The Godless Man by Alan Vaughn
Obadiah 1:10-11
Obadiah 1:10-11 (New International Version, ©2011)
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof
while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
Intro: This is a prophecy of two brothers that ended up being two nations.
The nations I am speaking of this morning are the nation of Israel and the hill nation of Edom.
How are we to reach that conclusion from just their names? The brothers by name are Jacob (Israel), and Esau (Edom) the father of the hill nation of Edom.
The battle between these two nations has been going on since the conception in the womb of their mother.
Genesis 25:26 (New International Version, ©2011)
26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[a] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
It seems as though Jacob was always trying to get ahead of his twin brother.
ILL: Sometimes we are lured in very easily. Two brothers were getting ready to boil some eggs to color for Easter. "I’ll give you a dollar if you let me break three of these on your head," said the older one. "Promise?" asked the younger. "Promise!" Gleefully, the older boy broke two eggs over his brother’s head.
Standing stiff for fear the gooey mess would get all over him, the little boy asked, "When is the third egg coming?" "It’s not," replied the brother. "That would cost me a dollar."
There are times when we are not discriminating enough with the choices we make, and like the little boy with the promise of a dollar within reach, we believe that we’ll get what we want.
In order to understand the prophecy in the book of Obadiah we first have to have a little back ground on the two nations that will come one day to despise each other.
We find that background in the 25th chapter of the book of Genesis.
First of all we have to understand that the babies that were called Jacob and Esau were the direct results of a prayer offered up for Isaac’s wife Rebekah, by Isaac the father to be.
Genesis 25:21 (New International Version, ©2011)
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
Remember dads and dad’s to be careful what you pray for you just might get it.
When the babies crying at 2 am and no earthy presence can console them remember what you prayed for!
When your loving wife meets you at the door and gives you the look that tells you this cannot be my child,
Remember what you prayed for!
When the smell of a dirty diaper meets you at the end of a long day and you instinctively know it is going to be a longer night,
Remember what you prayed for!
When that cute little baby looks up at you with that cute little baby grin, that only God could have made,
Remember what you prayed for!
Genesis 25:22 (New International Version, ©2011)
22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
Folks have you ever seen brothers that were always arguing.
These brothers were arguing with each other in the womb they couldn’t even wait to be born.
This troubled Rebekah and she did what all good mom’s should do she went to the Lord in prayer and asked him what was going on with these two babies inside her.
In the next verse we read what the Lord told her and I wonder if she actually understood it or if she is like a lot of us today and just said, yes Lord, “whatever”.
Genesis 25:23 (New International Version, ©2011)
23 The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
Now the two nations are fairly easy to decipher especially since we jumped ahead to the book of Obadiah.
The two nations are Israel and Edom. However, the two peoples that is a little harder and you may ask yourself why.
What could be so different between brothers with the same mother and father?
They were twins how different could they be?
Well not all twins are identical as we see in the following verses.
Let’s start with the oldest one first verse 25 says:
Genesis 25:25 (New International Version, ©2011)
25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
Esau hairy, Rebekah's first-born twin son (Gen. 25:25).
The name of Edom, "red", was also given to him from his conduct in connection with the red lentil "pottage" for which he sold his birthright (30, 31).
Genesis 25:27 (New International Version, ©2011)
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country,
This was a person who was a hunter and a gatherer. He was a man who was a man’s man.
He was the type of man that would probably be in a hair contest with Bigfoot.
He loved to live off the land but did this make him a bad person, no actually when we read the scripture we see that Esau loved his earthly parents.
Remember in chapter 27 of Genesis what it says about the relationship between Esau and his Father Isaac.
Genesis 27:1-4 (New International Version, ©2011)
Genesis 27
1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
He honored his father, when Isaac made the request of the wild game, Esau didn’t have to go, but he did, because he loved and honored his father Isaac.
When he met his brother Jacob sometime later, the brother who had by deception stolen Esau’s birthright and blessing, Esau forgave him.
Genesis 33:4 (New International Version, ©2011)
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
What about later in the scripture, when he gathered with his brother to see Isaac on his death bed, and later to bury their father.
Genesis 35:29 (New International Version, ©2011)
29 Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
This all sounds really good and by today’s standards of goodness I guess one could say that Esau was a good person but let’s take a closer look at how the God of heaven and earth saw Esau.
The picture of a good person changes when God gets involved.
This is how the scripture portrays Esau:
Genesis 27:45 (New International Version, ©2011)
45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
Esau was angry enough to kill his brother that according to the scripture is not God’s will.
James 1:19-20 (New International Version, ©2011)
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
God’s way and Esau’s way well there not exactly on the same page.
Genesis 27:41 (New International Version, ©2011)
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Now we can add to anger a host of other problems that separated Esau from God.
1. Hatred (Esau held a grudge against his brother Jacob)
2. Malice (he devised plan in his heart to get rid of his brother)
3. Murder (he wanted to kill his brother)
Let’s not forget the one sin that started it all and that was Gluttony, something as simple as a bowl of red lentil soup to feed the hungry flesh.
Hebrews 12:16-17 (New International Version, ©2011)
16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
Have you ever had a conversation that went something like this:
“You know there sure are a lot of wars and earthquakes and it frightens me”, said George.
Bill, being grounded in his faith in Jesus said very simply, “What are you afraid of George?”
George replied, “Oh, I don’t know it just bothers me that’s all.
Bill replied a very simple answer that he thought would answer George’s question. He said, “ In the book of Mathew 24:6 the scripture says, ‘You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it you are not alarmed. Such things must happen but the end is still to come.’”
“Well you shouldn’t be afraid, after all your saved aren’t you?” asked Bill.
George looked away and made no attempt to answer. Bill could tell by the lack of response and the worry in the man’s eyes that he wasn’t saved.
Bill continued and said, “You know George, only through the blood of Jesus we are saved.”
George was still very quiet and still very thought full. He knew deep in his heart that he had rejected the invitation of the Holy Spirit when he was a younger man. Now was his chance to accept or deny God, to be one with God, or to be Godless, and away from God and Jesus.
What will George do?
How many times have will be lead into a situation like this by the Holy Spirit.
Invitation: This morning are you being lead by the Holy Spirit of a great and awesome God?
