Make a decision now. Make a decision now what your exit strategy might be for your job. Maybe even begin to do that before it ever happens and get out of that job prior. But just make sure you're ready to take the stand when the stand presents itself. Genesis 27 is where we are, and we didn't finish it last week. Genesis 27. And we're picking up where Esau, is coming in after his brother just deceived his father for the blessing, and he's out doing the hunting and didn't know about it. And so, this is what happens in verse 30, And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of the blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he Now we'll get, if you look down to the next verse in 33, and Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, who? Now Isaac, at this point, was, you know, not sure, but he went, what did we say last week? He went by his senses, right? His senses of touch, taste, feel, sight, smell, sound, all those things. And he was deceived. He actually genuinely was deceived because he gave the blessing. And when Esau comes in, he's like, who are you? And then he begins to tremble. But this is a sad event in scripture. Now that, you may not think anything of that on the surface, but we talked about what a hunter is in the Bible and what it represents. We also talked about what the field is. When you go out into the field, the field is the world according to the book of Matthew. And so here is I here is Esau before he gets his blessing. Oh, I got one more time out in the world now. Sure, his father told him to go out and do that, but do that. But I'm sure he was plenty pleased to do that. And so, you know, people say, well, I'm going to get saved one of these days. I have a friend that tells me that he's been telling me that for 15 years. He's been saying, I said, look, you need to get saved. You know, you need to get saved. And I'll witness to him and he'll hear me out. And he'll even tell me later a year later, he'll tell me what I said to him a year ago. And he'll say, but I'm not ready yet. And I just don't understand. Well, I do understand. It's like Esau. He came in from his hunting. I just want to go hunting one more time. I just want to go out in that world. I'm not dumb. Hey, I'm still young. I'm still vibrant. I still have my health. I can still enjoy things. I don't want to commit to that life yet. Well, see, what people don't realize is it's not a life that you're committing to. It's a life that you desire once you receive it. When you receive that gift of eternal life, the Spirit of God comes in and it changes your desire. I don't come to church because I have to. I come to church because I want to. I come to church because I love it. I come to church because I need it. I feed myself here. And I rub shoulders with other Christians here. It's not a matter of me wanting to, you know, oh, this is a restriction on me. Boy, if I just didn't have church in my life, what else could I do? Yeah, well, what else would you do anyway? You know, I mean, just go out there and have another good time, right? That leaves you empty. But he came in from his hunting and missed the blessing. His priorities were misplaced. Now, we talked about it, due in part to his father. And we won't go over that really again, but Isaac is the one who pushed him in that direction. Because why? Because he loved, the Bible tells you, because he loved to eat his venison. And so, again, I'll just remind you, be careful how you push your kids into what direction, because, well, I just love that they're so good at that sport, and I just watch them, and I just encourage them, and I just love that, and that feeds me. Or I just love that they're, and so they go a wrong direction. I just love that they're so smart, and I just keep pushing them in that way. I just love that they're so good in business, and I just, you know, just make sure you give them what God wants for them. Don't push them too heavily in any direction. But we already talked about that. He despised and sold his birthright, then missed the blessing while he was out in the world. You know, when we when we miss church, we often miss a blessing. I was disappointed. I know I made a joke and you guys were kind about it, you know, said, no, you'd rather be here. But I was wishing I could have been up in Jacksonville this weekend. I like it up there. I every time I've ever gone, it's been excellent. The spirit has been there, the music is there, just meeting other preachers and being able to be around that many Christians at one time and hearing that many preachers. But you know what? If we just, and I couldn't go this year, but if you just choose not to go to church and just choose to miss out on the things that God is doing, we're not telling you you have to live here or go to every single meeting that there ever is. But listen, we make priorities for other things. And when we don't go, we're like Esau. He's out hunting and he misses the number one blessing in his life. The thing that God could have used to change our lives could have been the service that we didn't go to. Could have been the preaching that we needed, but we decided we weren't going to go. And that's what happened here. This is not unlike the story of Cain or the rich man in Luke 12 and in Luke 6. We know what Cain did. He was all about the fruits of the land. And whereas Abel was about whatever God commanded in terms of the offering and what God would accept. And the rich man was all about, I'll build myself bigger barns, right? And bestow all my goods. And the Lord looks down and says, you're a fool. You're a fool. This night, this night, your soul is going to be required of thee. And you have no idea. when God's going to call you home. And so we want to take advantage of the time. The Bible tells us as Christians that we're to redeem the time. That's what we're supposed to be doing with the time. You know what that means, right? That means you're going to buy it back. Oh, God, I was not saved until I was 70 years old. What do I do? Well, buy some time back. How do I do that? Get in there and study and read your Bible, begin to pray and have a relationship with God, walk with God, witness for God, go to church, be with God's people, do everything you can to redeem the time, to buy it back. So, verse, let's see, oh, so Isaac is a type of the father, right? And he heard Esau's voice, which is a type of a carnal man. And now that would be something that you're going to see in the future. Matthew 7. Turn over to Matthew 7. It's an interesting thing how the Bible records things. And here comes Esau. He's loved by his father, right? Esau is the favored child. Esau is the one that my father eats his my venison. He loves me. I'm going to get the blessing. I can go out in the world all I want. I can come back in. He's still going to love me every no matter what I do. And so he comes in this time and his father says, Who are you? That's a scary thing to hear from your father. Matthew seven, verse 22. The Bible says this, this before I was saved and even after I was saved, this used to scare me. It doesn't scare me anymore. But Matthew 7, verse 22. Well, look at 21. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me that work iniquity." Now, we won't take the time to explain that to you all today, but just be at rest assured, one thing, if you're in Matthew class on Tuesday night, we'll get to this soon, that is not to you. If you're a born-again saved Christian under the gospel of the grace of God given by Paul, that verse does not apply to you. You cannot lose your salvation. And that's why that scared me. Because many will say, Lord, Lord, and look what it says, we've done it in thy name. We didn't do it in Allah's name. We didn't do it in Buddha's name. We didn't do it in any other God's name. We did it in thy name. And the Lord's going to say, turn around and say, depart from me, I never knew you. Well, here's Esau. He's in front of his father. He went out to the world one more time. And doing his worldly thing, and he says, surely it's going to be just as before, just like Samson. Samson leaves and he gets up and after Delilah had shaved his head, he gets up and the Bible says, and I might misquote it, but he wished not that the spirit of God was not with him. And he gets up and he says, I will do to them like I've done before. And he did not do as he did before. And Esau comes in and his dad says, Who are you? You're not, you can't be Esau, I just blessed Esau. And it's just a picture of what will happen one day at the Great White Throne Judgment when people are dismissed because they believe God their own way. If you were here, some of you were not here, but if you were here on Thursday night, we're talking about people who believe that they just turned to God. I just turn to God and I start on my journey towards Him. And we've been holding hands, walking down the path of life ever since. And God surely is, you know, I've been saved forever because I've just been walking with God. Uh-uh. You do it God's way or you're not walking with God. You don't just turn to God. You repent. And I don't want to preach that sermon again, but repentance is necessary for salvation. Jesus is the one who set the bar. He said, except you repent. And He didn't say, except you change your mind. I mean, insert that in everywhere you see repent and see how that goes for you. Except you change your mind, you shall all perish. Change my mind? So it doesn't fit. But anyway, that's what's going on here in Matthew 7. We'll get to that in Bible Institute. Back to Genesis 27, verse 33. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed. I bolded that for you for a reason. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry. and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, my father. And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he taketh away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? So even though Isaac realizes that he was deceived, He had already given His word and would not revoke the blessing. Now, you have to go back a little ways and study, you know, it should be that way today. I shouldn't have to say that. I shouldn't have to say, you have to go back into old culture and realize that their word was their bond. Because we need to realize that our word is our bond, right? And when we say something, what does the Bible say? We've studied this before, let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Right. We ought not to have to swear by heaven or things that are out of our grasp and say, well, you know, I put my hand on a stack of Bibles or, you know, raise my hand to heaven. We don't need to do that. Well, to be known as people of our word. Well, back then, it's the same thing. Abraham or Isaac was a man of his word, and he gives his blessing to his son. And in giving that blessing to his son, he's not going to say, call him back in here and take it back, even though he was deceived. So it's a great picture of the mercy and faithfulness of our Lord towards us or His children. You know, the Bible says that in Revelation 21 that the devil accuses us night and day before God. You know, and I've talked about that before. I would rather, you know, that there be less for him to have to accuse me of. I'm not really, I don't know that he's, you know, who he's picking out all the time, but he does it. He's accusing the brethren night and day before the Lord. And, you know, a lot of the things that he accuses of, I'm sure, are right. Yeah, John did that. And God's probably thinking, yeah, I know, I know, I know. But you know what the devil wants? The devil wants that God revokes the blessing, the blessing of saving John Albrecht. Hey, take your salvation away from him. He doesn't deserve it. That's right. I don't deserve it. There's nothing you can do to deserve it. None of us have deserved our salvation, right? If we get what we deserve, we would be in hell. In fact, we wouldn't even be here right now. But He will not take back His gift of eternal life, even though we are undeserving sinners. Instead, now instead, look what He does. He blesses us in heaven already, and He blesses us in earth right now. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. This has got to make the devil's blood boil. And I'm sure he thinks that he's a cunning being. He thinks he can maybe persuade God and get God to change his plan. And so he persists. But Ephesians 1 and look at verse 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Do you know that you are holy and without blame before God? Do you know that you're blessed already in heavenly places? It's a foregone deal. I mean, you're predestined to be there when you receive Jesus Christ. You've already been blessed in heavenly places. I mean, that is something that you might want to dwell on. Something that you might want to consider for a while when this world is weighing heavy on you. But that's not the only thing. It's not just in heaven. It's not just for the future. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And this is one thing that helps when you come to church, because when you come to church, this truth in 2 Corinthians 4 will rise up inside of you and you'll start to rejoice. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7. It says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power of God may be of God and not of us. Do you know what you're living in right now? You have a blameless, holy soul inside of an earthen vessel. This body, this body is your earthen vessel. And this body, we know Romans chapter 7 says, right, that it's wretched. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Right, this body is terrible to you. This body takes your takes your emotions and swings them one way and the other. This body hurts you every day, cause you to have, you know, dizziness and nausea and things that are not making light of that, but puts us in the hospital and brings us down. And we ought not to live with those five senses in mind. We are not to live with this body in mind. We have a treasure inside of us, and that treasure is the Holy Spirit. And then not only that, we have that sitting and waiting for us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And the Bible tells you further in Ephesians, we won't go back there, but it tells you that we'll be put on display for all of eternity, for all the world to see what has been done to us because of that. So no matter what the devil does, it doesn't matter. You're safe and secure in your salvation through Jesus Christ. And but this a picture of what Isaac did. He gave the blessing to a deceiver. Yes, I was a deceiver before I was saved. I was a wicked person before I was saved. I was a lost sinner before I was saved. But now I get the free gift of eternal life. And God will. And even though the devil says, yeah, but he was and he was and he is. God says, doesn't matter. I already did it. Done deal. I made the proclamation. He's sealed, signed and delivered. He's already sitting with me up here. Can't you see he's right there? That's where we're at. So notice further that Esau is a consummate victim. The victim mentality, right? And this is what separates. This is why Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Because Jacob is sincere with God. Jacob, we looked at it before, we'll look at it later in a later chapter, he had power with God. Jacob, yes, he was led by deception from his mother and he never really did deceive Esau. Esau says he accused Jacob of deceiving him twice. No, he only maybe deceived not even you twice, he asked you if you would sell him his birthright and you said, sure, what good is that to me? And then Isaac, his mother put him up to going in front of Isaac and deceiving Isaac, not you. But yes, in a way, he stole your blessing. But listen, Esau, don't you know what God said? Your father knows what God said. Your brother knows what God said. Your twin brother and your mother knows what God said. How come you don't know? He deceived me. He was going to get the blessing all along. The elder shall serve the younger. So he's a victim. Oh, the circumstances. Look what Jacob did to me. Oh, he caused this. I hate him. I'm going to kill him. That's what he said. But he's like a consummate victim. Go over to Hebrews chapter 12. I'll show you something here. Hebrews chapter 12. You know, it's interesting when you get out and talk to people in this world. I haven't categorized all the kinds of people I meet, but I should. But a lot of times you meet certain people and they're just victims. You know, like, well, you know, if you only knew my past, if you only knew how hard my life was, you're witnessing them, tell them they can have a better life, a future in heaven, have eternal security like we just talked about. Well, if you just knew what I was going through right now, let me give you let me take an hour of your time and tell you what I'm going through right now. That's the kind of person you need to get. You need to start preaching to that person. You need to say, listen, we're not talking about your past. We're not even talking about your current problems. We're talking about what are we going to do next? Right? Because these people, they feed off that. They're victims. And Esau was the same way. Chapter 12 of Hebrews, verse 16, talks about Esau. And the Bible speaks very harshly of him. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. It says, lest there be, verse 16, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat, God's the one who said it, one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward he would have inherited the blessing. He was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. You see, we're reading about that incident right now in Genesis 27. He went to Jacob or Isaac, and the Bible says there in verse 34, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry. He was looking for repentance carefully with tears, and he was saying, Oh, don't you even have a blessing for me? Come on, he deceived you. And and and he but but you know what that is? That's him being sorry for what just happened. He is never sorry for who He is. Now, if you were here again on Thursday, we'll go back to that. You know, I believe repentance is that you have to be sorry for who you are. Who are you? Well, read the Bible and you'll find out. Read Romans chapter 3. You're not very pretty. You're a messed up loser. I mean, you're on your way to hell and your father is the devil. And the Bible says that in John chapter 3, that the wrath of God abides on you. You're so bad. that you're nothing but a vile, broken, dead sinner. Dead in trespasses and sins. Any righteousness that we do according to God before we're saved is filthy. Filthy rags. Oh, I'm a good person? No, you're filthy. And that's the description of who we are. And if you don't take that, if you don't make that connection and you think you're not that, that's Esau. Esau is like, yeah, but I'm this and I'm that and I'm the firstborn and I'm the hunter and I'm daddy loves me and I'm this and I and I'm just sorry that this happened and I hate my brother now. But it's not it's not Jacob's fault. It's your fault. You didn't have to be the hunter that you are. You could have learned a few things from your brother who was a stayed at home. and paid attention to the blessings of God. You could have you could have learned the Bible Esau, but he's not repenting. See, it's one thing to be sorry for what you've done. That's fine. You know, Pharaoh did that. The Bible says that Pharaoh was sorry. He went to Moses. I won't turn you there. But in excess, he went to Moses said, I've sinned. I've sinned, I've done wrong. Now, please take the take this pestilence away. See, he was sorry at the moment. He was temporarily sorry for what he had done. People say, well, oh, well, you know, what do you got to do to repent? You just got to be sorry and weep buckets of tears and you got to lay on the floor, you know, prostrate for an hour or two hours of the day. You got to fast 10 days in a row before. How does God know that you're really penitent? Well, God, all he is looking to see is that you recognize who you really are. That's really what it is. But Esau never did that. The Bible tells you that he was profane. The Bible tells you that he was a fornicator. The Bible tells you that he was not able to get repentance because he didn't seek it correctly. Going back to Genesis 27, verse 38. It says, And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lift up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Now I put this in green, and I gave you the notes from last week here. Because if you count these words up, that we'll read right now in green, you get 52 words. Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. So there will become a day, Esau, that you'll be a great man too. And he won't at least rule over you temporarily in this earth. But he says he gives him the fatness of the earth. Esau's blessing begins in verse 39. You noticed that, right? We covered this last week. That's 3 times 13, 39. Triple 13's, not good. Contains a total of 52 words, which is 4 times 13. And God's name is omitted. So now God's omitted from the blessing, but what is inserted in the blessing? Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth. Have at it Esau, have the earth. You like to hunt. You like to go out in the world. It caused you to miss your blessing. You weeped and cried over it. But that's what you really love. So go have it. You know what the Bible says about what there's some things about God that I don't think people understand. And one of the things that God will do to you is he'll give you what you want. And we often say, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. And so you might want to just not be asking God for things that don't belong to you and realize that you can ask for it. And guess what? He'll give it to you. And he can damn a person that way. You say, God would damn a person? Yeah, he does. There's going to be a time where the Bible tells you in Thessalonians that they're going to be a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. And you know who that comes from, right? It comes from God. He gives them what they want. Oh, you want to reject me? Guess what? Then I'll give you even a greater lie and you'll believe it. You go back to Ahab in the book of Kings there and you find that God's up in heaven and Ahab doesn't want to hear what the prophets have to say. So all his prophets become lying prophets. I mean, we could preach that for a while. You know, all the churches out there today, they become lying prophets. Why are they lying prophets? Are they saved? Well, probably some of them are. Maybe even 80, 90 percent of those preachers are saved. But you know what? They just want to preach what the people want to hear. And so the Lord says, Ahab knew there was one, I can't remember his name right now, there was one good prophet down there. And he says, but I hate him because he always tells me the truth. Isn't that interesting? And so the Lord says, well, what am I going to do? I'm going to deceive Ahab. I'm gonna deceive him. God's gonna, how am I gonna do it? And so here comes one of the devils swooping into heaven, I believe it was the devil, and he says, hey God, I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord says, that sounds good to me, go ahead and do it. You say the Lord would do that? You mean, isn't the Lord loving? He doesn't even want him to know? Yeah, he had a chance to know. Ahab had plenty of, he was dealing with Elijah at one time. And so that's what God will do. But people don't think that they don't know that about God. Did you know that a worldly man will prosper in this world under the goodness of God? Take take your Bible, look at Jeremiah, Chapter 12. Jeremiah, Chapter 12, and look at verse one through three. Jeremiah 12, one righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Why? Why is the wicked prosper? Jeremiah says. Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously. Thou hast planted them. They have taken root. They grow. They bring forth fruit. Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reigns. You know what's happening? Esau, you've got the fatness of the land. You know what that's doing? Preparing him for slaughter. You know that we're going to eat that pig over there, so fatten him up. We're going to eat that lamb or that goat. So fatten them up. Oh, he thinks he's having a great time. I'm eating all this great stuff. Yeah, because you're going to die tomorrow and we're going to eat you. Turn over to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. You say, who's going to eat me? That's the Lord talking. The Lord's going to do it. Psalm 73, verse 3 through 12. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Hey, why are they prospering out there? Man, I'm missing out. And that Aaron Hunter, he's been tricking me. He's been telling me that I need to give this up and give that up and stop going here and stop going there. You know, and these guys are out there doing it and nothing's happening to them. They just got a big pay raise and they're driving a new car. I got a better house than I do. They're happier than I am. Well, that's what David's saying. Therefore his people return hither, and the waters of a full cup are wrung out of them. And they said, How doth God know? Is there any knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world." Hey, don't worry about those people. God just told you in Psalms, a long time ago, Psalms was written. He said they're going to prosper in the world. Don't look at them. Don't get your eyes on them. They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, David says, and washed my hands in innocency. Boy, I cleaned my act up and I did all this and I did that in vain because look, I could have that. Well, you're not looking, you're not supposed to look there. You're supposed to look there. Look not on the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Open up the pages of the Bible and see what it really says. Straighten out your priorities. And so that's what God will do. Go to Romans 2, 4. Well, don't go there because you know it. I'll just quote it for sake of time. The Bible says in Romans 2, 4, the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. You know that these people that God heaps all this fatness on and says, here, have at it. Do you know that they still have a choice to say, you know, this is the goodness of God. And praise the Lord, I don't deserve all this. You know, you wake up someday, don't you? And you say, you know, look around at your house and the bed you just slept on and the food that you have in your stomach and the air that you're, the clean air that you're breathing. And you can go to a sink and you could get a bottle of water, clean water. You may argue that, but it's clean water. And you can pop a vitamin and you can go to work and you can, you can open up a refrigerator and you can be in air conditioning And you can have shoes on your feet and you can have clothes on your back and you can jump into a hot shower and you can get clean. And then we say, well, boy, I wish I had more. And our priorities, we just look at the more and the more and what we don't have. And that's what gets us into trouble. Worldly prosperity is not a measure of God's blessing, especially in this age. In this age, that is not what we're called to do. Maybe the Old Testament, maybe Solomon and David and all those kings and all that, maybe them, because they're promised the earth, right? Studying that again in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven. But that's not for us. And we have plenty. We have plenty. Jacob, or Jacob, Genesis 27, 41. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing. He hated him because of the blessing, you see. Wherefore his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. So Esau's pride caused him to hate his twin brother because of the blessing. Hey, do you hate people because they're blessed? I mean, this is twin brother. If you should love anybody in this world, you should be your twin brother. And he hates his brother. Why? Because he's got more than I do. He's got something I don't have. And I always want it. But Jacob, you got the fatness of the earth. That's what you wanted. So he hates his brother. You're never more like the devil than when you envy someone and want to harm them. When you get to a point when you want to harm somebody bodily, physically, or just wish for something bad on them, even in your mind, God says, you know, I already saw your mind. If you hate your brother in your heart, you've already committed murder. Right. So I'm looking at a room full of murderers, I'm sure. And, you know, you can look right at one here, too. But look at look at Matt. Matthew, is it? I have it on your sheet there. Luke, Luke, Chapter nine. We'll go to Matthew also, but look, look at Luke, Chapter nine. Look at verse 54. This is the disciples talking to Jesus. I mean, I would like to be here. You know, I mean, it would be great to be able to ask Jesus a question just out of the blue. And these guys were such dummies, you know, sometime. In Luke chapter 9 and verse 54, And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, Jesus, he turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Thank God for that. Go to the book of Revelation, New Dispensation, He's coming to destroy men's lives, not to save them. And so, He said, you know not what manner of spirit ye are of. You see, when you start to envy somebody, that's when the hatred comes in. Because they have something you don't want, and that hatred leads you to want to kill them, or hurt them, or see something go wrong with them. And the Lord says, you don't even know what spirit you're... That's not me. Go to Matthew now and look at chapter 5. Verse 21, Matthew 5, verse 21, You have heard that it was said of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, now we looked at this last Tuesday, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say this to his brother Rakeh, and we won't read on. But do you see where it says there, without a cause? That's Esau. You see, Jesus, we studied Tuesday, Jesus had a cause. He went into the temple, he flipped it over, he grabbed a whip, and he started beating those guys and said, get out of here. Right? He was angry. And he had a cause to be angry, a righteous cause. Esau has no cause. So envy is that way. We don't have a cause to be upset with each other. Go over to 2 Corinthians 10. I'll apply this to us as believers. You know the Bible tells us not to compare ourselves with ourselves? And you know what it says about that, right? It says if you do that, you're not wise. Well, I'm a wise old man. Well, not if you're comparing yourself. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12, We can look at each other and say, I wish I was like them, I wish I was like them, I wish they were more like me. And that's not wise. You know what the Bible wants us to do, God wants us to do? You and me, John, you and me. Don't look over at them, don't look over at them. Yes, you can help people, and yes, you can guide people, and they can look to you as an example, praise the Lord if they do. But you know what? Just look at me. Keep your eye, the Bible says, single. That's what it tells you. Now, it's not only that, but go to Philippians chapter 2. It gets even better. Philippians 2. You want to raise your spirituality a level? Philippians 2, verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Vain glory. Vain glory. You might want to bold that word, highlight vain glory. What are you trying to get glory from me? You want a pat on the back from me? That's vain. Who am I? You want a pat on the back from God, don't you? You want rewards up there, don't you? So let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. You know there's a little acronym of joy, Jesus, others, and then your last, you. And that's what brings joy. You know, the world has even figured that out. That's why they're out there saving the dolphins today, and their dogs, and the whales, and the trees, and the forests. They're out there doing that because they put themselves behind themselves, and now they're saving the forest. And that makes them feel good. But when you do that as a Christian, God rewards that. And so not only do we not look at other people to compare ourselves, but we actually, when we do look at them, we say, well, you're better than me. I steam you better than me. What can I do for you today?" That's the biblical way. And so we rejoice with them that rejoice. It's on your paper. We're told to rejoice with them that rejoice. Can you do that? Can you rejoice when someone gets a raise that you are still wishing you had a job? Rejoice with them. Why? That's the body of Christ. That may be that sore toe. You don't have a sore toe, but you've got a sore ankle. That may be that sore ankle that was really hurting and it got fixed and you rejoice with that. Well, I still have back pain. You know, I still have back pain, brother. I can't rejoice with you. I mean, that's just an example, right? I mean, we're to rejoice with one another. This this is our family. You got family all over the world, by the way. Every saved believer. And we rejoice any time we can with whenever we can to rejoice. And and we weep with those who weep when we pray for one another, as we did this morning. So, let's see, Esau is filled with pride. This is why he can't measure up to this. He can't even begin to do this. He's filled with pride. You know the 13th word of Isaiah's statement in this verse, verse 41, is the word, I? The 13th word. That's the same sin, the sin of pride is the same thing that destroyed one of the most beautiful, one of the most wise creatures that God has ever made, one of the most capable, powerful creatures that God has ever made. His name was Lucifer. And you know what the Bible says in Isaiah 14? He said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will five times. Five is the number of death. And so Lucifer says, I and that's why I tell you all the time, be careful about their T-shirts that you wear and the things that this world wants you to say. I am. Capable, I am good, I am whatever it is. I am some people say that's blasphemy. That's pride. That's what Esau did. That's what took the most powerful being in the universe down to the to the bars and gates of hell. We ought not to talk like that. And that's the same sin of Sodom. Ezekiel 16, 49 talks about the sin of pride was in them. And, you know, all those queers, they're proud of themselves. And, you know, they want you to be to recognize them. Of course, we know that we know better. This is also the first occurrence of the word hated in the Bible. you can see on your paper how many times it occurs in the whole Bible. 60 times. 10 times 6. The first use of the word fury is also mentioned in the Bible here in verse 44 and it is in conjunction with anger. The definition would be anger. Fury appears 78 times in the Bible. 6 times 13. 6 and 13. It's a bad combination to have fury. You know, a furious man. The Bible tells you in Proverbs, the furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Or it might say angry, but they're one in the same. And so verse 42 and the well, let me get back to Genesis because I don't have all the verses there for you. Genesis 27, 42 through 45. And these words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry there with him a few days, until thy brother's fury, there it is, turn away. until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him, then I will send and fetch thee from fence. Why should I be deprived of you both in one day? Now, we looked at this last week where Rebecca sends him away. She says, Thy curse be upon me, my son. Don't worry, your curse be upon me. And of course, she sends him away. What does it say there? Just for a few days, right? End up being 20 years and she died in the meantime. And so we won't go into that anymore, but the Bible doesn't tell us how Rebekah heard these words or how she was told these words. Look at verse 41, back to 41. You can look in the Bible or on your sheet, and it says, And Esau said in his heart. How does she know what Esau said in his heart? Well, perhaps the Lord told her because the Lord had spoken to her before. Maybe he told her, and that would be the Lord now showing her, look, I could have taken care of this. Look, you connive and do all this thing. And if God's the one who told her, God said, I could have straightened this out, just like I'm telling you what Esau is about to do. But you didn't listen to me. But maybe it wasn't God. Maybe it was one of the hired help that overheard Esau murmuring about it, you know, in the course of the day. And they ran to Rebecca. But let me just say this about that. I have it on your sheet. If so, if it was one of the hired help, if so, it was wise of them to inform Rebecca. This is a lesson for us parents, and maybe even there's no kids in here. But it is never right to hide such intentions, even if it is provided in secrecy or from someone in authority. Oh, I got secret to tell you, I'm going to tell you the secret. Don't tell anybody, but I'm going to kill them. Or I'm going to bash their car window. Or I'm going to go egg their house. You know, kids do that. Halloween just came and gone. I'm sure people got their houses egged somewhere in this country. And don't tell anybody. No, listen, tell your kids, no, no, no. You don't, you tell somebody. When somebody's about to hurt someone else, remember we talked about envy. We talked about you're never more like the devil when you want to harm somebody. If something's about to go down and it's bad and you know somebody's about to do something wrong that's going to hurt themselves or someone else, you better tell somebody. You better even call the police if necessary. Don't be afraid to do that, all right? And that would be wise. Now, if someone in authority comes to you, a teacher from a school comes to your child and says, hey, listen, just between me and you, you know, do your parents, you know, do this or that to you at home? Have you considered that you might need a sex change operation or that you might not be really a boy or a girl? And, you know, would you like to talk about it and things start to happen in secret? Even though it's a person of authority, you better tell your kids that they don't have to listen to everything that authority has to say, because this world's authority, especially if that's where they're at, is going to deceive them. And next thing you know, they're going to be turning on you. But I'm just telling you, it's right to do. Oh, I don't want to be a snitch. Well, you're wrong about that. You're just wrong about that. I don't want to be a tattletale. You know, you're a tattletale. Well, it depends what we're talking about. So, verse 46, and Rebecca said to Isaac, I am wary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? So Rebecca is manipulating Isaac one more time. She's got to get Jacob out of town and she's got to have a reason to do it. So this is the reason. And she gives a valid reason, right? She conceals the true reason for Jacob leaving because of Esau with a genuine concern of Isaac's. So she's manipulating. She's taking something that both of them have a problem with, the daughters of Heth. It tells you that in Genesis 26. We won't turn there because we're running out of time. But verse 34 and 35, it said that they were a weariness unto Isaac and Rebekah. They didn't, I mean Esau's wives were a weariness. They were just a typical worldly woman wanting their way and wanting their things and wanting this and that out of life. And they weren't of course helping him turn to God. They were turning away and they were a weariness. So her plan did succeed. We'll get into 28 next week. And Isaac called Jacob as the very first verse and blessed him and charged him. And he says, thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. So right away, and that's a good thing. That's not a bad thing. But you see, Rebecca inserts herself again. And she says, if I don't make this happen, it won't happen. She still doesn't trust God, even though Jacob's got the blessing, even though perhaps God's the one who might have even told her about this. So if God tells you about this, then you probably don't have to deceive anymore. Right? Now, these Canaanites, you can just read on your paper, they're occupants of the land. That's the Canaanites originally when Abraham comes through. We read it chapters ago where Abraham comes in and he's in the land of Canaan. We call it the promised land and it was the Canaanites. And these people, the daughters of Heth, were identified as that. There's Hittites and Perizzites and all these ites that are there. And the world today calls these people Palestinians. And they claim, and I gave you the resolution back in 2012, they claim, the United Nations claim that they have just as much right to that land as an Israelite does. And they're wrong. Of course, from the study of the Bible these several weeks now, we know that that's not right. That God has a different plan. You can read it there on your paper, but Genesis 15-18 was God's original commission to Abraham that he would take the land, it would be his. And then you go over to Joshua and Josh is talking about, let's get these people. You know, God told me, let's go in there and wipe them all out, because that's what God told him to do. And so the United Nations, as we've said many times, is is the devil's organization. It's the devil's nations is what they should really call it. And they will be wiped out and they will their plans will be thwarted eventually here in the near future. But one final thought about Rebecca. We talked about how Isaac pictures the father and how Esau pictures the worldly man and Jacob and all that and Rebekah is the type of the church. She pictures the church and as such provides a valuable reminder to never take matters into our own hands. Christ is the head of the church and we can be confident in the biblical pattern laid out in scripture for a local New Testament assembly. We need not resort to worldly methods to manipulate what the world calls success. How is your church? This is how they say it. How many is your church running? Because that's the gauge of success today. And what I told you earlier, preachers are preaching a false message because they're not running enough people. and they're not meeting the budget, and they're not able to build the building, and they're not able to have the activity center, and they're not able to do this and that. And that's what's going on. It's like Rebecca, inserting herself in this situation when God lays it out quite simply. And I praise the Lord because I think this church, I believe this with all my heart. I wouldn't go here if I didn't think this. I think this church follows a biblical pattern for what a local New Testament church ought to be like. I mean we lift up the Word of God and that's our final authority in all matters of faith and practice and we run it biblically. We're not going to run it like a theater or like a show or put on entertainment and all that and you folks amen that because you like that. And that's just a lesson for us never to get drawn away with that and to look at that and say well look what's going on there. Well you don't know all the manipulation that's been going on. You don't know all the human hands that have been touching all over that ministry, call it a ministry if you want, to try and manipulate the situation so that they