Once again I invite you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. The Holy Spirit was gracious to us in giving us a whole chapter of godly examples in chapter 11. And now here in chapter 12, he gives us a negative example. Hebrews chapter 11, we were to be like them. This example with Esau, we are not to be like. This is his last negative example. Before we are in verses 18 to the end of the chapter, given a feast of grace as we will see what God has given us in the new covenant through Jesus Christ our Lord. But before we get into that feast in the following weeks, the writer of Hebrews wants to make sure that those who are reading this are indeed recipients of that grace that is offered in the New Covenant. I want to read verses 14 through 17. strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. I'd like to look at our passage here, verses 16 and 17, under four headings this morning. I'll give those to you quickly, and then I'll give them to you as we go along again. The first is that Esau was immoral and ungodly. Esau was immoral and ungodly. Secondly, Esau despised his birthright. He despised his birthright and we'll spend the bulk of our time under that heading. The third will be Esau wept and did not repent. Esau wept and did not repent. And fourthly, lessons from Esau. Lessons from Esau. What can we take from the negative example of Esau? Let's begin by looking at Esau was immoral and ungodly or unholy. Just as a reminder from last week, those first words in verse 15, see to it, they're better translated as oversee. And that word oversee governs the three warning clauses in verses 15-17. We looked at the first two last week, this will be the third this week. In other words, what you could see that verses 15-17 are saying is this, oversee that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Oversee that no root of bitterness or no one springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. And thirdly, oversee that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau. Now again, verse 14, pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, that addressed our personal pursuit of God. In verses 15 through 17, the writer turns the corner and addresses our corporate responsibility to one another. Regeneration produces both a personal longing for the things of God as well as a heart for others that manifests itself by a real concern for the spiritual well-being of others. If we are saved, if we've been given a new heart, it means that we love God. It means that we want to be holy like our Father is. It means that we have an intense concern for the spiritual well-being of those in our midst. This verse is calling us to not be sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, and that we are to make sure that nobody in our midst is like that. See, this is a call for us to not be something. And then it gives us an old testament example of somebody who was like that and tells us that we ourselves are not to be like that and that we are to oversee those in our midst to have a genuine spiritual concern that anyone in our midst does not become like Esau. Verse 16, therefore, or excuse me, that no one is sexually immoral. Now different translations translates this differently. Some of yours might have fornicator or immoral. The Greek word here is a general term for sexual immorality. It refers to any sexual conduct that is contrary to the standards of God. Now there are three basic interpretations of what this means and we're not going to look at those this morning. We don't have time. I want to tell you what I believe this is speaking of. I believe this term sexual immorality is a metaphor. It is a metaphor describing spiritual infidelity. It is not speaking of the physical act of sexual immorality. Now, some of you might be thinking, whoo, escape that one. You did not. Drop down to Hebrews 13 verse 4. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." He will come back to the actual physical acts of sexual immorality. But this is speaking of words that describe an infidelity, a spiritual unfaithfulness to God. And you see this in the Old Testament often, don't you? Terms of harlotry, adultery, whoredom, fornication. It's often used to describe the unfaithfulness of Israel to their covenant God. This term is used within the context of covenant infidelity. We see this in James chapter 4 verse 4. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. We have to see that God uses this imagery of spiritual infidelity in relation to those who have a claim to the name of God. He does not go to the world, to those outside the church and say, you are being immoral. He's saying that to those in the church. God uses a violation of the marriage bed, the most intimate of all human relationships, to illustrate God's view of unfaithfulness to him. Both in the context of Esau's personal life and in the context of Hebrews, this term is illustrating those who are under or near the covenant of God, but they are displaying unfaithfulness to the terms of and the God of that covenant. So we're not only admonished to not be unfaithful to God, but he goes on to say to us to be unholy like Esau. And some of your translations will have unholy as profane or irreligious. F.F. Bruce defines this word as the lack of any sense of spiritual values. The word refers to the trampling under the foot anything sacred. Now Esau, he was raised under the umbrella of the Abrahamic Covenant, but his heart was thoroughly secular. When you look at the testimony of Esau in the Old Testament, you cannot find any evidences of spiritual grace in his life. And when you get to the New Testament, you cannot find any accounts where it describes Esau in any different terms than what we see in the Old Testament. In fact, what you have with Esau in the New Testament is confirming that he was an ungodly man, and he is using him as an example of what we are not to be. And again, remember, this is a call for us to not be spiritually unfaithful, not to be secular like Esau, and he is addressing Christians. He is addressing the church. Beloved, we need to often check our hearts to see if we have a disinterest in God that is creeping into our lives that will inevitably lead to a state of unholiness. The writer of Hebrews calls for us to not be spiritually immoral against God and not to trample under our feet the holy things of God in disinterest. And then he illustrates this from the life of Esau. Beloved, God is calling Peninsular Bible Church to something this morning. He's telling us don't be like Esau. Don't view this as something outside of something that could happen in your own heart or in your own life. Let's take a look at Esau. Here, we're gonna look at Esau despised his birthright, the second heading. I want you to look what this says. It says, none who is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25. The end of Genesis chapter 25, the very last phrase in verse 34 says that thus Esau despised his birthright. What I want to do to remind us what took place, I want to read verses 29 through 34. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew, for I'm exhausted. Therefore, his name was called Edom. Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. Esau said, I'm about to die. Of what use is a birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Now there's a lot going on in here that we are not going to look at. We want to see this through the lens of what the writer of Hebrews is highlighting for us. I do want to make one comment, however, that is not in my notes. Oftentimes we go here to spank Jacob, don't we? We see in here the trickery of Jacob, and I am not suggesting that is not there. But what I'm suggesting is that often we miss the point of what Scripture is highlighting from the story. This story is not ultimately brought to our attention to highlight Jacob. It is to highlight Esau. So let's take a look at this. It says here, let me eat, verse 30. Let me eat some of that red stew. Now, that Hebrew word conveys the idea of swallowing. It could be translated, let me gulp down some of that stew. One commentator says that this word is quote, now listen to this definition. It is a coarse expression suggesting bestial veracity. And here what you see is Esau comes down, exhausted from being in the field all day, and he just says, I want to go down some of that food. What does Jacob do? Okay, I'll let you have some of that. Sell me your birthright. I'm about to die. What use is that to me? So he sold his birthright. Gave him some stew. See, Esau's physical appetites are expressing themselves in very vivid language that highlights his decision, now listen to this, his decision for the secular over the spiritual. the earthly over the eternal. Esau devoured his food and he despised his birthright. Now think about this. Esau gave up his birthright for what? A single meal. Esau gave up a birthright for some food. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 16 says he sold his birthright for a single meal. Now just pause a moment. You may be thinking to yourself, you don't have a birthright to sell. Yeah you do. Yeah you do. Be patient here. This is talking to you. This is talking to me. He handed over, handed his birthright over for a single bowl of soup. and for some bread. Now, I don't want you to get in your mind that at least he got a big, chunky beef stew. What did he get? Lentil soup. He got boiled lentils in lieu of his birthright. Look at verse 34. Jacob gave Esau bread, lentil, stew, and then look at this. He ate and drank and rose and went his way. That's the end of the story. He just gave it away and he got up and he left. There is no mention of sorrow, no mention of regret, no mention of remorse. No, for Esau, his belly was satisfied and that's all that mattered to Esau. And God is telling us through Hebrews chapter 12, don't be like Esau. Don't be immoral and don't be unholy or profane like Esau. Esau despises birthright. Now the force of what is being said is often missed because we don't really understand what birthright means. So I want to spend some time looking at what birthright meant in order to understand both what Esau sold and we can understand what the writer of Hebrews is telling us not to do. Now it was typically, but not always, the chronologically firstborn son who was given the birthright to the family. Now if you remember, Jacob's own first three born sons will be passed over in the blessings of the firstborn. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi all were rejected as receiving the rights of the firstborn because of their deeds. It was Judah who was placed as preeminent in that family among his brothers. He was given the place of the firstborn. And it is through Judah that Christ, the firstborn of creation, who has all the rights of his father, came to bring us salvation and fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant. The firstborn has to do with who has the family rights, who possesses the family rights. It's not necessarily the birth order. Now, in the Mosaic Law, this included a receiving of a double portion or a double inheritance of the physical family possessions. So, if you have two children, The firstborn would get two-thirds of dad's inheritance. Okay? Firstborn. Pretty good deal, isn't it? But additionally to this double inheritance, this double portion, the firstborn also took over as the head of the house. He became the next patriarch. The firstborn becomes what dad was. And this is how we typically view the birthright. We typically see the birthright as physical inheritance and head of the household. With Esau and Jacob, however, I believe there is something much greater going on than physical blessings in the birthright. I do not think that the writer of Hebrews is telling us not to be Esau because Esau didn't get as much physical goods as he could have gotten. I don't think that's the writer's point here. I want to take a look at this. Jacob bought the birthright from Esau, which comes with the blessing of his father. There's a question. Who's Jacob's dad? Isaac. Isaac will be passing on the blessing he received from his father. Who's Isaac's dad? Abraham. Isaac in Genesis 26 verses 3 and 4 was promised from God. This is what he says. This is to Isaac Sojourn in the land and I will be with you and will bless you for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father who is God now establishing his promise to Abraham with Isaac. He says, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven, and will give your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So what we see here is God blessed Abraham, Abraham blessed Isaac, Isaac was to bless, humanly speaking, Esau, but Esau despised his birthright, Jacob buys it, so now it's going to go through whom? Through Jacob. Abraham passed on, yes, the physical blessings, the physical possessions that he had, but more importantly, as you see the Abrahamic covenant being passed on from child to child, the firstborn, you see that they are passing on the very promises of God. Hebrews chapter 11, I don't know if you remember this or not, verses 8 and 9, let me read that to you. So you see the promise of Abraham given by God going to Isaac and then going to Jacob. The firstborn in the line of the Abrahamic covenant receives spiritual blessings from God. This is what Esau sold his birthright for a single mill. And the writer is telling us, don't be like Esau. Don't have at your disposal all these spiritual blessings and promises and sell them for physical appetites. The birthright that comes through Abraham is much more than physical blessings and monetary inheritance. The text is not just talking about Esau's response to the law of God in relation to the firstborn. It is speaking about Esau's response in relation to the firstborn under the Abrahamic Covenant. Listen, when Esau despised his birthright, he severed himself from the Abrahamic Covenant. And he severed himself from the God of the Covenant. And this is what God is telling us this morning. Don't be like that. Although it was Dad who passed on that blessing to son, to son, to son, in the Abrahamic Covenant, whose blessing was it? It was God's. I want you to see this. Go to Genesis 17. Genesis 17. This is when God gave Abraham the command for his children, his sons, to be circumcised. I just want to look at these two verses. Verses 7 and 8. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. to be God to you, your offspring after you. I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God. What was Abraham a covenant about? About God being their God. Do we understand what Esau did? He came in tired, hungry, exhausted, famine. Jacob says, sell me your birthright. And Esau says, okay, I don't love God. I don't like God. I don't need God. I have no interest in God. See, Esau, when he sold his birthright, he manifested his reprobate heart. Esau did not love God. His physical appetites were more important to him than God Himself. Firstborn through Abraham received the spiritual promise made to Abraham. Yes, but what else came through this promise? The promised seed who is Jesus Christ. See, not only was spiritual blessings given to the recipient of the Abrahamic covenant, but the recipient would be the conduit of Christ as the promised seed. See, the birthright that Esau despised was the physical birthline of Christ Himself. It was the physical bloodline of the salvation for the nations. When God told Abraham, I will bless you, make you a great nation and through you all the nations will be blessed. What was he saying? What did Paul say that he was saying? He said that God preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, that he would justify the Gentiles by faith. Do you understand what Esau did here? Esau said, I don't want you, God. I don't care about your plan of redemption. I don't want to be in the line of the Savior coming to redeem the people of every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. This is why it started out in Hebrews chapter 12. Don't be spiritually unfaithful and don't be profane like Esau. He was a thoroughly secular man. Esau had no desire to be the recipient of God's blessing, and he did not want to be the conduit of spiritual blessings to the nations. A single meal was more important to Esau than the covenant God gave to Abraham. As one pastor put it, Esau did not care what his circumcision represented. The selling of the birthright showed that Esau did not want to be the heir of the covenant promises given to Abraham. Esau's rejection of this birthright showed a complete disinterest in God's redemptive blessings and purposes through the Abrahamic covenant. Listen, beloved, Esau's stomach motivated him more than the promises of God. Esau is a vivid example to us about people who make earthly and temporal matters more important than properly responding to the means of God's grace. Physical appetites, whatever they may be, can lure professors of Christ away from Christ. Physical appetites, whatever they may be, can lure those around the covenant blessings away from them. Calvin referred to this as a cheap mill by which Satan habitually lures the reprobate. We all have a mill, don't we? We all have a temptation. The Bible says don't be an Esau. Don't be an Esau. So you can be raised and you could be surrounded by covenant blessings, and you could still be a spiritual adulterer, you could be unholy in relation to the spiritual blessings that are around you. This is what Hebrews is warning against, and his warning is to those in the church. Now I want to be a little bit more specific, a little bit more careful with the context of Genesis in relation to Hebrews. He is warning those of you who have been raised in a Christian home. Don't be an Esau. We're gonna come back to that. Let's look at Esau wept and he did not repent. Esau wept and he did not repent. I want you to look at Genesis 27. In Genesis 27. Verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 12 says, for you know that afterward, When he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." What we want to do is look at that. What does it mean that he sought it with tears, did not get it? And under this heading, we're going to see the irrevocable loss of Esau's decision. When he sold his birthright, he sold what was intrinsically tied to the birthright. What's that? the blessing. In chapter 25 he sells his birthright and for some reason, you get to chapter 27, what does he want? He wants the blessing that comes with the birthright. He lost the blessing of the firstborn because he had no regard for the birthright. I want to read verses 30 through 38 in Genesis 27. And you remember the story there with Isaac saying to Esau, go out and get me some food and bless you. Jacob comes in. Look at verse 30. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father, Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me. His father Isaac said to him, who are you? He answered, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled very violently and said, Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me? And I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him. Yes, and he shall be blessed. As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me even also, O my father. But he said, Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing. Esau said, Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has cheated me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. Then he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over you. All his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? Esau said to his father, have you but one blessing, my father. Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Esau sells his birthright, which is just not any birthright. It's a birthright that came under the provisions of the new covenant. He comes to what everybody thought was the end of Isaac's life. So I want a blessing, Dad. Sorry. Somebody else got it. And he weeps. But it's not any cry with just tears. It is a bitter, loud wailing of emotions. Did he get a blessing? Let's look at what it says here. Let's read what his father is able to give him, verses 39 and 40. Not too exciting, is it? Sell your birthright, what'd you lose? Lose the blessings. So here's the question. When it says in Hebrews 12 that he sought it, what was he seeking? It says he sought it with tears, what was he seeking? Seeking the blessing. He was seeking the blessing through tears. I want you to think about what a pathetic sight this is. Two chapters earlier, he had no desire for the blessings that come from God through his Father. Now he comes in, Dad, bless me! Don't I just get one, Dad? One blessing? Sorry? I want a blessing, Dad! I want to tell you something. There's no repentance in this text. No repentance mentioned. No repentance suggested. All he did was weep and moan. Beloved, I want you to see that Esau did not repent. God did not reject him because he repented. God rejected him because he never repented. Now don't get me wrong, Esau felt bad about this. He didn't get any earthly possessions, at least not as much as he wanted. He felt bad that he had the consequences. But we've got to understand regret is far from repentance. Feeling sorry is not repentant. In here, He never says, Oh God, I've sinned against you. Oh Father, I've sinned against you. What does He want? A blessing. That's all He wants is stuff. He doesn't want God. Joel Beeky says that he sought the blessing through weeping, but not through Christ. Esau sought through tears that which he sold for a bowl of soup and some bread. In chapter 25, Esau manifested his heart for food over his birthright. In chapter 27, Esau manifested his heart for the blessing instead of God. Not only did he not repent, but I'm going to suggest to you that repentance was never on his mind. Let me prove it to you very quickly. What was Esau's response? I'm gonna kill my brother. That's no heart for God. That's no repentance. Remember Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. That's exactly what happened to Esau. There was no room in Esau's heart for God. Esau could not reverse the consequences of his decision in chapter 25 because there was no repentance in his heart. I want to spend the remainder of our time looking at lessons from Esau. I was tempted. to spend a little bit more time explaining the text and then telling you to come back tonight to hear the lessons. But I was fearful that some of you might not come. So I'm going to get to the lessons, which may go a little bit over time, but that's okay. So I want to ask you a couple of questions. What should we take from this? What should we take from this? What is Hebrews teaching us from the example of Hebrews? First answer, first lesson is we need to guard our own hearts. We need to guard our own hearts. The pulse of Esau's heart led his life to focus on the immediacy of his physical appetites rather than ordering his life around a hot pursuit of God. Your appetite may not be food, but it may be money. It may be security. It may be success, friendship. acceptance, the desire to be liked, recreation, physical fitness, entertainment, etc. Whatever your appetite is, there you will be tempted. You will be tempted to forsake God while pursuing instant gratification. We may not have lentil soup in front of us, but you have your temptation. I have my temptation. And whatever it is, that's where you will be tempted to forsake God, while you pursue instant gratification. John Brown wrote the words in the 17th verse Hebrews 12 verse 17, he says, "...are obviously intended to strike terror into the minds of those who might be induced, like Esau, to sacrifice spiritual privileges for worldly advantages." And the general idea is this, a time will come when you will bitterly, but in vain, regret your fullest choice in conduct. He's exactly right. Again, let me remind you that Esau is Abraham's grandson. This is not an immoral, ungodly person in what we might think. He has the crumbs of covenant blessings that he has rejected for a piece of soup and bread. So what was John Brown saying? He says, do not neglect, that's what he's saying, do not neglect the means of grace for earthly expediency because you never know when that one forfeiture will lead to a final departure. What do you think about that? It takes one step away from God to lead you away from God. Don't go there. Esau never recovered. He never recovered. And I want to suggest to us today that some of us are flirting with the world so much that you may never recover. It doesn't matter how much you weep, it doesn't matter how much you cry, it doesn't matter how much you feel bad about your actions or the consequences of them. One pastor put it this way, Esau crossed the invisible line where there was no return. To put this in covenantal language, Esau wanted covenant blessings, but he did not want the God of the covenant. We have to guard our hearts, beloved. What are we pursuing in this Christian life? Is it God who we love? Is it God who we want more than anything? Or are we in this thing for ease and comfort and stuff? We must be on guard in our hearts of any departure from God. Commenting on Esau's selling of his birthright, Alan Ross wrote, Profane people are willing to relinquish things of lasting spiritual value because they live to satisfy their basic appetites. Beloved, we must learn from Esau to guard our hearts. We'll give you a second lesson. And yes, I'm getting this outline from Hebrews chapter 12, verses 15 through 17. Oversee others. Where to oversee others. I have no doubt that some of you, or if not most of you, have been thinking off and on throughout this whole message of how Paul uses Jacob and Esau in Romans chapter 9 in manifesting God's predestining election. I'm going to tell you this morning, I'm not going to try to put God's free, sovereign election together with this text this morning. The writer of Hebrews, as we said last week, has no problem of putting the blame on your footsteps. Okay? If the writer of Hebrews has no problems with dealing with human responsibility, I've got no problem with dealing with human responsibility. See, the emphasis of this text is on Esau's heart that was against God, and the reality that we can become an Esau, and that we can also be an instrument by which God stops people from being an Esau. This text is dripping with human responsibility. Don't be an Esau. Well, come on, God hated Esau, didn't He? Why do we always blame God? This text is telling us, don't be an Esau, and in the midst of God's professing people, make sure that others don't become an Esau. Now I want you to think about the situation when Esau sold his birthright. as one who understands the importance of the birthright, and if you were the third person in the room, wouldn't you have tried to stop Esau? Esau, don't sell the birthright. Esau, you don't understand what you're doing. You don't understand what you're throwing away. Would you have not gone to Esau, and as a couple of you said last week, don't you just feel like sometimes you're shaking people? Don't you get this? Repent. And wouldn't you have gone up to Esau and said, you've got to think beyond the physical appetites of your stomach. Wouldn't you have attempted to say, Esau, Don't you understand the immiserable grace that you're throwing away in the Abrahamic Covenant? And you might be thinking to yourself right now, of course I would. But I wasn't there. Isn't this what God's telling us to do in Hebrews? Is to be the third person? To know one another enough to know what our temptations are? to know where our heart's condition is, to be able to come along and say, don't go there, don't sell your birthright for worldliness, for earthly attachments, don't go there. We should be those who are willing to go to one another. So don't be an easel. Don't sell what you've been given. Don't let physical, earthly, momentary, fleeting stuff get in your way of pursuing God. So we must give careful attention to one another, lest any of us drift away from God, who has offered salvation in the new covenant through the final and once for all sacrifice of Christ. I have no doubt there's someone in this room that needs to hear this. You've made steps away from Christ, and your life, in your heart at least, is manifesting Esau. This text is saying, don't go there. Don't go there. There's a loss that's before you that you don't get, that you don't comprehend. You've got to trust the Word, got to trust the Lord, So what the writer of Hebrews is telling us to do, be the third person in the room. Don't sell your birthright. We have to guard our hearts. We have to oversee others. I want to give you the third and final lesson that we can learn, and there are two parts to this. The main heading of this is for families. What can we learn from this for families? We begin with parents. Moms and dads, you have a most privileged responsibility to pass on to your children the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These truths are the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. You cannot save your children. You cannot change their hearts. You cannot grant to them repentance. But you can faithfully teach them the truths of Jesus Christ. And you can faithfully model for them what love for the triune God looks like in your life. So today, moms and dads, do your children see you valuing and cherishing the spiritual blessings that have come to you in Christ under the new covenant over your physical appetites? What do your children see you pursuing? Do they feel the immense and incomprehensible grace that is found in salvation when they hear you storm the throne of grace on their behalf for their salvation and for their sanctification? Do they see you value the eternal salvation in Christ by the way that you live? Or does your life cloud your profession of faith? You may ask this morning, Mom and Dad, is Christ an addition to your life? Or is Christ your life? Do your children know of your intense longing for them to be in Christ? We've got to remember that Esau was under the Abrahamic covenant. and his grandfather and his father were to be faithful to pass on those truths. We are to be faithful. This promise to the Abrahamic covenant is to the offspring over and over and over and over. It passes on. Are we passing this on to our children? But I want to be more faithful to this text than this. I want to talk to children. This is about a child's response. When I talk about child, I'm talking about a young person, a young adult. I'm talking to anybody in this room who was raised in a Christian family, no matter your age. We must not view Esau as a young teenager, as an adult. Children, you are blessed to have Christian parents. You are blessed to be brought under a mom and dad who love Christ, who cherish Christ. You have parents who faithfully bring you to church. You have parents who faithfully call you to read the Bible, to pray and to have friendships that will spur you on to godliness. Your parents faithfully lead you to Jesus Christ. Do you cherish your parents for that? Do you cherish that God in His sovereignty has placed you in a home where you have daily instruction from the Word of God? Do you thank your mom and dad for their faithfulness to you? Do you thank God for giving you Christian parents? I understand that some ages and some stages in life it could be a real damper to have Christian parents. I understand that. But do you understand what God has given you? And that your parents love God and they love you and they're willing They're willing to go against the tidal wave of society, where society says, let your child do what they want to do, be what they want to be, and your parents are standing in the gap and saying, no, this is what God says. This is what God's standards are. This is the consequences of your actions, and your attitudes, and your behaviors, and your speech. Are you grateful for what God has given to you? For one who was not raised in a Christian family, you have no idea what you've been given. No idea. And Esau threw it away. I know your home is not perfect. There is no perfect home. But your parents love God. They understand the means of grace. So I want to ask you this morning, children, and again, understand the classification, what I mean by children, if you've been brought up in a Christian home. Do you despise the spiritual heritage you have been given, like Esau despised his birthright? Or do you cherish it? Do you value it? Do you understand that your parents cannot save you and their faith cannot save you? You must come to a point in your life where Christ becomes your God. Today is a day of salvation. I know of a young person who last night said, tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow may be too late. So my conclusion this morning is rather simple and very brief. Peninsular Bible Church, don't be an easel. Let's pray. Our Father, help us not to turn our back on you. Help us to not love the world or the things in the world to where it crowds out our affections and our devotions for you. God, there is so much distraction in this world. God, may we understand the blessings that you have given us by being raised in a country where it's so free to worship. We have so much Christian literature, music, so many Bibles and churches and sermons online. God, may we understand what we've been given and who gave it to us. God, I ask you that beyond what any sermon can do, that your Spirit would search our hearts. God, make our hearts known to ourselves so that we can become right with you. God, we know that in every one of us, Every single one of us, there are Esau-like tendencies. God, break that from us. Lord, I pray for the young people in our church. We thank you that they're here. I just ask you, Father, that you would save them. And for those who know you, may you encourage them to continue to walk in faithfulness to you. I pray that our children would be grateful. Be grateful to their moms and dads. And help us as parents to turn the hearts and minds of our children to you. But we can only do that in Christ. God, may we not be Esau. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.