that your father loves. You give it to him. And
you need to smell like Esau. You need to put his clothes on
so you smell like him. And then they put lamb's wool
on him and said, you need to feel like him. And so when he
felt him, it was his son Esau. So he thought. So he comes into
his father deceptively. And he smells like Esau, and
he feels like Esau. His father smells him. His father
was blind. He couldn't see. He didn't know
who it really was. He smells him. He smelled like
Esau. He felt like Esau. He said, art thou my son Esau?
He said, yes. Now, what an act of deception
in order to steal the blessing. But for me to have the blessing,
I'm going to have to smell like Christ. I'm going to have to
feel like Christ. I'm going to have to be Christ.
You say, how can you be Christ if I'm united to Him, if I'm
in Him? I am in him. So when he said,
are you my son Esau? He said, yes. When my name is
called, are you my son Christ? I'll say yes, because I'm in
him. The scripture says he that loveth
his bride loveth himself. The bride of Christ is himself.
Christ loved his bride, and his bride is himself. If we believe
not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. If he
would deny me, a member of his body, he would be denying himself. So we see all these Old Testament
stories are given to illustrate the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I think of Jacob wrestling with
the Lord. Remember that story? The Lord
put him down, but Jacob said, I will not let thee go except
thou bless me. Now, let me tell you some things
about Esau and some things about Jacob. Esau represents the flesh,
and the flesh can never rise above its source. The Lord said,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Paul said, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. It never improves. It never gets
better. It's always simply that, the
flesh. And our Lord said, It's the spirit
that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. Your flesh will profit you in
no way when it comes to salvation. It's the spirit, God the Holy
Spirit, that gives life. The flesh is at enmity with God. Romans 8, 6 says the carnal mind
is enmity with God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. The flesh receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. The flesh cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. The flesh persecutes him that's
born of the Spirit. It persecutes, the old nature
persecutes the new nature in that sense. This is mysterious,
but if you have two natures, you know what I'm talking about.
If you only have one nature, you don't have a clue about what
I'm talking about. But if you have two natures, you know that
this is the case with you. Paul said in Philippians chapter
three, verse three, we are the circumcision. We're the true
Jews, which worship God in the Spirit. We have this spiritual
nature, and we worship God in the Spirit, and we rejoice in
Christ Jesus. We glory in Christ. We rest in
Christ. We know His righteousness is
the only righteousness we have. We rest in Him. We rejoice in
Him. We boast in Him. And the third
thing He says regarding the true believer, we have no confidence
in the flesh. And we really do not. We do not
have any confidence in the flesh. It's simply that, flesh. Jacob,
however, is the new man. He's the one who worships God
in spirit and in truth. He has that spirit of adoption. God is his father. He has the
spirit that knows what is freely given to him of God. He knows
everything he has is because of the freeness of God's grace,
that it is given without merit and without buying it. He understands
that. It's Jacob that has the spirit
not of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. This is the spirit that does
not commit sin. Now you can read about these
two boys in the same man in Romans chapter 7, beginning in verse
14. Let me read this. Paul says,
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that
I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the
law that it's good. Now then, it's no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. He's speaking of two natures. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members. WARING
AGAINST THE LAW OF MY MIND, AND BRINGING ME INTO CAPTIVITY TO
THE LAW OF SIN, WHICH IS IN MY MEMBERS, O WRETCHED MAN, THAT
I AM, NOT THAT I WAS, BUT THAT I AM, WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM
THE BODY OF THIS DEATH." Now, he's talking about the great
struggle between the two natures. Now, back to our text in Genesis
chapter 25. In this prophecy concerning these
two boys, the Lord says, the elder, one shall be stronger
than the other. Now we would think Esau would
be the stronger one. He's the macho man. He's the
man of the field. But no, Jacob is the one who
is stronger because God said greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. You see, Jacob is divine. Esau is of the flesh, but Jacob
is divine. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. And then the scripture also says
in this 23rd verse of Genesis 25, the elder shall serve the
younger. Now the elder is Esau, the old
nature. He shall serve the new nature. Now, how can that be? How can
the elder serve the younger when all the elder is is sin? How
can that serve the younger? Now, in our experience, who's
older? Our old nature. We were born
with it. If we're born again, we have
a new nature, but our old nature is older than the new nature
in our experience because we were born with it. Now, that
old nature serves the younger. Now, how is that? How is that? How can that sinful nature serve
the holy nature? Well, Esau is a continual reminder
to me that the only personal righteousness that I have is
the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. Esau will not let me
forget that. Now, he doesn't mean to be serving
me, but my sinful nature is a continual reminder to me that the only
righteousness I have is the righteousness of Christ. Paul put it this way
in Philippians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, Oh that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is
of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God. by faith. Esau causes me
to know that the only righteousness I have is the righteousness of
Jesus Christ Himself. And my sinful nature, Esau, is
a continual reminder to me that salvation must be all of grace. And what a blessed thing that
is to be reminded of. I don't excuse my sin. I'm not
making an excuse for it, but I'm giving an explanation for
it. And my sinful nature is a continual reminder to me that salvation
really is all by the free grace of God. It's not of my works,
but it's of His grace, and thank God for that. And my sinful nature
keeps me coming to Christ. Now understand this. It's not
your sin that will keep you from Christ. Hear me well. It's not
your sin that will keep you from Christ. It's your righteousness. Your righteousness, your personal
righteousness, the goodness that you think you have, it will keep
you from Christ. but your sin will drive you to
him to find mercy at his feet. In that sense, the old nature
serves the new nature. And the old nature, Esau, makes
me to be compassionate to my brothers and sisters in this
pilgrimage. We all have these sinful natures
that we're dealing with. And it keeps me from being harsh
and judgmental toward my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
because I know they've got what I've got to deal with, a sinful
nature that just will not go away until death. And I'll tell
you how else Esau serves me, how the elder serves the younger.
It makes the believer to not be satisfied in this life. David
put it this way, as for me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness." There's no satisfaction here. The only satisfaction
will be when Esau is put in the grave and we deal with him no
longer. Now truly the believer can say,
along with God, Jacob have I loved, that new nature he's given me.
have I loved? And Esau, the old man, I hate
him. Yes, these two boys demonstrate
God's absolute sovereignty and salvation, but they also demonstrate
what a believer is, someone with two natures, and he's looking
forward to getting rid of that one and entering into glory.
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