Let's bow our heads in prayer. Lord, bless us as we come to the preaching of the Word of God. Give us the anointing of Thy Divine Spirit for Jesus' sake and the people of God's sake. Amen. Take your seat and let's turn over to this a great book that we have been reading in our public reading tonight. And we're going to look again. We had a brief look at this book this morning and we're going to have a look at it again in the will and the plan and purpose of the Lord. The interesting thing about this book is that it is extra special, for there is no other book in the Bible like it. And that's a tall claim to make, but it's right. And we ought to be eager to find out why the Holy Spirit directed that this small book, just one chapter book, should appear in the Old Testament Scriptures. And it's about a subject, a subject of the destruction of the enemies of God. The story of Esau and his apostasy. The man that was the firstborn of Isaac, but the man that failed miserably, sold his heritage and became a persecutor of his cousins who were the sons of Jacob. A very solemn book. And we're going to have another look at that book. We looked at it this morning. I'm glad many people were helped and told us so by hearing the word this morning. And we're going to look again at it tonight. A long, a bitter, and a bloody battle. It was a battle in a family. And that family became enemies of itself and had a record of disaster and murder the like of which had never been heard about in the history of the great nations of Old Testament life. What a sad thing. the brethren of Esau setting themselves against the brethren of Jacob. If you read the story of Jacob you'll find a day when the two brothers Esau and after Esau his brother Jacob they came together. One of them wept and one of them didn't weep. And there arose a battle indescribable between the two families. It ended in the final and total extermination of Esau. Just think about that. One family that was totally destroyed because of its wickedness. The long, the bitter, the bloody war between Those two families, those two kingdoms, those two sons of Isaac was something never written about before and never seen again. But that battle as we sit here is not yet finished. Story of it I have read to you tonight, but it's not in the finish as yet. But what is finished is the sentencing. And what is finished is God's judgment that one part of this family will be wiped out. forever, and it will. And because it stood on the other side, joined hands with the enemy, persecuted its own families and its own members of the blood of Abraham and Isaac, that little small family that grew to be the great nation of Eden. Damned forever by the judgment of God. I think we need to sit tonight and shudder when we think of the great man Abraham. of the great man, Isaac. And then we come down to Esau and we come down to Jacob. The deterioration of sin, the power of evil that was man at last. I believe all of us who are redeemed by the Lord will one day in the great day of judgment will be led out by God himself and we'll all stand as a redeemed of the Lord and we'll see the final total punishment of that evil tribe headed up by Esau. And the day thou stood on the other side, thou wast as one of them. What does it mean? That these men of Esau, entered into a full fellowship with their family's enemies until they were part of the enemies of God and not part of his friend and covenant family. What an awful story it is. was in many ways a strange character. Like us all, he was tinctured with his own bad blood. But he was all the time the man of God. He did not give in to the enemy altogether. and he rejoiced in the blessings that God gave to him. But this night and hour, in hell, in the fires of the damned, in the place of judgment, the whole family of Esau are receiving the scourge and the punishment of the God of heaven. It makes me shudder when I think of one who had such an heirloom as Esau had, such a one who was close to Abraham and Isaac in those early days. And yet that man led his tribe to darkness, the shadow of death, and the final doom of all his family. How could it be that a man with the blood of the father of the faithful, Abraham, on his veins, how could it be that he would be found in such company and doing such horrible things upon his own cousins and friends? But it happened. Sin is something that man cannot fight. Sin is always the winner. And I want you to remember that. No man has ever conquered sin. Thank God sin has been conquered by the power of the blood and the name of our Savior. and the strength of his oblivion. But it has been conquered by him, not by any human strength. We turn tonight to look upon this family. There was an old hymn writer called John Latchford. He lived in the early days of the 19th century. And he wrote this hymn, Dear Lord, to Thee I'll tell my mind, And on Thy precious name I'll call, Because there is, I daily find, A secret something sweetens all. The Lord to me indeed is kind, He knows my strength is very small, but this He gives me still to find. There's something secret sweetens all. And when by sickness I'm confined, then lo, before the Lord I'll fall, and to my comfort always find. there's something secret sweetens all. To me there is no peace of mind from all that's on this earthly ball. But yet there is in Christ, I find, a secret something sweetens all. Soon death will come with message kind. and I shall hear my Savior call, I then indeed shall truly find there's something sweetens, secret sweetens all. What is it? It's a vision of the Son of God, the loving, tender, giver of His own blood for our redemption. Oh, that God would lead us tonight to Mount Calvary. Oh, that we could put our feet in the footprints of the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world. Oh, to see His tears. Oh, to hear His word. Oh, to witness His grandeur, His greatness, and His grace. Emmanuel, God with us. And what a glory is in Emmanuel. Oh, to lie forever here, doubt and care and self-resign, while He whispers in mine ear, I am His. and He is mine. I'd like to ask you a personal question tonight. Have you a personal relationship with that person, Christ, and His law? Or are you a rebel, rebelling continually against His grace? His love, His passion, His prayers, and His desire to win you to Himself. Oh, someday the shutters will go up forever on the men and the women and the boys and the girls of this tribe of Esau. When no light of God will rush in to lighten the hearts or for some little time keep the door of mercy open because God's judgment will wipe out eternally the tribe of Esau. And Esau's heritage will be forgotten forevermore. Who would want to be of the tribe of Esau when that great tempest of judgment falls? and the finality of that tribe is wiped from this history of the sacred pages of the Word of God. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after death the judgment. Who could describe the final judgment of the final members of the tribe of Esau. A man who witnessed the wonder of his grandfather, old man Abraham. A man who sat and talked with his father about the wonder of Jehovah. yet the man that went down to hell to the blackness of darkness forevermore. I shiver to think of the end of this man and the sorrow that he brought to the family. The whole world has felt the poison of Esau in its veins and in its blood. And what a history this tribe had. Oh, times of tremendous victory, times of tremendous power, times when man shook with the very name of Esau was upon the lips of the enemy. But that is not so now. Where is Esau? Esau is in the prison house of the damned, awaiting for the call of final judgment. from the great high priest of God. Oh, what a terrible ending for such a man, a man who saw the secrets, who witnessed the glory, a man who saw his grandfather in the midst of his patriarchal power and his grandfather and others doing the work of God. But he didn't do the work of God himself. He did the work of the devil. He lined up with the enemy of the enemies of God. And in the day when God sought him, where was he? He was among the enemies. He was marked for judgment and for eternity. Eternity. Eternity. Where will I be in eternity? of the divine scrutiny of God is thorough and solemn. And when we come to study God's action of judgment, we are summonsed to the divine searching and scrutiny of the God with whom we have to do. First of all, As fallen men and women, we all, as children of God's creation, are summoned to face the bar of parental authority. Our parents stand between us and the directive of God's law, and our parental duties give to us the scrutiny and examination that we need. But has the rod of God had an influence upon the way we live? Has the whip of judgment tore into our consciousness of where we're going to spend eternity? Oh, where do we stand? Do we stand shaking, weeping, crying, and repenting in the atmosphere of the God of all the earth? Or do we stand with a hardened heart? Do we stand with a blackened conscience? Do we stand with the fullness of rejection in our souls. Be in time. Be in time. While the voice of Jesus calls us, be in time. If in sin we longer wait, we will find no open gate, and our cry will be too late, be in time. There's one thing that encourages me as I stand here this night as a gospel preacher, and that is the magnitude and the fullness of God's grace in Jesus Christ. Mercy there will was free. Pardom there was multiplied to me. There my blessed eyes were made to see at Calvary. I remember the night that I stood at the old rugged cross. I remember the feelings that I had The sorrow I had, the brokenness I had, the terror I had, but I saw something in the eye of Christ. What was it? It was a tear, for he wept for me upon the cross. I saw something more than the tear, I saw the drops of blood. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their ghillie stain. I want to invite you, my friend, tonight to come to the cross. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus can set you free. His blood has cleansed ten million souls. His blood, hallelujah, cleansed me. Everyone is a sinner. however pure and fair his life may see. He is a sinner. He is a sinner darkened with damnation written upon him. He has violated the whole law and the law has been broken by him. over and over and over again. But with all your sins and sinning, with all your crimes and criminality, with all your blackness and darkness, let me tell you tonight, my dear sinner friend, Christ receiveth sinful men. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repent. He came for you. We need to know that God is good and we know that. Too many see him as wrathful, angry and vindicative. But that is not the God that sent his son to the cross. to atone for our sins. The prophet Nahum painted a completely different picture of the real living God. He emphasized that He was good. He was a refuge in the time of trouble, a stranger in a strange land. And those that trust in Him, He saves them by His grace. He wraps them in the plate and blanket of His love. And He brings them to the Father's house of many mansions to be there, to be there. Oh, what must it be to be there? I trust tonight that not one in this service will go away a Christ-rejecter. I trust you'll go away a Christ-accepter. You will receive Him. Saved by a cry, call upon Me in the day of trouble. Will you call upon Him now? He will save you. Hallelujah! He will save you now. Let's bow our heads. Father, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word, and we thank Thee most of all for Thy love. Oh, t'was love to His wondrous love, the love of God for me that brought my Savior from above to die on Calvary. Lord, bring sinners to the cross tonight. Lord, bring those that are lost to be found of the Savior of man. And grant that this may be a night when souls shall start the journey to heaven, saved by the Savior's blood and grace alone. And may God's grace and mercy and peace be with us. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. God bless His Word to our hearts tonight. And if you want to talk with me after the meeting, I'll be in the vestment. I'll be glad to talk with you. If you're lost, let me tell you, you can be seen. If you have lived forever for the devil and the things of hell, thank God that can cease tonight and you can start for the glory of God. Be in time, be in time, while the voice of Jesus calls you. Be in time, if it's any longer, wait. You may find no open gate, and your cry be just too late. In God's name, be in time. And God's people said, amen.