(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Let's start off there in Genesis 36, Genesis 36 verse 8. Genesis 36 verse 8, the Bible says, Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir, Esau is Edom. The title for the sermon this morning is Esau is Edom. And you might be, you know, listening to that chapter as it was being read and you're wondering, what could we possibly take out of this chapter? You know, we have this genealogy, all these names, difficult to pronounce. You know, unless you're having, I guess, a child and maybe you're having a boy, you know, you want, you know, instead of buying a baby names book, you will turn to Genesis 36, you know, and find a name. Maybe that's one reason God has given us this chapter. But, you know, here's the reason though, you know, is that the Edomites, Esau, Esau's descendants, and you can see there that Edom, Esau's name becomes Edom. The Edomites play a significant role throughout the Bible, you know, from the Old Testament even into the New Testament. And so, you know, in this foundational book of Genesis, God tells us a lot about the Edomites so we can remember who they are. You know, God wants us not to just read over names, not just to read over nations that are fighting against Israel, but that we would be educated, we would know where these people come from. And they do play a prominent role in the Bible. So let's start off with verse number one. Now these are the generations of Esau who is Edom. Just a reminder, Esau is the twin brother of Jacob who becomes known as Israel. Verse number two, Esau took his wife of the daughter of Canaan, Ada, the daughter of Elan the Hittite, and Aholeba-maph, the daughter of Einah, the daughter of Zebion the Hivite, and Bashamath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebahoth, and Ada, Be'ezor, Eliphaz, and Bashamath, Beru, Reul, and Aholeba-maph, Berjesh, and Jalem, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. So just a reminder there that, you know, Esau took for himself wives of the daughter of Canaan, which his parents did not like. You know, these wives that he took were a pain to the parents of Esau. And let's keep going there though. Verse number six, Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the persons of his house and his cattle. And what you notice is not only does he have many wives and many children, sons and daughters, but he has all the persons of his house. So he's got a number of servants and his cattle. So he's got all his cattle and his beasts and all his substance. He's a very rich man, he's a very wealthy man, very prominent man there in the land of Canaan, which he had got in the land of Canaan and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob, for their riches were more than they might dwell, that more than that they might dwell together. And the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. So what we learn here is that Jacob or Israel and Esau or Edom are very wealthy, very rich people. Of course, they got that from their inheritance, from their parents. But these two men were very productive. They were both hard workers. And we know in previous chapters that Jacob gives a great substance as a gift to his brother Esau as well. And so they have so many things where they cannot dwell together. And this is a picture of the nation of Israel and the picture of the nation of Edom. We'll soon see, but these two become two great nations, very great, very powerful. And so Esau needs to move out of Canaan, or away from his brother Jacob, I should say, and verse number eight tells us where he dwelt. And this is a very important scripture as well. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir, Esau is Edom, and these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. So where did Edom or Esau go to live? Mount Seir, okay. This gets repeated over and over and over for us in the book of Genesis, even in this chapter. Esau is Edom. Esau is the father of the Edomites. The Edomites went to live at Mount Seir. This is important because if you look at a geographic map of Israel, you know, you have the nation of Israel, and of course the nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms later on. The nation of Israel from the northern kingdom and the nation of Judah as the southern kingdom, but just south, just on the border of Judah, was Edom, the nation of Edom, okay? And Mount Seir was in that general area, so they were very, very close neighbors to Israel, okay? And again, the Bible would often use, as you're reading through your Bible, the Bible, God often refers to the Edomites. He's preaching against the Edomites many times, but many times God would just refer to the Edomites as Mount Seir, where you would read the Bible and God is prophesying against Mount Seir, and that should bring to your remembrance, oh, this is the Edomites, okay? So God uses Mount Seir as the location, interchangeably sometimes to describe the Edomites. Verse number 10. These are the names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau, Reol, the son of Bashamath, the wife of Esau, and the sons of Eliphaz were Timan, Omar, Zepho, Gaitom, and Kenaz. Verse number 12. And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bared to Eliphaz Amalek. These were the sons of Ada, Esau's wife. Now keep your finger there, and notice that one of the sons there that she bared, this concubine, is Amalek. And this is another prominent name that appears in your Bible many times. Keep your finger there and go to Exodus 17. Exodus 17. And what we're seeing here developed, not only do the Edomites become a thorn in the flesh, to Israel, but so do the descendants of Amalek. And they're known as the Amalekites, okay? So let's just quickly get one of the most famous stories about the Amalekites and the kind of problems they caused Israel. But we have this great story here in Exodus 17, verse 8. Let's go there, Exodus 17, verse 8. Let's just read this together. A very famous story regarding Moses and Joshua. It says, then came Amalek. Okay, now obviously this is not Amalek, the one we just read of, but Amalek's descendants, okay? The Amalekites, Amalek. And fought with Israel, again, that's not Jacob, but Israel's descendants, Jacob's descendants, in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. Maybe you know this story now, verse number 10. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed, okay? So what is it that Moses goes to do? He sends Joshua, who's a younger man, who's a man of warfare, he sends Joshua out to fight a physical warfare with the Amalekites. And Moses, being an older man, he goes up into a hill and he starts to pray. He starts to pray over this battle. And as he's praying, he's lifting up his hands to God, right? And when he gets tired of lifting up his hands, a picture of getting tired of praying, the Amalekites, the enemies, start having a victory. And when he's able to lift up his hands once again and pray for the Israelites, the Israelites start having victory in the battle. So this battle is being dictated by whether, you know, Moses is able to lift up his hands or keeping them down, right? And this is a picture of his prayer. When his hands are up, he's praying. When his hands are down, he's gotten tired of praying. And then look at verse number 12. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands. So he's got Aaron on one side, Hur on the other side, lifting up Moses' hands. Hey, keep praying. Hey, we're here. We're supporting you, right? Sit down. Keep praying. And his hands were heavy. Sorry, verse number 12. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on one side, the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. So we have that story of the Amalekites, and it's a great story, you know, that I often turn to when I'm preaching about prayer and the need to pray and how, you know, prayer can have great spiritual victories. You know, if we forget to pray, if we have our hands down, as it were, we're not praying. How can we expect spiritual victory in our life, right? If we want spiritual victory, we need to get together and pray, okay? And I've often said, you know, I feel like I'm Moses sometimes. I want to pray. I want to get there, you know, up on a hill and pray. But it gets tiring. It's hard work. It's a spiritual labor praying. And that's why I encourage, you know, Wednesday night prayer meeting. You know, when we get together, a group of us praying together, it's as though we're lifting up each other's hands. You know, keeping us praying, keeping us going so we can have the great victories that God wants for us in our lives and for our church. But I just wanted to show you the Amalekites. That's the first introduction to the Amalekites there in Genesis 36. You go back to Genesis 36 now, verse number 13. Genesis 36, verse number 13. And these are the sons of Reul, Nahaph and Zirah, Shema and Mizra. These were the sons of Bashamath, Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Aholeb-Bemelah, the daughter of Einah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife, and Shabbat, Esau, Jush, and Jalem, and Korah. Now, notice what it says here. These were dukes of the sons of Esau. So we have this first introduction to this term dukes. Now, we do use the term duke even today, especially when it comes to the royal family in England. And they have different levels of authority, of honor. And so some people are known as dukes. And it carries the same idea. A duke is someone of honor or nobility. And so not only was Esau great, but his descendants became great dukes, became great men of honor, very, I guess, famous for the people in the land there. And so now we have some of these names of these dukes. Verse number 15. These were dukes of the sons of Esau, the son of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, Duke Timon, Duke Omer, Duke Zepho, Duke Kinaaz, Duke Korah, Duke Gaetum, and Duke Amalek. These are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Adar. And these are the sons of Reuls, Esau's son, Duke Nahath, Duke Zerah, Duke Shema, Duke Mizaf. These are the dukes that came of Reul in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Besamath, Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Ahoybemah, Esau's wife, Duke Jewish, Duke Jalem, Duke Korah. These were the dukes that came of Ahoybelama, the daughter of Einah, Esau's wife. These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. So again, we see once again, the Bible, just verse 19, just God wanted to confirm this to us. Once again, these are the sons of Esau, who is Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. So as I said, these title dukes are of honor, of nobility. These are very similar to how we would understand the patriarchs of Israel. When we talk about the 12 tribes of Israel, you know, they're given their names as representation of their father. You know, the 12 sons that Israel would have, you know, these 12 tribes would represent those 12 sons. In the same way, Esau's children or grandchildren would represent, you know, regions or areas that they would rule from and the people that would be under their rule. So that's all it means. We don't have the term duke being brought up again for us in the Bible, but it's just a title of nobility. Again, just showing us how powerful, how great this nation of Edom was, that they could be divided into these other mini great regions as well with these powerful men. Let's go to verse number 20. Verse number 20. These are the sons of Seir, the Horites, who inhabited the land, Lotan and Shobo, and Zibeon and Anah, and Dishon and Asa and Dishon. These are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. Verse number 22. And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman, and Lotan's sister was Timna, and the children of Shobo were these, Alvin and Manahath and Ebal, Shippo and Onam. These are the children of Zibeon, both Aja and Anah. And this was the Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, and as he fed the asses of Zibeon, his father. And the children of Anah were these, Dishon and Ahoy-li-bama, the daughter of Anah. And these are the children of Dishon, Hamdan and Ishban and Ithran and Chiran. The children of Isra are these, Bilhan and Zazan and Akan. The children of Dishon are these, Arz and Aran. These are the dukes that came of the Horites, Duke Lotan, Duke Shobo, Duke Zibeon, Duke Anar, Duke Dishon, Duke Isra, Duke Dishon. These are the dukes that came out of Hori among the dukes in the land of Seir. And these are the kings. And verse number 31 is where I want to sort of pause and think about here. Not only are they given, these people given titles of dukes, but many of these went on to become kings in the land of Edom, verse number 31. And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom. Now it's quite interesting, the next phrase that God uses here, I think it's very important. It says, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. Why would God just mention that? Obviously, God knows that, you know, understands that, you know, as we read through the Bible, we're going to get to a point where we have first kings and second kings and first Samuel and second Samuel, and we're going to be reading about, you know, the Chronicles, we're going to be reading about all the kings that Israel had, right? Some great kings and some very, very poor, some very wicked kings as well. But God just pauses to tell us, look, before Israel had any kings, Edom did it first. The Edomites did it first, okay? This is so important, because one thing that, you know, you start to understand in the Bible, and I've heard this term used that I like, I'm not going to get too carried away with this teaching, but some, you know, there's this teaching that God has His perfect will for your life. You know, God has His perfect will for the nation of Israel, but God also has a permissible will. I'm not sure if you've ever heard this before, where God, you know, you know, God may have that perfect will for your life. He wants you to walk a certain way, but then we could make mistakes in life, right? And God has to allow us to have a plan B in life, a plan C in life, a plan D in life, for all the mistakes that we make in life, you know? You know, it's possible for some, for God to have a plan A for somebody to be a pastor, for example. And they do something to disqualify them from the office. And so, well, you know, God's perfect will perhaps was for you to be a pastor, but now God has His permissible will. You can no longer have that role, but you can serve Him in some other capacity, right? And so this is something you need to understand with the Bible. You know, God allows, you know, Israel or His people to do certain things. People turn around and say, well, since they did it, why can't we do it? Why can't I do it? Well, that wasn't God's perfect will for their lives, okay? And so, but God doesn't, you know, once you're outside of God's perfect will, if you can't get back to that point, He's not going to destroy you, okay? He's going to allow you to carry through the consequences of your decisions, and He can still use you in your life. You're not a total waste, okay, as it were. And so, of course, when we look at the kings that Israel took for themselves, this wasn't God's perfect will for them. It wasn't, you know? So keep your finger there and go to 1 Samuel chapter 8, please. 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 4. 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 4. This is important for us to understand, again, the Edomites. And let me just say to you, what do the Edomites represent? They represent the world. They represent an ungodly nation, okay? They represent an ungodly nation that had an influence on God's chosen people, okay? And so, as we read about the Edomites, I want you to now start thinking about these represent the world. You know, what Edomites do I have in my life? We all face the Edomites, okay? We all face the world, okay? But what influence are they having on your life, or what influence are you having on their life? But go to 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 4. 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 4. You see, leading up to this point, God had a governance for the Israelites, and that was judges. You know, God would have a judge, yes, a man that would be selected by the people who was godly, who was faithful, who knew the word of God, who was also not afraid to go to fight if they had to, okay? Not only to rule and to have a law and order to make godly decisions, these judges, but if the need came to fight the enemy, they would stand up and fight against the enemy as well. Okay, they were powerful men that God would raise as judges. And so, one of the final judges that we read about in the Bible is Samuel. I think he probably is the last judge. But look at verse, and then what Samuel wants to do, he wants to ordain his sons as judges as well over the nation of Israel. But then this happens in verse number 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel and to Ramah and said unto him, behold, thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Okay, Samuel was a great man, but he wasn't a great father. He raised some bratty kids, right? And the nation of Israel did not want these children to rule over them, so what do they do instead? Instead of, what should they have done? What should have they done? They should have said, well, what other godly men are around here? What other godly men can be raised up to be judges? But no, they decided, we want a king like all the nations around us. Hey, we want a king like the Edomites. We want a king like the world. We want to be like the world. What do we see now? Is the world being influenced by the nation of Israel? No, we see the people of Israel have been influenced by the nations around them. And Brevin, you need to be careful in your life. And fathers, you are in a sense the king of your family. You have the highest authority. You're the head of your home. What influences are you allowing the world to have in your family? You know, do you want to be just like the world? And you know, brother Jason on Wednesday preached a great sermon about being, you know, the influences that the world can have and the temptation that as Christians we can have to be worldly. And I had prepared my sermon along the same lines, but I'll move away from that for a little while. But the lesson is there, right? That the Israelites were affected by the Edomites and by the other nations of the land. And they were desiring a king. Now here's the thing. A king of itself is not sinful. Okay, it's not sinful. But you're given one man. Because of course we have King Jesus. Okay, we have King Jesus, the king of the Jews. You know, the king of kings and the lord of lords. It's not even sinful about that title. But the only one that can execute that office properly is Jesus Christ. It's too much power for a man. Okay, it's too much wealth, too much power. And that's why even the most godly kings are doing wrong. Okay, that we read about in the Bible. And of course, God knows this. Look at verse number six, first Samuel 8-6. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people. So listen to them. Give them what they want. In all that they say unto thee, look at this, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. What did God want for the children of Israel? To reign over them. What does God want for New Life Baptist Church? To reign over us. What does God want for your family? To reign over your family. Okay, but here's the thing. That's God's perfect will. But we can make mistakes. And we can allow the world to reign over us. And that's a bad place to be as a Christian. You know, you're no longer, when that's happening in your life, you're no longer in God's perfect will. But he might permit it. He might allow it for whatever purposes he has. And of course, we know that God will use this lineage. Eventually, King David will be on the throne. And he would be a type, a prophecy of the promises given to King David will be given to Jesus Christ, ultimately. So God, of course, you know, Plan B is never surprised. Plan C is never surprised to God. God's always ready to work with his people. You know, wherever they find themselves, he's ready to work with them to produce, you know, something righteous, something godly. And so verse number eight, but I just want you to notice Israelites, their demand for the king is not so we can be judged righteously. Their demand for a king is that they're rejecting the Lord God, okay? Verse number eight, according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. So God's saying, look, from the very beginning, since I've taken them out of Egypt, they've been problem people, right? So just like he's done with them, right? He's just given the king if they want that. Verse number nine, now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. So not only does God allow them to be outside of his perfect will, but he also instructs the man of God, you know, Samuel, to warn them, hey, this is gonna cause problems for you. And of course, we won't go for the rest of the chapter, but the warning is that the king will take the best of your people to serve under him. He'll take your best children. He'll take the smartest, the wisest people. He'll take your possessions. He's gonna tax you heavily, and he's going to basically serve himself rather than really serving the people. The judge wasn't meant to serve the people, but the king has the potential to serve themselves, okay? And that was a warning. Of course, we see that play out. And you know, when I think about this, when I think about our nation, the nation of Australia, you know, we operate as a constitutional monarchy, okay? What that means is we have, as a nation, we have a constitution. We have independence to some extent. We are an independent nation, but we still have Queen Elizabeth. We still have this monarchy that reigns over the Commonwealth of Australia and over other Commonwealth nations. We still have that in place, and I remember it wasn't the 90s. I think there was always these referendums of votes. Do we want to remain under this monarchy, or do we want to become a republic, an independent nation? And there's all these people talking about the politics and the governance, and I think what I want to point out to you there, though, is the reason England has a queen, or kings in the past, the reason Australia has a queen is because we, as a nation, have rejected God. That's why. We saw that. When a nation wants a king, wants a man or a woman to rule over them, it's because they've rejected God. Our nation, brethren, has rejected God. That's why we have a queen, right? England, they've rejected God, right? They've rejected God, but of course, like I said, when they're outside of that perfect will, God would use someone like a King James to make sure the Bible gets put into the English language and gets distributed all across the world. We see that God, even when things aren't perfect in nations, God can still use people. God can still have His way to reach His purpose, and of course, His purpose with the King James Bible was to preserve the Word of God in a perfect state for us today. Praise God for those decisions, but you know what? Our nation has rejected God, and when I see Christians get into politics, and they want to turn the heart of the nation back to God, they think politics is the best place to go, you know? And I remember when I was talking to my brother, my older brother, and this was many years ago, I was saying to him, I'm thinking about becoming a pastor, and he said to me, why don't you get into politics? You can probably do more for God in politics. I realized, no, no. That's not how it is. Look, our nation's already rejected God, all right? So what do we do then? Okay, if having a king and queen represents that our nation rejected God, you know, do we raise a militia? You know, do we train our kids to have weapons and grenades and go and fight against our government, overthrow the government, overthrow the king, the queen? Tim's nodding his head. Yeah, yeah, let's do that. Is that what we're called to do, Brevin? Is that the job that we have to do? Well, one thing I want to make very clear, and I think people have this mixed up in life, especially understanding the New Testament, is the reason, you know, we see God raise godly men. The reason we see prophets of old in the Old Testament preach strongly against the rulers of their nation, again, just to remind you, is because God had a covenant with the nation of Israel. That covenant was, I will be your God. You will be my people. This is an agreement coming from God, not from man to God. It's coming from God to man, and he's saying, do you want to enter into that covenant? And the Israelites said, yes, you are our God, okay? And so when the people would reject God, when they would raise, you know, when they have wicked kings, yeah, God would step in and say, hey, you're meant to be my people. I'm going to raise up these prophets and these men of God to preach against you. Yeah, I'm going to raise up people to defeat the enemies and things like that. So do we do that today? Is that our calling as a New Testament church and the new covenant to go up arms against our nation when our nation has brought in, you know, homosexual marriage, when our nation has, you know, allowed abortions? Is it time for us to raise up arms and go and fight them? I say yes, but we fight them with the gospel, okay? And that's what we're going to get to shortly, okay? But while you're there, can you please go to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. You say, why don't we raise up against our governments and our kings with, you know, weapons of warfare? Because the Bible says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, okay, number one. But number two, Australia does not have a covenant with God, okay? God never came to our politicians. God never came to a man of God in Australia and said, and given us, you know, that right in the Bible where we can read about the covenant that God has with Australia. It doesn't exist. And, you know, this desire that our politicians, look, I'm praying for our politicians. I'm praying, hoping if anyone there are not reprobate, they can get saved. I'm hoping that can have a fear of God. So when they pass laws, when they pass judgment, it's aligned with the word of God. I'm praying for those things. I'm praying that, you know, government will let us live free religious lives so we can be in church in freedom, so we can preach the gospel in freedom. I'm praying for those things. But what I'm not praying for is for our government to become, you know, full of, for Christians to step into politics, you know, for saved people to become the new kings. I'm not praying for that, okay? Because we don't have a covenant with God, okay? It doesn't exist. It's not going to happen. You know, Jesus said, you know, to go out into all the world and preach the gospel. He didn't say go out into all the world and change the government, okay? But how do we treat the government? Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. Our job is not to raise up arms, okay? Our job is not to get into politics and to change the laws there. It says, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So I don't want to honor him. Well, God just told you honor the king, okay? The monarch that you have over this nation, honor them, okay? Give them due honor, give them due respect for the authority that they have. Verse number 18. You say, well, hold on, hold on. You know, what if they make our life hard? What if they start persecuting Christians? Well, look at verse number 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Even if these kings and these rulers are aggressive and difficult towards you, you still are to be subject to answer those masters. Verse number 19, look at this. For this is thank worthy. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. Hey, this is thanks worthy. You ought to give thanks when you suffer wrongfully at the hands of the government, the Bible's saying. Say what? Verse number 20. For what glory is that if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently. But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. What is acceptable with God today and on the new covenant? You know what? Even if our politicians, our kings and our queens are messed up, rejecting God, we're still supposed to give them the honor. We're not supposed to raise up arms and fight them, okay? We're to fight the spiritual battle, okay? Does God have a covenant with our nation today? Yes, but it's not Australia, okay? It's not Israel. It's not America. It's not England, all right? The covenant that God has with the nations today is the spiritual nation that is the Israel of God, which we're all part of. We're all part of it. And here's the great thing about the king of that nation. It's Jesus Christ. Praise God. He's never going to be corrupt. He's never going to deceive me. He's never going to persecute me for His name. In fact, He's going to give me great rewards when I'm suffering for His name's sake, okay? So keep in mind the difference between the covenants. I've seen Christians get excited about the Old Testament. Like, man, we need to go in front of the government, right? You know, they're willing to fight the way they fought back then. Our fight today is a spiritual warfare. We're a spiritual nation. We're sojourners in Australia. This isn't our home, brethren. Our home is heavenly Jerusalem, okay? Our home is the new heavens and the new earth. And so I bring that to your attention because you can see how the Edomites had an influence on the Israelites, okay? And again, Brother Jason preached a great sermon about how we ought not to live worldly. But I do want to think about this. And of course, when it comes to New Life Baptist Church, you guys go back to Genesis 36 now. But when it comes to New Life Baptist Church, you know, I want God to be the king of this church. You know, I want God to be the king. I don't want to look at the other nations. I don't want to look at the Edomites. I don't want to look at the Protestants. I don't want to look at the Hillsongs and the Charismatics and the Pentecostals and the Methodists. I don't want to look at the Mormons. I don't want to look at the JWs, of course. I don't want to look at anyone and say we need to be more like them, okay? No, there are too many churches becoming like the world. Too many churches becoming the Edomites, okay? That's not our calling, brethren. I want Jesus Christ to be the king of this church, okay? And we're going to stick to the King James Bible, the perfect word of God. We're going to stick to those old hymns that are filled with doctrine, filled with great teachings, right? We're going to stick to praying as a church. We're going to stick to having lights on instead of making it so dark that you can't read your Bible. You know, we're going to stick to what else? I don't know what else. You know, what else do these places do? You know, I grew up in a Baptist church. My very first Baptist church was Cabramatta Baptist Church. In those days in the 80s and even in the 90s, it was quite a conservative, even fundamental to some extent, church, okay? They preached from the new King James, but one preacher, one of my main pastors, preached from the King James Bible. And they still sang the old hymns many times. And I remember I would go to youth group, okay? Friday night youth group. And I'm thinking I'm doing the right thing to be involved with other young people that love the Lord. But when I look back at it, all youth group was is teaching you how to be worldly. Honestly, all the youth group was, let me show you how to live a worldly life. I would go, you know, yeah, they have some Bible study. You know what? I don't remember a single thing that I learned there when it comes to the Bible. I'm sure I learned some things. I can't remember. But what I remember about the youth group are two separate times. One time when they literally took us to a club, and I preached about this before, an under-18s dance party. You know, pretty much just as worldly as anything else except for the alcohol, because under-18s, no alcohol there. But just as worldly, you know, all of the world's music, you know, my youth leaders dancing, right? I don't even know how to dance besides some Chilean, what are you, what are you? It's called kweka. It's one of these cultural dances, right? But I don't know how to dance like the world. You know, I don't even know these songs. But I'm seeing my youth leaders, I'm seeing my friends dancing to this world. You know, this isn't right. Yeah, look, I know I was saved because the Holy Spirit's telling me this isn't good, right? This is grieving the Holy Spirit. I already knew this was wrong. I couldn't tell you, my parents never told me this is wrong. You know, my youth group wasn't telling me it was wrong. They were telling me this is great. But there's something in me saying, this is wrong, this isn't right. I mean, I'd rather be doing this with my ungodly friends at school rather than my youth group, supposedly Christians, you know, doing this. And so that's what I remember about youth group. The other thing I remember about youth group is going to, I don't know if it was Hillsong, but it was one of these churches, right? And they had a rock band and it was black as, you know, it was dark. And I'm thinking, how am I going to, you know, it was so dark. I'm thinking, how am I going to read my Bible here? Like, how am I going to open up the hymn book and, oh, there's a screen. Okay, I get this, how this works. There's a big screen and it's got to be dark so we can all see that screen. Okay, fine, I don't have a problem with, I've got a screen there, right? I don't have a problem with screens, right? But, and then, you know, where's the preaching? This is, hey, this music just keeps going on. This rock band just keeps playing. Hey, this guy's got long hair and this guy's got tattoos and it just keeps going on and on. And what's the next thing? You know, the friends, youth group, let's go to the front, you know, where they were moshing. They were moshing, Christian, mosh, part, you know, banging their heads and being aggressive and fighting. Not only was there, what do they call, mosh pits? Not only was there a mosh pit going on on one side, but then on the other side, you had all these, you know, girls in miniskirts and what else? Bunch of girls in miniskirts, what are you going to see? Bunch of guys behind them, groping them, grabbing them, all these kinds of things. At a church! You know what they did? They saw the Edomites. They saw the Edomites and said, we're going to be just like them. That's what we want. We're going to reject God and we're going to bring the world into our church. And I want New Life Baptist Church to be a sanctuary from the world, okay? Separate from the world, different from the world. You know, we've had, you know, not long ago, we had a woman walk in here looking for the old Pentecostal church that was here, you know? And then I think during the Bible reading, the Bible reading was too long. She's like, this is not the church I signed up for. And she walked out, right? Praise God, what a testimony that this church reads the Bible, even the genealogies, right? Genesis 36. Praise God for that. But listen, brethren and children, we need to make sure this church remains under the authority of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ as our King. And you know, we start looking like the world. We start bringing in the world. You know, we go to the neighbors and ask them, what do you want in the church? That's when we rejected God. We rejected God and we're being worldly. I don't want to be in that church anymore. That's what happens. I'm out, okay? I'm out and I never want to get there. I want to make sure this church remains faithful unto the Lord. Genesis 36 verse 32. Genesis 36 verse 32. And Beelah, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom. And the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Beelah died and Jobad, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned in his stead. And Jobad died and Husham, the land of Tim and I, reigned in his stead. And Husham died and Hadad, the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead. And the name of the city was Abeth. So in verse 35, just for information, one of the names that you're probably very familiar with there, or two names really, verse 35, it said who smote Midian in the field of Moab. So I'm sure as you're reading through your Bible, you're going to come across the Midianites, the Moabites, you know, these kinds of people. Again, you know, many, many times they were enemies toward Israel. But keep your finger there just to show you where Midian comes from. If you go back to Genesis 25. Genesis 25 verse one. Genesis 25 verse one. And this is after the death of Sarah, Abraham takes on a second wife after his first wife dies. Genesis 25 verse one. It says here, then again Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah and she bare him Zimran and Jochshan and Medan and Midian. So that's Midian, that's where the Midianites come from. Okay, so if you want to get an idea here, basically the descendants of Esau are warring against, you know, great grandfather, I guess, you know, Abraham's descendants through his second wife. And so many of these nations, you know, are just, they are related. I mean, we are related. We all know that. We all come from Adam and Eve. We all come from Noah. But many of these, you know, it's such a sad thing when I see these descendants going to war with one another. And, you know, I just think about the need to make sure that the next generation, that our children, you know, believe like we believe. You know, they have the same convictions of doctrine that we have. You know, they're not going to be exactly like us, but I want them to make sure they carry that torch forward, you know. But back to Genesis 36, verse 36. And Hadar died, and Samlah of Meskerah reigned instead, and Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboath by the river reigned instead, and Saul died. It's interesting, they had a king Saul as well. And Saul died, and Belhanan, the son of Akbar, reigned instead, and Belhanan, the son of Akbar, died, and Hadar reigned instead, and the name of his city was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehretabel, the daughter of Matro, the daughter of Mehezab. And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by the names Duke Timna, Duke Alva, Duke Teth, Duke Ahoyl-Bama, Duke Elah, Duke Pinon, Duke Kinaz, Duke Timon, Duke Mibzah, Duke Madiel, Duke Imran, Iram, these be the dukes of Edom, again this, God keeps reinforcing this, according to their habitations in the land of their possession, he is Esau the father of the Edomites. Now we've read through that chapter once again, now five times, again, five times throughout this chapter, God says something along the lines of Esau is Edom, or that Esau is the father of the Edomites. Five times in this chapter, okay, and we just ended on that again, verse number 43, he is Esau the father of the Edomites. So please, as a Bible student, as a reader, don't ignore, you know, when you see God repeating two times, three times, four times, five times God, God wants you to know, he wants it locked into your mind, so as you read for the rest of the Bible, you remember the Edomites, you remember the history that they have with Israel, okay. Now if you guys can go to, I'm going to get you to turn to Obadiah, turn to Obadiah for me, one of the minor prophets, Obadiah, and I'm just going to bring to, while you're turning there, I'll bring to your remembrance, this teaching from Romans 9, 10. I've already covered this, but once again, I just want to go through this once again, Romans 9, 10, it says, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, now Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau, right. It says in verse number 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to the law according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. And so the Calvinist, the one that believes that God predestines some to be saved, some to be damned, will take this passage and say, well see, you know, Jacob and Esau had no choice about the matter, God had predestined whether they might stand, but verse, and then it says here, verse number 12, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, who's the elder? Esau, okay, it was said unto Rebekah, the elder Esau will serve the younger, Israel, and then as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And so the Calvinists love this because they say, well see, God has chosen, God has elected Israel over Esau, in fact Esau had no chance because God hated him from the beginning. God hated him before he was born, okay. And so before we go to Obadiah, let me just quickly read, I've already covered, let me try to get my thoughts here a little bit together, but if I go back to Genesis 25 verse 23, just quickly, when the Lord says this to Rebekah, remember she was feeling, there was something going on with her womb, and it says here, the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, look at that, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people, again plural people, shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. So the elder who serves the younger, is that Esau serving Jacob? No, it's the people of Esau, the nation of Edom, that will serve eventually Israel, okay. That's the prophecy, and that's what God is talking about. He's talking about hating a nation, not hating Esau before he's born, okay. Esau had as much opportunity to get saved, to have the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob as his God, as much as anybody else. You know, you're not damned to go to hell before you're born. God hasn't made that decision for you. God has given us free will to decide whether we're going to receive his salvation, and whether we're going to make him our God or not, okay. So I just wanted to show you that from Genesis 25, because I haven't got time to go. I wanted to go through all the times the Edomites are at war with Israel, or a problem to Israel. I don't have time to go through that, but I did want to get you to turn to Obadiah. So if you go to Obadiah verse one, and what we're looking at here is post-Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom. I'm sorry if this is too much information, but yes, the Edomites were problems, okay. Then they were under the authority of King Esau, and King David, actually King David and King Solomon, okay. And that's when they would serve the younger. That's when Edom would serve Israel, when they were under the authority of King David and King Solomon. They would pay a tax to be on the land. And anyway, so that they were enemies to Israel, but they became extremely wicked, okay. We can see why God can say that he hates them, and this is after the Babylonian captivity. If you remember, the Babylonians took the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity, right. And we read about how Judah or Jerusalem would be, the temple would be destroyed, the city would be burnt up and destroyed, all these kinds of things. And we often blame the Babylonians, but actually the Edomites had a part as well. With this captivity. So look at Obraiah 1, the vision of Obraiah, and again this is post Babylon. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom, we have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador sent among the heathen, arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen, thou art greatly despised. What does God say? I despise you, you're greatly despised by me, but also by the other nations, okay. Why, why? Drop down to verse number 11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers, that's the Babylonians, carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou was as one of them. Even when the Babylonians came in here, and took the spoils, so did you, you were like them. Verse number 12, but thou shouldest not have looked on that day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger, neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah, in the day of their destruction, neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly, in the day of distress. You see, when the Edomites saw the Israelites being taken captive, or the southern kingdom, they were rejoicing. They were going, that serves them well, hey, that serves them, right? Hey, that's the world. You know, the world wants New Life Baptist Church, the world wants us to fail as Christians, and when we fail, the world rejoices. That's the world, brethren. That's what the Edomites were doing. Verse number 13, thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people, in the day of their calamity, yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction, in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance, in the day of their calamity. Hey, they went and took advantage of the spoils as well, as Judah was taken into captivity. Look at this. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape. Neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. Hey, they're rounding up the Israelites. They're rounding up the Jews as well. They're stopping the Jews from escaping. They're stopping them. They're delivering them to the Babylonians. That's the world, brethren. You can't trust the world, okay? They're going to deliver you up. Verse number 15, for the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. So you see why God can get to a point where he says, and I hate this nation, okay? Because the way they treated God's people, okay? And let me tell you, brethren, Australia is not really our nation. Like I said, we're so generous in this land. Our nation is a spiritual nation, okay? And, you know, Australians and this world will deliver us up, okay? They will want to see our destruction. They will rejoice over us, okay? But they're not our people. Our people are here in church. Learn to love one another. Learn to appreciate one another. You're going to be with each other for all of eternity, okay? I'm going to see you in heaven, okay? We're going to walk the streets of gold together. Let's get used to each other's company. Let's love one another. Let's make sure we develop a community here not looking for that in the world with the Edomites. They're looking to take your substance away. And you know what? God is just right now, just as he's talking about, he's going to destroy the Edomites. He hates them. God is reserving his wrath, his judgment, his anger right now for all the nations, all the nations. And we know the book of Revelation is going to let loose and how he lets loose. Oh man, major destruction, major loss of life, right? In the books of Revelation. Right now, God's being patient. You know, it's just his anger is being stored up for the day that he unleashes all of that. And so the next passage I want you to turn to is go to Ezekiel 35. Ezekiel 35. And while you're turning to Ezekiel 35, I'm going to read to you from Malachi 1-1 which says the burden, remember Malachi is after the Jews have returned back to Jerusalem, have rebuilt the temple, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. It says here, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet you say wherein Hasel loved us was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob and I hated Esau. That's where we get that term from in Romans 9. And I hated Esau and laid his mountain and his heritage waste for the dragons in the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. So God says look, I'm going to destroy the Edomites, okay? I'm going to wipe them out, but the Edomites are going to come back and try to rebuild, all right? But we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall build, but I will throw down. And they shall call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord have indignation forever. God's going to hate them forever. God's not going to let them rebuild. That's why we don't have the nation of Edom today. Doesn't exist. It's God's judgment. We see God's judgment upon that nation. But then he says in verse 5, and your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. You see, when we see God's judgment on the nations, when we see God's curse fall upon them, we're going to be able to turn around and magnify the Lord God. We're going to be able to give him praise and glory and honor and recognize this is the right thing you're doing, God. These are wicked people. And so look, don't be a bleeding heart for the wicked, okay? Is the lesson because God's got reserving up his judgment for the right time. You're in Ezekiel 35. Ezekiel 35. Look at verse number one. And again, this is post-Babylon, okay? So what have we learned now? So when we see Mount Seir, who's he against? The Edomites, okay? Mount Seir. And prophesy against it and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God, behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee and I will stretch out mine hand against thee and I will make thee most desolate. Again, he's saying, look, you're going to be desolate. Drop down to verse number 10. Because thou hast said, why does God hate him? Because thou hast said, these two nations, those two nations, are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And these two countries shall be mine and we will possess it, whereas the Lord was there. So they're like, you know, once these these guys are taken into captivity, we're taking over the land. We're taking over their possessions. That's what the Edomites thought. Verse number 11, Therefore, as I live safe, the Lord God, I will even do according to thine and according to thine envy, which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them, and I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee. Once again, when God judges the nations, he's making everybody know the Lord God. Okay, when God steps in and does those supernatural judgments, everyone's going to know this is the Lord God, you know, bringing judgment upon the earth. Look, drop down to verse number 15. I'm almost done now, but I'm trying to give you a bit of knowledge, you know, as you read through your Bible. Verse number 15, As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was so desolate, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee, thou shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Now I want you to notice Mount Seir, and then he goes, and all Idumea. Okay, now Idumea are basically, it's another nation as it were, but they are descendants of the Edomites. Okay, Idumea. They, why is that important? Well, it's just, it's sort of last minute research I did last night. I didn't know this, but I thought this was interesting. Okay, so I'm going to read to you from Encyclopedia Britannica. So we no longer, you know, in the days of Jesus Christ, they didn't have the Edomites to deal with, but they had people that descended from Idumea, which were the descendants of the Edomites. Okay, and it says here, Encyclopedia Britannica, Antipater, who died in 43 BC, who was an Idumean founder. Okay, so this guy, Antipater, was an Edomite. He was the founder of the Herodian dynasty in Palestine. Antipater gained power in Judea by making himself useful to the Romans. In return for Antipater's support, Caesar appointed him procurator of Judea in 47 BC. Although Antipater was assassinated by a political rival four years later, his son Herod the Great was later made King of Judea by the Romans. Okay, so now we understand, right? We get to the New Testament. Are the Edomites still around? Yes, all right. And then we start learning about the Edomites in the New Testament. Of course, I'm not going to go through all this. If you can, go to Acts 26. We'll end on Acts 26. Go to Acts 26. Of course, Herod the Great was the one who would seek to kill Jesus Christ after his birth, right? And Joseph and Mary had to flee into Egypt to escape that attempted murder. Not only that, but then Herod the Great's son, which is Herod Antipas, beheaded John the Baptist. So, you know, we start with the Old Testament. You know, Edomites persecuting God's people, the Israelites. Then we get to the New Testament. What do we have? The Edomites persecuting God's people, the Christians, the believers, okay? We're all the same nation. We're all the same people. And then we also learn in Acts chapter 12 that King Herod Agrippa, which is the grandson of King Herod, King Agrippa the first, he executed James in Acts chapter 12, and he also imprisoned Peter. You know the story of Peter's miraculous escape at a prison? Well, that was King Agrippa the first that put him in jail. And then in Acts 26, we have King Agrippa's son, Agrippa the second, which we read about in Acts 26. Let's read it. Acts 26 verse 24. And I love ending on this because this is the last we hear of the Edomites in the Bible, okay? And it says here, of course, this is about Paul. He's arrested. He's bringing a defense. And King Agrippa the second is listening to Paul's defense. And verse 24. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king, that's King Agrippa, knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believeth thou the prophets? I know that thou believeth. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. What do we do with the Edomites today, brethren? The world. The world that's trying to influence us. The world that rejoices when they see us destroyed. The world that wants to deliver us up to the enemies. What is our job toward them? Is it to go and conquer them? To fight them once again? Raise the militia? No, brethren. Our job is to persuade them to become a Christian. Our job is to persuade them to get saved. That's the battle that we fight today. Under this new covenant, this new nation that we're part of, the spiritual nation of Israel, praise God for this new covenant. And thank God we're in a nation. Yes, it's ungodly. Yes, it's corrupt. Yes, I know all that. But thank God that we have the freedoms in Australia to practice our faith, to get out there and persuade people to become a Christian. So sorry for this king. He's very close to being saved. But he didn't do it. Listen, brethren. We go out there. People aren't interested. Well, we move on. People might be very close to being saved, but they don't want to ask the Lord for salvation. They want to think about it. Like Paul was not there forcing him to say a prayer, okay, to count a number, right? If people listen, our job is just to get out there preaching the gospel, okay, to the Edomites, to this world. So I hope you can take the lessons today, brethren. How do we treat the world? Well, let's not let them influence us, not influence our families, our lives, our church. No, our job is to go and influence them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.