Good evening. Tonight I want to talk to you all about two types of men in the world, the elect and the non-elect, or as the name of the sermon goes, Jacob and Esau, two types of men. Malachi chapter one, verses two through three. I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Romans chapter 9 verses 6 through 13. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect. Now into the verse, the continuing of the verse. 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, that is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. In these passages of the scripture, God is giving us an illustration of the two types of men in the world. But before I even get into that, let me continue with the story of Jacob and Esau according exactly as is written in the Word of God, starting in Genesis chapter 25 verse 19. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanerim, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord wasn't treated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together with her and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. Now I'm pausing from reading the scripture to set the tone of this evening's message. The two types of men, as is prophesied, that is two illustrations of the disposition of men according to the fallout from the Garden of Eden, that is the sin of Adam. Now for theological purposes, I'll characterize the two types of men as number one, the elect of God, and number two, the reprobate of God, one to be saved and the other condemned. Genesis 25 verse 23, And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people. and the elder shall serve the younger. Here, that is the Lord here, has again purposefully ordained that the inheritance of the father, in this case Abraham and Isaac, did not go to the firstborn but rather the second. God is telling us of the two kingdoms of men that will forever be in the world, that of the elect and the non-elect. One will be justified in the sight of God forever and the other condemned for all eternity. Genesis 25 verse 24. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red all over like in hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. And after that, his brother came out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was three score years old when she bare them. That's 60 years old for those of you who don't know what three score means. And the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison. Rebecca loved Jacob. Okay, now we're coming to incident number one. Genesis 25 verse 29. Jacob sawed pottage. That's kind of like a porridge or something. Lentil bean soup is what it looks like in the TV, in the movies, but the Bible calls it pottage. And Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he swore unto him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Here we've just witnessed how Esau has given into his flesh so easily and willingly. He has sold the birthright of the firstborn for a bowl of porridge. He has thrown away the promise of what the Lord God gave to his grandfather Abraham and that also to Isaac, his father. That is, as is told, minus the prophecy given to Rebekah, which seems to not have been told either to Esau or Jacob and maybe even Isaac as well, that Promise is the inheritance to continue the line. Anyway, we have incident number two now. Genesis 26 verse 34. And Esau was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beiri the Hittite and Beshamoth the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were a grief of mine done to Isaac and to Rebekah. In Genesis chapter 24 we read of the selection of a wife for Isaac. I'll refer only to it for the first four verses to illustrate the point I'm going to be making at the end. And Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto the eldest servant of his house that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh. And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. But thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac." Now we see in verse 3 how Abraham has told Eliezer what the manner of woman or what manner of woman to choose for Isaac, that the servant was to choose from out of Abraham's own kin and not of the heathen Canaanites of which the Hittites were. And Esau's case, he chose from the tribe of the Hittites, who again were the tribes of Canaan, were of the tribes of Canaan. Here again, Esau has done what he wanted to do and not according to what God has established for the seed of Abraham. We've got two instances right here. First he sells his birthright, then he goes on and he marries Canaanites. So obviously Esau doesn't really care about God, doesn't care about God's law at that time, which was given to Abraham, not Moses' law, but God's law at the time, and he didn't even follow into his own family traditions. You didn't even bother. I mean, you'd think that they would have told each other, you know, hey, look, don't marry the heathens. Esau didn't care. Esau was a guy after his own flesh. OK, now we'll see the consequence of his fatal errors. I'll read Genesis chapter 27 in its entirety and then comment on the matters as they have occurred. Genesis 27, verse one, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, He called Esau, his eldest son, and said unto him, My son. And he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold, now I am old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison, and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. And Rebekah heard what Isaac spake to Esau his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savory meat that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth. Now shall I bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.' And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father, peradventure, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son. Only obey my voice, and go, fetch me them. And he went, and he fetched, and he brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids, of the goats, upon his hands, upon the smooth of his neck. And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. And he came unto his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I. Who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that you found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat, and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. He came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. Therefore God gave 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 mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out of the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made savory meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me." And Isaac, his father, said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, Who Where is he that hath taken venison and brought it to me? And I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him. Yea, and he shall be blessed. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants? And with corn and wine have I sustained him? And what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. 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 off from off thy neck. And Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said unto his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. These words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away. until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him. Then I will send and fetch thee from thence. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?" And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. Jacob, take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are the daughters of the land. What good shall my life do me? Now before I continue I want to point something out that wasn't quite stated prior. That is, Isaac's wanting to bless Esau and thereby passing on the blessing of the inheritance to someone other than what God had ordained. Now there's no clear evidence in the scripture that Isaac willingly disobeyed God as to who was to receive the blessing. But at the beginning of verse 33 where it is written, Isaac trembled very exceedingly, could imply that Isaac was indeed aware of the prophecy given to Rebekah. Continuing on, Esau lost his blessing and instead was given another blessing. He did not receive the blessing of the Lord and inherit Isaac's property and carry on the seed of Abraham and thereby continuing the chain of the elect of God. But he still ended up being a very wealthy man. Here is how God has blessed Esau. This is what we in the field of religion and theology call God's temporal blessings. That is, on the surface it appears that Esau was blessed of God in a manner which in today's day and age, that is the 21st century and beyond, would be evidence of an election. He was materially wealthy. I mean, rich. I mean, the guy was really rich. He had lots of land, he had flocks, he had wives and children. You know, this is like the outward evidence to those who are condemned of God. You know, we've got a lot of religious people, you know, professing religious people on television like TBN. You've got guys like Osteen and Copeland and Greffalo Dollar, the TBN Daystar crowd, etc. where all of those guys are unbelievably wealthy and they've got thousands of parishioners, thousands, if not millions in some cases, you know, even those that are not of the word of faith, non-denominationals, like I just mentioned above. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, they give off the appearance of being materially blessed of God and therefore, thereby deceiving millions. to what their true state really is, that they are utterly depraved or totally depraved. I like to use the term utterly depraved because it goes above and beyond just the flesh, but it's the inside as well that is just lost. Now with regard to Esau, the amount of his blessing can be read in Genesis chapter 32 verse 3 and Genesis chapter 36. That is the entire chapter that goes down through the entire line of Esau. He had his own nation, the whole nine yards. The guy was rich. But again, he received an outward blessing like God giving rain to the wicked, giving sunshine to the wicked. Do they deserve it? Absolutely not. But they get it anyway. Are they blessed of God? Yes. Are they blessed of God in a manner of eternal life? No. Okay. Right. Now that the context of today's message has been established, I'll continue with the main crux of the message, that being that wealthy men and men of power, while they may look like they may be the elect of God, they are in fact reprobated and utterly cast away from the kingdom of God. The mankind of today is the same. For example, today being the 22nd of January, 2018, we just got through going through a government shutdown where the politicians on the left shut the government down on a basis that they wanted to give rights to illegal aliens and they wanted to focus on the causes of illegal aliens. or what they call DACA or the dreamers, they took that over our own troops, our own federal employees. They didn't care. So they may have a lot of people in their party. They may have a lot of followers in their party. Does that make them right? Absolutely not. And that's, again, that's just my opinion, but from the looks of it, Democrats are just like Esau and you got a lot of Republicans that are just like Esau You know where they look like they're doing right? I mean, they're materially doing well You know, they have nice clean language no cussing coming out of their mouths that is on television and You know, the masses are utterly deceived by them Okay, but they are Still in one of two classes of people They're either elect of God and have been redeemed and will have eternal life or they are not the elect of God and they'll get to live their lives in the world and then their day of judgment comes the moment they die. The moment they take that leap into eternity and they're gonna find how wrong they were. You know? You know, people today, even professing Christians, they may study. They may memorize catechisms. Again, they may even be free of exterior circumstances that would place a certain judgment of sinner upon them. You know, like I mentioned before, the cussing and all of that. They may be soft-spoken and live exemplary lives in the flesh. Yet they are reprobate and cast away from God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the point I'm going to conclude with in this evening's message is this, that just because someone looks like they are free of spot and appear clean and just, like politicians, the news media, professing Christians going to church every Sunday, etc. They're rotten to the core. Judge righteously, John 7 verse 24. Be ever on your guard. Watch lest Satan should get an advantage of us, 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11. And remember that Satan is a roaring lion. 1 Peter 5, verse 5, Likewise ye younger submit yourselves to the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Now does that sound like anybody on the democratic side of the coin? Does that sound like a liberal to you? Absolutely not. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon him because he cares for you be sober be vigilant Because your adversary the liberals. I mean the devil They act as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom they may devour Whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same affections or afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace who has called us under His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, will make you perfect, will establish you, will strengthen you, and will settle you. To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I'll read one more portion of Scripture here just to give this this Jacob and Esau breakdown for you, the two differences between two types of men, the left and the right, the Jacob and the Esau of humanity. Romans chapter 9 verses 6 through 33, starting in verse 6, Not as though the word of God hath 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. That is, they which are 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, 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 that 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 saith unto 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. What wilt thou say to me then? Why doth he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Had 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 make his power known, endured with much longsuffering 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 Osi, 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. Isaiah also cried concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. Not all, a remnant. 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 Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we had been a Sodom 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. Why? Well, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. or 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.