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Well, let's look to this Lord
who is so good, a holy God, yet a gracious God, Obadiah. I'm
just going to read verses 17 and 18. But on Mount Zion there shall
be deliverance and there shall be holiness. The house of Jacob
shall possess their possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a
fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau
shall be stumbled. They shall kindle them and devour
them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, for the
Lord has spoken. Amen. Father, we thank you that
your word is true. When you speak, none can contradict
it, and it is fulfilled. And we want to continue to worship
you as we look at the magnificence of this book of Obadiah. In Jesus'
name, amen. About a month ago, I read a mini
history of family feuds in America, and I was astonished at how many
bloody feuds there were here. I had heard about bloody feuds
in Scotland amongst the clans, and I had heard of the Hatfields
and McCoys and the Appalachians. Who hasn't heard about them?
But this history was just showing feud after feud, just tons and
tons of feuds in Scotland and in America that led to murder. And we're not talking about feuds
between different factions of the mafia or gangs or other criminal
types. We're talking about respectable
people who had resorted to this feuding because of two things
that were common. This history went through all
of the range wars in the West. I think there were like 14 feuds
in this Western region, even more in the Appalachians. One
of the things I was struck with as I read through this history
Two things that we're in common with absolutely everyone—pride
and bitterness. pride, and bitterness. Those
two sins can destroy an individual and can be passed on from generation
to generation. Well, Obadiah addresses a longstanding
feud that had been going on between Edom and Israel for centuries,
and surprisingly, this feud actually started 1,250 years earlier,
at least on my dating of the book. There is debate on how you date when this book
was written, but I agree with those. Slam dunk, I've looked
at all of the different arguments that this was written in 586
BC. I think this makes for the second
longest, at least that I'm aware of, feud in history. There's
been a much longer one. It's all the descendants of Ishmael
who have been feuding each other in the Middle East since that
time. But by calling the nation of
Edom Esau six times, and by calling Israel Jacob, Obadiah wants us
to understand that the hatred that the Edomites showed to Israel
in 586 BC can trace its history all the way back to the pride
and the bitterness of Esau in Genesis 25, 1,250 years earlier.
Let me give you just some of the scattered details of how
this happened. Isaac and Rebekah conceived non-identical twins. I forget what those are called,
but they were definitely not identical. Esau was completely
covered with a mat of hair so thick, it was like a mantle,
they said. Red hair all over his body. And because it was
red, the word edam means red, that and the mess of pottage
and there is red buildings, you know, there's a lot of red that's
associated with Esau. Well, when he came out, the hand
of Jacob reached out and grabbed him by the heel." So they called
Jacob, real crazy names, one who grabs a heel. I don't know,
how do they come up with these names? That word apparently in
the Hebrew is an idiom for supplanter and deceiver. And already the
character of these two people was being prophetically lived
out. Now, that competitive nature
started in the womb, because they were wrestling and wrestling,
and Rebekah was asking the Lord, what is going on? Constant movement,
fighting with each other already. He said, these two boys are going
to be two nations that are going to constantly vie for dominance. Now, you would think that the
parents would take this hint seriously, and they'd be very
diligently discipling their children out of their sinful tendencies.
But sadly, each parent played favorites with one of the boys
and coddled them. Esau was Isaac's daddy boy, daddy's
boy who could do no wrong, and Jacob became Rebekah's mommy's
boy, and they both knew that they were loved less by the other
parent, and they resented it. Favoritism generally produces
resentment. Now, Genesis 25, then sets up
Esau's present-oriented selling of a distant birthright for a
bowl of soup that he wants presently very badly. Now, even though
Esau didn't really care about his birthright on that particular
day, we learn from later chapters that he later resented the fact
that Jacob took advantage of his hunger. So even though he
willingly traded it, he still resented the fact that Jacob
had taken advantage of him. He didn't forget about it. Later,
Jacob deceived his dad, robbed Esau of his blessing. Genesis
27 verse 41 shows that this was the last straw for Esau, and
he vowed to get even by killing Jacob. To be willing to kill
his brother shows that this bitterness had taken deep, deep root in
his life. And the bitterness mentioned
in verse 34 of Genesis 27 leads to hatred and murder in the heart in verse
41. Here's the thing I get from that.
People do not outgrow their sins. Time does not heal all wounds.
That is malarkey. If you do not crucify, put to
death the pride and the bitterness that you find in your heart,
it's going to grow and grow until it becomes a monster that's out
of control. Hebrews 12, 14 through 15 uses Esau's bitterness as
a warning that we must crucify these sins. It says, "...pursue
peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see
the Lord, looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the
grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble, and by this many become defiled." Well, the root of bitterness
in Esau did indeed defile many, many people. The Scripture is
quite clear that Esau passed on his antipathy to Jacob, to
his descendants, so that the Edomites became a symbol of the
world that fights against God's people. And it's an amazing symbol
in the book of Obadiah. Now, I hasten to say that not
all of Esau's descendants shared in his pride and in his bitterness.
Remember, in the book of Job, Job was a descendant of Esau,
And yet he was a very humble and a godly man. So he had cast
off this poison of bitterness that had been passed on. So it's
saying you don't have to be just like your parents, right? You
can put that off. It's not a foregone conclusion,
but it does seem like the two sins of pride and bitterness
kept stirring up conflict between the descendants of these two
brothers for hundreds of years. just type in the word Esau and
Edom into your computer cordons, which hopefully by now you've
bought one, and you will see. It's astonishing. It's just a
legacy of constant hatred, bitterness, antipathy to each other, even
though Israel did many times try to bridge that gap. They did so a number of times.
The narrated Bible gets the chronology wrong. By the way, that's one
of my favorite chronological Bibles is Les Lagarde Smith,
a narrated Bible. But even though they get the
chronology wrong, thematically, it is so powerful. He puts Obadiah
right after Israel has been attacked by these soldiers, God blinds
them, and some king there wants to kill them all. He said, no,
that's not the way God's people do it. They fed them, they clothed
them, they're treating their enemies with love and sending
them back, and that actually pacified the king. There's no
more war that came from that. But then comes Obadiah, which
is such a blank contrast to what was going on there. So even though
it's chronologically inappropriate, thematically it's great. In any
case, there are many examples of Israel trying to stop the
feud with Edom. Jacob tried to pacify Esau when
he came back to Canaan. And I'll skip over their unsuccessful
attempts to get together, but I'm going to give you just a
sampling of scriptures from later history that shows that this
feud persisted. And I believe Obadiah expects
his readers to already have all of this background information
in their minds when they're reading the book. That's why I'm giving
you this longer introduction. He expects you to know what's
going on. I'm just going to give a few
highlights. 198 years after Jacob died, you would think that the
Edomites would have totally forgotten about Israel. After all, they're
in a distant nation of Egypt, far, far away. And yet, the stories
get passed on from generation to generation in a way that kept
the bitterness going, just like some people today are ready to
fight with you if you disagree with them over the war between
the states. When I was at Covenant College,
I had just come from Canada. I had no idea people were still
fighting this war. But there were Christians who
were ready to get into fistfights over this disagreement on the
history between that war. And some people who hear this
sermon might get in a tizzy over the fact I called it the war
between the states. Because that is in part saying,
I at least agree with secession, even though there were faults
on both sides. There was definitely hotheads on both sides. So what
is it that happened 198 years after the death of Jacob? Well,
the exodus of Israel out of Egypt happened. And interestingly,
Exodus 15 verse 15 says that Edom was dismayed that Israel
had escaped from slavery in Egypt. Why would they be dismayed? Why
would they even care? You know, they're so far away.
In fact, you would think anybody would have this as a heartwarming
story. Here is a nation that escapes
out of slavery, and yet 198 years after Jacob and Esau had died,
the descendants of Esau didn't want anything good to happen
to Israel. It bothered Edom that Israel
had gotten out of slavery. It's a feud mentality. In Numbers
20, Moses asked the king of Edom if he could pass through the
country, promised they would stick straight to the main road,
they'd pay for anything they needed, they wouldn't harass
or bother anybody. King absolutely refused, threatened
war if they tried. In Numbers 24, 18, God promised
that Israel would one day inherit all of the territory of Edom,
but that would not be for most of its history. That would be
in the latter days, latter days that Obadiah refers to. In the
meantime, God's instructions were, don't antagonize Edom. Don't mess with them. He says,
you are about to pass through the territory of your brethren,
the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, and they will be afraid
of you. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully. Do not meddle with
them, for I will not give you any of their land. No, not so
much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau
as a possession. So Israel tries to be real sensitive
to Edom and not to antagonize. They offer to be friends and
brothers. No deal. No deal. Eden's not going to
go along with that. They refuse. Count forward another
339 years, and you come to Jephthah. That's counting from 1491, the
true date of the Exodus, if you want to get into a fight, the
true date of Exodus, all the way up to 1152 BC. Jephthah was
astonished at the feud mentality and the resentment and the hostility
that was still being exhibited by Eden, Moab, and Ammon. Jephthah asks Ammon why they're
invading their territory. And the king of Ammon hotly says,
because you stole land from us 300 years ago. And you know,
we Americans who are reading that 300 years ago, what is he
talking about? But this was still a hot issue.
And by the way, Jephthah says he got his history wrong. It
was totally wrong. And this frequently happens in
these feud warfares. They have different versions
of history. But the effect of this bad history
produced the same hatred for Israel that Edom had, and in
trying to stop Ammon's aggression, Jephthah recites the history
of how respectful Israel had been to Ammon, Moab, and Edom,
how Israel had tried to reach out to them, tried to be friends
with them, had not done anything evil against them. In fact, he
says, look, we're brothers. But if you've got bitterness
and pride, you're going to be blind to the attempts of others
to stop the feud and to reach out in conciliation. And throughout
Israel's history, Edom had been a major problem. I'll give you
one more verse. Amos 1, verse 11, castigates
Edom for past cruelty, saying, for three transgressions and
for four I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued
his brother with the sword and cast off all pity. His anger
tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. That, in a
nutshell, was the problem with this feud between the two brothers.
He kept his wrath forever. Unresolved anger guarantees defilement,
and that's why Paul warns us, do not let the sun go down upon
your wrath. You got to get it over with. You can use it to motivate you
to deal with issues, but if you can't deal with that, you've
got to deal with your anger. If you nurse the anger, you nurse
the grudge, you are on the pathway of these two brothers. Anger
that continues day after day, week after week, without being
resolved shows there's something wrong with your heart. And the
first objection is, yeah, but you don't know the problems that
those evil people did to me. Well, Jacob and Esau were both
bitter, and both had done evil to each other, but it was Esau
who harbored it, never got over it, and allowed that evil of
other people to control his life. We can't let others control us.
But if you're angry perpetually, that means others are controlling
you. Anyway, back to Obadiah. In Obadiah, the exile had just
happened, and Edom watched from a distance with glee as Israel
was being reduced to rubble. And then they dove in to share
in the spoils. In fact, Edom encouraged Babylon that Babylon
was not being nearly tough enough on Israel. He said, you've got
to be a whole lot tougher. And Babylon acted like they didn't
really care. And so Edom acted in a way that
tried to guarantee that Babylon would care. All of these refugees
that were scattering to other countries, Edom rounded them
up, either killed them or handed them over to the Babylonians.
This is when Psalm 137 was written. That psalm remembers the mocking
and remembers Edom's cheering. Verse 7 says, Remember, O Lord,
against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, Raise
it, raise it to its very foundation. So though Judah was evil, it
had done nothing to Edom in that day to warrant such hatred. But
all of this bitterness sprang from past history, and this is
why Obadiah singles out Edom for a special judgment from God.
They had pridefully sided with Babylon, little realizing that
Babylon would turn upon them within just a few years, six
years to be specific, and destroy them as a kingdom. I know it's
a long introduction, but it is really critical background for
understanding this book. Let me give you a brief overview
of the book. before making some applications. If you look at
your outlines, you will notice that the book is once again patterned
after the Hebrew chiastic structure of an A, B, C, D, C, B, A structure,
but it's a chiasm with forward movement in terms of timetable,
and it's a contrastive parallelism. Verse 1 is almost identical to
Jeremiah's words against Edom in Jeremiah 49, verse 14. Who quotes whom is hugely debated. You know, is it possible that
Jeremiah is referring to Obadiah as the one who's giving this
message to the nations, or is it Obadiah who quotes Jeremiah?
In one sense, it really doesn't matter. I take it that it's Obadiah
quoting Jeremiah. But either way, A lot of the
pride that Jeremiah amplifies upon is dealt with in the first
A of the chiasm, where God resists the proud, and then we see that
He gives grace to the humble in the second A, so it's a contrasting
parallelism. Though Edom's pride was abominable
to God, God used that pride to humble Israel and to purify Israel. Now, the cool thing about this,
you don't justify the pride, you don't justify the evil, but
God used that very evil to purify Israel. And to me, this is one
of the keys that helps us to not get bitter over the evils
that other people do against us. Yes, we can ask God to deal
with their evils, But we also realize God is working all things
together for my good, even the bad, even the slander that's
happened to me. It's maybe crucifying my own
pride. Verses five through seven are
the second part of the chiasm, and they deal with how Edom was
completely blindsided by its allies, fooled into complacency,
and then ended up being plundered by its former allies about six
years later. This is contrasted in the second
B section, that's verses 17 through 18, with how Israel would regain
what it had lost and would plunder Edom in the distant future, leaving
no survivors within its borders. The first C section of the chiasm,
verses 8 through 9, shows the slaughter of Edom. The second
C section shows the slaughter of the nations that sided with
Edom, or rather that Edom had sided with. The central D section,
verses 10 through 14, is a tenfold indictment of Edom. And since
it's the heart of the book, I'm just going to spend a little
bit more time on that section. If Obadiah was a referee in a
football game, he'd be giving 10 fouls. And I want to list
those fouls to show why God says this is totally unfair, totally
raw deal. The first foul was needless violence. God's not against violence. He
is against needless violence. And verse 10 says, for violence
against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall
be cut off forever. Edom was related by blood, but
they had engaged in violence against Israel. Foul too, identifying
with Babylon when there's absolutely no requirement to do so. They
were meddling in a fight that was not theirs. And this could
be seen in the first phrase of verse 11. in the day that you
stood on the other side." In other words, the other side of
the battle. Commentators point out that the Hebrew word is a
hostile standing. It's not a neutral standing and
observing. They had joined in this battle
and the other side of the fight. So they weren't required to fight
by Babylon. They voluntarily did that. For
their own gain, they entered into league with Babylon. Foul
three, profiting from Israel's gain and pain. Verse 11 goes
on to say, in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when
foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem,
even you were as one of them. Now, whatever demerits there
were in Babylon's imperialistic war against Judah, they were
at least at war. Edom had absolutely no reason
to be involved. They were like a vulture swooping
in to take advantage as lots were cast for slaves and for
some of the booty in Jerusalem. Fall four, gloating over Judah's
suffering. First phrase in verse 12 says,
but you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in
the day of his captivity. Now 10 translations translate
gazed as gloated because the Hebrew word indicates a gazing
with a sense of satisfaction and smugness that Judah was getting
what it's deserved. And you think, well, yeah, God
said that Judah was getting what it deserved. So why is God blaming
Edom here? Well, I believe it's because
of Edom's prideful motives. There was no zeal for God's law
or God's glory in this gloating. It was a self-satisfaction that
a competitor had been taken out. It was revenge stroking their
bitterness. Related to this is foul five
celebrating Israel's defeat. They didn't just gloat. They
danced on the graves, so to speak. Verse 12 goes on to say, Nor
should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the
day of their destruction. Now, why is this a problem? Again,
the Scripture says Judah totally deserved this. This was a judgment
that came from God. Well, Lamentations tells us why.
Lamentations is a godly man's response to exactly the same
conflict that had happened. Jeremiah totally admits when
he wrote Lamentations that Judah got what it deserved. He had
prophesied, this is what God says is going to happen to you.
But it made him weep. He was grieved that they had
not turned to the Lord. He did not dance on their graves. He was not rejoicing over that.
Proverbs 24, 17 says, do not rejoice when your enemy falls
and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Scripture
calls us to be saddened by such sinful wars, not to rejoice in
them. Fowl six, speaking proudly or arrogantly at Israel's fall. And this is the last clause of
verse 12. It says, nor should you have spoken proudly in the
day of distress. Pride was at the root of Edom's
bad attitudes, and it implies that they thought they were better
than Judah was, when in reality, they were worse than Judah. They
were not better. But prideful people rarely recognize
their own sins. This is one of the surprising
things about pride. They are very quick to see the
sins of others, but they just can't see their own sins. And
this is not the only place that pride is mentioned. Fowl seven.
entering where they did not belong. Verse 13 says, you should not
have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity.
Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day
of their calamity. Now, why was this a foul? Because it was not
their war. They were just piling on. Foul
eight, taking plunder. If the previous points are true,
then it was not Edom's place to plunder Israel. So verse 13
goes on to say, nor laid hands on their substance in the day
of their calamity. It was not lawfully their worth,
so it was not lawfully their plunder. Follow nine, cutting
off the only way of escape for civilian refugees. Verse 14 says,
you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those
among them who escaped. Now, several commentators say
that the word cut off means that they killed these refugees. when they were trying to escape.
So they were guilty of murder. Foul 10, enslaving people after
Babylon had left. Now the New King James rendering
is not as clear on this, but the word for delivered up means
to put somebody in a cage. or to imprison them. So even
after Babylon had left the area, Eden was taking advantage of
helpless people that were left behind, were imprisoning them,
possibly selling them into slavery. So those are the warnings that
constitute the heart of the book. And I think they're warnings
that we ought to study. If we are trying to deal with
these sins, we ought to study and prayerfully ask God to work
them into our hearts. Now, because there are so many
opinions on the dates of each section, I want to date them
for you. And I've worked hard at making
sure that every single clue is taken into account. You can find
commentaries who agree with me, who disagree with me, but I'm
not going to try to prove it. I'm just going to give you the
conclusions. Verses 1 through 4 prophesy a judgment that is
not as severe. So you cannot lump all of these
paragraphs together as so many commentators do. For example,
later paragraphs speak of a total annihilation, not one survivor
left, whereas verse two speaks of only making Edom much smaller
in power than it once was. They're different judgments.
The one happened within six years of Jerusalem's fall, and it happened
under Nebuchadnezzar in his campaign against Tyre. So Edom was conquered. Eden was subjected, but Babylon
was fairly generous with them. They continued to function, but
they did not have independence. And so I've put 580 BC beside
verses 1 through 4. Verses 5 through 9 deal with
a slaughter that would take place in 552 under Nabonidus, a later
emperor of Babylon. Because verses 10 through 14
are the heart of the book, it actually covers all of the dates
of the book. It deals with God's opposition
to Edom covering the entire period. So verses 10 through 14 predict
perpetual opposition that the Edomites will receive until they
are annihilated. or as verse 10 words, that until
they are cut off forever. So this is covering everything
from 586 BC all the way up to 8070, 8070, when the last surviving
Edomites were killed. But it starts during the Babylonian
Empire. The next section predicts the end of the Babylonian Empire
itself. Verse 15 makes a transition to when all of the nations in
the Babylonian Empire will come under judgment. So it's probably
a reference to Cyrus' conquering of Babylon and the beginning
of the Medo-Persian Empire in 536. Verse 17 shows that Israel
would reoccupy all of Israel, all of the region of the Edomites
during the Persian times. So this is a reference to Ezra
and Nehemiah, post-exilic prophets. I've put 500 BC next to verse
17. Let me just read that. But on
Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, There shall be holiness. The
house of Jacob shall possess all their possessions." They
were really remarkably successful in gaining back all of the territory
God had given. They were not possessing somebody
else's stewardship. God had given that stewardship
to them. They were repossessing it, and thus it was consistent
with holiness. And in the decades and centuries
following that, the remainder of Obadiah was fulfilled. Beginning
to read at verse 18, The house of Jacob shall be afire, the
house of Joseph aflame, but the house of Esau shall be stubble.
They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain
at the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken." Malachi 1,
he's a post-exilic prophet. Malachi 1, 3-5 says that in his
future, so this is post-exilic future, Edomites would continue
to be a problem, but no matter how many times the Edomites rebuilt,
they would be torn down. God would tear them down. In
the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the Edomites were called the
Edomians, I-D-U-M-E-A-N. 2 Maccabees records Seleucid
general, who was the governor of Edomia, Judas Maccabeus, went
to war with him, conquered his territory in 163 BC. And because
of continued hostility, the Edomites or the Edomians, a later governor
by the name of John Hyrcanus forcibly converted them in 125
BC. You know, forcible conversion is not the way to go. They usually
don't work out very well. Just to give you one idea, one
example, Herod was one of those Edomians who outwardly pretended
to be a Jew, outwardly worshiped the same God as the Jews, but
actually continued this feud mentality, was an enemy of everything
that God stood for. But if you trace the history
of the Edomians, you see a perfect fulfillment of verses 19 through
21 in the years from the Maccabees all the way up to 8070 when the
last of the Edomians was killed. I'll just go ahead and read those.
The south shall possess the mountains of Esau and the lowlands shall
possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields
of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria. Benjamin shall possess
Gilead. This cannot be in our future
because these are very specific tribes that no longer exist.
Verse 20, and the captives of this host of the children of
Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath.
The captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, shall possess
the cities of the south. Then saviors shall come to Mount
Zion to judge the mountains of Esau. The word savior just means
deliverer. such as military leaders. And so from the Maccabees on,
Edom was ruled by Israel for the rest of its history until
every Edomite was killed off in the siege of Jerusalem in
8070. In fact, the Edomians were the main reason why Jerusalem
was destroyed. They were a thorn in the flesh
right up until the last of them was killed. But the bulk of these
verses refers to the heirs of the Maccabeans possessing their
possessions. So it's not surprising that when
Edom ends, the kingdom is declared to be the Lord's, since Edom
is repeatedly used as a symbol of the world which is passing
away. The first century kingdom of
Christ is such an appropriate place for that statement, and
the kingdom shall be the Lord's. It's the only messianic statement
in the book. And remember we saw, we had proofs, every book
of the Old Testament speaks of Christ. There's got to be something
in Obadiah that speaks of Christ. I believe this is the messianic
statement that either refers to 8030 or more probably my view
is that refers to 8070 when the last of the Edomites was killed.
But either way, it's a reference to the world losing out to Christ's
kingdom. I think it's a great way to end
the book. Now, let me end my sermon by
giving you five further applications. One of the first lessons that
the New Testament teaches us from the life of Esau and Edom
is the danger of nursing bitterness in our hearts. I've already read
the verse, Hebrews 12, 15, tells us, if you have the bitterness
that Esau had, It has the potential, bitterness has the potential
of doing four things to you, and those four things are so
scary, it ought to motivate you to deal with it, not hold on
to it. First, it makes us fall short of God's grace. Now, all
by itself, that ought to convince you, I'm not going to hold on
to bitterness. I do not want to fall short of God's grace.
We need God's grace day by day. Second, it grows up or springs
up like a noxious plant. It never stays static. If you
do not kill bitterness, it will continue to grow and grow until
it takes over your life, kills your spirit. Third, it causes
trouble. Now, obviously other people are
troubled when we're bitter. But our own hearts are troubled.
That's the point here. It's a poison. Fourth, it spreads
to others and defiles many. So if you don't want clan warfare
in your descendants, nip bitterness in the bud. If you don't want
permanent alienation from generation to generation, nip bitterness
in the bud. Esau and Edom are a warning to
all of us. Now, of course, this means we've
got to cry out to God for His grace because bitterness is endemic
to every human heart. Even as a pastor, I struggled
with bitterness. And I have to have to crucify
it. I have to put it to death. Romans
3.14 describes the natural man as having a mouth full of cursing
and full of bitterness. Now, you might not think of yourself
as a bitter person. I'm not bitter. I'm not bitter at all. But here's
the thing. What are you doing to conquer
bitterness? That's awesome, that's wonderful. If you don't have
bitterness, what have you done to conquer it? Because if this is
natural to every human heart and you're not fighting against
it, it's probably there. It's just there in a deceitfully
disguised way. Being in the church is not enough. Peter baptized Simon Magus into
the church and then quickly realized he was full of bitterness. He
told him, you are poisoned by bitterness, bound by iniquity.
Wow, poisoned by bitterness right within the church. And because
he never got rid of bitterness, church history tells us Simon
Magus became the leader of a cult. that was one of the most virulent
anti-Christian cults of the first century. So your first lesson
from Esau is that you must put off bitterness, and you must
coach your children on how to put off bitterness. If you don't
know how to do it, contact me. I can give you steps on how to
put off bitterness. The second lesson from Obadiah
is that God hates pride and opposes it wherever He sees it. James
4, 6 says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Well, that means we better take pride a whole lot more seriously
than we tend to. We tend to ignore this as one
of those polite sins. It's not so bad. No, it is the
mortal enemy of our soul, and it guarantees that God will resist
us. Now, how do we get rid of pride? Well, first of all, you've got
to recognize it. And there are forms that help you to recognize
pride in your life. Prideful people rarely recognize
that they are prideful, sort of like bad breath, right? You
gotta ask other people, do I have bad breath? Do I have pride?
And they might be a little bit timid about telling you, but
yeah, you need to be willing to receive input. Pride deceives
us. Obadiah 3 says, the pride of
your heart has deceived you. You know, it took a powerful
work of God's grace back in 1994 before I even recognized that
I was a prideful, prideful person, let alone even starting to crucify
that pride. And I still see pride rearing
its ugly head, and I'm very quick to stomp on it and put it under
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we need the Holy Spirit to
open our eyes to that. It's deceitful. It pulls the
wool over our eyes. But here's the point. Such pride
can destroy you. Think of it this way. We already
have an array of enemies against us that's pretty formidable.
The world, the flesh, and the devil. If you've also got God
resisting you, you're in a hopeless cause. Okay? So the point is,
take this seriously. You need God's help. You do not
want your descendants to turn out like Edom. This is a book
that exposes God's war on pride. Verse 4 says, Though you ascend
as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. He brings down
prideful people. Third, the laws of harvest guarantee
that you will reap what you sow. Verse 15 words it this way, As
you have done, it shall be done to you. The whole book of Obadiah
shows that Edom reaped what it sows. Now, repentance can reverse
the degree to which you get a bad harvest, but it never does away
with 100% of that bad harvest. That's something we need to remember,
and it ought to make us less cavalier about sin and repentance. you know, God's forgiveness.
A lot of people just treat it so cavalierly. Oh, I'll sin.
I'll just ask God's forgiveness. Well, yeah, you'll be forgiven
by God, but you're still going to have a lousy harvest that's
going to come into your life. Though God forgave David of his
sin with Bathsheba, he still reaped a harvest. It was a reduced
harvest from what it could have been, but this is one of the
unalterable laws of harvest, which I probably ought to preach
on again sometime. There are eight laws of harvest
which you will never get away from. One is you always reap
what you sow. Guaranteed. And the other is
you're always going to reap a multiplied increase. And it's going to be
in a different season. And when you go through all eight laws, it
motivates us to pursue holiness. Verse 11 gives another lesson.
It indicates that benefiting from the evils of others makes
you as one of them. This is why the scripture did
not allow the wages of a prostitute to be brought into the temple
because it not only endorsed that sin, it profited from that
sin. It made them involved in that sin. Okay? Implicated in
that sin. Now, the last lesson is a very
encouraging one. Since Edom stands as a symbol
of the world, Edom's passing away stands as a symbol that
Christ will gain the victory in time and in history. I love
this. He actively fights against the
world so that his kingdom will eventually triumph. But it doesn't
happen overnight, it was gradual. Total annihilation of Edom symbolizes
the total triumph of Christ. And by the way, every symbol
of the world has the same thing in it. Let me just give you three.
Genesis 3.15 speaks of the enmity between the two seeds, the seed
of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and who wins? Jesus
wins. He not only crushes the head
of the serpent, but eventually converts the world, seizes it
from Satan. A second symbol of the world
is the struggle between Isaac and Ishmael in Genesis 21, 9-11
and Galatians 4, 29-30. And who triumphs? Well, Paul
tells us that Ishmael is disinherited and the sons receive the inheritance. In other words, Christ's kingdom
will eventually win and the meek shall inherit the earth. The
third symbol of the world is the Amalekites in Exodus 17,
verse 14, Numbers 24, 20, Deuteronomy 25, 19. They too had an irrational
bitterness against Israel. But who wins? God does. God slated Amalek for destruction
in the Pentateuch, and the last Amalekite was killed when Haman
the Agagite lined up the world against Israel in the time of
Esther. There were no more Amalekites
after that. Well, in the same way, verse 21 of Obadiah affirms
that the spirit will eventually triumph over the children of
the flesh, where sin abounds, grace abounds, much more. Verse 17 affirms that there can
be holiness in history. Verse 21 ends by contrasting
the destruction of Edom with the kingdom being the Lord's
enduringly. That is the message of Obadiah. Amen. Father, we thank you. for
this message, the warnings that it gives, but also the promises
and the encouragements that it gives. We thank you that you
are Lord over history. You are Lord over our lives.
You're Lord even over our hearts. You see into the deepest recesses
of our hearts, and we want to increasingly be purged from the
pride and the bitterness that tends to reside there. Help us,
Lord, to be stewards that you could say, well done, thou good
and faithful servant. Bless this your people, Father,
with increasing grace in this coming week. In Jesus' name we
pray.
Obadiah
Series Bible Survey
Tracing the clan warfare between Edom and Israel, this book teaches us many lessons.
| Sermon ID | 162020115287 |
| Duration | 40:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Obadiah |
| Language | English |
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