Genesis 36:1-43

Shout praise to God. Give thanks to our holy God. Hallelujah.

Let's sing it up as the voice of our King and Savior this morning.

He's coming on the clouds. Kings and kingdoms will bow down. Every chain will break. His broken hearts declare his praise.

Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Every knee will bow before Him.

Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains. And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Every knee will bow before Him.

So open up the gates. Make way before the King of the King. Our God who comes to save. He's here to set the captives free.

And who can stop the King of the King of the King. Our God who comes to save. He's here to set the captives free.

And who can stop the Lord Almighty. And who can stop the Lord Almighty. And who can stop the Lord Almighty.

Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. And every knee will bow before Him.

Our God is the Lion of Judah.

Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains. And for grace and chains. And every knee will bow before the Lion has touvast. And every king will bow before Him.

Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Who can stop the Lord Almighty

Who can stop the Lord

Our God is a lion

The lion of Jesus

He's roaring in power

And fight for the battle

And every people bow before Him

Our God is a lamb

The lamb that works great

The sinner of the world

Is the grace of change

And every people bow before the lion and the lamb

And every people bow before Him

One more time

Our God is a lion

The lion of Jesus

He's roaring in power

And fighting our land

Yeah

Let no longer hand

And every people bow before Him

A fredientist

BANIA

A fredientist

BANIA

Give praise to God this morning.

Amen, amen.

A song of deliverance from my enemies

till all my fears are gone.

Because I'm no longer a slave for fear.

He said, I am a child of God.

Because I'm no longer a slave for fear.

He said, I am a child of God.

From my mother's womb, you have chosen me.

And love has called my name.

I've been born again into your family.

Your blood flows through my veins.

Because I'm no longer a slave for fear.

Because I am a child of God.

Because I'm no longer a slave for fear.

I'm no longer a slave for fear.

My fears were drowning back in love

You rescued me so I could stand and see

I am the star of God

You split the sea so I could walk back to it

My fears were drowning back in love

You rescued me so I could stand and see

I am a child of God

I am no longer a slave to you

I am a child of God

I am no longer a slave to you

I am a child of God

Thank you.

This passion in my heart is stirring in my soul to see the nations bow for all the world to know.

I'm living for your glory.

For the sake of the world, burn like a fire in me.

This passion in my heart is stirring in my soul to see the nations bow for all the world to know.

I'm living for your glory.

For the sake of the world, burn like a fire in me.

Light a flame in my soul for mercy I see.

For the sake of the world, burn like a fire in me.

Light a flame in my soul for mercy I see.

For the sake of the world, burn like a fire in me.

For the sake of the world, I'm like a fire in me.

Oh, oh, yeah.

For the sake of the world, I'm like a fire in me.

Light a flame in my soul for every eye to see.

For the sake of the world, I'm like a fire in me.

Light a flame in my soul for every eye to see.

For the sake of the world, I'm like a fire in me.

Oh, oh, yeah.

Let your light shine.

Lord, let your light shine in me.

Let your light shine through me.

Lord, let your light shine.

Lord, let your light shine through me.

Lord, let your light shine.

Lord, let your light shine through me.

Lord, let your light shine.

Lord, let your light shine through me.

Burn like a fire in me

Light a flame in my soul

For every eye to see

For the sake of the world

Burn like a fire in the me

For the sake of the world

Burn like a fire in me

Light a flame in my soul

For every eye to see

For the sake of the world

Burn like a fire in me

One last time

For the sake of the world

Burn like a fire in me

For the sake of the world

Burn like a fire in me

Light a flame in my soul

Burn like a fire in me

Vanessa the flame in my eyes

Burn like a fire in me

Thank you.

You have come to save us Lord You have come to save us Lord Jesus you're the one who saves us You're the one who saves us King of all the other kings of the Lord Jesus you're the one who saves us

You's the one who saves us King of all the other kings of joy You have made a way of life You are light and fire you are our desire You are come to save us Lord You are the darkness You are the peace that binds us You are the peace that binds us You are the peace that binds us You have come to save us Lord You have come to save us Lord You have nice Yahweh. You have come to save us you

You have come to save us, Lord.

Jesus, you're the one who saves us.

You're the one who saves us.

King of all the other kings of heaven.

Jesus, you're the one who saves us.

You're the one who saves us.

King of all the other kings of heaven.

You're the king of all the other kings of heaven.

King of all kings and Lord of the Lord's light.

Of the world you see.

You're the king of all kings and Lord of the Lord's light.

Of the world you see.

You're the king of all kings and Lord of the Lord's light.

Of the world you see.

You're the king of all kings and Lord of the Lord's light.

You're the one who saves us.

King of all the other kings of heaven.

Jesus, you're the one who saves us.

You're the one who saves us.

For the king of all kings and Lord of the Lord's light.

Jesus, you're the one who saves us.

And you're the king of all the other kings on the earth

You're the king of all the other kings on the earth

So king of all kings and all of the Lord

It's high of the world to shine

You're the king of all kings and all of the Lord

It's high of the world to shine

You're the king of all kings and all of the Lord

It's high of the world to shine

You're the king of all kings and all of the Lord

It's high of the world to shine

You're the king of all kings and all of the Lord

You're the King of all kings

And the Lord of all the light

Of the world you shine

You're the one who saves us

We keep all the other kings on earth

You're the one who saves us

We keep all the other kings on earth

You're the King of all the other kings on earth

Because you're the King of all the other kings on earth.

You're so worthy, Father. You are so worthy.

You're worthy of it all. It's yours.

The praise is yours. The glory is yours.

We lift your name up high. You so deserve it, Father.

You are the King of all the other kings.

There's no one who can match you.

No one who can stand close to matching you, Father.

You are the light. You are the fire.

You're burned deep in our souls, Lord.

Just consume us, Father, with that fire.

Consume our hearts. Just set us ablaze for your name.

Because there's nothing more powerful than your name.

Nothing can stop when your name is whispered.

Nothing can stop. Nothing can stand in the way, Father.

Thank you for everything, Father. We love you so much.

We will always praise you.

And praise is all for you, Father.

We just love you.

And thank you for everything you continue to do in our lives.

Let us put our mind on that and our focus on that.

Let us not forget that at any moment when we are overwhelmed or consumed by anything going on in this world,

that we can just stop and just say the name of Jesus.

And we can be overcome with just comfort and knowing that you've got it.

And thank you for that, Father.

We love you.

Amen.

Praise God.

Praise God for that worship and that praise.

He is so worthy to be praised.

And we give God glory.

Don't we give God glory?

Hallelujah.

He is so worthy to be praised.

First of all, just thank you.

Thank you for another Sunday, Father.

And we're so grateful for this Sunday here at Rhema Community Church.

We welcome all of you.

We welcome our Rhema family.

And we welcome our visitors.

Visitors, we so appreciate you for coming to fellowship with us on today.

You could have been anywhere.

You could have been doing anything.

But you chose to spend this time with us.

And for that, we're very grateful.

Let's give our visitors a round of applause.

Hallelujah for our visitors.

Of course, my brother didn't ask me to do this, but he's my brother.

So happy birthday to our brother, Rob.

Today is his birthday.

Yay.

Truly a brother from another mother.

We love our brother, Rob.

Hallelujah.

So just want to tell you a little about some of the great things that's happening at Rhema on this week.

This week will kick off Women Unleashed 2019.

Yay.

So we want you to be a part of this event, ladies.

I know pastor invited a million folks.

Women to come together and love on our God together. So if you're not busy this Friday night, please be a part of Women Unleashed. We welcome you. And it's Saturday morning. If you can't do both nights, that's okay. Maybe just your Saturday is free. Meet us at 930 in a refuge for breakfast, 930 to 10. And then the program starts off here in the sanctuary at 10 o'clock. So we welcome you ladies to Women Unleashed 2019. How about that? Praise God. And then we also want to let you know that the young people, like the old school church, the young people are having a bond.

This November 15th at 6 p.m. So bring out your youngins out to have a great time with the young people. I think it's the teens and children or just the children? Just the children. Just the children's church. So come out November 15th at 6 p.m.

Bring your s'mores creations or whatever you bring for s'mores and just have a great time with the children's church. Okay. So let's bless the Lord for children's church. If you need more information, get with Taylor and he'll let you know a little bit more about the bonfire.

Before we proceed, we want to go ahead and dismiss our children to children's church. And you can follow Mr. Taylor and Mr. Dave. Bless the Lord for our children.

Oh, no, he's not telling me the way. He's telling the kids the way. I was like, okay, I'll shut up. Okay. As our children are dismissed, we're going to get ready, the sound department to get ready to play the video. Not just yet, but we want to dismiss our children first.

Praise God.

Okay, Rhema family, this is the National Day of Prayer. And we want to show you a video for the parents who have allowed their children to remain in church. No worries.

But we just want to let you know there's going to be some sensitive material in this video. So we just want to give you a heads up.

And we're going to highlight the martyrs of the Christian faith. So I just want to make sure parents are aware there's going to be some sensitive material in this video.

And whenever the sound department is ready, they can play the video.

In the primary school, we were taught that all missionaries were terrorists.

They told us that a missionary will be nice to you at first, but when they get you into their homes, then they will kill you and eat your liver.

There was no food and no work in my village.

Like some others, I snuck across the mountain border into China.

I picked mushrooms in the hopes of selling them in Chiang Mai.

I don't speak Chinese at all.

But in the mountains, I met a man.

He said, I can sell those for you.

And he didn't cheat me.

He gave me all the money from the sale.

At that time, I didn't know he was past the harm.

Over the next two years, I went back several times.

Each time, Pastor Han helped me.

One day, I asked why he would do this, for he himself was in great danger for assisting a North Korean.

He said, it is because I am a Christian, he said, that made me afraid.

Was he going to eat my liver?

One day, Pastor Han said to me,

God is real.

There will be no triumph. No journalists will write about you. And no one will ever dare ask where you have gone.

One day, Pastor Han asked Pastor Han for a Bible. He knew that if I was caught with a Bible, my life would be in danger. But over time, I persuaded him. I showed the Bible to my wife. At first, she refused to even look at it. Why would you bring that?

One day, Pastor Han is left here, she cried. She knew that if anyone reported that you had even glanced at a Bible, you would be arrested. And not just you.

You and all your relatives sent to the concentration camps for years and years and years and years.

Over time, my wife too learned that God is real. She found hope. And then I shared the word of God with my best friend. It was very dangerous for me to share.

One day in the summer of 2016, we heard that some North Korean assassins were being honored by the government. Rewarded for their good work for killing a terrorist missionary in Changbai.

One day, we knew it was Pastor Han. We knew it was Pastor Han. Who else could it be?

We were frightened. Did they know he was my friend? Did they know I had met with him many times?

Pastor Han. Pastor Han gave his life. But he gave hope to me and to many other North Koreans.

And despite the ever-present danger, many of us will continue to share the message that God is real.

We hope that our sacrifice, when the day comes, will be worthwhile, just like it was for Pastor Han.

Yes.

How are you going to worship his life later?

I definitely want to worship you then.

What about his message for Bitcoin?

Why are you going to worship aega's memorial?

기�81, we're only going to worship you then.

If it mics on a special note to with your name and family.

OK.

Go to blockchain, let's say.

great morning church

before we pray I want to read

something real quick

John chapter 17

starting with verse 20

that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I read that so that we understand this one thing that we are one singular church and that we don't look at the church in North Korea as distant but as close to us that we would weep with those who weep rejoice with those who rejoice.

that when they feel pain that when they feel pain we would feel pain and not only that that they would not march on with fear but with faith in the one who is called each and every one of us that we might express Christ to those who do not believe in hope that they would believe right now in Myanmar

there are Muslims that are Muslims that are being persecuted by Hindus. In China there are Muslims being persecuted by atheists. But that the church would give to them generosity would show them the love of Christ so that they might know that atheism nor communism nor socialism in Venezuela that persecutes the Catholic Church

nor any other world religion nor any other hope is found except that which is in Jesus Christ and that we might be bold enough as the church in Rwanda in the mid 90s hid Tutsi for 100 days 300 of them in one church under floors in attics in cupboards so that they might save their life not knowing that it would

testify and that it would testify and that it would testify and would reach that story would reach our shores and it testifies in New York today that the church showed generosity to them and Tutsi that live in New York testify of Jesus Christ and they minister to those who they were far off from him but have been brought close to him by the generosity of the church

so that we might understand that we are one we are one so when they are persecuted we are persecuted when they fight we fight with them let us fight with them in the spirit now and join them in prayer heavenly father in the name of Jesus God we thank you that you have called

us each and every one of us each and every one of us each and every one of us by name of God that we might not have fear but we would draw close to you in faith knowing that it is you who called us it is you who strengthened us it's you who sends us oh God all for your glory for your own honor for your name oh God but it is the name that is above every name that is saved and cleansed each of us

that father we would we would thank you that is above all for your own and every name that is love for your name that we would lay it at your feet oh God that we would stand strong together in you that the world might know who you are through our faith oh God not just through our faith but through our love for one another that we would be one church not separated by

denominations, nor oceans, nor

different creeds, O God. But we would all call upon your name,

the one Jesus who saves

each and every one of us. Your word declares that to proclaim

Jesus is to prophesy, O God. May

we send these, your prophets, into the world and that

they would testify of your name. Strengthen those who are in bondage right now,

those who are oppressed, O God, and let

them know your strength. Know that your people

are praying with them, that they are hurting with them, O God.

But more importantly, we all rejoice in a singular hope

that you, O God, will come for those who

I'm just grateful for our worship team, our staff, our elders. I also want to take a moment and say how grateful I am. It's one thing you get to do is if you if you're the pastor, you can acknowledge family. And so I just want to acknowledge you get a chance to hug Taylor's neck today. But today's Taylor and Caitlin's one year anniversary. Yeah. Married one year and they've never had a fight. That's awesome.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. This week. This morning. Just kidding. Say what now? Yeah. Wait. They're not arguing now. He's in the other room. There. That's good. Yeah.

Hey, before we get started this morning, I do want to take a moment. One of my longtime dear friends who lives in Atlanta. I got a phone call from him. Yes.

I got a phone call from him yesterday. And his his mother in law was in a horrific car accident. And she is in Charlotte right now on a ventilator. She's 77. She's a believer. She's full of life. And she Miss Ruth. That's all we need to know. Her name is Miss Ruth.

Um, they have had to do emergency spine surgery on her. And they have had to fuse, I think three discs, three areas. And so, uh, the prognosis, she had a traumatic head injury that they seem to think that there's not going to be any issues from that, but she's unable to move anything below her shoulders right now.

And, uh, with spinal injuries, you just never know until the healing begins. And so she's on a ventilator. They're, they're going to start to try to take her off the ventilator. They have asked that we, they've asked for prayer. And I told them that we are a praying church and we will, we, we would be honored to stand in the gap for Miss Ruth this morning.

And so we're just asking that first of all, she would be able to come off the ventilator, number one. And number two, that she would be able to speak without just pointing to letters and, and, um, motioning. And so this is, this is very critical these next few hours for them. And so, uh, Angel, I'm going to ask if you would just where you are, just lead us this morning as we just, I just want to ask brothers and sisters to intercede for Miss Ruth right now as she's in the trauma center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Thank you.

.

Amen. I love that about our church. We can, uh, we can, uh, we can

come together and we're not on any agenda and, uh, the things of the Lord are always, they

always take paramount over everything. Amen. And, uh, even better news is I got a really, really

short sermon for you today. So there you go. I do. I do. I promise. I promise I do. I've

said it before and I've, I've been led of the Lord to go long and long, but, but this morning

is different because, um, um, we're at a place, if you're visiting with us, we are, uh, in

Genesis because we have been doing an expository study. That's how we tackle things in an expository

manner. Verse by verse study. We've been going through the book of Genesis and today we reach

chapter 36 and chapter 36, we get to chapter 36 and I always send Casey the information and

I send her, uh, all the script things that I want to put on there. Uh, and I send her

what the title is, and she makes the own backgrounds. She has pretty awesome. And so, um, we'll just

leave it at that and close in prayer. And I think we leave with a good laugh, right? Yes. All

it is, is a list of names and daughters and sons and Kings and princes and generals and this

and that. And, and surely brother Curtis is not going to read all this and these and embarrass

himself with names that no one in this room can really thoroughly pronounce properly. And

you know what? You're right. I'm not, I'm not. Yeah. And praise Jesus, right? Angel. There

we go. But there's some lessons in here. What we're not going to do is skip over chapter 36.

There's some lessons in 36 that I want us to really hone in on. And that's why we're going

to have a much, much of a little bit more concise message today. And I'm going to try to

do my best to tie it into communion. Now that's a stretch for us right there. We're going to

take this list of names and we're going to tie it all into communion this morning. We're

going to celebrate communion. And now's a good time to just to say to you that we are going

to celebrate communion at the end of the service. Maybe if you want to just tune me out this

morning, that'd be great. If you want to tune me out and just really concentrate on making

your hearts right before the Lord, before we, before we take communion and celebrate communion

that way we can ascend to the hill of the Lord with, with clean hands and a pure heart,

then that would be great with me as well too. But in the, in the vein of Genesis 36, we

get to this list and everything. And it's a genealogy. It's a genealogy of Esau. These

are all Esau's peeps. Okay. It's a genealogical record of all of his people, all of the ancestors

within, within Esau. It's a biblical record that's given to us. But after this, we're not

going to focus on genealogy anymore. After, after Genesis 36. Okay. The, the focus on genealogy

is done after this, the focus will be on the lineage of David, uh, Jacob and his 12 sons,

the, the tribe, the 12, the nation of Israel. And we'll go on and be very selective about

this genealogy. So after this, Esau is done. Esau is done. And if you were to look at this

and you want to read it, uh, versus, uh, versus one through eight is kind of a list of Esau's

wives and the CUs and all that. Okay. But, um, we, uh, we know, we know Esau and, um, we

know that Esau, he did not care about spiritual things whatsoever. And we'll talk about that

more in a moment. But the thing about it is, is that, um, God kept his promise with Esau.

That's one of the things I think 36 wants us to, to know is that Esau didn't care about

God, but God did care about him. He cared about him because if you remember, even as

he was in his mother's womb with his twin brother, Jacob, um, the, the word says the

Lord tells, tells his mom, there are two nations in your womb, two nations. And, and, and indeed

Esau becomes a nation. He could, he becomes the, the nation of what? Edom. Thank you, Fred.

Somebody's coming along with me here. Okay. And Edom was a nation.

So that's why it's going to be shorter because I know that everyone wants a history lesson like they want a, a, a, a, a, a knife in their eye. Right? Okay. But we're going to, we're going to just kind of divide this because it's important to us because later on the Edomites, because of war and opposition, they migrate to Judah, southern, southern Israel. And the Edia, and at that point, the Edom, uh, the Edomites ceased to become a nation at that point and a distinct people group. And we'll talk about this more in a minute, but they're going to be called

um, uh, uh, Edominiums, Edominiums. And we'll unfold that in a second. That has a bearing in a, in a minute, but, uh, they're Edomites and, and, um, and, um, they're there. That's, that's, that's, that's their names right there. Verses nine through 19 is a list of all of his grandsons and these other powerful men that were, that were with Esau as he's down in Seir or Saudi Arabia. Verses 20, uh, through 30 is a list of,

um, his seven sons, the seven sons of Seir, uh, the, uh, Horonite or the Horite, uh, whose descendants marry Esau's descendants. And verse 31 is the kings and chiefs or the chieftains, um, who, who, uh, lived and who died and what their weird names were. And then verse 40 through 43, uh, are the 11 chiefs or chieftains or sheiks that came from Esau. So what it's showing is that it became a great nation. All right.

And, and, and the Lord is honoring the promise that he made, uh, to Edom saying, you know, look how great you are. Look at all these people, look at all these people that came from this area. They had all this wisdom. They occupied this. However, historically and traditionally the Edomites, as time goes on, they become arch enemies of Israel, arch enemies.

And because of that, God will reserve a, a, a, a special wrath for the Edomites. I don't know if you knew that or not, but the entire prophecy of the book of Obadiah is a one long diatribe judgment on Edom.

If you want to read that, read the judgment on it, read Obadiah. Okay. And that's the theme of the book and, and, and Obadiah outlines everything that's going to happen. So we see this, but as we've been walking through Genesis, so much of Genesis ends up being brothers in contention. You ever notice that brothers in contention, everything in Genesis.

And this should tell us something, um, and the very beginning that this contention, um, between these brothers shapes not only the history of Israel, but it shapes the history of the world as we know it. You know, you, you, you need to think about that. The history of the world would not be the same without the contention of these brothers in, in, in, uh, the case of these brothers, this is described. There's a one way. And then there's another way. Remember all the way back into Genesis chapter

chapter three, it begins to unfold where we're, we're, we're told that we have, uh, the way of the way of Cain and we have the way of Abel. All right. It's, it's, it's, it's told to us right there, right there. And then you have the, the line of, um, you have a line of descent coming from Cain because Cain ends up what killing Abel, right? So, uh, that line is Abel's line is dead because Cain kills him. And then the Lord blesses Adam and Eve and gives them another son. And that son's name is Seth.

And then it becomes, you remember the scripture says the way of Seth. Okay. So there's a, there's a God's way and another way. Not a whole lot different from today. Is there? There's God's way and another way. It's, that's what I love about the scriptures. There's not one of 18 ways. No, it's either God's way or it's this way. And he lays it out. So the way of Seth. And so, um, and so he had the way of Seth. That's important because the, the descent, the line doesn't go through Cain whatsoever.

Cain thinks he ends it all by killing Abel, but there's the way of Seth. God is going to continue the line as he goes through Seth. Then of course you have Abraham who has Isaac and Ishmael. All right. You have the other brothers in contention.

I think it's important to mention here that Ishmael in no way is dishonored in the biblical text. You ever think about that? He's, he, Ishmael is not described in, in any way as being a deficit in terms of character or his disobedience.

And the scripture actually is very simple. It has a very simple.

Sympathetic understanding of Ishmael, remember he's about a 13 or 14 year old boy.

He's sent off with his, His mom, Hagar, to go off into the desert because they get kicked out of the house, right? You can't be with the camp anymore. Mom can't stand to watch him die.

he's over there dying they're in the desert he's about ready i can't stand to watch my son die so

i'm gonna have to go off by myself you know in no way does it talk about ishmael having uh having

a terrible character or anything like that but then all of a sudden he goes off and all of a

sudden abraham's life life ends and he's buried by his two sons and ishmael appears out of nowhere

and ishmael uh isaac and ishmael bury their dad together okay so you have the contention between

brothers and now this set of brothers that we're looking at today uh there is a negative judgment

on esau there is a negative judgment and part of the part of the scriptural story in here tests us

a little bit as we look at this it it tests our our uh tests our confidence in two particular things

that i want to talk about this morning one is it what the first thing that it tests is um the

sovereignty of god and our trust in the sovereignty of god and this is what i mean by that

because we realize when the apostle paul tells us in romans 9 that the that the covenant line is

going to go through jacob and he tells us that that the covenant line is going to go through jacob

even before jacob and esau were born all right and then the apostle paul goes on to say um point out

in such a way he says that it was before either boy had the capability of doing anything good or bad

good or bad but he was choosing jacob over esau and god saw this test us because we recognize this

and if you look at this and if you read through this in chapter 36 esau's people reflect this the

the fact that they chose their own leaders esau's people choose their own leaders okay and this is

very different than the sovereignty of god that's demonstrated in the life of israel where god does the

choosing god puts people in place the the people of israel lean on god they depend on god and god

does the choosing according to his own good pleasure and in in retrospect we can see why jacob and not

esau because that's all we have is retrospect okay but but he's saying that god in his sovereignty he

chooses jacob over esau why is that that's because god has an attribute that we do not have and we never

will have and that attribute is called foreknowledge your whole life your whole life is a rerun it's a

movie that god's already seen i want to see the life of rudy i've seen that he plays football for

notre dame that's a different rudy yeah i'm sorry so but you know it's it's all it's all been played

out before that's foreknowledge god has seen uh god knew you were going to make those choices did i

have free will yeah but god knew you wow blows your mind this whole thing free will did i have free will

yep but did god know it yep so all these decisions i made right here where i i didn't make all those

choices yeah you did but god knew it it's foreknowledge he chooses jacob over esau we understand it because

we have the unfolding of the of the scriptures here so retrospect but this tests it tests are

tests us in terms of the sovereignty of god but it also tests us in terms of the goodness of god

the goodness of god because it would be one thing to think of god as being sovereign in some fatalistic

sense all right and this and this is the way that we uh often it's often caricatured that those who

believe in just just the sovereignty of god are often caricatured as reducing god to a fatalist who

simply says this is the way because i wish it this is the way because i wish it and my will is

inscrutable and you have no right to read my will and uh what will happen will simply happen and

everything is just fated to happen that way and that's how my sovereignty works and that always

makes me think about the joke of the elderly presbyterian lady who uh who falls down the stairs

and she takes a tumble down the stairs and then she picks herself up and she goes oh well thank god

that's over and those of you who don't understand sovereignty don't understand the joke so there you go

so i'll just um but that's not the way we understand this how the sovereignty of god works we understand

god's sovereignty not to be less than that hear me on this this morning because this this is a lot of

brainy stuff here this morning i get it but it's far far more than that it's far more than that bobby

mentioned the muslims in there and i'll tell you the muslim understanding of the sovereignty

you

it's just god's will insula that's what they'll say whatever if it's good if it's bad if it's whatever it's one thing or other i just god willed it that's why it happened god willed it and if you have a conversation

with a muslim who understands islam and you're pressing him or you're pressing her and you're asking them do you have any confidence that god will receive you graciously in the life to come

their only answers just as bobby said earlier it's not insula it's not and so that but this is not this is not our that's not our understanding of the sovereignty of god because god reveals himself in the word as sovereign but he also reveals himself as a good god he reveals himself as a good god and that's why paul again in very close terrain to romans 9 will say in romans 8 that all things work together for the good who are in

christ jesus okay those who are in christ jesus okay those who are his those who are his and so this is life is not just the unfolding of just one thing after another and it's all this fatalistic sequence okay this is god this is god dealing with his people because i tell you what i tell you what you could have you could have my friend and his family who are all devout believers in um in charlotte north carolina going does god hate us

my mother-in-law loves the lord jesus emphatically this is not right and don't give me a speech on the sovereignty of god

you know you understand what i'm saying but only a good god we don't know how it's going to play we don't know

why all these things only a good god could take a tragedy something like this and use it for his glory his namesake

and to to uh to uh to move his kingdom forward only a good god so god in his sovereignty is not fatalistic

he's not fatalistic

he's not less than that either though but he's a good god he's a good god

you know

if we're honest though we we can sit back we ask the questions

some of you probably wishing i just would have read the names and shut up this morning

but we can ask the questions you know um in all honesty why jacob but in the in the beginning we

can advocate ask that question we're shown why and and this is why the word of god is so important in

ways that we don't think about even when we read a historical narrative like genesis chapter 36

and we say well why do we need all this why do we need all these names why do we need all these

kings the sons the daughters of all this people we need all of this to understand this is not the way

the covenant is going you see this there was i did keep my word i raised the great nation but that's

not where the people who came kings will come through ishmael

ruth jesus christ ruth is mentioned specifically and such as a moabitess ends up as one of the women

in the line of our lord jesus christ and this is very important because it helps us understand why

boaz receiving her as as uh her distant kinsmen received her into covenant history and it's a

beautiful picture for us as well because how how is it that ruth deserved to be in the covenant

she didn't neither do we it's all grace it's all grace people absolutely all grace is and but once

again grace uh demonstrated in the fact that we are told when we're given the ancestors of jesus christ

ruth is mentioned you want grace follow this god you want to know what true grace is follow this god

follow this lord but in the long run the moabites show up again they're going to be enemies of god

god uh god god god's covenant people i should say and again obadiah the prophet is going to use the

edomites as as an example of what it looks like

you

and uh the new testament you will use the word that um um edoma uh edomians edomians and that's a greek word for moabite okay in the new testament why is that important because because um herod is a moabite herod this is why this is important we don't just pass it over gloss it over herod the same guy who wants to kill all of the innocent little children

trying to kill the children trying to kill the christ trying to kill the christ trying to kill the christ who has been born the king he is a moabite and just for kicks and giggles i think it's in uh uh luke chapter 23

and it tells it tells us this

yeah 11 and verse 11 and herod with the soldiers treated him that's jesus with contempt and mocked him

then arraigned him in splendid clothing he sent him back to pilate and herod and pilate became friends with each other that very day for before this they had been at enmity with each other

isn't it amazing how you can you know uh these guys are willing to just bury the hatchet over this right here over this right here

he's a moabite he's a moabite he's he's a moabite and so today you know we're looking we look at esau we look at esau's peeps

and esau is a picture of the casual disregard for god's calling esau is a picture of of the of the uh the um the casual disregard

of god's covenant you know esau disregards his father's blessing uh he disregards and disrespects the birthright from his father

you know he trades it for a pot of red stew there it is i'll give it to you for that for a bowl of stew

it's all yours and and when you look at this chapter you realize man somebody must have kept all these names

you know that's just crazy crazy listed genealogy somebody such that moses knew these names

moses when in writing genesis looks distant to us but they probably weren't so distant to the people

of israel they knew exactly who they were talking about they knew exactly about about this and so it

turns out that genesis 36 turns out to be important to us in a lot of ways that we maybe didn't anticipate

and so if you read just read this chapter it just looks like a bunch of names and

dynastic military chiefs and all this other other good stuff but there's a whole lot more

but it is the end of esau and so we have a legacy of a man who sold his birth have the things of this

world and if you don't have jesus guess what you're a miserable man you're a miserable woman i'm just

telling you why do you think so many so many of these uh famous rich people in sports in hollywood

they they they take their they take their lives because of loneliness and despair and all these

things they have everything that the world could offer everything that the world could place in your

hands that says that's important and they have 25 million likes on their facebook page man i got so many

friends and yet they're without christ and they're sad they're lonely

and you know i think it's fitting that we just end this morning by reading a passage in the new

testament kind of a tribute on all this and i want to tie that tie some loose ends together

as we celebrate communion in hebrews chapter 12

hebrews 12

verse 15

see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of god

that no root of bitterness

springs up

and causes trouble

and by it

many become defiled

that no one is sexually immoral or unholy

like esau

who sold his birthright for a single meal

for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing

he was rejected

for he found no

chance to repent

to repent

though he sought it with tears. You know it talks about the bitter root right there springing up. You don't have to go into a lot of exposition to explain that but you know Esau had a he had a vengefulness to him and it influenced his people. It influenced his people. And you know what I would think that Esau probably

in his desire in his desire to repent. Repentance means you are gravely sorrowful for your actions. Repentance means I am turning from this and I'm doing a 180 and I'm going the other way. So many times we say that we are repenting whether it's in our marriages our relationship with God our interactions with other people. Maybe it's on the job. Maybe it's at school. I don't know. Something's happened and I need to repent.

But you're really not sorry. You're just sorry you're caught. You're just sorry you're in this situation. That's not repentance. Repentance is grievance of a soul that I have sinned against a sovereign God. A good God. The sovereignty of God is in place here. The goodness of God is in place here. It shows the scripture shows us.

There's a difference in place. There's a difference in place. There's a difference in that. So while it says that Esau sought it I just we got to read between the lines here. We understand that God is just and God. But you know what. I believe in my heart of hearts that if Judas during the last supper would have said I am the one who's done this. Please forgive me that God would have forgiven him. Jesus would have forgiven him. And someone else would have been the instrument that God would have used to bring about his death in that.

But that wasn't the case. But that wasn't the case. That wasn't the case. It's a heart matter. Isn't it? It's a heart matter. God knew the heart of Esau.

And God also knew the heart.

He knows our heart. You know

the people

the people of

the Edomites

the people of Esau

they had put all of their trust in the fact that they had occupied

we occupied this territory

and we have Mount Seir.

That was a place of control.

That was a place that they

Mount Seir was a big deal to them.

We read about it. We just kind of gloss over that was a big

they had occupation of the

of their of their territory and they had Mount Seir.

They had it in their hand.

All their hope

was in the things that the world had placed in their hand

and in Mount Seir.

All Israel had

was the promise of Canaan.

A land that God will give them.

So for us this morning

better to have the

better to have the promise of Canaan

than the possession of Seir.

Better to have the promise of the Lord

that we hold on to

than the things that the world can place in our hands.

Because those things are fleeting.

Those things are fleeting.

And you know

I know this is a different Sunday for us

because a lot of times

most Sundays we take a lot of time to really

dig into the scriptures

and the meanings

and look at the Hebrew and the Greek

and the positional states

of all these things.

And that's important stuff.

And this this Sunday

because of where we are

in this genealogy

you can go home and read that genealogy

and just tell me

tell me all the names

I would have mispronounced.

How's that?

We'll call it good.

As we read Esau's peeps

as we look at that

we just have to understand

those

that's where the covenant

is not going through.

For us today

we are grafted

in the covenant

because

Jesus Christ

made a way

for each of us

to stand

before a holy God

in the sacrifice

that he gave.

The shedding of the blood.

And that's what we celebrate.

Though Esau came

with unrepentant

with

he couldn't

he didn't have a chance

to repent

even though he came with tears

it says

he never had the chance

this is a great time for you to walk and renew your understanding the promises that God has for you and the promises are yes and amen. He has good for you. And that loneliness you may be feeling that that bitterness in your I don't let that root of bitterness continue in your life where it drives the wedge between you and God and everyone else that you're in relationship with. That root of bitterness will kill you that it talks about in there.

It's death to the soul. Let today be a day that you can reassess some things. As the worship team comes up I just want to ask you to spend a few moments just in in quiet prayer to yourself.

And

this morning I just want you to just really spend some time with the Lord

and assess where you are in your relationship with him. One of the things that the video

had said was that

in the martyrs video it said that

these people would lose their life if they were found

with a Bible in their hands. If they were

you know in the community it didn't matter where they were they didn't have to be in church or whatever

but just with the with the with the scriptures in the hands they would lose their life.

I wonder I'll even give you

I'll even give you your if you got a cell phone with you and you

but you have to have an app on it already you can't create the app.

The Bible app on it. But I wonder what if we what if the what if the opposite was good taking places in our churches today where people walked in

armed people walked in and said all right you're in church today.

Everyone that doesn't have a Bible

and doesn't have access to an app on their phone you lose your life today.

Oh but but no no no but they're gonna put it on the screen. Oh no no no no no.

How serious do we take the word of God?

Is it just I mean how serious do we take the word of God?

The disciples know it. They said for in you are the words of life

and you are the words of life.

Where else would we go?

That's why church we painstakingly

take our time to

expository go through the books of the Bible

because

we so desperately

want to teach you the full counsel

truth of the word of God

that you would know his word

that it would become part of you

and it would be the very thing that comes out of you

in your day-to-day living

in your day-to-day

interactions.

And so today we come today

and we celebrate

come to the Lord's table

and we celebrate communion

and if you're visiting with us this morning

you don't have to be a member of our church

to celebrate

we just say you have to be

part of the body of Christ

to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ

all are welcome

and so

I'm going to ask the elders to come up this morning

in a moment I'm going to call you

you forward

and we're going to serve you by intention

you'll come down the aisle

and you'll simply come forward

with your hands extended

a piece of bread will be broken off

and you'll be

you'll be

explained that this is the body of Christ

which is broken for you

and then you'll step to the next station

and there'll be a cup of juice

you just simply dip

dip the cup

the bread in the juice

signifying the blood of Christ

which is shed for you

and you partake

our prayer room is open

back here always

the altar is open

where you are

pray

just

I want you to take a few minutes

as we serve the worship team

and

serve the elders

just to prepare your heart

just

just to ready your heart

to receive

maybe there's something

that you need to just

do business with God about

I don't know

but let today be the day of renewal

in your life

and if you've never received

the Lord Jesus

as your Lord

and we celebrate the fact that during the Last Supper

Jesus got up from the table and he took the bread and he broke it and he said this is my body which is broken for each of you take it eat it and likewise during the during the meal

during the the time was normally a cup of redemption and Jesus stands up and he interrupts the meal and he says this is a new covenant I have to do

this cup represents my blood with new covenant take drink each of me be a part of me this doesn't magically become the body of Christ in you it signifies that we are one in Jesus with the sacrifice that he made the broken body and the blood that was shed

you

are one in Jesus with the bread and the blood that was shed so he did to the Lord.

That's how you have to do.

That's how you have to lay that back in your life.

That's what I have to do.

That's how you can avoid that.

And what I have to say.

What was some advice is that it can avoid that you have to see it.

That's not an advice.

But what do you have to do to say it is this is can avoid that fact we have to,

that yes, it can avoid that but what are you are up here.

And that's the thing that you have to do for the sake of your life.

Thank you.

The last thing I want to say before you come this morning is, you know, Esau.

Esau loved his dad.

Look at the story.

He loved his dad.

Esau was a good hunter.

He'd have been a good neighbor.

Go out with you on the weekends, man.

Let's go deer hunt.

Yeah.

But he didn't have a heart for spiritual things.

He never had a heart for the things of the Lord.

Hold on to the fact that God is calling you to be a separated people, a different people.

And we are a peculiar people, the scripture says.

Amen.

Fall in love with the things of the Lord.

The things of eternity.

For all the things that this world has to offer are pleading.

They're pleading.

And they will never last.

But the word of the Lord remains forever.

And his love endures forever.

Amen.

Won't you come?

Come as the Lord needs you.

Down to the middle.

Genesis 36:1-43

Scripture

Outline