An Empty Bowl

An Empty Bowl

Text: Heb 12:14

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the lord:

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;

16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,

who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Intro: Esau, The man who bartered his birthright. This cunning hunter and man of the field, supplies us with one of the tragic biographies among the men of the Bible.

He is looked upon in God’s photo gallery as the man rejected of God because he had sold his birthright. The Scripture records “Esau, who is Edom.”

Had he retained his birthright we might have read

“Esau, who is Israel.” One wrong act left a black mark on him forever.

He was a “Profane Person.”

Profane: The word "profane" means to be sensual; to be neglectful of

spiritual things and a lover of the world and its things. Just what is

meant is illustrated in the life of Esau.

Esau:

He was the first born son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham whom the

bible called a “friend of God”

The Birthright was his, the Blessing was his, the Opportunity was his !

He was Strong , he was a Warrior , he was a Hunter, and a Survivor in the natural since.

But Esau was profane, secular & carnal,

He was concerned for the flesh.

God said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

A bowl of soup was worth more to him than his birthright.

How long will it take to eat a bowl of soup?

5 min., 10, 20? And then it’s gone, what’s left? Nothing.

He traded his birthright to an empty bowl !!!

The soup is like the cravings of the flesh, it only satisfies for a short time.

(The pleasure of sin is for a season)

Once it is gone and you go back to refill it again, and you’ve got nothing left to trade to the Devil, then he says “you’ve got nothing left that I want”

*Esau could not discern between

the passing & the permanent*

*for he was more interested in satisfying

his cravings than he was for his convictions*

*which brought him to the place that he could not estimate the value

between the present and the future*

He barrowed from his future, his wife’s future, his children’s, and even his grand children’s, to have his pleasure today !

He said, “I’m hungry right now !!” NOT Willing to WAIT !!

Don’t trade your blessing and future for an empty bowl !!

Illustration:

The Worst Bad Bargain

A Sunday school teacher asked if any scholar recollected an

instance in Scripture of anyone making a bad bargain.

"I do," replied a boy, "Esau made a bad bargain when he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage."

A second said, "Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord

for thirty pieces of silver."

A third replied, "Ananias and Saphira made a bad bargain when

they sold their land and then told Peter a falsehood about it."

A fourth observed. "Our Lord tells us that he makes a bad

bargain who, to gain the whole world, loses his own soul."

Esau crosses the pages of Genesis with no record of repentance.

And then the Bible says He was a “Profane Person.”

What a terrible summary!

It is like a label fastened to Esau as he disappears from Bible history.

Let us learn from his life of failure.

Mr 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the

whole world, and lose his own soul?