I don't know if you're familiar with the German word Schadenfreude. I think that's how you pronounce it. Anyway, it's a word which I understand means the delight that someone has in someone else's misfortune. I don't know what it is, but German seems to be quite good at coming up with words which are very specific, which describe a very particular emotion, situation or feeling and that's what this word schadenfreude means. It's delighting in someone else's misfortune. When someone drives into the fence of your irritating neighbor and secretly you have a little feel glee and delight. When your rival at school fails their test When your work colleague makes a mistake that puts them in the boss's bad books instead of you. Or when the person you envy slips in the mud and is humiliated. Or when that person who is a little bit too free with advice and sharing their opinion suffers some catastrophe in their life. We may not want to admit it, but sometimes we can feel a little feeling of joy at someone else's misfortune. But the Bible makes very clear that God hates that attitude. God hates schadenfreude. We can see that clearly in the book of Proverbs. Chapter 24, verses 17 to 18, where God's word reads, do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. It's an interesting proverb. The wise man in that proverb says, if you truly want your enemy to receive justice, then don't rejoice when he stumbles. Don't be glad when he falls, because God might turn his anger on you and turn it away from your enemy. God hates an attitude which delights in the misfortune of others, whether our enemy or otherwise. And it's this hatred that God has which lies behind much of God's words in this book, this short book of Obadiah. And now Obadiah is an unusual book of the Bible in the sense that it's one of the few prophecies given in the Old Testament which are directed not against Judah or Israel, but against the Gentile nation, against the Edomites. The book of Nahum, which we looked at a few weeks ago, is another example, which is directed against Nineveh. And this book of Obadiah is directed against Edom, the nation of Edom. And Edom was a nation to the east of Israel, on the east side of Jordan. It's in the area which is now known as Jordan. If you know your geography, if you look on a map and you see where Jordan is now, the west side of the country of Jordan is what was once known as Edom. And Obadiah prophesied to this nation, to this country, after the nation of Judah had been carried captive into Babylon. Much of the Old Testament concerns God's warnings to Judah that if they did not turn back to him, he would send them into captivity to the nations. And eventually that happened. You'll remember that King Nebuchadnezzar came and he destroyed Jerusalem and he destroyed the temple and he carried away the rich and the youthful and the strong from Judah and took them captive into Babylon, all their best and most promising young people. He took away to be his servants in the city of Babylon. And Edom, the nation next door, looked at what King Nebuchadnezzar did and they smiled. They rejoiced that their enemy Judah was suffering. They were glad about what God had brought upon the people of Judah. We're told in this book of Obadiah that they stood by and joyfully watched as Judah was destroyed and taken captive. Even worse than this, we're told that they even blocked the way of escape from those who were trying to escape from Jerusalem, from Judah, those who were crossing over the Jordan. And the Edomites said, no, no, no, you're not getting away this way. and they blocked the way so they had to face their fates. More than that, we're told that the Edomites then went into the cities of Judah and they occupied them for their own. The soldiers, the army had disappeared so they could walk in and seize whatever plunder they could. And we're even told that they even delivered up some of the survivors, some of those who had escaped from the Babylonians They took them captive and handed them back to King Nebuchadnezzar. All in all, the Edomites rejoiced and delighted in this great catastrophe that God had brought upon the children of Judah. But in this prophecy, in this very short book, they are brought to an awareness of what they had done. God tells them that he has seen their attitude of heart. He has seen their attitudes, he has seen their behaviour, and he is not happy about it. Yes, he has brought judgement on Judah. Yes, Judah did deserve the judgement which God brought upon them. But that did not excuse the behaviour of Edom towards the people of Judah. And in this letter, well it's not really a letter, it's in this prophecy, Obadiah gives, or God gives through Obadiah, four reasons why Edom should not have rejoiced at the catastrophe that came upon Judah. And through them, or through him, God speaks to us also. Because we get a little glimpse here into the heart of God. And God's attitude towards the schadenfreude of the Edomites is the same attitude that God has towards us. if we have a similar attitude of heart that those Edomites had. And as I say, Obadiah gives four reasons why we must not delight at the misfortune of others, even our bitterest enemies. The first reason he gives is a fairly simple one. You can read it in verses two to four. And I've summed it up as, The reason we should not delight in the suffering of others is that we are not as good as we think we are. As we delight in the misfortune of others, we need to remember that we are not as good as we think we are. Look at verses 2 to 4. God says, behold, I will make you small among the nations. He's speaking to Edom, the nation of Edom. I will make you small among the nations. You shall be greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, you who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. Now the land of Edom was a mountainous land. If you go to the west of Jordan now you'll see that it is a very mountainous and hilly country. You may even have heard of the ancient city of Petra and if you've seen pictures of Petra you'll know that it's hewn from red sandstone and it's perhaps most impressive surviving feature is the Al-Kazneh Tower. You probably have seen pictures, even if you don't know it. Type in Petra on Google and see how they built a whole tower, a whole building out of the rock, out of the mountainside. Now that building wasn't yet built in the time of Obadiah, but it illustrates the mountainous nature of the land of Edom. And they were high up. And they were literally fortified in the mountains. And they thought, who can attack us here? We're safe. We're secure. Those in the valley, those in Judah, they're the ones in danger. They're the ones who are in danger of Nebuchadnezzar coming and laying plunder to them. But we're us. We're safe. We're like the eagles in the sky. We have our nest amongst the stars. No one can hurt us here. They thought that they were untouchable and impregnable in the mountains of Edom. They thought they were strong and as permanent as the mountains out of which they were made. But God warns them, and he says, you're not as invulnerable as you think you are. You might think you're safe, you might think you're secure, you might feel like you can gloat over the catastrophe that's overcome Judah, but beware, you're not as secure as you think you are. Look at verse five. God says to them, if thieves had come to you, if robbers by night, oh, how you will be cut off. would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings? God says to them, if Nebuchadnezzar had come to you, if he had attacked your lands, you would have been like people coming to a grape harvest and just leaving a few grapes at the end. Robbers would have come into you and you would have had nothing to defend yourself against them. God says it's not because of your strength that you've been preserved. It's not because of your righteousness or because of how secure you are. It's purely because of God's grace that Edom is not like Judah at this moment. Edom had fallen into a false sense of security at their own strength. And because they had this false sense of security, they felt they could gloat over the sufferings of others. And we need to beware also. We also need to take warning here. None of us can afford to delight when someone else suffers misfortune, even our worst enemies. Because the truth is, that misfortune which has happened to them could just as easily happen to us. They are sinners, but we are sinners as well. When we glow over others, we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves to see, are we any better than they are? As we say, don't we, in our society, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. And that's in essence what God is saying to Edom here. You shouldn't throw stones at the people of Judah. You're too guilty yourselves. Didn't Jesus say, let him who is without sin cast the first stone? And he said that when the Pharisees and the religious leaders had brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus' feet. And they said, by Moses' law, she needs to die. But Jesus said those words, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. We're told that from the oldest down to the youngest, they dropped their stones and went back home. They realized that they were as guilty, though perhaps in different ways, than that adulterous woman. We too need to beware before we gloat over others, even when our worst enemies suffer. Even when our worst enemies suffer rightfully, and judgement comes upon someone who has done tremendously evil things, even then, we need to beware. We can rejoice that justice has been done, but let's not descend to gloating. Let's not delight over the death of the wicked. Because God himself says, he takes no delight in the death of the wicked. God delights in justice, yes. He delights in upholding truth and defending the oppressed and the people who deserve judgment. But he doesn't take delight in the death of the wicked. He's not gleeful over the pain of judgment. And if God doesn't take delight, how much more shouldn't we? If God, who is pure and holy and completely sinless, if he doesn't take delight in the death of the wicked, how much more should we who are sinful, who are guilty, who are not holy, how much more we shouldn't either? So that's the first reason. that God gives, why the Edomites should not have rejoiced at Judah's misfortune, at God's judgment, because they themselves were not as good as they thought they were. But he doesn't stop there. God continues and he gives another reason why they should not have rejoiced and gloated over Judah. Look at verse 10. Verse 10. Obadiah continues, he says, for violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were as one of them. God reminds Edom that Israel, or Judah, is her brother. is his brother. This is in the depths of history, but the land of Edom, the people of the land of Edom were descended from Esau. And if you know your Bible history, you know that Esau was the brother of Jacob. And Jacob was the ancestor of all the people of Israel. So the Edomites were descended from Esau, and the Israelites were descended from Jacob. So that meant the Israelites and the Edomites were brothers. or they should have been. And God says to Edom, how could you rejoice against your brother when your brother fell? When your brother went through all this misery, how could you not only rejoice about it, but also put your lot into the violence? How could you contribute when your brother was suffering? God reminds Esau, he reminds Edom, that the person, the country, the nation they are gloating over is their own flesh and blood. And he actually tells him eight things that he should not have done, eight things Edom should not have done. You can read this towards the middle of the book of Odiah. If you look at verses 12 to verse 14, God says to Edom, they should not have rejoiced at Judah's destruction. They should not have boasted about their own security in the face of Judah's devastation. They should not have stolen Judah's cities. They should not have enjoyed Judah's destruction. They should not have seized the plunder. They should not have blocked the way of those trying to escape. They should not have turned away those who were trying to escape. And the reason God gives is because he is your brother. How could you treat him in that way? Regardless of the reasons for their judgment, regardless of why God had brought this judgment upon them, they should never treat their brother in that way. And we also need to beware how we treat one another. because we all are brothers and sisters. That's what the Bible teaches. We're all descended from Adam. We're all, in fact, descended from Noah. Whatever our skin color is, whatever our nationality is, whatever our occupation is, whatever differences there exist amongst us, the Bible makes very clear that all of us are brothers and sisters. And so we must be very careful how we treat one another. We understand this, don't we, with our flesh and blood brothers and sisters, don't we? There are ways in which we would never speak to, or in an ideal world, we would never speak to our physical brothers and sisters. And we should extend that same reasoning out to all human beings, because we are all, in that sense, brothers and sisters. And so how can we, how dare we, delight in the misfortune of another person? We cannot afford to do that to our own family. That's the second reason that God gives. So the first reason why we must not gloat over those who are suffering misfortune is because we are not so guiltless ourselves. We are not as good as we think we are. Secondly, that person who is suffering is our brother or our sister. There's a third reason as well. Look at verse 15 of the Book of Obadiah. In verse 15, we're given a third reason. Verse 15 it says, For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. For as you drank on my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually. Yes, they shall drink and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been. The third reason why we must not gloat over others is because the way we treat others will be turned back on us. God sees how we treat other people, and the way we treat other people, God will treat us in that same way. Do you remember what Jesus said? Jesus says, the judgment that you meet out, the judgment that you weigh out on other people, God himself will weigh out on us. That's quite a solemn thought, isn't it? When you're shouting at the TV screen, complaining at politicians who lie or steal or whatever, Be careful. Do you lie? Do you steal? Perhaps not as big as them, not perhaps in as prolific ways as they do. Nevertheless, the judgment we meet out on others, God says he will meet out on us. What we accuse others of, beware, God might turn that accusation back on you. If we are harsh towards others, God will be harsh towards us. If we are ungracious and bitter and unforgiving towards other people, God will be unmerciful and bitter and ungracious towards us. Didn't Jesus teach that? If you do not forgive your brother his trespasses, neither will God forgive you your trespasses. The way we treat others, God brings back on us. Let's just be very clear here. When we say that God will treat us in the way we treat others, this doesn't mean that there isn't times where we have to show justice. Sometimes, and I don't like this expression, but I trust you know what it means, sometimes we do have to be cruel in order to be kind. Sometimes parents have to be firm with their children, or teachers need to be firm with their students, or governments need to be strong with their citizens, not because they're bitter, not because they're ungracious, not because they're unforgiving, but because there are greater things at stake. That isn't what's being spoken of here. That is good and that is right. Justice that springs from a heart of truth and love is not what's in view here. What's in view is when we are bitter towards other people, when we harbor grudges against other people, when we're harsh towards other people. That's what God dislikes. That's what God is against. And he says, if you show that attitude towards others, that same attitude will come back on you. If you are impatient with others, don't complain when God is impatient with you. And that's the third warning that God gives to Edom. He says, all that you have done to Judah, I'm going to turn back on you. You rejoice when they were plundered, well, you're going to be plundered. You rejoice when their cities were destroyed, well, your cities are going to be destroyed. That's the third warning against gloating at others' misfortune. But there's one fourth and last reason which God gives. And you can read this in verses 17 to 21, but I'll just read from verse 20. In verse 20 of this very short book, Obadiah says, The captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the south. Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Now this fourth reason requires a little bit of explanation. But the fourth reason why we must not gloat over the misfortunes of others is because it is the exact opposite of God's attitude towards his enemies. Remember why Judah were taken captive in the first place. The reason why Nebuchadnezzar came and razed Jerusalem to the ground was because Judah had turned their back on God. They had made themselves God's enemy. If anyone was the enemy of God, it was Judah. And if there was anyone who God would have been justified in gloating over, It was Judah. Think of the years, the decades, even the centuries of frustration that Judah had brought to God. God had brought them out of Egypt. He had fed them in the wilderness. He had borne with them, the book of Hosea says, like a father bearing with his child. And yet they had turned their back on him. They had, as it were, slapped him in the face and gone their own way. And now they were reaping the fruit of their rebellion. And you'd think God would be absolutely justified to say, well, you brought it on yourselves. This is what comes of rebelling against me. You can imagine that God would be justified to gloat, as it were, in the destruction of Judah, since they would not listen to him. But instead of that, God actually made a way of their restoration. Instead of gloating over them and giving them over, God said, even in the midst of this judgment, I'm going to make a way back. Because that's the opposite of schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is taking delight in the misfortune of others. But the opposite is seeking the good of others, even our enemies. Far from delighting when some catastrophe befalls someone, We want to do what we can to ease that catastrophe, to work for their good. And that's exactly what God does for Judah. Even though they were carried captive into Babylon, even though they were far away, even though they had rejected God, God did not reject them. Yes, they had to endure discipline. Yes, they had to endure judgment. But God still loved them. He still clung to them. He still wanted their good. Did you notice that verse right at the very end of Obadiah? Verse 21, then saviours shall come to Mount Zion. Right now they're suffering judgment. Right now they're going into captivity. but God is going to send saviours because God still loves them even though they've given him every reason to reject them. Think of Joseph. Do you remember Joseph in the Old Testament? How Joseph was hated by his brothers. They were jealous of him, they were envious of him and they threw him down a well and they sold him to the Midianites and into slavery in Egypt. And of all people you'd have thought Joseph had the most reason to be bitter and unmerciful towards his brothers. He never saw his mother again. He didn't see his father for many, many years. He was, first of all, a slave, and then he was thrown in prison in Egypt. Can you imagine the pain, the grief, the bitterness that Joseph would be feeling alone in Egypt? But when he was raised to a position of power, And when he had his brothers kneeling before him, begging him for bread, begging him for food, Joseph had every opportunity to take his revenge, didn't he? If there was any opportunity to gloat, then was it. He could have gloated. Think of all the things he could have said to his brother. Think of all the things he could have done to his brothers in that moment. All the things which we naturally would have wanted to do to people who had hurt us in such ways. But instead, we're told, slightly long story, but eventually we're told that Joseph showed mercy to his brothers. He showed kindness to his brothers. Far from schadenfreude, far from delighting in their misfortune, he showed forgiveness and love and grace. just like someone else did in a much greater way a few thousand years later. You know who I'm talking about, of course. Jesus Christ. No one in human history has been treated worse than Jesus Christ. No one deserved less what he went through, and yet no one has shown so much forgiveness and so much grace in spite of it. What did Jesus say when he was on the cross? Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. Jesus wasn't bitter. Jesus didn't delight in the catastrophe that came upon Jerusalem just a few years later. Instead, Jesus desires that all come to him. He holds out hands of invitation, nail-pierced hands of invitation to everyone. That's the attitude Jesus has to his enemies. And surely, we can show a similar attitude to us. If Jesus can show grace and mercy, if Jesus can desire the good of those who hate him, surely we, in a much feebler, smaller way, can show grace and love and forgiveness to those who hate us. That is, in short, the message of Obadiah. Don't delight in the misfortunes of others, even our worst enemies. Instead, look to Christ. and seek to show the grace of forgiveness that he has shown to us. And with those thoughts in mind, I've chosen as our final hymn number 155, a hymn which rejoices in the grace and the forgiveness that Jesus so freely shows. Number 155, one that is above all others, well deserves the name of friend. His is love beyond a brother's, costly, free, and knows no end. They who wants his kindness prove Find it, everlasting love. So let's stand to sing in closing number 155. ♪ Come, let us love one another ♪ friend. This is only our plan, brothers, those we free and those who end. When you once in silence grew, now in death we're lost in love. ♪ Good or poor, fair shed his blood ♪ ♪ And the Saviour died to add us ♪ ♪ Pray, O Son, give him to God ♪ ♪ His souls can rest now in thee ♪ ♪ Jesus is our friend indeed ♪ When love's ill at heart is laid, Thou the powerful glory raiseth, He rejoices in the Savior. Still he hosts and reverently sings, Yet this glorious friend and brother Loves us the way he did past. Our Lord and Redeemer, Hopeful breaks our hearts to suffer. Teach us, O Captain, to love. We alas forget too often what a friend we are. We shall not think and speak.