very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect, for never would they not have ceased to be
offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins.
But in those sacrifices there was remembrance again made of sins every year, for it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, "Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
And burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure."
Then said I, "Low I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will,
O God."
Above, when he said, "Sacrifice an offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin,
thou wouldest not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law."
Then said he, "Low I come to do thy will, O God."
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all.
The priest standeth daily ministering and offering often times of the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us.
For after that he had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days," saith the Lord, "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them.
And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by
a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water.
Let's hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that
promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one
another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery
indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite under the spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, "Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense," saith
the Lord; and again the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
We call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured
a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made of gazing stock, both by reproaches
and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
For ye had compassion to me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance.
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive
the promise.
For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him.
But we are not of them who draw back on a perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you for this church and for our pastor.
We ask that you would be with him now, please strengthen him, and fill him with your spirit,
and please bless the message that he's prepared for us in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Okay, we're in Hebrews chapter 10, and look down at your Bibles in verse number 9.
It says, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
We're going to come back to that passage and just at the end of the sermon, go to Genesis
chapter 49 if you would, hold your place there in Hebrews chapter 10, put a pencil there
or a piece of paper.
We're going to come back to that at the very end of the sermon.
The title of my sermon this morning is "The Younger Brother."
The Younger Brother.
I'm going to preach against the younger brother this morning.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm going to preach about the younger brother and the older brother.
A major theme in the Old Testament that is often overlooked is the theme of sibling rivalry.
We actually see this throughout the Scriptures, specifically in the Old Testament, and more
specifically than that, the bulk of it is actually found in the book of Genesis.
Siblings that are contrary the one to the other.
You have an older sibling and a younger one.
This morning I want to go over some of those examples that we see in the Old Testament
and what are some of the principles that we can learn from them.
Now this sermon you know obviously I'm going to go through a lot of examples here but there's
a lot of siblings that we're not going to be able to cover just because there's many
examples.
You have Moses and Aaron and you also have Adonijah and Solomon and one of the examples
that most people think I'm going to go over I'm not actually going to cover which is Isaac
and Ishmael.
Now you can read that on your own and use Galatians chapter 4 to interpret that.
I'm going to actually go over some of the other examples that the Bible mentions.
Now the first example that I want to go over you're in Genesis 49 I'm going to read you
from Genesis chapter 4.
The first example is Cain and Abel and Seth right and of course the reason I'm saying
Seth as well is because Cain kills Abel and then the person who takes over after Abel
is Seth regarding the lineage of the Messiah.
Let me read you from Genesis chapter 4 and verse number 4 it says in Abel he also brought
the first slings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain was very
wroth and his countenance fell.
So we see here that Cain and Abel if you've been with us on Thursdays where we're going
through the book of Genesis we actually just covered this story but what you have is two
brothers bringing their own manner of worship to the Lord right.
You have Cain bringing the fruit of the ground but you have Abel actually bringing the legitimate
sacrifice unto the Lord and the Bible says that God respects the sacrifice of Abel that's
the sacrifice that he wants that's the sacrifice that he instituted and he doesn't respect
Cain's offering right and that's because of the fact that he didn't sanction that to be
an offering unto the Lord.
That's not the right way to worship God and when he is when he doesn't respect the offering
of Cain, Cain becomes upset he becomes wrath he becomes wrathful and the Bible says that
his countenance falls in other words you know he kind of skews his face he's really angry
at his brother he's upset at the fact that you know God is not accepting his offering
and the Lord responds to him he says Cain why are thou wrath and why is thou countenance
fallen?
If thou doest well shall thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the
door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shall rule over him and Cain talked
with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother and slew him the Bible says.
So we have here the first murder taking place, the first sin after the fall taking place
and it's because of one brother being envious and wrathful towards his younger brother.
He's upset at his brother, he's somewhat jealous of his brother and you know at the end of
the day really what Cain should have done is just repented of his foolish offering and
given the offering that God had sanctioned and instituted.
Not gotten angry at Abel, don't get mad at Abel for his offering and the fact that he
obeyed God and the fact that he followed the Lord and the fact that he's actually doing
things according to the scriptures right.
Instead he gets upset and he takes his anger and his envy and his jealousy out on his brother
and he murders him.
Now let me read you from Hebrews chapter 11, you're in Genesis, Hebrews chapter 11 when
talking about Abel says this, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts
and by it he being dead yet speaketh."
Now the first thing I want to mention here and spoiler alert, the point that I'm getting
at here with comparing the sibling rivalries is that one pictures the old covenant, the
other pictures the new covenant.
Cain pictures that old covenant and Abel also Seth pictures that new covenant.
And in fact, what does it say of Abel in Hebrews chapter 11, that his sacrifice was more excellent
than his neighbor.
And what does it say of the New Testament?
It's far more excellent, right?
It's better.
It's a better covenant established upon better promises, the Bible tells us.
So even though Cain was the firstborn, Abel was the secondborn, Abel ended up offering
a far more excellent sacrifice, therefore providing a foreshadowing of that new covenant that
was going to be a better covenant, a covenant and a sacrifice, by the way, that excels the
sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Okay.
Let me read to you from Matthew chapter 23 verse 34 says, "Wherefore, behold, I send
unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify,
and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to
city, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barakaius, whom he slew between
the temple and the altar," the Bible says.
So God here, Jesus Christ is imposing the guilt upon the physical nation of Israel for
killing Abel here because of the fact that Cain is of that wicked one.
He represents that old covenant, and I'm going to get into some more specifics about them
in just a bit.
Now you're in Genesis chapter 49, and I just went over the example of Cain and Abel, but
let's skip forward here and let's talk about Reuben and Joseph, okay?
Reuben and Joseph.
Now in Genesis 49, you have Jacob, also known as Israel, blessing his sons before he dies.
And you know, the first person he addresses obviously is his firstborn, which is Reuben.
But you know, he doesn't necessarily have a whole lot of good things to say about Reuben,
okay?
I know this is a list of blessings, but he actually gets some cursings, okay?
Look at verse one of Genesis 49.
It says, "And Jacob called his sons and said, 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell
you that which shall befall you in the last days.'"
Gather yourselves together and hear you, sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel, your father.
Reuben, thou art my firstborn.
So again, what's the title of the sermon?
The Younger Brother, showing the contrasting rivalries between the older and the younger
brother.
And he says of Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength.
I want you to notice this, the excellency of dignity, right?
And the excellency of power.
Now this definitely can be said of the firstborn, even of today.
The firstborns are often the ones who get like the best from their parents.
They get the most attention sometimes.
They get, you know, they're very, they get the most strict rules because he's like the
firstborn.
But when parents have their firstborn, it's just like they're very careful with that first
child, you know.
It's just like they don't want him to get sick, they don't want him to touch anybody,
you know.
He falls and they're like, oh no.
You know, after the first, after the second, third, fourth, you know, you're not using
Kleenex to wipe his nose.
You just kind of grab your suit coat and just, you know, wipe, you know what I mean?
You know, he falls and he's just bleeding out of his nose.
You're like, you're fine.
It's just, you're fine.
You know, if we need to go to the doctor, okay, but you know, we'll wait a couple hours
or something, you know, whereas the first born often gets the most attention in that
regard.
Right.
And it says here that Reuben, Reuben was the individual who received the beginning of the
strength of Jacob.
He was the excellency of dignity and he excelled in power.
He was great.
Verse four, unstable as water, thou shall not excel.
Well, that's interesting because it specifically says that he was excellent in dignity.
He had excellency in power.
He was the beginning of strength.
He's saying that he excels, but because he's unstable as water, he shall not excel.
And interesting.
Now, let's skip down to verse 22, if you would.
Verse 22.
So, you know, didn't go over very well for the oldest brother, Reuben.
Well, let's look at the younger sibling.
And obviously Joseph is not the youngest, but he is younger than many of the other siblings
in the 12 tribes.
Verse 22 says Joseph is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run
over the wall.
The archers have grieve, have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him.
But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands
of the mighty God of Jacob.
From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.
So you see a lot of the terminology being used here is very much likened unto the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Right?
It says that from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.
And I want you to notice the difference between Reuben and Joseph.
Where did Reuben get his strength from?
From his earthly father, Jacob.
He got his dignity, his excellency, his power, his strength from Jacob.
Whereas Joseph, the Bible says, that his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
God.
So we obviously see here that Joseph is special in that regard.
And we know his story that he was backstabbed by his brothers.
He was sold into slavery.
He was lied about.
He was kidnapped.
You know, a lot of evil came upon Joseph.
Yet despite that, the Bible says that he's like a fruitful bough whose branches run over
the wall.
What does that mean?
It means he excelled over the wall.
And in fact, if we're to compare Joseph with Reuben, he far excelled Reuben to the point
where he actually saved Reuben, right?
Saved Reuben and the nation of Israel because he became the vice pharaoh of Egypt, thereby
rescuing the nation of Israel from the famine during that particular time.
Verse 25 says, "Even by the God of thy father who shall help thee and by the Almighty who
shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above and blessings of the deep that lieth
under blessings of the breast and of the womb, the blessings of thy father hath prevailed
above the blessings of my progenitors until the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills.
They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate
from his brother."
Now here's the thing is that in verse 24 it says from thence is the shepherd, the stone
of Israel, but in reality Jesus Christ did not come from Joseph, he came from Judas.
So this is obviously a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
Now hold your place there in Genesis and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 if you would.
So again as I mentioned, Joseph is not the youngest, yet he supersedes all of the elders.
He supersedes his brother Reuben, he supersedes Judah, he supersedes all of his brothers who
backstabbed them, he ended up excelling beyond what they were able to do.
And although he's despised and rejected just as Jesus Christ was, he becomes ruler and
savior of the entire nation.
Let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 8 as you are in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Hebrews
chapter 8 and verse 6 says, "But now hath he," and the he there is referring to the
Lord Jesus Christ, "Hath he obtained a more excellent ministry," okay, "by how much also
he is the mediator of a better covenant which is established upon better promises."
Now let's compare these older siblings that we just looked at to the younger ones.
We're looking at Cain and Reuben in comparison to Abel and Joseph, right?
Cain and Reuben are those who are the older siblings.
They receive the strength and the power.
We see that they are the firstborn, yet despite that, their younger siblings excelled them.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7, the apostle Paul here is describing both Old
and New Testament.
There's various ways that the Bible gives these descriptions regarding the Old and New
Covenant.
This is probably one of the most concise, very detailed explanation where it's just
you kind of understand like what's the purpose of that Old Covenant?
What is the purpose of the New Testament?
Look at verse number seven, "But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was
glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious?"
So what is Paul saying here?
He's saying that the Old Testament was glorious.
It was excellent.
I mean, we read it.
We could see that it's excellent.
The laws of God, the testimonies of the Lord, it excelled and in fact the Old Testament
writings is far greater in quantity than the New Testament.
The New Testament is very short, right?
It's a very small portion of the Bible, yet that New Testament excels the Old Testament,
right?
And no one's going to say that the Old Testament is not glorious.
We know that it's glorious.
We know that it excels.
Oh, but hold on a second, Joseph excelled more than Reuben though.
And you know what?
The Old Testament, although it's glorious, unstable as water, thou shall not excel.
Why?
For thou shalt eventually be superseded by a new covenant established upon better promises.
He says in verse number nine, for if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more that the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
And remember, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
He says in verse 10, for even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect
by reason of the glory that excelleth.
So this is why it's important for us to recognize that the New Testament is better, okay?
Don't let these Hebrew roots movement, these people who just capitulate to Judaism and
Torah observers make you think that somehow the Old Testament is better.
We know that the Old Testament is glorious.
We know that it has its place.
We love to quote the Old Testament, but at the end of the day, the New Testament is better.
We are, listen to me, New Testament Christians.
And guess what?
The New Testament Christians know more Bible than those who are in the Old Covenant because
they saw through a glass darkly, the Bible says.
We now have the plenary understanding of what the Bible says because we are in and we have
the New Testament.
He says in verse 11, "For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which
remaineth is glorious."
Now, what are we talking about here?
We're talking about Reuben and Cain.
Reuben was excellent.
He had the excellent dignity, the excellent strength, yet he was unstable as water.
He would not excel, his younger brother, Joseph, ended up extending beyond the wall, excelling
beyond Reuben.
And what is Cain?
Cain also pictures that old covenant, which is the ministration of what?
Death, since he was the one who killed his brother Abel.
So we see that Cain represents the ministration of death, Reuben represents the old covenant,
which is the ministration that excels, but they fall short, don't they?
They cannot accomplish what the New Testament can.
And the Bible says in Romans eight, go with, go back to Genesis 25, if you wouldn't, Genesis
chapter 25, Romans eight, three says for what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh.
God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh Reuben, though he is the eldest Reuben, though he has the excellency of power,
he was able, he was able to save Israel.
He stayed behind with his dad who, who's the person who was responsible for physically
saving the nation of Israel, the younger brother.
It was the younger brother who did it.
Joseph was the one who ended up excelling beyond his brothers.
The Bible says in Romans chapter two, you're in Genesis 25.
And obviously, you know, I've already spoiled it, but this is addressing old and new covenant
Jew and Gentile.
Okay.
Hope you're not tired about hearing about Jews.
And if you are, you should just stop reading the Bible because the Bible is just all about
that.
Okay.
And this is only point number one.
I got a couple more points after this.
Jimmy Ricci from Romans two 17, behold, thou are called a Jew and rest this in the law
and make us thy boast of God and know it's his will and approve us to things that are
more excellent, right?
Being instructed out of the law, confident that thou thyself are a guide of the blind,
a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes,
which has the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
What does he say?
He say, Hey, Jew, you're the one until you were committed to the oracles of God.
You received the dignity of strength.
You excelled.
You were glorious.
And in fact, you were the instructor of those who did not have the word of God.
You were supposed to be a light unto them who didn't have the truth.
He goes on to say, thou therefore, which teaches another, teaches not thyself.
Thou that preacheth the man should not steal, dost thou steal.
Thou that sayest the man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery.
Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege.
And with Reuben, we see that he did end up committing some grievous sins, which caused
his father to curse him in that chapter in Genesis 49.
Now, you're in Genesis 25.
The point that I'm making here is that one of the first rivalries that we see with siblings,
older and younger, is Cain and Abel.
Cain representing that ministration of death of the Old Covenant, which, by the way, what
does that represent?
It represents the fact that the law can't save you.
It can only kill you.
The law is only meant to kill you.
And the Bible says that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, but the Bible specifically
says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
There's absolutely no way for you to keep God's commandments to be saved.
You say what if I just kept all of God's commandments perfectly, every single, you know, well here's
the thing is that if you just come to the conclusion at this moment that that's how
you can be saved, you're still going to hell because prior to this you've already broken
God's commandments.
And the Bible says therefore the Bible says in James chapter two verse 10, whosoever keep
it the whole law, yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all.
So it's not like, well, what if I keep the law?
Yeah, but what are you talking about?
You're talking about, oh, you don't murder.
You're talking about, oh, you don't commit adultery.
You know, there's other laws in the Bible that you're guilty of.
And the Bible even says that the thought of foolishness is sin.
So therefore God rightly condemns us by saying that all have sin and come short of the glory
of God.
And it's such an absurd, you know, ideology to think, well, if I just keep God's law and
I keep the commandments, I can be worthy of salvation, it's not going to happen.
And look, folks, if salvation came through the law, then there would be no need for a
savior.
The reason Jesus Christ came is to save us because we cannot save ourselves.
The only person who kept all of God's laws perfectly is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're not him.
You're not that guy, okay?
That's why we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be imputed unto us when we place
our faith in him.
What's the purpose of the law then?
To show us that we have no righteousness in and of ourselves.
It's the ministration of death.
That's what the Bible says.
You know, what's the purpose of Cain?
Well, Cain killed Abel.
Are you going to depend on Cain to save you?
No, he's going to kill you.
That's what he's going to do.
Whereas Abel represents that New Testament because he had a far more excellent sacrifice
because Jesus Christ who represents that new covenant is the far more excellent sacrifice.
Reuben represents the excellency of the old covenant.
He excelled.
He was strong.
He was great, but he shall not excel Joseph as strong as he was.
He just paled in comparison to the excellency of Joseph.
Why?
Because Joseph was empowered by God.
Okay.
Let's look at another example here.
Let's talk about Jacob and Esau and Zerah and Phares.
Okay.
What are we talking about?
We're talking about the younger brother.
Now obviously we're describing both siblings, but we are defining the younger brother and
I'm going to give you some practical points regarding the older and younger brother in
just a bit, but let's get into the doctrine of this, right?
We need to know what are the foreshadowings that we see in the Bible here and how we can
apply it.
Look at Genesis 25 and verse 28, it says in Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of
his venison, but Rebecca loved Jacob and Jacob saw a pottage and Esau came from the field
and he was faint.
And he also said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee with the same red pottage for I am faint.
Therefore was his name called Edom.
Now the first thing I want to point out by way of practicality here is that, you know,
we have Jacob already starting off, you know, not necessarily in the best way.
Right.
Why?
Because his dad doesn't really like him.
It says that Isaac loved Esau.
Okay.
So meaning that he favored Esau because he's the firstborn.
He likes to eat of his venison.
He, you know, just kind of esteems him more.
So Jacob is, and we see later that Jacob is just a plain man.
You know, he's not really hairy.
He's not an outdoors kind of kid or whatever.
He's just kind of inside.
So he's loved by his mother, but his father doesn't really esteem him that much.
And this is common, by the way, even enough today, where sometimes a father esteems the
older rather than the younger, and it's not right to do.
We should esteem our children equally.
And I'm going to give some points regarding that.
But this is essentially the cards that Jacob was dealt with.
His father doesn't really esteem him very highly.
His brother's far more manly.
He's hairy.
He's a hunter.
He knows how to cook for his dad, venison.
I mean, this is why Isaac likes him.
Verse 30 says, "And Esau said to Jacob, 'Feed me,
I pray thee, with the same red pottage, for I am faint,
therefore was his name called Edom.'
And Jacob said, 'Sell me this day thy birthright.'"
So he's rightly named Jacob because he's a little conniving.
And the birthright is referring to the fact
that the firstborn received the double portion of his father,
the birthright, the responsibility.
He was the one in charge.
And Jacob's like, oh, I'm going to take
advantage of Esau's vulnerability,
because he's faint and his will is low.
He doesn't have a strong will right now.
He feels like he's going to die.
And I'm the only one who can save him.
He's like, well, here's the deal.
I'll give you a bowl of beans if you give me your birthright.
Esau said, behold, I'm at the point to die.
What profit shall this birthright do to me?
Jacob said, swear to me this day--
and he sweared to him, and he sold his birthright
to Jacob.
Now, I'll be honest, we get on Jacob a lot.
We're like, hey, man, that was kind of crafty there, you know?
Kind of took advantage of your brother there, you know?
You just kind of--
that was a little dirty there, Jacob.
Why didn't you just give it to him?
He was about to die.
You just wanted his birthright.
That's why you kind of made that exchange there.
But here's the thing.
Esau's really bad, too, though.
And it's possible that Esau is worse than Jacob in this regard.
He said, well, how so?
Look at verse 34.
"Then Jacob gave Esau bread and potage of lentils.
He did eat and drink and rose up and went his way."
And I want you to notice this, thus Esau despised his birthright.
So yeah, people get on Jacob for being a little conniving,
and we're not justifying his actions, the means by which he
gained his birthright unlawfully, unrighteously.
But let's not ignore the fact that Esau despised his birthright.
So it's not like he was tricked into doing this.
He didn't even esteem the birthright.
He was willing to just give it up.
It wasn't really worth much to him, which
is why he just sold it for a bowl of beans.
Esau sold his birthright because he despised it.
Go to Genesis chapter 38.
Genesis chapter 38.
Genesis 38.
We're going to summarize Jacob and Esau in just a bit.
But I want to talk about Ur, Onan, and Shelah.
And then I'm going to highlight Judah and his children
with Tamar.
And then we're going to wrap up this second point here.
Genesis 38, verse 6 is probably one of the most random stories
in the Bible.
Good story to read on a Sunday morning, amen?
Go ahead and read it.
Verse 6 says, "And Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn,
whose name was Tamar.
And Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord slew him."
Now, let's just address this right off the bat, OK?
So Ur was extremely wicked.
He was evil, to the point where God just killed him.
That's what it means that he slew him.
So just think about that for a minute, OK?
God kills people.
And you know, this isn't here on accident.
It's saying, like, he's wicked, and it doesn't give us
the details on how he did it.
We just know that he did it, OK?
So you know, oh, man, yeah, but that's Old Testament.
Well, Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament.
So what do you-- this is--
you know, oh, you think Jesus would approve of that?
Yeah, he's the one who did it.
What do you mean?
He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
He's wicked in the sight of the Lord.
The Lord slew him, and Judas said unto Onan,
go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her,
and raise up seed to thy brother.
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his,
and it came to pass, when he went into his brother's wife,
that he spilled it on the ground,
lest that he should give seed to his brother.
Very random, but you basically know
the interpretation thereof.
This man wanted all the pleasure
without the responsibility, and he basically
did exactly what it says.
He spilled it on the ground.
Very wicked, right?
And what happens to him?
The thing which he did displeased the Lord,
wherefore he slew him also.
So God killed both of these guys, these older brothers, OK?
And later, we see that Sheila--
actually, we don't really know much about Sheila,
but we know that he's the younger brother.
We just see that same rivalry there.
Go to verse 27.
I'm going to skip some of the parts with Judah,
thinking that Tamar, his daughter-in-law,
was an actual whore.
And so he basically hires her as a prostitute,
and she's doing this to trick him.
And then she ends up bearing twins
through her father-in-law, Judah.
I know it's weird, but it's in the Bible, though.
Look at verse 27.
"It came to pass in the time of her travail,"
referring to Tamar, "that behold, twins were in her womb.
And it came to pass when she travailed
that one put out his hand, and the midwife took and bound
up his hand a scarlet thread, saying, this came out first."
So basically, she has twins.
She's giving birth.
She's travailing.
And one of the twins sticks his hand out, basically asserting
that this is the firstborn.
And the way they can tell is by tying a scarlet thread
around the hand.
So when they come out, they'll know,
this is the one who came out first.
It's just a practical way of identifying the firstborn.
It says in verse 29, "And it came to pass,
as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out.
And she said, how is thou broken forth?
This breach be upon thee.
Therefore, his name was called Pharaoh."
So this is very unique.
Kind of strange, right?
It's a little bit of an anomaly.
Because what we have is the firstborn coming out.
He sticks his hand out, tied the thread around him
to identify him to make sure no one gets mixed up when they're
actually outside of the womb.
But then what does he do?
He draws back his hand.
He goes back into the womb, OK?
So I guess Nicodemus was right.
No, I'm just kidding, you know?
You know, he sticks his hand.
And then the secondborn, what does he do?
He comes out before his brother, and he breaks forth.
Like, he just basically excels his brother.
And he breaks forth after him, and it says,
this breach be upon thee.
Therefore, his name is called Pharaoh.
It's very unique.
It's just like, you're taking too long, bro.
And he just, like, shoves him out of the way,
and he comes out.
It's just an anomaly of a birth, OK?
But here's the thing.
It's just like, wow, how did he just shove him out of the way?
Well, how about the fact that the firstborn just
went back in, drew his hand back in?
It seems as though he just wanted the thread on his hand,
and that's it.
And one of the themes that we see
when it comes to the older brother
is that what they want is the status.
They want the clout.
They want the status.
They want the authority.
They want the thread, right?
But they're not necessarily ready for the responsibility.
And it's often the younger brother who
is despised, the younger brother who isn't as esteemed,
who ends up working harder to break forth, right?
To breach and to come out and to work as hard,
harder than his older brother, harder than his siblings,
because he doesn't have anybody helping him, basically, OK?
Afterwards came out his brother that had the scarlet thread
upon his hand, and his name was called Zarah.
Now go to Isaiah chapter 54, Isaiah chapter 54.
We're going to go through a lot of scriptures,
so make sure you're following along.
And if you don't know where these books are at,
then just go to the table of contents,
and it'll tell you right there where it's at.
Isaiah 54.
So we have two stories here.
We have Jacob and Esau, and we have Pharez and Zerah, right?
And in both instances, you have the firstborn
being essentially having their birthright taken, so to speak.
One with a bowl of lentils, the other
by simply having his younger brother break forth
and pushing him out of the way, OK?
So the birthright is taken from Esau and Zerah
and given to the younger brother, so forth.
Now, what is this picture?
Well, look at Isaiah 54 in verse number 1.
In Isaiah 54 in verse number 1, you
have a passage that's prophetically addressing
the Gentiles of the New Testament, OK?
And it says here, "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not
bear, break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
thou that didst not travail with child,
for more are the children of the desolate
than the children of the married wife sayeth the Lord."
Now, let me just tell you right now,
the desolate represents the New Testament.
The married wife represents the old.
And what is being addressed here
is that the children of the desolate,
that woman's gonna bear forth more children
than that of the married wife.
Now, how does that relate to what we're talking about
between old and new covenant?
There's more believers in the New Testament
than there are in the old, right?
In other words, Gentiles have produced
and converted more people to the Bible than Israel has.
Israel, you know, did a good job,
but they kept it within Israel.
And at the end of the day, they actually failed at the job
because they failed to be a light unto the Gentiles.
Well, here's the thing, the barren woman,
that New Testament ended up breaking forth
and having more children than the old.
Look at what it says in verse two.
Enlarge the place of thy tent
and let them stretch forth the curtains
of thine habitations.
Spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.
He's saying, you know,
because the barren is having so many children,
we need to expand the tent.
We need to grow the tent
because there's gonna be more people living under this tent.
Verse three says, for thou shalt,
I want you to notice this,
break forth on the right hand and on the left.
You know, just like Phares broke forth, right?
Through the womb, just as he broke forth
'cause he excelled his brother in like manner.
He's saying of the Gentile desolate woman,
he's saying break forth on the right hand and on the left
and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, the Bible says,
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
And you know, how do we picture,
what's the picture of the enlarged tent?
That's heaven.
Heaven would be like the enlarged tent.
It's like heaven's making space
because the Gentiles are reaching so many.
And make no mistake about it, folks.
You know, there are far more Gentile believers
than there are Jewish believers
and Israeli believers of the Old Testament.
Make no mistake about it.
Why?
'Cause it's just multiplying, okay?
So the birthright is taken from Esau and Zarah,
given to the younger brother.
Go to Matthew chapter 20, if you would.
Matthew chapter 20.
We have here Esau despising his birthright,
selling it to Jacob for a bowl of lentils.
You have Phares breaking forth
and excelling his brother, Zarah.
Even though Zarah got the thread on his wrist
to identify him as being the firstborn,
the one who actually gets the job done is Phares, okay?
Look at Matthew 21 and verse 42.
Jesus sayeth unto him,
"Did you never read the scriptures?
"The stone which the builders rejected,
"the same is becoming the head of the corner.
"This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes.
"Therefore I say unto you,
"the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
"and given to a nation,
"bringing forth the fruits thereof."
Now how do we relate this to what we just read?
Well, the birthright shall be taken from you
and given to your brother.
You see, us as New Testament Christians,
we are the younger brother.
Gentiles, guess what?
We're the younger brother.
The Jews in Israel, they're the older ones.
Why, 'cause they came first.
They're the ones with the thread on the wrist.
They're the ones with the birthright.
You know, we got a bowl of beans, you know?
But here's the thing, though,
is that the birthright shall be taken from Esau.
The kingdom of God shall be taken from Esau.
The birthright shall be taken from Zarah
and given to Phares and given to Jacob
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
And make no mistake about it,
Esau and Jacob represent two nations, right?
So the birthright was taken from one nation
and given to the other.
The nation in the Old Testament of Esau
and given to the nation of Jacob, okay?
And this is why the Bible says in the New Testament,
you know, that Esau was hated, right?
The Bible says that Esau was hated.
Why is that?
Well, because of the fact that he himself
despised the birthright, okay?
And so very important there.
So let me give you some significant points
regarding the firstborn.
First of all, the firstborn possessed the birthright.
They received a double portion of the inheritance.
This is very important.
In the law, listen to this.
In the law, when it came to the firstborn,
he got the birthright.
He received the double portion of the inheritance.
I'm gonna read to you from Deuteronomy 21 verse 17 says,
"But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated
"for the firstborn by giving him a double portion
"of all that he hath,
"for he is the beginning of his strength."
The right of the firstborn is his.
So the firstborn receives twice as much.
This is mandated by the law.
Personal favoritism was forbidden from overriding it.
The firstborn was expected to lead the house,
carry authority, and preserve the family name.
This is something that was very much explicitly mentioned
in the Old Testament.
Under Old Testament law,
the firstborn had legal precedence, financial advantage,
and spiritual responsibility.
They're the ones who were responsible for all these things,
and therefore they got those privileges.
So think about this.
By the law, this is what the firstborn deserved, right?
So the birthright, the double portion,
according to the law, that's what they get.
In the story, on the other hand,
we see the secondborn getting what they don't deserve.
You understand where I'm coming at here?
There's the law and then there's grace.
What is grace?
Getting what you don't deserve.
You know why we got the birthright?
By grace, not because we deserved it.
It was legally theirs, legally of Israel.
But because they dropped the ball,
God gave it to us.
Not because we're special.
Not because there's something special about Mexicans,
and Europeans, and black people, and Chinese,
and Russians, and Indians.
Something special about them.
It's a spiritual nation.
We got it by grace.
We are-- we're not under the law, but under grace.
So even though the oracles were committed unto them,
even though they are that firstborn,
they are the nation from which salvation comes from,
they experienced all the supernatural miracles,
all of the supernatural feats.
I mean, they saw some of the most incredible things
known to mankind.
Guess what?
By grace, we get what was promised to them.
Not because we deserve it, it's just by grace.
So you see how they both picture?
The older brother pictures the law.
The younger brother pictures grace.
Go to Matthew chapter 20--
Matthew chapter 20, if you would--
going back and forth here.
And after Matthew 20, we're going
to go to 1 Samuel 17.
So we're going back and forth from Old and New Testament.
We're going from the older brother to the younger brother.
Matthew chapter 20.
Title of the sermon is The Younger Brother.
And yes, folks, we are the younger brother.
Yeah, we are the despised one.
Yes, we are the one that they didn't think would succeed.
Yes, we're the one that dad didn't like.
We're the least likely to succeed.
And yet, by grace, we receive the blessings
just like Abel did, just like Joseph did,
just like Pharoah did, just like Jacob did.
And obviously, Jacob pictures us because of the fact
that Jacob isn't necessarily a morally superior person either.
Look at his life, he was just kind of like--
he was very dishonest.
He'll catch her.
And you know what?
We're all sinners.
And the things that we get, we're
not getting because we deserve it.
It's by the grace of God, right?
Look at Matthew 20, verse 8.
This is a parable here, essentially
describing the same principle that we've been looking at.
Matthew 21, verse 8 says, "So when even was come,
the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his stewards,
call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning
from the last into the first."
So you have this steward, and he has work.
And so he goes to Home Depot, right?
He gets his day laborers or whatever
at various times of the day.
And then he's just like, hey, I'm going to pay you this much.
He goes at one hour, pays them this much.
Others come at a different hour.
He says he's going to pay them this much.
So at the end, he's like, all right, work is done.
Let's start from the last until the first.
Verse 9 says that when they came,
they were hired about the 11th hour,
they received every man a penny.
But when the first came, they supposed
that they should have received more.
And they likewise received every man a penny.
So the steward here, the boss, is saying like,
hey, I'm hiring you for a penny.
But then these guys come later on in the day
and they still get a penny, too.
So then when payday comes and they both get a penny,
the guys who came early in the morning are like,
oh, I thought you were going to give us more.
Shouldn't we get more than the guys who came later on in the day?
Look at verse 11.
"And when they had received it, they murmured
against the good man of the house,
saying, these last have wrought but one hour,
and thou has made them equal unto us."
Very important.
Equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
But he answered one of them and said, "Friend, I do thee no wrong.
Dost not thou agree with me for a penny?
Isn't this the covenant that I made with you?
Take that as thine, and go thy way.
I will give unto this last even as unto thee.
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
Is thine eye evil, because I am good?"
So what is the picture here?
The picture is the fact that Jews came first, Israel came first,
yet we're getting paid as much as they are, spiritually speaking,
even though we came later.
But let me explain to you why that is.
Obviously, we know it's by grace.
But let me tell you, let me explain to you from a scriptural perspective
why we are getting paid spiritually as much as Israel, okay?
It's very practical here,
and I guarantee you this is what happened in the story.
The guys who came later on in the day, you know what they did?
They worked twice as hard.
That's probably what it was.
The guys who came, yeah, maybe they came later on in the day,
but they probably did quadruple what the guys did who came in the beginning.
So how do you know that?
Because this principle here is that the New Testament gentile believers have done more.
And in fact, what did Jesus say?
Greater works than these shall ye do.
And this is why Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God
should be taken from you and given to a nation.
Listen to this, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
It's like you're fired.
You're not producing the fruit.
So therefore, I'm going to give it to a nation that is working,
is producing, and they're going to get themselves a penny.
So even though we came later on in the day,
guess what?
The younger brother worked harder.
Here's another example.
How about the Apostle Paul and the other disciples?
Can he not be considered like the younger brother
because he was one born out of due time?
He came later on in the game.
He didn't walk with Jesus throughout his ministry.
He wasn't there.
He saw the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus.
But guess what?
The apostle Paul ended up doing more than the other disciples.
And he said, why?
Because of the grace of God.
That's what he said.
And so the point being here is that, you know what?
If you are a second born, there's always hope.
You know why?
Because you can work harder.
And you know what?
Use the fact that, oh, man, he's the second born.
He's not as talented.
He's not as smart.
We got to invest everything into the first born or whatever.
Use that to say, you know what?
I'm going to work twice as hard.
Yeah, I came at the 11th hour, but I want to earn that penny.
If I want to earn that penny, I need to make sure that I work
way more than the guys who came early in the morning.
OK, go to First Samuel, chapter 17.
First Samuel, chapter 17, if you would.
So we see that the older brother represents the law,
represents the Old Testament, the Old Covenant.
The younger brother represents grace.
The younger brother represents the New Testament.
The younger brother does represent the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK.
Now, let me give you one of my favorite examples of this.
And I was reading this yesterday.
And I was just like, man, this is awesome.
The Bible is just awesome.
I've been reading the Bible for years.
And when you discover something, you're like, that's awesome.
People are like, oh, man.
I did an interview yesterday with the guy
who did a documentary on Amazon Prime regarding churches
that run their church like a business in order
for them to be filthy rich.
I think it's called a religion business or something like that.
And he was explaining to me some of the crazy, crooked stuff
that mega churches do.
He was telling me that Greg Laurie,
his budget for his podcast--
guess how much the budget for his yearly
budget for his podcast is?
$12 million.
And I'm thinking to myself, I thought to myself, whoa,
that's crazy, because I got the engrafted word.
I probably spent like $4 bucks per episode
just because I'm buying a Red Bull to get the juices started.
But now I don't even have to pay anymore,
because Adam came in clutch and now they're free, you know?
I was like, $12 million.
I was like, what in the world?
I didn't even know where I was going with that.
What was I talking about?
Crazy thing that churches do, yeah.
Keep it going, keep it going, what else?
Oh, he said, he was telling me that like,
he was interviewing, he interviewed like thousands
of pastors or something, and he said the majority
of them basically say like, I don't have time
to read the Bible, I don't read the Bible.
And he was just like, you don't have time to read the,
how do you not read the Bible?
He's just like, I'm too busy as a pastor.
I got too much to do.
It's like, well, we wouldn't want to just take up
all your time reading the Bible or anything,
like as a pastor.
But this is the world in which we live,
where you have people who are basically just
fleecing the flock and, you know, promoting Israel.
They're too busy pushing Israel to read the Bible.
And the reason they're promoting Israel
is because they're not reading the Bible, apparently, okay?
I don't remember where I was going with that,
but that was crazy though.
Just, it was a side quest that I did there
to talk to you about.
All right, let's talk about Jesse's older siblings
and David, okay?
Oh, that's what I was saying, now I remember.
But I was thinking to myself, man, these pastors,
the reason they're not deep in their sermon
is because they're not reading it.
And they think to themselves,
well, I've already read the Bible.
Me too, I've read the Bible multiple times.
I've read the Bible scores of times.
Yeah, but yeah, I'm still discovering things in the Bible.
You know why?
Because the Bible's deep, it's inexhaustible.
Now let's look at an example here in 1 Samuel 17.
Of course, this is the famous story of David and Goliath,
but we're not gonna read
the particular story of David and Goliath.
We're gonna read the events leading up to it.
1 Samuel 17 verse 26 says, "And David spake to the men
that stood by him, saying, 'What shall be done
to the man that killeth this Philistine?'
And take it the way they were approached from Israel,
for who is this uncircumcised Philistine
that he should defy the armies of the living God?'"
So obviously we know the story here.
Goliath is defying Israel, he's mocking God,
sawing his army, they're cowards,
they don't wanna fight him.
And David is coming, he's the younger brother,
he's coming to kind of offer cheese, right?
He wants to give some cheese,
like some sandwiches to his brothers.
And he kind of sees this like,
what's going on, why aren't we fighting?
Why is everyone just standing around?
And so he's asking, he's like,
hey, so like, what does the guy get who kills Goliath?
Verse 27, "The people answered him after this man are saying,
'So shall it be done to the man that killed him.'"
Of course they list all of the benefits
that Saul said he would give the man who kills Goliath.
But verse 28 is what I want you to notice here,
it says, "And Eliab his eldest brother
heard when he spake unto them,
and Eliab's anger was kindled against David.
And he said, 'Why camest thou hither?
And with whom hast thou left those few sheep
in the wilderness?
I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart,
for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle.'"
So it's just like, you know,
David is like offering the cheese,
he's giving the cheese to his brothers.
And then he's looking, he's like,
why isn't anyone gonna do anything?
What's the man gonna receive who actually defeats Goliath?
And Eliab is like, "Hey, little nosy,
I know what you're doing, you're prideful, you're naughty.
What would you do with the sheep
that you're supposed to take care of?"
He starts getting on him just for inquiring
why Eliab is not doing his job, right?
So Eliab is criticizing his younger brother,
getting on his younger brother for inquiring
why there is no war, there's no battle,
there's no activity, Eliab isn't doing anything,
and neither is anybody else.
And here is the wonderful phrase that I read last night,
verse 29, and David said, "What have I now done?
Is there not a cause?"
Now, a lot of times, you know, I've
heard a lot of preachers use this verse to kind of say,
like, is there not a cause to fight Goliath?
Like, this is a righteous cause.
You guys heard sermons like that before?
It's just like, oh, is there not a cause?
Of course, there's a cause to win souls to Christ.
But that's actually not the proper interpretation.
When he says, is there not a cause,
he's saying, is there not a cause
why you're getting on me for?
That's what he's saying.
Like, why are you mad at me?
Why do you hate me?
Why are you criticizing what I'm saying?
Is there not a cause?
Now, why did he say that?
Well, because the Bible is providential, right?
God's hand, God's hand of providence is on the Word of God.
And we know that David pictures--
he's one of the strongest pictures of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Well, let me read to you from John 15, verse 24.
It says, "If I had not done among them the works which
none other man did, they had not had sin.
But now have they both seen and hated both me and my father.
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled
that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause."
So just as his brothers hated David, you know,
Jesus is like, is there not a cause?
You're hating me without a cause.
He's coming to proclaim the word of God.
He's preaching the law of Moses.
He's performing notable miracles by the Holy Spirit of God.
And yet they hate him.
Why?
Because out of envy, that's what it was.
Eliab hated David out of envy.
Because David was the only one to stand up and say,
I'll do it.
Send me.
I'll go.
Picturing both Old and New Testament, right?
Because Jesus Christ, yes, though he's ethnically a Jew,
he represents the New Covenant, which represents believers.
And Saul and Eliab and Cain and Reuben and Zerah and Esau
all picture that Old Covenant.
And you know what?
We still have this today, where you
have people criticizing us.
Oh, man, you're making all those videos
and preaching all these sermons and you bunch of goys.
Is there not a cause?
Why do you hate us without a cause?
Why are you angry about replacement theology
if replacement theology teaches that both Jew and Gentile
have replaced the physical nation of Israel?
Oh, it's so anti-Semitic.
What do you mean?
There's Jews involved in the New Covenant.
Jews have also replaced the physical nation of Israel.
The difference is this.
Once you've replaced them, don't be calling yourself a Jew.
Well, you know, it's Judeo-Christian.
Ain't no such thing.
I'm not up here calling myself a Mexican Christian,
a Guatemalan Christian.
There's no Asian Christian.
There's no Indian Christian.
There's no African Christian.
There's no whatever.
Fill in the blank.
It's just Christian.
That's all it is.
And here's the thing.
You know, we're like, well, Judeo, because it's the--
Judaism was a religion of the Old Testament.
They're kind of bringing--
look, folks, Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament,
first and foremost.
The Old Covenant is.
Judaism is the religion of the Pharisees.
But secondly, let's just pretend Judaism
was a religion of the Old Testament.
Well, it's done.
Over.
Flush it down the toilet.
It's gone.
It's over.
It's not supposed to exist anymore.
Why?
Because the purpose of the Old Testament
was to bring people to Christ.
Well, Christ already came.
He came.
He was sacrificed.
He resurrected.
He ascended.
No need for Judaism.
They hated me without a cause.
Is there not?
OK.
Go with me, if you would, to Leviticus chapter 10.
Leviticus chapter 10, if you would.
Mother, there's many instances where
David pictures the Lord Jesus Christ in this regard
when it comes to Old and New Testament.
One of the most famous examples would
be the rivalry between him and Saul, obviously,
because Saul persecuted David, just as the Jews persecuted
Jesus Christ.
We have the prophet coming to Saul
and saying that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
and given to someone who is better than you.
Obviously, Jesus Christ said the same thing regarding the Jews.
And the picture there is that it's a better covenant,
so on and so forth, a lot of wonderful pictures there.
Actually, you're in Leviticus 10, go to Numbers 25.
I just wanted to make sure you know how to find Leviticus 10.
You pass.
Let me just briefly go over Nadab and Abihu and Phineas,
who are the sons of Aaron.
I'll read to you from Leviticus 10.
You're in Numbers 25.
Leviticus 10, verse number 1 says,
"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
took either of them his censer and put fire therein
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire
before the Lord, which he commanded them not.
And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them,
and they died before the Lord."
So we have somewhat of a repetition of what Cain did,
just offering something that God did not sanction.
And Nadab and Abihu are the older brothers of Phineas.
The sons of Aaron, older than Phineas,
they end up messing up the offering of the Lord,
offering strange fire, and therefore they
die before the Lord.
Now look at Numbers 25 and verse number 10.
It says, "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
'Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest,
hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel,
while he was zealous for my sake among them,
that I consume not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
Wherefore, say, behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace,
and he shall have it and his seed
after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God
and made an atonement for the children of Israel.'"
Now, we have to see that's prophetic of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has that everlasting priesthood.
He's the one that made an atonement
for the children of Israel and so forth.
But I also want you to notice that he did it
because he was zealous for God.
"The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."
That's what it said of Jesus Christ, right?
Look at verse 6 of Numbers 25.
Now, how is it that he turned away the plague
from the nation of Israel?
What is it exactly that he did?
What were his actions that led to that point?
Well, look at verse 6.
"And behold, one of the children of Israel
came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite-ish woman
in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the congregation
of the children of God, who were weeping
before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And when Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron,
the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation
and took a javelin in his hand.
And he went after the man of Israel into the tent
and thrust both of them through.
Man of Israel and the woman threw her belly.
So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
So God is really upset with Israel.
And then you have this idiot bringing
this Medianitish woman, which is the reason why God is destroying
them in the first place.
And he takes this woman into the tent,
which we would assume here to commit fornication.
And people are just appalled at this.
You have an entire nation not doing anything about it.
And then Phineas is like, I'll take care of it.
I got this.
Grabs a javelin.
And I'm sure people of Israel are like, oh, man,
you should have discipled them.
Hey, you should have prayed for them.
You're the same people that say we
should have prayed for Goliath.
Oh, you should have-- you know, why?
Would Jesus have done that?
Well, Phineas pictures Jesus.
So he grabs the javelin, and he just
makes shish kebab out of them through rebellion.
And here's how we know that God approved of it,
because then he stopped the plague.
God's really angry, and he's just like, all right,
I'll stop it.
And then he said, because he was zealous for my sake.
The zeal of Phineas caused me, basically caused God,
to stop the plague so that no more people die, right?
He sacrificed the Israelite and the Midianite woman
with the javelin in his hand to do so.
And again, how does this picture Jesus Christ?
How does it picture the New Testament?
We know that Jesus was zealous for the house of God.
The difference is that instead of sacrificing someone else,
he sacrificed himself.
And instead of taking the javelin to someone else,
he actually took the spirit of his own body, understand?
Therefore, bringing out blood and water.
So that's what pictures that Old Testament.
Again, what do we have here?
We have God showing the glorious, the gloriousness of the Old Testament.
But it also, it's a ministration of death, which is why the Israelite,
the Midianite woman died in order to stay the plague.
Whereas Jesus Christ is that more excellent sacrifice who took the spirit to his own side
while he was on the cross, okay?
One more example for Genesis 48, Genesis 48, we'll skip that one, we'll skip that one.
You guys will just have to figure it out on your own.
It was going to be, it was going to be Manasseh and Ephraim, but, and basically, you know,
Jacob switches the hands.
I'll read it to you.
How about that?
I'll just read it real quick.
Genesis 48 and verse 18 says, "And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for
this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head.
And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it.
He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.
But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude
of nations."
And again, what does the New Testament say of New Testament believers?
Greater works than these shall you do, because I go unto my father.
Go to Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10.
Now let me give you just two practical points before I close here.
Let me address the younger brother.
And when it comes to the younger brother, you may think to yourself, man, I was dealt
a bad hand.
I'm listening to all these stories, and I'm kind of like, oh, man, that's kind of like
me.
I mean, maybe my parents didn't esteem me as much.
Maybe I don't seem as a successful one.
Maybe more investment is placed into the older siblings.
And to a certain degree, it's kind of sad, right?
It's just like, man, that is kind of true.
But it's just kind of like the nature of man.
I mean, we literally saw tons of examples of this in the Bible.
But you know what that means?
It means that you can excel far more than your older brother.
And you can apply this to sisters as well.
I'm just addressing the men right now.
You could excel far more.
You could excel greatly.
Because of the fact that the Bible tells us that God gives us grace to do so.
And so yeah, we could probably go around the congregation and talk about the second born
and the bad hand that was dealt to that second born.
But you know, I know a lot of second borns are just way more successful than the first
born.
Spiritually, in this world, just doing great things.
And it's because of the fact that they often, because they're despised, they feel like
they need to try harder.
And when they try harder, they end up excelling the older brother.
And it is a biblical principle.
It is definitely biblical.
And I could even think of people in my personal life that I know that are doing great things
for God, pastors that are doing great things for God, pastors who have done fantastic things
for God.
They were the second born.
They were given a bad hand.
They were mistreated.
They were persecuted.
They were despised.
And yet they superseded the older brother.
I'm the second born.
And the principle there is that, hey, if you're the second born, don't use that as an excuse
as to, well, that's why I'm just going to be a failure for the rest of my life or something
like that.
I'm just going to fail all my life, and I was fed with a slingshot, and mom and dad
never favored me, and they always gave my brother everything, and always helped him,
and always did this, and therefore this is my excuse why I'm just an absolute loser.
Wrong!
You have examples in the Bible of second borns who overcame that, second borns who exceeded,
and here's the wonderful thing about the Bible.
If you read the Bible, when you read the Bible for the first time, it absolutely removed
your expectation because you thought like, "Oh, the firstborn is going to be the one,"
but then it's just like, "Oh, Jacob, actually, God bless."
God removes the expectation.
Israel is supposed to succeed.
God removed the expectation.
He used Gentiles.
So here's my advice to you as a second born, the younger brother, exceed the expectations.
Exceed the expectations.
Don't let them know your next move.
Work harder, try harder, pray harder, because God can use you greatly.
Now let me address the older brother, because maybe there's some older brother, I'm getting
some looks here, and then it's like, "I hate my younger brother."
Yeah, we know.
We know.
Let me address the older brother real quick.
You've been given a lot.
And just because the narrative of the Bible seems to indicate that the younger brother
always supersedes the old, it doesn't have to be that way.
The reason the younger brother superseded the old is because the old essentially thought
he didn't have to do anything because he's the first born.
He already has the birthright.
He's already special.
He's already this, that, and the other.
He's already successful.
Mom and dad already love him.
Everything's going to be good.
But that's the attitude that's going to cause your downfall.
And obviously the goal is for both brothers to excel and succeed, right?
But talking to the older brother, hey, you better be humble.
And yeah, maybe you've gotten the strengths of your father and you know, you got, you
got the talents and the gifts of your father and your parents.
And you know, they poured a lot into you.
Don't take it for granted.
To whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required.
Don't think that that's going to catapult you into the, into a life of success and blessing.
You have to do your part too.
And that is the danger of the firstborn is to think, well, you know, I'm just naturally
gifted.
I'm just naturally talented.
I'm just better looking or whatever.
Then my younger sibling, I just, you know, my younger sister, she's just lazy, just want
to do anything.
But me, I'm just, I just got it.
You know, you're just flexing on people and you feel like you're just so successful.
But here's the thing, folks, that God can just like take that away from you at any given
time.
He doesn't want you to work for it.
He wants you to try harder still.
And look, how do we know that this principle still applies?
Because there were Israelites and Jews who transitioned into the New Testament who did
do great things for God, Paul being one of them.
So you know what?
If you're the older brother, work hard, be prideful, be an arrogant individual.
Don't be high minded, you know, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and actually
put in the work to get the blessings yet that may be designated for you.
But just keep in mind, God can take those away at any given time if you show arrogance
and pride.
You know, there's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition either with your younger
brother.
Okay?
But let me say this, if you want to succeed in life, in the Christian life, don't succeed
by putting your younger brother down though.
Like, don't try to make yourself look big by, you know, accentuating how little your
brother is.
Oh, this is my little brother, you know, he doesn't know that much, you know, he's annoying,
he's this and that.
Esteem your brother.
You know, if you want God to bless you, you better make sure you are a blessing to your
brother.
Because here's the thing, folks, is the older brother is supposed to be an example to the
younger ones.
Remember that in the Old Testament, the older brother was to spiritually lead his siblings,
right?
Not compete with them, not trying to put them down, but to lead them spiritually.
And that's how you got to view it.
Okay.
What is the conclusion of the matter?
Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse nine, then said he low, I come to do thy will, O
God.
And I want you to notice this, he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Takes away the older brother, that he may establish the younger brother.
And obviously you can't control whether you're an older or younger brother.
What you can control is how you deal with the cards that were given to you in that regard.
Okay.
Don't be a failure.
Don't be a loser.
Don't be prideful.
Don't be arrogant.
Work hard.
Pray unto the Lord and get the job done.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the examples of the younger brother, Lord.
Pray that you'd help us as your people and whatever state we're in to be strong in the
Lord and the power of his might, Lord, and not use our position in our families or the
condition that we were in when we got saved or even where we grew up in and the parents
that we had to use that as an excuse as to why we can't succeed spiritually.
Help us not to make excuses like that.
Lord, you root for the underdog in the Old Testament, but you're also you also want the
older sibling to succeed as well and not to just rely upon the strength of the flesh to
accomplish great things.
I pray that you'd help us as your people, regardless of whether older or younger, to
seek you, Lord, to read the word of God and to keep pushing forward, Lord, and to encourage
our siblings in every area, Lord.
We love you.
We thank you.
Please turn your song books to song number 473, song number 473, shepahoy, song number
473, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea, and the egg I grew to be, Jesus, 100 and strong.