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Transcript

we will begin brother and sisters by singing anthem 39

followed by a word of prayer anthem 39

the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him and them 39.

[Music]

great gods

the god and father of our lord jesus christ

through whom we can approach unto thee to call thee our father

we bless and we praise thy name this day

and ask thy blessing upon our meditations upon thy word that the entrance of thy word may give us understanding and make us wise who are simple

lead us lord in the ways of righteousness and the ways of peace through christ jesus we ask this amen

brothers and sisters are based very largely upon the second and third chapters of the book of genesis

the book of genesis the beginning the first book in the word of god

is the key to the understanding of much that follows later

it is the cornerstone and i don't think it's pitching it too strongly to say that if we

underestimate

or we don't value the information that's given to us in the book of genesis that we are very easily likely to go astray

when we come to later things

i say i think that the book of genesis is just about one of the most important of the books in the word of god

and yet because we've read it so often we read it at the beginning of the year these first few chapters of the book of genesis many of us can practically recite them off by heart

because of our familiarity with them i see we tend to miss many of the intriguing the fascinating details that god has given us in these chapters

with your permission this morning i hope i should be able to bring some of these wonderful things out for you

having said that i'd also like to say that the men and or the men who wrote the new testament under the inspiration of god

were our leaders in our attempt to understand the book of genesis

the lord jesus christ himself you recall on many on occasion quoted from the book of genesis he quoted to prove the validity of one man one woman he quoted other passages the writers of the new testament the rest of the new testament quote the book of genesis several times over they refer to adam they refer to eve they refer to all manner of things in the book of genesis and i say we will use them as our leaders in our efforts to understand what genesis is trying to tell us

and so let us go in then to the book of genesis to look at this man adam his wife eve the place where god put them and the reason for which god put them there

before we actually go into the book

i'd like to

ask you to bear with me while i express a personal feeling

i sometimes wonder

what it is that makes committees choose people like me to come and speak to people like you

and i think that the reason must be something like this like this story

there was a vacancy for a mississippi boat pilot

and three men applied for the job

and the first one went in and said i've been sailing this river for 10 years and i've never hit a sandbank a reef a sunken log a rock or anything else

so the second one went in and said

well i've been sailing this river for 15

years and i've never hit a sand bank a reef a sunken rock or anything else for that matter

and the third one went in and said i've been sailing this river for five years and i've hit every rock reef sandbank mud flat and everything else i know where they all are

and he got the job

i am very much in the position of that third pilot who applied for the job and therefore i think i may be qualified for this particular task that has been laid before me this day

let us then go into chapter 2 of the book of genesis

genesis chapter 2

and let us begin by considering the garden itself first

chapter 2 and verse

8

and the lord god

planted a garden eastward

in eden

and there he put the man whom he had formed

and out of the ground may the lord god to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food

the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

and the river went out of eden to water the garden and from thence it was partied and became four heads

and then it tells us that the name of the first is paisan and give the name of the other three

but dwell on these words for a few moments brother sisters because the details tend to elude us

first of all let's remark on the fact that this is a strange thing for the lord to do

the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden

if you turn back with me to chapter 1

and verses 11 and 12

you'll see why i say it is a strange thing for god to do

and god said let the earth bring forth grass

the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so and the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind and god saw

that it was good

but what that statement or those two verses are saying to me is that god had just finished not very long before chapter two begins he had just finished planting up the whole of the planet with all of the vegetation that is upon it grass herb flower fruit tree the lot all of these things all over the planet

and now

he finds it necessary verse 8 of chapter 2 again to plant a garden eastward in eden

and that's a strange fact if it doesn't strike you as strange i think it should

why does god bother to plant this garden

the ninth verse ouch of the ground made the lord god to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food

notice that the man has already been made

in verse 7

the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground

and he takes him and puts him into this garden after he has planted it

why has he planted this garden

can we turn over to the book of isaiah to chapter 61

isaiah chapter 61

i think gives us the clue to all of this

chapter 61

and these verses you know well

verse 1

the spirit of the lord god is upon me jesus because the lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to them that are bound

verse 3 to comfort all that mourn

to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning

the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness

excuse me that they might be called

trees

of righteousness

the planting of the lord

that he might be glorified

those words remind me unmistakably of the garden of eden that they might be called

trees of righteousness

out of the ground made the lord god to grow every tree

the planting of the lord

the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden

so this men and women here in isaiah chapter 61

are trees of righteousness planted so that he might be glorified

where is god glorified

answer the lord god is glorified in temples

in temples sometimes made with hands as in days of old and nowadays in temples not made with hands spiritual temples men and women planted that he the lord god might be glorified

and i suggest to you that with that in mind that this is the reason why god planted this garden eastward in eden it was the temple of the living god it was where adam and his wife were to meet with the lord god

to worship him to praise him

and the more one thinks about that idea the more attractive it becomes

for you now think of the new testament in ephesians where we are called living stones being built into a holy temple for the lord fit for his habitation

yes

and this garden doesn't have people in it it has living stones these trees

which god has planted living structures in this living temple

it also makes sense of the fact that there is no temple here it's the most striking omission i think there is no temple in the garden of eden why not

it is a temple and perhaps you'd like to look with me at the last book of the bible book of revelation

and see the similarity of ideas between what i've been expressing and what is described

in revelation chapter 21 and 22.

chapter 22 first

where we can't miss we cannot mistake the similarity between here and the garden of eden again no possibility of error first one and he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of god and of the lamb and in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month the river of life trees of life planted on either side of this river it's a reconstruction of the garden of eden again but look back in our chapter 21 and verse 22 it's a description of jerusalem the new jerusalem and i saw no temple therein there wasn't a temple there

why not for the lord god almighty and the lamb are the temple of it and the city has no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine upon it for the glory of god did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof

you see i think that the whole city has become a temple to the living god

similarly in genesis the garden of eden is a temple to the living god where adam was to meet and to worship him

it's a wonderful thought brother sisters

so let's go back to the genesis the genesis record

and let's now attempt to visualize this garden

i think it will repair us

because of its sheer beauty and the wonder of it all

genesis chapter 2 again

and verse 10

and the river went out of eden

to water the garden

therefore brother sisters this garden must have been up on a mountain side on the top of a mountain

because rivers flow downhill

therefore since this river goes out of eden to water the garden then it must have been as i say pretty high up somewhere

and what is more this is an extraordinary river most peculiar it's back to front totally back to front look at the next bit from thence it was parted and became into four heads

now every river that i know

collects tributaries running into it forming one main river this one's the wrong way around it starts off as one river and splits up into four

it was parted into four heads and not four little fiddling tiny heads either you notice the name of these rivers there's guy hun there's hiddekel which is a an enormous river there's euphrates another enormous river so there must have been a colossal source of water where this river began

and it reminds me doesn't it it must remind you as well of the prophecy in ezekiel where the water issues out of the temple comes down and runs along and in a very very short time is so deep that a man can't walk over because it the water flood is so heavy the depth is so great the current is so strong

sounds very much like that and you remember that that was a prophecy of water coming out of a temple of the living god so we come back to the same idea once again by another root

what feature is there about a garden that distinguishes it from a field brothers and sisters

in england all the gardens every single garden that i've ever seen there if it's

in reasonable condition has got a wall a barrier a fence or something around it

therefore the garden of eden must have had one as well

and we can prove this to you from chapter three can you stand over there with me chapter 3 and verse 24.

so it says he drove out the man

and he placed at the east of the garden of eden the caribbean and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life

well it wouldn't have been very bright would it to put the caribbean on the east

if all that adam had to do was to nip smartly round to the west up over and get in wouldn't have been too clever would it

so therefore brother sisters we come to this conclusion that the garden of eden was on this mountainside that i've described before it must have had a wall and must have been inaccessible on three sides for some reason or the other it had a wall or something like that around it

a bit more about the garden of eden let's go back again to verse 9 of chapter 2.

perhaps you've not thought about this

but

it makes sense when we try to visualize this thing to take these details that are given to us seriously

verse nine

and out of the ground

made the lord god to grow

every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food

every tree that is pleasant to the sights and good for food

how many trees does that make

or think

the furs

the poplars

the palms the oaks

the spruces

the

hundreds of different species genera the different kinds of all over the place one specimen of each that the lord god takes to put in his garden to grow to become these enormous great trees described in ezekiel

how many trees do you think there were

that were pleasant to the eyes that let alone good for food let's suppose there were two or three hundred of them let's suppose for the sake of argument if there were 200 trees enormous ones as i say ezekiel said and each one takes up an area about i don't know 200 square feet or whatever

that argues that this garden here was not like a garden as we understand it but rather like a park

a much greater area extending probably as far as the eye could see in many directions a huge place

a large spacious

well distributed well

laid out

garden park perhaps would be a better idea to express it

and what about the next bit

the tree of life also

in the midst of the garden

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

notice those words in the midst of the garden

by that i understand that this was the geographical center of the garden that god had measured it carefully and then drawn the diagonals as it were and planted those two specific trees plum center in the midst of the garden as a centerpiece as it were to all the other beautiful trees that he'd got all the way around

it takes the breath away to try and imagine that

it's just my imagination again but i rather believe that the center of the garden was perhaps led up to those two trees with an area of grass around it with flowers growing around the edges

all leading up to this great centerpiece with these two wonderful trees there and perhaps from between the two trees come running the waters of the tree of life that the source was there it began there and came out to run out of the garden of eden

it must have been a wonderful place brother sisters there can't have been any trees like that before our sins that god planted

and caused to grow

but more about that on sunday

now let's have a look at adam himself

because he is the one that is the focal point of our attention this morning

god makes adam verse 7

of the dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul a living creature and he gets up no he doesn't let's imagine this again the lord god forms him makes a model of him of clay

there he is

and then god leans over him

and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life as it says and he opens his eyes

and the first thing that he sees

is the face of the angel that has given him life

the face of god

the first thing

that he beheld

isn't that a wonderful thought

reminding one so much of the lord jesus christ

who died lay in his tomb and maybe the angel came and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he opens his eyes

and there's the angel of god that he has sent to do this wonderful thing

but god is not going to give him eternal life just like that he has to do something

verse 15

and the lord god took the man and put him into the garden of eden

to dress it and to keep it

what does that mean

to address it and to keep it

what does dress mean

it means to do the work that a gardener normally does

what does a gardener have to do normally

well if you don't like gardening the way i don't like gardening

then you'll know only too well what a gardener has to do because if you don't do it and your wife has words to say to you about the matter every now every so often to keep you on your on on your toes

what does a gardener have to do to dress his

well he has to get the weeds out

aha i heard you thinking there weren't any weeds in the garden of eden

you're wrong

i'll prove it to you shall i there were weeds there

you're thinking thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee there weren't any thorns and thistles before then were there

it wasn't maybe not have been thorns and thistles

but there was something much worse can we go back to chapter 1

and verse 11.

chapter 1

and verse 11

and god said

let the earth bring forth

grass

grass

grass is the enemy of all gardeners in england it grows everywhere it grows where you want it to grow and it grows where you don't want it to grow it grows most prolifically where you don't want it to grow and you you know it just grows everywhere and this brother says this is the beginning of all things the beginning of the world the soil is absolutely fertile to the nth degree and you drop one grain of one seed of grass on the ground there and 25

plants come up and not only tiny little ones like that either but they grow that height weeds he had to do that he had to get that grass out he had to get all the seeds that were fluttering about the place because these things brought forth seed he had to get those plants out from where they ought not to have grown he had to look after these things

and these trees that god put there were fruit trees

every tree that was good for food there were hundreds of fruit trees everywhere and he couldn't eat them all not him and eve between the two of them

so what happened to the fruit then they ripened they dropped off onto the ground and would have rotted there if a gardener didn't come around to pick him up so he had that to do as well

but it was rather a big job brother and sisters if this place was an enormous park as i'm suggesting to you that it was if it was a great large expanse of garden he'd have a job cut out doing all this looking after all this area

but he had two jobs one was to dress it to look after it as i've been suggesting to you there and the other was to keep it and that word in the hebrew is related to the word for a watchman he had to act as a watchman over this garden to prevent things enemies from getting in

enemies

from getting in there weren't anybody else around to come in and steal

yes there were

yes there were

supposing brothers and sisters in the beginning of all things god created this great

massive herd of brontosauruses

and supposing these brontosauruses decided to take a canter through the garden of eden what do you think would be left after they had finished

not a lot i suggest to you and so adam had to keep these things out

to keep it to stop it from being flattened to stop it from being eaten from stop the trees from being damaged he had to do all that he had his work cut out but while he was dressing the garden he couldn't be keeping it and while he was at the gate on that on the east side he couldn't be dressing it so he was split down the middle between dressing and keeping and god sees that this isn't right

verse 18

the lord god's head

it is not good that the man should be alone

i will make him and help meet for him

and so he made his wife let's get those words again verse 18 of genesis chapter 2 it is not good that the man should be alone i will make him and help meet for him

this is the function of his wife first of all a help

meet fitting answering

for him

but now

we see the problems beginning

notice brother and sister that this is the world's first wedding

verse 21 the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the lord god had taken from the man made he into a woman and brought her unto the man

and adam said this is now born of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man

therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh

this is the first wedding in the world brother sisters and notice it takes place if you'll pardon the expression

in church

because the garden of eden is a temple and the first marriage takes place in a temple before the living god

but there's something of great importance that must be mentioned here

if this was a temple

if this was the beginning of the people of god then there must have been a high priest in all this there must have been someone whose job it was and would have been to the worship

of the people

who was it

answer

adam the high priest the first high priest in the house of god

and the high priest speaks the word of god he prophesies at least he did in later times and you notice those words in chapter in verse 24 of chapter 2

therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh and the lord jesus says that he which made them at the beginning said this so god said that it wasn't anybody else it was god who said that but when you read it in verse 23

brethren just says does it not strike you as if it is adam who's saying this

this is now born of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh it reads almost as if it's adam that's saying that

you see if adam is god's high priest then it is really god speaking through him on this particular occasion and that makes sense but the function of a high priest is also to convey knowledge to the people the priests lips should keep knowledge and we notice in all our reading that nowhere does it say that god commanded eve that he should not touch the two trees the tree of the knowledge of good and evil nowhere is god tell eve that he tells adam verse 16

and the lord god commanded the man saying every of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eat is thereof thou shalt surely die

didn't tell eve

therefore we have here a picture that god is conveying knowledge to his priest who is to convey it to his people

and this is where the tragedy begins because adam didn't do his job as he should

notice now the third chapter

verse one and two

temptation comes trouble comes trials come

now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made

and he said unto the woman

yea

hath god said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden

adam did not do his job as he should brother and sisters you remember one of his functions was to

keep the garden

to watch over it as a watchman

he adam had named that serpent and the word for serpent seems in the hebrew to be very closely related for that word for a deceiver therefore somehow i don't know how adam knew or had the idea that this serpent was deceptive

therefore he should have kept it out of the garden

therefore he should have got a stick and at the first appearance of it he should have beaten it black and blue to get it out of the garden

he should have done but he didn't what's more there are conversations here with the serpent you see that first word and he said unto the woman

it's a continuation of a conversation that's taking place previously yey has god said there's been some talk between them before

why didn't adam chase that thing out

i don't know

how did it get there

it flew

it flew into the garden because when god curses it says on your belly shalt now go therefore it either walked or it flew and i suggest to you that it flew and this is the origin of the legends concerning all these winged dragons and whatnot

it flew into the garden landed on this wonderful tree

and begins to talk to this woman

now brother sisters put yourself in the position of a serpent for a moment

you've just flown into the garden of eden you're just landing on this tree and there are some wonderful looking fruit there

what would you be tempted to do what would be your inclination i'll tell you what mine would be

i'd be tempted to have a taste see what it looked like

because remember these two trees are trees of wonder magnificent beyond description wonderful things

i'd be tempted to eat it

and i feel sure in my own mind that this is what did happen that the serpent did eat of that fruit

and these words in verses

4 and 5

and so on make a little bit more sense if we think that

imagine the force of this brother and sisters

and the serpent said unto the woman

ye shall not chomp munch to surely die crunch

for god does know chomp chomp that in the day that you eat thereof much too your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil

and when

saw

she saw

that the tree was good for food

and that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise

she took of the fruit

she saw all that number one it was good for food number two it was pleasant to the eyes and number three it was going to make her wise how could she see such a thing

brother and sisters put yourself in the position of someone beginning to learn chemistry you go into the chemistry laboratory and the professor says to you look you see that glass of stuff over there look you see it have a good look

it contains arsenic it'll poison you if you drink it it looks like water but it's not don't touch it

well you know that the professor knows his job you know that all that he has said so far has come to pass would you therefore think about going to drink that drink out of that glass

now they knew that whatever god had said had come to pass after all they were the products of his word

would they touch that tree would they eat that tree unless

unless

they saw something that made them think otherwise look at how strongly adam had planted this idea in this woman's mind verse 2

the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die

eve said adam that is a poison tree there if you even touch it you're gonna die exaggerating

touch it he was convinced of this that was poison that was not to be touched far less eaten

and there she is now bold enough to take that fruit and to eat it she saw that it was good for food she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes she saw that it would make her wise like it had done to the serpent which could now speak and reason in a way that it never had been able to do before

i wonder if it was like that brother and sister

but now let's consider adam's role in all this

where was adam at this time answer he was standing right there

verse six she gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat he was with her he was right there

brother sisters

i think if i was adam

at that juncture if i had any respect at all for what god had told me i'd have said to eve

eve

you see the stick here

if you touch that tree i shall beat you black and blue don't you dare touch it

and eve might have listened to me

since i had beaten her black and blue on many previous occasions

but did he do that

did he stand there saying eve don't touch it eve don't eat it eve

no way

and he did it

willingly

and with malice a forethought

he cures voluntarily willingly with his eyes wide open knowingly

to do what god had said he should not do he chose to do wrong and therefore although eve was deceived adam went into this with his eyes his mind and everything else wide open why because he wanted to be as it says as god

knowing good and

what a remarkable thing that a man should choose that

instead of all those privileges that god had given to him

but insisted it infuriates me

that this man should do a thing like this

make no mistake about it this is not merely eating of a fruit it is a lifting up of the hand against god it is a rebellion against everything that god had told him it is willful perverse rebellious action you know that there's a law in physics don't you that says every action has an equal and an opposite reaction you know that as well as i do

therefore from that one act since all the sin all the misery all the disease all the suffering all the death that has come upon mankind since that time has flowed from that one action then this is no little sin it is a sin of the highest most perverse and evil character

brothers and sisters we don't do well to say that it was eve's fault

the new testament is a makes it abundantly plain that it wasn't

i'd like to show this to you in the fifth chapter of the letter to the romans romans chapter 5

perhaps if you got your pencil or your pen there you might like to number these as we go along and make sure that i've got the number correct

and perhaps we can agree on one point before we actually look at this passage

here is a point i'd like to have your agreement on

if god says something one time he is serious about it if he says it twice

then it is really really serious if he says it three times well

would you believe would you believe god if he says it ten times

let's count them chapter 5

and verse 12.

mark a little number as we go along by the side of these to get the number right

wherefore as by number one one man sin entered into the world and death through sin

verse 14

nevertheless death reigned from adam not eve adam to moses

even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of number three adam's transgression

who was a figure of him that was to come

in the middle of verse 15

for if through the offense of one four times that's adam may be dead

verse 16

and not as it was by one adam that sinned that's five times so is the gift for the judgment was by one adam six to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification for number seven if by one man's offense death reigned by one eight that's adam again verse 18

therefore as by the offense of one man adam judgment came upon all men to condemnation verse 19 for as by one man's disobedience ten times many were made sinners and so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous

ten times

it says it there unless i'm very sadly mistaken ten times that it was adam who sinned first

not eve

we have all said for so many years

that it was eve's fault

well what about that passage in first of timothy should we have a look at that

first of timothy chapter 2

and verse 13.

for adam

was first formed

and then eve

and adam was not deceived

but the woman being deceived

was in the transgression

and the greek creates in my mind attenuates that she became involved or caught up in the transgression that she was not a prime mover in it at all

so brother

let's look seriously again at the position and the privileges that god gave to this man and to this woman

he was god's high priest he was put into god's temple he was the one who should have conveyed knowledge to his wife and to his children when they had children he was the one that in the most

ideal of circumstances

chose to do that which was wrong evil in the sight of god

and here are we today

in

idyllic

idol wildlife

circumstances

husbands

wires

children of the most high god

to become kings and priests unto him in the ages to come

let us brother and sisters this day resolve that as we have seen that this man has sinned so

sadly and so evilly before god

choosing to turn his back on the things of god put them behind him and thereby bring sin death misery and suffering upon all of his children upon himself that we ourselves when the time comes and we shall expand upon this later in the week when the time comes we shall value our privileges and act as if we deserve them and we are going to do something to deserve what god has given to us let us not forsake our privileges we shall enumerate them we shall go into them in great detail

but let us this day if nothing else resolve that here are our privileges exceeding great and precious promises we shall treat them

as such

Transcript

let us begin brothers and sisters by singing together hymn number 37

which will follow with the word of prayer

hymn number 37

the lord's my shepherd i'll not want

oh lord our god

the shepherd of israel

the shepherd of our lord jesus christ

who has guarded us and guided us through our lives up to this very day

we bless and we praise thy name

thanking thee for thy word which is able to make us wise unto salvation thanking thee for our lord jesus christ through whom we may have forgiveness of our sentence

thanking thee for his kindness and his tenderness that he leads his little ones and those who are with young tenderly and with compassion

look down with compassion and mercy upon us this day oh god open our hearts and our eyes and our ears to the messages contained in thy word that seeing and hearing them we may take them and put them into practice in our lives that we may be better pleasing servants of thine

hear our prayer prayer oh lord for we offer it through jesus name amen

[Applause]

as an introduction brother sisters brother brian mccloud will lead us in the reading of genesis chapter 4 verses 1 to 17 inclusive

[Applause]

[Applause]

now adam knew eve his wife

and she conceived and bore cain saying

i have gotten a man with the help of the lord

and again she bore his brother abel

now abel was a keeper of sheep and cain a tiller of the ground

in the course of time came

brought to the lord and offering of the fruit of the ground

and abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions

and the lord had regard for abel in his offering

but for cain in his offering he had no regard

so cain was very angry and his countenance fell

the lord said to cain

why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen if you do well

will you not be accepted

and if you do not do well

sin is couching at the door desire is for you but you must master it

cain said to abel his brother

let us go out to the field

and when they were in the field cain rose up against his brother abel and killed him

then the lord said to cain

where is abel your brother

he said

i do not know am i my brother's keeper

and the lord said

what have you done the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground and now you are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand

when you till the ground it shall no longer yield to you its strength

you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth

[Music]

cain said to the lord my punishment is greater than i can bear

behold thou hast driven me this day away from the ground from thy face i shall be hidden and i shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will slay me and the lord said to him not so

if anyone slays cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold

and the lord put a mark on cain must any who come upon him should kill him

then cain went away from the presence of the lord and dwelt in the land of nod east of eden

cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore enoch and he built a city and called the name of that city after the name of his son enoch

i understand rather than sisters that they're

been a large number of inquiries as to just where i come from who i am and what i do

so

[Applause]

so perhaps to save you

asking too many more questions perhaps i can just tell you briefly who i am my name's wilfred ali i was born in the west indies in a country called british guyana as was it's now called guyana it's on the north coast of south america i lived for about eight years in trinidad two more years or thereabouts in barbados and for the last 10 or so years i've been living in birmingham in england with my wife sue who's sitting over there looking very red

so i hope that settles any questions in your mind remember that south america is just below north america over

on that side

this morning we are going to

deal with kane and abel

but first of all i just like to recover or recapitulate a few of the things we said yesterday

we saw that the garden of eden i suggested to you was a temple to the living god

we suggested that adam was god's high priest that eve and the children that they would later have would have been the people of god

we suggested that the fault or the remain sin in the in this unhappy incident in genesis chapter 3

was really adam's fault and god himself puts the blame on adam ten times in romans chapter five

and all in all you have probably gathered that i don't have a particularly high opinion of adam himself i have a far higher opinion of eve in this particular instance here because

notice that to her is the promise of the messiah

between thy seed and her seed

and if that's not a blessing i'm not quite sure what is

and my impression of adam is rather confirmed

when we come into the fourth chapter of the book of genesis

we find in the first verse this simple statement perhaps to which you've not given you wait

and adam knew eve his wife

and she conceived and bear cain

and she said i have gotten a man

from the lord

now there's a problem in the translation of that verse many of the versions have have it in different ways and the problem arises from one peculiar fact about hebrew

in hebrew there is a particle a small word which cannot be translated into english and it's the word is

and it always or very very very very often marks out the object of a sentence

so when we read that she said i have gotten a man from the lord

the problem in translation is that it really says i have gotten a man is the lord

in other words the word the lord is the object of that sentence

which means i suppose that what she is really saying that i have gotten a man and that man is the lord

that eve is really saying that this man cain who i have now begotten is probably the one who god promised me back in genesis chapter three thy seed and her seed who is going to bruise thy head

and if you accept that concept then you see that eve is exercising the greatest faith

in the promise of god in genesis chapter three and it's it's another little mark another little pointer in the direction that this woman really was a woman of faith and you notice it's not her husband that name's a child he doesn't seem to be interested he doesn't seem to care

maybe that's pitching it too strongly but certainly it is eve who does the naming of cain

but nevertheless let's leave that point there for a moment and we'll return to it later on and now let's have a look at the other concept that there was a very great amount of knowledge of god and of his laws in the book of genesis

remember i suggested to you yesterday that the garden of eden was a temple

a temple is not without its rights a temple is not without its laws its regulations and the

instructions which govern the behavior of those who go into it

now

we also notice in chapter 3 that there is the institution of sacrifice because the lord god makes courts of skins and clothe them to cover their nakedness to cover their skin and in that one verse we also have the institution of animal sacrifices as distinct from plant sacrifices that the sacrifice of an animal the shedding of blood would put away sin

i think sometimes we do the people in the book of genesis particularly a great injustice in thinking that they were well they didn't have quite as much understanding as we have

i think that's completely wrong

these men in the book of genesis described from the very beginning here and coming down to our time these men were our fathers

and the children are very literally greater than their fathers and since we with our brains and modern technology our inventions and so forth have produced all of these wonderful things in we see in our cities then the potential at least must have been present in the brains of these men

they weren't fools they were intelligent logical reasonable people wicked yes but none not thick not stupid

and now let's have a look brothers it says through the book of genesis just a quick scamper through the book of genesis let's look at some of the indications of how much was known about the sacrifices and the demands of god

have a look with me for instance at verse 16 of chapter four

and cain went out from the presence of the lord

how can you go out from the presence of the lord the presence of the lord is everywhere god is everywhere by his spirit therefore this expression the presence of the lord must mean something else and what i take it to mean is that it means the place where god had put his name where god was worshiped where god met with men the place where the lord was present

cain goes out from the presence of the lord

let's go down a bit into chapter 14

of genesis and notice there the description of melchizedek

genesis chapter 14 and verse 18

and melchizedek king of salem brought forth bread and wine and he was

priest

of the most high god

and he blessed him and he blessed and said blessed be abraham of the most high god possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be the most high god which had delivered thine enemies into thy hand so there were priests melchizedek was a priest abraham you recall islam says was also a prophet look down a bit further and we see there in the

where are we in the

14th verse i'm sorry the 24th verse

i'm sorry i've lost my reference verse 21

and the king of sodom says to abram give me the persons

and take the goods to thyself

i'm sorry i've really lost this verse where it says that abram gave him tithes he paid him tithes of all that he had taken from these men

verse

20

that's right i'm sorry thank you very much and blessed be the most high god which has delivered thine enemies into thine hand and he gave him tithes a tenth of all so they had the practice of tithing as well

let's think also of

noah offering up the sacrifices after he came out of the ark let's think also of abraham offering sacrifices unto god let's think into the book of exodus where jethro is described as a priest of midian let's think also of tamar who was threatened with being burnt because she was an adulteress

and you begin to see that there are great deal there's a great deal more to suggest that these people worship god in the way that is appointed in the law of moses then perhaps you would first thought

and at this point i'd like to suggest to you that you have a good look at blunt undesigned scriptural coincidences he goes into great detail there and collects a lot of this information into a very short space and i couldn't do a better job than he has done

blunts on design scriptural coincidences is a book which is highly recommended reading for every crystalline who believes that this is the word of god it is a most wonderful compilation

but let's go back to the story of cain and abel

back to genesis chapter four

now let's put ourselves into the picture correctly here it says in verse 1 that she bear cain and said i have gotten a man even the lord whose is the lord she thought that cain was the seed who would deliver them from the sins

verse 2 she again bare his brother abel

and abel was

a keeper

of sheep

but cain was a tiller of the ground

so abel was a shepherd cain was an agriculturalist a farmer

now there's nothing wrong with being an agriculturalist a farmer there's nothing wrong with being a shepherd there's nothing no great virtue in being a shepherd over being someone who deals with produce from the ground there is no great virtue in it but what there is

expressed very clearly i think in the story is the principle of obedience to the will of god

let's read the next verse it came to pass in the process of time that cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the lord

and when it says in the process of time if you have a look in your margin there it helps us where it says at the end of days

it means at the end of the year

the days of the year a year had gone round and it had come to its end

what's so special about the end of a year

well brother sisters think back with me into the law of moses now

you recall that the first month was the month that the passover took place month of nice and so in the seventh month

was the day of atonement the feast of tabernacles the feast of in gathering the feast of trumpets in the seventh month and the seventh month was also the first month of the jewish civil year so it was the beginning of a new year and the end of an old one

and i suggest you this is what's happening here it is at that time of the year round there in that part of the calendar that the feast of in gathering or a feast of in gathering is taking place and they're all coming to the lord with these fruits of the ground on keane's part and abel bringing the flocks that he had he had brought that he had reared

but there's trouble

trouble in the family

kin is the older brother

abel is the younger now the older brother in all of the families of scripture going down up to the time of the time that god chose levi the eldest brother was always the one who was the priest of the family you remember god took levi instead of the first born the eldest the eldest brother was the priest of the family so in this case here kin is the priest of the family

abel is less than him abel is inferior but since cain is the priest of the family and the priest should keep knowledge and he should know about the regulations that god has commanded cain knew cain should have known that god did not want

vegetable sacrifices

instead of animal sacrifices for the putting away of sin

he knew there's no doubt about it in my mind he knew full well that that was the case

and he brings of the fruit of the ground and offering to the lord here god this is what i've got you take it or you leave it

abel on the other hand is different notice that fourth verse

and abel

he also brought

and i think you should read that as meaning that abel brought in addition to the first links of the flock he also brought the fruit of the ground

it's two sets of things that are being described here he also brought of the first links of his flock and of the fact thereof

notice brother and sisters the first links of his flock that which was demanded for but that's which was demanded by god in sacrifice notice the fat thereof remember in the law of moses the fact was especially holy to the lord and you they were it was not to be eaten abel brings animal sacrifices and the fact thereof clear evidence that they knew what god wanted and that god had told them what he wanted to abel is careful able brings exactly what god demands and a bit more cain

who cares says cain i don't

and it says in the fifth verse i'm sorry the end of the fourth verse and the lord had respect unto abel and to his offering

and one of the versions one of the ancient versions translates that as he sets it on fire

he sets it on fire as it were that he offers it on the altar and down from heaven comes fire consumes the offering of abel and there is the offering of cain sitting there in his basket and god doesn't really want to know

and so

it took verse five and to his offering he had not respect he didn't want to know

and so kane is angry

and cain was very rough

and his countenance fell

i think brothers and sisters that this is what we might describe as a public humiliation of cain

don't think for one moment that these are little boys they are not little boys they are in their 30s i'm fairly sure they are grown men and by this time adam and eve must have had other children as well and those children must have had children and i would not be surprised in the slightest to find out that cain had got children and that abel had had children i don't know but i would not be surprised at all to find that out and everybody's gathered as we are today perhaps to worship the lord there's cain bringing his offering there and abel bringing his offering there and down from heaven comes the fire burns up the sacrifices and leaves cain untouched

and everybody says to themselves well god doesn't want cain suffering and cain is very roth and his countenance fell

and the lord said unto cain

why art thou wroth why is thy countenance fallen

if thou doest well if you do the right thing that which i have commanded you shalt thou not be accepted

and that doesn't make sense

but if we look at the marginal rendering of that you'll see it says if thou doest well

shalt thou not have the excellency

and that doesn't make much sense either does it

but if you turn with me now to the 49th chapter of the book of genesis

to genesis chapter 49

and the third verse

you'll see another instance of the law of moses or the law which was codified in the law of moses in operation here

genesis 49 and verse 3

reuben thou art my first born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency

of dignity and the excellency of power unstable as water thou shalt not revise version have the excellency because thou wentest up to thy father's bed then defile it thou it he went up to my couch in other words reuben had defiled his father's bed and had been thrown out from being the first born he had been thrown out from the privileges of being the eldest son he had lost it and they had been transferred to joseph unto judah now in genesis chapter 4 it's the same thing

if thou doest well shalt thou not have the excellency be the firstborn be the priest be the one that i accept the one that has all the rights and the privileges yes of course you would because he doesn't want to he doesn't want to know

next bit of the sentence makes even less sense and if thou doest well if thou doest not will

sin lieth at the door

that's the most difficult piece of scripture to understand but let's see what it means

first of all if he doesn't do well

sin is lying at the door what door

answer the door of the tabernacle the door of the place where they were meeting the door described of the place the door of the place described as the presence of the lord is a door what about sin lieth at the door

well i understand that in hebrew the word for sin

can just as easily be understood to mean a sin offering

and what this could mean is that if thou doest not well a sin offering is lying at the door

in other words abel his brother had brought sheep to and put them and left them outside the door of the tabernacle up there

as a sin offering as a possible sin offering for his brother if only his brother would accept it

if thou doest not well there's a wave to cleanse your sin it's outside there lying at the door you've got to take it

and

unto thee shall be his desire a bell's desire abel will look up to you because once more you are the high priest instead of him and thou shalt rule over him abel

because of your iniquity kane you are in this miserable position i have rejected you but there's a way back

take it

and you will have the excellency once more

well there are some people you can talk to like that and there's some people you can't

and cain is obviously one of those that you can't

and cain verse 8 talked with abel his brother

and it came to pass when they were in the field that cain rose up against abel his brother and slew him brothers and sisters if ever you needed proof that these were not little boys here it is little children don't get up and smash stoned into the skulls of their brothers

but this is a grown man full of hatred full of anger full of wrath picking up a stone or a knife or something and smashing his brother into the ground with it

breaking his collin

there's abel lying on the ground

quite dead

but cain isn't a fool

he buries him

he must bury him he can't leave him to lie out in the field like that and we know this because of the 10th verse

thy the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground brackets where you have buried him and dug a hole and stuck to stuck him in

okay

where is abel thy brother as if god didn't know

brothers and sisters this is a consistent feature of scripture all the way through that god gives them a chance to turn around and to repent cain

where is abel thy brother

where is he god knew adam

where out thou

he knew where he was

saul

saul why persecutors thou me

he knew

but he's not asking him to improve his knowledge he's asking him to give him an opportunity to repent where is abel my brother had cain said i have slain him

then you can see that the relationship should have been different

but not cain

i don't know

am i my brother's keeper

and he said what hast thou done he's still asking i know what you've done what has thou done confess

the voice of thy brother's blood

crieth unto me

from the ground i can hear him crying

says god i can hear him

he's dead and i know that you've killed him and now cursed art thou from the ground which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand

when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength

a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth

another sister we come to the strangest i think quite the strangest part of the story this 13th and 14th verse

i think and i may be pitching it too strongly and i hope you'll forgive me if you think i am i think that in this verse cain confesses

and cain is forgiven

look at the proof for this

cain said unto the lord

margin

my iniquity is greater

than that it may be forgiven

my iniquity is greater

than that it may be forgiven he admits to god the enormity of the crime that he has committed i have killed him and it's too much to expect forgiveness for this

behold verse 14

behold thou has driven me out this day from the face of the earth and from thy face shall i be hid because i've sinned you will not turn your face towards me you will turn away from me your god

and i shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth

and here now in the next verse and the next part of the verse is another illustration of the law of moses that it shall come to pass that everyone our revised version whosoever

findeth me shall slay me it's an element of the law of moses when someone was slain

the avenger of blood went after him to kill him and he says this is the avenger of blood that cain's worried about here maybe abel's children i don't know

and god says

this is not going to be so

now brother and sisters we have this question mark of this sign or this mark that is put upon cain

what exactly was it

well just before we try to answer that question can i just review briefly the elements of the law of moses that we found in this chapter so far

there's blood sacrifice

there is fat there's a priesthood there's a law of the firstborn there's a law of the avenger of blood there's a law of displacing the first born if he didn't behave himself we see sin offerings we see a tabernacle we see the law against murder we see punishment of crime

all these things are elements of the law of moses

and now can it be a surprise that this last 15th verse here that we've come to contains another one

when a man was going to flee from the avenger of blood where did he go

answer he went to a city of refuge and i think this is what is happening here that god appoints a place of refuge for cain where he would be safe from the avenger of blood so that he would not be slain by that man who had come after him and where is that place likely to be there weren't any cities or not that we're told of there weren't any cities but there is there was a place

verse 16

and cain

went out

from the presence of the lord

you remember when solomon

sent his captain to slay joab

do you remember what joab did

joab fled joab ran where to the tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar and solomon said go and get him out of there and kill him

because the horns of the altar the tabernacle was one of the places of refuge one of the cities of refuge and therefore i suggest that what's happening here is that god has god says to cain right cain i will appoint a place of refuge for you but it is in my tabernacle you have got to stay there if you go out you will be slain and your blood will be on your own head

well the tabernacle is the tabernacle it's the place of worship of god it is a place where those whose hearts are right before god will find some rest and some ease and be glad and rejoice

but king

the atmosphere of holiness is far too much for people like him he can't stand it and he stays there for a while

and then he can't stand and he goes out verse 16

and cain went out from the presence of the lord and dwelt in the land of nod on the east of eden and cain knew his wife and she conceived and bear enoch and he builded a city

why does he build a city it's his own city of refuge where he thought he was going to be safe and he calls the name of the city after his son

enoch

and so brother sisters another sorry story

a man forsaking willfully deliberately with malice the forethought the privileges which god has given to him

let us as i said yesterday

take time out once a week or twice a week or more if possible to sit down and reckon up our privileges before god and say to ourselves just how much do we value these privileges and let us act as if we do

and what about abel

the blood of the lord jesus it says speaketh better things than that of abel

i just to this point that i'd like to diverge a bit for the rest of this session for the next 10 minutes or so

abel was a shepherd

so was the lord jesus out of thee shall come forth he that shall be ruler or shepherd of my people israel

and those in the new testament are also called shepherds

can we turn to the first of peter

and look briefly at some of the functions

of shepherds

look briefly at

that which the shepherds had to do

first of peter chapter 5

and verses 1

to 4

as are profound excitations that come from this

and some which need to be drawn out

at length

the elders verse one which are among you

i exhort

who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of christ

and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed now notice carefully that this is to the elders the senior members of the meeting the arranging brethren

feed the flock of god

which is among you

taking the oversight thereof

not by constraint because somebody's twisting your arm to do it

but willingly

not for filthy luca

because you're getting paid for it but of a ready mind because you want to do the job

neither as being lords over god's heritage

but being examples

to the flock

and when the chief shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory

that fadeth not away

those words need serious thought

the elders are being called the shepherds

what's a shepherd

a shepherd is somebody who looks after his sheep

another and says a shepherd must be a man

or a woman who knows the state of the flock

who cares about the state of the flock who cares about his or her brethren and sisters we are all when it boils down to it somebody's shepherd or the other

look around your meeting

there are those there who are strong in the faith they've been there for years they are firm they can resist all manner of temptations and problems they are the pillars of the meeting

those need to turn in their turn now and help others those who are young in the faith those who have marital problems those who have difficult children those who have teenage children that are pre-presenting problems all of these and many more situations arise which need the compassionate eye of a shepherd

which shepherd you think would say to himself right this sheep of mine is sick

kick him out of the flock i have done well i m my flock is now safe

which shepherd would do that

it would be a grievous loss to him if he did such a thing brothers and sisters

and so it should be when one of our brethren is sick he wants to leave the meeting because he has believed something that is not we think is not true

what's the first step that we should take

the last step that we should take is to kick him out of the door

the first step should never ever be that it should be to go to him with the attitude that we are a shepherd we are shepherds we care about this manner of this woman we are interested in your problems let's talk about it discuss it sympathetically rather than with a rod

i very rarely read in scripture anywhere else about a shepherd taking a rod and beating his sheep very very rarely and yet so often this is our attitude that the very first sign of trouble we cut off we chop we shove to one side we axe we do everything that a shepherd would never do

yes there comes a time when the infection is too great when it does need cutting off but it should then be done if at all with love with great sorrow with regret rather than saying to ourselves oh well he's gone now problems are finished we can get on with the business of being in the truth too often is it like that brother and sisters tend the flock of god which is among you feed them heal them give them water to drink look after them because sheep are basically stupid

and if it doesn't please you to be likened to a sheep then please rest assured it's not me that's doing it it's the word of god sheep are basically stupid and those who have intelligence need to be the ones that take great care of these sheep

i'm very much minded brothers and sisters of the 40th chapter of the book of isaiah perhaps i can just draw your attention briefly to them to that

passage isaiah chapter 40

it needs a bit of serious meditation

concerning the lord jesus christ

wonderful passage

dealing with jesus

verse 10

behold the lord god will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him ah there we have it we're gonna beat them black and blue

is it

behold his reward is with him and his work before him

he shall feed his flock

like a shepherd he shall gather the lambs in his arm because they're too little their legs just won't hold them up for the journey that they're going

he shall carry them in his bosom and he shall gently lead those that are with young [Music]

is that a description of the way you shepherd your particular flock

your hus you husbands your wife and your children you mothers your children and your neighbors and their acquaintances you preachers is this how you preach to the outside or do you take the stick and beat them over the head with it until they see the truth or at least see stars

brothers and sisters is is

this is so totally removed from that sort of spirit isn't it he shall feed his flock like a shepherd when they need food he'll take him to the right place where they can get some grass that they might enjoy and eat he shall gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom there's a picture of a shepherd with one lamb there perhaps another lamb there walking along going to back to the fold or wheresoever but taking care of them so that the big bullies the rams and the others won't trample on them won't but them won't show them to one side

he shall gently lead those that are with young the pregnant use

the ones who are bearing children the ones who are preaching in our midst the ones who are about to give birth to children you can't treat a mother who's just about to have

a baby seven months long and you can't treat her like a long distance runner

he shall gently lead those that are with young push them if they need help but certainly help you see the spirit of it it's not at all one of beating pushing pounding kicking biting gouging scratching

it's loving that's the word i think that describes this he loves his sheep he laid down his life for his sheep brothers and sisters before you cut one of those sheep off before you amputate them before you throw them to the wolves outside there think once twice 10 times because that is a person for whom christ died you didn't die for them maybe if you died for him you could throw him out

think

feed the flock of god which is among you

let us each look round in our own circles and see those for whom we are shepherds let us see whether we are giving them the appropriate and correct instruction whether we are building them up rather than tearing them down

brothers and sisters

the theme of a shepherd is a wonderful one and it demands much more meditation than unfortunately we can give this morning

cain killed his brother because his brother was good let us follow the example of that man and the lord jesus and do good to our brethren however ungrateful and ungracious they might be as a result of it

that's what god would have us do

we'll conclude with a word of prayer after we sung hymn number 73

oh lord the almighty our shepherd our keeper our guard

our guide and our friends

we raise our hearts to thee this morning in thanks and in love and in adoration for the wonders of thy word and for the beauty that is in his pages and thanking thee for the love that has shown to us the sinful sons of men to call us thy children

help us oh lord to value or write our privileges that we should take them up with strong hands and walk with faith and with love and with hope

before thee in the paths of righteousness all the days of our life

hear our prayer oh lord our god and our shepherd and accept our thanksgiving through christ jesus who died for us amen

Transcript

let us begin brethren sisters by singing together hymn number 289

most glorious things are spoken

jerusalem of the number two

please remain seated while we offer a word of prayer

oh great god god of abraham of isaac

and of jacob

who was promised to raise from the dead

those who serve thee and believe in thy promises

to thee this day we lift our hearts in thanksgiving

to bless thee and to praise thy name for all our wondrous goodness and for all thy bountiful kindness to us the children of men

and all lord we thank thee for the great and precious promises which we espouse

made to thy servants to abraham to isaac and to jacob

on this day as we contemplate the lives of jacob and his brother esau we pray that thou would turn our feet aside from the paths of evil that we may choose that which is good and so please thee our god and our father through christ jesus we ask these things amen

as an introduction to the subject broadcasters we shall read together how we should be led together in the reading of genesis chapter 25

verses 19 through to the end and brother jim priest has kindly consented to leaders in that reading

genesis chapter 25

verse 19.

and these are the generations of isaac abraham's son abraham beget isaac and isaac was 40 years old when he took rebecca to wife the daughter of bethule the syrian of paranaram the sister to laban the syrian

and isaac entreated the lord for his wife because she was barren and the lord was entreated of him and rebecca his wife conceived

and the children struggled together within her

and she said if it be so why am i thus and she went to inquire of the lord

and the lord said unto her two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels

and the one people should be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger

and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled behold they were twins in her womb

and the first came out red

all over like a hairy garment and they called his name esau

and after that came his brother out and his hand took hold on esau's heel and his name was called jacob

and isaac was three score years old when she bare them

and the boys grew and esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field

and jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents

and isaac loved esau because he did eat of his venison but rebecca loved jacob

and jacob sawed pottage and esau came from the field and he was faint

and esau said to jacob feed me i pray thee with that same red pottage prime faint

therefore was his name called edom

and jacob said sell me this day thy birthright

and esau said behold i am at the point to die and what prophet shall this birthright do to me

and jacob said swear to me this day and he swear unto him and he sold his birthright unto jacob

then jacob gave esau bread and pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way

thus esau despised his birthright

we have in this

story this before us this morning brother sisters

the third example this week

of a man who despised a man who forsook

all of the mighty privileges which god gave him

and it is from that that we shall take our lessons this day

let's go in then at the 19th verse

these are the generations of isaac abraham's son

abraham begat isaac

and isaac was 40 years old when he took rebecca to wife the daughter of bethel the syrian of padanaram the sister of laban the syrian

you notice that in verse 26

that it states there that isaac was sixty three score years old when she bare the children

which means that there was a gap there of 20 years

in which she was barren in which she had no child

and this was obviously a matter of considerable distress a matter of considerable concern

so the logical thing is that isaac does in verse 21 is to entreat the lord for his wife because she was barren

i'd like to pause there for a minute brother sisters and think around this question here that is before us

isaac not having a child for 20 years

entreats the lord that he might have a child

abraham his father had been for a much longer time without a child

and yet we never ever read of abraham begging god for a child

the nearest we come to it is when abraham says to god lo i have no child and one born in my house is my ear

abraham doesn't seem to

demand or entreat or ask god for a child because god had promised him a child in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed and abraham takes this at its face value accepts it and doesn't seem to go on and on at god about it

isaac is different maybe he is provoked to do so by rebecca who was a very intelligent very clever woman

he may or have kept on at him saying ask god ask god and he does but god is entreated of him

yet it had been said in scripture that in isaac shall thy seed be called therefore isaac was going to have children

and yet he sees fit to intrigue the lord for a child

i wonder whether this is not this is a suggestion that i'm putting to you now to consider that whether in point of fact

he did right

god had stated i will give you children in isaac shall thy seed be called

god had stated he would give him children did isaac do right to intrigue god

did god give to isaac and to rebecca before he was ready to do so because of their entreaty did the fact that they kept on at him make him act as it were before his time

certainly the consequence of this is very serious verse 22 she conceived and the children struggled together within her

it's not just normal kicking movements of children within the womb that's that's being described here

the children struggled together within her

so much so that she says if it be so if this is the way i am why do i live as the revised version says wherefore do i live it was agony having those children inside her they were kicking they were struggling they were squirming they were probably punching and beating one another i don't know within the womb and the poor woman was sort of standing there watching this going on and it must have hurts intensely

they were enemies from the time of their conception it looks like

she went to inquire of the lord

where did she go to inquire of the lord

it doesn't say

shall we speculate yes

of course

i suggest brother says he went to one of two places

she either went to see melchizedek the king of salem the priest of the most high god who was the prophet of the lord presumably or she went to see abraham isaac's father who was also described as you know as a prophet of the lord she went to inquire she asked one of them

the consequences of the inquiry are set before us here

the lord said unto her

two nations are in thy womb two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder

shall serve the younger

and of course rebecca having received this message from the lord goes home and doesn't say a word about this to isaac do you think so

never she went straight home and she said do you know what the lord said to me isaac and then she quotes this and says the elder shall serve the younger

so from that time forward isaac must have known that when those children were born that god had intended that the elder was going to serve the younger he knew this

and brothers and sisters i ask you to put that in a mental pigeonhole and take it out later when we come to the subsequent thoughts in this address

isaac knew god had made it plain to rebecca who made it plain to isaac isaac knew

verse 24

and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled

behold there were twins in her womb

and the first came out red all over like a and hairy garment

and they called his name esau

must have been an extraordinary sight this child it wasn't blood

it was hairs all over this child red hairs

she must have been like my wife did been eating too many tomatoes

during her during her pregnancy came out red all over like an hairy garment must have been a sight to see called his name esau

and after that came his brother out and his hand took hold on esau's heel and his name was called jacob so the boys are born twins they've been fighting in the womb as they are born

jacob grabs hole on ethor's heel

and notice they're 60 years old when she bear him isaac was 60 years old when she bare them

and now brother and sisters we have before us verse 27

a little verse which i would earnestly ask you to put in a little box because that verse there is a summary of the two men that they developed into it's a little encapsulated epitome of all that they were and scripture summarizes it for us so beautifully and simply

and the boys grew

and esau was a cunning hunter

a man of the field

and jacob was a plain man

dwelling

in tents

now i want to consider to dwell and meditate a little bit on both of those statements let's take esau first

a cunning hunter

a man of the field

what does that mean

if you are going to be a cunning anything a cunning gardener a skillful cook a skillful

cunning clever pianist or guitarist

a great photographer

i'm a strong powerful athlete a good outstanding weight lifter whatever whatever you are going to be cunning at you have got present sisters to practice diligently at it because it nothing that's worth having as it were comes without a great deal of effort uncertainly esau is an outstanding hunter he is a cunning hunter a good clever

hunter

so what does that mean in terms of in practical terms

answer he had to spend a great deal of time hunting he had to spend much time learning how to track animals through the forest he had to spend much time learning how to shoot straight with his bow and his arrow he had just learned to spend much time learning how to stay on his horse as he charged through the forest suit he wouldn't get knocked off it he had to spend a great deal of time as i say practicing practicing practicing at being a hunter before he could be called a cunning hunter

a man of the field

which in its own turn means that he didn't have much time to spend at home you can't be learning to hunt while you are at home

there are not very many wild beasts there so he's got to spend a lot of time chasing after them and never be at home practice practice practice makes perfect and that's what esau did

scripture calls him a man of the field he lived out there he breathed the open air he was one of these probably hill hearty how do you do types

his brother on the other hand is different

jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents

now do you notice how those two sentences are set in direct opposition to one another

esau was a cunning hunter jacob was a plain man esau was a man of the field jacob dwelt intense exact parallels to one another

what's a plain man

does that mean he was plain to look at he wasn't particularly good looking or what it's a bit more than that look at the margin

a plain man my revised version tells me that that word plain means quiet or harmless hebrew perfect

perfect

that word also occurs in the 37th psalm which you probably remember mark the perfect man and behold the uprights

so perfect or plain in this case means an upright man a man who was not crooked a man who was honest straight in his dealings before god

and yet we brothers and sisters have gone on for years and years and years saying that jacob was a crook he was a deceiver he was a rogue he was a cheat and a swindler

scripture says directly the opposite of that in this verse jacob was a perfect and upright man dwelling in tents

now let's take the second part of that dwelling in tents

would you turn over with me to the letter to the hebrews to chapter 11

and see there how this word is used or how this expression is used

hebrews chapter 11

and we want the ninth verse

hebrews 11

verse nine

by faith

abraham

became a sojourner revised version in the land of promise

as in a strange country

dwelling in tents

with isaac

and jacob the heirs with him of the same promise

now notice it's a question now of a bit more than just simply what they lived in

scripture is not telling us that they didn't have a house to live in i think it's telling us a bit more this tent or these tents that are described here are probably special tents

i believe and i put it to you as a very serious suggestion that it wasn't only a tent it was the tent of worship the place that they met with god

if you go back now with me to genesis 26

to verse 5

you'll see there that there's considerable

considerable evidence that they must have had some sort of tent some sort of place to worship god to meet with him

it was looked after by abraham then by isaac in his turn and then by jacob who dwelt in tents with abraham and isaac genesis 26 and verse 5

because he says that abraham obeyed my voice and notice all these individual items now abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge

my commandments

my statutes

and my laws

there are at least one two three four five items there commandments statutes

laws

charge

that word charge is of interest because the word charge is used later on in the law of moses to describe the charge that was given to the children of levi over the tabernacle and its appertenances

so abraham must have had a tabernacle and it's a pertinencies and places to worship it's those tense that is being described there in verse 27 dwelling in tents the tents of worship

now brother sisters supposing we accept that thought for a moment

let us see where it leads us

if jacob dwelt in tents that means he performed with abraham with isaac the office of a priest

but i'd like to remind you at this point now of the privileges that attach to being the firstborn son

if you happen to be the firstborn son of a family then three things automatically came your way number one when your dad died

they would split if you are there were two of you let's suppose when your father died the goods would be divided up into three

and two of those three parts would be given to you you inherited a double portion of your father's goods when he died

secondly if it was a kingly or a royal family like the house of david then if you were the eldest son you are automatically in line to become the king very much as prince charles in england is the ear to the throne because he is the eldest son and not prince andrew or one of the others

thirdly and most important of all in our considerations this morning is that if you happen to be the eldest son

then you became automatically the priest of the family when you became of age you remember that the tribe of levi was taken instead of the firstborn to serve god

therefore i say brothers and sisters esau was the priest of god esau was the firstborn esau it was who should have been dwelling in tents with abram and isaac heirs with him of the same promise

where was he

hunting

off in the bushes off in the plains off in the hills off in the mountains off in the savannahs off in the desert hunting never here on the sabbath to worship god never here to take charge of the things that he should have taken charge of never here to bother too much about the commandments the statutes the laws the voice and the charge of god never there who did it instead [Music]

jacob

he dwelt in tents his heart was there that's where he belonged that's the thing that he wanted and brothers and sisters now if you think of it like that can you not see that this man's heart was right before god and what he wanted above all else was to stop this endless wicked trampling upon the high privileges that god had given to esau by his brother

god had given to esau his greatest privilege to be his high priest esau was never there esau trampled over these privileges and there was jacob doing that job and wanting so badly to be the priest of the family that he was saying for years i wish i could do it

i wish i could have that job his heart was there

and now and sisters look at the next couple of verses

and isaac loved esau

because he did eat of his venison

but rebecca loved jacob

let's take the first point first

the first born son

if he did not do as he ought to have done if he misbehaved

could be ousted from his office by the father i'd like to show you an instance of that if you'll stick your hand there in genesis 25 and come with me to first of chronicles chapter five

first of chronicles chapter five and verse one is an outstanding illustration of that here

of chronicles chapter 5

and verse 1.

now the sons of reuben the firstborn of israel brackets for he was the firstborn he was born first he was the eldest son

but far as much as he defiled his father's bed by going into bilhah

his birthright was given unto the sons of joseph the son of israel and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright

in other words the privilege of firstborn was taken away from reuben and handed over to the sons of joseph

and so the same thing should have obtained with esau esau didn't care about the the temple and the tabernacle rather and the worship of god and isaac is a good father who served god and who was true to god she just thrown him out of the job

get out of it but no what the scripture say

isaac loved esau

because he did eat of his venison just so long as esau kept him supplied with venison he could be the priest he could do what he liked just as much as he wished

i say brother sisters in this isaac is very reprehensible he should have thrown him out he did not and as a result of it trouble came

but there's another very important point that comes out here which i must make

you notice that there's a split in the family

isaac loved esau rebecca loved jacob

and because of this enmity came between the two of them

and brother and sisters it happens so often doesn't it in almost every family you care to look at and you care to name

that if there are two children or more than one then one of those children or two of those children will be very dissimilar you'll have the extrovert type you'll have the introvert type you'll have the outgoing thought you'll have the quiet gentle thought you'll have the good you'll have the badge and because one of them is better looking is more winning in their ways is more something or the other more appealing

the family tends to split because you love the one

more than the other and this can bring about extreme jealousy and extreme anger extreme frustration in some of those children and i beg of you that if you have a family that has more than one child in it that you make very very sure as far as in your eyes

not to show favoritism to the children

if you're a school teacher make very very certain that you don't show favor to the bright ones the good looking ones the whatsoever ones above the others it's a very very bad thing and many of you have probably got bad experiences in your mind what happened to you when you were children because of this very thing

jacob isaac loved esau rebecca love jacob and jacob himself later on very unwisely does the same thing to his own children as i say isaac

sorry jacob himself does the very same thing when he gets older and as a result although he had nearly come nearly been murdered by his brother because of this favoritism he himself now goes and shows favoritism to joseph and to benjamin natural understandable but wrong [Applause]

shall we go on

verse 29

the day came at last

jacob sod pottich

and esau came in from the field

and he was faint

and esau said to jacob

feed me i pray thee with that same red cottage for i am faint

therefore was his name called edom

and the opportunity had come at last

jacob as i said for years had been watching his brother trampled gayly over these privileges that god had given to him for years he had wanted to be the priest of the family

and he says

sell me this day thy birthright i want that job that i should have that you don't want give it to me sell it to me out

and now listen to what esau has to say

behold

i am at the point to die

and what profits shall this birthright

do to

me here is the man standing nakedly revealed for what he is before you

behold he says i am at the point of dying

rubbish

as we have had experiences in england just recently men and women can live for up to 30 60

days without food before dying and he certainly had been hunting for 30 or 60

days without food most certainly not he probably was a great big strong robust healthy fellow he wouldn't have died

not at all

sell me this day

thy birthright

put it like this brother sisters

a man comes to you and says

i'll give you five million dollars

on one condition think about it i'll come back tomorrow and i'll tell you the condition and you sit there and you say to yourself now what could i do with five million dollars and you start building your castles in the sky the trips around the world and i don't know what else

five million dollars into an awful lot like five billion dollars you can have ten swimming pools in your backyard if you've got a big enough back garden i know all sorts of things you can do with five million dollars [Applause]

comes back the next day

he says have you thought about it yeah

what's the condition

so i'll give it to you on one condition

that you never again pick up your bible

and you never again go near to a christophian church or anything like that

what would you tell him

i hope you do as i would do and give him a swift kick where it hurts

i hope you would but five million dollars is a lot of pressure

and you might consider it

but supposing he came to you and said

never read your bible again never go near to the christian election church and i'll give you a hamburger with mustard on it

what would you do then you really would kick him where it hurts wouldn't you yes you would

and here's the situation before us sell me this day your birthright the privileges that god has given you to be his high priest

sell that to me says jacob and i'll give you a plate of beans

and what did the man do

he sold him his birthright

he sold his birthright unto jacob he gave him

princess says it's so abominable that he should have done this thing

he could cook he must have come back from hunting with something he could cook you remember when his mother cooked that that goat's meat for his father his father was unable to tell the difference between his mother's cooking and esau's cooking

therefore he could cook and he could cook well he could have waited

sell me this day thy birthright

and he gave away the greatest privilege that god could possibly have given him for a plate of beans and jacob by way of extras gives him a piece of bread as well

brothers and sisters isn't it shameful

isn't it disgusting that a man could sell such a thing so cheaply is it any wonder now that the next verse goes on to say and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way thus esau despised his birthright

brothers and sisters those words or that word despised is one of the strongest words in scripture

when nathan came to david and said to him wherefore hast thou despised the word of the lord because you have slain your eye the hittite with the sword and has taken his wife that's the word that's used despised his birthright he had total contempt for the things of god

the shameful story doesn't end there

verse 34 again

then jacob gave esau bread and potage of lentils

and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way

simple words

but they only occur as far as i can tell in one other place in the old testament in exodus chapter 32 would you like to look with me at that

exodus chapter 32

and verse 6.

see the context of this

and they rose up early on the morrow

and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings

and the people sat down to eat and to drink

and rose up

to play

you notice how similar that is to what was said in genesis

and what were they playing

well it wasn't hopscotch

it was something rather more serious than that

neither let us commit fornications as the apostle paul as they committed they went off to commit fornication and i read that verse there in genesis 25 as meaning precisely that that esau ate and drank and rose up and went his way after one of the idolatrous temples and brothels that dotted the land in which they dwelt

and the letter to the hebrews again if you'll turn with me to chapter 12

makes this point very forcibly indeed

hebrews chapter 12.

[Applause]

and it's the 16th verse

and notice the context in which this is placed hebrews 12

and verse 16

lest there be any fornicator

or profane person as esau who for one morsel of meat

soul his birthright

so the selling of the birthright is placed in the same context as a profane person and a fornicator

and that's where he went that day

so

unthinking is this man brothers and sisters that he goes off to this idolatrous brothel and there he has to tell his sorry story about his brother who has robbed him he says of his privilege of his birthright

brother sisters how can we dare

to say then that jacob

deceived isaac

do you think this day when he bought this thing of

esau do you think he didn't take witnesses do you think that he didn't get he sought to sign some piece of paper to say this and do you think that he didn't show it to his father do you think his father didn't know about that and yet his father persisted in giving the blessing of the firstborn to this unworthy evil man

so evil was he that so often he went to these places that he took his wives from them

one of his their names is a holy bomber which means a tent of a high place

which high place

certainly not the high place of god the high place is that he had found one day wandering through the forests

i can almost see how it was you know brother sisters one day he was off chasing this deer on his horse and he chased after it and shot through a thicket up to the top of this hill and the deer disappeared but at the top of this hill was this high place of worship

and there they were doing interesting things

they interested him so he went the once and he went again and he went again and he went again

a profane person or a fornicator such as he saw who found his wife and married her from one of those places

it's a sad story brother sisters

and you doubtless have blamed jacob all these years for being a crook a cheat a swindler

i hope this day we have said enough to convince you that that was not the case but now let us take some words of excitation from this

first of all from esau

excitation from esau yes

if you want to become a cunning hunter or a cunning whatever a guitarist a photographer a painter a gardener i don't know what if you want to be a cunning one of these then what happens is this you become interested in it you

practice you buy the best equipment you join a club and sooner or later what happens is off you go to the clubs regularly and pretty soon you're doing things and seeing things that you ought not to see and you go there again and again and you find people there who think the way you think you find women there who interest you because they think about the same things that you're thinking about you find men there who are very interesting and very personable and lo and behold before you know it

you're involved with one of them possibly in adultery possibly marrying out of the truth possibly being led away your time ever been taken your time have been consumed

by all of these extracurricular activities brothers and sisters watch this carefully because it is so easy to fall into it's so easy to do it's so easy to get lost in this particular forest

what about jacob

jacob spent his life

dwelling in tents with abraham with isaac heirs with him of the same promise he wanted the promises of god he thought about very little else he concentrated on that he grabbed up in this particular instance here he grabbed the opportunity when it came his way he bought it he took it up he

held it to himself

and the opportunities come our way too very very often

all the arranging brethren say look we're up organizing a preaching effort in thus and so

and you think to yourself and say well um

i can't do it that week because

because

because

you're losing the opportunity

and if you're not bent towards preaching then there are lots of other opportunities to buy up they're the sick that needs visiting there's good that needs doing their friend they're people who need friends there are people who need company to talk to they're those who you should be reading the word of god with

are we brothers and sisters have these exceeding great privileges given to us for we shall be kings and priests unto god

we who are brethren let us take up the fact that god has put within our hands the privilege of being the heads of our families and let us act as heads of our families and lead

lead in the ways of righteousness not in the ways of laziness and of iniquity and of uselessness

and sisters let us take up all the opportunities that our children our grandchildren afford us they are privileges did you know that the book of deuteronomy for example said that you are to teach your children and your children's children concerning the things of god your grandchildren

privileges that come our way let us not despise them let us not sell them for things that are passing for things that are merely

transient

i'd like to conclude with a look again a final look at the 12th chapter of the letter to the hebrews because it brings us face to face with the firstborn

the one who did not sell his privileges at any price

hebrews chapter 12

and verse 16 once more

lest says the writer there be any fornicator or profane person as saw who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright and that word for is a very interesting one

in greek it's the preposition anti a n

and it normally means a commercial sort of transaction i give you five dollars in exchange for this roll of film i give you ten dollars for this thing the word that would be used there in greek is anti it is a commercial exchange he saw a commercial transaction sold his birthright for a mess of pottage

look now with me verse 2

looking unto jesus

the author and finisher of our faith

who

in exchange for same word anti in exchange for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising machine and is set down at the right hand of the throne of god

it was a small price to pay jesus thought for the great joy that was set before him and we ourselves let us forsake these things that so easily come upon us so easily draw us away from the truth

endure the cross despise the shame that we might be set set down at the right hand of the throne of god when the time comes

we shall conclude this session with a prayer please remain standing after we have sung hymn number 179

oh god of abraham of isaac and of jacob

in whose name is enshrined the promise of the resurrection from the dead and the hope of life eternal

we thank thee for the privilege of reading and meditating upon thy word

and ask that in thy mercy and in thy strength we may go forth during the coming days to serve thee faithfully to buy up the opportunity to lay up lay aside the weight that so easily beset us to esteem our privileges are right and to worship thee our one true and living god through christ jesus our lord and our mediator at thy right hand

amen

Transcript

to briefly recap on what we've learned yesterday brother sisters

i tried to convince you or to put it across to you that the struggle in the battle between jacob and etha was not merely that of a cheat trying to do his brother out of what belonged to him

i tried to show you that jacob in wanting and desiring to have the birthright was really after the things of god that he was trying to remove from esau's hands the privilege of being the priest that privilege over which

esau had trampled so blithely and so gayly for so long

and so we come today to what has been described by many brethren and his sisters as the deception the guile the subtlety that is practiced upon isaac

i'd like to say that my opinion is not quite that

isaac you recall was the one who was told i'm certain by rebecca that the elder shall serve the younger

isaac was the one to whom doubtless jacob took the deeds of the transaction between him and esau

and showed it to his father and said look i have bought the blessing from my brother

isaac was the one who as the father the head of the family was the one who in the position of leader of ruler as it were should have put esau out of the position of head of the family as priest of the family because of his dereliction of duty

isaac did not choose to do so and therefore if anyone is at fault in this whole incident i maintain that it is isaac it is not jacob and it is certainly not rebecca

let's look into the details of the story in genesis 27

and see if we can pick some useful lessons up from here

verse 1 or chapter 27

it came to pass when isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see

that he called he saw his eldest son his elder son and said unto him my son

and he said unto him behold here am i

and isaac is old isaac is expecting to die

isaac is not in good health and there are several indications of that in this chapter perhaps you'd like to look at them with me verse two and he said behold now i am old

i know not the day of my death as if he was waiting he was expecting it to be soon

now we all know that jacob went to paranaram and jacob came back and before isaac died but at this time isaac was in a very powerless state of health

i know not the day of my death verse 4

that my soul may bless thee before i die

flick over the page to

the

19th verse and see what jacob says to his father there and see there another indication that he's not well

and jacob said to his father i am ethel by first born

i have done according as thou burst me arise i pray thee

sit and eat of my venison that my soul that thy soul may bless me almost as if isaac was lying down in bed arise get up sit here let's prop you up in bed so that you might bless me

and there are other indications verse 33

when he finds out that he has been deceived isaac trembled very exceedingly and if you've got an authorized version margin you'll see that it says there he trembled with a great trembling greatly he was petrified he was shaking like a leaf and although fright maybe may have been natural in a situation like that it is probably an indication of the fact that he wasn't really well

isaac's not well isaac's about to die he thinks and scripture underlines this his mental state now back in the first verse when isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see

is that scripture's way of saying he couldn't see that he should have given that birthright to his son to jacob and not to esau

one wonders about that

anyway

he says verse 3 take i pray thee by weapons thy quiver and i bow to go out to the and go out to the field

and take me some venison and make me savory meat such as i love i don't like the ordinary stuff here i can't stand it but this is the one thing i do love savory meat bring it to me that i made and that my soul may bless me before i die

and rebecca wasn't this must have been watching like a hawk

she must have been expecting that at some time soon isaac was going to

give his blessing and that he would have done it he had given it to esau she is waiting for this now she knows that this is going to come

the day has come

verse 5

and rebecca heard when isaac speak to esau his son and esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it and now you know the rest of the story from here on she says to jacob go and kill two kids of the goats and i will make it i'll cook it so in the same way that your dad loves

and jacob verse 11 says behold esau my brother is an hairy man and i'm a smooth man my father will feel me and i shall seem to him as a deceiver

and i shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing

jacob's worried you see his conscience is involved here he's not as heartless and as

deceptive as he's been made out to be he doesn't really want to do this but it has to be done

because brothers and sisters had it not been done that day in that way what would have happened

ethan would have received the birthright ether would have received all the blessings that are pertained to it and had ether died

then the blessing and the birthright would have passed directly to ethos children and have bypassed jacob forever so it was that day it was now or never either it was going to go the right way or it was going to go the wrong way and they decided that this was or rebecca decided that this is the way to do it

verse 15

and rebecca took the goodly raymond

of her eldest son esau

which were with her

in the house and put them upon jacob her younger son it's a great day it's a great

occasion and so the best clothes come out but it's not just the best clothes brothers and sisters that expression there for the goodly raymond is very often used in the rest of the old testament of the clothing of the priest and perhaps of the high priest even so this is these are the priests garments that jacob is now putting on and we have in this fact here in this 15

verse further evidence that ether didn't care about his privileges esau hated his mother he really didn't love her very much he was a married man he probably lived elsewhere by this time and there it says that the goodly raiment of her eldest son esau which were with her in the house he hadn't used them for years

he didn't care he didn't bother he hadn't used them so they were with her

and this concept that it's the priest garment is supported very nicely in verse 27.

he came near

he kissed him he smelled the smell of his raiment

now if it was the priest's garment and the priest burnt incense before the lord then the garments would be impregnated with the smell of that incense so he comes near and he smells it and it's the smell perhaps of the incense that he gets the smell of his sea the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the lord hath blessed

possibly another indication that this is in fact the priest garments

so isaac so jacob comes in now in the 18th verse to his father

and he came in unto his father and said

my father

and he said here am i and straight away the antenna quivering who art thou my son

the voice he knows the voice the blind hear better than those with eyesight because they've got to listen harder and isaac's eyes are dim you can't see so his ears are sharper than usual

who art thou my son

and jacob said to his father

i am e thought i first born i have done according as thou baddest me arise i pray thee sit and eat of my venison that thy soul may bless thee

suspicion still quivering in in isaac the antennae is still going

how is it that thou has found it so quickly my son

jacob gives the whole game away

and he said because the lord thy god brought it unto me it's a statement that ethan would probably never have made in a thousand years

and straight away isaac's suspicions are even more a financial brighter flame

come near

i pray thee

my son that i may feel thee my son whether thou be my very son esau or not

you see he saw wouldn't have said a thing like that the lord thy god brought it to me

oh no

and so he comes and feels him now notice what it says

isaac says the voice is jacob's voice

but the hands are the hands of esau and he discerned him not because his hands were heary as his brother's esau's hand you notice he doesn't feel his face

because he's got a beard just as esau had and that would not have been any sort of indication at all but the hands are the hands of esau brothers and sisters it does create in my mind the question of what what did this man esau look like did he or had he been living today would they have put him in the smithsonian institute as

as evidence of the fact that evolution actually did take place

one wonders to be as hairy as a goat

now goats have short hair some of them but many of the goats in the middle east apparently have pretty long hair

and there's this goat skin on the back of his hand and he feels this long hair

i wonder what he was like one of our brother in england has made the rather amusing comment he said he wonder what esau must have smelled like

because when jacob when isaac smells him

he smells a goat's skin and he says look

this is what my son smells like but it smelled like a goat as well

maybe it was like that maybe it wasn't i i don't know

but here it is he brings it near

and he eats of it and all this is taking time

he's got to feel him he's got to inquire of him he's got to talk to him he's got to ask of him what all these details and i thought jacob must have been getting a little bit quivery because he now has to eat the meal verse 20 ender verse 25 he brought it near to him he did eat he brought him wine he drank

and the time is going past and ethos is out there getting his deer and he might come in at any moment

that long last his father isaac says unto him and jacob probably breathes a sigh of relief come near now and kiss me my son

and he came near and kissed him

and he blessed him he's he smelled the smell of his raiment and he blessed him

number one says let's just pause here for a moment before we actually go into this look at the blessing briefly and see what's going on

the birthrights is a legal title to those things we have described to the double portion of the father's goods it is a title to being king in the family if it's a royal family it's the title to being the priest of the family all that is involved in the title first born in the birthright but the blessing that's being given here i believe is the actual ceremony of the legal confirmant of this title when the father is about to die there was an occasion a ceremony a point in time at which the father actually conferred this

at the time of his death upon his son and this is what is happening here this is the time of the confirment or the conferral i don't know which one it is and it's being given now to jacob

see

the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the lord hath blessed therefore god gives thee of the jew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine

let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee be lord over thy brethren

now this is a surprising word brethren he only had one brother ethel

and i've wondered about this brothers and sisters and perhaps the suggestion that i make is just that that the word brethren is only used loosely doesn't necessarily mean only brothers but it means relatives kinsmen as well that etho at this time had got children their wives his wives relatives be lord over thy brethren your family

and especially let thy mother's sons bow down before thee i don't understand why it says sons instead of son

cursed me everyone that curseth me and blessed be he that blesseth thee

the great blessing that god had given to abraham had been passed down to isaac is now passed to jacob

it came to pass as soon as isaac had made an end of blessing etho and jacob was yet gone out from the presence of isaac his father

that he saw his brother came in from his hunting he had just made it

i don't know that is not true

he didn't just make it god kept etha out of there until the time was right it wasn't just by chance that that happened the hand of the almighty is here protecting jacob from the wrath of esau had he saw come in then at that time i have no doubt in my mind that he'd whipped his sword out and had his head off i have no doubt in my mind that that was what would have happened in fact he says as much later on if you look just look over into verse 41 it says and jacob and esau hated jacob because of the blessing where with his father blessed him and ethos said in his heart the days of mourning for my father at hand then will i slay my brother jacob

he would have killed him in the heat of the moment in his wrath and his anger he would have chopped his head off i'm fairly certain of that

but god says no

this is how it is going to be not otherwise

verse

32

isaac his father said unto him who art thou

art that

and he said i am thy son

my firstborn esau of course who else

and isaac trembled

very exceedingly

and said who

where is he that has taken venison and brought it me and i have eaten of all before thou camest and have blessed him ye

and he shall be

the trembling brothers and sisters i'm sure is a function of his illness but it is even more a function of the fact that he realized how near he had come to wrecking god's plan and god's purpose with his son jacob he is now afraid before god of what could have been would have happened to him had he not done what had he had not done right albeit unwillingly that's why he trembles like this so fearfully and so desperately

and isaac and esau now cries

i'd like to ask you just briefly to turn back to the 12th of hebrews

and look at that verse again which for some time bothered me

i never read it quite in the same way i never read it quite in this way before

hebrews chapter 12

and verse

17. we commented on this yesterday and we won't repeat the comments but the 17th verse says for ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing

notice birthright and blessing are the same thing almost in the eyes of the writer when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he thought it carefully or diligently with tears

where are these tears

they're here in the 27th of genesis

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 o my father

and he said

thy brother came with subtlety

and hath taken away thy blessing he's still persisting in this

and he said is not he rightly named jacob for he has supplanted me these two times

he noticed now he took away my birthright

taking a birth right out of the hand of a great big strong healthy man like that

he took away my blessing and now he has is my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing and he said hath thou not reserved the blessing for me he thought it diligently carefully with tears

verse 38 and esau said unto his father hast thou but one blessing my father bless me even me also o my father and ethan lifted up his voice

and wept

it is sad to see a grown man cry

like this but there's no doubt about it esau loved his father and his father loved esau

and here he feels he has been done he has been deprived he has been cheated and swindled and he cries

so isaac does his best

isaac his father answered and said unto him

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 thou 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

what do you make of those two last sentences brethren it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off my neck as far as i can recall there hasn't been a time in history when esau has ruled over jacob esau has participated participated in the destruction of israel several times

but not

have the dominion

is this telling us brethren that at some time in the future future to our time that the arabs the descendants of esau are in fact going to have dominion over the children of jacob over israel it seems most highly unlikely at the moment the way the jews are going on

tearing their way into lebanon defeating being conquerors winning the yom kippur war winning the six days war establishing their state with great might and power it seems highly unlikely

but here it is

it shall come to pass

when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off my neck

i believe that that is still to come and that is something that we shall see

verse 41

and he saw hated jacob because of the blessing where with his father blessed him and esau said in his heart the days of mourning for my father are at an end are at hand then will i slay my brother jacob

and rebecca hears this thy brother esau as touching the discomfort himself purposing to kill thee now therefore my son obey my voice and arise flee thou to label my brother to hiran and turn and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away until my brother's anger turn away from thee and he forget

that which thou hast done

to him i've not read brother sisters words more savagely condemnatory of a son than those

and he forget

that which thou hast done to him

he knew him he knew him well that he was going to forget about it that this important thing this great privilege of being high priest unto god

would be forgotten

by esau it's an incredible comment on esau's love for the things of god or lack of love for the things of god he forget that which thou has done to him

and now rebecca produces a stratagem i think it's one of the more cunning things that women are recorded as doing in scripture she wants he thought to sorry she wants jacob to go to here and how can she get it done

well she says she comes to isaac verse 46

i am weary of my life because of the daughters of heath

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

she's not really too worried about it there must be some truth in it and isaac must know that there's some truth but really what she's getting at is i want jacob to go away

and she chooses this way to approach it i want him to marry someone of my own family of my own kindred it's a very clever way of doing it diverts his attention from the real issue to a side issue as it were but isaac sees the point and our brothers and sisters look at verse 1 of the 20th chapter because this is

where it seems to me that reconciliation takes place between father and son

and isaac called jacob and blessed him and charged him and said unto him thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of canaan arise go to padanaram to the house of bethuel my mother's father and take via wife from thence of the daughters of laban thy mother's brother

brother sisters if this if you've not married yet you are about to get married or you are coaching someone please do as abraham did please do as isaac does here and choose someone who believes the same things that you do

if you fail to do this the consequences are

incalculable you cannot foresee where it will go you may be fortunate enough to be one of those who marries out of the truth and their husband comes in i've never yet met anyone who recommends the practice

never yet and some of the consequences are almost beyond belief you start off by marrying someone you think is thus and so and only to discover to your horror that he's not or that she is not she turns out to be something totally different to that which you expected abraham was careful to get a son get a wife for his son who believed the same things

isaac is here showing some care for his own son jacob esau marries the daughters of the land and his life and the life of his wife rebecca must have been a misery

brother and sisters if you are contemplating marrying someone out of the truth

then take the words of caution and warning that are given to us here they are warning given for good reasons you cannot tell what will happen if you do

beware

so he blesses jacob and jacob proceeds and i'd like now to go to the 10th verse of

genesis 28

and look now at a rather interesting thought a rather interesting theme that comes out here

verse 10

of genesis 28.

and jacob went out from beersheba and went towards iran

and he lighted upon a certain place

and carried there all night

because the sun was set

now if you read the authorized version here it doesn't really make too much sense and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows it doesn't make sense because you wouldn't take a stone and put it under your head for a pillow unless you happen to have rather a hard head

i don't think that's what he did i think he got a large flat stone

rolled up his um baggage such as he had put there is his pillow and lay down on this large flat stone to sleep

but the word i want to draw your attention to is that word place it only looks like a small word and it only means a certain location in our in the way we normally speak but in scripture it takes on rather different meaning can we turn back for a moment to genesis chapter 13.

and see there

the origin of this specialized meaning of the word place

genesis chapter 13

and it's verse 3.

and abram

went on his journeys from the south even to bethel

onto the place

where his tent had been at the beginning between bethel and ai unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first

so here the word place is associated with an altar a place of worship a place of sacrifice not just a certain spot

come over with me to verse 14

of the same chapter and see there

and the lord was said unto abraham after that lot was separated from him lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art he's at his altar he's worshipping where thou art northward southward eastward and westward

and verse 18 abraham removed his tent came and dwelt in the plain of mammary which is in hebron and built there an altar unto the lord another place

chapter 18

and verse 33

the same phrase occurs again and the lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with abraham and abraham returned onto his place back to his altar back to his place of worship

chapter

22

of genesis

and i think here it's even more obvious than it has been in the last verse

abraham is taking taking isaac to sacrifice him

verse four

i'm sorry verse three end of verse three and claimed the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went on to the place of which god had told him there's an altar there it's in it's in mariah verse 4 then on the third day abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off on the top of this hill somewhere there is this altar he could see it

verse 9 and they came to the place which god had told him of and abraham built revised version changes that the altar there there was an altar there it had been knocked down by the enemies of the lord and abraham has to rebuild it he lays the wood in order and binds isaac and puts him on the altar upon the wood

now so far it's a place of worship of the true god but if you come over with me now to genesis chapter 38

there

you'll see that it also means a high place or a place of worship of the heathen gods as well

and it's always associated or it seems to me with idolatry and with prostitution

genesis 38

and verse 14.

you may recall the story it's judah and tamar

tamar is waiting for the son of judah's son and nothing's happening so she decides to do something about it

verse 14

and she put her widow's garments off from her and covered her with a veil and wrapped herself and sat in an open place

a prostitute sitting by an open place a place

a place of worship of the false gods

and now let's go down a bit further into the chapter and see what happens there when judah goes into her it says that she takes this stuff this signet this bracelet that is in his hand as a sign

verse 20 judah sends his friend he found her not verse 21

then he asked the men of her place saying where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside

the men of her place revised version which her the her i believe is ashtarith or one of the false gods that they worshipped where is the harlot and that word harlot is the word kadesha which is used of the sacred prostitutes the one dedicated to these

places of impure worship and they said there's no harlot here

but now let's turn back to chapter 26

because there this helps us to understand perhaps a bit more of what happened to isaac

when he went into abimelech's land

genesis 26

and the seventh verse let's go at verse six perhaps

and isaac dwelt in jerard

and the men of the place

the men who are organizing this evil worship the men of the place asked him of his wife who is she and she said she is my sister for he faired to say she is my wife lest said he the men of the place should kill me for rebecca and take her and turn her into one of these kadeshas

verse 8 when he'd been there a long time abimelech looks out and sees isaac sporting with rebecca his wife and abimelech call isaac and said behold of a surety she is thy wife house said thou she is my sister and isaac said because i said let's i'd die for her verse 10 and abhinavalek said what is this that was done unto us one of the people might lightly have lying with thy wife and thou should have brought guiltiness upon us all thinking that she was one of the kedeshas who belonged to that place who belonged there

let's go back to chapter 28

now and see what happens here to jacob

and jacob went out from beersheba verse 11 and he lighted upon a certain place

and carried there all night

because the sun was set

he comes to a place of worship of the true god and this stone that he has lying down upon is in fact one of the altar stones it's a great big stone and he lies on on that and this is confirmed by his dream and what happens verse 16 and jacob awaked out of his sleep and she said surely the lord is in this place and i knew it not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of god a temple

and this is the gate of heaven

and jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a pillar it was an enormous great stone and this weakling this mickling this man who you probably thought was a milkshop picks up this great stone sets it on its on its end pours oil on the top of it

and anoints it

verse 22 and this stone which i have set up for a pillar shall be god's house and of all that thou shalt give me i will surely give the tenth unto thee

brother sisters as we are here perhaps i can defend jacob again i'm always seeming to do that but let me defend him again we have all said verse 20 means that here is jacob proving that he's a he's that sort of a man here he is arguing and bargaining with god saying if god will be with me and will keep me in this way that i go and will give me bread to eat and raymond to put on so that i come again to my father's house in peace then shall the lord be my god

is he bargaining with god

i don't believe it for one moment

let's look back at the 13th verse behold the lord stood above it

and said i am the lord god of abraham thy father and the god of isaac the land whereon thou liest to thee will i give it and to thy seed and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed and behold i am with thee i will keep thee in all places with the though goes i will bring thee again into this land

and jacob is merely taking up the promise that god makes

if god will be with me as he says

then if god does feed me then if i do come again to my father's house in peace then he is taking the promises of god and laying hold of them he is not bargaining with god how can we say such a thing

how could god say for example at the end of the 14th verse in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed words which he had used to abraham how could god use those words about a

a conniving schemer

it makes no sense at all brothers and sisters this is a man of god it's not just a bargainer and a schemer

and so he leaves so he goes to palanaram and there he suffers

the brethren says the main excitation that comes out of this for me

is the fact that in that land there dwelt all these people who were so full of impure worship who were so immoral who were not above murder who were the most disreputable sort of people and in the midst of all that here is a man who keeps himself from the world he goes to lebanon and laban goes and invites the men of the place to his wedding

where he cheats him he keeps himself unspotted from the world is what jacob does and perhaps we'll conclude with a brief glimpse again at the 12th chapter of the letter to the hebrews

because this is the object lesson that the writer of the hebrews is trying to get across to us

hebrews 12 and verse 16 again

just be careful

be very careful lest there be any fornicator or profane person as esau who for one mess of meat sold his birthright

he gave it up he left the truth he went out to enjoy himself and have a good time he says you are not to be like that you are not to be fornicators you are not to be profane persons you are not to leave the truth for you know that if you do that

afterwards when he would have inherited the blessing when he wanted it with all his heart it was too late

he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears

you leave the truth you go away from it

and you're possibly dead if he found no place of repentance and the writer warns don't you do it either because you might not find such a place

brothers and sisters you may be weak in the faith you may be rocking you may be in a meeting where it's not pleasant you may be in a meeting where the brethren don't particularly like you you don't get on you don't fit you're not but under no circumstances are you to leave the truth for if you do so you may find no place of repentance once you are there the possibility of the forgiveness of sins exists once you have left

it is gone

and the day of opportunity is finished

i'd like to conclude with a word of prayer after we've sung him number 15.

lord for thy mercy extended towards us the sinful sons of men for the forgiveness of sins which we have through our lord jesus christ

through whom we can sit in heavenly places at thy right hand

be blessed and praise thy name this day and ask thee that the example of thy servants of old who lived amid such dangers such moral problems

such uncertainties but live victoriously in the faith which they had in thee knowing that thou would be with them in all their ways despite the troubles that came upon them help us in our turn to rely upon thee as thy servant jacob did knowing that thou art with us by lord and my staff they shall comfort us that thou shalt in no wise forsake us or leave us

in the weeks and the months and the years that lie ahead oh god please dwell with us abide with us for christ's sake we ask this amen

Transcript

when you take a walk out in the nights in this

this place brothers and sisters and you look up at this at the skies

you see the stars

and there are some there that are very large very bright very prominent

and there are some that are not quite so easily visible they're smaller they're further away they're still stars

and just so in the constellation of scriptural characters that are brought before our attention we've got the brilliant shining large stars

and we've got the ones that are not so bright

stars they are as i say but not all of equal magnitude

and this morning i'd like to bring before you

two of those

both of whom i think illustrate the same point

the first one is a lot

but i should also digress a little and have a look into the book of ruth to naomi and we'll see i think that both of these people teach us the same

things of all though let us start with lot and i'd like to take you to the second of peter chapter two

to see there or to read there the scriptural assessment of this man's character the divine judgment as it were upon who he was and what he had done

ii peter chapter two

and verse seven

in the context peter is described speaking of the destruction of sodom and gomorrah the destruction of the ancient world

and verse 7 says that the lord

delivered

just or righteous lot

who was vexed or sore distressed

by the filthy conversation of the wicked

for that righteous man

dwelling among them in seeing and hearing

vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds

the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations

so there we have god's assessment of lot's character he is righteous he is just he is righteous verse eight he has a righteous soul again verse eight he is godly verse nine three righteouses and a just or a godly man

and yet this very godly man this same righteous man

comes to our attention in the 19th chapter of the book of genesis as ending up in tremendous grief and in a pretty awful situation

genesis chapter 19

which we read

the lord rained fire and brimstone upon sodom and gomorrah

lots possessions lots goods

lots

life livelihood is all destroyed in this terrible overthrow of these two cities

the best that he has is verse 30

and lot went up out of zohar and dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters with him for he feared to dwell in zoar and he dwelt in a cave he and his two daughters

at the end of scriptural dealing with lot that's where he is in a cave he and his two unpleasant daughters

brother and sisters what is it that has brought this godly good man to such a desperate

past what is the cause of this situation can we look back briefly into genesis chapter 19 and verse 16

where i think that those brief words put there are another of these epitomes of the character of the man who was brought before us this day

and while he lingered

the men laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters

while he lingered

lot is a lingerer

consider for a moment brother sisters where he is lingering what the situation is in which he is still dawdling and hanging around

these angels have come verse one there came two angels to sodom at even

these two angels deliver lot verse 11

they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness both small and great so lot knows beyond any doubt now that these men are angels they are servants of god verse 12 the men said unto lot hast thou hear any besides son-in-law and thy sons and thy daughters and whatsoever thou hast in the city bring them out of this place for we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the lord and the lord has sent us to destroy it

god says plainly clearly unmistakably we are going to destroy this place and in the face of the coming destruction that god is going to bring upon this place and i'm certain that lots is not knows will come he's assured of it it says verse 16.

while he

lingered

it's an amazing place to linger if ever there was one

but lot doesn't only linger like that lot lingers in his love for the world

can we just turn back to chapter 13

and see there the motives which lots which motivated him which moved him which caused him to do what he did and let us mark the consequences of such motivation

genesis chapter 13

and verse 5

and lot also which went with abram had flocks

and herds and tents not a few

and the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance was great so that they could not dwell together and there was a strife between the herdmen of abraham's cattle and the herdman of lot's cattle and the canaanites and the perizzites dwell then in the land i wonder why that little sentence is put in at the end that clause the canaanite and the perisite dwell then in the land

is it to sort of say to us or to say that these canaanites these heathen these people who dwelt round about were looking on and seeing this strife between the herdsmen of lot cattle and the herdsmen of abraham's cattle i wonder if that's what it's there for

and now we have abram's comment

and abram said unto lot

let there be no strife

i pray thee between me and zee and between my herd men and thy herd men

for we are brethren

brothers sisters these two had so much

that there was a row a quarrel between their servants

so abraham calls a lot to the round table to discuss the problem and this time certain is only a summary of what went on what transpired

he says look let's not fight we be brethren and it may well be that abraham says to him look the canaanites and the parasites dwell round about us that we are the servants of god they know we are the servants of god they know we claim to be the servants of god let us not fight because they will then laugh and mock and have us in scorn

we be brethren

my brothers and sisters

it grieves me

that we have not learned this lesson yet for we be brethren

half of us are a large proportion of us are in one fellowship another proportion is in another fellowship another proportion is in a third fellowship and the canaanite and the perisite dwell in the land and they look at us and they think probably to themselves now what is the matter with these people how can they possibly be the servants of god how can they claim to serve one god one lord with one faith one hope one baptism and still

not be brethren

brothers and sisters whatever it is that separates us

let us break these barriers down they have been here for too long

let us tear down the walls that separate us because the things that separate us are they worth are they worth all the pain and the heartache and the dissension and the contempt

that people on the outside must have for us when they learn of these things

we be brethren

but it's not we're considering this morning not abraham

abraham stands before a lot there and says in verse 9

is not the whole land before thee separate thyself i pray thee from me they're separating because they've got too much have we got so much that we can afford to separate from one another

if thou will take the left hand i will go to the right if thou depart to the right hand i will go to the left abraham is willing to accommodate lot whatever he wants you do you do that and i'll accommodate you he says

and lot comes along now they were on some sort of a mountain they were near to the altar i have no doubt

and lot lifted up his eyes

and he looked

and beheld all the plane of jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the lord destroyed sodom and gomorrah even as the garden of the lord like the land of egypt as thou comest unto zoar

and as a herdsman as a shepherd as a man who had flocks and camel and sheep and goats and cows i have no doubt obviously it appeals to him they're down there in the valley lovely green lush vegetation marvelous stuff there's sodom over there great city there's gamora perhaps

oh no it's nice and green over there we'll we'll go down there says lot

lot chose him all the plane of jordan a lot journeyed east

brother sisters here is a serious turning point in this man's life

because of money because of better conditions because of self-improvement

because of advancement lot chooses to go that way

ignoring the fact that it says in verse 12 in verse 13

that the men of sodom were wicked and sinners against the lord exceedingly

he ignores willfully he chooses to ignore that fact he is veiled as his name suggests his eyes are veiled to this fact he just doesn't consider it he doesn't enter into his thoughts at all

and we ourselves brothers and sisters make choices like that

when we choose to move house let's take that as an example we choose to move house and we think now where are we going to go when we look around the city or whatever it is we live oh it's a lovely situation it's a beautiful house there's a good neighborhood there's the good bus service

this and that and the other thing

never considering perhaps

that there are other things to be thought about where for example is the nearest ecclesia

where for example is that brother or sister upon whom you can rely upon whose advice you can depend when you have a problem which requires a scriptural answer where is he 70 miles in that direction

and should that not give us pause and make us think before we choose to go that way it's green it's well watered

but what's the point of bringing fatness into our pockets

if it brings leanness

into our souls what's the point of it all

well we move house once or twice perhaps three times in our lives

what about when we are going to choose a marriage partner

ah

she's beautiful

but

not in the truth

he's not involved in the truth at all he shows very little inclination towards being in the truth but when we marry him or we marry her

she might turn around he might turn around

and so we choose

not with god in mind but with something else and too often as i've said before too often it turns sour too often the person you thought was one thing turns out to be something else too often brother and sisters who are pursued this course

refuse to recommend it to others

brothers and sisters these are serious things

what is the point of making a decision that is logical that is natural that is obvious if at the end of it all

it's wrong

lot is not unrighteous please remember lot is not unjust please remember lot is not ungodly but this is the sort of decision he makes that takes him down towards sodom you know this sequence just as well as i do he pitches his tent towards sodom he goes that away towards sodom in chapter 14 we find that he is actually living in sodom verse 12.

these kings come down and they took lot abram's brother's son who dwelt in sodom and his goods and they departed he is living there now

chapter 19

we find that in the beginning of that chapter chapter 1 chapter 19 in verse 1 that there came two angels to sodom at even and lot sat in the gate of sodom as has been pointed out to sit in the gate means you're one of the elders one of the judges one of the respected of that country of that of that city lot sits in the gate he pitches his tent towards sodom he dwells in saddam and at the end of it all he is a judge he's a ruler he's a big man in sodom

brothers and sisters god did his best

god tried his best to get that manner to there and just so it is that when we make bad decisions god tries sometimes to fish us out of it

he tries to get lot out of sodom he sends these kings down and these kings come and this affliction comes upon him and instead of getting out of sodom and staying out of there learning the lesson what happens lots head straight back

like a bee to the flower

and brothers and sisters when we put ourselves in bad situations before god when we've chosen wrongly when we've made wrong decisions sometimes it happens that god does his best to get us out of it by means of illness by means of adverse circumstances by means of other offers god tries to push us out of it or pull us out of it but

sometimes we won't come we just won't come

and the trouble with decisions like that

is that they destroy one's credibility they totally destroy one's credibility with everybody lot went down to sodom he lived in sodom and he didn't save a soul in sodom let's have a look and see what happens genesis chapter 19

remember who this man is lot is a judge in sodom lot is a big man in sodom and the angels come

and he invites them into his house full marks to lock for that

and he pressed them verse 3 he pressed upon them greatly and they turned in unto him and entered into his house and he made them a feast and they'd bake unleavened bread and they did eat but before they lay down the men of the city even the men of the of sodom compass the house round both young and old and all the people from every quarter the house is a is a meeting place of these iniquitous and wicked men

and they call lot

and said unto him where are the three men or where are the men which came into thee this night bring them out unto us that we may know them

and mark the words of lot here brother sisters

lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after him

and he said

i pray you brethren

do not so

wickedly brethren

i tell you abraham would have choked on his beard before he called people like this his brethren brethren do not so wickedly

and he offers them his daughters they've come here under the shadow of my roof don't dare touch him they said stand back and see the contempt with which they hold him and they said again this one fellow

this

joker came into sergeant and now he will needs be a judge now we will deal worse with these and with them you see how much respect how much admiration how much affection and great thought they had for lot in all this

so he didn't save any of the men of sodom

they wouldn't listen to him yet they had no respect whatsoever they knew that he was a servant of god but what was he doing here if he was a servant of god what's he doing here they probably said

he can't be taking his religion too seriously

so the men said right okay verse 12.

have you got anybody here else besides son-in-law sons daughters whatsoever thou hast in the city bring them out of this place for we will destroy this place because the cry of them is wax and great before the face of the lord and the lord has sent us to destroy it verse 14

and lot went out and spoke unto his sons in law which married his daughters or which are about to marry his daughter we don't really know and said up get you out of this place for the lord will destroy this city and they're all stricken with panic and they all said right this man is very serious we know in the past he's spoken the truth let's get out of here

but he seemed

as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law they wouldn't listen they didn't have they had no respect for what he said because they knew the man he had weakened his position before them to such an extent that they wouldn't take what he said seriously

right so he didn't save his sons in law either

how about his wife

verse

26

but his wife

looked back from behind him

and she became a pillar of salt

he lagged so far behind standing there gazing back upon sodom you can imagine it can't you oh my beautiful house oh my swimming pool all my beautiful carpets all this she stood there and down from heaven rain fire brimstone liquid salt cascading over her

she became a pillar of salt

so he didn't save his wife well only leaves his daughters doesn't it

verse 30

and lot went up out of zoar

and dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters with him for he fared to dwell in zoar and he dwelt in a cave he and his two daughters

and the first born said unto the younger our father is old and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth come let us make our father drink wine

and we will lie with him that we may preserve seed of our father and so this terrible thing comes to pass

so he didn't save his daughters either

you see brethren sisters once we make decisions that are weak that we know within our heart of hearts must not be right must be in some way wrong even though there's nothing overtly wrong with them we they lead us on a path that goes inevitably downhill that continues downhill that will that has no turning back

god tries his best to get us out of such situations but because we have put ourselves there and carry on putting ourselves there

we may eventually come to this sort of destruction it seems to me brother and sister that god sort of draws the veil over him at the end of this there's no further mention of lot at all he's just gone there's no further mention of him he's just gone from the pages of scripture god sort of mercifully closes the blind on him well brother sisters what's all that telling you and what's it telling me it's telling us this that if we act against our consciences if we act in such ways that seem to be logical natural obvious profitable gainful and do not consider at the same time whether it is a godly thing to do whether it will improve our standing before god whether it will improve our spiritual life whether all those things which i've mentioned here are not taken into consideration then we put ourselves on the path that goes inevitably downwards towards ruin oh yes we may get into the kingdom of god lot is certainly going to be in the kingdom of god it says so in scripture in 2nd peter chapter 2 lot will certainly be in the kingdom of god and so probably will we but just as those stars up there are great big fat bright ones or tiny little pinpricks

so will we be we shall be as the stars that shine forever and ever

big ones or little ones and if you want like i do to be ministered and abundant entry into the kingdom of god then let us look into our lives now and choose carefully what we are going to do with respect to what god wants

let's have a look now at the story of naomi and ruth in the book of ruth in chapter one

and i believe we see the same sort of thing there the same decisions being made

for the same sort of reasons and the same sort of consequences this time perhaps a little bit more acute

ruth chapter one

and the first verse

and it came to pass

in the days when the judges ruled

that there was a famine in the land

and a certain man of bethlehem judah went to sargon in the country of moab he and his wife and his two sons

let's speculate a little bit about what these people were

they lived in bethlehem judah brothers and sisters there's another bethlehem but this one is bethlehem judah the one from which david comes and you'll recall won't you that david was a shepherd

bethlehem is called the house of bread because it was so lush it had so much vegetation that it was a real house of bread david was a shepherd it is very likely that these were shepherds as well because you see they go to this country of moab

and moab was a country of sheepshearers

of shepherds so they choose to go there they leave because there's a famine in the land

princesses pause here for a moment i'm not for one minute trying to stand before you and pretend that i would make the right decision in these circumstances

but think about it for a moment what are they doing

they are taking themselves up from the country of god where at least god is nominally acknowledged where god is at least nominally worshipped

they're taking themselves from there and because of this famine which god has sent

they are going to the country of moab where things look better but in the country of moab they worship other gods they worship kemash they worship other ones and kemash you remember is a god that was a great brazen idol with a fire burning in his belly that they took the children and chucked them in to be burned

kmash was the god of moab they picked themselves up and there they go

did they do right

did they do it right brother sisters do you think so i have my doubts especially when i remember for example moses who the letter to the hebrew says he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the treasures of egypt i think they should have stayed

and the consequences of this prove i think that they should they went to the country of moab to save their lives

verse 2 the name of the man was elimelech and his name of his wife was naomi and the name of his two sons are marlon kilian and their ephrathites of bethlehem judah and they came to the country of moab and they continued there

and elimelech naomi's husband

died

so he didn't save his life

she was left and her two sons

so what do they do they get married do they send home for women to get married to who believe in the one true god not at all they choose to disobey can you put your finger in there and turn back to deuteronomy chapter seven for for a moment i notice the position that the parents play in the marriage of their children here and notice the commandments to

deuteronomy chapter 7

and verse 3.

it says of all the people who dwelt in the lands there that neither shalt thou make marriages with them

thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son

for they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods

no says god you are not to take wives from the people who worship these other gods don't do it

and you notice it's the parent responsibility thou shalt not take

naomi is there

naomi is probably the chief architect of this naomi goes out selects two women opera and ruth and marries them to her two sons

it's the logical it's natural it's the expedient thing

to

do they don't they're about 10 years haven't got any children and verse 5 marlon and chilean both of them died

so the husband's dead

the eldest son is dead the younger son son's dead although they've gone there to save their lives

seems as though god doesn't approve of this

so she's left with her two sons

of she's left of her two sons and her husband so she gets up now the crooks in moab being no less than the crooks in israel they swindler of all her property they cheat they rob them the poor women are left on their own no one to defend them all the goods are gone

she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of moab

for she had heard

in the country of moab how that the lord had visited his people in giving them

brother and this does not improve my respect for naomi and for what they did

now there's bread there they go there when there wasn't any bread there they picked themselves up and they left despite the fact that it was god's country that they were leading in the very first instance it does not improve my respect for them

they're doing what what circumstances dictate rather than what principle dictates

so off they go she was seven and her two daughters in law with her and they went to return to the land of judah

and naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law go return each of you to her mother's house the lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead the lord and with me the lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband go back home there she says you're not going to find any husbands in israel no no no no they don't like immigrants there don't come to israel with me the fact that when they go there they might learn something about the true god that's got nothing to do with it

go back you won't get a husband there

she kissed them they lifted up their voice and they wept and they said unto her surely we will return with thee unto that people we we really want to go with you

naomi said turn again my daughters why will he go with me are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands turn again my daughters go your way for i'm too old to have a husband and even if i should have a husband she says and bear son would you wait for them till they were grown

and then we come to this extraordinary statement

name my daughters

for it grieveth me much for your sakes

that the hand of the lord is gone out against me and my margin translates that as

name my daughters for it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of the lord is gone out against me

she's wallowing in self pity

she can't be sorry enough for herself the hand of the lord is gone out against me he hasn't done anything wrong

the hand of the lord has gone out against me not like job

the lord giveth the lord taketh away blessed be the name of the lord he said

the hand of the lord is gone out against me and then brothers do we have this totally unacceptable

incident here

verse 14 they lifted up their voice and wept again and opera kissed her mother-in-law probably at their goodbye okay i'm off said alpha i'm leaving

and she turns to ruth and says this

and she said behold thy sister-in-law is gone back onto her people and unto her gods returns thou after thy sister-in-law

brothers and sisters i ask you

if someone is showing signs of coming to the truth leaving the catholic church the jewish religion the muslim faith the whatever coming to the truth would you then turn around and say look don't come with me go back to your gods go back to your old religion especially when you knew that what they did there was to take these children heat up kimashi's belly and throw these children in would you say a thing like that and unto her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law

what sort of a woman is this we're dealing with here

you see it's the logical the naturally obvious thing that is motivating her if she comes to israel there is one god there not the one you've been used to they won't find a husband there because they don't like immigrants you won't get a place of rest as she calls it

go back home you'll be far better off there the consideration that she might come to the truth that she might believe in god none of these seem to enter into naomi's mind at all

and she's so wrong about it that ruth puts her to shame and it is an eternal credit to this woman and to perhaps the teaching of her husband i don't know

that she says what she says

entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for wither thou goest i will go and where thou largest i will lodge

thy people shall be my people and thy god my god

where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried

jehovah do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me and she takes the covenant name of god into her mouth

expressing her faith

in god the lord jehovah do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me

thy god shall be my god she says and brothers and sisters if naomi was an example i really don't know how it happens that ruth could believe such so strongly in the god that she believed in i really don't know

if she's an extraordinary woman

and when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her she left speaking unto her and they carried on to battle him

and brethren says all the privations all these twisted thoughts that were in naomi must have marked her face and her mind

so much so that when they got to the city it says the women said

is this naomi

surely not

can't be naomi she's so different

and she said unto them my brother sisters again she just wallows in the self-pity of hers

call me not naomi which means pleasant don't call me pleasant call me bitter

for the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me

ah

poor naomi

i went out full

and the lord hath brought me home again empty

why then call ye me pleasant seeing that the lord has testified against me and the almighty has afflicted me

brothers and sisters that's not true i went out full she said

totally untrue she went out with her stomach flapping against her backbone it was a famine you remember i went out full she said and the lord has brought me back empty

it's a terrible sort of attitude to have i think but again naomi is a natural ordinary sort of person that doesn't seem to be motivated by faith at all circumstances dictate what happened to her circumstances dictate her attitude not principle

and of course she stands there

saying a thing like this the lord has brought me home again empty and there's ruth standing there this gentile woman who is now going to take upon herself the burden of looking after naomi caring for her in her illness if she was ill she stands there and dares to say i have come back again totally empty with nothing at all

it's tragic

it's sad

it's a pity and you know full well what happens brother sisters the one of them the one of those two who did not act according to common sense who did not act according to that which appeared to be logical natural and obvious that is the one who receives the greatest of blessings she is married in a very short time she finds someone to feed her in an exceedingly short time and although she'd been married for 10

years to either mala no children which one i don't know she didn't have any children and in an extremely short time she has a child from an old man boaz

boaz was an old man you remember it says that blessed be thou because thou has not followed after the young men implying that he was an old man from an old man she bears a child in an exceedingly short space of time

and not only that you know as well as i do that her child had children who had children and eventually the messiah was born of that line and so as a reward for her faith as a reward for her not acting according to the logical the obvious the natural the immediate and expedient thing

ruth is blessed far more than she could ever have dreamed or we would ever have dreamed

and so brothers and sisters and young people i say to you when you have a serious decision to make in your life

lying there before you

consider yes is it going to be profitable yes is it going to be beneficial yes is it sensible yes is it reasonable to do

but also make no mistake about it consider carefully what it will do to your relationships with your god

will it make you worse will it make you better will it improve your spiritual life will it destroy it will it take you away from home will it make you give you more time at home will you be able to attend the meetings or will you have to stay away from them will you be able to attend the bible class or won't you be able to attend the bible class will you go into isolation deliberately to make more money then you may pay for it by the destruction of your soul of your faith would you do it think carefully brother and sisters because the consequences of the logical the natural and the obvious seem to me in scripture when they're divorced from thinking about god as all they seem to be invariably wrong

let's bear that in mind in the years and months that lie ahead

we will conclude with a word of prayer

after we sing together one of the most profound hymns in the him book i think

for us who cannot look into the future and see what's there

aim number 105

lord who thyself has bidden us to pray for daily bread

number 100

and 5.

so

[Music]

uh

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

stay

[Music]

is

[Music]

[Applause]

is

[Music]

me

[Music]

oh

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

oh

[Music]

he's

[Music]

oh lord our god

the high and lofty one

who inhabits eternity who knows the end from the beginning

we thy frail

mortal children

whose frames are but of dust

come unto thee this day

thanking thee for the lessons of thy word

and asking thee to help us in all our decisions to be guided by the principles that those laid down

that even when we choose them they appear to be difficult and painful but we shall still choose them because they please thee and we'll redown to our honor

in the kingdom of god

oh lord open our eyes that we may see the right paths enlighten our hearts give us understanding that we may choose a right when these decisions and problems come upon us

accept our thanksgiving this day

and bless us all now through christ jesus our lord amen