Hebrews chapter 12, verses 16 and 17. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears. This morning I want to consider with you the character of Esau, at least as it is described in the verse 16. I did read verse 17 to you, but that is not our focus today, although it is the most frightening aspect of Esau's story. And let's be blunt about it. Paul has put this story in here to frighten us, to shake us out of complacency with sin, to disturb us, to terrify us lest we should be not truly repentant of our sins. If you want to see the shadow, the type, and the picture of a man on the edge of hell, if you want to see dark despair, and the irreversible reaping of a wicked choice for which now repentance is too late, then you want to visit blind Isaac's dead side and see the tears and hear the words of this man Esau. The Apostle Paul has a remarkable knack of knowing what Old Testament passage to bring in at any particular point in time in his writings and preaching. And here he concludes his warnings against apostasy from Christ with Esau and with his worthless and his two late tears. But I'm not looking at the awful, terrifying afterward. You'll notice in verse 17, the apostle says, you know how that afterward. I'm not talking about the terrible afterward today. I'm talking about Esau in the prime of his life. Esau, the young man. The apostle gives us in chapter 11, you remember, many wonderful and godly characters. Great persons of faith who we are to imitate and follow. And now he gives us an example of the serpent seed, an ungodly fellow. Now in Hebrews 11, we actually read of Esau. He was mentioned. Whenever he was talking about Isaac he said, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. They had a godly father. They had a blessing. And we read following that, by faith Jacob. But then silence. We don't read by faith Esau, for he was not a man of faith. This is the kind of man that he was in verse 16. Both brothers had the covenant sign. Both brothers had the same household of faith. Both brothers had the same privileges and opportunities. Esau was of the family of faith every bit as much as Jacob was. but Esau had not faith, and it never says by faith Esau. Paul, when he presents to us Esau then, is not presenting to us a man of faith at all, but an unconverted and ungodly man. I remind you how Paul introduces him, lest there be any As Esau. As Esau. That's the expression. That's why he brings him in. Esau's a representative. Esau's an example. Esau's one who is kind of at the head of a group. And Paul is saying lest any be as him, that is, be like him, be related to him. By saying as Esau. Paul is just recognizing the Old Testament scriptures and how they present Esau. And he is always presented as a kind of a representative head. That he is never alone in the Bible. That there's always behind him a multitude, a growing multitude, a never increasing multitude as Esau. He is the father of many like him. Jacob, you see in the Bible, represents the believing. But Esau represents the unbelieving. As Paul said, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That is not just two persons. That's two peoples. And Esau is regarded as the represented head of the ungodly. And this is what Paul means by saying as Esau. And even in the account that we read there in Genesis 25, this is so because you know that Rebekah was confused. All this fighting in her womb. What's going on in here? Perhaps she detected that there were twins, but still they were struggling and fighting. There was a warfare. There was a conflict. She sought God for she was a woman of God, and she prayed, and what was the reason of all of this? And the Lord spoke to her and said, two nations are in thy womb. Two manner of people, not just you have twins. No, in your womb, you have two manner of peoples. You have two nations in your womb. You have two societies in your womb. And that's the history of the human race in your room. The sheep and the goats. The Jacob that I love and the everlasting covenant of grace and the Esau that I hate for his wickedness. And it's a very interesting study to trace Esau's descendants in the Bible. The Holy Spirit does that at different points in the Scriptures and he leads us to very many wicked and cruel personalities who trace their descent from Esau. Men like Amalek and Doeg and Herod the Great who murdered the little infants in Bethlehem and Paul says lest any as Esau. that is any unbeliever, any impenitent as him, lest any have him as a father and as an example. And so all in the congregation want to be Jacob's believers, true believers, and not Esau's unbelievers. You know that when Esau was born, he was different. He was very different, he was even physically different. It was like he was more grown than Jacob. We read that he was red. We read that he was hairy. We're not sure what is being described here, but he's called Esau as a result of this difference of the flesh. It seems that he was born hairy and it was red hair, it was ginger hair. And he had this redness throughout his flesh because of the hair. He looked like a man, even though he's just born. He looked like he's already grown up because he's so hairy. He has not the smoothness and the plainness of baby skin, but looks grown. From the womb. And he gets this name Esau and there's a difference of opinion about what the name actually means. I like that school that says it means made. Made. As if he's already been made. He's been not only born from the womb, but he's been bred and made in the womb. And he comes forth as a little, a little man. Made already. But it's the strongness of flesh. It's the strongness of the external, the flesh. A firstborn indeed to perhaps be proud of. The man the world would choose, the man who has the gifts, the man who has the ability, the man who has the lustiness of life, and he grows up to be a mighty hunter, an outward man, a man with personality, a man with vigor, a sporty, sporty personality. You know the kind of people the world like? The role model of the world. But the flesh is Dominating. Man would choose him, but not God. God hasn't chosen him. He's not in the election of God. God passes by the mighty, the strong, the noble. As Paul says, brethren, you sing your calling. Not many after the flesh. Wise men after the flesh. Not many strong men after the flesh. Not many mighty are called. And Esau is an example of that. But God has chosen the weak, the despised things, the second things. God has chosen them to confound the mighty. Jacob. God has chosen the Jacobs and despised the Essos. He had strength, as I said, a lusty character whom the world worships. But his strength is the strength of flesh, not the strength of grains, not the power of the Holy Spirit. He has strength. You remember him at his birth. When he come forth, he come forth first as a little adult almost, but he didn't come forth alone because they're held one onto his heels. Little Jacob. How's little Jacob going to get out? He hasn't the strength, but little Jacob holds onto his heels. And the strength of Esau coming out even pulls out little Jacob. Little Jacob's taking hold of the arm of flesh. He's taking hold of the fleshly man. And then the strength of the flesh, even Jacob is pulled out. And Jacob's not a good man himself. But you know, one day, God taught him. One day, God let's dislocate him in his hip. One day God said, you're not going to lean on the arm of flesh anymore, Jacob. You're going to get a new name. You're going to lean on God. And so the angel smote him, smote him in his flesh, took away his strength and he had to hang himself. He hung himself unto the Lord. He took hold of the Lord. He held fast to him and he said, I will not let you go. Except he blessed me. And he got the blessing. For he believed in the Lord and he took hold of God. A believer. A true believer. In all his weakness, in all his miserable unholiness. In true repentance. Takes hold of the Lord. That's faith. and all the sons of Jacob in faith are like him. But not Esau, not Esau. Through grace, Jacob learned the folly of the flesh and believed in the Lord. He had faith in the end, but Esau never had it, never took hold of the Lord. Though shed many tears, though weep many puddles around his father's bed, He never had faith in the Lord. Have you truly taken hold of the Lord? Have you true repentance and taken hold of Christ? Or are you as Esau? Let us observe how the Apostle describes Esau. Now we want to confine our words as I said to the character that's described here in verse 16. though in the back of our mind is the account in Genesis, especially 25 that we read, the account that is partially in Paul's mind. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one, emphasis of one, one morsel of meat, sold his birthright. Now the apostle highlights two unrighteous features about Esau. He refers to him first of all as a fornicator and then secondly as a profane person. I take that both of these aspects are being linked to Esau. This reminds us of what Paul has already said in verse 14 because you remember how he said in verse 14 that the people of God they pursue peace, they follow peace and holiness And I said at that time that that's the two tables of the law of God. The aspect with regard to man, the second table, peace with man. You don't have peace with man if you're stealing from man. You don't have peace with man if you're killing man. You don't have peace with man if you're stealing his wife and covering his goods. So really, the first table of the law is a reminder when the apostle exhorts us to be holy, and to follow peace with all men, to keep the law of God in his first and second tables. Holiness is Godwardness, obedience Godward. And so the two tables were in mind there. And now when he comes to speak of the representative head of the ungodly Esau, again, I think he's bringing us back to the two tables. So Esau is unclean, and ungodly. Because profanity, that makes you think about the name of God, the things of God. There's not only the aspect with regard to the uncleanness and the neighbouring relationships, but also profanity in regard to God. Unholiness. So this is the mirror opposite of peace with men and holiness. This is fornication and profanity. So there are two points. Esau was the fleshly man. Esau was the profane man. Esau the fleshly man. Now the word fornicator occurs in the plural in chapter 13 verse 4. There are translated whoremongers. Fornication includes adultery but it is not limited to that. It includes all and any sexual impurity. any deviation outside and beyond the one husband-wife relationship. It includes perversion, sodomy, lesbianism, impurity outside the marriage bed, pornography, polygamy, of which Esau was very guilty. This, of course, extends not only to the deeds but to the words of our mouth and the very thoughts of our mind. And all of this is the opposite of peace with all men. As I said, just as murder and stealing and lying are the opposites of it, so is this. Paul uses the word fornicator to highlight Esau's living for the flesh, a fleshly man. The most shocking way to highlight that is to pick this word. It shocks us. He married heathen. It is true. He married into the accursed race. He took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beorai, the Hittite, and others as well. which were a grief of mind on to Isaac and to Rebecca. He did this despite his parents. He did this probably in despising of his parents and to hurt them. His fleshly ways grieved his family. But it even more grieved his God. We read also he took wives of the daughters of Canaan. Alvis the ungodly seed, Alvis relationships with the wicked. And he even married an Ishmaelite. So he is a fleshly man and it's seen in his sexual relations. But Paul isn't just highlighting his sexual relations. He's highlighting all his fleshiness. Because it was manifested in many more areas than that. It is seen, as I said, in the colour of his flesh, the roughness of his flesh, Isaac has a plain flesh, but he has the crimson red flesh, the rough flesh, just like a soul. The soul has roughness. The soul has fleshiness. It's seen in his other name, Edom, which does mean red. And he seems to have got that name because he chose the red pottage. He likes red. He likes the colour of his flesh. He likes to even eat and digest that which his flesh represents, above and beyond and apart from and even in opposition to God. It's seen in his hatred of his brother, his bitter and revengeful thoughts against him, that murderous desire and intent toward him. Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, and then will I slay my brother Jacob. Hatred so great that Jacob was displaced from his family home for over 20 years. And he only came back again with great terror and many prayers unto God. Esau is not the kind of man a saint ought to be. Saints ought not to be fleshly. They ought not to engage in the works of the flesh. They ought to, what Esau never did, resist. Resist the flesh. War with sin. And all God's people do that. However feebly, however often defeatedly they may feel it to be, they do resist. The war, warfare, even as Paul had said to the Hebrews, you have not yet resisted unto blood, but you are resisting, praise the Lord. Continue to resist and be prepared to do it even unto blood. So saints resist. They battle the works of the flesh, which Paul says are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, hatred, variance. And we have a lot of that today. Emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, rebellions and such like. of which I tell you before, as I have told you in the time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, as Esau not inherit the kingdom of God. Rather, they are to cultivate holiness, pursue holiness for the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, love, suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with all the affections and lusts thereof. Christians are to do that. Jacob did that. Though sometimes he seemed to make a very poor job of it. But he was on the right side. and he had resistance. The Hebrews and the men are resistors, but Esau was not. Never wanted to resist, never battled for the Lord, never warfaring with the works of the wicked. It ought to be a concern whenever men and women and especially professing Christians when they don't resist sin. So let us always resist. Esau, the profane man, what really stands out about Esau is his profanity. He had the privileges of a godly ancestry, but he was profane towards God. And in illustration of that, the apostle adds who, this is his profanity, who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright. Now that shows his fleshiness, another morsel of bread. That's the flesh. But this is the extent of the flesh to such profanity that for one morsel of bread to indulge the flesh, He sold his birthright. As the Holy Spirit says at the end of Genesis 25, thus despised his birthright. Has man despised salvation? Remember Paul says, how shall we escape if we neglect, if we despise so great salvation? Well, here's a man who did that. Utterly despised it. Utterly sold his birthright. And that was a profanity against God. We read of it in Genesis 25. Jacob was making the pottage. Esau came from the field. He's weary. He's faint. He is, as he exaggerates to Jacob, I'm about to die. You know, give me something to eat. And Jacob, who has no grace in his life at this particular point in time, he's tricky and sneaky too. And every bit as bad in some respects as he saw. Oh, sell me your birthright. I'll give you it. No grace, sir. Not yet. And he sold his birthright and Jacob just took time and tangle him up in a divine oaf, say a swear to me. And he swore to him. And that meant God's name. The invoking of the name of God, he gave it up in God's name, which was a great wickedness, not just of flesh here, but profanity. We're getting to the heart of his ungodliness. Profanity always implies something sacred. The people of God, just as they have to guard against the works of the flesh, they also have to guard against Yes, you do, child of God. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. God is sacred. His name is sacred. God is holy. His name is holy. His covenant is holy. The things of God are sacred. You remember how the Bible so often tells us? You'll not profane the name of your God. You'll not swear by my name falsely. Neither shall you profane my name. I am the Lord. Remember how we read in the Bible they profaned the Sabbath days. You can profane his day. You can profane his holy things. Remember how God said, thou hast despised mine holy things. Thou hast profaned my Sabbaths. Oh, The people of God can be guilty of these things. The holy things. Esau selling his birthright and he's purveying the things of God when he does that. You see there are two aspects to this birthright thing in the Bible. It's not often understood by our Western thinking world. The birthright was a very important thing in ancient times and of old. especially in regard to the promised Messiah coming, the seed of the woman, and the firstborn in nine, particularly in relation to that. There are two aspects to that. There is the temporal and the material. There is an honor and a dignity on the firstborn. That's why Christ had to be the firstborn, both from the virgin's womb and from the dead. There's a dignity. And even perhaps some extent, and even in our Western culture, we have something of this because the firstborn does have some privilege. Maybe the firstborn gets the farm if he's a male. He gets perhaps more because of the privilege of being the firstborn. And at the very least, the firstborn got a double portion. So there was a temporary privilege and blessing in relation to it. However, this is not about the material. The firstborn in Israel also had something spiritual about it. As I said, the type of Christ, the picture of Christ, it sets forth the promised blessings of God in the gospel, the new heavens and the new earth, the heavenly inheritance. It sets forth all of this through Christ, the firstborn. And Esau knew the history of his family, the history of the church up to this point in time. He knew the promises of God to Abraham and how the covenant continued along posterity lines. He knew the importance of firstborn in the ways of God. These were sacred things in the church. And Esau knew this. He had a sacred heritage. but we see how unimportant it is. Even on an oath with God's name on it, he's prepared to jettison it up, give it all up. He's not thinking, he's just a young man, well, he's rightly on, but he's not thinking, as sinners don't do, they don't think about the consequences, they don't think about the end term, they don't think about you reap what you sow, he's not thinking, he just throws it all up, one morsel of flesh, just a pleasure for a time. How shall we escape if we despise so great salvation? So this was Nothing, and he so said. Child of God, we must battle the flesh. We must reverence the things of God, not despise them nor neglect them. Everything that God puts his name to, his house, his worship, his word, his day, his ordinances, his baptism, his Lord's Capel, everything is sacred. Not to be neglected, not to be jettisoned, not to be despised, not to be replaced for morsel, for bread. This is the will of God. May God give us grace to do it. Let us pray.