Genesis chapter 36. Patience, as we read. Markers of expository preaching. We'll have a field day here, but I assure you there are rich lessons to be drawn from a passage that originally in the week I had had longings to skip over, but then I had to repent. Genesis 36. Now these are the generations of Esau who is Edom. Esau took his wives of the daughter of Canaan, Ada the daughter of Elam the Hittite, and Ahol-Abamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibion the Hittite, and Bazimoth Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebeoth, and Ada bear to Esau Eliphaz, and Bazimoth bear Rul, and Ahol-Abamah bear Jeush, and Jealem, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan, and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. For their riches were more than they might dwell together, and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. These are the names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau, ruled the son of Bazimoth. Wife of Esau and the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omer, Zepho, Gathim, and Kenaz. And Temna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son. And she bear to Eliphaz Amalek. These were the sons of Ada, Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Reuel, Naath, and Zerah, and Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Bazimoth, Esau's wife. And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibion, Esau's wife. And she bared to Esau Jeush, Jealem, and Korah. These were dukes. of the sons of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, Duke Temin, Duke Omar, Duke Zepho, Duke Kenaz, Duke Kor, Duke Gaddam, and Duke Amalek. These are the Dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Ada. These are the sons of Rul, Esau's son. Duke Nahath, Duke Zerah, Duke Shammah, Duke Mizzah. These are the dukes that came of Rul in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Bazimoth, Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Aholabamah, Esau's wife. Duke Jeush, Duke Jalem, Duke Korah. These were the dukes that came of Aholabamah, the daughter of Aena, Esau's wife. These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. These are the sons of Seir, the Horite, who inhabited the land. Lotan, and Shobel, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishon, these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman, and Lotan's sister was Timnah, and the children of Shobel were these, Alvin and Mannahath and Ebe and Shefo and Onam. These are the children of Zebeon, both Ajah and Anah. This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness as he fed the asses of Zebeon, his father. and the children of Anah were these, Dishon and Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, and these are the children of Dishon, Himdan and Eshbon and Ithran and Cheron, and the children of Ezer are these, Bilhan and Zavayan and Echon, and the children of Dishon are these, Uz and Aaron, These are the Dukes that came of the Horites, Duke Lotan, Duke Shobel, Duke Zibion, Duke Anah, Duke Dishon, Duke Ezer, Duke Dishon. These are the Dukes that came of Hori among their Dukes in the land of Seir. These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king. over the children of Israel. And Beelah the son of Baal reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Den Haba. And Beelah died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Timani reigned in his stead. And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Aveth. And Hadad died, and Samwah of Mazarikah reigned in his stead. And Samwah died, and the Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead. And Saul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Akbor reigned in his stead. And Baal-hanan the son of Akbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Paul, and his wife's name was Mehedabel, the daughter of Matrid, the daughter of Mezihab. And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau according to their names. families after their places by their names Duke Timna Duke Alva Duke Jeff F Duke a holy mama Duke Ila Duke pin on Duke keen eyes Duke team and Duke misbar Duke Magdiel Duke Iran These be the Dukes of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possession. He is Esau the father of the Edomites let us play together O Lord, in your wisdom you have recorded this passage of your word for us, and we ask that you would bless and make it a means of grace. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. So, Spend the Sabbath, turned out to be a nice one, studying the family of a man who's damned. And who, when Moses wrote this, knew that Esau is the rejected lie. Really? Where's Christ in this passage of Scripture? There's no promises, there's no commands, very little that it seems like we could gnaw on. Christ is very much present as we shall see, but we're going to have to find him through consideration of the placement of this chapter in Genesis and the overall context of Scripture. But at the outset, there is much. It can be gained by seeing that God kept His promises to Isaac and blessed his rejected son. And again, for us, if He took care of Esau, whom He hated, He will certainly take care of us. We should not, as we see here and as we see Moses didn't and the Holy Spirit didn't, we should not consider the hordes of ungodly men. These were all ungodly men. We should not consider them with indifference, even though they perish each day and enter into everlasting hell. Our religion makes us very mindful. of our duties toward our neighbors, our near neighbors, and even our unbelieving family members as the Edomites were, remember, to the children of Israel, their near neighbors and their unbelieving portion of the family. Embracing Christ does not lead us or justify us despising history, despising unbelievers, looking down our noses at unbelievers, but we should be mindful of God's works in the broader family of man. It is true, of course, that the world is not our ultimate home, but while we are at home in the body, which all of us here this evening are, what happens here is important. And faith has to be lived out, even in the swelling ranks of unbelieving men. And of course, just as a side note, it's no small encouragement to my faith, and I hope it is to yours, that careful enough records had been kept up to Moses' day that when he came time to write this chapter, he had records available to him that he could consult. If he took such pains with the toledoth of Esau, The unbelieving line gets excluded. This is the end of Esau and Eden. We won't hear of them anymore except villains and enemies of God's people for the most part. If the Holy Spirit took such pains to accurately record this, we can certainly depend upon the accuracy of the record that touches more directly on the seed of the woman, the genealogy, the history, and the redemption of the church. So we are challenged here by this passage of Scripture. hermeneutically and in terms of history. But don't forget, history, people, unbelievers matter. Our close family members matter. Now these lines are included, this chapter would be included under Paul when he said in 2 Timothy 3.17, all scripture is profitable. And of course in 1 Corinthians 10.11 where he said that all of these things in the scripture was written for our admonition. Now, we have to work a little bit to determine the prophet and the admonition that we should draw from the fact that Esau took Canaanite wives, that he moved with his family away from Isaac and away from his brother to Mount Seir, became the people known as the Reds, the Edomites, and that his offspring were numerous and powerful, so much so that they took over that region of the world with their dukedoms, with their little kingdoms. We're also told in verse 31, during this whole time period that's recorded here, this is covering during the time period when there was no king that reigned over Israel. Now listen closely. Here's our first clue as to what's going on and to why this chapter's here. During the whole time, we're back next week, it's like, oh, can we get to 37? Please, I love Joseph, so do I. But during the whole time that Joseph is in Egypt, and then Jacob goes to Egypt, and then two centuries, three centuries, four centuries go by, and slavery and bitter bondage, we read about some of that in Exodus, at the beginning of the service tonight, Israel's suffering. And then during when they come back to the land and go through the wilderness and they go through that cycle of the judges where for a while everything is grand and glorious and then they fall into idolatry again and God raises up a judge and everything is great again and then they turn away from the Lord and He sends judgment again. During all these centuries when Israel is up and down and afflicted and in trouble, here's the Edomites. in full possession of their kingdoms right near Canaan, right there. Seir's not very far at all from Canaan proper. Matter of fact, at some points, Canaan's border would have included this whole area. And so here are the Edomites. So you look at this, as I'm sure some of the Israelites did, maybe even during this time, and say, now wait a minute. So Esau, now let me get this straight. So Esau is the rejected son. And yet he and his descendants grow and multiply, and they become powerful, and kingdoms grow out of them. And yet the chosen one, Jacob, the child of promise, he loses his favorite son in Egypt for a while, thinks he's dead, then gets him back, but at the cost of leaving Egypt and never comes home again except to get buried. And then God's people languished for centuries in Egypt, and they're increasingly in bitter bondage. So you know the story here. Wait a minute. So which is the chosen family? If we didn't know the story, the whole story we had in chapter 36, we'd say, man, Esau, God blessed him. Look at how much God gave Esau. Look at his family and its growth and its kingdom. But things are not always as they seem. And our faith. This is going to be our launching off point to apply these lines to ourselves. This is a total application sermon. Our faith is going to be severely tested in this world. Listen, the wicked are often blessed, while the righteous often looks like they're cursed. They're judged. They suffer. They're afflicted. So just, this is a common theme, the theodicy of Scripture. Why does God bless His enemies? Why does it oftentimes look like the world, you know, the wicked are in power and spreading themselves like a great bay tree. And yet, here's the favorite, here's Jacob, here's Joseph, and they're just, they're like, what was Jacob's confession before Pharaoh? We'll see it in some weeks. He said, Pharaoh, few and miserable have been the days of my life. And then he gets a letter from Esau, hey brother, how's it going down there in Egypt? We're doing great over here in Syria. We're spreading out in the kingdoms and everything's going great. See, we can't live by these, can we? Because if we live by these, and if we judge by external judgment, if we judge with our eyes, then we're going to make some big mistakes. Now, why does God test the righteous? We're looking first at faith's challenge, then we're going to look at faith's pilgrimage, then we're going to look at faith's food. We're looking at faith's challenge. Why does God test? Why does the Lord often treat His enemies more gently than His children? Why did He not afflict Esau for rejecting His covenant? And bless Jacob. Jacob wasn't perfect, but he did persevere in faith. Remember he wrestled with the angel. One reason, listen, is certainly to teach our hearts, which are very jaundiced on this point, not to set our affections on earthly blessing or to measure God's favor by what we see with our eyes. not to measure God's favor by the appearance of external circumstances. Because no matter what it looks like with Esau's line here, he's outside of Christ, he's outside of God's covenant, and therefore he's doomed. And no matter how much prosperity he enjoys and how much his family grows, it's a flash in the pan leading to judgment. Now the only way we learn this is by faith. We have to believe God's promises and that's the point here. What a contrast between the glory of chapter 36 with Esau And then the increasing wretched misery of Jacob. What are we going to pick up with next week, Lord willing? Jacob has a son. He loves him. His name's Joseph. He gives him a nice coat. It's real colorful. And everything's going great. And he's his beloved. And his family's back in Canaan. And suddenly the brothers come. And here's Joseph. Let's kill him. And then you know the whole story. whereas the Edomites are growing and they're at peace and they're taking over that area of the world. And this is a lesson well worth fleshing out. We need it today no less than the Israelites who, remember when Moses probably wrote Genesis during those 40 years of wandering. Wait a minute. Why are God's people so afflicted? Why are we wandering through the wilderness? And some of them may have been getting letters and emails from their Edomite distant cousins. And it's like, hey, we're over here. We've been here for hundreds of years. Where have y'all been? We stayed right here. We've been in our dukedoms. We've been in our caves. Where have you been? Moses wrote and included this chapter for this reason. We're determined very often to measure our prospects, and to set our joys, and to make our demands based on what we want. If I can have this or that, if I can have him or her, if God will give me what I want, then I'll be happy and serve Him. We're very full of demands for God. If I serve Him, do I have to give up everything like Joseph? Now, isn't that a contrast right there? Let's just contrast Joseph and his Uncle Esau. We're not going to do this again, by the way, because we're going to leave the Edomites to the dustbin of history for the most part. But compare Joseph with Uncle Esau. Uncle Esau has children, family, they're growing, and what happens to his nephew Joseph? He's treated horribly by his brothers. He's treated horribly. They want to kill him. And then he languishes in dungeons, and you know the story, and all this. Do I have to give up everything? Well, would you rather be with the Edomites? Would you rather be with the Reds? How about Jacob? Jacob had to leave everything. He had to leave Canaan. I don't know if Jacob thought he was ever coming back again. He probably didn't. He never came back, except to be buried. See, these lines show us that our judgments about this life are often very jumbled and backwards. Because no matter how much power and wealth and control, and even if the wicked become persecutors, which they are in many places of the world, and increasingly here, it's still a pile of chaff. And it's nothing for us to be afraid of, and it's nothing for us to envy. But even if we are among the afflicted people of God, that is a better place to be. Look in Hebrews 11, I wonder if Moses was thinking about Hebrews 11.25 even though it wasn't written yet. But I wonder if this thought was running through his mind as he's writing this. Hopefully this will put some of these things together for you. Hebrews 11.25 verse 24, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Let me paraphrase. Choosing rather to be hated by his brothers and sent to Egypt than to be an Edomite dwelling comfortably in Mount Seir. that would certainly be included by this. It's not limited to it, but you'll notice here, He chose. No, I'd rather have affliction with God's people. I'd rather be in God's hand. I'd rather be in the crucible. Now you apply this to your own sufferings and difficulties and fears and you've got children, you've got a job and you've got finances and we live in a crazy upside down government. I get all that. I'm in it too. Choosing rather. Would you make this choice? Now here's Moses had a choice. I can go and live with the Edomites, the Egyptians. I can have everything that the Egyptians had. He was Pharaoh's daughter. I mean, there was really no limit. Moses could have been Pharaoh. With a little bit, perhaps, of intrigue and shuffling. And don't go by what could have happened based on the Ten Commandments, because that's fiction. The movie, The Ten Commandments. He looked at that and he says, no. I would rather have Christ and affliction and suffering than the pleasures of sin. They're real. Don't let anybody ever tell you sin's not fun. To our flesh, sin is very fun. It's very alluring. If it wasn't so alluring, people wouldn't follow it. If it was eating raw Brussels sprouts and cold spinach out of a can, nobody would sign up for it. But it's not. Sin of various kinds, covetousness, being angry, taking your vengeance out, being manipulative, lust, having things. These are pleasures. But Moses even then understood these are fleeting pleasures. These are seasonal pleasures that will soon give way. So this passage of Scripture challenges us here. And I think that's why it's included in such a long chapter. And Esau, can you imagine this? Esau gets his own toledoth. There's ten toledoths. Remember toledoth? I know we've been at this a while. These are the generations of. This is the outcome of Esau's life. He gets his own toledoth. Yeah, because it's pivotal to say here God sometimes blesses His enemies, the wicked. We're going to see that in just a minute. He's very kind to them, but for His people, He brings them through the crucible of affliction. And so that's really faith's pilgrimage, isn't it? While we have to be patient and persevere, you can read more of this in the notes. And I just want to make three points here. One, God's kind to His enemies. We would like for Him to be a little less kind, wouldn't we? Lord, could you please kill that man? Lord, could you please bring down fire from heaven? And God, I mean this is part of what we looked at this morning, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our little judgments, our little plans, it's like, back to my cat, you know, give me my food, give it to me now, that's all you do is make food for me. And like, we impute that to God. God, all you're supposed to do is what I want you to do. And God said, I've got so many purposes I'm working out, you just don't have a clue. And one of my purposes is, is that to my enemies, I'm going to be kind to them. I know I told Rebecca as soon as, before the children were born, before Esau was born, that Esau was going to be the rejected child, and the elder will serve the younger. But that's not going to prevent me from doing Esau good. And I'm not going to give Esau crumbs. I'm going to be generous, just like God blessed Ishmael for the sake of Abraham, He blessed Esau for the sake of Isaac. And during all those years in which God was refining, and can you imagine, we don't even know this part of the story. Can you imagine how many Israelites, if you'd lived during that time, and you're in Egypt, and all the days you went to the mud pits, And you were beaten. And you're like, wait a minute, we are Joseph's? We are Reuben and Gad and Judah's descendants? We're the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And we're down here sludging in the mud pits. And then finally, after hundreds of years, God hears Moses and maybe he's the deliverer. And first thing that happens as soon as Moses goes into Pharaoh, which is what God told him to do, Pharaoh said, the only reason y'all are thinking about this is y'all don't have enough to do. So no more straw, go out and fight it, but don't diminish bricks by one. Would you have chosen to sludge in the mud pits? Or would you have wanted to stay behind? But see, God is kind, very kind to His enemies. And God treats His children more harshly. Look at two passages of Scripture with me. I want you to keep these firmly in mind. Luke 16 will be the first one. Luke chapter 16, a parable that Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus. And I just want you to look at one verse. Luke 16, 25. This is very important because I want you all to be mature in your readings of what's going on in the world. Luke 16, 25. But Abraham said, oh this is in the middle toward the end of the parable, but Abraham said, son, talking to the rich man who is in hell and who says, can I just have a tip of somebody's finger dipped in water, please? But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. I mean, there's a real principle here that with respect to the wicked, God's enemies, they get their good things now. Turn to Psalm 17, same idea. You might say, well, you can't draw that from a parable. Parables don't, you gotta be careful. Okay, well, let's don't draw it from a parable. Let's draw it from another passage. Psalm 17. David here's talking about his enemies and God's enemies, and he says, Verse 8 of Psalm 17, keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings, from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me about, they are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly, they have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord, disappointed, cast him down. Now listen, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword, from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, listen, look closely, who have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. Are you looking for your portion in this life? Be careful. Of the wicked it is said by the Holy Spirit, speaking through the prophet David, whose belly you fill with thy head treasure. They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, verse 15, I will behold thy face in righteousness, and I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Pretty strong, yeah. I mean, it's true, God blesses His people and He loves to share His generosity with them. But understand, it's the wicked, it's the unbelievers who have their portion in this life. This is what they get. Any good, they get it now. What about us? Look in Hebrews 12. What about those who know and love the Lord Jesus? Shouldn't we get better? I mean, shouldn't we have more? Shouldn't we have our share of this too? Hebrews 12, 4. talking to the early believers who were facing another round of persecution. Paul says, you have not yet, verse 4 of Hebrews 12, resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children. My son despised not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint without rebuke by him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receives. Now, we could read on, but just that one verse 6, scourges every son? Wait a minute, I can understand him scourging Esau and the Edomites. I can understand him scourging Nazis. I can understand him scourging Communists. I can understand him scourging Greenies and all the people we see today and Sodomites. I can understand him scourging, but he doesn't say that. He says, the men of this world, Psalm 17, their belly is filled with God's hidden treasure in this life. But as for God's people, as for God's children, He scourges them. You just have to let that sink in a minute. I don't think any of us, I'm putting myself at the top of the line, have really taken that in enough. Sometimes we say, Lord, would you just let me alone? And we don't maybe say those words, but man, we sigh, Lord, I'm so tired of things being hard, and I'm so tired of just feeling like I never get ahead, or you're always against me, and I always feel like all I can do is just cry to you, and that's it. And we're like, whoa, back up. because that may be right there. The difficulties, the crying to the Lord, the longings, right there, that may be, oh, you're a child of God. And so the Lord is scourging you, and he's bringing pressure upon your life, and you don't like it, and you'd like to hold on to a few idols, but you can't take them to heaven, you can't take any of your sins to heaven, and God won't let you take any of your idols through this life. He's gonna touch on them. He's gonna give you a weapon. He's gonna scourge you. Does he do that with the Edomites? No, he lets them alone. For the most part, sometimes he brings judgment, but by and large, that judgment is reserved for the final day, and God brings, he gives them their good things. So in the light of this, we're not to fret at the prosperity of the wicked. Look in Psalm 37. It's hard, it's easy to do. It's like, boy, if we could just get that power, if we could just get that money, I wish some of our people would win the lottery. You know, can you imagine what we could do with a $200 million winning lottery ticket, besides be bankrupt in two years according to the averages? Well, we could build churches and fund these. Boy, if we just had all that money. And then we come to David, Psalm 37, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious of the workers of iniquity. for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." We're in Egypt in slavery, and we're not supposed to be envious of the Edomites, who are God's enemies, and have rejected His covenant, and yet they're enjoying prosperity in their family land, and it seems like everything's going so well for them. You see how God's setting us up for what comes? Because chapters 37 through about 45 in Genesis are heavy, heavy, heavy. I mean, we know the end of the story, we like it, but we forget sometimes when we walk through the characters, and we walk through Joseph and his betrayal, and all the ways he's a type of Christ, and we walk through with Jacob and his grief, And Joseph, as he's testing his brothers, are you guys still the dogs and the reprobates that you were earlier, 12, 15 years ago? Have you repented? Is there any nobility in your character? I mean, these things are heavy, heavy crucibles of sifting and affliction. And we're being set up for them now by our mindings. With His enemies, with the rejected line, God sometimes treats them very nicely, very well, very prosperously, whereas with God's people, we're more like Jesus. Turn to Hebrews 5. What can we expect? Now granted, there's joy and there's blessings. I'm not trying to paint a picture of, oh, woe is me. What I am trying to do is give us a note of great realism in terms of our expectations of how God treats us and His enemies. Hebrews 5, 7. who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered." Look back in 2 Corinthians 4.10. Similar idea but applied to us. 2 Corinthians 4.10. Keep this in mind, mamas with a lot of children. or just with a few children to drive you crazy. 2 Corinthians 4, 10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. See, for us, there's a different dynamic. We're not like the worldlings. God knows, hey listen, these worldlings, these wicked men who do not and will not believe the gospel, this is all they get. And so when they stand before me, there's not going to be any charge of you were mean, you were stingy, you were unfair. God said, look how nice I was. I let my sun shine on you. I let my rain fall on you. I fed you with all these good things. But with us, He's got a more glorious dynamic. Because we're united to Christ our Head, and so at some level, He's going to form the character of His Son. And the life of the Lord Jesus is going to be manifested in our bodies. And what does that mean? We always carry about a little bit of dying. What does that mean? Does that mean we're slitting our wrists every day? No. It means He's always about killing the flesh, mortifying sin in us, challenging us, testing us. If you ever wondered and you think it's bad for you, it's bad for me too. You know, you think, boy, I come and I hear sermons and God's Word is just so convicting. It seems like God is just always just taking a fillet knife to my heart. And you're thinking, boy, isn't there an easier way? Maybe the Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, maybe that's the way to go. We forget, wait a minute, that's what Jesus, when He went around preaching and teaching, He wasn't your best life. Now, every day Friday, okay, that was not what He went around. It was repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. You know, reach young ruler, hey, you've kept all God's commandments, wonderful, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Who touched me, knowing that it was the woman who would be embarrassed to come and tell the story of her bloody female issues for all those years, and yet He makes her come right there and tell everybody everything. Because you've got to die. You've got to die to your pride. You've got to die to yourself. Joseph's brothers coming up, you've got to die to you. That's why Joseph puts them through this. That's why Joseph, as we'll see, makes them scared to death. It's to test them. It's to chasten them. It is to prove, wait a minute, have you repented at all of your evil ways? This is how the Lord deals with us. And so we've got to be aware before we conclude with just a few points here, of this kingdom now mentality. It's always been present in the church and we see it even in our own day. It's kingdom now. Seize the kingdom. We're the kingdom builders. Sometimes even Christian reconstructionism has fallen a little bit into this. We're going to seize it. We're going to do it. It's going to be great. We're going to take over America. We're going to take over the Republican Party. We're going to do all these things. No, you're not. No, you're not. Because no matter how much you want it to be, this life is never going to be heaven, which anybody with half a brain will realize. But this life is never going to be without suffering at some level because I'm always going to be conforming you to my son. Always. You're always going to be caring about a little bit of his death so that his life will be made manifest. And if you know godly people, you probably can look at their lives and say, you know what, it's a funny thing that when I look at my parents, and I could name some names of even people in our own congregation, there's always that little bit of, the Lord always seems to have his hand on them. There's always something going on. Some difficulty, some challenge. Parenting, marriage, finance, older parents, you know, whatever it may be. Children troubles. You're thinking, is something wrong with them? No, God just loves them. Is that how we normally think? There's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong with it. We ought not to be the least bit surprised. I know in our American way of thinking, right, no, there ought to be a cure for this. There's a book, you know, Easy Children for Dummies. I mean, this is how we think. But we're not Americans first. We're Christians first. And the Lord says, I'm going to work in you, and I'm going to put pressure on your life so that you see yourself a little bit more honestly, so that you see your native me, so that you keep coming back to me, so that you keep crying to me. Think of it like this. Think of yourself like that little child that Jesus said you must be. We've had a couple of children in our household who, if they got a scab or scraped their knee, it was nuclear fission, okay? There was no consoling, screaming, and then of course you know what happens, you finally get them calmed down, they go back outside, you put a band-aid on, they fall again. And there's more screaming and more, you know, in some respects we're all scabbed. And the Lord knows, hey, I've got to keep you scabbed. Because if I don't keep you scabbed, you're going to get puffed up, You're going to forget who you really are. You're going to forget that really your joy in this life has not been in having circumstance relief, but it's been in having me present with you and carrying you through your difficulties. Now it's true, there is a kingdom. And Jesus said in Luke, and again in Hebrews chapter 12, God has given us a kingdom. And that kingdom grows. We're to pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Our goal should be to see God's church and kingdom grow and fill the earth. Like Daniel said, it's going to be the highest mountain and going to bring down all the other mountains of man's pride. But turn to Revelation 1.9. There's a little bit different dynamic. And we often forget this. It's a glorious one. And that is God builds His kingdom through tears. and through the patience and endurance of his people. Revelation 1.9, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Those three things don't go together. Your companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and in impatience of Jesus Christ. Now I can understand the kingdom marble palaces and we win and they all go to jail and we get to shoot them all and let God sort them out. I understand that. Of course that's fault for you, the kingdom. But wait a minute, kingdom and tribulation and patience? It must be! Like when Jesus told Pilate, Pilate said, are you a king? Yeah, I'm a king. But my kingdom doesn't come from here. My kingdom is not like yours. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. But now my kingdom is not of this world. It has a higher authority. It's more dynamic. It's more powerful. It doesn't depend upon the ever fluctuating political boundaries and weaponry of men. It depends upon the wisdom and the power of God. And it grows through the preaching of the Word, which is the sword of my mouth. And it grows, listen, through patience, endurance, of suffering. It grows through enduring those many tribulations, Paul said in Acts 14.22, through which we enter God's kingdom. So here's the interesting thing. I love God's kingdom. My eschatological views have not changed. I'm still old school southern Presbyterian. The gospel is going to grow and advance, but there's another side of this. It's not like straight line, we're going to win, we're going to get to take over all the buildings and all the schools again. And maybe that's some of the problem with our forefathers is that they tended to equate earthly gain with kingdom victory. But you realize when you study Scripture, all the great things that have happened have always been after people were crying. Daniel and the Lion's Den, David, Psalm 51. Moses crying, Lord, I can't deliver these people. Go do it. I can't do it. Just go do it. Obey me. Learning obedience through something. And then of course the greatest victory. Our Savior's victory over sin and Satan. We often forget this. Isn't this kind of like defining for all of life? How did Jesus beat the world? How did Jesus beat sin? How did Jesus beat death? He beat his chest and got him a big old palace and a crystal ball and magic weapons and that's how he did it. No. He humbled himself to the will of his father and he became obedient unto death and in the days of his flesh he cried with groanings and tears, says Hebrews 5, to his father who was able to deliver him from death. So we need to make sure our expectations are balanced and biblical. And don't be, listen to me now, don't be oh woe is me. I've had some of this in my extended family over the years. All of life is just going to be difficult and we're in this veil of tears and I'll fly away, oh glory, and if I could only get out of here. There is affliction and suffering for the people of God, but that's the very means that God uses when we endure it, and we're patient to build His church, to build His kingdom, to build the gospel. Why? Because He uses the lowly to bring down the high and the mighty. Here's the Edomites, big kingdoms, dukedoms. And the Horites are mentioned. They lived in Seir before Esau did. But when Esau went in there, they cleaned out the Horites and set up their own kingdoms. Boy, that's power. Give me a big old clay barn. Let me have that big old sword. And we'll just go out there and start mowing everybody down. We love the bravehearts. We love the gladiators, the one-man lone warrior. And God says, you know what? More is done in my kingdom on a daily basis. Listen to me. when my servants are on their face before me and are crying out for obedience and holiness and grace to be faithful where I've called them, when they're weeping over their sins, way more is done to advance my kingdom than in all of what men call glamorous and great. Now, a few last points. We're on this pilgrimage. It's difficult. God's kind to His enemies. We endure. We wait. Four or five hundred years go by before the children of Israel come back to where Edom's been the whole time, just enjoying their possessions. So what's our food along the way? Well, of course, it's the hope of heaven. Now, listen to me. Listen to this sentence. It's better to have Canaan in promise than it is to have Seir in possession. It's better to have Canaan in promise by hope than it is to have Mount Seir in possession. That's not the normal way we look at it. One in the hand is better than two in the bush. Bird in the hand, you know the old saying, better to grab it right now while you can. Grab Father Augusto right now while you can. That's what Esau did. But in reality, what? It was all smoke and mirrors signifying nothing. It was all sound and fury. But yet it's only new eyes that will teach us this. That the promises that God has made to us, that the hope of heaven is better than all of the earthly things that men say are important. Look in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27. Again, a little bit farther down about Moses. Hebrews 11.27, By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. I mean, Moses, all those years, remember he crossed the desert, 40 years he was in Midian, just kind of an obscure nomad, shepherd. He endured by seeing the invisible God. God's kingdom, God's promise is better And now what I have to go back to earlier in Hebrews 11, the life of Abraham. Hebrews 11 verse 13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is the heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. Now, would we have chosen affliction with the people of God? Or, I want to stay in my country. I want to go back home. Many choose that. We hear every day of people who were in the church, who professed Christ, heard a very sad case just recently. Someone whom some of you know that just, hey, professed Christ, and he thought he was a stalwart, and he has repudiated Christ. It's like, he had his eyes. He was double-minded. He was looking back at the world. It's like, you know what? It's too difficult. I don't want to keep enduring this. I want what I want now. And that's the warning that we're given in Scripture. Scripture is very honest. And look at Jacob's family, the little church of God, which is soon going to go into Egypt in an uncertain future. He saw his family remain behind. They enjoyed prosperity and become so entrenched in that area that they ruled that region for hundreds of years. And yet, Here's Jacob and his family going into Egypt as servants. And who was really the blessed? Who really had a future? Who really was blessed by God? We cannot walk by sight. We must set our affections on the things above, on heaven, God's promise to us to walk with us and dwell with us. And to remember, as John says, look over in 1 John 3, 2, it does not yet appear what we shall be. And so as we said this morning, we set our affections on the future, on Christ. 1 John 3 verse 1, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it knew not Him. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Does the future enter into your mind? Do you think about when Jesus returned? Remember how Satan tried to worm his way into Jesus when he tempted Him? You know what, you're really not, you need to, your Father really doesn't love you, you don't have enough to eat. Take things into your own hands and turn this rock into bread. And by the way, if you're really the Son of God, He wouldn't have left you in this kind of obscurity, in this small little situation, this small little circumstance, He wouldn't have left you there. He'd given you a big old church. You had a big old retinue and a lot of followers. So I tell you what, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple because the scriptures say he'll give his angels charge concerning you and they'll swoop in and save you and lift you up and everybody will know you're the son of God. You'll prove it to everybody. You'll have a great following. You can avoid the cross and you don't have to suffer. Just fall down and worship me. Get it now. Many young people make that choice. Well, I know what God says about marriage and waiting, but you know what, I want it now because I'm afraid if I don't give it now, I won't get love. Or I'm afraid if I, you know, kind of hold back on things that I want and don't go for, I'll never get them. You know, we think like this all the time. We substitute God's promised future for something we think we've got to have right now, a fleeting present. Instead of saying, you know what, I'm going to endure. by seeing Him who is invisible. So I would just conclude looking at this chapter, and I know we probably squeezed it a little bit more than you thought we could or should even, maybe perhaps, but it's here on purpose to set us up for what's coming that in many respects God's people in this world are the pilgrims. Because remember we're seeking a city which we're not going to find here. we're not going to find in the United States. I often think about Jacob. And Jacob had been away from Canaan and the Promised Land for 20-something years, and he gets home, and within 5 or 10 years, 15 years, he's going to leave it. And He's never going to come back. It's like, wait a minute, this is the promised note. This is the type. And we're seeking the city that has eternal foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But that doesn't make us indifferent to this life. If anything, it makes us faithful. Because what? Since I'm going to heaven and I'm an heir of heaven, I want to bring the eternal into my work. I want to bring the eternal into my relationships and my friendships. Those of you who've got friends in the congregation, make sure you develop good friendships. Make sure you develop friendships so that when you look each other in the eye in heaven, he'll say, yeah, yeah. Remember that night we talked for a few minutes about Christ? That really helped me. That's one of the reasons I'm here. Because we talked about the eternal that night and it got my attention and rested me away from a bad area I was going on and maybe some guilt or maybe a bad decision. And so I wanted to pursue Christ. Use, bring the eternal into your relationships, into what you talk about, into your work. You might say, well, my work's mundane. There's nothing eternal about it. Well, there may not be anything eternal about what we build, or the things that we compile, or the program, or the code that we write, but there's plenty that's eternal in the way that we go about our work. And Lord, I want to glorify you in this, and I want to be right here where you've called me. I just want to be like the old man, man's chief end, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever right here because I'm seeking your city. And sometimes as we seek it, don't forget, it's not gonna be straight path prosperity. Remember Genesis 36. It's not gonna be, the Lord's not gonna let us pass through life without suffering. Some of you probably have looked at some of the suffering that's gone on in some of the families of our congregation. We had obviously a difficult, the elders have had a difficult time of late with the discipline case that was mentioned this morning. And some of you may have heard that thought, man, I hope that's never me. What if it is? You might think, man, what's wrong? Something must have bad, bad happened there. Or it may just be that God tests the righteous. And that He will throw faith into the fire so that He'll refine its impurities like He's going to do with Jacob's family in Egypt. and He'll bring it out with the greater luster, and everybody will know God did it. So let God throw you in the fire. Be willing to be a pilgrim. Be willing to bear the cross of Christ. Don't be embarrassed by His gospel. Don't think, hey, if I just do these few things for God, everything's going to be easy for me my whole life. No. God scourges every son whom He receives. So what's the goal? So you die, which you will unless Jesus returns, so let's not beat around the bush, just like I will. However the soul sees, because it does, at some level even without eyes, you open your eyes, And you see Christ and you begin to identify, even as Peter, James, and John were able to identify Moses and Elijah, even though they were still disembodied souls, because they didn't have bodies yet, they weren't raised from the dead, or at least Moses wasn't. And you, wait a minute, oh, why did I? Oh Lord, I see your glory and your loveliness Just three seconds here. One second here is worth the whole lifetime of difficulty and trial. All the difficulty and the burden of it has just melted off my soul. Just in seeing you for a second. and being in your presence, which is fullness of joy. That's what he means by he scourges every son whom he receives. Because the goal in this is not God just enjoys beating us. He's not like a 19th century schoolmaster. Everybody just line up. This is fun. I'm just going to beat you. No. He's like, I want to break you of your sin so that I can fill you with me. I'm going to break you of your self-love and willfulness so that I can fill you with me. I'm going to break you of your idols so that I can fill you with me. And what's our responsibility? Let Him. Lord, just be merciful to me. Don't rebuke me in your wrath. Don't chase me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me. Receive me as your Son. Thank you for not letting me be an Edomite. Thank you for your grace. I deserve to be an Edomite. I was. I was an enemy. Thank you for bringing me into your church and kingdom. Even if that means I'm gonna go through affliction. I'm gonna have issues. I'm gonna hurt. I'm gonna be in pain. I'm gonna have diseases. I'm gonna have losses. My children are gonna suffer. Thank you because this is going somewhere and this is building and working an eternal weight of glory. Every tear cried for you. Every affliction born with faith in you. It is working a weight of glory. Thank you. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your working. We thank you for your word. We thank you for even these more obscure passages placed where they are to just get us to thinking. What's going on? And why do you treat your people as you do? Thank you for your wisdom. We bow to it. Forgive us for putting demands upon you, even one. Lord, our only demand is that you keep your covenant and love us. And whatever happens to us, that you'd show us your love and show us your grace and show us your kindness and show us your power that we may love you more and yield ourselves to you. Bless us and our families, bless our conversations, bless our work this week, bless our holidaying. Lord, bring the eternal into our lives, into our conversations. Help us to bring it into it by thinking on these things and looking forward to that eternal city. Lord, bring us to it. Come, Lord Jesus, quickly, we ask in Your name. Amen.