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Do not call to mind the former
things or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something
new. Now it will spring forth. Will
you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in
the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field
will glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I
have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give
drink. to my chosen people." All this
he has done for his chosen people. What an invitation to fellowship.
Who wouldn't want to dine with somebody who provides this for
us? So that's our call. The call
is to come to the table, to dine now, and to enjoy the feast that
we're about to undertake. Amen. Father God, let me invite you
to turn in your Bibles, the book of Obadiah, and we'll continue our study
of this little epistle. I encourage you as well to turn
in your bulletin to the outline, and use that to follow along,
take notes, read the quotes, and by God's grace, get a better
grasp on this passage, and by God's grace, by his grace, be
transformed by the renewing of our minds. So we are in Obadiah,
and this is a wonderful little epistle. Each week I study, I
fall more and more in love with this wonderful little section. It's the shortest book of the
Old Testament, certainly the shortest in the prophets, and
yet it brings quite an incredible punch, because it's pastoral.
It's very pastoral, it's very, very, it's aimed at the heart
of God's people. I'm going to read 5 through 9.
We'll be on it certainly this week and next week as well. But we have been studying it,
so we're going to look primarily today at verse 7, but we'll read
5-9 as our passage. So if you would please stand
together with me as we read God's word. Hear now the word of our King.
If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, Oh, how you'd be ruined. Would they not steal only until
they had enough? If great gatherers came to you,
would they not leave some gleanings? Oh, how Israel would be ransacked,
and his hidden treasures searched out. All the men allied with
you will send you forth to the border, and the men at peace
with you will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your
bread will set an ambush for you, There is no understanding
in Edom, in him. Will I not on that day, declares
the Lord, destroy wise men from Edom and understanding from the
mountain of Esau? Then your mighty men will be
dismayed, O Ataman, in order that everyone may be cut off
from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. Let's follow the reading
of God's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for the privilege of fellowshipping together now around your word
and around this table. Lord, we pray you'd bless this
time. All of this will fall on deaf ears, but for your spirit,
we're combined with your word. transforming us by the ruining
of our minds, that we might be your people and you would be
our God. So Lord, bless this time together now, we pray this
time of fellowship. Give me grace to preach a word
with fidelity and Lord, wet it with the need of your people,
that we might be a people who are fellowshipping richly and
deeply with you this day. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus'
name, amen. Amen, please be seated. Most of you know and you've heard
of the three Ps of sin. The three Ps of sin, the penalty,
the power, and the presence of sin. The penalty of sin is Romans
6, the wage of sin is death. The penalty of sin is death.
And praise be to God that Jesus Christ, God came to this earth,
died on a cross for the penalty of sin, but he was sinless. Therefore he died a substitutionary
death that we here might have life and might live with him. Praise be to God he dealt with
the penalty of sin in his first advent. But with his death and
resurrection, he also addressed the power of sin. The power of
sin is its ability to enslave the sinner. The power of sin
is its ability to keep the sinner sinning. We read in Romans 7,
22, I'm sorry, Romans 6, 6, knowing this, that our old self was crucified
with Christ, that our body of sin might be done away, that
we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died,
that's us, is freed from sin. Christ in his first advent also
addressed the power of sin. When he died and rose again,
he broke the power of sin over us such that we, listen to this,
we do not have to sin. Sin for us is now a choice. For the non-believer, it's not
a choice. But for us in Christ, we no longer have to sin. It
is a choice. And a lot of that, you'd think
that we would all choose not to sin. And yet, we find that
in many passages where sin is the bane of the believer. Sin
is our struggle, our daily struggle. Paul wrote in Romans 7, I joyfully
concur with the law of God. I'm an inner man, but I see a
different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of
my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin. Paul says
in Galatians 5, 17, that the spirit sets its desire against
the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, so that you do not
do the things that you please. Christianity's a war because
the presence of sin has not been dealt with. That's gonna come
at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Until that time, you
and I will struggle, like Paul, all our lives. We will struggle
with sin. Yes, the power of sin's been
broken, but that doesn't mean that it's gonna be easy. We know
from scripture, it's a battle. It's a hard and fierce battle.
And the question is, is there, in scripture, are there passages
in scripture that can help us in this battle? And Obadiah is
one such passage. We can look at many, but Obadiah
5 through 9 is one such passage. Recall the context that in 586
BC, the southern kingdom went into exile. And during the downfall,
the destruction of the city, The Edomites came out in force,
and they came out to heckle, and mock, and ridicule, and make
fun of God's people as they were raped, pillaged, and burned,
and killed, and destroyed. Soon their mockery and their
making fun of God's people turned into action, and we know that
they participated somewhat in the looting of the temple. such
that by the time that Obadiah wrote this, which is right after
586, God's people are in chains, and Obadiah, look at verse 12,
we looked at that, Obadiah said, do not basically open your big
fat mouth He can remember the ridicule of God's people and
how the Edomites opened their big fat mouths and made fun of
God's people, how they died, how they suffered, how they ran,
how they screamed. And so there's a sense of anger
that Obadiah portrays here, that no doubt was not just him, but
most of God's people, as they reflected back upon their brethren,
their distant cousins, the Edomites through Esau. This is their family
members, distant but nevertheless family members, and they were
so cruel. And so brothers and sisters,
get this, God would not have his people Hear me carefully. God would not have his exiled
people live with bitterness, and anger, and resentment. He wouldn't. Understand what
that means. Peter calls us men and women
in exile. So does James. We're in exile. And God would not have his people
at any time be in angry, bitter, Frustrated people. And so the
book of Obadiah was written to both console and warn the people
of God in exile. As I've titled it here, caveats
and consolations in the face of persecution. That's why this
little epistle was written. To shepherd a wounded heart in
the midst of their pain and suffering. Last time we began looking at
5-9, which clearly is what I've titled an exposé of sin. God is warning his people, so
this is the caveat. This is not a consolation. There
might be a little consolation here, hearing the fate of the
Edomites, but it's primarily warning. He's warning his people.
regarding sin. Last week we began looking at,
we saw the present restraint, sin's present restraint. We looked
at verse five and saw that God currently is restraining the
sin of this world, right? Where this world is livable for
God's people. It's livable because God does
not allow us to be as sinful as we possibly could be. Secondly,
God does not allow us to reap the full consequences of the
sin that we commit. If he did, this world would be
unlivable. So there's a present restraint when it comes to sin. Now we're gonna talk about this
a little bit more with our point this morning. Secondly, last
week we saw its end. And the end of sin, this is layered. This passage is layered. Clearly it prophesies six, verse
five, and then 18 of the downfall of the Edomites in verse nine
we read, such that they will be cut off, the mountain of Esau
by slaughter, and in verse 18, they would be no more. So that's
the consequence in the life of Edom. But we have seen that already
that there's statements here, absolute statements that could
not apply to God's people or to the Edomites. And so we conclude
this has to be referencing something bigger as well as the destruction
of Edom. So there's a dual fulfillment
here. And that fulfillment is the last judgment when every
sinner who has sin will be cast into the lake of fire. That's
the end of all sin. Now hear this, brothers and sisters,
that's the end of every sin. So forget the big ones. Just
think of a small sin. That's the end. That's the end
of those seemingly insignificant sins that you and I might choose
to live with in exile. It's not a big deal. Everyone
struggles, and this is my struggle. It's not a big deal. Honey, I
assure you, it's not a big deal. My anger, it's not a big deal.
My struggle with lust, it's not a big deal. I've got it under
control. Brothers and sisters, the end
of any and every sin is the lake of fire. And that then brings
us now to its treachery. Verse seven, but I've got to
give you a disclaimer real quickly. You've got there in your notes
a little bit. 7 and 8, 9, 10, or 8, 9, are all
anecdotal to the Edomites. We could just as well look at
the fall of Manasseh. I mean, Manasseh was raised in
a godly home, Hezekiah. We could look at Solomon's fall.
We could look at David's fall and see the consequences of sin
and learn a little bit about sin. But here, God is using the
downfall of the Edomites to teach his people about sin. So first
of all, recognize this is anecdotal. But the key, therefore, that
you must see is that 7, 8, and 9, you might say, that'll
never happen to me. But you gotta see, brothers and
sisters, that 7, 8, 9, the reason why it most likely won't happen
to you is because of the first point we learn, because of God's
restraining grace. We're learning verse 7 clearly
is describing that sin is treacherous. Sin has a treachery that defies
imagination. And it would be easy for you
and I to look at this and say, well, that's the Edomites. Or look at David
and say, that's David. Or look at Manasseh and say,
that's Manasseh. When the point of this passage is that we see
that it could be you and I saved for the grace of Jesus Christ.
God's restraining grace, verse five, we learn that God gave
it to his people that they might realize that they could be just
like Edom if it wasn't for his grace. So realize everything
that we see in seven, and there's a four-fold progression. It gets
worse and worse. You think that's treacherous?
Well, look at the next one. You think that's bad? Look at
the next one. These examples of how sin is
so treacherous, results in such treachery. Brothers and sisters,
the slightest sin in your life could result in such treachery
if God did not withhold its consequences. So with that, let's look at it.
First of all, would you notice the treachery of sin? By definition,
treachery is a betrayal of trust. Notice the treachery of sin,
the betrayal of the nation. Verse 7, all the men allied with
you will send you forth to the border. Now the phrase all the
men allied with you could be translated literally, your partners
by virtue of covenant. We mentioned this last week,
that the Edomites at this time were in a covenant relationship
with Babylon. We call this a suzerainty treaty,
where the suzerain, the powerful king, the mighty kingdom, enters
into a relationship with a small kingdom, a vassal kingdom, promising
to protect them and help them, as long as that vassal kingdom
does five things. One, they have to swear loyalty.
Two, they have to accept the laws and government of, in this
case, the Babylonians. Thirdly, they have to adopt the
religion of the Caesarean Kingdom, which would be the religion of
Babylon, which in the ancient world was no big deal because
the syncretism was so common. Okay, so you're calling the God
of Thunder that name? Okay, we'll just use that name
as opposed to this name. Fourthly, they had to serve at
their bidding. So if you're a vassal kingdom
and your king, your suzerain says, attack, you have to provide
men. If they say, you cannot attack,
you cannot attack. That's why Edom was bound by
the Babylonians. And lastly, they had to send
a yearly tribute to the nation. So that's a suzerain, a vassal
treaty that the Edomites were involved in. And as long, therefore,
as long as the nation was strong and powerful, if you were the
vassal kingdom, you were set. You were protected. And you know
what? In 586 BC, the Babylonians were
at their strength, which meant the Edomites were protected.
They were safe. But then amazingly, and then
characteristically, the Babylonians turned on him. Look at the phrase,
all the men aligned with you will send you forth to the border.
That's exile, brothers and sisters. Do you know what happened during
this time? Shockingly, was it because of the treachery of the
Edomites towards their brother? Was it a way that they celebrated?
Did they lose respect? We don't know why, but this we
do know, that many in Edom, right after they toasted the destruction
of God's people, many of the Edomites themselves were brought
into exile. Unbeknownst to them, shockingly,
the Babylonians turned on them. That's the treachery of sin.
Give you a modern example of it. Do you think those people living
in Russia 10 years before Lenin took the throne or Stalin, do
you think they ever imagined that their leaders would send
more people to their death than Hitler did? It's a treachery
of sin. You and I look at sin and we
laugh at it. It's a passing pleasure. Now, there's some sins we don't
all laugh at. Those are the sins we don't struggle with, by way
of footnote. The ones that we don't struggle
with, we can condemn. That's easy. The ones we struggle
with, we can push off. We can slap off. We can slough
off. It's not a big deal. Everyone has a struggle. Brothers,
that struggle can result in the treachery. If God did not withstrain,
The sin of this world, it could result in the treachery of the
people in Russia under Stalin and Lenda, or the people in Cambodia
under the Khmer Rouge. And how just one day the intellectuals
and the wealthy were fine, and the next day they were being
summarily rounded up and murdered. That's a treachery of sin, it
betrays. The citizens of a kingdom by
their kings, by their leaders. That's what happened with Edom.
Babylon betrayed them. You think that's bad? Look at
the next one, 7b. It's not just Babylon. Notice
their civic betrayal, verse 7b. And the men at peace with you
will deceive you and overpower you. This is referring to the
local leadership of Edom. That's the men at peace with
them. They're police. their government, their business
leaders, their merchants, the strong and the powerful locally. If it wasn't for the vassal relationship,
these are the ones who'd be in charge. These are the ones who
would care and protect. Well, these are the ones, at
this time, shockingly betrayed their citizens. Notice the word
deceive. We saw it in verse three. It
carries the idea of being lured and so lulled into an undesirable
opposition. Think of what a worm on a fishing
hunt looks like to a fish. That's this word, okay? And that's
exactly what the local leadership of Edom did when it came to their
brethren. I mean, how do you get, you're
Babylon, how do you get Edomites out of these impregnable caves,
way up high, where 10 Edomites could defend themselves against
an entire army? says the commentators. How do
you get them into exile? Well, you got to lure them out.
How do you lure them out? Well, you get their leaders.
So notice the way that it reads, the men at peace with you. In
other words, they were smiling. Hey guys, meet us tomorrow morning
at that juncture and I'm going to give you a great treat. They
lured them out and they deceived them such that they became overpowered. Brothers and sisters, that's
the treachery of sin. That's what sin does. It's treacherous. It puts your local policemen
and your civic officials at odds with you. How many Christians
have been betrayed by the very ones God appointed for their
protection and care? Modern example of this would
be World War II and the Nazi Germany and the Jews. You've
seen the footage. I don't know if any of you have
ever been shocked by it. I've been struck by it. Watch these videos
and it seems as though Jews were all just too happy to line up,
leave their homes, line up, get in boxcars and go to their death.
Except in rare cases, the Jews did not fight. Do you know why? I learned about it just a couple
of years ago. I read a book by Hannah Arndt,
Eichmann in Jerusalem, and it gives the shocking answer how
that happened. Quote, you got the quote there,
without Jewish help in administrative and police work, the final rounding
up of Jews in Berlin was done entirely by Jewish police. that
would have been either complete chaos or an impossibly severe
drain on German manpower. There can be no doubt that without
the cooperation of the victims. it would hardly have been possible
for a few thousand people, Germans, most of whom moreover worked
in offices to liquidate many hundreds of thousands of other
people. Over the whole way to their deaths, the Polish Jews
got to see hardly more than a handful of Germans. Jewish councils were
as a rule the locally recognized leaders to whom the Nazis gave
enormous powers until they too were deported. To a Jew, this
role of the Jewish leaders and the destruction of their own
people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter of the whole dark story."
Brothers and sisters, do you see that? That's the treachery
of sin. You look at that and you go,
how awful. Brothers and sisters, stop looking at them. Anytime
you point a finger at them, you got three fingers pointing back
at you. That's how treacherous the sin is that you're playing
with. That's how treacherous the sin is we are playing with
when we say, it's not a big deal. It's just a little outburst. It's not a big deal, it's just
one look. Brothers and sisters, it's treacherous. Sin is treacherous. This is what sin does. This is
what that one look does. This is what that one lust does.
If left unrestrained, It gets worse. Notice with me 7c, the
betrayal of comrade and family. They who eat your bread will
set an ambush for you. Who are the ones who eat your
bread? That's your family members. That's your friends. That's your
companions. Those are the people who you love. Those are the people
who you know have your back. Those are the people who on Friday
night you get together with because you just love them so much. They're
the ones who's gonna set an ambush. The word for ambush, mazor, comes
from zor, which is the Hebrew root for stranger. Your good
friends, your family members, your father, your dad, your mom,
your brothers, your sister, son-in-law, brother-in-law. They're going
to hand you over to foreigners. Biblical example of that, think
of Isaiah 55. I know most of you have what, Isaiah 40 or Psalm
40. Everyone quotes that one, I didn't
write it down. But Psalm 55 in my mind is much more graphic.
David wrote, it is not an enemy who reproaches me. Then I could
bear it. nor does one who hates me, who
has exalted himself against me. Then I could hide myself from
him, but it is you, a man my equal, my companion, my familiar
friend, we who had sweet fellowship together, who walked in the house
of God to worship." In other words, you're the person I would
meet, you would stay, I would stay, you would wait, I would
wait, because we want to worship God together. That's the kind
of relationship. You're the person who I sit down
and I open my heart up to and I dump because we're so close. Family of God, sin, it's treacherous. Sin will turn your best friend
into an enemy. I remember in Florida, there
was a gentleman who was dying of an extreme form of cancer,
horribly painful, that the drugs he had to take for it, he said,
Greg, if you had one of them, it would kill you. That's how
powerful these drugs are. I've had to habituate to them,
but that's how horrible this was. And he said, and I'm an
addict. If I didn't have that drug, he
goes, I'll tell you what, I know why addicts do what they do.
There've been times that I didn't have the drug, I was out, I didn't
bring the drug, and I was going short. He goes, Greg, I would
kill my mom for one tablet. And he wasn't joking. He said,
I'm telling you, that's the nature of addiction. Brothers and sisters,
that's the treachery of sin. The sin you and I don't think
is a big deal. That's what that one sin could do. It could turn
you into an enemy of your friends. It could destroy so much. Modern one, in the New Testament.
Do you suppose, Christ said, that I came to grant peace on
the earth? I tell you no, but rather division. From now on,
five members of one household will be divided. Three against
two, two against three. Father against son, son against father,
mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law
against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Brothers
and sisters, Christ didn't come on his purpose to create a kingdom
where that occurred. He's describing life in a state
of sin and misery, and that is what sin does. We can look with
shock at what other people do and say, oh, they're so mean,
they're so horrible. But when you and I commit the
most insignificant sin, that insignificant sin could result
in that trail, that treachery, that betrayal. That's how treacherous
sin is. Family of God don't play with
sin. Do not play with sin is the idea here. It's treacherous.
And yet, we're gonna go one more level, backside of your notes.
Sin will lead you to betray yourself. Notice with me, 7D, there is
no understanding in him. Now next week, we're gonna look
at this a little bit more detail, because it's picked back up in verse 8 and
9. But understand that Edom and the ancient world were known
for its wisdom. The ancient world, there's a
lot of passages in scripture, we're going to look at those
next week. The ancient world, Edom, when you thought of Edom,
the first word that came to your mind was intelligent, wisdom,
smart, advanced. That was their biblical reputation. Job 2.11, Jeremiah
49.7. They were known as the wise ones. Well, let me ask you something.
When it comes to sin, can you give me a stereotype of how intellectual
people deal with sin? I'll bet you can. Intellectual
people deal with sin typically in this way. They're above it. I can look at a bum in the gutter
and say, what a loser. His problem is he lacks willpower
or he's an idiot. But I will not have that problem,
even though I drink alcohol excessively. Because I know my limits. You ever hear that? I wouldn't. I can take meth. I can just one time. One time
of cocaine. I've got it, guys. I've got it. Because I'm not like other people. I'm educated. I've got a brain,
and this brain can calculate, someone like Spock, can calculate
my blood content level of the drug such that I know exactly
how far I can go, and here I will go no further. What a joke. And that's the point. What a
joke. The treachery of sin is seen
in that the Edomites, who were so smart and so intelligent,
didn't see the betrayal come. Not in 586, not in the fourth,
or in the middle of the fifth century, and not in 70 AD. They're so intelligent, yet they
missed it all. And that's the final element,
the treachery of sin. The individual sinner is completely
in the dark when it comes to the progress of sin. They think
that they are in full control, but in the end, they will always
be caught as if in a spider's web of oppression and death.
Now what we learn in Proverbs 7, Proverbs 7 is describing a
young, a naive man, Christian. The naive is not the fool. The
fool is the non-believer in the Proverbs. The naive, the simpleton,
is an immature Christian. So we got an immature Christian
who's being wooed by an adulteress, Proverbs 7. It's a shocking verse,
passage. But get this, it's more than
just a naive Christian being wooed by an adulteress. It's
easy to look at that and say, oh, see, adultery, prostitutes
are bad. It is a picture of the allure of sin. And it just so
happens the example chosen here is the prostitute, but it could
be alcohol, it could be anger, it could be name it. Listen to
what it comes to a climax. Suddenly he follows her. As an
ox goes to the slaughter, as one in fetters to the discipline
of a fool, until an arrow pierces through his liver, as a bird
hastens to the snare, so he does not know it will cost him his
life. That's the treachery of sin. As sinners, we don't realize
that we don't have it under control. The treachery of sin is that
every one of us think that depending on the sin, we've got it completely
under control. Trust me, I can drive 125 miles
an hour on the highway. Trust me. How many young teenagers
have said that before they died? Trust me, I'm a man who knows
how to hold his liquor. How many alcoholics said that
before they became alcoholics? Trust me, I'm in full charge
of myself. This drug won't bother me. How
many drug addicts thought that before they became addicted? Paul David Tripp wrote, sin plays
havoc with our spiritual vision. Although we are able to see the
sins of others with specificity and clarity, we tend to be blind
to our own. And the most dangerous aspect
of this already dangerous condition is that spiritually blind people
tend to be blind to their blindness. Isn't that great? The Edomites
were blind to their blindness. If there's one thing, each one
gets worse. You mean Babylon turned their
back on them? How treacherous. You mean the civil leaders turned
their back on us? Well, that's treacherous. You mean to tell
me their parents, their brothers and sisters turned their back
on them? That's unthinkable. Brothers and sisters, if that's
not enough to scare you straight, to have everyone here be humble
and realize you don't have your sin under control. Not one sin
do you have under control. If you think you do, that's the
fourth one. You're blind. Sin is that treacherous. Sin
carries that big of a punch. And thus, as we endeavor to apply
this passage to our lives, recognize, brothers and sisters, that to
whom was this written, this passage? This was written not to the Edomites.
but to the Jews. This was not written to the Edomites,
but to the people of God in exile. D. W. Baker wrote, it is better
understood that Edom is the subject of the present oracles rather
than their addressee. Edom is just the example, it's
not the recipients. Since Old Testament prophecy
is chiefly directed towards Israel, even Jonah, contained the only
recorded prophecy addressed directly to non-Israelites, is in its
totality for Israel's use. Obadiah's judgment pronounced
on a foreign people is not Israelite nationalistic chauvinism, but
rather the recognition of universal responsibility and guilt before
God of both Israel and the nations. In other words, this is written,
brothers and sisters, inspired by Edom, but written exclusively
for the people of God in exile, you and me. As Paul wrote, whatever was written
in earlier times was written for our instruction that through
perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, we might have
hope. This was written for you and
me. What's the message? The message
is, brothers and sisters, be sober, be awake, do not look
lightly upon any of your sin. What was the sin? I'm just curious.
Do you know the sin? that resulted in what we just
read. The treachery that occurred, that did take place in Edom's
life. Edom, many went into exile, the
nation remained. In the fifth century, the Arabs
rose up, dispossessed the rest of the Edomites to the Negev,
which is a horrible place south of Judah, very hot and dry and
arid. There they remained for the next three or 400 years,
and then eventually they would be wiped off the face of the
earth in fulfillment of verse 18 at 70 AD. So that's the treachery of sin
worked out in them. What's the sin? What was Edom
guilty of here? We saw it the very first week.
What is it? Well, let's see, they went out in the middle of
a battle and they heckled people who had killed in the last four
or 500 years many of their countrymen. They took satisfaction in the
downfall of Israel. In other words, they didn't commit
adultery. They didn't bear false witness. They didn't covet their neighbor's
wife. They didn't steal. They didn't
think of all the Ten Commandments. That's not what they did. They
went up on the Temple Mount, on Mount Zion, when God's people
were gone. And the way that we read last
week, the text reads, they made a toast to the downfall of their
enemies. You ever look with a little bit
of satisfaction when someone from Al-Qaeda is captured or
killed? You ever say, good, I'm glad
that ISIS terrorist died in that bomb. Is that a sin? That's all these
guys did. These guys didn't go out and
murder. they simply rejoiced over the
downfall of people that seemingly insignificant moment when they
were making a toast, could they ever have fathomed that they
were toasting their own extermination? That's the treachery of every
sin in your life. Oh, you who look at sin politely,
or suppose the evil great, Look at the cross, brothers and sisters.
That's the wages of every sin. They're all serious. They're
all something we should be sobered by. It was just one look. Just one look. What could it hurt? Said David. And he lost his kingdom. Look, everyone needs to look
out for their own financial situation. said Demas, it's just one time. One time,
what could it hurt, said Alexander the coppersmith. Brothers and
sisters, sin is a fire, the very world of iniquity. And why does God's people need
to hear that? Because God's people are in exile. By the way, for
a note, why are they in exile? Why are God's people in Exon
586? Do we know? I hope you know by now. It's
because they sinned against God. And now they're in exile, and
what's welling up in their hearts? More sin, bitterness, anger. Look what the Edomites did. And
you know what God says to his people through this wonderful
pastor? Brothers and sisters, let it
go. Let the anger go, let the bitterness go, or it will destroy
you. Look what it's gonna do to the
Edomites. They're gonna be wiped off the face of the earth. Must
you persist in your rebellion against God? Do you see it? That's
the point of Obadiah here. Christians, let it go. Entrust
your souls to a faithful creator in doing what's right. Let your
sin go. Turn from your sin. Let it go. John Owen said, always be killing
sin or it will be killing you. That's the options. Let it go,
brothers and sisters. Let's kill it. Well, how do you
do it? All right, let's wrap this up. How do you kill sin? Well, Obadiah gives us an incredible
word of exhortation, verse 17. But that's it. He gives us this,
and then that's it. So I'm going to look at Romans
6 this week and next week as we wrap up each week and specifically
Romans 6 12 and 13 so look turn there please keep your finger
in Obadiah and let's consider how Paul exhorts people to flee
from sin. First of all notice with me verse
17, but on Mount Zion there will be those who escape. Brothers
and sisters, Obadiah is right on. The answer to all sin in
your life is to flee to Mount Zion. Mount Zion is Christ the
kingdom. It's to go to Christ. It's to
know the forgiveness that comes by grace through faith in him
So if you're struggling with sin cling to Christ Cling to
Christ because get this brothers and sisters if you don't cling
to Christ than any activity you do in your battle against sin
will be simply sola bootstrapia, simply moralism. It will be of
no benefit to you whatsoever. It will make you twice the son
of hell. rather cling to Christ. Know that no matter how bad your
sin may be, God's grace is greater still. Believe it, accept it,
understand it, that your foul, vile anger or lust or whatever
it is that you easily slough off, that Jesus Christ died,
yes, for that sin as well. Because if you understand that,
if you understand grace, you know what this passage transforms
to be? Not burden, but inspiration. Man, you and I are forgiven.
You and I, God has broken, has taken care of the penalty of
sin. He's taken care of the power of sin, which means you don't
have to sin. which means you and I can, with
a big smile on our face, say, I'm inspired today. You're right. Sin is a constant bane upon this
world, upon me, upon this life. Let's be rid of it. Let's be
done with it. You can say that with joy in
your hearts, because it's well with your soul. And with that
knowledge that it's well with your soul, go to Romans 6 now.
We're going to look at one of three things that Paul gives.
The first one is if you and I are going to have any success in
our battle against sin. I'm not saying if we're going
to win our battle against sin. That's going to come at the second
coming, when Christ comes and takes away the presence of sin.
But if you and I are going to have any success when it comes to
sin, repenting from it, loosing ourselves from it, Notice what
Paul says therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body
by way the contrast the next statement This has to be in the
inward man. He's talking about sins of your
thought sins of your heart like anger disbelief bitterness unbridled
passion pride lust etc Paul says, brothers and sisters, if you're
going to win the war, if you're going to advance, not win, if
you're going to advance the war against sin, it begins with what
goes on in your heart. Notice it says, do not, in 6.12,
it says, do not, forgive me here, therefore do not let sin reign
in your mortal body that you should obey its lust. Did you
get that? If you harbor sin in your heart, it leads to slavery
to that sin. We learned from this a very important
truth. Victory, when it comes, success, when it comes to our
battle against sin, begins in the insignificant thoughts of
our mind. I had a friend of mine who, my
first church, who was an alcoholic, closet alcoholic, no one knew.
His wife did. And after however many years
I knew him, he had a break. And he went nuts and went drinking,
and bar after bar after bar after bar. And he got found out, and
he was placed in a hospital. And after a week or two, I was
allowed to go visit him. And so I went and visited him,
and he was broken. And I walked into his room, and
he was very upset still. Very ashamed. And when I talked
to him, he said, Greg, I've got a question for you. Why didn't
God take away my love of alcohol? I said, what do you mean? He
goes, on that binge, before I got any drink, every drink, I said,
God, if you don't want me to have this, please make this taste
bad. And he drank it, and it tasted
great. He said, God, I don't understand. He goes, Greg, I
don't understand. If God doesn't want me to be this way, why do
I love it so much? And out of nowhere, I said, bro,
it's because you've spent years cultivating a desire. See, the
battle for sin on Friday night is begun Saturday morning. When a man struggles with the
sin on Friday night, it's what he does the previous Saturday
morning, I can say with some accuracy whether or not he'll
succeed Friday night by how he lives Saturday through Friday. If you spend an entire week lusting,
if you spend an entire week fantasizing and thinking, you're gonna fall.
But if you and I do not present our bodies inside, if we keep
them in check, if we repent the moment that we've got them, if
we battle against them, greater will be the chance and the level
of success on Friday. That's the point. Do not let
sin reign in your heart unto the obedience of its lusts. That's
where it begins. So it's prohibition. You and
I have to be quick to say, no, I don't want to think those thoughts.
I will not think that thought. I don't want to meditate upon.
I'll tell you what, man, if I had the chance, I would go to work
tomorrow morning. I'm going to go to work tomorrow
morning. I'm going to walk in my boss's office. And I'm going
to slam the door. And then I'm going to look at
him in his eyes and say, I quit. Never again will you speak to
me like that. Yeah, that's what I ought to do. Repent of that. That is, whatever's true, whatever's
honorable, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely,
whatever's of good repute, if there's any excellence, anything
worthy of praise, set your mind on those things. When you and
I set our minds on the opposite, do you know what we're gonna
do? We are simply paving the way. We're simply stoking the
flames of sin in our breast so that on Friday or Monday or someday,
you and I break a break and we go postal. on our boss or our
colleagues. The battle begins in the heart
with the smallest, most insignificant thought, no Lord, forgive me
God, that's wrong. Secondly, then it leads to the
outside, 13a, and do not go on presenting the members of your
body, now the external body, to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Secondly, we do care about what
we do. Notice the word presenting two
things. First and foremost, it has to
do with the will. So once again, we're at the power of sin. God has given us the ability
to say no to sin. Is that your will? I can see
if it's your will by how you live. If I could just, if we
could take a snapshot of your heart when no one's watching
you and you're thinking about your bad relationship with your
coworker, and if what comes to your heart is this desire for
brothers and sisters, take that by the nip it in the bud. Nip
it in the bud it has to do with your will and the desire to say
this not that I Get this your goal cannot be victory over sin
your goal must be to glorify God Your goal must be to love
Jesus Christ your goal must be verse 17 of Obadiah I'm sorry
18 your goal must be to fellowship with Christ and therefore you
must see that every sin you commit inhibits and limits your ability
to enjoy Christ. It can't be this desire to win
over sin. It has to be motivated out of
verse 18 of Obadiah. With that, then, exert your will
and say, enough! Enough temptations! Enough lust! Enough anger outbursts! Enough
lusting! Enough whatever! I want to be
a vessel for you, God! And then would you notice the
word presenting is a present tense, and this is the hardest
part, this is why it's a war. It's a moment by moment decision
that we make. You can say, oh man, I do it
on Monday morning, but I get to work and it just gets me so
angry. Family of God, realize you're never off the clock on
this one, never, there's no Sabbath. When it comes to fighting against
the sin, Hebrews 4 says, until the second coming. There remains
a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and that Sabbath rest
is a reference to the struggle of living in the state of sin
and misery. That's the Sabbath rest that awaits us. Until that
time, it's a battle. And so we pay close attention
to ourselves and to our teaching. We be on guard for ourselves
and for all the flock of God. The idea is we're never, ever
not vigilant when it comes to what's in our breast. All right,
so I hope that's of Benefit the key is cling to Jesus Christ
brothers and sisters. That's verse 18 cling to Christ
stay on Mount Zion Stay with close to your Lord and with that
then choose to prohibit any form or ugly rearing of us of its
head of sin because every sin has the ability to destroy a
world that's treacherous. Don't play with sin. Let's pray. Father God, we thank
you. Lord, that your word, you're
so pastoral, God. You give us this incredible passage
given to your people in exile who understandably should be
angry and resentful and hurt at what their distant family
did. But you were so quick to bring
them a passage, a prophet who said, oh brothers, cease fighting
and know that I am God. You're where you are by my appointment. I have you right where I want
you. God give us the grace to personalize that and live in
light of that and therefore know that the difficult people you
place in our lives are there for our sanctification. They're
there for our growth and our grace. They're there that we
would not love this world, but we would love Jesus. God, give
us the grace, therefore, at any difficulty, any temptation, resting
in Christ, to say no. To say no to it and yes to you.
No to anger or saying to it. And yes to fellowshipping and
loving. Lord, I pray this for everyone
here. We pray for the children in our
midst who may have just been drawing pictures this entire
time. God, please grant them the grace to be so matured and
grow with such a growth that we all, young and old, would
be men and women of Christ, bound to your glory and your service
by the chains of love and mercy. We pray this in Jesus' name.
The Treachery of Sin
Series Obadiah
The treachery of sin in not the result of ignorance or a lack of education. Men do not end up in the gutter just because they are dumb, weak, or stupid. Here the wise, intelligent Edomites found that they were clueless when it came to sin's treachery. We are often blinded to our own sins.
| Sermon ID | 62182014202 |
| Duration | 51:54 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Obadiah 5-9 |
| Language | English |
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