Would you turn with me to the
book of Obadiah? Right after the book of Amos.
Joel, Amos and Obadiah and Jonah. Obadiah is the shortest book
in the Old Testament. I've entitled this message Jacob
and Esau. Verse 1, the vision of Obadiah. Who was Obadiah? There are 13
different Obadiahs in the Old Testament. And the name means
servant of the Lord. And this could just be a pen
name where the writer wanted to take the background. And he
wanted the message of the Lord to be heard. He didn't want his
own name. So he just calls himself a servant
of the Lord. And would to God, that's the
only thing you and I will be known as. A servant of the Lord. Nothing else. The vision of Obadiah,
thus saith the Lord concerning Now, do you remember in that
passage of scripture where Esau is called Edom? It means red,
Edom, and the Edomites are the descendants of Esau. Thus saith
the Lord God concerning Edom, Esau and his descendants, we
have heard a rumor or a report from the Lord. and an ambassador
is sent among the heathen, arise ye, and let us rise up against
her in battle. Behold," and this is God speaking
concerning Edom and Esau, "'I have made thee small among the
heathen. Thou art greatly despised.'"
Now, do you remember that passage of Scripture I just read where
Esau was said to despise his birthright? Well, God says, I
despise Esau. That's God speaking. He says,
regarding this man Esau, you are greatly despised. Now, this was the means God used
to bring about that prophecy where God said before they were
ever born, the elder, the one who should have the right of
The firstborn is going to end up serving the younger. And you
remember, God also said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. He despised his birthright. He
counted as nothing his birthright. And God says, I despise you. And the writer to the Hebrews
actually refers to him as a profane person. Remember that scripture,
lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who
for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. You know what that
word profane means? We usually think of something profane as
some kind of sinful conduct, and indeed it is. But what the
word actually means is accessible. Accessible. You can be bought. You can be bought. And that is
the truth regarding this man Esau. He could be bought. Now,
it doesn't matter what the price is. If it's 10 million or a nickel,
if you can be bought, you are a profane person. He could be
bought. And God says concerning this
man that he hates him. Look in Malachi chapter one,
last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter one. Verse 1, the burden of the word
of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet you say wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, that's the
descendants of Esau, we are impoverished, but we will return and build
the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall build, but I'll throw down. And they shall call them
the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord
hath indignation forever. And your eyes shall see, and
you shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border
of Israel, not Esau, but Israel. Now, God hated Esau in the same
way that he hates every other unbeliever. His hatred is not
like our hatred. Our hatred is vindictive. Our
hatred is because we feel like we've been done wrong and we
want revenge and we want to get back and so on and we're just
upset. Our hatred is not like God's hatred. God's hatred has
to do with righteousness and holiness. All who are like Esau
deserve to be the objects of God's hatred. And do you believe
that? You believe that? You know, we people get so stuck
on Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. They get so stuck
on Esau have I hated. Can you see why God would hate
you? Now, deal with that honestly.
Can you see why God would despise you? What you are in and of yourself. Can you see that? You know, I
have absolutely no problem. with him hating Esau. It doesn't
matter whether I have no problem with it or not. Whatever his
hatred of Esau, I understand. What I'm amazed by is his love
to Jacob. Oh, the love that he had to Jacob. Jacob was just as unworthy and
deceitful and sinful as anybody you're ever going to come across.
I mean, you read his history, he was a sinful, weak, You know,
the Lord said concerning fear not thou worm, Jacob. That's what God called him. He
said, I'll help thee. I love what Scott Richardson
said. He said, you can't take the promises of God yourself
unless you fit the character of the one the promises were
made to. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. That ain't me. Okay. You
don't have a promise of his help. It's only that one who fits that
character that the promise was made to. God said, I hate Esau. Now let's go on reading about
Esau. He says in verse 3, the pride
of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the
clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart,
who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself
as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." Now Esau was
a proud man. He was an arrogant man. He was
an insolent man. Look at what he says. I'm okay.
Nothing's going to bring me down. Pride. Your pride has deceived
you. Now let me speak for a few moments
about pride. There is a good kind of pride. I've had people contradict that
before, but it's so. There is a good kind of pride.
I'm proud of the gospel. I'm proud of the gospel I preach.
It's a gospel worthy of God, and I'm proud of it. There's
a good kind of pride in workmanship, seeking to do your best. You
ought to do your best. And you ought to take pride in
doing the best that you can do and being the best you can be.
That's a good kind of pride. That's not a bad kind of pride.
That's a good kind of pride. But the pride he's talking about
is the pride of arrogance and self-righteousness and looking
down your nose at somebody else. And he said, your pride has deceived
you. Let me tell you two things about
pride. Nothing is more deceptive and nothing is more groundless.
What do you get to be proud about? Before God, what do you have
that you didn't receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if it came from you? You have nothing to be proud
about. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I can't take pride in one single
thing regarding salvation. I'm a debtor to mercy alone.
Now, I believe that. It's deceitful to think anything
else. And it's so groundless. If I
take any credit in my salvation, in any respect, I am of the religion
of Esau. That's the religion of Esau.
Pride. And he says, your pride has deceived
you. Oh, how deceptive it is. It keeps
a man from looking to Christ. It keeps a man from confessing
his sin. It keeps a man from owning himself
as bankrupt before God. Pride, what a deceitful, horrible
thing. He says, your pride has deceived
you. You say you dwell in the clutches
of the rock whose habitation is high. You say in your heart,
who shall bring me down to the ground? Though you exalt yourself
as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. Now, exposes
Esau's wickedness. If thieves came to thee, if robbers
by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till
they had enough? If the great gatherers came to thee, would
they not leave some grapes? Esau didn't do any of those things.
How are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things
sought up? You see, I want to say this right. Every
one of us spend our life trying to hide things, don't we? Every one of us. But you know
what? You can't hide anything before
God. He sees. Esau, He sees the pride and the
deception of your heart. He sees. Everything is going
to be sought Now, here's the glorious thing about a believer.
You know, because when we think of stuff like this, it just starts
to make us feel uncomfortable. Well, you know, everything about
me is going to be brought up and it's all going to be good
if I'm a believer. It's all going to be good. The life of Christ is my life
before God. But Esau's life is going to be
exposed. He said it's all going to be
brought up. Let's go on reading verse 7 and
8. He says, All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee
even to the border. The men that were at peace with
thee have deceived thee. The people you thought you had
peace with and prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread
have laid their wound unto thee. There is none understanding in
him. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy
the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the mouth
of Esau? He says there's no understanding in Esau. Now, Esau was just as
intelligent as Jacob. This isn't an intellectual thing
we're talking about. He was just as smart, maybe smarter. As a
matter of fact, if you read the description of the boy, you would
like Esau better than Jacob. Esau was a cunning hunter. He
was a man of the field. He was a man's man. Jacob was
a mama's boy. I guarantee you everybody would
have liked Esau better than they did Jacob. Yet, God says regarding
this man, he has no understanding. And I got to thinking, what does
it mean to have no understanding? I can tell you. You cannot understand
the gospel unless you hear the gospel as a sinner. Now it really
is that simple. If you hear the gospel as a sinner,
you understand what's being said. You understand your need. It
comes as good news to you. But when I don't hear the gospel
as a sinner, when I hear, like Esau did in his pride, his arrogance,
the pride that deceived him, I cannot understand. I tell you
what, when I hear the gospel as a sinner, it comes as good
news to me because Christ came to save sinners. When I hear,
when I understand that I truly do not have any righteousness
of my own, it's good news to know that the righteousness of
Christ is the righteousness of every believer. If you're not
hearing, if I'm not hearing the gospel as a sinner, I can't understand. Now, obviously Esau wasn't. He said the pride of your heart
has deceived you. And thy mighty men, O Teman,
shall be dismayed to him that every one of the men of Esau
may be cut off by slaughter." That's what's going to happen
to all of Esau. Verse 10, he goes on to say some
more things about him. "'For thy violence against thy
brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off
forever.' In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in
the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and
foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem,
even thou wast as one of them. You didn't do anything about
it. You just watched this happen. But thou shouldst not have looked
on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger.
You shouldn't have been indifferent about this or been glad about
it. He was. He was happy to see these things
happening to Jacob. And remember, God loved Jacob.
And if God loves somebody, And I'm down on him. I'm in trouble. He says you shouldn't have. He
said neither should you have rejoiced over the children of
Judah in the day of their destruction. Neither should have spoken proudly
in the day of distress. Look, it didn't happen to me.
It happened to me. It happened to them, but it didn't happen
to me. Verse 13, Thou shouldst not have entered into the gates
of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea, thou shouldst
not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity,
nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their
calamity. This is what he saw done. Neither shouldst thou have
stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape.
Neither shouldst thou have delivered up those of his house that did
remain in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near
unto all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon
thine own head. What goes around comes around.
For as you drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen
drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, they shall
swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been."
Now, Esau hates Jacob. You can read by the way he treated
him. Now, this is talking about the Edomites, but they were against
Israel. Esau hates Jacob. Now, remember this about Jacob
and Esau. Esau represents the flesh. Remember when she said,
what's wrong with me? Why am I thus? There was a big
struggle going on in her womb. And God said, two manner of men
are in thee. Two different kinds of people are in you. And this
represents what the believer experiences, the flesh and the
spirit. This is fine, but Esau represents
the flesh. the haters of God, and Esau is
always going to hate Jacob because the flesh is always going to
hate the gospel. They're going to hate salvation
by grace. But we also see that God's purpose
cannot be thwarted or hindered. You see, the elder is going to
serve the younger every time. That's the way it's going to
be. God says it's going to be that way. Esau is going to serve
Jacob, and that's the way it's going to be, because God's purpose
cannot be hindered. And also, as I look at these
condemnations against Esau, it reminds me, now understand this,
if I'm condemned, I'm condemned for my own sin. It's all my fault. I'm not a victim. It's all my
fault. I can't blame God's sovereignty.
It's all my fault. I can't blame Adam. It's all
my fault. Well, if Adam wouldn't have sinned,
this would have never happened. You would have done the same
thing he did, for one thing. And for another thing, let's say
you're not charged with Adam's sin. How do you sin on your own?
Why? It doesn't help you at all to not be charged with Adam's
sin. You're just as guilty, even if you weren't charged with Adam's
sin. Now, men are condemned. for their sin. That's why he
condemned Esau. He didn't just arbitrarily say,
well, I'm going to hate him before the time again. I'm just going
to hate him, and therefore I'm going to condemn him. That's not the way God's
hatred is. I don't understand all this. Who does? But God condemns
a man for his sin, not because he elected him to hell, but because
of his sin. Now, that's just so. It's just
not some kind of arbitrary choice. And we see that in the case of
Esau. Now, if I'm saved, it's all God's fault. It's the fault
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't take any credit in that.
It's all the grace of God. It's because of him. But if I'm
damned, it's all my fault. And these accusations he makes
against Esau are because of his own personal sin. And this is so important. It's only when my sin is all
my fault. And I cry for mercy. If I'm not
there, I look at mercy as an entitlement. Something I got
coming to me. But when I confess my fault before
God, that's the only time I truly cry for mercy. Esau's sin is all his own fault. And how deceptive pride is. It's
pride that keeps a man from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
17, but. But. That's one of the most precious
words in the Bible. But. He could have stopped there
and it would have been just, but. But God. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein the times passed. You
walked according to the lusts of the flesh, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past. In the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and the mind, we were by nature children
of God, even as others." What does it say next? There's the difference. But God. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there
shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their
possessions. Now, what is Mount Zion? You've
heard of Zion. You read it in Psalms all the
time. We sing the song, Glorious Things
of Thee are Spoken, Zion, city of our God. Zion was a hill in
Jerusalem. And it's where David made his
stronghold. It's also called in the Scriptures,
the city of David. And it's also where Solomon built
the temple, Zion. It's got typical significance. Zion is the church. Now, let
me show you that scripture. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Zion
is every believer. Zion is Jacob. Zion is God's
elect. Look in Hebrews chapter 12. The writer has been speaking
of Esau. He says in verse 15, looking
diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any
root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many
be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. He
could be bought. For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessings, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. That scripture used to always trouble me. Because
he said, Oh, Lord, forgive me. God said, No, he wasn't seeking
God with tears. He was seeking to get the benefit
of the birthright back. That's all he cared about. He
didn't care anything about God or Christ or the gospel. He was
a profane man that could be bought. Verse 18, For you're not come
unto the man that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor into
blackness and darkness and tempest, talking about Mount Sinai. and
the sound of trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they
that heard and treated, that the word should not be spoken
to them any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded, and so much as a beast touched a mountain,
it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible
was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and plague,
but you are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem. and to innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, the Lamb's book of life, and
to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect." I love that definition of a believer. just men made
perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. So we see that Zion is the church
of the living God. Zion is every believer. Now turn
back to Obadiah. He mentions three blessings. that Obadiah has, I mean that
Zion has. Verse 17, But upon Mount Zion
shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house
of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Now there shall
be deliverance. Now what kind of deliverance?
Hold your finger there. I want you to turn to Romans chapter
11. Romans chapter 11. Verse 26, Romans chapter 11, And so all
Israel shall be saved, that's talking about all the elect,
as it's written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer,
and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Now that's deliverance. That's
the deliverance of God. He has promised to take away
my sins. So I do not bear them anymore. They're gone. And beloved, when
the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his head and said it is finished,
all my sin was washed away and I now have no sin. Now, our experience says that
can't be so. But faith says it's so. The way God looks at me is the
way I am. And when God looks at me, he
hath beheld no perverseness in Jacob, neither iniquity in Israel. And what God sees is the way
it really is. Now, what a deliverance that
is. The deliverer will come out of Zion and take away our sins. 1 John 3, 5 says he was manifested
to take away our sins. Did he do it? Yes. And in him is no sin. It takes faith to believe that,
doesn't it? To believe that before God you
have no sin. That's what this deliverance
is. It makes me to be without sin. And the next thing he mentions
is holiness. Holiness. Well, where there's
no sin, you know what there is? There's holiness. True holiness. Jacob, you see, was set apart
to be holy. Jacob have I loved. And he was
set apart in eternal election to be holy. And Jacob represents
every believer. You know, God is called by this
name more than any other name, the God of Jacob. Isn't that
precious? The God of Jacob. The God of Todd. The God of Todd. Same thing. The God of Jacob. In Jacob there should be holiness.
Christ Jesus, I was declared by God himself to be holy when
Christ died on the cross. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I've been declared by God to
be holy. I was made holy by the Holy Spirit and regeneration
when I was given a holy nature, made holy by the Spirit of God. In Jacob, in Zion, there shall
be deliverance, there shall be holiness. And look what it says
next. And the house of Jacob shall
possess their possessions. Now, if you read when the. The account of numbers and Joshua
and so on, when they were taken over the promised land, every
family was given a plot of land. Every family was given something
that was theirs. It was their possession. It was
their possession forever. Now, when they were carried off
into captivity, they lost their possession. But the Lord said,
you're going to have your possession back. And you are going to possess
your possession. Now, every believer has a possession. Has possessions. Now, we lost
in Adam, but we're giving back everything we lost in the fall
and more. As a matter of fact, now this
is what I like to think about. I've heard people say, well, we're
restored back to where as good as Adam was. No, it's better
than that. It's infinitely better than Adam had it before the fall.
You see, Adam, while he hadn't taken of the fruit and fell yet,
he still had the potential to do it. But do you know that when
you're saying you don't even have the potential to do what
Adam did, your sin is gone. You have certain possessions.
You have justification. God gave you that. That means
you're without guilt. You have sanctification. You
have holiness. You have acceptance. Ephesians 1, 6 says, He has made
us accepted in the beloved. Possess it. Believe it. They shall possess their possessions.
Believe. I believe that right now you
are before God without sin. You have adoption. You're an
adopted son, an adopted daughter. Possess it. You have acceptance. Possess it. You have assurance.
Possess it. You have joy, peace, freedom
of access. I love that. I've been thinking
about this. I'm going to preach on this before long. Ephesians 3.12 says,
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of him. Did you hear that? We have boldness. And we have access, freedom to
enter, freedom to come into the very presence of God. We have
access with confidence by the faith of Him. We have heaven. We have the right
to possess our possessions because Christ purchased them for us,
and they're ours. Now, let me give you some examples
of what I'm trying to talk about, because the thing is, these things
in the gospel are hard to get hold of. Like to believe I have
a holy nature? Look at me! Believe you do. Believe you do. Because if you
believe the gospel, you do. Wrecking yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's hard to get hold of that, isn't it? I'm dead to sin? Seems
mighty alive in me. Seems very powerful in me. Yet God says, Reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if he said that, it's because it's so possessive. Romans 8.1 says there's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Possess
that. Romans 8.28 says we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. Possess that. Now, what that
means is believe. what God says you are, even when
you can't see it. Can you do that? No. No, you
can't. But He can enable you to. Believe
that you stand before God without seeing through the gospel. Believe
you're accepted in the blood. Believe that. Possess it. Verse
18, And the house of Jacob shall be afire, and the house of Joseph
a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle
in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining
of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. And they
of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the
plain the Philistines, and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim,
and the fields of Samaria. And Benjamin shall possess Gilead,
and the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall
possess." that of the Canaanites, even into Zarephath and the captivity
of Jerusalem, which is Saraphardad, shall possess the cities of the
south. There shall be a full possession
of what was theirs." Verse 21, "...and saviors," now notice
that's a small S. "...and saviors," notice it's plural, "...and saviors
shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and
the kingdom shall be the Lord's." Now who are these saviors? There's one Savior, capital S,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, who are these Saviors?
Everything else. Everything in God's providence,
no matter what it is, is working together for good to them that
love God and to them who are the call according to His purpose. Everything else is a Savior. It's all good. What about the sin? What about
the evil? Are you calling that good? No,
I'm not calling that good. But I'm saying it's a good thing
to find out that's what you are. It's a good thing. Everything
God uses, He uses as a savior for His people. They're saviors. Everything. That's what Romans
8.28 means. And the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Let's pray.