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My problem is I was so attached to this place that I think it was like green and real and that and when I was like I thought like it disappeared and it wasn't there it just it seemed like I was wrong but I was happy to be here and I just think that's my dream I was awake I was asleep by the time. Good evening welcome to our services tonight here at Faith Ward Baptist Church it's a joy to see you all here on this Sunday night if you'd all please find your seats and we'll begin with our singing tonight and let's take our song books please and let's go to hymn number 229 to start hymn number 229 since I have been redeemed number 229 and we'll start together on that first verse hymn number 229 I have a song I love to sing so sing it out together Yes, I will vote in my Savior's name. I have a right that's at his might since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a witness, bright and clear, since I have been redeemed. This, that, with every doubt and fear, since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a home prepared for me, since I have been redeemed, where I shall dwell eternally, since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. Amen. Good start to sing tonight. That's for the Kevin, so let's look for a prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. And thank you for the hymns that you've given us. I pray that you help us to learn them and sing them out to you. And please bless the services as well. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. Act of 130. Hymn number 130. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. Wonderful truth there in number 130. Let's sing it out together on that first verse. Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim number 130. On this first verse together. Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick, and lay. Cheer the borders till the tempest glory to His name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who pardoned every painter, never gives out fear. He that came to faith, my strongest, all I doubt will clear. He who led the love disciple on his voice of praise. His resale with love and standard lean upon His breath. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who made the raging bellows, walked upon the sea, sailed in the sharp wildness tempest as of Galilee. He who waked and prayed and anguished in death's enemy, drinks with us each up on trembling in our agony. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. As the holy ones, when they have sent them to abide. So through all life's waiting, God did never hear our sigh. Soon again shall we be old and hasten for the day. But the sick will be missing Jesus as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This Wednesday, we will be in Ezekiel chapter 30. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Birthdays and anniversaries are listed across the page. On the back, congratulations to the Rogalski family on the birth of baby Angelie, born on Saturday, February 26th. So congratulations to them. And then we've got Mexico Monday tomorrow. If you want to come, get with brother Segura tonight. Get some details. But the trip leaves tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., gets back around 10 at night. And then speaking of brother Segura, there's also the Spanish night coming up this Thursday night. And then the soul-winning marathon in San Diego is this Saturday. There will be a bunch of other soul-winning marathons coming up in other parts of the country. And so if you need details on that, see brother Daniel Reiter. He's got the details. And then of course the missions trip in St. Thomas. So that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul-winning for the past few days. So going back to Thursday, anything from Thursday? Got it? Okay. Got it. Anything else from Thursday? How about Friday? Anything from Friday? What about Saturday? Okay. Got it? Got it? Anything else from Saturday? 13 for the main group of brother Scott. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Is that a 3? Okay. Anything else from today? All right. There we go. Keep up the great work with soul-winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. All right. Turn your song books to number 328. 328. Let's sing it out on that first verse together. I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the mountain high. Number 328. Let's sing it out on this first verse together. 328. I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the mountain high. He laughed so hard at my abandoned knee. No longer in the wilderness I'll say and so I cried. I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the great sun has shone from I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me There was a giant of faithlessness who said I wouldn't go and with this for the one who set me free I'll come from the whole wilderness I'll make this now I know I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the great sun has shone from I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me One faithless child upon the breast of Abraham's lofty hide has found that he's the one to make me clean I'll climb from out the wilderness and trust our old life's might I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the great sun has shone from I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me Let every giant of distress and unbelief and sin get ready now to think it for you see I'll come from out the wilderness I know I'm going to win I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the great sun has shone from I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me given me is thy faithfulness O God my Father there is no shadow on turning with thee thou changest not like the passions they failed on as thou has been thou forever will be Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me Summer and winter and springtime and harvest sun, moon and stars in their courses above join with all nature and manifold witness to thy great faithfulness mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me Born and for sin and of peace that endureth Thy own dear presence to cheer and guide strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow blessings all mine with ten thousand beside Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me Amen. Good singing tonight. This time we'll pass our offering plates around. Let's turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter number 9 as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads Romans chapter 9 starting in verse number 1. Romans chapter 9 the Bible reads 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 whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. Rebecca 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 the 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 for he sayeth to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Nay but oh man who art thou that repliest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles as he saith also in Osea I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth and as Esaias said before except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed we had been as Sedoma and been made like under Gomorrah. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith but Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Dear Father in heaven please fill path through spirit so we can give us wisdom and give us ears to hear and receive wisdom from this sermon this night we pray in Jesus name Amen. Amen the title of my sermon tonight is Who is Esau? Who is Esau? In this passage in Romans chapter 9 there's a discussion about Jacob and Esau and we're going to talk particularly about who Esau represents in this passage but the Bible says beginning in verse number one here of Romans chapter 9 I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in Christ 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. Now the Apostle Paul is in agony he's very upset about the fact that his kinsmen according to the flesh the Israelites that they're not saved that they have rejected Christ that the majority of them are on their way to hell obviously there were many people that did receive Christ as savior in the land of Israel but the vast majority of the nation rejected Christ and this really just breaks the Apostle Paul's heart and he just has continual sorrow and heaviness about this it just really bothers him that his people don't get saved and he's having great success at getting people saved on the foreign mission field but he really wants his people the Israelites to be saved it says in verse 4 who are the Israelites you know that that's who he has this filling for 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 he's saying look these people would be perfect to get saved they'd be perfect for Christianity they've got the Old Testament they're you know God's people from back then like what's the deal why won't they just get saved this should be perfect for them whose are the fathers and of whom are concerning the flesh and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is overall God bless forever amen so he's just saying man you know these people of all people should be receiving Christ and getting saved why are we not having success reaching these people they're not saved and then he says in verse 6 not as though the word of God has taken none effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called now what does he mean there when he says not as though the word of God has taken none effect because there are so many promises in the Old Testament about Israel there are all these Old Testament promises about all the things that God's going to do with Israel in the future and the Apostle Paul is looking at reality and he's looking at Israel and seeing that they've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and of course it's the same way today if we look at so called Israel or so called Israelites or Israelis or those who call themselves Jews we see that they've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ there's no blessing in that you know there's a curse on that because the Bible says that whoever doesn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ has God's wrath abiding on them well except Jews that's not what the Bible says if they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they have God's wrath abiding on them so the Apostle Paul's looking at that reality and it breaks his heart but he says well you know what this doesn't mean that the promise of God had taken none effect it's not that the word of God has not returned void here because of the fact and he explains why they are not all Israel at the end of verse 6 which are of Israel they're not all Israel which are of Israel so he's saying this does not represent a breaking of God's promise because of the fact that these people who are my kinsmen according to the flesh in God's eyes are not the real Israel you know he's looking at these people and saying these are my kinsmen according to the flesh these are the descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but in God's book they're not Israel because it says they are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children you say well but they descend from Abraham but he says well hold on a minute didn't Ishmael also descend from Abraham but yet that didn't make him the chosen people and Isaac shall thy seed be called and even when we get to Isaac well Isaac has two sons Jacob and Esau they're both the sons of Abraham they're both Abraham's seed they're both Isaac's seed they're the children but hold on a second then it branches off again doesn't it and it goes with Jacob and not Esau okay well what happens is when we get to the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth you know what we reach is another branch another fork in the road where the people who get on the wrong branch are no longer God's chosen people just like you know Abraham's the chosen one and his seed's going to be blessed and then it forks into Isaac and Ishmael and the blessings with Isaac then it forks again Jacob and Esau the blessings with Jacob well then when we get to the New Testament it forks again and the blessings with Christ and those who don't believe in Christ are rejected that's how this works so let's read through this real quick it says uh in Isaac shall thy seed be called verse 8 and then he just spells it out in verse 8 that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God now think about what he just said at the end of verse 3 my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites but he says these children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed for this is the word of promise at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son and not only this not just the Isaac and Ishmael fork in the road 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 love but Esau have I hated and so what we see here is that Judaism or unbelieving Israel or Christ rejecting Israel represents this branch of the seed of Abraham that is not inheriting the blessing of God so they are represented by Ishmael when we go over to Galatians chapter 4 the Bible compares the Jews and those who are trying to be justified by the law of Moses those who are looking for salvation in the old covenant he calls them Ishmael and he says that we as Isaac was we are the children of promise as Isaac was so they are Ishmael we are Isaac then when we get to Jacob and Esau they are Esau and we are Jacob as Christians ok now if you think about this or if you would flip over to Hebrews chapter number 12 Hebrews chapter number 12 and while you're turning to Hebrews chapter 12 I'm going to refresh your memory a little bit about the story of Jacob and Esau so Esau is the elder brother so Esau is the one who should be inheriting the double portion of the inheritance right because the way it worked in the Old Testament is that the eldest son would get a double portion of the inheritance so you know if you've got say just the two boys inheriting Jacob and Esau and Esau is the first born then Esau basically should get two thirds of the wealth and then Jacob gets one third that's the birth right of being the eldest son you get a double portion of the inheritance ok and then also he was supposed to receive the blessing of uh you know being basically the patriarch of the family or being the the guy who even would be the progenitor of the Lord Jesus Christ and so you know Esau is the older brother who by right should be inheriting the birth right he should be getting the blessing he should be getting the double portion but he didn't did he now the Bible talks about how he sells his birth right back in Genesis he sells his birth right to Jacob because he's just so hungry you know he's been out in the field he comes in from the field and he's starving and Jacob has this really good food that he's cooking he's cooking like a soup of lentils and basically he says to Jacob give me some of this food and Jacob says sell me your birth right and I'll feed you and he basically says well ok Esau says what good is my birth right going to do me if I die of hunger here I'm starving I need to eat right now and so yes and he says ok swear it to me and then he swears to him yup I swear to you the birth right is yours and then he's fed by his brother Jacob and he even gets like a side dish of bread on the side of the pottage and everything he eats the pottage he gets the bread hopefully it was buttered bread if it's going to cause you your whole inheritance you know so now now Jacob's going to get double inheritance of what Esau's going to get so this is just how short sighted Esau was and in Genesis it says so Esau despised his birth right he just didn't even care about it didn't mean anything to him he sold it for that uh you know bowl of food but then later there's the story where Jacob gets the blessing from Isaac that Esau was supposed to get through trickery so if you remember uh Isaac's wife Rebecca she really preferred Jacob as a son ok so she wants Jacob to get the blessing so she connives this plan whereby they're going to trick Isaac into accidentally blessing Jacob instead of Esau because Isaac is pretty much blind at this point he's a very old man he can't see and so they figure they're going to be able to trick him ok so Isaac tells Esau go out in the field and I want you to go hunting and I want you to uh bring back your quarry and make me savory savory meat such as I love make me venison that I love and then my soul is going to bless you before I die turned out he didn't die for a long time but he thought he was going to die you know it was a false alarm but anyway so Esau goes out hunting and Rebecca tells Jacob alright here's what we're going to do we're not going to do any hunting because it's really just all about the seasonings you know it doesn't really matter what kind of meat we use as long as we season it right he's not going to know the difference he can't see he can't taste you know he's old so they go and just get a goat and they kill the goat they cook up the goat meat season it up make it taste like what Esau would have brought and then Jacob's going to go in and give it to his dad pretend to be Esau and get the blessing now Jacob is a little bit apprehensive about this idea he says you know isn't dad going to know that I'm not Esau what if he figures it out then instead of blessing me he's going to curse me and Rebecca says you know well hey if that happens then let that curse be upon me may the curse be upon me but just do what I say it's going to work okay so Jacob also objects and says well you know I'm a smooth man and Esau's a really hairy guy and so what if he feels me you know what if what if Isaac reaches out and touches me and feels my smoothness and he's going to know that it's not Esau so not only do they cook the goat meat and give it to him for the meal but they also take of the goat's skin and put it on Jacob so he puts this skin on him to make him hairy so he you know gets hairy so that when Isaac reaches out and touches him he feels that hairiness okay and actually thinks that it's Esau and then kind of smells the goat because Esau is kind of a guy who's outside a lot and he's kind of a mountain man so that kind of gives Jacob more of a wilderness smell and he feels hairy and everything like that so then he goes in and he gets the blessing now you look at that and you say well hold on a second you know that's not right because Rebecca and Jacob they're lying that you know he says are you Esau yes I'm Esau I mean he's just lying to his dad that isn't right you know obviously Esau sold the birthright to Jacob that was Esau being an idiot but when it comes to this it's like you know Jacob's going in and basically taking it by trickery but here's the thing if we look at Hebrews chapter 12 we can see that God allowed that to happen because of the fact that God was not going to let Esau get that blessing now obviously the exact way that they went about it wasn't right but still the outcome was of the Lord that Esau not get the blessing because look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 because we should always use the New Testament to interpret these Old Testament stories right look at the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament it says in verse 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright so that was the stupid thing that he did and the Bible is comparing him to a fornicator it's not saying that Esau was a fornicator there's nothing in scripture to teach that Esau committed fornication that's not the point the Bible is saying that if you're a fornicator you're like Esau because just as Esau sold his birthright for one morsel of meat just to gratify the flesh just to tickle his taste buds he sold his birthright the fornicator is basically selling out their future selling out blessings from God just to enjoy some physical enjoyment just like Esau took that physical enjoyment right now and he's messing up his life later that's what you're doing when you commit fornication and so that's why the fornicator is compared to Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright don't you sell your birthright for one morsel of meat you know pleasure for a moment pain for a lifetime it's not worth it and so the Bible says here he sold his birthright but then look at verse 17 for you know he's saying look don't be like Esau because what happened to Esau? Esau how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing don't miss that he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears notice what the Bible is saying here if he had not sold his birthright he would have inherited the blessing that's what the Bible is saying it's saying look he for one morsel of meat he despised his birthright and God looked down and saw Esau despising his birthright and says you know what you're not going to get the blessing either and so I'm going to allow this crazy plan of Rebecca and Jacob to go forward I'm going to allow them to pull it off because you know what you don't deserve the blessing because if you sell the birthright you don't deserve the blessing and in Hebrews chapter 12 the Bible is saying that he afterward he would have inherited the blessing except for what? except for the fact that he had sold his birthright and afterward he would have inherited the blessing for he found no place of he was rejected he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears okay now let's go back to Genesis 27 with that in mind Genesis chapter 27 and let's Genesis 27 is where the story of Jacob and Esau takes place and remember what are we actually talking about tonight we're talking about the fact that Christianity is Jacob Christianity is Jacob Judaism is Esau okay these are brothers two brothers Christianity and Judaism are the two brothers now don't make a mistake about this and think oh well you know there's Judaism and then Christianity Christianity is sort of an offshoot out of Judaism we're like the son of Judaism wrong that is not true Christianity and Judaism are brothers not father and son brothers let me explain to you why okay because Judaism rabbinical Judaism of today is not the religion of the Old Testament it's not Old Testament Israel I don't see them offering a bunch of animal sacrifices I don't see the tabernacle I don't see a temple I don't see them doing all the things that I read about in Leviticus 1 Leviticus 1? Nope. Leviticus 2? Nope. Leviticus 3? Nope. Leviticus 4? Nope. Leviticus 2013? Nope. But you know we can go down the list I mean if you if you literally just took a checklist of chapters of the law the mosaic law you know the law stuff starts about halfway through the book of Exodus so you got the second half of Exodus and then you've got the book of Leviticus you've got portions of numbers but mainly it's second of second half of Exodus whole book of Leviticus whole book of Deuteronomy is pretty much your law books I tell you what if we listed those chapters and just put an X if they're not doing it or a check mark if they're doing it it would just be so many it would just be like nope nope nope nope nope nope nope because how many just countless chapters about animal sacrifices the tabernacle all of the different offices of the high priest and what he's going to do and they don't do any of that so to sit there and say that they are the religion of the Old Testament is absurd because they're not doing the lion's share of what God had given the children of Israel to do so the religion of Judaism what we have today is something that originated after 70 AD because when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD that's where we enter this new phase for them where they're no longer doing any animal sacrifices they no longer have the temple it's not about Jerusalem anymore everything fundamentally changes in 70 AD and basically they create this new religion as a response to that where oh well we're not going to do animal sacrifice we're going to do these prayers instead and we're going to do this and that so there's a dramatic change that happens in 70 AD not only that but rabbinical Judaism is based upon the teachings of the Talmud not the Torah which Torah is just the first five books of the Bible not the Tanakh which is the rest of the Old Testament no their teachings are based on the Talmud and when was the Talmud written the Talmud goes back to approximately AD 500 so their scripture their holy book that actually governs the way that they follow their religion today because I don't see them doing Leviticus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 go down the list they're not doing any of that but what they are doing is the Talmud Talmud is 500 AD ok that's 500 years after the birth of Christ so it's like oh you know you guys get mad at the Mormons you know for adding stuff but I mean you know the Jews probably feel the same way you know with you guys coming along and adding the New Testament you know it's like well hold on a second hold on just a second there the Jews added the Talmud 500 years after the time of Christ that's a fact ok and even the earlier parts of the Talmud that would be called the Mishnah what's that about 200 AD either way we're talking about hundreds of years after Christ we're talking about something that didn't even really begin to materialize in its current form until after 70 AD you don't have their holy books until 200 years after Christ 500 years after Christ ok so don't tell me that Judaism is the parent of Christianity that's nonsense the Old Testament scriptures are the parent of us both ok the Old Testament scriptures basically have begotten these two different faiths Christianity and Judaism right these are both faiths that would look to the Old Testament scriptures and say hey you know this is where we're coming from here and then now it has changed to this we got the New Testament on one hand Jacob we've got the Talmud on the other hand Esau right Judaism, Christianity that's what it is it's Esau and Jacob and so think about the imagery here in Genesis chapter 27 when Jacob puts on these skins of the goat upon his flesh this is a picture of us as Christians being clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior because think about the goat that is sacrificed represents the Lord Jesus Christ and Jacob putting on that goatskin represents him putting on the righteousness of Jesus being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus so that when the father looks at him when the father looks at him he basically sees or feels that goatskin just as the Lord in heaven looks down at us and what does he see he sees Christ's righteousness see think about Adam and Eve you know when Adam and Eve sinned how did the Lord make an atonement for that he gave them coats of skins to cover their sin and that coat of skin again an animal had to die to provide that garment unlike the fig leaf apron that they sewed together which involved no shedding of blood without the shedding of blood is no remission Adam and Eve received the coats of skins there had to be bloodshed and then they are clothed in the skin of that animal right Jesus is the lamb of God which take away the sin of the world and often in the Old Testament it's not just a lamb that represents Jesus but it's a goat it's a bullock it's a calf right because all of these different animals they got sacrifice turtle doves pigeons every animal that is sacrificed under the old covenant represents Jesus you know when we see animals being sacrificed and their blood being shed and an atonement being made on the altar that's a picture of Jesus' blood saving us because it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins what did the bull represent Jesus what did the goat represent Jesus what did the lamb represent Jesus now usually we think of it as the lamb of God because that's going back to the Passover which is the most important picture of Jesus the Passover lamb and so in the New Testament that imagery of the lamb is a big image for Christ but you know it could also be a ram because in Genesis 22 what about the ram that gets caught in the thicket and the ram's head is stuck in the thorns and that's a picture of Jesus with the crown of thorns being the sacrifice so that Isaac doesn't have to die Jesus died right the ram dies and the thorns represent the crown of thorns so it could be a ram it could be a lamb it could be a goat it could be a bullock a calf all different animals that are sacrificed in the Old Testament Jesus is also the lion of the tribe of Judah you know these are just metaphors he's obviously not actually an animal so you can use all these different animals just to represent different aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ the scapegoat represents Jesus as well and so the skin of the goat that's put on Jacob is a picture of him being clothed in Christ and now he gets the blessing now that's us as Christians we're Christians so Esau doesn't get the blessing we get the blessing and we don't get the blessing on our own merits we get the blessing because we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that's the picture here now remember what Hebrews 12 said we know that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing when Esau would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance so he sought it carefully with tears let's see what the blessing was that he missed out on the Bible says in verse number we're in Genesis chapter 27 and it says in verse 28 therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee be Lord over thy brethren and let thy mothers sons bow down to thee ah ah here it is cursed be everyone that curseth thee and blessed be he that blesseth thee now look at that so what do we see here what we see here is enjoying the abundance of what the earth has to offer ruling and reigning over our brethren and cursed is everyone that curseth us and blessed is everyone that blesseth us now what's so funny today is that many people will try to apply that thing of oh you know well we gotta support Israel because God's gonna bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel no my friend because we are Jacob and they are Esau they did not receive this blessing they sold their birth right you know the Apostle Paul said look man the promise is pertaining to them unto them were committed the oracles of God I mean they should have received it I mean the birth right was theirs but they didn't did they? no you know what they said we have no king but Caesar give us Barabbas give us Barabbas we have no king but Caesar they chose Caesar they chose Barabbas that was their pottage of lentils was their little Roman province they said what are we gonna do we don't want people to believe in Jesus then the Romans will come and take away our country they chose that which was carnal they chose their standing with the Roman emperor they chose whatever they wanted Barabbas, Caesar whatever they rejected the birth right and so as a result they don't inherit the blessing so how can you sit there and say well they get the blessing anyway God will bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them no they don't they sold that they lost that that goes to Jacob now you say well hold on a second we're gonna reign over well have you ever heard of the millennial reign of Christ? because we as Christians will live and reign with Christ for 1000 years the Jews that have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ will not be reigning Israel will not be reigning now of course if Israelites get saved then yeah now they're Christians now they're Jacob now they rule and reign with us for 1000 years with Christ but this ruling and reigning is not for Israel see a lot of people have this idea about the millennium that somehow oh you know Israel's coming back in the millennium they're coming back but hold on a minute yeah saved Israelites from the past are gonna get resurrected in the end times amen you know every saved person gets resurrected but the current Christ rejecting Israel isn't coming back no they're not except obviously we can reach the individual you know we can get individual Jews or Israelis saved and we have done so at our church and we will continue to do so God willing so now let's look what Esau gets because Esau comes and he cries and he wants to get a blessing later in the chapter if you jump down to verse number 38 and Esau said unto his father hast thou but one blessing my father bless me even also my father and Esau lift up his voice and wept he said don't you have anything for me isn't there any blessing he's like sorry I already gave it to Jacob don't you have something for me and Isaac and his father answered and said unto him behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from love and by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him notice what's conspicuously absent from that blessing oh God's gonna bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you nope Esau doesn't receive that blessing he missed out on that he lost that because he sold his birthright and as a result he hated his brother Jacob and this is why Judaism hates Christianity Judaism hates Christianity because Christianity has received the blessing that they should have inherited that they would have inherited had they not sold their birthright so if you would go back to Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter number 9 so we see that we are the chosen people we are the seed of Abraham we are the seed of Isaac we are the seed of Jacob spiritually okay we as Isaac was are the children of promise the children of the flesh these are not the children of God they're not all Israel which are of Israel so whenever these people come at you and say well look at all these Bible verses about Israel you always have to stop and say wait a minute they're not all Israel which are of Israel if you're not of the promise if you're not in Christ you are literally nothing to God he's like I never even knew you depart from me that's what he's going to say so back in uh Romans chapter 9 the Bible says in verse number 21 have not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor what of God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured which with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction let me stop right here and just go on a quick little rabbit trail it always kind of cracks me up when Calvinists will pull out this verse and say well you know there's just those vessels of wrath fitted to destruction you know those people are just kind of just made to be damned you know God's the potter and he just made some people to be saved and made some people to be damned it's so ridiculous because in this passage what is it what did it just did you hear what it just said it said what of God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known watch this endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction sounds like God's having mercy on the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction so how can you have this idea like well vessels of wrath fitted to destruction people are just doomed and damned and there's nothing they can do about it keep reading and then he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory even us who he had called not of the Jews only but also the Gentiles as he sayeth also in Ozy I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved here's what the Bible is actually saying it's saying the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction you know what God's going to do he's going to show mercy on it and he's going to make it into something usable that doesn't sound at all like what the Calvinists are telling me that oh they're just doomed and damned and there's no hope folks God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance he will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth he gave himself a ransom for all he tasted death for every man Calvinism is junk ok don't let them twist this passage and take it out of its context the context is about Israel versus Christianity that's what it's about we're talking about Ishmael versus Isaac Jacob versus Esau that's what we're talking about and the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction are the Gentiles they're the ones who are seemingly useless and then the Jews are the ones that you would expect God to use but yet what does he do? He calls them his people verse 25 which were not his people he said I will call her beloved which was not beloved so God is showing mercy on the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction the Gentiles us he has reached out to the Gentiles and offered them not only a chance to be saved but also in the New Testament to actually be his chosen people to be that royal nation I will call them my people which were not my people now this can't be talking about Israelites or Jews because they were called God's people in the past he says no no I'm going to call them my people which were not my people and this was already being prophesied in Hosea when it says Oz there that's just a New Testament spelling of Hosea the Old Testament prophet Hosea and it says and it shall come to pass verse 26 in the place where it was said to them you're not my people there shall they be called the children of the living God Esaias meaning Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved you know what that means? A very small percentage will be saved because if you have a group of people that's like the sand of the sea for multitude though the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea and then you say but a remnant's going to be saved what are you saying? A small percentage of the whole is getting saved that's what the Bible's saying for you will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth and as Isaiah Esaias but it's Isaiah said before except the Lord of Sabaoth Sabaoth is just the Hebrew word for hosts so the Lord of hosts except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed we'd been as some Sedoma not Sedona Sedoma and been made like unto Gomorrah what shall we say then? that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith but Israel which followed after the law of righteousness have not attained to the law of righteousness now isn't that ironic? Israel is so dedicated to the law that they failed to attain the righteousness of the law whereas the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness attained to righteousness isn't that ironic that the Gentiles who are not following the law of God have achieved righteousness and the Jews who are so zealous of the law have not attained why not? verse 32 because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed the rock is a hymn the rock of you know the song rock of ages I'm going to come up with a new hymn rock of offense you know Jesus is the rock of offense sorry to offend you but Jesus is the rock of offense say well you're offensive Jesus is the rock of offense he's a stumbling block you're being a stumbling block just being like Jesus now look obviously there's a wrong way to be a stumbling block we don't want to be a stumbling block in a bad way but you know what if people are stumbling at the gospel if they're stumbling at the truth if they're stumbling at what the Bible says that's a good kind of stumbling block Jesus is a stumbling block you say Jesus has been established as a cornerstone you know Jesus has been established as a stumbling block Jesus is the greatest stumbling block that has ever existed when was the last time you heard that preached? but it's what the Bible says isn't it it's right in front of your face right there it says right there I lay in Zion a stumbling stone Jesus the great stumbling stone Jesus the rock of offense that people are constantly tripping on tripping and falling and smashing their faces in on Jesus but if you believe on him you'll be fine the sort of believing on him should not be ashamed but those who reject him they stumble at that stumbling stone okay so you have to seek for righteousness by faith you have to believe in Jesus if you believe on Jesus you achieve righteousness not your own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith by believing in Jesus his righteousness is imputed unto you without works he did the work and it just gets imputed unto you verses well I'm gonna go out and work hard and do I'm gonna be a really good Christian and I'm gonna follow all the rules you're not gonna make it you're gonna come short and you're gonna crash and fall over that stumbling stone the rock of offense see if the word of God offends people so be it if Jesus offends people so be it if the gospel offends people so be it now if I offend people because I of sin in my life or something stupid that I say or do that's my fault but if it offends people and it's coming from the word of God I'm not gonna take responsibility for that like it or lump it and so that's why he says in verse 1 of chapter 10 brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved you know he's saying I want them to be saved and he goes on to talk about how easy it is to be saved in Romans chapter 10 it's just so easy you just confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and and thou shalt be saved and it's it's just right there you know the word is nigh thee even on thy mouth and in thy heart it's just right there it's so easy you need to believe in Jesus but they're they're working so hard aren't they you know some of these Jews they're working hard today some of them most of them aren't working hard at religion but some of them are you know and I don't but I don't care how much Torah they study and I don't care how many tears that they cry at that weeping wall you know because the Bible said that Esau sought it carefully with tears Esau cried and begged and prayed and wished and hoped and you know what the Jews they can cry and cry and cry but it's never going to work because they're rejected just like Esau it's too late it was too late for Esau it's too late for them as a nation and again it's not too late for the individual don't sit there and think that Jews are reprobates or Israelis are reprobates that is not true we can get Jews saved we can get Israelites saved they are some of the most unreceptive people to the Gospel they don't get saved all the time but let me tell you something they can be saved so we don't want to just write off the individual but as a nation they've been rejected by God and been replaced by Christianity and so we need to understand that distinction the individual can of course be saved and if they get saved then they will be graphed in to the olive tree and you know it's interesting I'll close out on this thought because we're talking about Judaism and Christianity being brothers they're not father and son Judaism did not beget Christianity because Christianity's never had anything to do with the Krishna or the Talmud or this rabbinic form of Judaism you know when Jesus was on this earth you want to know the kind of religion that Jesus practiced when he was a Jew because he said, you know, salvation's of the Jews and he was born and raised, circumcised and all that he did all that but you know what he did he kept telling people you need to go offer that sacrifice that Moses told you to offer do you remember that? and he says okay now go to the temple and do what the Bible says and offer the gift that Moses commanded for testimony unto them you know so you see Jesus practicing the Old Testament not rabbinical Judaism you don't see Jesus saying like oh well you know we don't do any animal sacrifice we're just going to pray you see Jesus actually participating in the Old Testament commandments because he's under the law okay and he lived that life and so you know Christianity did not come from Judaism don't ever let anybody tell you that you know well Judaism came first and you know well Esau came first okay but it didn't even come first anyway because in its current form it dates back to depending on how you slice it you could say it dates back to 70 AD or you could say it dates back to around 200 AD or you could say it dates back to around 500 AD you know wherever you want to draw the line it's going to be after Jesus for sure but you say well yeah but they've been around like folks Judaism is the child of the Old Testament just as Christianity is also but here's the thing in Romans chapter 11 we have this idea about the branches and they're called the natural branches and we're the we as the Gentiles are the branches that are graphed in to the olive tree and the ones who didn't believe on Christ they got broken off and then we got the wild olive branches the Gentiles who believed in Christ got graphed in to the olive tree but he talks about the root folks the root is not Judaism Judaism are branches that got broke off the root is the word of God you know yeah you could say Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy that's the root say Jesus is the root God's the root the Lord's the root okay but the natural branches aren't the root they're branches and they're a different branch what does a branch mean a branch is when something splits right you're growing you're growing you're growing and then a split and this is what I want you to take away from the sermon is that you know you got Abraham blessed by God and then there's a split Isaac and Ishmael oh another split Jacob and Esau oh another split Christianity Judaism if you want to be blessed by God you have to be on the right side of that split that's what it comes down to and you can't be like well Abraham's my father but the Ishmaelites could say the same thing the Edomites could say the same thing the Jews could say that but the bottom line is if you're on the wrong side of that split you lose the blessing of God you've got to stay on the right side of that split and so we as Christians today we believe that we are saved simply because we believe on Jesus believe on Jesus we're not trying to be justified by the law it's not the ten commandments that saves us it's not any commandments that saves us it's just Jesus it's his imputed righteousness the righteousness of Jesus on our account we are justified freely by his grace justified means just as if I'd never sinned justified just as if I'd never sinned that's what it means to be a Christian that's what it means to be saved the Jews today don't you have one blessing for them nope how folks how can you be blessed if you don't have Jesus take the world and give me Jesus I don't know it looks like they're being blessed because look how much money they have is that that's the blessing that you want is that what you think the blessing of God is money you got a lot to learn about spiritual things if you think well look how much power and money and fame they have look how they thrive in Hollywood folks that's not the blessing of God but you know the sad thing is that I'll bet you a lot of Christian young people they grow up in a church like ours and they grow up and you know what they think they think money is success they think being good looking is success fame is success fancy clothing is success is that success righteousness is success you know better is a little with the fear of the Lord a little bit with the fear of the Lord than great revenues with unrighteousness you know I'm paraphrasing but it's something like that it's real close to that alright it says something along those lines you'd rather have a little bit with the fear of the Lord than great abundance great revenues that you've gotten unjustly or that you've gotten without righteousness or without the Lord I'd rather be a door keeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness you know I'd rather be the least in the kingdom of heaven than to be the top dog on this earth without Jesus in my heart you know it's not worth anything if you don't and how can anyone not understand how can people go to church their whole lives how can people you know attend hundreds of sermons or thousands of sermons in their life and not understand that if you don't have Jesus you have nothing like did we what did we fail to teach you if you think that there's anything that matters if you don't have Jesus there's nothing, nothing matters if you don't have Christ nothing matters nothing else matters in your life you don't matter nothing matters like like well but you know money and fame you could live the most awesome perfect life ever where you just have everything that anybody could want just the coolest greatest life you're no you're nothing you don't matter you're going to go to hell when you die because you don't have Jesus Jesus well you know I mean I know they're not saved but I mean they're still God's people how does that even work I mean I know they're I mean I know God's wrath is abiding on them they're going to burn in hell for all eternity you know I mean but I mean come on there's still God's chosen people though how can anybody even say that with a straight face it's madness it's crazy it's absurd well yeah I mean we're not talking about being saved okay obviously we know they're not saved I mean nobody's saying that they're saved we're just saying that they're God's special chosen people what do they get a little special compartment in hell get a little like non-smoking section in hell I mean what kind of stupidity is that if any look I mean doesn't the Bible say if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema well I mean I know they're anathema and everything but I mean come on they're blessed they're blessed even as they're cursed even as even as they're under the wrath it's like a blessed wrath folks it's dumb let it go you know if you're one of these people that's hanging on to that doctrine where you're just like let it go I remember one time I was preaching this to to a brother in Christ and basically this is many many years ago I was explaining this to him and I was teaching this to him and I'm showing him how like it's not it's not Israel it's us we're the chosen people Christians and I'm showing him all these verses and he's just like he's like he's like you're totally right but I still feel like there's just like something for them like there's something and it just immediately popped into my mind like Esau like don't you just have something for me? he's like I still think there's just something and you know and eventually you know he realized nope there isn't because if you don't have Christ you literally have nothing nothing could be simpler to understand than that I hope that if you've been in church for any length of time you realize that if you don't have Christ God's not listening to you God's not going to bless you okay God is waiting for you to get saved he wants you to get saved but until you get saved you're not in the family and if you don't end up getting saved nothing else about your life will ever matter thousands of years from now nothing will matter you know the most the most ghetto thug and you know Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are going to the same hell if they don't believe in Jesus am I right? it's not going to matter like well these rap artists have made millions of dollars folks the poorest person who listens to their music is going to the same place that they're going and it's not it's not going to be like like 4,000 years from now in hell it's like whoa you're Dr. Dre this is so cool I've always wanted to meet you whoa look it's Snoop Dogg this is so cool and we can do the same thing we can do the same thing with any genre of music we could we could say you know the the poorest farmhand and Garth Brooks or something I don't know I'm just saying like it doesn't really like like if you're saved you're somebody but if you're not saved it's not going to matter it's not like people are going to be getting autographs from actors and actresses in hell a thousand years from now it's not going to be happening there's no glory there ok Christ is everything so who is Esau who is Esau it's Christ rejecting Israel that is Esau they are Esau according to scripture that's what Romans 9 teaches let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you for your word Lord and thank you for giving us such an abundance of spiritual blessings Lord and and thank you that Lord even if we lost every penny even if we uh lost everything that mattered to us physically in this world Lord we have the most priceless possession that can never be taken away from us which is Christ in us the hope of glory and it's in his name we pray Amen Amen Amen let's take our song books please and go to hymn number 178 178 Jesus loves even mean number 178 178 let's sing it on that first verse I am so glad that our Father in Heaven number 178 178 let's sing it out together on that verse verse 178 I am so glad that Jesus I am so glad that Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus I am so glad that Jesus Jesus Jesus Oh I can see when I see my song Oh Oh Jesus I am so glad that Jesus Jesus Jesus I am so glad that Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus