This sermon was preached at University Park Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. For more information about UPBC, visit upbchouston.org. Just a quick addition to the announcements. This afternoon there's going to be several, hopefully of you, gathered to pray around the community and pass out some flyers about VBS. That happens around five o'clock. can meet over in the fellowship hall. I would encourage you to do that and to be a part of that, just getting the word out about VBS. The elders will not be there. The elders are heading to a retreat, kind of a mini retreat this afternoon and will be gone until Monday evening, late. And so I would just encourage you to pray for us as we go. and just pray together and begin to plan and spend time together and we'll be praying for you. And so looking forward to what God's gonna do in and through us in the coming days and months and years. If you have a Bible, hopefully you've opened to Genesis chapter 36, that's where we'll be this morning. If you haven't already left when Kim mentioned it was a genealogy, you're still here, I'm glad. Genesis 36, let's pray together. Lord, we do pray that we would stand in the power of Christ. And as we come to your word that you would form us and shape us to be more like him, less like the world. Lord, we pray that you would open our eyes to just how easy it is to be good in the world's eyes. How easy it is to go with the flow and not make a lot of waves and to be respected and even honored and spend eternity in hell. Remind us, Lord, of the good news and the importance of the content of the good news, the reality of eternity. Give us boldness, give us a greater love for you and of the gospel and for others. Be our teacher now as we look to your word. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Imagine with me that you're at a funeral, and as the obituary is being read from the front, this is what you hear. He was just a great guy to be around. He had a spontaneous nature about him. He was an avid outdoorsman. He was extremely extroverted. He loved to hang out with his buddies, just kind of a man's man, full of courage. He was competitive. He loved to win. He loved to hunt. He loved the chase of the hunt. He was rugged and brawny. He had eyes as sharp as an eagle's. His arrow never missed his mark. He was just a picture of skill and success. He was the pride of his hometown. And just between us, he was his father's favorite son. He was always around helping where and when he could. Everyone loved him, his friends, children, when he would bring surprises from the hunt, and the ladies. He was loved by the ladies. He's a bit of a ladies man. He left a legacy of success for his children and grandchildren. So that is a fictitious obituary for Jacob's brother, Isaac's son, Esau, with some help from the 19th century Scottish preacher, Alexander White. There's a way to look at Esau's life and come away saying he was a pretty great guy. He had his faults like everyone does. Nobody's perfect, but he's a pretty good guy. I wonder if you've heard an obituary like that. I've heard many. a man or a woman who was the centerpiece in their family, in their community, hard workers, helping others when they could, they loved life, they provided, maybe they made a lot of money, helped people and were generous with their money, they were leaders in society or politics. I've heard a lot of what I would just call good old boy, good old guy obituaries. And they are some of the most tragic stories you will ever hear because they are measured against a standard that is completely wrong. God is completely absent from their story. The genealogy of Esau in Genesis 36 is impressive. His family becomes a nation. Just let that land on you. Sometimes I dream about the United States of Cardwell That's not gonna happen. His family becomes a nation. It's full of what we might call cultural elites today. Chiefs and leaders and kings. He was immensely wealthy. He had multiple wives and children and grandchildren. There are some 73 names listed in this chapter. We're not gonna read them all. Compare that with Jacob's 12 sons. Kind of a measly 12 that we saw in chapter 35, wandering around asking, like, what are we gonna do next? But hear Jesus' question. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his own soul? Esau lived for the now. Yolo was his Motto, you only live once. I had to look that up. Friends, the Bible has a much different message than that, a much better message. Life is short and followed by eternity. And eternity depends on what happens in that little short dash on the tombstone between our birthday and the day in which we die. It is appointed for man to die once and then the judgment. Someone's gonna stand over you. Someone's gonna stand over me and say something like what we see here in Genesis 36, the names of your children, if you have children, grandchildren, if you have those, something about your spouse, if you're married, something about your interests, something about what drove you. about what you did with those 60 or 70 or 80 or more years that you were allotted, and something about what you left behind. Will these words of Jesus in Matthew 16 make sense on that day? For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. that he or she lost his life or her life for Christ, and now they have truly found it? Or will that day be a day that leaves everyone questioning? Where are they now? Did they lose it? Moses is making a clear point in the way that he structures the book of Genesis. And the genealogies, in particular, act like a spine to the book that hold the whole thing together. And we typically, honestly, just endure them, barely, or we skip them, but they are there for a reason. And they're there for our benefit and instruction. And so this morning, we're not going to read through all the names, but I do want to make some observations about what we're going to see here in chapter 36 that we can take away. But also first, I just want to say some things about the structure of Genesis that I hope just helps us to see what Moses is intending for us to see. And so just some structural notes first that we see in Genesis. That phrase there in chapter 36, verse 1, the generations, these are the generations of Esau. That's what we've seen often. We've seen that regularly in our study of Genesis. There are actually ten of those statements in Genesis that act like bookmarks for each new section. All of them have that word generations or account of. That word is the word in Hebrew, toledot. And we see that even in chapter 2, Genesis 2-4. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. I think there's a slide up here if you want to just glance at it to see those 10 toledots. that we see there in Genesis, and you can kind of see where they land and how it provides this spine that locates all the story of Genesis together, from the heavens and the earth, to Adam's line, to Noah's line, and then Noah's sons, and then Shem's line, and then Terah's line, which is particularly focused on Abraham, and then Ishmael's line. Notice how short Ishmael's line is. And then the account of Isaac's line, notice in comparison how long those two lines together, Ishmael's and Isaac's, you could parallel with Esau's and Jacob's. Again we see Esau's get one chapter and then Jacob's line which will begin next time, Lord willing, chapter 37 through 50. And so you'll see that we're entering into a new section in the book of Genesis. And the camera now is gonna be focused on the story of Jacob's sons and especially Joseph. That's gonna take us through the end of the book. But first we get this 43-verse genealogy dealing with Esau's descendants. I'm not saying you need to find your life verse in this genealogy. But I am saying that it is important for you to understand and think through as you look at the overall book of Genesis. I had a conversation this week with a brother who had seen a Muslim friend come to faith. And one of the things that Muslim friend noted that was so impactful in reading the Bible were the genealogies. Because that showed him that this is a very real story with real people. And it's very old. And it leads to a very real savior. And so it's actually an important, it was an important apologetic for him. So just keep that in mind. This is not our culture. We are taking kind of a Western culture and then usually imposing it on the Bible. Let's lay that culture down and try to let its culture and shape. influence us, because this is the one that God chose to communicate in and through. And so let's just try to think carefully to that regard. Moses has been drawing kind of this bright line of division from Genesis 3, or really on, between those that submit themselves to God and his word and those who don't. And we've seen that line of descent associated with the serpent all the way back in Genesis 3. And then those who follow after the serpent, who act like the serpent, and who experience the curse that the serpent experienced. Just think Cain as a real easy example in Genesis 4. Then you've also seen a line associated with the seed of promise from Genesis 3.15 on, that they experience the grace of God. and that that seed continues to obey and submit to Him. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob experience that grace. So the way that Moses records it is interesting. Each time a non-elect, non-chosen son, kind of in the line of the serpent, dies, they're given a very short genealogy, like we see here in chapter 36, comparatively short. It usually comes right after the death of the father. And so the genealogy of Ishmael, it's seven verses long, and it comes right after Abraham's death. And now we see the genealogy of Esau, one chapter, right after Isaac's death. Now, both are still given space, aren't they, in the book? And both experience, to some extent, God's blessing as Abraham's descendants. But we don't seem to find saving faith, as far as we can tell. We might say they have an experience of common grace. Grace of being a human being, created in God's image. We see this all the time, don't we, with people that we know and even love, that can do impressive things, that are creative and kind and giving and intelligent. They're leaders. Some of them have changed the world and don't know Jesus Christ. But because they're made in the image of God, they're doing these wonderful things. that over and against special revelation, or we might say effectual revelation or grace that actually saves us and reunites us with God. So the structure of Genesis kind of goes like this. Chapters 2 to 11 show the generations of creation of man, man rebelling. That culminates, it goes all the way through really to chapter 11 in the Tower of Babel, which is kind of man's attempt to get back to God on his own. I'm gonna build a tower myself and get to God myself. That's Genesis kind of 2 to 11. Then chapter 12 begins the story of God saying, no, I'm gonna come to you and bring you to myself. I'm gonna call Abraham. I'm gonna call Abram. and initiate grace to you and make promises to you. And that, we follow the story, was really matched what we saw in chapter 35 of Genesis last time. God is almost mirroring what he did with Abraham with Jacob. And he's saying he's continuing to move this redemptive project forward through Jacob and his sons. And so Ishmael is mentioned in a few verses, for a few verses, Isaac's line, is given 10 chapters. That's a pretty big comparison. Now, Esau's descendants are mentioned in chapter 36, and then we're gonna see 13 chapters. Chapters 37 and 50, they're gonna take us through the rest of the year, Lord willing, focused on Jacob's descendants. Now Moses, he's a brilliant author. He's carried along by the Holy Spirit, but he's intentionally showing us that God keeps his promises. His sovereign grace is at work and his plan is moving forward to save a people for himself. And so throughout the story and throughout our lives, there are gonna be people that are part of that plan and there are gonna be people who are not. There will be good old guys like Esau and Ishmael. There are probably some in your life that you can think of right now, some very close to you in that category. And if you're honest, we desperately want to believe that their eternal state is better than we are pretty sure that it is. That deep down, there's more than we can see. And sometimes we even, with that thought, push them out of our minds. We might even think of it as wishful thinking. Moses is reminding us, beloved, God means what he says. There are two paths. There are two eternal destinations. So here's my application to you. Be clear with the gospel. Be really clear in your thinking about the gospel and your sharing of the gospel. Be bold to share the truth, to teach what God says about sin and grace and the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Be specific. The devil loves for us to be vague about the gospel. Don't you hear people talk about that? A love for God, a generic kind of religiosity that gives some kind of assuagence to the conscience. We need to be very specific. It's the difference between saying there's a hurricane in Texas and there's a hurricane in Houston. We respond to those two things quite differently. We need to be specific and personal and call people to respond, not just to hear the news, but to respond to the news that you were created by God in his image to know him and love him and you have sinned against him. You have cut yourself off from him and deserve his wrath and will receive his wrath apart from grace that comes to you only through Jesus Christ. who came to live a life that we could not live, that was sinless, was righteous, and he laid that life down on the cross as a sacrifice for all that would turn from their sins and put their trust in him. And three days later, he rose from the grave. That's the good news. That news has specific content, and we must respond to that news with repentance, turning from our sins, and putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We need to be faithful believers and teachers of the gospel. We would do well to remember that time is passing us by. It is always flowing by. Who needs to know the good news in your life? Now let's step back and turn our attention to chapter 36 a little bit here. And let's make some observations. Again, we're not going to read the passage, but I want you to just see an outline. And there's another just an idea here of what's going on in this passage, and we'll make some comments as we go through. You see in verse 1 the title, which is that Toledot that we mentioned, the generations of Esau. Then we're going to learn something about Esau's marriages, something about his move to Seir. his sons and his grandsons, and then in verses 15 to 19, the chiefs that descend from Esau, and then descendants of Sair the Horite, and then more chiefs descended from Sair. And then in verses 31 to 39, a list of kings from Edom. And then more chiefs in verses 40 to 43. And then you have this kind of ending note, which I think this kind of acts like a bracket over the text in chapter 37 verse 1, this note about Jacob that compares where he settled. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojourn, he's in the land of Canaan, and then right after that you get another Toledot in verse 2. So that's the structure of Genesis 36. The title there in verse one not only tells us what we're looking at, but also it makes the connection, doesn't it, between Esau and the nation that Esau did in fact become, Edom. Notice just the repetition of this in the chapter. It's in verse one, we saw that there, but it's also in verse eight. Look down at verse eight. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom. Look at verse nine. These are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Syre. Look down at verse 19. These are the sons of Esau, that is Edom, and they are chiefs. Then look at the end of the chapter, verse 43. Madyl and Aram, these are the chiefs of Edom, that is Esau, the father of Edom. Why is Moses repeating this over and over again? Perhaps he's showing a progression from Esau turning into a nation over time that's developed, but I think ultimately he's emphasizing that God has made good on His promise. God is faithful. He had said to Rebekah in Genesis 25, two nations are in your womb. Mothers, just put yourself in her shoes and try to think about how you would process that. Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples from within you shall be divided. One shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. Imagine Isaac talking to his buddies about that promise. Yeah, my boys are gonna grow up to be nations. Sure they are. My boys are gonna play in the MLB and be president and fly to the moon, Isaac. It's just an outrageous promise. But Moses doesn't want us to miss that God is keeping his word here. And if he did it for Esau, how much more would he do it for Jacob? Esau has become Edom. And Edom becomes not just a nation, but a very impressive and prosperous nation. Look down at chapter 36, verse six. Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojourn sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Syre. Esau is Edom. It seems that Esau is kind of hanging around the promised land until Jacob returns from that 20-year sojourn with Laban. And we know that Jacob has prospered under God's blessing, but so has Esau. And like Abraham and Lot, if you remember that kind of scenario back earlier in Genesis, the land isn't big enough for the both of them. And so they have to separate. And maybe this is just Esau making an excuse. We know from chapter 34 in Shechem there seemed to be plenty of land there, but they have to separate. That's how wealthy and prosperous Esau and this nation is. Numerous descendants, but not just people descending from Esau, but his children and grandchildren were movers and shakers. in this country. Many of them were chiefs, which is like a tribal leader in Edom. Chiefs are descended from Esau in chapters 20, in verses 20 to 28, chief from Seir 29 to 30, and then another list of chiefs in verses 40 to 43. But not just chiefs, kings 31. These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites. So even before Israel develops a monarchy, there are kings in Edom, a bunch of them. They seem to be kind of elected or appointed, and it's not like a dynastic appointment. But God promised Abraham, didn't he, that kings would come from him? We saw that back in chapter 17. And so Moses makes sure to point out that through Esau, much sooner than through Jacob, that promise proved true. So I think it's just interesting that the nation of Edom experiences the blessing of God before and maybe even to a greater degree in some ways than God's own people. If you just look at chapter 36 by itself, you just gotta be impressed. Compare it with chapter 37 and you see Jacob and his 12 sons wandering around Canaan. That's not too impressive. Do you ever think like that in your own life? Do you ever just notice that? Man, these people at work do not care about God. They could not care less about God. They cheat, they don't have integrity, they just go with the flow of the culture, and they seem to be doing great. They're moving up. Everything seems to be happy in their life. We look at Hollywood, that's the picture we get, we look at the political world, we look at the movers and shakers in our culture, and then look at us. A small group gathered together for worship, some of us discouraged, some of us tired, some of us wondering what tomorrow is gonna hold, but committed to serve the Lord, committed to serve one another. What real difference are we gonna make? Jeremiah asks the question in Jeremiah 12, why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? So this is what Genesis is teaching us, that all of that royalty, all of that prestige, all of those numbers of descendants mean nothing apart from the Lord. Don't trade 15 minutes of fame or 43 verses of a genealogy for your birthright, for eternal life. Because with the prominence that we see here in Edom comes very clear compromise. That's how, if you wanna get ahead in that way, in that stream, you need to be popular and that's gonna include compromise. on the hard truths. You want to be liked by everyone? You better get ready to compromise. Be the captain of your own ship. Follow your heart. But friends, we do not live to please others. We live to please and glorify God. One of the first things that's mentioned about Esau in this genealogy, verse two, Esau took his wives from the Canaanites. Ada, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite. Ohumba, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion, the Hivite, and Baismith, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebooth. Intermarrying with the Canaanites was clearly forbidden. Esau knew it, later it becomes part of the Mosaic law, and yet we read of his multiple wives from Canaan, and we also read that they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah, chapter 26. Esau not only compromised who he was, giving up his birthright, but also who his family should be, who his children would serve through his choices in marriage. Listen to this quote from Kent Hughes. Kent Hughes is a commentator and he's a long-term pastor. And so, but he I think speaks this out of his own experience as a pastor. And he says, a man's choice in marriage showcases his values and is almost always the determining factor in the trajectory of his life. I read that and was like, dang, that's strong. But think about what that says, who it is that we decide to, if the Lord opens that door to spend the rest of our lives with, says so much about us. Esau is spitting in his parents' face, in God's face, when he does this. It just speaks volumes about where his heart was. He is clearly driven more by his lusts, more by what he sees and wants immediately than what God says is good and right. This is the world's ethic, and particularly the world's sexual ethic. It's not just follow your desires, it's you are your desires. Your sexual desires are who you are. If you desire to be a man and you're a woman, that's who you are. Anyone who says that you shouldn't do that is oppressing you. If you desire to have multiple sexual relationships and not be tied down with marriage, who's gonna say any different? Friends, this month in our country is celebrating this reality through Pride Month. Isn't that an ironic name? It is our pride that will send us to hell. There's no question that Satan's ploy, at least one of them, is to confuse and lie about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. to locate our ultimate truth within ourselves. As we as Christians know from a biblical worldview, that truth has to come outside of us. It comes from a holy God who speaks authoritatively over us because he's created us. We don't get to make up who we are in our own hearts and minds, but that is exactly what Satan is teaching us. Going right at the foundations of what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, who God made us to be. And not only do we see that as rebellion, but friends, this is clearly celebrated rebellion in our country. And it's almost word for word from a news clipping that Paul is just commentating on in Romans 1. And so let me just read a few verses from Romans 1, chapter 26, beginning there. God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For there, women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women who were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Natural just means designed by God. God making us one way, God making us to be man or a woman and rebelling against that and deciding we're going to abandon that. But he goes on in Romans 1 verse 32, though they know God's righteous decree and those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. They celebrate them. and call others to celebrate them. In fact, force others to celebrate them. Many of you are experiencing this pressure in a regular way in the place that you work. I want you to know that you're regularly in our prayers. Those of you who have to be faced with this on a regular basis and where is the tension and how do I be faithful to God in a corporation or that has a culture that is celebrating what God clearly forbids. Seek to be faithful. Seek to be a witness to the gospel. And understand this, if you're someone who's hearing that, and you're saying, I myself struggle with sexual sin, I want you to know that we don't want to be the kind of church that only shouts from the pulpit, hey, homosexual is wrong, pornography is wrong, it's a sin, it clearly is a sin. You have to just close your eyes to the New Testament not to think that. It's against God's plan, it's against God's purpose. But this is also a hospital for sinners. A place where you can find hope and grace in the gospel. And so we want to model God's way. We wanna teach God's way. We wanna have marriages that are full of joy and hope. And listen, singleness, full of joy and hope. Some of us in this room may never marry or never marry again. And you just need to know that's not a black mark on you. Jesus never married, Paul never married, marriage isn't the gospel. It pictures the gospel, but it's not the gospel. Some in our church struggle with same-sex attraction and hate it and want to kill it and want to serve Jesus. This is a place where you can work through that and be encouraged to follow Christ faithfully. This is a family and we are all sinners. But this is not a place for unrepentant sin, for flaunting our desires, for turning our backs on God's good design for marriage and sexuality and gender. This is an issue worth living for and even dying for, but not for Esau. Not for Esau. Esau's nation, Edom, those who would follow after him would continue to follow in his footsteps, and they would become one of Israel's clearest enemies. Some 500 years after Esau, the Edomites refused to allow Moses and Israel to pass through their territory during the Exodus. That's Numbers 20. When Saul becomes king in Israel, he had to fight the Edomites. 1 Samuel 14, when Israel was deported to Babylon, the Edomites blocked them and delivered them back to their captors, that's Obadiah 14. Just read Obadiah 14 if you want to think about his praying kind of an imprecatory prayer against the Edomites. This gives some context to just Malachi's words that Paul later quotes in Romans 9. Malachi 1 says, I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country, and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. If Edom says, we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins, the Lord of hosts says, they may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country, and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. And eventually it would be an Edomite king, King Herod, that would seek to kill babies in Bethlehem to try and get at one baby in particular, the Messiah, King Jesus in Matthew 2. The battle lines just continue that clearly. Now, as we read through this chapter, there are some interesting names that pop up. We see the name Eliphaz in verse 4. Maybe that's a name that rings a bell to you. Verse 11, it's one of Job's friends, one of Job's counselors, which possibly, some would argue, points to maybe the location of Job and that whole story perhaps being in Edom. Amalek is on the list, that's not a good thing. One of Israel becomes the Amalekites, one of Israel's greatest and most bitter enemies. But all in all, what we see in this chapter is just a summary of Esau's life that looks like this. He cut himself off from God's promises and from God's people. He cut himself off from God's promises and from God's people. He intermarried with the Canaanites and he moved away from the promised land. And when he walked away, he showed himself to be like Lot, when he separated from Abraham and went to Sodom. And we know what happened in Sodom. Gordon Wynnum says this about Esau, he says, when he moves away from the promised land, he walks out of salvation history forever. His story is over. The author of Hebrews uses his life as a warning. Hebrews 12, verse 15, 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." And ultimately there he's seeking the blessing, not the God of the blessing, the gift, not the giver. He's ruled by his appetites. Food is why he gives away his birthright. Give me that now, that red stew. Women, sex, lust, now. Right now, how I want it, who I want. Where I'm gonna live, not worried about what God said, I'm gonna live where I say I'm gonna live. He throws off all authority in his life, particularly God's authority. And that is the essence of sin. We have been given, you have been given a very special birthright as a representative of the living God on this planet, which is like a cosmic temple designed for everyone to worship Him, to be filled with worshipers of God, to reflect His glory. But we have despised our birthright, chosen our own way, whether through sexual sin or pride or a disregard for others, a lack of thankfulness to God. Like Esau, we have cut ourselves off from our only source of true life. For there's so much more to life than your next meal, than what your appetites tell you that you must have, a video game, a baseball game, a party, a movie, a quick flash in the pan, sexual fantasy. God has so much more for you. Do not fail to obtain the grace of God, even in our sin. God has made a way for us to know him through Jesus. Yes, lots of kings come from Edom, and they are impressive. It's an impressive list, but there is one king from Jacob who is different, who is the king of kings. And Paul says that for this king, every single knee will bow. Every single tongue will confess. He's not a territorial king. His territory is the universe. He rules the universe and He's offering to rebels forgiveness. Repent of your sin, put your faith and trust in Christ. He died for your sins. He rose again from the grave. He lives and He's coming again. There's hope even for Edomites. According to Revelation 7, 9, a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages will be saved. No one's out of the reach of God's grace. Beloved, don't be discouraged when the wicked prosper. It is falling. It is the dew on the grass. It's about to be burned away by the sun. Go for the lasting pleasure. Go for the true comfort, the security that never goes away, that only comes in Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Colossians 3, again, Paul, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Beloved, a life lived for the things above will not lead to a good old boy, an obituary. Now, I'm not saying you're gonna have a perfect life. Someone's gonna probably say some true things about you when they stand up. There's gonna be mistakes, there's gonna be sin, there's gonna be imperfections. A lot of those same elements may be there, but there will also be a clear, distinct, unmistakable hope. This man, this woman, they lived for another world. They followed another king. They anchored their lives in Jesus Christ. They loved God's promises. They loved God's people. And they will live and reign with Jesus Christ forever to the glory of God. It may look like they lost their life, but actually they found it. May that be true for each of us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time together over your word. We pray that you would help us to be students of the Bible, and that we would understand that it is all inspired, it is all your word. And it is all for our edification and we profit from it when we think deeply about it, think hard about it. So we confess often that our interest in it grows faint and sometimes we see it as not much help to us. So we pray that we would repent and we pray that you would give us eyes to see it for what it is and ultimately to see you for who you are. May we worship you over your word. May we be directed by you. May our children grow up knowing that the boundaries that you put in our lives are good, that we might flourish and grow, or that we might not throw off your authority but embrace it, knowing that it's for our good. Lord, help us to be a witness, a corporate witness in this place. to this gospel, to your character, to your love, to your forgiveness, to your holiness. And for this, we need you. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.