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Genesis chapter 25, let's look at verse number 1, the Bible says, Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. So, we've moved on from Sarah, and Sarah has died, and Abraham has taken on another wife, her name is Keturah. The Bible says in verse 2, And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shewa. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were Ashuram, and Notushim, and Luam. And the sons of Midian, Ephah, and Ephir, and Hanuk, and Abidah, and Eladah, all these were the children of Keturah. Now, it's really interesting here that the Bible brings up just a completely different family tree for Abraham. And when you really understand it, you know, when we think of Abraham, we kind of think of Isaac, but there was also Ishmael, wasn't there? And then also after that, then there's a whole bunch of other people too, with Keturah. And I believe, you know, one of the reasons why God has Abraham like this is because, you know, when it comes to the promised seed, everybody already kind of overemphasizes the fact of who the Jews are, and Israel, and everything like that as being the seed of Abraham. But in reality, Abraham has a lot of seeds, when you think about it, doesn't he? He has Ishmael, he has Isaac, and look at all these people that have just been mentioned, and their generations, and their genealogies. And so there's actually a lot of people that can claim physical lineage from Abraham, but there was a distinction from Isaac and all the other children. Okay? Isaac is completely different. Now, another thing I want to point out before I move on is just a quick, you know, Bible study thought. But it says here the sons of Midian, okay? So the sons of Midian are descendants of Abraham, specifically. Now, go to Exodus chapter 2 for a moment, go to Exodus chapter number 2, and I just want to expand on this thought of Midian for a second, because there's a latter portion of the Bible where there's kind of this question about Moses, specifically. And what's interesting about the men of the Bible, the men of God, a lot of them is they actually had multiple wives in the Old Testament. A lot of them, a lot of people that we look to as having respect, or being great heroes of the faith, ended up having multiple wives. And some would say, oh, that's because it's good to have multiple wives, but that's obviously not true. The Bible says you become one flesh, you know, you're not going to then join another person to that situation or anything like that. Also, people think of the prophets as being, you know, a little bit more spiritual than they really were. They were still normal men that made lots of mistakes and had lots of problems, okay? And Exodus chapter 2 is going to talk about Moses' father-in-law. It says in verse 15, So there was a priest of Midian that Moses flees unto, and he ends up dwelling with these seven daughters and his priest, and he ends up becoming his father-in-law because he ends up giving one of them, one of his daughters, unto Moses Zephora. Now it says in chapter 3 verse 1, So we have in the Bible making it clear that Midian is coming from Abraham, okay? And they were dwelling in the promised land area, approximately. And that the priest of Midian, he's going to be of the descendants of Abraham specifically. He becomes the father-in-law of Moses. Go to Numbers chapter number 10. I'll show you a couple more verses here. Numbers chapter number 10. And Jethro is known by other names in the Bible. There's other times where he's mentioned, and he goes by a different name. Here's one of those mentions. Numbers chapter 10, look at verse 29. So again, the father-in-law of Moses is known as the priest of Midian. Now someone could say, well, you could be the priest of Midian and not be from Midian, right? You could say that someone's the priest of some area, and that's just because he's dwelling in that area. But then if we go to this mention, Numbers chapter 10, notice that it says, Moses said in the Hobab, okay, whose Hobab? Well, skip the first definition here. It's Moses' father-in-law, which is also Jethro. Notice he's the son of Raguel. Notice this the Midianite. So notice the Midianite is in reference to his lineage, who he's from, and basically it's talking about the fact that Moses' father-in-law is a Midianite, which would end up making his daughter, Zephora, what? A Midianite, okay? Now skip just two more chapters. Go to Numbers chapter 12. Why do I bring all this up? Well, it's just because it's an interesting point to make. But in Numbers chapter 12, look what it says in verse 1. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. A lot of people would point this to Zephora, but the problem is Zephora is not Ethiopian. Zephora is Midian. And Midians are not the Egyptians. It's a completely different family tree. You know, basically the sons of Ham is kind of populating Egypt and that part of the country, that part of the area, whereas you have a different lineage, a different family tree where the Midianites are coming. And it wouldn't make sense in Numbers chapter 12 for them to bring up this accusation against Moses because it's not like Moses got married to Zephora in Numbers chapter 12. He's been married to Zephora for the whole time. I mean, he showed up and he was married. That would have been the time to complain is when they figured out, oh, he married this other woman or whatever. So obviously in Numbers chapter 12, he married a completely different woman on top of Zephora. And you'd say, why? Well, if you follow the story, Moses' marriage is not great. I mean, in fact, often the father-in-law is bringing back his wife unto him. It's like she must have ran away or extended stay for the holidays or something. I don't know. But he obviously has a lot of marriage issues and a lot of marriage problems. So he must have just been discontent, pick on a new wife while they're wandering around the wilderness because Moses is a man. And men make mistakes. Men have otherwise. There's technically nothing wrong with Abraham marrying Keturah, especially if it was after Sarah. I can't prove whether or not it's after Sarah necessarily. It seems to be implied just by the chronology of how the Bible is going, but it's possible maybe there was even overlap. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. He obviously screwed up when he took on Agar as well. So it's obvious that Abraham took on multiple wives. Moses takes on multiple wives. And look, the men of God are not perfect. No one that actually believes in Christianity is going to get up and say, oh, the men of God are perfect. Men of God have never made a mistake. They don't have any problems. And if you were real honest with the Bible and reality, you'd realize men have a problem in a particular area. It's called women. It's just reality. It's just fact. And it's like some people just don't realize this. Or they think a man of God is somehow not going to have this problem. But even men of God can have this problem. And so they have to protect themselves. We have to guard ourselves. And we have to rejoice to the wife of our youth. And we have to protect ourselves from these situations. Go if you would back to Genesis chapter number 25. Genesis chapter number 25. And I do not advocate for multiple wives. I never would, never will. One's plenty, you know. But at the end of the day, you have to realize that that same temptation is often going to be the same temptation throughout history. There's no new thing under the sun. Men have always been men. And they've always been tempted in this area. That's why fornication is rampant in this world that we see today. That's why adultery is rampant in this world. And look, it's not like the church all of a sudden doesn't have that problem. In fact, I don't even know that the statistics would show that there's a huge difference, honestly. Which is sad. I wish it were way different. But frankly speaking, if you look at the statistics of a church like ours, if we knew everybody's past and everybody's sins, it probably wouldn't look much different than the world today. And especially since most people in here weren't even raised in independent fundamental Baptist, or they weren't even raised in a Christian home, then of course it's even more likely that they would have been like the world, like everybody else, had these problems, had these issues. That's why it's important to raise your family and raise your children in a good church to try to teach them these values so that they're different than the world. Realizing that just because you're Christian doesn't mean your kids won't make these mistakes. Just because you're Christian doesn't mean you won't make these type of mistakes. And that's why it's important that you guard yourself, that you go to church. I notice that people often are not making the mistake of fornication and adultery while in church on Wednesday night. I haven't noticed it. It seems like you guys stay pretty clean. So you get, oh, I have to go to church on Wednesday night, Sunday night. Well, realize that you're saving yourself from problems and heartaches that you didn't realize. There's plenty of people that go out to the bar on Wednesday night. There's plenty of people that go, you say, how do you know that? Well, when I worked at the workplace, they went to the bar every night. They were like, hey, you want to go get drinks after work? And it was like any day ending in Y was a good day to go drink for these people. And then you go to the bar, you're meeting with different people. I remember in college and basically going into adulthood, I was thinking about it and I was like, every guy in my life is a scumbag. I mean, every guy in my life that I could think of, they're two-timing their wife in some way. I would say exception, maybe my father. But like virtually every person I knew in my life was just seriously having horrible issues in this area. And look, America has serious issues in this area. And if Moses and Abraham are having issues, I mean, if every man of God is virtually having, I mean, Daniel doesn't, but guess there's a reason. Dare to be a Daniel, all right? But at the end of the day, a normal man is going to have a temptation here and that's why it's important to guard yourself. Young men, you single guys, there's a reason why you should be looking for a wife. Because it's difficult out there, it's frustrating out there, and it's better to marry than to burn, the Bible says. Look at verse number five, And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived eastward unto the east country. So notice, he has all these sons, but he gives everything only unto one. Everything's given to Isaac. So they give some gifts and stuff and he hands out some trinkets. And really, think about this from the spiritual picture, what's being mentioned here is the fact that all of the inheritance of God is only going unto Christ and those that be Christ's. Now, that doesn't mean that God didn't give blessings or gifts unto everybody, he did. But at the end of the day, the inheritance only goes to Christ and his children, his seed, which would be the ones that are in Christ. Now, let me prove this to you further. Go to John chapter one for a second. Just go to John chapter number one. Some people have this idea that we're all children of God. And, you know, obviously in a church like ours, you probably already know that you have to become a child of God. But there's a lot of Christianity out there that'll teach everybody's a child of God. Or you run into Christians out soul winning and they'll say, Oh, we're all children of God. And I see sometimes people struggle to articulate how that's wrong. But what the Bible says in Acts chapter number 17 is that we're all his offspring, okay? So there's a delineation between being the offspring and being his child. You have to become a child of God and it's not through your first birth, it's through a second birth. John chapter one, it says in verse number 11, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, that them gave you power to become the sons of God, even of them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So notice this birth has nothing to do with physical attributes. It wasn't a physical birth, it wasn't of your mother, it wasn't of blood, it wasn't any of those things. It's a spiritual birth that's through God and you have to become a child of God. Now, once you've become a child of God, you will inherit all things. But if you don't, you will inherit nothing. God may have given you some temporary gifts to enjoy on this earth. And look, God does good on the just and the unjust. The Bible says he reigns on the just and on the unjust. And God gives gifts unto every single person. And God gave us all the gifts of life, God gives us all kinds of different talents and opportunities. And you know, even myself, sometimes you look at someone who's not saved, you know they're not saved. And you're talking with them and they say, God's done so much good for me. You know, God's been merciful to me and God's helped me. And I know that God is real. And here's the thing, that's true. Now maybe some instances they may be a little bit off on exactly what's happened. But it is true that God has been good to them. It is true that God has been merciful unto them. It is true that God loves them. It is true that God is showing favor unto them. And just like Abraham gave gifts and some trinkets unto these other children, he had love towards them. It all, ultimately though, goes to Isaac. And that Isaac is representing Christ. And now at the end of the day, the inheritance is only to those who are in Isaac which would be in Christ. Go back to Genesis chapter number 25, Genesis chapter number 25. Look, all of these details that we read in the Bible, they may seem trivial on the surface, but they actually have spiritual meaning. You actually slow down and you think about them, and the inheritance only goes to those who are in Christ. Hey look, there's a lot of Christians out there. And, you know, when we think about this parable, we think about kind of what's being illustrated here. Abraham's sons are a unique class of person. We're not talking about the heathen here. We're not talking about random crazies. We're talking about literal children of Abraham here, and they get nothing. And the same exists in our country today, where there are literally millions, millions of people that are called Christians. They're a Christian. They go to church. You know what? They will get no inheritance. They will be rejected because it's not about your good works. It's not about what you've done. You know, if you were raised as a Catholic, you know what? You're not saved. You were raised Methodist. You were raised you could lose your salvation. You were raised Pentecostal, Anglican, Lutheran, Episcopalian, any of these. Look, those denominations teach you a workspace salvation. And you ask those people, and look, here's the thing. They may be a good person, so-called. They may be better than most of the heathen. They may have Abraham as their physical father, but at the end of the day, if they're not trusting Christ alone for salvation, they're not saved. And that's why it's so important that people in your life that are close to you to ask them directly, what do you think it takes to get to heaven? And I'll tell you, it's probably the most awkward thing you can ask someone that's close to you, but what was mind-boggling to me is I thought everyone close to me was saved. I mean, most of my life, I thought everyone was saved. I thought we were all going to heaven, and they all talked about it. We would all sing songs about going to heaven, but then I literally just asked, flesh and blood, hey, what do you think it takes to get to heaven? Read the Bible. I'm like, no, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven? It's like, you've got to be a good person. Can you lose your salvation? Absolutely. And I'm just thinking, you're not saved. And it's scary because it kind of takes you off guard, and you don't like it. It's an unpleasant truth. But here's the thing. I'd rather ask an uncomfortable question to my family member than just hope they get to hell and realize they're not. Or, sorry, I've worded that word. Hope that they get to heaven and realize that they're not on their way. You know, I'd rather just figure that out now. I'd rather feel uncomfortable now by asking a question than feeling uncomfortable at the judgment seat of Christ seeing them tossed into hell. And I'll say this. The people that you're not for sure are saved are probably just not. Like, if in your mind you're thinking, like, I don't know if they're saved or not. Probably because they're just not saved. Like, pretty much the people that are saved or people that you already know, you have a pretty strong conflict. You're like, I probably, I know this person is saved. They go to the right church, or they're telling you about the gospel or whatever. You should just anticipate that everybody is not saved. Because it's pretty much the majority. The majority of people are just not saved. They're not trusting in Christ. And you say, how can you say that? Well, go soul winning with me. And you say, is it just you? No, anybody in this room. I mean, it's rare you knock on doors and people are saved. It's less than 5% of this world. And of those 5%, 90 plus percent of them will say they got saved in the Baptist church. You know how many of them say, I got saved in the Catholic church? Zero. You know how many of them say I got saved in the Methodist church? Zero. You know how many of them say they got saved in these denominational churches? Pretty much zero. Maybe a non-denominational church. But typically they're like, well actually I grew up Baptist as a kid. You know, it's like they typically point to something Baptist or maybe a Calvary Chapel, maybe. But I'm just trying to be real frank with you. Because you would sit here and think like, I'm Abraham's son. I'm good. Sorry. You need to believe in Christ. You need to trust in Christ. It doesn't matter how you're raised. It doesn't matter how good of a Christian you think you are. It doesn't matter how much service you've done for Abraham. You ain't getting in the door if you don't believe in Christ. And if you believe the wrong thing, you will be rejected. They'll say, I never knew you. Look at verse 7. All the way back to Genesis chapter 25 verse 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived. A hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in the good old age. An old man and full of years was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Macula. In the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which bore Mamre. The field which Abraham purchased for the sons of Heth, there was Abraham buried and Sarah his wife. So Abraham was buried with his wife. And specifically with Sarah. Now a concubine is kind of, his other wives are kind of referenced as being concubines. And wives. You know, a concubine is kind of a difficult term in the Bible. But a concubine typically kind of just means like one who you lie with. Okay. And you think about the word, like if you know Spanish at all, like con is like with. You know, and binding is kind of showing things that are coming together. Right? So a concubine is one you're lying with or coming together with or whatever. But it's not necessarily like a great status to be in, you know. It's a little bit lower of a status than just being an official wife. And notice who he ends up being buried with, Sarah. And so that's why it's important ladies to lay with the guy that you're married to. That's official, that's real, that's formal. Not just this like, he'll marry me someday, or we call each other husband and wife. No, you better go ahead and get that settled. You know, get the marriage certificate signed with witnesses and filed in the county. Okay? Because at the end of the day, you want him to be buried with you. And, you know, I think that's a good symbol here. We have a husband being buried with his wife. Verse 11. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt by the well, Lehiroy. These are the generations of Ishmael. Abraham's son, whom Hagar, the Egyptian, there is handmade bare unto Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the generations of the first born of Ishmael, Nebaijoth, and Edar and Abduel, and Misham, and Mishma, and Duma, and Massa, Edar and Timah, Jeter, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns and by their castles, twelve princes according to their nations. These are the years of the life of Ishmael, in hundred and thirty and seven years. And he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people, and they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is, before Egypt, as the ghost toward Assyria, and he died in the presence of all his brethren. So the Bible prophesied that Ishmael would get twelve princes. We have, very clearly, articulated again, the twelve princes, which means ruler. The word prince, you know, I think of it in Disney terms. It means, like, the son of a king. But in reality, prince just means, is more equivalent to the word ruler, in general. Now it could be that it's the son of a king, and it would make sense, because often the son of a king is a prince in some capacity, and ends up becoming the king later. That's why you typically think of them as being synonymous, but a prince simply in the Bible is just a ruler. And so he's just basically saying, hey, Ishmael begat twelve rulers. Now, a lot of people that are, you know, really like Fox News today, they think that Ishmael is, like, basically the devil. And when I say Ishmael, I mean Muslim. Okay, because that's where they're descended, basically, from, is you have this whole group of people in the world that are Muslims, and if you've even touched the news, all you can hear about is the Taliban. Taliban this, Afghanistan that, Taliban this, Taliban that, and if it wasn't that, it was Syria, or it was some other neighboring country, or Gaza, or the west, you know, just all kinds of stuff about Muslims, and Islam, and the Taliban. Now, here's the thing. Islam is a wicked false religion. It's of the devil. It's actually a stupid religion. It's foolishness, it's nonsense. Their book is the worst literature on the planet, virtually. I mean, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything dumber than, you know, Islam. Maybe if AOC wrote a book, I don't know. But it's like, it's so bad, because the guy who wrote it is illiterate, literally. And look, I mean, I'm not just up here blowing smoke. I've tried to read large portions of this, and it's really hard, because it starts out with the longest chapters first, basically. It kind of has like a little sorry to start out. All their books are called sorry, so sorry if you read it. But then it's like, the second one is like the longest ever. It's like 190 verses or something. I don't know, it's a lot of verses. And it's hard to read, because it's just such poor literature. And there's no story. It's just random, just verse after verse. It's just like, women are dirt, slay them. Blessed be Allah, peace be upon you. Do you remember that part of the book in the Bible? And just Abraham, Muslims, you know, Moses. You're just like, I don't even know what's happening. The person's on drugs. Blessed be, you know, Allah again. And you're just like, why? It's really confusing. It's a confusing book. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And I'm totally against it. But that doesn't mean that every person that is descended from Ishmael is a bad person. And I believe that Ishmael is in heaven. And you say, why? Because of what the Bible says. Let me prove this to you, why I believe Ishmael is in heaven. Look back at verse 17 at the very last phrase. And was gathered unto his people. That's because he was saved. Okay, now you say, why would you say that? Well, skip back to verse 8. Let's read verse 8 again. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age. An old man and full of years. Notice this. And was gathered to his people. So the same place that Abraham was going, where he's gathered to his people, is the same place where what? Ishmael is going and he's gathered unto his people. Okay. Now this phrase is not just a random phrase. It's used multiple times in your Bible. Go to chapter 35 for a second. Go to chapter 35. And it makes sense that Ishmael was saved when Abraham's your father. You know, I mean, talk about a pretty good opportunity to get saved when Abraham's your literal father, right? It would have been kind of weird for Abraham to raise like 20 reprobates and just have one Isaac. You know, that's kind of weird. But you have to realize that the false religion of Islam is so far removed from Ishmael, it's not even crazy. We're not even talking about the same millennia. We're talking about thousands and thousands of years difference. If we were to go back 2,000 years of our ancestors, I mean, good luck finding Christians. Let alone you can just go back one generation, you probably wouldn't find very many. Go back five generations, I mean, you're going to have all kinds of crazy stuff going on. Are you really responsible for what they believed? Or vice versa? Obviously, it would be wrong to sit here and just damn every single one of these people, you know, people that look like their Muslim descent just because of the false religion of Islam. Now look, if they're an Islamic pedophile predator, then yeah, you know, I'm going to discriminate against them, but not because of the color of their skin or who their parents were, but because of their wicked false religion and their actions, okay? Now, Genesis chapter 35, look at verse 29, And Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. So when Isaac dies, he's gathered unto his people, just like what? Ishmael. Go to chapter 49, go to chapter 49. I want to prove this a little bit further on you. So if Abraham's going unto his people, what will we say? He went to heaven. If Isaac's gathered unto his people, what will we say? He was going unto heaven, right? He's gathered unto the same place that Abraham, it's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is it not? So if they're all gathered unto their people, and what I like about this is we should, it should motivate us to get Muslims saved so that they can be with their people, they can be with Ishmael, who is their people. Let's get them saved. Let's not damn them or condemn every single Muslim. Look, there's plenty of Christians, they'll get all mad at us for hating anybody, but they would nuke the Middle East with the press of a button like that. You know it and I know it. And I talk to them and they're just like, nuke them, they're all terrible, they're all bad, it's the worst thing ever. It's like Islam is. But you know, you get up and preach about how terrible Islam is, ah, I think you're kind of mean about that. But then they'll nuke the people that believe it. Or they'll nuke the people that don't actually believe it, but they're just being oppressed by it. They're being oppressed by it. You know, that would be the same as nuking America for the beliefs of our government. I mean, do you really want to stand here and say, like, I believe just like the U.S. government, a man and a woman? Or are you being oppressed by our government? You know, I don't believe in the freedom of religion. Sorry to confuse you about the Constitution, I'm not a Constitutionalist. I'm a Bible believer, okay? And the Bible believers don't say freedom of religion, they say worship the only true God, it's called Jehovah. And guess what, when you blaspheme the God of the Bible, you're supposed to be put to death. And did you realize that in America, before we accepted the Constitution, that if you blaspheme God, you're put to death? That doesn't sound like freedom of religion to me. That doesn't even sound like freedom of expression. Sorry to trample on your constitutional rights there, buddy. Now look, obviously the Constitution's better than communism, sure, all day long. But you know what, the Bible's better than the Constitution, too. Maybe that should be a different sermon. I'll preach that for you later to get you all upset, okay? But look at Genesis 49, verse 29, And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron, the Hittite. So even Jacob, he's going to say, I'm going to be gathered unto my people, what is he saying? I'm going to die and go to heaven, is what he's saying. And he's saying, well, no, he's saying he's going to get buried. But it's different, though. Look at verse 33, let me prove this to you. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people, Now here's the thing. Jacob is not going to be buried for a long time, because they have to travel back from Egypt all the way up, and then bury him in the tomb. So he's not been buried yet. They're going to embalm him, and then have a ceremony, and then take him up. So it's going to take a while to get up there and actually physically bury him. But it says he was with his people, meaning the moment that he died, the moment he gave up the ghost, he's with his people. Doesn't that sound good? Hey, as soon as you die, you're with your people. Go to Numbers chapter 27, go to Numbers chapter 27. You say, why do you believe Ishmael is in heaven? The same reason I believe Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are in heaven. Numbers chapter 27. And look, obviously, Ishmael represents unbelieving Jews all day long. But here's the thing. God uses people to represent all kinds of things that they don't represent themselves. God uses a parable in the New Testament where he likens God the Father. Jesus Christ is likening God the Father unto an unjust judge. I mean, is that really a good representation of who God is? The unjust judge most likely isn't even saved. And, you know, on a parable, they could just be made-up stories. Or, more likely, it's real events that God knows about that he's using to illustrate spiritual truths. I believe there probably really was an unjust judge that existed, probably never got saved, because the Bible says he didn't even fear God. It said that he didn't care about any man's person, and he didn't fear God. You know what that means? Not saved. Because the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord. So someone that's not even saved represented God, the Father. So that means the opposite could be true, too, where Ishmael, who is saved, could then later represent what? Unbelieving Israel. Just because these people picture and represent different entities or parables or stories doesn't necessarily reflect who they are as a person. Now, look at Numbers 27 verse 12. And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. Notice, Moses is going to be gathered unto other people, just like Aaron was. So we have all of these great men of the Bible who we know are saved with the same phrase. Go to Deuteronomy 32, the last place I'll have you turn, Deuteronomy chapter 32. So when someone dies and they're gathered unto their people, I believe that's a clear indication that they were saved. You also have similar wordings in the Kings and Chronicles. That's why I believe people like Manasseh are saved. Because of the way it describes his burial. Because it'll talk about them being buried, and then it'll be like he's with his people or whatever, and I'm like, I think that's an indication this person's probably saved. Now does it say that about every single one? That's why I typically believe that most every king of Judah is pretty much saved. The way it words the end of their life. Not because they were great people. And when you realize that most of them are saved, you start realizing that a lot of saved people kind of suck in real life. And then when you start realizing that a lot of saved people suck in real life, the world starts making a lot of sense to you. Because you start realizing that there's a lot of saved people and they really kind of suck. Or they have a lot of problems, they have a lot of issues, they're not very reliable, they have a lot of mistakes, and you're just like, it's life! Moses wasn't leading a bunch of perfect people through the wilderness. He was leading a bunch of complainers and idolaters and just all kinds of issues. Faithless people. I mean, can you imagine leading people through the Red Sea, one of the most amazing miracles ever, and you start doubting God right after that. You'd be like, you walked through the same Red Sea, I did! And then he feeds you with miracle bread from heaven, and then you're just like, you just can't understand why they just keep complaining and they just don't have faith in the Lord and they don't trust him. Yet, you'll run into people that you get saved or they get saved and they're all on fire for God and they're all excited. And then a few months later, they're just like, I'm done with church and I don't care anymore and whatever. And you're just like, who are you? What happened? Where did it go? It's just, people are people. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse 48. And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mount Abiram on a mountain Ebo, which is in the land of Moab that is over against Jericho, and behold, the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for possession. And die in the mount, whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hore and was gathered unto his people. Now the reason why I bring that up again is because when it comes to Moses, we don't even know where he was buried at all. We don't even know if he was buried. So when it's using this phrase, I don't believe it has anything to do with the burial. It has everything to do with the fact that he was going to heaven. So when we talk about Ishmael, it wasn't in reference to his burial, just like it wasn't in the reference of burial to the other guys, it's a reference to them dying and being gathered on his people. No one's going to hell to be gathered unto their people. Okay, I know they're like, I want to be with my people in hell, but it's like, you're not going to see anything in hell. You're going to hear weeping and gnashing of teeth, and you don't even know who it is. And you're going to be screaming, bloody murder. You won't be able to see anything. You're going to be feeling like you're constantly falling. That's not being gathered unto anything. You're just dying. You're just dying over and over. It's just continual destruction is how the Bible describes it. That's not anything pleasant. There's nothing wonderful about it. There's weeping and gnashing of teeth. There's no rest day nor night. There's no gathering of people. The only time you'll end up being gathered is the great white throne judgment, or one last final judgment to then be cast in the lake of fire for all of eternity where nobody will ever remember you or care about you ever again. That's a pretty sad thought. It's not funny. It's sad. It's sad that, I mean, even my own worst enemy, I don't want that for them. God didn't want that for anybody. The Bible says God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come under repentance. God so loved the world. God died for Jeffrey Dahmer. He died for Joe Biden. God died for Hillary Clinton. God died for every Taliban member. He did it. And he loved them, and he wanted them to go to heaven. If they reject him, they will go to hell, and you know what? We'll forget about all of them. Joe Biden's already forgotten about himself, but you know what? We'll forget about him too. Go back to Genesis chapter 25. That's just the gift that keeps on giving, okay? Pretty soon Kamala will probably take over, and we won't even be able to think about him anymore. Genesis chapter 25, look at verse 19. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah the wife, daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padan Aram, sister to Laban the Syrian, and Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived, and the children struggled together within her. And she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elders shall serve the younger. Now, at this point, we've pretty much completely transitioned away from our past narrative. We're going to go now into Jacob and Esau and Isaac and Rebekah and everything because we've kind of concluded with Abraham and Keturah and Ishmael and all of that other stuff, okay? Now we're just dialed in on Jacob and Esau and kind of a completely new narrative. And I had said in my last sermon at the very end how there was kind of this consistent narrative theme of like the whole Bible. Well, even this chapter kind of creeped in a little bit because if you think about it, there was kind of the marriage at the end. And then with the last part, all the inheritance was given unto Isaac picturing how, you know, after the marriage, then finally the last step is all the inheritance is claimed by Isaac and then we get to inherit that. You kind of still even have a little bit more conclusion in chapter 25, right? Now we've kind of transitioned to a completely different story. We have Jacob and Esau and the Bible says here that it's two nations. So these two men represent nations. Everybody else has already represented nations throughout the Bible so it's not hard to understand this, right? We have the 12 princes which are going to beget 12 nations in a sense. You have the nation of, you know, Isaac is kind of coming through and you have all these different men that are setting up whole nations, the Midianites, right? And you're going to have all these different people that are grouped, the Hittites and the Canaanites and you have all these different nations being represented by a singular person. That's the same here. You're going to have two men that are going to represent two physical nations. You're going to have Esau and Jacob. Now, the Bible tells us who they are. It said in the last verse in 23, the elders shall serve the younger. That's quoted in the New Testament. Keep your finger here, go to Romans chapter 9 for a second real quick and we'll kind of address some of these things that are mentioned in the Bible. And again, you know, just because someone is a picture of something doesn't mean he himself is that picture, okay? And that's important to understand with Esau because Esau represents something very evil and wicked but he himself is not necessarily the most evil, wicked person per se. He does have problems. He does have serious issues. But what the Bible is going to say about him is really not about him as a person as much as about the nation. Look at Romans chapter 9 verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebekah also conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. So before the children are born, God told her the two children are struggling in your womb are two nations, okay? Now when we import that into this understanding here in chapter number 9, when it's talking about Jacob have I love, is it saying Jacob the person? No, it's saying the nation that's Jacob and the nation that's Esau, okay? Now this is actually I think fulfilled in two different ways. At least, there could be more. But one would be in a physical sense. What would be the physical sense? Well Esau ends up becoming Edom, okay? Or Mount Seir. And then Jacob becomes Israel. And so you have these two nations and throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God's eye is going to be on Israel and those are going to be his chosen people and he's not going to have the same love, affection, as he would towards them as he does Esau in the sense that Esau is kind of rejected, Edom is kind of rejected, it's not the same as Israel unto God. But then the more important fulfillment is this spiritually in which Jacob is going to represent spiritual Israel, spiritual Jews, and Edom and Esau is going to represent that, again, physical nation of Jews that's rejected and those are the ones who he hates. Yes, God hates Jews that reject him. The Jews that reject Jesus and the Jews that will never believe in Jesus, God hates. They're not his people and those that accepted him, whether they be Jew or Gentile, those that have believed in him, God loves. And it says that God did this before any of their actions. Now this would be a verse that a lot of Calvinists would grab on and hold onto and try to twist and try to pervert and try to say that God loves individuals regardless of their action and hates individuals regardless of their action. Now, I want to show you a few different verses here. Go to Malachi, chapter number one. First of all, when it comes to salvation, some of the things that they believe are true. When it comes to salvation, I am loved of God regardless of my action because my faith in Christ is what actually saved me and my righteousness is not my own. It's what Christ imputed unto me and so God loves me continually forever not because of anything I did except for putting my faith in Jesus Christ. My choice of faith in Christ is what gives me permanent love from God forever and it's not based, it's unconditional. Now God would be pleased with me depending upon my actions and he'd be displeased with me based on my actions. My actions have no impact on whether or not God loves me and when it comes to hatred though, again, it's not really about actions so much as it is about the rejection and the acceptance of Christ. So if someone rejects Christ, God can get to a point where he no longer loves them in any way and then on top of that, the aggravation of their rejection is also magnified by their sin. So then God hates them not only for the rejection of Christ but then also for the sins in which they have committed. And he hates their murder, their adultery, their fornication and he looks at them as being an idolater, a fornicator, a liar, whatever their sin is. Those that have believed in Christ, he doesn't look at us as a liar, a fornicator, or whatever. He looks at us as being a son of God. He looks at us as being perfect and spotless as a chaste virgin. And so, God can get to a point where he loves people no more. I'll just read a verse from Hosea but it talks about Israel. It says, all their wickedness is in Gilgal for there I hated them. For their wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house. I will love them no more. All their princes are revolters. So God literally looked at Israel at a point in the Old Testament and he says, you know what? I'm done loving them. I will not love them anymore. I hate them and he rejects them. Why? Because they rejected him. They despised his word. He was weary with repenting. He was weary with letting things go and giving them grace and long suffering and he got to a breaking point and he completely rejected Israel. He allowed hordes of heathens to come into northern Israel and just wipe them all out and basically you were left with the southern kingdom of Judah. And they were just dispersed amongst the heathen. That's why you pretty much only had like Benjamin and Judah and Levi as remaining portions of the children of Israel later into the Old Testament and into the New Testament. Now you had a few other remnants here and there from other tribes but it was very few and far between because God literally rejected them before the New Testament. And then you get to the New Testament where it's clear that God has replaced the physical nation with the spiritual nation and people freak out. It's like he already didn't love them before Jesus showed up. It's like, no, God loves that Jew. Not the one that hates him. Not the one that's rejected him. Not the one that had nothing to do with him. Now in Malachi chapter 1, look at verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, Where in us thou lovedest? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. So again, another way that we can understand this is you know, you as a person don't have mountains as an individual. So what is he talking about? He's talking about a group of people that live in a particular area Esau, Mount Seir and he's talking about them as a whole hating them as a whole because they as a whole have rejected God they've rejected Christ and so he's rejected them. God does not hate any individual when they start. Because the Bible makes me think God so loved the world. Every person God loves God wants every person to be saved God tries his hardest to get them saved Look, how could you say he's not tried his hardest when the only thing you have to do is believe in his son one time? I mean, how much easier could God truly make it? You could say, well, he could show up in all his glory and scream at you until you did it but here's the thing, would that really be free will at that point? I mean, if you had your boss breathing down your neck and screaming at you and saying he's going to fire you as soon as you make a mistake or if you don't do exactly what he wants it'd be hard to argue that you really were making that choice by free will, wouldn't it? But here's the thing everybody realizes that believing in Christ is a complete free will decision God's not going to force you God's not going to make you do it you have to decide to believe in Christ but praise the Lord it's literally the easiest thing you'll ever do now you have to humble yourself, that's hard it might take a lot of effort humbling yourself in the sense that you have to say, it has nothing to do with me it's all believing in Christ but the literal act of believing in Christ couldn't be simpler it couldn't be easier and in fact, it's just a simple calling out to the Lord even if you couldn't talk physically if you just came out of your heart, you're saved I mean, if you believe on Christ, in your heart, you're saved done deal and people try to make it hard you say, who tries to make it hard? False prophets because they want to confuse you and they want to keep in constant doubt and they want to have you in constant fear and try to scare people into heaven but here's the thing, no one's going to look, I'll scare people in heaven with the danger of hell you know what, I don't want to scare people in trying to make salvation harder than it is by saying, you got to work for it you got to add this to it look, if you add anything to it, you're not getting there that's the problem just like, what if I added directions to your house? what if I added an extra turn to the left? you wouldn't get there you know, the directions are exact you know, if I give you the directions to the store I give you the directions to your house I give you the directions to the place if I just start adding go an extra ten miles to the north you're going to miss the mark you know, just like heaven you can't add your works to it or you're going to miss the mark you're not going to make it you're not going to get in through the door go back to Genesis 25, I want to finish and then I have one more point that I really want to kind of make here it says in verse 24 now, I just think it's interesting that he has his hand on his heel it just seems like, when you think about it it's like Christians are going to ride on the heels of the Jews, right? we get to just take all of their stuff and he's kind of riding on his heels that's my thought verse 27 and Jacob said so again, just like Jacob was given the birthright from Esau he sold it unto him because he didn't want it it's the same way when it comes to Christianity the Jews didn't want it the Jews didn't want Christianity the Jews didn't want Christ they sold it unto the Christians, in a sense we took it because they despised it and for a bowl of lentils I mean, for nothing, basically I mean, for a hill of beans I mean, it's worthless you know, and it's funny this is why lentils are used because it's trying to show you how much he hated his birthright because when you put beans into some kind of a stew or something it's showing you that you hate it people that put beans in a meat stew I mean, man it just has to show their hatred okay? and so this is why you don't put beans in chili this is a biblical doctrine, okay? and people will point to this story and they'll say, oh look, it's great oh, this is the exact opposite of being a great story it's showing you how you hate yourself and you hate food by putting lentils in because if God, God's like what's the food that represent hatred the most? beans, okay? he's like, I'm going to put lentils in there you know, lentils are just the most worthless thing and look, obviously, if you like lentils go for it, okay? I'm not against you I even have lentils in my house and it's kind of funny because I think we have had these lentils from every house that we've ever been married we like bought a thing of lentils we have yet to cook them it might have been a decade, I don't know it's been several years, okay? and I just always look at it and it's like, you look at all the food and you're like, I'll eat anything else you're like, I would eat it now, I'll admit, my sister is like an excellent cook and so like, if you have her lentil soup you're like, this is pretty good you know, I actually enjoy it but it's just because she can make anything taste good if you tried any of her other food you're like, but all of that's better you know, everything's still better than it even though you could make it taste good and to sell something for lentils is just going to show how much you hate whatever it is that you're selling, okay? again, some people falsely accuse me of saying I don't like beans I'm not saying I don't like beans I'm just saying you don't want to ruin chili by putting beans in there just like, you know, I like ice cream but I don't put ice cream in chili you know? I don't put lots of things that I like into chili there's nothing with, there's nothing wrong with beans but there's something wrong with replacing meat with beans in your chili that would just, that's just a sin, okay? in my opinion to me, alright? because if the Bible says him that knoweth to do good and doeth not to him that is sin, alright? you thought I was just making stuff up this is Bible, okay? Bible study, alright? now go up to Galatians chapter 3 for a moment go to Galatians chapter number 3 and I want to make one more serious point and then I'm going to kind of elaborate on that, okay? now I was still serious about the chili thing even though you're laughing, alright? but at the end of the day what happens? Esau just doesn't care about his birthright at all in fact what's interesting, he's saying why does he despise it? this is why he despises the pressure because of what's attached to it some people just don't even want to deal with the things that they've been given so they end up despising what they've been given they don't like who they are or the situation they find themselves in so they end up despising what's been given unto them even if it's good they could actually dislike something that's been given unto them because they no longer want it you know, the children of Israel despise the manna eventually there's nothing wrong with the manna and it's actually like the greatest bread theoretically they just got complacent with it they got dissatisfied with it they wanted something else so they end up despising it they ended up hating it and you know what? the Jews it's not like there's anything wrong with Christ it's not like there's anything wrong with the New Testament it's just that they just don't want it they don't want the burdens associated with it they don't want the work that's associated with it they don't want the lifestyle change that's associated with it they'd rather cling unto what they know what they're used to the traditions they had the things that are old and look, this is no different than when you go so many today I'll run into a Catholic and they won't even let me give them the Gospel because they say no, I was born Catholic and my parents are Catholic and I'm gonna die a Catholic and they're just so afraid of change they're so afraid of you know, something being different or they can't embrace other stuff and you know, with Esau it's like he just doesn't like that birthright that he has he wants nothing to do with it now obviously if you're given a bad heritage like a Catholic there's nothing wrong with replacing that with something better but at the end of the day the Jews, they just didn't like real Christianity they held onto their traditions which is a fake form of Christianity now Galatians chapter 3 says in verse 17 and this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God and Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect for if the inheritance be of the law it is no more a promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise so one thing you have to understand is the inheritance that was supposed to be given unto the Jews had nothing to do with the law it was always given to them by promise and the promise was way before the law and then it's saying after the law was given or when the law was given several hundred years later it's like that didn't change the promise in any way so the inheritance promise has nothing to do with the law the law is they're different they're separate things and the Jews, they want to cling unto the law and they despise the promise that was actually given to them they despise their actual birth right which is to believe in Christ and to be of Christ and they want to cling unto the law in which they have and Esau, he doesn't like his birth right he wants nothing to do with it he's willing to just sell it for beans look at verse 26 for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus for as many as for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus and if ye Christ then ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so according to the Bible, once you believe in Christ you are now His it doesn't matter if you were Jew or Gentile before because it's meaningless at this point and because you're in Christ that is how you're going to receive the inheritance that is your birth right now, I want to make it clear what I'm saying and then journey off of that for a second what I'm talking about is salvation specifically the Jews did not believe in Christ so they were not saved it was their birth right though to be saved you know the Bible talks about who are Israelites in Romans it says who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption meaning it was theirs to be adopted into God's family but notice they had to be adopted too if you're an Israelite and you have to be adopted it's because you're not already God's children because they are not all Israel which are of Israel is what the Bible says so you had to become spiritual Israel even in the Old Testament the adoption was theirs though it was their opportunity they were supposed to believe in Christ it's their religion it's their God they're the chosen I mean it's all lined up perfectly for them to take it theirs for the taking but they don't want it and because they rejected it it's given unto others now because of Israel's rejection the Bible also then likens that same similar parable unto how the Gentiles end up receiving Christ and getting all those spiritual blessings and God had already foreknown those things and already had forepredicted and told us that that was going to happen but there's another way that I think we could look at this story and here's the thing he despised it so he'd never even get saved but I also think a lot of people that end up getting saved still end up pulling an Esau the Bible talks about fornicators being similar to Esau and basically forfeiting something or being impatient with something or despising something you know a fornicator in a sense you could say despises their virginity they look at their virginity as not having any value as being meaningless or pointless and look honestly in a public school setting that is how kids treat it they will make fun of you for being a virgin even myself included I mean I remember going to public school and people would laugh and mock and say oh you're a virgin still oh man as if it was a bad thing as if it has no value and that's kind of similar how he treats his gift his inheritance is something that's just he doesn't even like it he despises it he wishes he could change it or alter it and he ends up just selling it to his brother for nothing now here's the thing if you believe in Christ you're saved and your birthright is to inherit the kingdom of heaven I mean you're going to rule and reign with Christ you're going to inherit those blessings but here's the thing how you inherit and what you inherit is still on the table a little bit because while you will be a joint heir with Christ the Bible makes it clear that we're going to be rewarded according to our works meaning the portion that you're going to inherit what you're over and ruling is going to be dependent upon how you live your life and there's going to be some people that are saved that still despise that birthright despise that inheritance to some degree and end up forfeiting a lot of rewards forfeiting a lot of that portion of the inheritance that they could have made secure by serving God by serving Christ and at the end of the day most people I find struggle with thoughts of not being pleased with who they are just in any sense they're not pleased with the color of their skin I mean talk about people not being pleased with their color Michael Jackson, right? they're not pleased with their height they're not pleased with their genetics you know, maybe they're more prone to being overweight or in some cases maybe they're more prone to being underweight and look people on both sides of that equation people that are big wish they were small people that are small wish they were big people that are tall wish they were shorter people that are shorter wish they were tall people that are men wish they were women it's out there, you know, it's weird I don't, praise the Lord, I'm a man you know, but they wish their hair color was different they wish they had curly hair and the people that have curly hair wish they had straight hair and the people that have, you know more volume wish it was thinner the people that have thin hair wish they had more volume and you know just every form and fashion out there is imaginable they wish they had certain highlights they wish they had this you know, everybody just seems to be really discontent with who they are they wish they had different parents I remember having those thoughts whenever I was dropped off at school my dad, he didn't really care about buying nice vehicles and when I say that I mean it in the most literal sense I mean he bought, he would buy a car he bought this car, it's like a 1970 something Buick or whatever, we call it the deer slayer basically the front was just covered with hair and I mean this thing, if you drove it very long it got so hot, he'd have to pour water like on the engine and stuff, like to cool it down so the back was just full of like water cans and stuff just so that when it got hot and I mean this car is like 500 bucks or something it's just like, can we not afford something nicer? you know, and it squeals and I mean the paint job is not even that you can't even tell what the original paint color was I was so embarrassed when my parents would drop me off anywhere you know, I was embarrassed to be around my parents my parents were much older than everybody else's parents because my dad was like 46 when I was born okay, my mom was 43 so they were much older than I was than my friends, contemporaries were and because they were older they just weren't cool you know, they weren't fashionable I mean my dad's fashion sense is that he does not care I mean basically he'd wear a shirt and I'm gonna try to make fun of my dad because I think it's great that he doesn't care, honestly but back then I did care he'd wear a shirt for a couple days and then he'd just turn it inside out and wear it for a couple days you know, and I mean his fashion sense had nothing to do with his world I mean he'd just wear a normal pair of pants just like an inside sweater, shirt, whatever and it was just like wow you know, and it's like that's your dad? and it's like yeah, I mean we look identical you know, if you've ever seen the picture of me and my dad I mean we look like the same person, okay just 50 years apart or whatever but I was embarrassed you know, and look, people are so embarrassed about who they are they're embarrassed about their heritage they don't like who they are, where they're from, what they do or here's what they don't like, they don't like where they're at in the sense of what their job is, their financial status they don't like who they're married to they don't like who their kids are they don't like the lack of kids they don't like Fort Worth they don't like Dallas, they don't like Texas they don't like the United States, they don't like wherever I mean people are just so discontent with everything about them they hate their job they hate their clothes they hate their hair, they hate their family they hate their in-laws, that one's easy they hate, I mean, I mean just like they're just dissatisfied with who they are but here's the thing, you can't change most of that and why be Esau and just despise everything about who you are why can't you just embrace and love who you are where you're at and say you know what nuts to all the physical anyways because I'm in Christ and I have a great inheritance I have a great birthright before me and I can just embrace that birthright but even in the physical sense you all have great stuff going for you and instead of despising all the things you have in your life why don't you look with favor and happiness and joy with the things that God has blessed you be joyful that God's given you a wife or kids or a job or the things that you have I mean, you know, a lot of people say that they're a product of their environment you know, I think this I think a lot of times that your environment is a product of you because you can change your environment you know, most people are not forced to live here a lot of people moved here at some point in their life, didn't they? is that really your environment affecting you or are you choosing your environment? are you choosing, did you choose the person you got married to? that's you choosing your environment okay, your kids a lot of things in your life you know, the clothes you're wearing, you put them on most of you, I hope, you know maybe the little kids had some help but at the end of the day, I mean if you're upset with your environment you control that you control that destiny and you know, the Jews they were disillusioned about their environment their situation and who they were, they didn't like it they had illusions of grandeur you know, Christ is not what they expected because Christ is not what they expected they rejected him they thought he was going to come and rescue them from the Romans and because he had no interest in that they had no interest in him and let me tell you what, it's the exact same today you know what, people come into the new IFB or they come into a church like ours and they have wrong expectations and then they get mad about it say, what would be one of those expectations? what would be one of those expectations? they think we're going to save you from the American government and then when they realize that we don't care they get disillusioned, they get frustrated with that and they don't want anything to do with it they're like, oh man, I thought we were going to overthrow the government here it's like, no we're supposed to submit to every ordinance of man we're supposed to submit to the higher power and you say, I don't like that and it's like, well go hit the road, Jack you know because they have a bad perception of what it's like to serve God or they hear a really cool radical sermon and they're like, awesome I can't wait to go to a church like that where that's what I hear every time every sermon is just against Joe Biden or something or every sermon is against the Jews and then when they realize that most of the sermons Bible study through Genesis Abraham and Isaac and Ishmael because their expectations are wrong they end up getting frustrated with it or they have this idea serving God is going to be this cool everybody's going to know who I am and I'm going to seem like this cool rebel and I'm fighting the man and whatever and when they realize it's just actually serving people and being humble and making sacrifices and doing work they're like, I don't want any of that and you know what they end up doing? they're despising their birthright they're despising reality for fantasy world and I'll tell you what, one thing that's really bad about the technology we live in today is everybody lives in a fantasy world what do you mean by that? they just all day they just think about things that aren't real I mean movies none of it's real comics and video games Facebook's not real they just think about all these things and what do they do? they sit there and they just dream all day long of everything that's not real what would I do if I had a million dollars? what's the point of that thought train because you don't but what if I was Jennifer Aniston? you're not but what if I was Brad Pitt? you're not what if I was a professional basketball player? you're not what if I was this? you're not and people just sit there and they just dream all day long of everything that they don't have that they're never going to have things that have no value, no purpose reality they spend all day in fantasy world all they do is just dream about all the things they don't have and who they aren't as opposed to focusing on who they are and what they do have and here's the thing what do you do have? everything I mean you're going to inherit with Christ the entire world everything oh this is getting burned up anyways you would be like okay cool no problem I don't care about that they don't look at this world as trash everything in this world is just trash it's all waxing, all is decaying, it's rotting it has no purpose, no value get your things on the things that have eternal value focus on the things of your inheritance you know people want to have this idea of being in leadership or being a pastor, or being a deacon, or being an evangelist and they're like oh I just got to do that there's a bunch of hard work and sacrifice they have this idea of like it being your name in lights or something and everybody likes you it's just not real that's why they usually fall away or they turn out to be bad people because their expectation was completely false from reality it was distracted from reality and they actually despise hard work they actually despise serving other people they actually despise being humble and because they despise the real things you know Moses had to forsake Egypt and Egypt was probably great at that time but he considered it trash and at the end of the day you have to think about this Esau was replaced by Jacob and you know what, you can easily be replaced too when you take for granted the things that God has given you in your life don't be surprised if God just brings in a Jacob to just grab you by the heels and just say like, oh you don't like that, I want it oh you don't like serving God, I want to serve God oh you don't like sowing, I like sowing you don't like preaching, you don't like ministering unto others, you don't like whatever it is you don't like your family who's to say that God won't just strike you with a brain amorism and some other guy will come and take your family on and say well I do like your wife I do like your children I do like your house I do like your goods instead of despising all the things that you have in this world, why don't you start getting grateful for all the opportunities you have grateful for all the things that God has blessed you with saying I actually love these things, I appreciate these things instead of being like an Esau and just despising everything that we have you know what, that's what the world is constantly feeding you with buy more, get a bigger house when's the last advertisement you said get a smaller house have less possessions have more kids it's like a birth control ad and then next to it it's like a boat it's not saying sell the boat and have a kid it's not going to necessarily paint godly pictures it's going to paint zero it's going to paint discontentment in your heart fantasy in your mind everybody's smiling on the billboard everybody looks attractive on the billboard and it's like look in the mirror and just get used to it like it, appreciate it God likes you your parents, your mom likes you I'm sure it's a face only a mother could love but you know what, she loves you be appreciative of that and the more it looks like the way it came out the more she's going to like it don't disfigure it or whatever and some people they despise serving God because of the imperfections of serving God they say what do you mean by the imperfections of serving God because you're going to have to find a church and that church is going to be imperfect and you know what, that church is going to have a pastor and that pastor is not going to be perfect and you know what, there's going to be members in the church and let me tell you a secret, the members aren't going to be perfect and because of the imperfections that exist, they'll despise serving God they'll despise their birthright they want nothing to do with it they would rather have the vanity of this life which is a bunch of lentils demons have forsaken me having loved this present world loving lentils and it's funny, Christians will make fun of Esau what kind of a person would sell their entire inheritance for lentils yet then Christians do the same thing they'll just walk away from serving Christ and you'll say oh, where are you going? get some lentils and look I could name for you dozens and dozens of people that have quit a good church and you know where they're not? in church I'm not saying they went to a better church or a different church, I'm saying they're just not in church what a stupid decision what a foolish decision as a pastor, it's my job to help people serve Christ better and I get mad if someone switches from my church to a better church praise God my goal is to help them serve Christ better so if there's a better church for you please go I'll help you whatever you need, go there if it's truly better for somebody I would be a fool to get in God's way of stopping someone from being in a better church if someone's quitting church to not go to church I'm angry with that person I'm disappointed in that person I'm disappointed in that decision and look, I'm not going to call them up and be like I'm mad at you you know what, I will try to encourage them to get back into serving God what a stupid decision and you know what it shows me? it shows me they're like Esau, they despise their birthright they despise what Christ paid for and bought for them and you have to understand, this is a reality that we live in go to Colossians chapter 3 I want to turn to one more place it makes me think of the parable of the sower and we have to realize this as God's people that everybody that comes through these doors is not going to stick around so if you listen to the parable of the sower some are going to be immediately offended by the persecution, by the word and they're going to leave there's going to be others that get choked with the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and other lusts entering in, choking the world only a few end up actually being good soil and so if you're like well I'm not only going to stick in this church as long as the rest of these people are here then you're going to leave you will quit because most people will quit most people are going to stop serving God most people are not in it for the long haul you know we love to call ourselves steadfast but it's hard to find people that are steadfast and so you have to make the decision in your mind I'm going to be steadfast no matter what else is happening in my environment you know what, my environment's not going to control me, I'm going to control my environment I'm going to decide I can be steadfast I don't want to despise my birthright and even though Esau might sell it for a pot of beans I won't give it away for anything priceless to me and you say well why would it be priceless to you because here's the thing that's all that we really even have if you realized it that's all you have when you die you're not taking anything with you you're just going to stand naked in the eyes of the Lord you know standing with nothing and what you did in this life doesn't add up to rewards look at Colossians chapter 3 verse number 1 if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory so notice your life is hid in Christ you can't see it just like at the time that he sold his birthright you couldn't see anything tangible you know what? Christ is our life and we shouldn't despise that life don't despise church don't despise soul winning don't despise who you are don't despise your wife don't despise your kids don't despise the things that God has given you God has blessed you with so much and it's easy to get discontent it's easy to look at this world and say oh taking care of kids is hard you know why? because it's hard oh she's not perfect she's not Sarah or whatever she's not Proverbs 31 get over it, no one is just like you're not Christ and at the end of the day people just want to be frustrated and I'll tell you what the devil wants to frustrate every Christian right now he wants to discourage every Christian he wants to distract you with this world because it's turning into crap but to me it makes it easier the world is turning into such crap I'm just like let it burn it was way more attractive when it wasn't on fire when it was a lot better and a lot nicer and a lot freer now that it's just turning into a hell hole and there's all these masks it's just like all we have is Christ that's all we ever had if our economy somehow miraculously gets better you're going to have to be reminded that our life is still just with Christ I don't think it will, but I'm just saying even if it did that's all we have to live for so let's just live that way let's not be like Esau and despise our birthright but rather let's embrace what Christ has given us thank you Heavenly Father so much for this story that we have in the Bible about spiritual matters about how we're going to inherit with Christ I pray that we wouldn't have this attitude of despising what you've given us through Christ but rather we'd see the great benefit of serving the Lord Jesus Christ the great honor and realizing that it's hard work realizing that it's a sacrifice realizing that it's dying daily but that it's all worth it because there's nothing else to live for the only thing for us to live for is to serve Christ and I pray that you would motivate us and encourage us to think about all the blessings that we have in our life rather than focus on all the evil that's in this world all the disappointments or all the things that the world wants to lie to us about but rather we would be content with the things that we have in Jesus' name we pray, amen