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Open up that number 14
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You've got some
All right
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Sorry about that anyway
I'm going to continue on with the series that I started on Sunday morning
Or have been preaching Sunday mornings rather last couple weeks about lessons from leaders
The idea is that there's leaders in the scripture that we can look to and we can learn a lot of different
Uh lessons from them and this morning we preached about Isaac and of course the two sons of Isaac are Esau and Jacob
You could probably already see the Jacob sermon coming, but I didn't want to just skip over Esau
You know Esau I think is somebody that there is a lesson we can learn from him
And in this series what i'm trying to do is really just narrow it down to one lesson per leader
With a lot of these leaders
There's gonna be multiple lessons we could preach and really just get one positive thing out of it that we can take away
uh from the sermon
but uh
And not focus so much on the negative things now and every leader, you know, because we're dealing with flawed people
We're dealing with sinful man, you know, we could turn around after this whole series is done
And maybe I will I don't know just preach a whole other series just about all the warnings from these leaders all the things all
The things that they did wrong that are serve as an example to us upon whom the world's the ends of the world
Are come
But Esau, I believe there is a good thing that we can learn from him
There's a good lesson before I get into the good lesson though
I want to kind of take a minute to to just dispel some common
Misunderstandings when it comes to this character
Esau now if you remember Esau is the son of Isaac. He's the elder brother to
Jacob, okay
Now look there in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14
It says follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord looking diligently lest any man
Fail of the grace of god lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled lest there be any
fornicator or profane person person as Esau
Who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright?
So he's referring back to Esau in the old testament and and he reminds us of the story there
How he sold his birthright to Jacob for one morsel of meat
And that it says in verse 17 for he you know that how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing
He was rejected. So if you remember the story, you know, he's he comes in from the hunt. He's famished
he's he's very hungry and
Jacob happens to be there making this pottage and he says give me pottage lest I die
And he says sell me your birthright. So he literally sold his birthright for some pottage, you know, you think about the chili, right?
And he must have been pretty hungry. We got the chili night coming up, you know me
I can relate to this a little bit just because my wife has has been making chili and bean dip, you know
When you're on a diet and you're hungry
And you start smelling those things you start to think about, you know, all the things you'd be willing to do to get that right
Now obviously what Esau did was wicked, you know, it was it was wrong
It was a very foolish thing to sell his birthright Esau. Don't get me wrong is a flawed character, but then again
Show me a perfect character in the bible
They don't exist all of these leaders that we've been looking at are flawed individuals
Esau is no different the problem with Esau is that people tend to only focus on the negative
They don't see the good things the good attributes of Esau. I don't believe that Esau
Was a necessarily a wicked person I believe Esau was saved I believe Esau will be in heaven
And I mean because we cease and i'll prove that here in a minute
We see several good things about Esau and he was considered in his own time to be a good person
Okay, it says there in verse 17 how he when he would have inherited the blessing
So he was in line to be the progenitor of the of the people coming after, you know
In the line of Abraham he was going to carry on that lineage, you know
But it ended up through the providence of God through you know
For God's reasons for a lot of different reasons it ended up getting switched over to Jacob and there's a whole lot of you know
Symbolism there and we'll talk about that here
In a minute, but again in the beginning i'm just pointing out that yes Esau was flawed. What was so
flawed about him notice there in verse 16
It says lest there be any fornicator or profane person person as Esau
Okay, now the bible does not say that Esau was a profane person or a fornicator that he was not some
Dirty fornicator out there just sleeping around with everybody. We know that he was a married man
You know, he multiplied wives, right? We talked about this morning
But the bible does not say that he was a fornicator
It says that a fornicator is like Esau because like Esau
They sell their birthright for one morsel of meat. They give up the blessing of God they give up that which is good
From God for immediate gratification
Right. That was what's going on with the story in Esau
Esau who was going to who was going to inherit the blessing who was the firstborn who was going to get that double blessing
You know, he was going to be the the one who inherited the most
He was going to be the one who's going to inherit the blessing
Yeah, because he was hungry because all he cared about was his immediate gratification
He went ahead and traded that great blessing away for a bowl of lentils for a bowl of pottage for you know
A little bit of soup or whatever it was that Jacob was cooking, you know, so that's the picture there
that's why it says that lest there be any fornicator or
Profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, you know
and that's the picture there that you know, if we go out there and just
Fulfill as God's people as Christians go out there and just fulfill the lust of the flesh
If we just go after sin if we just go out and uh disregard the things of God, you know
We're not going to inherit a blessing from God. God isn't going to bless us and people Christians turn away, you know trade away their whole
Christian life they they trade away all the blessings that God has for them for you know
A little carnal satisfaction here on earth they go out there and they ruin their lives
They give it all away just so they can have a little immediate gratification
Whether as it says here be through fornication or some other sinful act
Okay, and then notice he goes on says for he know that how after when he would have inherited the blessing
He was rejected meaning it's too late. The blessings gone. That's the picture there once you know, you give up that blessing
You know, it's gone. You can't ever get that back for he found no place of repentance though
He sought it carefully with tears doesn't matter how sorry you are sometimes once you do certain things that it's over
You can't take it back. Okay. So the lesson is don't do it to begin with
Okay, so obviously Esau is a flawed character
So much so that he's being used here as a warning to those that would be a fornicator or a profane person
He was a very impulsive
He was very a person. He was carnal. He was a carnal person
He was somebody that cared only about gratifying the flesh that did not care about spiritual things
Only thought wanted to live in the moment didn't think about the future didn't think about the blessings of God down the road
But only wanted to gratify his flesh in the moment
And again, he's being used an example because of the fact that we can all be guilty of that and people kind of tend
You know have tend to look down their nose at Esau and obviously what he did was very foolish
But you know, we could all be just as carnal. We can all be just as short-sighted
We can all be just as selfish foolish as Esau was, you know
We can all make stupid decisions and trade the blessings of God for sin, right? We can all do that
So, of course Esau was flawed but
another common misconception that people have about him is that they they tend to think that Esau somehow was hated by God and they
think this because of
what it says there in Malachi, but
We won't we won't get to Malachi just yet Malachi chapter one
But they think that Esau was hated by God
Okay, and and this is not the case Esau the individual was not hated by the Lord. I don't believe that
Look there in Hebrews chapter 11
Look at verse 20. Okay
If Esau was just some terrible person who just didn't you know should have just been hated by God and everybody else, right?
Then why is Isaac blessing him? Right? Why is it that we see Esau actually going on and being blessed by?
Uh, or excuse me Esau being blessed by Isaac later. It says in verse 20 of Hebrews 11 by faith. Isaac blessed Jacob
And Esau like Esau still got blessed he just didn't get that double blessing
He didn't just get the the right to the firstborn. He didn't get that which was you know
Would normally be given to the firstborn son
he got a lesser blessing that he was entitled to because of his his carnality but
And he did sell away, you know, give away his his birthright, but you know, he was blessed nonetheless
He was still blessed and and God's that tells me that he was not somebody that was hated by God
He wasn't hated by Isaac and he wasn't a necessarily a wicked person
so again the idea that we have or the thing that we have to keep in mind is that
You know Isaac and or or excuse me, Jacob and Esau represent, you know
The the the children of the flesh and the children of faith they represent the promised seed and they represent
You know the unsaved okay
Go to Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter 9 because this is and i'm just i'm taking the time to explain this because
People get to malachi and then they just they just forget everything else that's been said in the new testament
And they say things like well, the bible says that God hated Esau, you know
But what does it mean by that? It means that hate that that God hated the nation of edom
Okay, not Esau the individual, you know, i'm kind of building the case here
If you look at Romans chapter 9 verse 1 it says I say the truth in christ
I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart
For I wish that myself were accursed from christ for my brethren for my kinsmen according to the flesh
Who are israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants?
And the giving of the law and the service of god and the promises whose are the fathers and who as concerning the flesh
Christ came who is overall god blessed forever. Amen
So what paul is saying is here is that he was showing us is that he has a great burden
For the jews of his day because you have to remember paul was was a jew
He was something that came out of the jews religion. He exceeded and he he was very successful in the jews religion
And he still had a burden for those people that were stuck in that
A religion of judaism, okay
And he's saying here even to the point where he's saying I wish that I myself were accursed from christ for my brethren
And he's saying man the if of all the people you would think that would get saved
It would be the jews why because whose are the fathers right? They have the covenants they have the law
They have the service of god. They have the promises whose are the fathers they can claim, you know back then
They could claim a lineage going back to abraham isaac and jacob they could claim that lineage
That's that was who their fathers were. Those were uh, you know, they're they're uh
Those that came before them it says and whom as concerning the flesh christ came
Who is over all
For six not as though the word of god had not had taken that effect
For they are not all israel which are of israel
So just because they're of the nation of israel just because they live there whatever that does not necessarily make them
A jew that does not make them of the household of faith, right?
That does not necessarily make that mean that they are
Uh fellow citizens with the saints, you know, that is something that we receive through faith. You can go read effusions 2
Bible says in verse 7 neither because they are the seed of abraham
Are they all children but in isaac shall thy seed be called? Okay
So again, you have this and you have to remember in scripture you have this allegory this illustration
Through these individuals like isaac and ishmael. Okay. Remember isaac who was the son of abraham?
Well before isaac there was the firstborn ishmael who was born of hagar right and if you would
Actually just stay where you are
And then you have jacob right who supplants isa in in in the in the in the in terms of the blessing, right?
So you have in you know in those two generations you have the younger son
You know being the one that receives the inheritance what that is is a picture
And what it shows us is a picture of the division between the saved and the unsaved. Okay
And you got to keep this in mind because when you get to malachi chapter one, it doesn't turn everything on its head
So what you see with guys like ishmael and isaac what you see with jacob and isa is this dividing right?
This is how I heard it explained. I think it's a great way to explain it basically
You know christ came of the seed of abraham, right?
But it was through a very particular line, wasn't it? It wasn't through ishmael
It wasn't through isa. You know, there's this constant breaking off right where it's following this one line
Through
isaac through jacob and down through the generations
It's following a specific line when you get to christ what you have is another division
You have another breaking off in that lineage. It's a spiritual one in nature. It's not physical anymore
It's a spiritual one. It's just another breaking off
That's why it goes on it says in here in verse eight of romans chapter nine
That is that they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of god what he's saying
Israelites the jews of paul's day. They are the children of the flesh, but they are not the children of god, okay
He says that they are not these are not the children of god
But the children of promise are counted for the seed for this is the word of promise at this time
I will come and sarah shall have a son and not only this but when rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father
isaac, so he's showing us look
There's this lineage that came down concerning christ concerning the flesh through
uh, you know through isaac through uh, uh
Jacob, but eventually now it's there's other there's this breaking off again just like there was back then now those that are
Are accounted for the promise who are they're the children of god who are the children of the promise not the physical flesh, okay
It says in verse 10 and not only this but when rebecca also conceived
I read that verse 11 for the children not being not born neither having done any good or evil
That the purpose of god according election might stand not of works
But of him that called it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger. That's what was told
Her concerning isa and jacob that the elder shall serve the younger and it was done
Before they were even born, okay
This supplanting was predicted before either of them had even been born
That's what it says in verse 11 for the children being not born neither having done any good or evil, right? So
Esau being supplanted by jacob in terms of the blessing and the inheritance has nothing to do
With you know, the fact that he's a bad guy
This was something that was predicted by god before they had done anything
It's that the purpose of god according, uh to election might stand okay not of works
But of him that called as it is written jacob have I loved but esau have I hated?
Right, and that's where he's quoting malachi right there and people want to go to verse 13 and say aha
See, he hates esau. That's not the case
Okay, this uh, he was supplanted before he was born, okay
This is something that's fully fully more further illustrated in galatians. Okay, if you would go to galatians chapter four galatians chapter number four
In verse 21 it says tell me the desire to be under the law
Do you not hear the law for it is written that abraham had two sons?
The one by a handmaid the other by a free woman, okay
So you have hagar and you have sarah right the one that was abraham's, you know had two sons ishmael of hagar and he had
isaac of
sarah
He says the one by a bondmaid hagar the one by a freeman sarah
The one who was of the bondmaid was born after the flesh. So that's the picture there, you know that that seed esau
Ishmael esau that's a picture of you know, those that are going to reject christ
Okay, that's a picture but that doesn't mean that those were necessarily bad individuals, okay
He says uh verse 23, but he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh
But he of the freeman was by promise
Verse 24 which things are an allegory right there. They tell a story in and of themselves. They are
Allegorical in nature they illustrate something they illustrate a greater truth, okay
For these are the two covenants
The one from mount sinai which generith bondage which is agar which is the new testament hagar, right?
For this is agar for this agar is mount sinai in arabia
Which is where the law came from in answer to jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with their children
But jerusalem, which is above is free, which is the mother of us all
Okay, so I you know, I don't want to go super long on this point, but hopefully you all understand
You know
The picture there that's being painted with these individuals does not mean that isaw
Is a bad guy, you know isaw
Represents a picture in the bible of those that were going to be the children of the flesh
And those are going to be children of the promise. Okay, it was all
According to god's foreknowledge. All right
He saw that coming and he caused things to pass to give us that allegory as it says
You know the problem is people, you know, they read romans there
In verse 9 13, it says well isaw have I hated and they're quoting malachi chapter one
Where it says in verse one i'll just read to you the burden of the word of lord to israel by malachi
I have loved you sayeth the lord yet. You say where in hast thou loved me?
What's not isaw jacob's brother sayeth the lord yet. I love jacob and I hated isaw. Okay?
And look when you get to malachi, you have to understand that
You know probably around 1300 years of history have taken place
You know, you've gone from the literal from isaw the individual to where this is being referenced where he's talking about the nation of edom
Because he says in verse four wherefore whereas edom sayeth
We are impoverished. This is malachi chapter one. Okay, so there's been you know, what 37 books between you know, genesis
And uh, you know malachi if god hated isaw he had some kind of bone to pick with him
We would have heard about it. Okay, he's using this again as a way to
He's using this again as a picture as to illustrate something. All right, go to genesis chapter number 27
Hopefully if you're still one that's out there or you came in kind of with this notion that isaw somehow
Was should just be totally disregarded
There's nothing good that we can learn from him and that he's somebody that was despised by god the point of being hated
You know, hopefully i've kind of dispelled that notion. All right. I don't think isaw was a bad guy
And says in genesis 27 verse 38 and isaw said into his father hast thou but one blessing my father, right?
So isaw this is after his birthright has been given to jacob, right?
It's already been taken and he's finding out what has happened and he's coming and he's pleading with them saying hast thou but one blessing
My father bless me even me also my father and isaw lifted up his voice and wept there you have hebrews 12
You know, he sought repentance carefully with tears he was weeping crying out wanting that that blessing restored to him
And isaac his father answered and said behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew
Of heaven from above so he still gets blessed right? He still by faith blessed isaw as well as jacob
You know, he just didn't receive the blessing
That jacob got he didn't get the the the blessing that would have been given to the firstborn which was technically his to receive
But he's still you know, he doesn't go there and and ask for this blessing and isaac says well
You're just a dirty rotten no good stinking son. I'm not going to give you anything
No, he still blesses him because isaw the individual is still a good person. I believe flawed
But still a good person. Okay still somebody we can learn from all right
and
Also, you know, I understand that it was the nation of edom that became wicked later
But that does not necessarily reflect on on isaw himself
In verse 40 he goes on and says and by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother
And it shall come to pass and thou shall have dominion that thou shall break his yoke from off thy neck
So there's this this prophecy there that's kind of given about him
So again, the point of reading this is to show us that isaw the person
Was still blessed when you get to malachi chapter one, you know circa 1300 years or whatever, you know
Isaw become has become edom the wicked nation that god is going to judge. That's that's two different things though
Okay, so okay all that said, you know, let me get into the lesson from the leader isaw, okay
What I think we can learn from isaw is that
You know vengeance is not ours to take the bible says that vengeance is mine
I will repay saith the lord, you know vengeance when we're angry when someone is wronged us in some way
You know, it's not necessarily up to us to exact vengeance on those individuals. Okay, but rather we ought to forgive
and to forget
If you look there in genesis chapter 27 verse 41
It says and isaw hated jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him
So he's mad and you know understandably so, you know, I mean obviously he sold away
He sold his birthright, you know, but now that's different from the blessing, you know, and now
It's he this happens so you can kind of understand. I mean i'd be upset
I'm sure anybody else in the room would be upset
You got swindled out of your inheritance by you know, the by your own mother and your younger son, you know
It was a pretty conniving thing that they did if you know the story
Right, and they you know, they he jake, you know, uh, uh isaac wants, you know, the the
To eat the venison he wants that savory meat
So he sends isaw out to go and kill an animal and bring it back to him
You know rebecca overhears what's taking place that he's going to get the blessing when he comes back with this venison that his father loves
And that you know, so she gets with jacob
and they concoct this plan to butcher a goat and put the hair upon the fur upon jacob because
He says hey if I go in there and and you know, uh isaac feels me he's going to know it's me
I'm going to be busted
Because he's going to feel that I am I'm you know, i'm a smooth man and isa is a hairy man, right?
He's going to know the difference right at this point isaac's vision had dimmed. He couldn't see
You know, so they they they had this whole plan to go in there and basically trick isa out of his birthright, right?
So, you know, you can understand why he hated jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him
And isa said in his heart the days of mourning for my father are at hand
He thought he was going to die. It turns out he wasn't
Then will I slay my brother jacob? So he's so mad that he's like i'm actually going to kill my own brother
This is how upset he was
And again, I think the lesson here is that anger
You know is a natural reaction
You know, we were living in a culture today where everyone wants to say don't ever be angry
If you're ever mad at somebody that somehow you're wrong if you're ever angry or upset, you know
Or or you or upset with somebody that that's somehow wrong. That's not what i'm saying
You know, it's anger is a natural human emotion hatred is a natural human emotion
You know people, you know will sometimes say oh hate such a strong word. Yeah, it's a strong emotion, too
That everybody feels and people today, you know, they they say oh you shouldn't hate anyone
It's like really have you really thought that through?
Well, what about pedophiles? Can I hate them?
What about hitler right? Everyone wants to bring up hitler, right? Can I hate hitler? Oh, you can hate hitler
But wait a minute. I thought hating things was bad
You know, so I don't want to get the wrong idea when I say that, you know vengeance is not ours
Obviously feeling anger is a natural human emotion
It's just that we have to temper that we can't just lash out and act out when somebody does us wrong
Or makes us angry or upset, you know, we have to learn be people who control our emotions
You know in some senses in some ways, you know, that's something that you saw struggled with right?
He had a hard time with self-control
You know when he was hunger hungered, you know, he sold his birthright or his blessing. He gave it away
Because he had no self-control, you know
And then again here what we see at the end of you know later in his life
It seems like he he gets some self-control right because he gets very upset, but he doesn't actually end up killing his brother
But again anger is a natural reaction
But what we learn what we see in the life of esau is that anger is something that subsides with time
It's something that goes away, right?
I'm, sure everyone in the room can think of a time when or some of us more than once, you know
Could think of a time when we were very angry with someone or something being very upset. I mean, I know
In my when I was a younger man, I really struggled with anger. I remember being very getting very upset over things
I think of I think I can almost recall like the day I kind of figured this out that you need to control your emotions
You know my early 20s. I I had I had a car
That would not it kept uh, I think that the alternator was going bad or something
There was something I had to go somewhere and the car wasn't starting or wouldn't stay running. I can't remember exactly
But I remember getting so angry. I got out and I started kicking my car. I was just so mad
I'm like standing in my drive just anger right letting this emotion
Take control and then I got I wore myself out kicking the car and then it dawned on me is that my car is still
broken
And now it has dents
You know me kicking the cars resolved nothing, you know, it just was just me letting my anger out
Just letting my emotions take control, right?
But after I got all that out, I still had to fix the car
And now it's got cosmetic damage right because of me because of me not being able to control
My emotions and that was like when it started to dawn on me like when you get upset
You just can't throw things. You can't just punch holes in walls. You can't just kick things. You can't just start, you know
Screaming and yelling and you know, you need to be a person when you get angry
That's a natural human emotion
But we need to learn to control anger to control when we're upset and not let it run away with us
And even esau, you know, he is still exercising some self-control
He's saying it says that he's you know, he's plotting to kill him
He says, you know when the days of the morning and my father are at hand
He says then will I will I say my brother, you know after dad dies and everyone calms down
We're not going through this emotional turmoil then i'll go kill jacob, right?
So he's kind of got this self-imposed cooldown period so to speak
Now verse 42 it says in these words of esau
Her elder son were told to rebecca his mother
And she sent and called jacob her younger son and said unto him behold thy brother esau is touching me doth comfort himself
Purposing to kill thee so he's he's allowing this natural emotion to be a source of comfort, right?
He wants to do this and we've probably all been there
You know if you've ever been angry, you know
You kind of feel alive right because when you get angry when you get upset you actually release
You know adrenaline it's actually, you know gets gets the heart pumping
He says now therefore my son she said obey my voice and arise flee thou to labin my brother to heron
And tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away. So mom knows
That anger is something that's going to taper off. He's really upset with you now
He wants to kill you. But if you just leave for a little while, he'll cool off, right?
Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee and he forget
That which thou has done to him then I will send and will fetch thee from thence
Why should I be deprived of also of you both in one day?
So she kind of tells him. Hey, let him cool off. There's this, you know, this cool down period isn't that like what something they have
In california if you want to buy a gun you have to wait 10 days
So you're not just buying it to go home and shoot your spouse or something like it's it's a law in some states
I don't know if I got that exactly right, but that's I think they call it the
Cool-down period like you have to wait 10 days before you buy a gun you register
And you have to wait because you know, you might be buying that gun to go. Let somebody have it, right?
But 10 days later you might come to your senses, right?
Because that's how anger works now in the in the moment in the heat of of emotion in the heat of the moment
When we're angry, we can be very impulsive, you know, we can just do things
We can lash out that and do things that we would, you know, we'll end up regretting later. Okay?
If you would and if you would go to uh, we'll just stay where you are actually
You know, this is something that god actually provides for in the law as well if you remember in numbers
Okay in numbers where he's talking about the cities of refuge, right?
Says in verse nine the lord spake unto moses saying speak unto the children of israel say unto them
When you become over jordan under this under the land of canan into the land of canan
Then you shall appoint cities to be your cities of refuge for you that the slayer may flee hither
Which killeth any persons at unawares
And they shall not be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger that the man slayer die
Not until he stand before the congregation in judgment
So what he's saying here, this is actually provision in the in god's law that if you committed manslaughter, right?
If you accidentally killed somebody it was not intentional. It was not murder
You know rather than having somebody, you know, a relative of that individual that was killed coming and killing you
God is saying hey flee to this city
Go in there and you'll be safe until you stand before the congregation basically are given a trial, right? We'll figure out what really happened
You know god provides for that. Okay, because god understands what that anger is a natural human emotion
That is something we all feel
That we're all going to experience experience anger
Frustration, you know in our lives that's going to be something that we go through
Okay, the lesson that we need to learn is to not let it over the edge of our lives
The lesson that we need to learn is to not let it overtake us and let it cause us to do things that we would
You know
Regret and that's what we're seeing here in god's law
Is that he's saying look you don't want to just shed innocent blood because the slayer the man who's killed somebody unawares
Is not worthy of death
You know, you don't want innocent blood on your hands. Okay, so that's why he's making this provision
He said if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge wherewith
Fled and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge and the revenger killed
The blood killed the slayer. He shall not be guilty of blood meaning if the guy
You know who's fled for refuge comes out of that city of refuge and the revenger finds him and kills him
Out of revenge for what has happened that the revenger is not guilty of blood
Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest
You know, which you know would have been a lengthy period of time, you know decades in a lot of circumstances would have gone by
Meaning this that the the revenger of blood would have had time to cool off
Right and not let the heat of the moment get to him and lash out in anger. Okay
But after the death the high priest shall the slayer return into land of his possession
so again
Anger is a natural
Predictable human emotion so much so that god could see it coming saying look when this happens
You want to you don't want innocent blood. Here's a city of refuge. It's that predictable. It's because anger is natural human emotion
It's not a bad thing. Okay
You know, there are some things that we should be angry about there are some things that should make us upset
You know, we should be angry at sin. We should be angry at iniquity. We should be angry at injustice
We should be angry by these things. They should upset us
You know, i'm worried about the person who's not angered, you know, are you some kind of a sociopath?
Are you some kind of just you're just some cold calloused individual who just never gets upset about anything
Never get angry about anything
You know, that's a natural human emotion
The bible says i'll just read to you from the first samuel 11
That the spirit of god came upon samuel when he heard those tidings remember when nahash or the ammonites came
I wanted to thrust out the right eyes of all those in
Gilead
And he and the tidings came to saul after he'd been anointed king
It says that he was and his anger was kindled greatly when he heard those tidings
His anger was kindled greatly when he heard about the injustice that somebody was going to do
He had his natural emotion was anger
But notice what it says and the spirit of god came upon saul when he heard those tidings
And his anger was kindled greatly, you know
The spirit of god might allow for anger. It might even cause you to be angry sometimes, you know, a righteous indignation, right?
You say well, I just don't know the angers of god. Well, does god ever get angry?
Bible says god is angry with the wicked every day. Look if god doesn't ever get angry explain hell to me
Explain a place called hell where god punishes people for all eternity with fire and torment
That's wrath. That's wrath as an expression of anger. Okay. So again anger is a very natural human thing
It's a very natural emotion. It's even one of god's attributes
It's not some sinful thing that we should just try to avoid at all costs
What we have to learn to do is when when it comes upon us when we are angry at somebody
We have to learn to temper that anger and not just lash out in anger
Okay, this is important and this is the more practical part of the sermon
I always try to tie in some practical things is that
You know, we we don't want to react in anger in our life, you know
And there's a lot of things that could be make could make us angry
But we don't want to lash out in anger in our lives. Okay, i'm not saying never i'm not saying don't ever be angry
I'm not saying you know that you should reach a point in your life where just nothing makes you upset
You just never get angry anymore that that'd be that'd be stupid of me to get up here and say don't be angry
Okay
Now maybe sometimes the things we get angry about we really have no business being angry about
Maybe we get angry over really stupid things. Okay
But what i'm saying is that when you're angry don't allow that to control you don't react in anger
You know a lot of times people will be told. Hey, maybe you need to just count down from 10, right?
You need to learn some anger management. You need to go scream in a pillow or something. I don't know
I mean you gotta get a punching bag. I don't know, right
Just don't react in anger. Obviously, it's natural after it's predictable. It's something we all go through. We don't want to lash out in anger
Especially in our personal relationships, you know, we don't want to lash out at people when they make us angry
Okay, and look people are going to make us angry, you know, every parent can attest to that
Amen, every every parent could say yeah kids making angry, you know parents probably make kids angry too sometimes justifiably
So i'm sure you know
When we get these interpersonal, you know relationships in our lives people are going to do things that upset us
They're going to do things that make us and angry
You know, but we should not lash out in anger and look sometimes that's easier said than done
Had jacob not fled to laban who knows how things would have gone, right?
Obviously, we understand the providence of god and all that that god would have done something but just generally speaking
If he hadn't gotten away from him if there hadn't been this great, you know
Geographical distance he had to travel to actually act out on that anger, you know, things might have gone differently, right?
Sometimes it's easier said than done to say hey don't lash out in anger, you know
And this is uh, this is something that i've noticed in parenting. This is something that i've had to work on as a parent
Okay
You know kids do something they make you upset they make you angry
They're worthy of punishment, you know punishing them while angry is not usually the best policy
Because sometimes we can overdo it or sometimes in anger. We don't make it clear why they're being punished
You know, this is a child rearing tip that I heard that i've you know
I've found to be very beneficial and to be honest, it's still one that I have to work at
Okay, it's one that I still have I struggle with sometimes, you know my wife as well
You know we have because in the heat of the moment, you know, the kids do something
They're they're worthy of punishment. They're worthy of a spanking
You know and what they've done it's the fifth time you're punting you're spanking them for this or whatever
It's it's the sixth, you know, fifth child of the day that's getting the second spank, you know
You've been doing it all day, you know trying to straighten these kids out. It's a stressful situation it can get to you
It can it can stress you out
And just look at my face, you know, it can make you mad, right?
But that's not when we want to lash out and and punish
You know because then we sometimes we might overdo it and if you've done this, you know, it's not the end of the world, okay
But it does happen right it'd be better to collect yourself
Tell the child go in the other room. I'll see you in a few minutes
Go in there calmly explain to them why they're getting a spanking
How the punishment is going to be doled out?
You know like we like to say you did this you're going to get this many
You know
And then in a very calm fashion
administer
You know the the the the instruction to the seat of learning as it were right we need to we need to work on that
But do it in a calm manner do it very and make it very clear to them. That's hard to do when you're angry
You know, sometimes when you're angry, it's just bend over stick it out
You're going to get it and then it's whack whack whack whack whack whack whack whack
You know and they're angry they're screaming they're upset and it's oh now you're getting more whack whack whack whack whack
And it's just it goes on and on and on
You know and and then you have to step back and say what did they learn that you're angry?
You know
That when I do something like that, it just makes you mad and you lash out at me
What they need to learn is what you did was wrong. There are consequences for your actions
You know and there's a whole there's several generations now that have grown up without this concept in their head
That were not taught this by their parents that there are consequences
For your actions see how spanking is so mean
Yeah, well, you know, it's a lot worse as you know
The bible says a child left to himself bring it this mother to shame
You know, I would rather correct my children when they're young in my house than let the world do it
You know when they grow up to be adults who don't understand there's consequences for their actions
And then the cops have to tell them that you know
And then they're doing you know nine to five or whatever they're doing 10 to 20 in some federal prison going
Oh, there's consequences for my actions
Glad I finally figured that out. Yeah. Sorry the best part the seasons of your life are going to be spent
You know in some slammer somewhere i'd rather just teach them that in the home that hey, there's consequences for your actions
You know, i'm going to probably do a better job of that and i'm not angry
And i'm not just lashing out in anger
You know and this is the challenge of parenting. Okay, those that are trying to do it, right? Okay
Calmly explain to them why they're being punished
Calmly explain to them here is the punishment and then calmly dole it out
You know another thing while i'm on the subject, you know, since i've already breached the subject of corporal punishment
you know i'll i'll say this too is that you know when I
What i've recently I try to remind myself to do when I spank my children
Is spend as much time with them afterwards, you know, either just holding them talking to them letting them know it's okay
As I did punishing them, you know, I think that's an important thing
I'm, not saying you have to do it, but it's something I like to do. I like to remind them that you know, it's over
And by the way, this is this is why I think spanking is better because you know spanking gets it over with
When we're just you know, my I didn't get spanked growing up, you know
So you might have figured that out. I don't know but
You know, I never got that growing up. I mean I got a lot of you know
I got a lot of talk to like this to the teeth
You know, that's how we knew mom was mad when she would talk to you through her teeth, right? That was like, okay
You're about to get smacked. Okay. I'm not saying I never I never got taken over the knee and and disciplined
You know on that cushioned area that's full of nerve endings, you know
The part of my anatomy that god has put there for that purpose
You know, it was a lot of smacks upside the head. It was throwing things. It was anger, you know
It was slamming things, you know, but not really knowing why
You know not having explained to you just knowing that this person's mad at me because I did something
You know, I I saw a lot of that
you know, so
I'm ranting but you know now when i'm
When I have my own children i've decided to say i'm gonna let them know why i'm angry
And i'm going to oh, that's what I was saying
You know, I would have much, you know when I got older it turned into this thing of well
Now i'm going to ground you for two weeks
You know that I think that's like the staple punishment across the board. That's what all parents do. It's two weeks of grounding
I'm going to take this away. You're grounded for two weeks, you know, and that just gave me time to just brood
To just brood about the whole situation. I would rather just my you know, mom or dad just spank my butt and say don't do it again
You know, I would rather have somebody just take a belt
And tan my hide for a minute and say don't do it again
And then just restore fellowship. I mean, isn't that what we read in hebrews chapter 12 that god chaseneth every son receiveth
He didn't say he just didn't say god punishes him. It says god chaseneth every son whom he receiveth, right?
God he's using that specifically as an example as a chastening as a whipping as a as a form of punishment, right?
Now we know god doesn't literally punish us, you know be saying look our fathers did
You know the fathers of our flesh they they for their own pleasure chastened us
Right, but he for our profit, you know, god chastens us in different ways in this work in this life
But he's using the example of a literal chastening, right? There's something to be said about physical punishment
Okay
And i'm bringing this up because you know, this is an interpersonal relationship that most of us have or will have one day
We will all be parenting in all likelihood
The odds are that many of us in this room the majority of people if you're not already someday will be a parent
And you will have to deal with
Anger you'll have to deal with this emotion and there's all I mean
There's so many other relationships that we could talk about how to handle anger in right, but here's one that's going to have a real
Down to earth practical application in your life when you're dealing with children when you're punishing don't do it when you're angry
Okay
You know, there's other ways we could apply this
You know when people do things we should not just become angry at them and and become bitter and stay that way
We should be forgiving people. We should be people that want to let things go again going back to the idea of chasing
That's what's so beautiful about spanking is it's it's done. It's over
You know god chases us we get right it's done and over god doesn't come back a year later and go remember that time
God doesn't say well your punishment's almost over. You know, god gets it over right? That's why I want to be as a parent
They do something wrong. Let's get it over with let's restore fellowship and move on with their lives. That's what I love
About that's what I love about spanking. Let's ask the kids. What do you love about spanking?
Nothing right that's the point they're not supposed to love anything about it, right
But don't you know, that's what i'm saying is, you know, it allows us to just move on, you know, we don't have to stay angry
Angry is a natural human emotion. We're all going to feel
We need to learn how to you how to channel that how to how to get over things and not become angry people
Let's i'll wrap it up. I know this is kind of a ranting sermon, but I didn't want to I didn't want to just pass up
Esau. Okay. I thought this was a good lesson. We can learn from Esau go to genesis chapter 32 genesis chapter number 32
Go to genesis chapter 32 genesis chapter number 32
Because remember how we start when when when we were reading earlier
Where Esau is saying i'm gonna kill my brother. He's so angry
That he's saying when my dad dies and we're done mourning i'm going to slay my brother for what he's done to me
This is how mad he is
Look i've been mad in my life. I don't think i've ever been anywhere near angry enough to actually think about wanting to
Kill somebody like seriously
Like actually say i'm going to kill this person
You know, we might have said that. Oh, I want to kill that guy. Oh, she was dead
You know, we we kind of say things like that, but that's not what he was saying here
This is premeditated like okay when he's dead then i'm gonna find him and then i'll bury him
No, he's like thought it through like he's serious about killing him. I've never been that angry at least. I don't think I have
But so we're going from that to years later
When Jacob is coming back into the land and he's going to face Esau for the first time since that incident
The first time since he fled from the face of Esau because he was plotting to kill him now in Genesis 32
Jacob is coming back and he's not exactly sure what he's going to find
Let's see verse one
It says in Genesis 32 verse 1 and Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold Esau came
And with him 400 men now if you're Jacob
We know the story
But imagine, you know being that in that moment
There's my brother the one who wanted to kill me and he's got 400 dudes with him
It's not looking so good, right?
He's probably sweating a little bit, you know
He's wondering if he's going to get it
And he divided the children unto Leah and unto Rachel and unto the two handmaids
So he breaks up the children with the with the the respective mothers
And he put the handmaids and their children foremost and Leah and her children after and Rachel and Joseph Heiner most
He passed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother
So he divides them up
And he goes, okay, i'm gonna go meet him and while he's walking towards him
He's literally bowing on the earth like he's falling prostrate seven times before he even gets near to him like he's trying to
You know, make sure that everything's okay. He's letting him know that he's he's you know, come in. Peace, you know, peace, dude
And it says now notice verse four imagine being Jacob
You're I mean he's dividing up the family and can't why did he do that?
Well, you know, I I don't know if I were one of the handmaids
I might be a little insulted when he's like putting me to the foremost like you're more expendable
You're a little less expendable. You're expendable. You're not expendable, you know
You Rachel and and and Joseph get all the way to the back, right?
You know he did that because he's thinking, you know, if if he comes and starts killing us
You know, maybe these let the ones in the hindr most can escape and get away
right
So this is this is mentality. This is what he's thinking. He doesn't know what's going on in isa's heart
And it says in verse four imagine being Jacob and isa ran to meet him and embraced him
And fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept. I mean, what a relief
I mean, he doesn't know what he's walking into it for all he knows
He's his life is about to end a bunch of his children and wives are about to be slaughtered
And all of a sudden this guy who years ago his own brother who was plotting to kill him
Is falling on him and weeping and embracing him. It's a beautiful reunion, right?
Why did that happen?
Because isa ceased from being angry
He cooled off
He was no longer harboring this bitterness and resentment and anger towards his own brother
You know, this is the lesson that we can learn from isa. We do not want to be people who stay angry
Obviously, we're going to be angry in life. We're going to be upset people are going to do things in our lives that make us
angry
The the lesson is to not stay angry
You know get get over that don't be an angry person. Don't be don't don't hold things over people's heads
Don't you know, uh become a resentful bitter person towards others
Even when they've done something, you know, justifiably to make you upset go ahead and be angry go ahead and tell them you're upset
Seek for an apology, but you know what eventually you just need to get over it
Look, we run into people like this all the time out
So any you've probably run into people like this even in just your personal life people who are just holding on to some resentment
Over something that was done to them years ago. I mean decades ago
You know, oh, you know my parents, you know when I was younger did x y and z and it's bad what they did
It's it's they're upset but they're it's like but that was 20 30 years ago
Need to let it go
Need to get over it
You know, you know just for my personal life, you know, I I didn't see my father for a long time
You know and and after i'd had many children
And look i'm not going to go into all of it. I'm not trying to disparage my father
But you know, he did some things that made me upset
You know and then I go visit him 20 years later
You know when he's an older man and has suffered some serious health issues, you know
Was that the time to me go in there and vent all my frustrations?
You know go kick a man while he's down. No, you know, I was just glad to see him, you know
Some people don't have that reaction. They hold on to things that their parents did decades ago
And they watch their parents go to the grave with their anger and resentment in their heart
You know and that's not good. That's not the type of hey, you know what those same people end up doing
They end up just regretting that
They end up later just saying, you know, I just wish I would have talked to my parents one more time
I just told them everything was okay
I wish I would have just gotten over that and had some kind of relationship before their end
People, you know, you say get practical, you know preach a practical sermon. That's pretty practical
You know people do this in their lives. They do stupid things like this. They get angry which is fine. It's understandable
It's predictable. It's natural. The problem is that they then choose to stay angry
I'm going to be angry and i'm going to stay angry all the way to the end
I'm going to let them know every day for the rest of my life that i'm still hurt. I'm still mad
I'm still angry and i'm never going to let it go
Well, you know what?
Then then you better be careful about how you talk about esau because he's got a big leg up on you
And people want to look down their nose at esau, but you know what?
He sees jacob coming and says come here brother
Let's talk. Oh, man, so good to see you
The same guy he was plotting seriously to the point of I want to murder this man
I'm going to slay him now. He's he's gotten over it. He was not somebody who stayed angry
That's the lesson that we learn
So let's just read the rest of the story real quick and it says uh, and he lifted up his eyes
He saw the women and children and said whose are these those with thee and he said the children
Which god hath graciously given thy servant and then the handmaids came near they and and their children
They bowed themselves and leia also with her children came near and bowed themselves and after came joseph
Near and rachel and they bowed themselves and he said what meanest thou by all this drove which I met and he said
These are to find grace in thy sight
So if you remember the story he sent these these this cattle ahead of him
As a to try and pacify esau before he even got near him
So he's saying what was all that he sent me earlier before I got here
He's like, you know, these are these I sent those, you know to find grace in the sight of my lord
And esau said I have enough my brother
He said keep thou that has unto thyself. He says I don't need your I don't need your stuff
You know you keep that it's yours, right?
Esau at the end is a very gracious person
He's not like yeah, you should give me something after everything you took from me
Remember that yeah, you should give me what is that? Is that all you got?
I mean, you're the one who's getting you know, the double portion. You're the one who's going to have that bigger inheritance
That should have been mine
He's saying no you keep that that's yours very gracious person. I think esau at the end turned out to be a very
gracious person flawed individual
Had his own issues, of course, but this is a great story. I in my mind when I read this
He goes on it says in verse 10 and jacob said nay
I pray thee now if I found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand
For therefore I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of god and thou was pleased with me
Take I pray thee my blessing that which has brought thee
because
God hath dealt graciously with me and because I have enough and he urged him and he took it and you know
What a great relationship they restore that relationship. It comes back
And but why why was that relationship even possible to have
Because the fact that esau was somebody that didn't just stay
Angry, he could have showed up with 400 guys and says oh, yeah, it's on, you know
And and say all these years i've just been you know
I've had that picture of jacob on the dartboard and i've just been thinking i've been throwing the darts when I see him the
Next time and just brooding and just seething and just getting angry or you know, no he let it go
He said it is what it is
And at the end he restores that relationship look
Some relationships in life are not worth burning because you're angry some bridges. You don't want to burn
People make you mad. They do things that make you upset. It's not a reason to burn them
You know, you don't want to lose relationships anger is something that can just drive a wedge between people
We lash out in anger. We do something foolishly in anger. We say something in anger
I mean we could apply this in the in the marriage relationship. I'm sure
You know, i'm sure you know every spouse in here could probably testify the fact that when their spouse made something
This did something or said something to make them upset that they had a really good comeback
That they had something that they could just throw back right in their face
Say oh, yeah. Well you
Right, but you know what the wise person would do is shut it
And hold that in because once things are said there's no taking them back
You know and what you end up doing when you when you are angry when you're upset when you cool down you realize
I love this person. I don't want to drive a wedge between me and them
I don't want to just lash out in anger and and say things that i'm going to regret later
Right, we don't want to we don't want to let anger
Mar relationships that are important to us, okay
Go to genesis chapter 36. We'll close there
You know a person who who's going to be like esau, you know is obviously going to experience anger
Just like everybody else the lesson that we learn is is that you don't stay angry and that you let things go
Okay
That you want to restore and mend
Relationships, you know, that's what we should seek in our relationships to restore and mend
Relationships not to just hold on to bitterness and anger and resentment but to restore things
You know to get back on good ground with people. I mean, I love how it ends with esau in genesis 36
because
remember
Jacob's getting the land. He's getting the inheritance
And he's so upset about at the beginning. He's going to kill him
Then he comes back and he's just very glad to see him
And he's gracious towards him
He's he's trying to refuse his gifts and saying I have enough I have plenty
But notice I mean he takes it to the next level in genesis 36 verse 6 and esau took his wives and his sons
And his daughters and all the persons of his house and his cattle and all his beasts and all his substance
Which he had got in the land of canan sounds like he was blessed
And went into the country far from the face of his brother. So his brother jacob comes back
And he's glad to see him and says oh, let me get out of the way
And what's he doing? He's restoring that relationship and he goes on and of course that becomes the nation of edom, right?
For their riches were more than that they might dwell together and he doesn't say well I was here first
You know, he honors what had taken place. He says look that's how it happened. You know, you got the you got the blessing
You know, it's yours
I'll leave right because what he learned is is that that relationship was more important than just stuff and just things and just
You know being stubborn and ignorant, okay
so it says that he you know, he
They departed in verse eight and thus, uh, thus dwelt esau in mount seer esau is edom
And that's who you read about in malachi
Is edom the nation not the person, okay?
So what's the lesson that we learned from from esau?
That anger is a natural emotion, but it's not something we want to hang on to
Even with people who have justifiably made us upset and done things that have maybe even hurt us
We should always seek to restore and mend those relationships
Because they are very valuable, you know, we don't have a lot of people
In our lives, you know that are gonna you know be as close to us as some people are
You know your immediate family, that's it
You know
A few friends that you might have you mean you might you'll be lucky in this life with enough friends to count on one hand
honestly
I mean we all think oh, you know people the young people think i'm just going to be friends with these people forever
No, you're not
Friend and not not always for bad reasons, you know friends come and go in life people move circumstances change
You know if when you have a friend
When you have a family member when you have a relationship
You know don't just burn that out of anger
You know and if you have
Seek to restore that seek to men and try to you know, give time to cool off and not just lash out in anger
Okay, let's go and pray dear lord again. Thank you for
the lesson of esau thank you for his
Lord his uh his forgiveness and his kindness towards his brother
and lord, I pray you'd help us to emulate that in our own lives lord to be people who are long-suffering and
lord forgiving and
That we would always seek to to mend relationships that can be mended. We ask these things in christ's name. Amen
All right, well go ahead and sing one more song before we go
Me
Oh
So