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Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. On the first trombone. Grab your handles. And open up the song 449. Song 449. Dwelling in Beulah Land. Song 449. On the first far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling then I know the sins of earth we sin on every day down in fear and things of work and pain we are calling suddenly shall move me from Beulah Land I'm living on the mountain underneath the clouded sky I'm drinking on the mountain that never shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land all are built a storm of hell upon the world is beating sons of men in battle on the enemy will stand safe and high within the castle of God's word retreating and reaching Beulah Land I'm living on the mountain underneath the clouded sky I'm drinking on the mountain that never shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land thank the stormy breezes love their pride may not alarm me I am safely sheltered protected by God's hand here the sun is always shining here there's not can harm me I am safe forever in Beulah Land I'm living on the mountain underneath the clouded sky praise God I'm drinking on the mountain that never shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling on Beulah Land on the last few we hear the words of God I see in contemplation here and now his blessed voice I see the way he planned dwelling in the spirit here I learn of full salvation gladly will I am dwelling in Beulah Land I'm living on the mountain underneath the clouded sky praise God I'm drinking on the mountain that never shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling on Beulah Land Psalm 101 Jesus never fails Psalm 101 On the first earthly friends may prove untrue doubts and fears of scale one still loves and cares for you one who will not fail Jesus never fails Jesus never fails and then earth will pass away but Jesus never fails oh the sky be dark and drear is on the veil just remember he is near and he will not fail Jesus never fails Jesus never fails him and earth may pass away but Jesus never fails in life's dark and bitter hour love will still prevail trust his everlasting power Jesus will not fail Jesus never fails Jesus never fails and then earth may pass away but Jesus never fails Amen great singing church at this time we're going to go over our announcements so if you have a bullet tin if you don't have a bullet tin you can raise up your hand ushers will get one out to you alright so we're going to turn to the first page there at the top you're going to see our service times at 10 30 and at 5 pm as usual on Sundays and on Wednesdays 7 o'clock bible study below that is our soul winning opportunities so at this time I just want to go over any salvations we had before today any other numbers before today okay great anyone else great now this afternoon alright we'll start way in the back go ahead I got one alright cool brother Jesse one two okay awesome okay alright it's a lot today amen alright five amen one one one amen amen over here okay one one alright awesome keep up all the great work that's amazing alright offering totals there at the bottom and on the next page our prayer request as I mentioned this morning Hope Estrada had her baby Tabitha Sue Estrada she's 19 inches long born at home unassisted so Jeff did all the work there delivered her at 6.40 pm that's great so one thing I didn't mention this morning so I want to go ahead and mention that now is we actually we have ladies that are pregnant and have a baby we do a meal train for them so if anyone wants to bring any food if you can bring it in on Sunday the Gonzalez family will go ahead and deliver that over to them so if you're going to bring food just on Sunday anything else on that? so I don't have any other updates on the prayer requests down below that Steadfast Baptist Church who we're praying for this week so definitely keep them in prayer we'll move on to the next page you guys that were here this morning Pastor Anderson was preaching this morning we're preaching tonight to blessing us again with another sermon so look forward to that and then this week we have brother Devin brother Jesse Michaels and brother Carter preaching on the Wednesday night services and Sunday services as well and then we have the Bible memory passage is Hebrews chapter 3 we're trying to go through the whole book of Hebrews right now we're in chapter 3 we're finishing this chapter up so if you're able to quote this backward perfect we had a prize to be announced time and then below is the preaching conference is our upcoming event which is on the 14th or the 17th Pastor Burzins will be there as well and then September 3rd we have a soul winning marathon at a not disclosed location yet in Alabama so and then on the bottom there are birthdays and anniversaries and that is it for announcements oh yes baptisms thank you thank you so yes we're going to have two baptisms after service I was planning to get baptized after service alright so we look forward to the two baptisms after service okay let's turn to our next song song number 127 song 127 tis so sweet to trust in Jesus song 127 alright church let's sing this classic out on the first tis so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to know the said the Lord Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I've proven more and more Jesus Jesus rest in Jesus oh for praise to trust him Lord oh how sweet to trust in Jesus just to trust in his cleansing blood just in simple things you must feel the healing cleansing blood Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I've proven more and more Jesus Jesus rest in Jesus for praise to trust him Lord yes it's sweet to trust in Jesus just from sin and self to sin just from Jesus simply take life and rest and joy and peace Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I've proven more and more Jesus Jesus rest in Jesus oh for praise to trust in Lord on the last I'm so glad I learned to trust the precious Jesus Savior friend and I know that thou art with me will be with me to the end Jesus Jesus how I trust you how I've proven more and more Jesus Jesus rest in Jesus oh for praise to trust in Lord Jesus and church while the offering plate is being passed around if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 48 that's Genesis chapter 48 and as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church I'm going to read the entire chapter and that's brother Devin if you can please do that for us once again that was Genesis 48 and it came to pass after these things that one told Joseph behold thy father is sick and he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim and one told Jacob and said behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee and he strengthened himself and sat upon the bed and Jacob said unto Joseph God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said unto me behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee and I will make of thee a multitude of people and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession and now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt where I came unto thee into Egypt are mine as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine and thy issue which thou begittest after them shall be thine and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance and as for me when I came from Padan Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath the same is Bethlehem and Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said who's are these and Joseph said unto his father they are my sons whom God hath given me in this place and he said bring them I pray thee unto me and I will bless them now the eyes of Israel were dim for age so that he could not see and he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them and Israel said unto Joseph I had not thought to see thy face and lo God hath showed me also thy seed and Joseph brought them out from between his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth and Joseph took them both Ephraim and his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near unto him and Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head who was the younger and his left hand upon Manasseh's head guiding his hands wittingly for Manasseh was the firstborn and he blessed Joseph and said God for whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the angel which redeemed me from all evil blessed the lads and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth and when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim it displeased him and he held up his fathers hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head 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 he blessed them that day saying in thee shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh and he set Ephraim before Manasseh and Israel said unto Joseph behold I die but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren which I took out of the land of the Lord with my sword and with my bow. Let's pray. Dear Lord thank you for this church thank you for this chapter thank you for allowing Pastor Anderson to come out here to preach for us today and pray that you bless him for it and his remaining of a drive that he has left I pray that you would bless this hour now help us all to have open hearts and ears to receive your word and fill us all with your spirit and fill pastor as he comes and give us clear minds to apply what he preaches to our lives the best of our ability and in Jesus name I pray, Amen. Amen, well it's great to be here once again and for those of you who don't know your pastor David Berzins and myself go back a really long way. He was actually one of the first members of Faithful Word Baptist Church less than a year after starting the church he came back in August of 2006 and he joined Faithful Word Baptist Church and he was such a huge blessing to me because up to that point I did not have a soul winning partner so I would have different guys that would maybe go with me once or twice at different times but he was actually my first regular soul winning partner so you know for the first eight months of that year of pastoring I was constantly just going soul winning by myself which can be very hard if any of you have ever gone soul winning by yourself it's not that fun right it's a lot better when you have a partner and so what a huge blessing it was to have you know back then we called him brother Dave but now he's of course pastor Berzins to you buddy alright but we would go out soul winning together he and I and we've spent just so many hundreds of hours together soul winning fellowshipping and so forth and back in 2007 I started a preaching class and brother Tony who's here tonight from Alabama and pastor Berzins were my two students in that class and it's great that they're both still serving the lord they're both here tonight I know pastor Berzins is in spirit and he's here tonight because I was thinking like man it'd be great to get a picture but then I'm like oh yeah pastor Berzins is in Phoenix you know it's like class reunion original preaching class 2007 but anyway yeah so pastor Berzins has been a huge blessing in my life you know it's definitely been a two way street because you know I taught him a lot but he man he encouraged me a lot and has helped me a lot and I don't even know if faithful word baptist church would have even succeeded without him and I the reason I say that is because back in 2006 and 2007 I thought about quitting like every single week back then because I was just really struggling and it was hard and just trying to get the thing off the ground and he was such a huge encouragement who knows what would have happened if he hadn't shown up and so what a blessing he is and he's a great pastor I know here in Atlanta for you and you know if you live in this area you've got to be here I mean this is the place this is the church alright so anyway tonight I'm continuing my series you thought it was over you thought I was done with Benjamin but I've got tonight and then I'm preaching up in West Virginia on Wednesday so to round out the series I'm also covering Ephraim and Manasseh which are the grandsons I've done the twelve sons of Jacob well I'm going to do the grandsons in order to round this thing out so I've been preaching on them in birth order so tonight would be the Manasseh sermon and then this Wednesday will be Ephraim so here's the thing about this you say well Pastor Anderson shouldn't you be preaching on Ephraim tonight and that's probably what you would instinctively think that Ephraim would come first because in the Bible Ephraim is always listed before Manasseh not only that but it's going to be a lot easier to preach an Ephraim sermon because there's just a lot more in the Bible and the tribe of Ephraim becomes more significant than the tribe of Manasseh but they're both very significant if you have any kind of a map in the back of your Bible of the twelve tribes of Israel you'll see that Manasseh territorially is a huge area there are definitely Bible stories involved about that group but the reason why they're always listed as Ephraim and Manasseh is because even though Manasseh is the first born Ephraim becomes the preeminent son and there's a theme in the book of Genesis that goes all the way from the beginning of Genesis all the way to the end that's the theme of the younger brother actually excelling the elder brother that's a major theme in the book of Genesis and not only is that something that often happens in the book of Genesis it's actually something that always happens in the book of Genesis and I'm going to show you just how consistent this is how literally from start to finish this is always the case and so this is just kind of the coup de grace at the end of the book it's just been so many younger brothers and then for Jacob to reach out to bless them and just cross his arms like this defying Joseph and putting the special blessing on Ephraim instead of Manasseh just to round out the book so if you would look down at your Bible there in verse 14 it says, and Israel stretched out his hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head who was the younger, his right hand that is and his left hand upon Manasseh's head guiding his hands wittingly for Manasseh was the firstborn so he's so old he's practically blind but the Bible says he did it wittingly he knew what he was doing verse 17 and when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim it displeased him and he held up his father's hand I always kind of find this funny that he physically grabs his dad's hand and tries to move it like no you need to move this over here but he physically grabs his hand and said 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 but 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 he blessed them that day saying in thee shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh that's the way you always hear it and he set Ephraim before Manasseh so this younger brother theme we're going to start at the end of the book of Genesis and actually let's work backwards through Genesis and talk about how it's always the younger brother okay so first of all we've got Ephraim and Manasseh but look at verse 5 of this it says of this chapter that we're in Genesis 48 and now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt are mine as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine now what does Jacob mean by this when he says Ephraim and Manasseh are my sons just as if they were Reuben and Simeon his two firstborn sons well here's the thing in the Bible the firstborn son according to the law of God receives a double portion of the inheritance okay because you make all the mistakes on your first kid so that's their reward is that they get no I'm just kidding but anyway the double portion goes to the oldest son so if you think about it by making Ephraim and Manasseh equal to Reuben and Simeon what he's basically doing is giving Joseph a double portion because if Joseph's two sons each get an inheritance that's basically two lots for Joseph and this is why sometimes it can become confusing when you're reading about the 12 tribes of Israel because you'll often see Ephraim and Manasseh listed as tribes or sometimes they'll be called the half tribe of Manasseh or the tribe of Ephraim and part of the reason why it's the half tribe of Manasseh is just that's just because half the tribe goes on one side of the river and half the tribe goes on the other so you kind of have two Manassehs in that sense and so the thing is that Ephraim and Manasseh sort of become like their own tribes of Israel and then instead of the Levites getting an inheritance it gets divided 12 ways Ephraim gets a portion of Manasseh so you still kind of end up with 12 because you're not really counting Levi so this can get a little bit confusing you know how you're looking at this but the point is that they are getting the double portion for their family is what's going on here and if you remember this is because Reuben was supposed to be the one who would get the double portion because he's the oldest but in 1 Chronicles 5 verse 1 it says that Reuben was the first born but for as much as he defiled his father's bed his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel so you see how Reuben because of committing fornication with the woman Bilhah and you know that was a woman that had been his father's concubine so that was totally messed up of him to do that then he loses that birthright and it goes to Joseph okay so now let's back up so we said okay so Ephraim and Manasseh get switched the younger brother takes the precedence okay then when it comes to Jacob's children it's not Reuben who gets the double portion but rather it's Joseph the younger brother the child of his old age but let's go back even further what about Jacob and Esau right Jacob and Esau Esau is actually the first born there so Jacob himself is the younger brother because Esau even though they're twins Esau was the one who popped out first and he was supposed to get the birthright but then he sold it to Jacob okay what about Ishmael and Isaac right Ishmael is the elder brother Ishmael is Abraham's first born but yet the blessing and the birthright ends up going to Isaac the younger brother but this may surprise you because a lot of people don't understand this but actually Abraham himself was also a younger brother now if you would go back to Genesis 11 I'm going to prove this to you Genesis chapter number 11 so literally Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Joseph Ephraim just this unbroken chain of five times in a row the blessing, the birthright goes to the younger brother every single time isn't that interesting it's very consistent so let me prove this to you about Abraham okay because a lot of people are mixed up on this and you'll see charts sometimes showing you the age of the earth or the chronology of the Old Testament and you can go on Google and just look at Google images of all the charts of the chronology of the Old Testament and a lot of people buy these type of charts and put them in their home because it's kind of cool to see how everything breaks down but there are a couple of errors that virtually all of them have number one is whenever you see these charts about the history of the Old Testament is that they always have the children of Israel in Egypt for only 215 years go ahead and Google it for yourself look at it whether it's Kent Hovind or whoever else's charts and you'll look at it and almost always they have the children of Israel in Egypt for only 215 years now that makes absolutely no sense because the Bible clearly states that they were in Egypt to the day the children of Israel sojourned in the land of Egypt for 430 years not 215 okay and so they have to do all kinds of they really have to cook the books in order to get a 215 year stay in the land of Egypt it's totally bogus and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself okay but the other thing that they virtually always also get wrong is that they have Abraham being the oldest brother and they have him being born when his father Tara is 70 years old that is incorrect and it makes the chronology off by another 60 years now you say why do they all have these two errors well here's the thing there's this doctrine that sounds really cool and they really wanted to believe it and so they kind of like again cooked the books in order to make it work and that was this idea of 6,000 years of human history now it sounds really cool let me just explain it to you okay with the Lord a thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years right so let's say you have a week six days shalt thou labor and then the seventh day is a day of rest so how about this 6,000 years of human history of laboring and toiling and then the millennium 1,000 years of rest it's like a great big week isn't it beautiful isn't it great except it isn't real so sometimes you can have a doctrine that sounds good looks good makes a lot of sense and the dispensationalists this is what they've been teaching since the beginning of dispensationalism they've been teaching this and they've been kind of married to this idea of 6,000 years and so they really like these clean numbers of like 4,000 years in the Old Testament 2,000 years in the New Testament and then a thousand year millennium and here's the problem is that it's 2022 and here we are that's problem number one problem number two is that the earth is not 6,000 years old the earth is actually more like if you look and add up all the numbers the earth is more like 6,300 years old because as soon as you put the children of Israel and Egypt for 250 more years like they were and as soon as you add 60 here you know you start adding numbers and pretty soon you realize wait a minute these guys are like 300 years off but they wanted it to be so so bad you know it preached really well in the 80s and 90s you know I heard this preached in the 90s it was pretty convincing you know we don't know if we got the calendar exactly right we don't know if we got the date right but it's probably going to be around the year 2000 is what they were saying you know and it's like was Jesus born in 5 BC or 3 AD you know we don't know but it's going to be right around 2000 but folks it's 2022 it's just not going to work okay folks just let it go give it up it sounded cool but alas and look if it was that simple thousand years like a day then why would Jesus say nobody knows the day or the hour and he says the son of God doesn't even know only the father knows according to Mark 13 Jesus would have figured it out if it could be figured out from the Bible I'm pretty sure that the author of the Bible Jesus would have figured it out but he said the son knoweth not only the father knoweth so come on you think you're smarter than Jesus while he was on this earth that's absurd anyway that was a little bit of a rabbit trail but look at Genesis chapter 11 verse 26 it says and Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram Nahor and Haran and here's where the error is coming in basically the assumption is made that Abraham must be the first born and so they're basically saying okay Terah lived 70 years and he has Abraham when he's 70 years old but that is not the case I'm going to prove you that that's not the case now first of all notice it says he lived 70 years and begat Abram Nahor and Haran these are not triplets so because they're not triplets it's not saying that they were all born when he was 70 years old it's just that basically he started begetting these sons at age 70 and he begat them in succession okay now let me prove this to you look at verse 31 it says and Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran his son's son and Sarai his daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan and they came unto Haran and dwelt there and the days of Terah watch this were 205 years and Terah died in Haran now let's do a little math here tonight okay Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram Nahor and Haran let's assume for a minute that Abraham was born when Terah was 70 years old like all the charts show okay if that were the case then that would mean that Abraham was 135 years old when he left Haran but that's not true is it because if we just jump down to chapter 12 verse 4 it says so Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him and Lot went with him and Abram was how old 75 years old when he departed out of Haran so Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran Terah was 205 years old and in the book of Acts chapter number 7 Stephen says that when his father was dead he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell so the Bible says in Acts 7 3 that God had said to Abram get thee out of thy country from thy kindred come unto the land which I shall show thee then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran and from thence when his father was dead he removed into this land wherein ye now dwell so according to the Bible he left Haran when his father was dead and so that means that Terah was actually 130 when he begat Abram and Abram was 75 when he left Haran not the other way around and so what that means is that Abraham is the younger brother now why does it list Abram, Nahor and Haran in that order? The exact same reason it lists Ephraim and Manasseh in that order they're not born Ephraim and Manasseh how many times have you heard a preacher get up and talk about Esau and Jacob? Never it's always what? Jacob and Esau it's always Ephraim and Manasseh because the way that you list them is based on their spiritual importance so when you're listing off this list you're going to say Abram, Nahor and Haran not because Abram is the first born but because he is the preeminent, most important son that we're talking about here so if you do the math and if that math went over your head don't even worry about it go home and work on your arithmetic skills but the bottom line is that the math does not add up either you'd have to make the case that Stephen is just wrong which I don't believe that or you have to realize Abram is actually the younger brother because they're not triplets and you know what? That's actually more consistent with the rest of the Bible anyway because Isaac is the younger brother Jacob is the younger brother Joseph is the younger brother Ephraim is the younger brother Judah is the younger brother if you follow Christ's lineage and so forth so now let's go back even further because not only is Abraham the younger brother but Shem is also a younger brother now again, how do we always list it? Shem, Ham and Japheth but is Shem really the oldest brother? Well let's go back and look at it and find out look if you would at Genesis chapter 5 Genesis chapter 5 and we see in Genesis chapter 5 verse 32 we have a verse that's very similar to the verse about Abram it says Noah was 500 years old and Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth again, they're not triplets ok, this is just saying that he's 500 and he begins to have these children in succession now we see that he's 500 when he has them everybody got that? now go over to chapter 7 verse 6 in chapter 7 verse 6 it says this Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth so when he has Shem, Ham and Japheth he's 500 when the flood of waters is on the earth he's 600 and it's not that the Bible is rounding off here because the Bible is actually being very precise in these chapters we're not going to take time to read the whole chapters but it's talking about what month it was, what day it was and it's very precise about these ages and months and years in this particular passage, I realize that other places maybe the Bible rounds things off but this is not one of those places, it's actually being precise at this moment if you study the context, so he's 500 when he has these three sons but they're not in that order 600 when the flood is upon the earth now look at chapter 11 verse 10 chapter 11 verse 10 says this these are the generations of Shem Shem was 100 years old and here's what I mean about they're not rounding off Shem was 100 years old and began our facts ad two years after the flood now stop and think about it if he was 500 if Noah was 500 when Shem was born then how old should Shem be when Noah is 600 this is not hard math folks he should be 100 years old, right? so when the flood starts he should already be 100 years old, am I right? but notice what the Bible says two years after the flood's over now he's 100 and now he's begetting our facts ad does everybody see that? and so what that means is if two years after the flood's totally over he's 100 that means he was not 100 when the flood started because that was two three years ago that was when his brother turned 100 that was his elder brother and he is the younger brother born two to three years later which makes sense my kids are all like two years apart pretty much so these kids are probably had in rapid succession and so they're a couple years apart makes perfect sense now you say okay well which one's the oldest is Ham the oldest? well no Ham is not the oldest because when the whole unfortunate incident in Genesis 9 takes place it actually calls Ham the younger son so Ham is the younger son and we know Shem's not the oldest so then we can deduce from this that the birth order was actually Japheth then Shem then Ham and so Shem is listed first because he's the preeminent so literally and then of course I don't even need to bring up the fact that if we go back even further we have Cain and Abel and of course Abel's the younger brother and then Abel's replaced by Seth Seth is the younger brother Cain is the older brother right? so notice that literally from the very beginning when we start reading the book of Genesis the first person who even has kids is Eve and she has these sons Cain and Abel and it's the younger brother that's righteous right? it's the younger brother Seth that ends up carrying on the worship of the Lord and so forth it's Cain that's of the wicked one then we move forward and we find the same thing with Noah's sons we find the same thing with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Joseph, Ephraim it's totally consistent you see that? from start to finish in the book of Genesis so this is a major theme in the book of Genesis you say well what does it mean? well flip over if you go to Romans chapter 9 say what does this all mean? what is the significance? now if you're here and you're the oldest son you're kind of like man what's this sermon about you know? something wrong with being the oldest boy? and of course there isn't because the things that are in the Bible are symbolic obviously these events really happen they're true stories they're actual events but they're also an allegory that is teaching something spiritual okay obviously it's not always in real life today 2022 it's not always gonna be the younger brother that's more spiritual than the older brother obviously that would be absurd because of course in many cases the older brother's gonna be more spiritual than the younger brother it could go either way because all of us have a personal choice of what we're gonna do with our lives and it doesn't matter whether you're the oldest or the second or third or whatever you know you can serve God or you can be an idiot with your life it's up to you but the point is that for the book of Genesis God's making a specific point in the specific book of Genesis where he's really just hammering this theme with the younger brother the younger brother the younger brother because it means something because it's significant now look at Romans chapter 9 verse 1 it says this I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites to pertain at the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises so the apostle Paul in these first four verses is saying how it makes him so upset he's got continual sorrow he's depressed about the fact that the Israelites the Jews are not receiving the Lord Jesus Christ their savior you know he keeps trying to preach to the Jews and they keep rejecting the gospel and he's constantly having to turn to the Gentiles because they're the ones who actually listen and get saved and so this is very frustrating to him and he says in verse 5 whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God bless forever amen he's saying man these people they should be the first ones to get saved I mean these are the descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I mean Christ came from their own kindred what's the deal? Why are they not getting saved? and then he says in verse 6 not as though the word of God has taken none effect for they're not all Israel which are of Israel he's saying you know I really want Israel to get saved but you know what these people aren't really Israel if they're rejecting Christ then they're not spiritually Israel they might be physically Israel but they're not spiritually Israel and he says you know they're not all Israel which are of Israel and then he begins to use this Old Testament illustration he says neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed so what we could do here is we could look at this interpretation in Romans 9 and apply this back to our reading of the Old Testament where he says hey it's Isaac Isaac is the one in Isaac shall thy seed be called just because Ishmael is the son of Abraham doesn't make Ishmael the chosen people it doesn't make Ishmael's descendants the nation that God has chosen in the Old Testament and so what he's saying here is that the children of the promise are like Isaac and the children of the flesh are like Ishmael and what he's saying is physical Jews physical Israelites are Ishmael spiritual Israelites believers in Christ are Isaac now this is not unique to Romans 9 because in the book of Galatians he says the exact same thing if you actually read Galatians 3 and 4 and I often wonder how anyone can disagree with us on Israel and actually read Galatians 3 and 4 because Galatians 3 and 4 is so crystal clear he says look that Jerusalem that now is that's Ishmael that's Hagar that's the bondage but the Jerusalem from above is free and he says we as Isaac was are the children of promise so between Romans 9 and Galatians 3 and 4 it's crystal clear Christians are Isaac Christians are the younger brother the Jews are the older brother that is what is being pictured over and over again you see the older brother the Jews it represents the Israelites and just as the younger brother ends up replacing the older brother in all of these scenarios that we've brought up here also Christians replace Israelites and Christianity replaces you know the old the new covenant replaces the old covenant and so we see here that it's explicitly stated in scripture both in Galatians and in Romans 9 that Isaac represents you know the spiritual seed of Abraham Christians and that Ishmael represents the physical seed of Abraham which are the Israelites unbelieving Israel is likened unto Ishmael in that sense but you know you don't just stop there because this younger brother theme goes through the whole book okay and so he doesn't stop there he explains about Isaac and Ishmael and it says in verse 9 for this is the word of promise at this time will I come and Sarah will have a son talking about Isaac but then he says not only this he's saying it's not just this one case not only this but when Rebekah also had conceived by one even by our 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 loved but Esau have I hated what shall we say then? is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid we can go on and on with this passage but the bottom line is that it's not just Isaac and Ishmael but it's also Jacob and Esau Jacob represents Christians Esau represents Israel, unbelieving Israel Christ rejecting Israel who sold their birthright to Jacob they had their chance he came unto his own the Bible says of Christ and his own received him not and that's why Jesus told them the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and so we see that Jacob and Esau are a great picture we don't just stop at Isaac and Ishmael how about Jacob and Esau? stop and think about this when Jacob gets the blessing from his father Isaac one of the things that his mother has him do is they basically kill the kid of the goats and they take that skin from that slain beast and he puts that skin on him so that his father will basically see him as Esau and think it's Esau if he reaches out and touches him he'll feel that hairy rough I mean Esau must have been a pretty rough dude if he feels like a goat skin but basically he puts on that goat skin but see this is a perfect picture of us as Christians because here's the thing we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ the lamb slain and Jesus is not just pictured by a lamb in the Old Testament all sacrificial beasts are pointing us to Jesus whether that's a bullock whether that's a goat whether that's a lamb whether that's two turtle doves or a young pigeon but basically in the Old Testament it's a picture of Jesus Jesus is our scapegoat in that sense and so therefore that goat skin is a picture of us when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ God the Father looks down upon us and he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Jesus is the lamb slain and then we're clothed in his righteousness Jesus looks down and that's what he God the Father looks down and that's what he sees the righteousness of Christ he doesn't see all of our sins our sins are washed away he sees the righteousness of Christ that has clothed us and just as Jacob was clothed in that skin of that beast that's what that pictures okay and Esau is that older brother who should have inherited it all but yet he doesn't because he didn't appreciate it he didn't understand what he had the Jews who didn't appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ when he showed up and they did not give him his proper due but instead they actually even crucified him of course and so you can go down the list here and look at how these things match up so perfectly that the younger brother represents Christianity represents Christ and you see that Judaism and Christianity are actually brothers remember the marching design movies we're sort of like brothers you know who knows what I'm talking about oh this is like my brother here's the thing about that is that he's right in a sense he's right for the wrong reasons but the point is even the Jews will say if they've actually studied if they actually know what they're talking about Jews will tell you well Judaism and Christianity are sort of like brothers but see people who are ignorant and unlearned and uneducated this is what they'll say Judaism came first then Christianity comes out of Judaism that is wrong that is false Christianity did not come out of Judaism because Judaism did not exist until the first century A.D. because what you have is Old Testament religion you could call it the Hebrew religion or the Israelite religion or the religion of the Old Testament that religion of the Old Testament basically splits off and goes two different ways one way is the way where you receive Jesus Christ as Messiah and that is Christianity and then you have this other way of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ and that's Judaism both of these come into existence in the first century A.D. because here's the thing Judaism as we know it today did not even exist in the time of Christ because at the time of Christ what are the Jews doing? They're doing animal sacrifices they're going to the temple Pharisees and Sadducees but now are they doing any sacrifices now? No they have a totally different religion where they have no animal sacrifices whatsoever and their holy book today is not the Old Testament primarily their teachings are based upon the Talmud and so Orthodox Jews believe that the Talmud is inspired and that it is you know the truth and that it's God's word and so forth you know maybe they would say well you know the Torah is a little bit holier than the Tanakh and then the Tanakh is a little holier than the Talmud but they can say whatever they want what are they actually basing their religion on? The Talmud because their religion does not resemble the teachings of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy because those books are filled with animal sacrifices that they don't do and you know that's a whole other sermon of itself I've proved that many times and shown that many times but the bottom line is this that you know they are following the Talmud which the Talmud wasn't written until 500 years after Christ in its current form maybe it started some of it to be written down around 200 AD but really Judaism as we know it starts in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple and so both of these religions come into existence in the first century AD Christianity and Judaism and they're like brothers because they have the same parent which is the Old Testament the same parent which is the religion of Israel and then you have basically the evil wicked branch and then the righteous godly branch you've got the Esau profane fornicator type branch and then you've got Jacob on the one side so that's actually the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and that's the way the Apostle Paul sees it you know he sees physical Israel as Esau and spiritual Israel as Jacob so we are actually kind of like brothers you know the guy is actually right about that in that sense it's just that he's mixed up about which brother is which we're Isaac you're Ishmael and you know what's so funny is that the old IFB today they love to preach about oh these bunch of Arabs are Ishmael you know darn those Arabs and you know we got to support Israel folks Israel is Ishmael that's the irony right but Fox News tells you oh yeah that's Ishmael you know the Palestinians over there that's Ishmael it's absurd of course the so called Israel over there physically is Japheth over there you know there physically is Ashkenaz physically is the tribe of Whitey is the tribe that came back to Israel because they're white blonde hair blue eyes red hair freckles right they left brown and came back white okay but the Palestinians today is oh that's Ishmael that isn't true my friend spiritually you want to know who Ishmael is it's the Jews that's what the Bible actually teaches you say well who's physically Ishmael who cares why don't we just do like the Bible says and avoid genealogies I don't want to know the genealogy of the Palestinians or the the red headed Jews or anybody else because who cares right we're all of one blood and red yellow black and white they're precious in his sight and we don't care who descended from who it doesn't matter and you know what just while I'm on the subject you want to know one of the dumbest doctrines that has been taught over the years is that like they say oh well Ham that's black people and Japheth is white people and Shem is Asians now here's the thing like okay you could say well you know generally obviously Ham settled in like Egypt and North Africa some of his descendants and then you've got you know Japheth being the European whatever but here's the thing about that they all lived together for a hundred years before the Tower of Babel they all lived together so let me ask you this okay you just got off the arc are you going to marry your sister or are you going to marry your cousin and I know I'm in the south but I'm sure you're going to pick your cousin am I right well you're like I'll pick my cousin because I'm in the south no I'm just kidding just kidding no but what I'm saying is if you get off the arc you're picking you're marrying your cousin you're not marrying your sister am I right okay so guess what that means that means immediately first generation Ham's kids and Shem's kids and Japheth's kids you know what they did they all married each other and they did that for a hundred years and they multiplied greatly as one people as one group of people now just because you have a big name significant guy who you know heads over toward Africa but in reality Ham's son Canaan didn't end up in Africa did he because Canaan is where is that Africa no Canaan is where Canaan is modern day Israel so that's where one of Ham's descendants ended up right there and then you know we don't know exactly where all these guys ended up and the bottom line is even if the guy that is running the family is like Shem's great great grandson what about all the females that they married so it's not like this division that people have tried to use as some kind of a racist or racial thing to try to break this down that way like three races or something that's absurd because we're all so mixed that it doesn't matter there's nobody in here that's a hundred percent white hundred percent black hundred percent Asian we are all mixed I promise you that and I proved that in our film Marching to Zion and so that's another dumb doctrine that you'll sometimes hear out there I just I'll just throw that at you so what's the what's the point of all this what's the moral to the story besides the fact that we need to understand that you know what the Jews are not God's chosen people we as Christians we inherit the blessing are we a Johnny come lately spiritually in a sense yes because obviously like he said you know the Jews are the descendants of the Israelites who had all the promises and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all that you know I'm not talking about today's white people I'm talking about the real Jews from back then but the point is that we the Gentiles which in time past were not a people now we're the people of God we'd not obtained mercy now we have obtained mercy and so now in the New Testament we as Gentiles the younger brother we inherit everything and the Jews inherit nothing because if you don't have Christ you don't have nothing Christ is all and in all and so here's the thing about that is that we as New Testament Christians inherit all the promises as the younger brother it's just like the story of the prodigal son you know the younger brother comes home and then the elder brother's all mad about it and doesn't want to receive him that's like the Jews getting mad about Gentiles getting saved Jews getting mad about the Gentiles coming to Christ Jonah pictures this too remember Jonah's mad when Nineveh repents that's a picture of Israel being mad that the Gentiles repent and come to Christ I mean you know we were just listening to the book of Acts in the car a couple days ago and the apostle Paul preaches this big long sermon preaches all he's preaching about Jesus he's preaching about all kinds of stuff and everybody's just quietly listening to him he's preaching a giant crowd in Jerusalem and then he gets to the part where God tells him I'm gonna send you to the Gentiles and they listen to him quietly and politely until he gets to the part where Jesus tells Paul go to the Gentiles and then they just say away with him it's not fit for such a one to live and they want to kill Paul because he says I'm sent to the Gentiles like like he's preaching about Jesus they're like Jesus death barrel resurrection they're just like okay you know go to the Gentiles what you know because it's just they I mean that's hatred for a group of people saying like we're better than everybody else don't you know don't talk to me about Gentiles that's wickedness that's why God said someday he'll make them of the synagogue of Satan who say they're Jews and are not but do like spiritually they're not even though they you know carnally they claim to be Jews that synagogue of Satan he said I'll make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I've loved thee and who's he talking to the Gentile church at Philadelphia tells the Gentile church at Philadelphia I'm gonna let the synagogue of Satan know that I've loved you now why does he have to let them know that he loved them because they didn't think that God loves anybody except the Jews when actually God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and not just a particular ethnicity or tribe or nation but Jesus Christ died on the cross for the entire sins of the whole world okay and so it's important that we understand that we as Christians are not second class citizens we inherit everything and because we've got Christ we've got everything and so we're the younger brother so we're Seth we're Abel Judaism is Cain right we're Shem Judaism is Ham don't try don't try to make it racial it's Judaism that's Ham it's Judaism that's Cain and it's Christianity that's Shem it's Christianity that's Abraham Isaac Jacob down the list that gets the blessing and the inheritance and so forth and so I want to close on this thought go to first Corinthians chapter number one first Corinthians chapter number one and I know that this sermon is only vaguely about Manasseh but here you know you know again we don't know a lot about Manasseh's personal life in scripture the significant story about Manasseh is that he gets demoted because when Ephraim and Manasseh are brought to Jacob Jacob pulls the old switcheroo and he ends up putting the greater blessing upon Ephraim and the lesser blessing upon Manasseh so I want to close on this thought how we could have like an application to us today besides just understanding the doctrine how about an application for us today the Bible says in first Corinthians one twenty six for you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and the things which are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence and so I want to leave you with this thought that God doesn't always use the one that you think he's going to use and we might think to ourselves you know God is going to use this guy because he's good looking he's talented he's got money he's got people skills he's you know and then but this guy over here you know he's not as talented or as gifted or whatever but you know what God's not always going to use the one that you think he's going to use because often God wants to use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise so if you aren't necessarily super talented or good looking or great with people or you don't have whatever the skills you know take heart because God even would prefer to use you because then he gets all the glory you know I mean if God used all of these really suave good looking talented preachers then people would say well of course he's succeeding look how smart he is look how suave he is look how talented he is of course he's succeeding I mean of course Joel Osteen is succeeding you know look at those teeth look at that hair look at that smile I mean I just wish that Joel Osteen would have just like gone into advertising for a dentist or something he could have been a model he could have been like a teeth model and really been blessed by God instead of being a false prophet but the point is you know God doesn't typically use the ultra good looking and the ultra talented and the ultra smart you know look at your calling brethren not many mighty not many noble you know not many wise men after the flesh now they are wise you know I wouldn't want to go to a church where the pastor isn't wise spiritually but we're talking about wise according to the flesh how many PhD's are there just ripping up the pulpits of America with hell fire and damnation now look I'm sure that there are some I'm not saying that there are none because he says not many wise after this world or not many wise after the flesh or according to this world you know there could be the exception you know Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was still used greatly by God but the point is that in general it's not many noble it's not many that are wise according to this world wise after the flesh it's not many that are mighty okay it's usually God that likes to pick up the little guy and do something great with him the one that no one would expect not the one who's in the yearbook as most likely to succeed but rather the guy that's in the yearbook one time and that's just when they have to put him in there he's a little square picture on that page you know he's you know you go to the back remember the yearbook you go to the index and you look up your name and it's just that one number it's like 37 and there you are the obligatory picture you know and then the popular kids it's just like it just lists like you can see them on page 25 you can see them on page 54 you can see them on page 63 you know the popular kids would have like 10 numbers after their name who knows what I'm talking about right but then you look yourself up you know I look myself up and it's just like you know it's just that one number and you're kind of like oh okay alright you know but you know what God likes to use that single number guy you know God likes to use that single number gal God wants to use simple ordinary people to do something extraordinary so that he can get all the glory and so that no flesh will glory in his presence because the truth of the matter is those popular kids from school the ones that are super good looking super financially successful you know they probably end up being filled with pride and they don't end up serving God with their life whereas the people who suffer and go through hard things and struggle they end up relying on the Lord more trusting the Lord more being more humble in the sight of God and that's who God ends up using and so in general as a rule you say well you know these preachers are kind of a motley crew hey that's the way God likes it he doesn't want to use a bunch of picture perfect specimens because then you'd say that their success was due to their own talents and abilities and smarts and whatever he'd rather use the unlikely the unpopular and you know what he says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 28 it says the base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen people that are looked down upon God could use them to do something great and so I hope that's an encouragement to you if you ever feel like man I just don't know if I'm good enough I don't know if I have the talent I don't know if I'm eloquent enough I don't know if I'm smart enough I'm not that great of a speaker I mean that's even what Moses said Moses was a super intelligent guy but he's like man I'm not that great of a speaker and God said well who made the tongue man let me help you God can use us if we're willing to be used if we're willing to serve him he will do something great with us and the less talent that we have in many ways the better because then he just gets more glory you know I think back to many of the great preachers that have influenced me and from an earthly perspective these weren't necessarily the coolest dudes or the most successful in a worldly way or even the most intelligent by the world standards and like I said there are very few men of God that have those worldly accolades but yet we see simple men doing a great work for God as pastors and we see simple men and women in churches all over America winning souls to Christ and racking up the rewards just going out there knocking doors man woman boy and girl just knocking doors and just opening the Bible and presenting the Gospel and just winning souls to Christ while you know Dr. Fatbottom somewhere in some theological seminary getting his you know getting his THD and whatever is not necessarily even being greatly used by God you know he's got his head so far in the clouds of all the theology and doctrine that he forgot to actually get out there and get his hands dirty out there actually doing the work of the vineyard that God has called us to do you know the Bible tells us as preachers to do the work of an evangelist be out there winning souls in the highways and hedges and so I hope that's an encouragement to you that the elder brother who should be the one who leads who should be the one who is preeminent you know what God he likes to use that younger brother doesn't he he likes to use that unlikely candidate he likes to use that unpopular person he likes to use the one that's not as good looking maybe not as smart by the world's standards obviously God doesn't want you to be a spiritual idiot okay but you know the world would call men of God who are wise in the Bible they'd call them an idiot wouldn't they I mean if a preacher gets up and says man I believe every word of the Bible I've got King James Bible here and I just believe every word of it is true what would the world say to that what would the university say to that they're gonna say well come on this guy's not very smart that's what they'd say he's not thinking but yet he's really very wise to trust fully in the word of God because the word of God is all true and it is perfect and it is always right all things in it are perfect and right every single time but yet the world would say you're an idiot but yet it's the fool who said in his heart that there is no God professing themselves to be wise they became fools and so God wants to use whoever's willing to be used and it usually ends up being the younger brother quote unquote it usually ends up being the one that's least likely God likes to defy our expectations and sometimes people will say no no no it's gotta be this way and we try to grab God's hand and move it over here but he says nope this is what I'm doing this is who I'm gonna use this is the guy you know brother Hiles used to tell the story about how you know he came down the aisle as a young man and told his pastor that he was called to preach and usually they'd be like excited and rejoicing like hey brother so-and-so's surrender to preach but when he came down they said you know are you sure cause they were kind of like I don't know you know the point is that you know God and you know here's the thing about brother Hiles you know I can say this because he passed away many years ago he's kind of a preacher of yesteryear he's kind of gone into legend cause you know he passed away in 2001 you know he's not really he's not a very cool guy he's not exactly a cool dude he kind of looks a little bit kind of a little bit like kind of just a dorky guy you know what I mean who knows what I'm talking about he wasn't I mean he wasn't some real kind of good looking super cool athletic dude or something I mean you look at him and you know you kind of hear about the great brother Hiles and then you look at this guy and he looks like a little bit of a dweeb and you're thinking like and here's the funny thing is that a lot of people man they would go overboard in their love for brother Hiles like some people kind of like took it too far like idolizing brother Hiles in his lifetime you know what I mean and I mean I'm not blaming him for that some people are like that they're just kind of sycophantic and just kind of like they just get all weird about it you know what I mean so there were people that got really weird about brother Hiles and it's like you hear about brother Hiles and you hear about how a lot of people were kind of going overboard in their admiration for him and idolizing him and then you see a picture of him and you're kind of like this is the guy that they're all just like worshiping you know what I mean but you know what he was greatly used by God I'm not saying he was perfect I'm not saying that everything he did was right I'm not saying I agree with everything about his ministry I mean you know he's probably the most influential preacher of the 20th century and you know started a huge soul winning movement across America and let's face it in many of our cities today in America still the best church in town is often a Hiles Anderson graduate you know even to this day that ends up being the case in many different places and so you know he's not a guy that the world would look at as like oh man look at this guy he's so cool he's so sharp he's so good looking he's you know but yet this guy really you know turned America upside down in a sense with his preaching so I mean it just goes to show you that God doesn't use the one that you think he's going to use and so that should be encouraging to all of us that aren't perfect you know that aren't that cool that aren't that good looking that aren't that smart or that aren't that gifted or talented or eloquent or good at this or good at that you know God is just looking for ordinary people and he can do something extraordinary with the ordinary and he will often flip the script and defy our expectations and do things the opposite of what we think that he's going to do let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much Lord for the fact that we as Christians are the chosen people we're the elect in Christ we have everything we inherit everything and that we're Israel we are the chosen people in the New Testament Lord and also Lord thank you so much that you're willing to use us even though we're just normal guys and even just normal gals tonight that you're just willing to use ordinary people to do something great every single week out there in the field winning souls and preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ Lord I pray that we would all be available to you to use us so that you could do something great with us in Jesus name we pray Amen Alright church we're going to open up to our last song song number 167 song 167 all hail the power of Jesus name song 167 on the verse Lord of all bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all Lord of all in chosen seed of Israel's race he ran some from the fall hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all Lord of all let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball to him all majesty are struck and crown him Lord of all to him all majesty are struck and crown him Lord of all on the last oh that with yonder sacred cross we at his feet may fall we'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all we'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all amen church great singing we have two baptisms remember that right after the service you guys we broke the record ice cream for everybody