Amen. All right. We're there in the Old Testament book of Obadiah. And of course, last week, we started a brand new Bible study in the book of Obadiah, and we're going to finish it tonight. And that's just because of the fact that it's just one chapter. And if you remember last week, we talked about the fact that it's the shortest book in the Old Testament. So we have a goal here of preaching verse by verse, chapter by chapter through every book of the Bible. And we are covering Obadiah this last week and this week, and we'll finish it up. this week. Just to remind you, I gave you last week a quick outline of the book of Obadiah. It's only one chapter, 21 verses, but if you remember, it's divided into four different sections. It deals with the Edomites and it's this prophet Obadiah that we know very little about, but he's not preaching to the Israelites, he's preaching to the Edomites, which are the cousins of the Israelites. If you remember, Abraham, of course, is the father of faith. Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau. Of course, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the patriarchs. They're considered the fathers of our faith. And Jacob's name eventually gets changed to Israel. He has 12 children, which become the 12 sons of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel. And Esau is also someone who gets his name changed and he's known as Edom and he has descendants known as the Edomites. And of course we, that's what we're learning, that's what we're studying about this chapter. this book of the Bible, this sermon preached by Obadiah to the Edomites. And I'll just give you the outline real quickly just of the chapter for your notes if you'd like. But if you remember in verses 1-9 we saw that the Edomites had a prideful arrogance and that's what we dealt with last week, verses 1-9. In verses 10-11 tonight we'll see that the Edomites had perpetual anger. In verses 12-14 we'll see that they took personal advantage And then the book ends with a section in verses 15 to 21 with a section, and this is pretty normal for what we call the minor prophets, but it ends with the section about the day of the Lord and the coming kingdom of the Lord. So verses 1 through 9, the Edomites' prideful arrogance, 10 through 11, the Edomites' perpetual anger, 12 to 14, the Edomites' personal advantage, and then 15 to 21, the day of the Lord. We dealt with verses 1-9 last week. We're going to try to deal with the rest of the chapter this week and finish it up. Now last week We talked about the pride of the Edomites and why it is that God had to bring them down because of their pride. And we talked about the fact that their natural location where they actually lived was up in a place that we now know as Petra and up in these rock mountains and in these cliffs. And I've actually had the privilege of going to Petra. And we were doing a documentary one time out in the Middle East, and Petra was one of the locations where we went. I just want to say this because last week I asked about Petra, and I asked people to raise their hand, and I was kind of shocked how many people had raised their hand knowing about Petra. I didn't know this, but literally there was a baby. So last Sunday, on Saturday, the ladies had a baby shower here, and then my wife had asked some question about Petra in their Jeopardy game. So I guess, you know, it was of the Lord. But I didn't know that she asked the question. She didn't know I was preaching about Petra. So anyway, that's why so many of you raised your hand. I guess you just talked about it. So she stole my thunder, you know, with the whole Petra thing there. But that's all right. And then all of you went home and watched Indiana Jones, of course, and that's just how it went. Tonight, we're going to look at what exactly it is that these Edomites did, because we dealt with their pride last Sunday night. But in verse 10, I want you to notice that Obadiah actually gets into what it is that they did, because their pride was just their state. They lived in a state of pride, which obviously God hates pride and God always brings down pride. But then in verse 10, we see what it is that they actually sinned, the transgression that actually caused the judgment of God to come upon them. Notice there, Obadiah chapter 1, of course, verse 10, the Bible says this, for the violence against thy brother Jacob. And again, we've already talked about it, but the Edomites are descendants of Esau, who is the brother of Jacob. We saw that last week in Genesis 27 and verse 11, if you want to jot that down for your notes. But here we see that Obadiah is bringing up the fact that the Edomites, and he's telling them, because of, verse 10, for thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off. Now look at verse 11. He says, The day. And he's narrowing in on a specific event in verse 11. He says, in the day that thou stoodest on the other side, look at the words again, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces and foreigners entered into his gate, So Obaniah brings up the fact that God is bringing judgment upon the Edomites for the violence against thy brother Jacob and he says specifically on a certain day, in the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captivist forces. Now what exactly is it that Obadiah is talking about? And to be honest with you, this is up for debate. There are different preachers who believe different things about this, but I think that the Bible is pretty clear about the event that's being referred to here, although honestly the application could be true no matter what the event is. But I want to show it to you just so you can have the context and understand what's going on. Keep your place there in Obadiah, of course, that's our text for tonight, but go with me, if you would, to the Book of Psalms, Psalm 137. And if you open up your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the Book of Psalms. Obadiah is written to the Edomites. It's a judgment against Edom, and it's a judgment regarding the violence that they carried out against their brother Jacob, Obadiah 111, in the day that thou stoodest on the other side. And as you're turning to Psalm 137, I just want you to be reminded of this phrase, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces and foreigners entered into his gate. That's the day that Obadiah is highlighting, the day that strangers, the word strangers in our King James Bible just means foreigners, in the day that foreigners carried away captive his forces. Now in Psalm 137, and we actually began a study in the book of Psalms on on Wednesday night, and that study is going to go a little longer than our study on Obadiah. But in the book of Psalms, we talked about on Wednesday night how there's different types of psalms. There's psalms of rejoicing, there's psalms of prayer, there's imprecatory prayers, and then there's also psalms of lament. In Psalm 137, we have one of these psalms of lament where it's a psalm given and it's a lamentation. It is a remorseful psalm being given because of the judgment of God or dealing with the judgment of God. Notice what it says in Psalm 137 verse 1. The psalmist here says this, There we sat down. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. Now, this is a psalm that is being written. Remember, we learned on Wednesday night when we began our study in Psalms that the book of Psalms is not placed in one chronological section of the history of the children of Israel. But the book of Psalms or the psalms in the book of Psalms, they cover all sorts of different parts of the history of the children of Israel. And this psalm in particular is a psalm of the time of captivity. This is when Babylon comes in and they take Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel has already been destroyed by the Assyrians. And the Babylonians take people from Judah. Of course, we know this is when Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, this is when Mordecai probably, were all taken captive. And here, this psalm is referring to that event when they were taken captive by Babylon. out of the southern kingdom of Judah. The Bible says there in verse 1, Notice verse 3, For there they, excuse me, that carried us away captive required us a song And they that wasted us required of us myrrh, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Here's their response, verse 4. How shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my righteous hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Now, I want you to notice that so far in this psalm, what we're seeing is that these captives, these individuals are being carried away captive out of Zion, which is Jerusalem. They're being asked by their captors, which are identified in verse 1 as Babylonians, they're being asked to sing the songs of Zion. They're saying, why don't you sing us a song from your land? And their response is, how shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land? But then I want you to notice verse number 7. Psalm 137 verse 7. He says, So in Psalm 137 we have a psalm that's written during the time of the captivity as the children of Israel, specifically the southern kingdom of Judah, is being brought out of the southern kingdom into captivity by the Babylonians and those individuals in Psalm 137 and verse 7 as a prayer in the psalm of lament they say remember O Lord the children of Edom. That's what Obadiah is about. The book of Obadiah is about the children of Edom and they're saying remember the Lord Oh Lord, the children of Edom. In the day of Jerusalem, who said, and I want you to notice this word, raise. R-A-S-E. They said, raise it, raise it. So as the children of Israel, and specifically the Jews, the southern kingdom of Judea, was being carried captive away by the Babylonians, they are asking the Lord to remember the fact that the Edomites were there and as they were being carried away captive, they were shouting and they were yelling, raise it, raise it. Now notice the word there, raise it. It's not R-A-I-S-E like raise it. You know, these aren't ghetto people talking about raise the roof or something like that. What they're saying here, this word raise, R-A-S-E, means to completely destroy. And what they're yelling and what they're shouting, they're shouting and they're cheering on the Babylonians and they're saying, destroy it, destroy it, raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof. They're saying destroy it, even to the foundation thereof. The Edomites stood by and cheered on the Babylonians as they destroyed the temple, as they destroyed the wall, and as they carried away captives like Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego and possibly Mordecai and Esther and individuals like that. And it happened in the day of Jerusalem. Psalm 137.1. Go back to Obadiah 1.11. I believe that that's what's being referred to here in Obadiah 1.11. In the day. Obadiah 1.10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob. When was that? Verse 11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side. In the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gate, and cast lots upon Jerusalem. even thou was as one of them. So Obadiah here is bringing judgment or preaching judgment and the judgment of God upon the Edomites because of what they did. Now what is it exactly that they did? I'd like you to notice a couple of things here tonight. And if you're taking notes, and I always encourage you to take notes of course, maybe you can jot these things out. Number one, I'd like you to notice the Edomites had perpetual anger. the Edomites had perpetual anger and I already gave you this outline but I just want you to see it here. In verse 11 And verses 12 and 13 and 14, we see what their anger did. And there's three things that we see here. First of all, they stood. Look at verse 11 again. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side. In the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem. Notice the last part of verse 11. Even thou was as one of them. He says, you Edomites, the reason that God's going to judge you is because in that day when Judah fell to the Babylonians, thou stoodest on the other side. He said, you stood with them. You stood on that side. You did not come to the aid of your brother Jacob. You did not come to the aid of the people of God. And they might say, well, we didn't destroy it, but they stood with those that did. And a lesson that we can learn here is that silence is agreement. And when people are doing wrong, when people are sinning, when people are doing things that they ought not, you might say, well, I didn't engage, I just stood there. Well, according to the Bible, then thou was as one of them. To sit there in silence, to stand there in silence and to do nothing is to give your consent and is to give your agreement. Look at verse 12. Notice what God says to them in verse 12. He says, but thou shouldest not have looked on that day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger. He says you should have not just stood there. You shouldn't just stood there and looked. You shouldn't have just been a bystander. You should not just stood there on the other side and watch this happen. He said the problem is that you stood and you did Nothing. Now keep your place in Obadiah and go with me, if you would, to the New Testament book of 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. Towards the end of the Bible, if you start at the book of Revelation and head backwards, you have the one chapter of the book of Jude, then you have 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John. I like to define 1 John chapter 3. And here's what I want you to understand. God is looking, and the application that's being made in this book is this, that Jacob and Esau were brothers. And God is looking at the Edomites as though they are the brothers of the nation of Israel. We're talking about nations here, but He's telling them that they should have had a relationship of siblings. They should have had a relationship of brothers. In fact, I don't have time to develop this, but when you study what God told the children of Israel as they were coming out of Egypt and into Canaan, He gave them very specific instructions as to what they should or they should not do with the Edomites. Because He wanted them to treat the Edomites in a certain way because they were their brother. Literally, they were descendants of Esau, who was the brother of Jacob, and the children of Israel were descendants of Jacob. So what we're seeing here is an application as to how you should treat your brother. And the application for us as New Testament believers is this. When you and I see our brothers and sisters in Christ, when we see them have need, we should not just stand there. The problem is they stood on the other side. Even thou was as one of them and they looked and they did nothing. Notice 1 John 3.17. 1 John 3.17 says this, The Bible says it's not just enough to tell people. I'm sorry you're going through this. It's not just enough to say something nice, but we should love people not just in word, but we should love them in deed. And the word deed there means an action. We should put our love to action. And the idea is this, that when we have resources, when we have our world's good, the world's good, and we see our brother in need, we should not shut up our bowels of compassion from him, but we should do what we can to help. Now let me just say a couple of things about this. First of all, understand this, that we should do what we can to help. And sometimes there's not anything you can do to help. Oftentimes as a pastor, I deal with people in situations, and they're dealing with very difficult situations, and there's literally nothing that can be done. And sometimes I'll even say to people, we're praying for you, we love you, we're here for you. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. But I understand there's not anything that can be done right now except of course, prayer and thoughts and prayers can be done in situations. So we need to understand that there's not always something that we can do. But in the cases where we can do something, we should do something. You know, the Bible says that we should do good unto all men, but it says especially unto the household of faith. And to our fellow believers, we should always be looking for opportunities where we could do them good, where we could help them out, where we could be a blessing to them. Now let me also say this, because sometimes you preach this and then you've got certain people that sometimes come to churches and they're just trying to find every situation, every which way that they can get something or get somebody to give them something or do something. Obviously, you should not look at your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as, you know, some sort of a welfare system that's here for your care. That's not what church is for. Church is not for you to just come and use up as many resources as possible and be selfish and be a user. That is not something that you and I should ever have that mentality, but as Christians we should always want to help our brother and sister in Christ. It's one of the reasons why here at our church we Oftentimes, we're doing it right now, of course, for Miss Cricket. But we do this, I mean, I feel like we probably do this once a month or so, where the ladies of our church provide meals for church members when ladies have babies or when they go into major surgeries. And you say, why do we do that? Because it's something we can do. And we don't want to just stand by and say, well, I'm sorry you're going through this. And we're praying for you. No, no, we're praying for you. We want to help. If we can, we want to help. We want to be of assistance. And our church does way more than that. Honestly, I mean, we give rides, and we help people financially all the time, and all sorts of things. But the truth is this, that as Christians, we should not just stand. They stood. What was the problem with the Edomites is that they stood. Let me show you a second thing that they did. Go back to Obadiah, if you would. Not only do we see in verses 11 and 12 that they stood, but we see that in verse 12 that they then took it a step further. In verses 11 and 12 we see that they stood, but then notice the last part of verse 12. Look at the last part of verse 12. in the day of their destruction, neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of his distress." So I want you to notice that not only did they stand, you say, what did they do that was so bad? First of all, they stood, but secondly, then they took it a step further and they actually rejoiced. They rejoiced at the fall of Jacob. They rejoiced at the fall of Israel. They rejoiced at the fall of the southern kingdom of Israel. And here God tells them in verse 12, neither shouldst thou have rejoiced, neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly. See, they were actually happy that Jacob was getting destroyed and that Israel was getting this judgment. Go to Proverbs, if you would, Proverbs 24. If you're in Psalms, I'm not sure if I asked you to keep your place in Psalms. I should have done that if I didn't. But if you're in Psalms, you just go one book over to Proverbs. If not, just find Psalms. It's in the center of the Bible. And go to Proverbs. And then I think maybe keep your place there, because we might come back to it later on. Proverbs 24. And what we're learning is, what do you do When someone else is being chastised by God, when someone else is reaping consequences for their action, when things are not going well for another person, what should you not do? Well, you should not just stand there. If they're a brother or sister in Christ, and you can help. Now, we're not talking about helping somebody by helping them in sin, obviously. This is why you shouldn't just give money to these homeless people that are drug addicts, because you're just helping them get high. That's not the way to help them. You shouldn't be an enabler. But if we can, and if we can do it in a way that is appropriate, we should not just stand there. We should help. But not only do they stand there, but they also rejoice. He says that they neither shouldst thou have rejoiced. And what they're rejoicing at is a destruction of someone else. And look, this is something that's in human nature. I'm going to say it. You're not going to want to admit to it. I'm not going to want to admit to it. But it's just human nature. Isn't there something in human beings that sometimes, you know, when that guy doesn't get the promotion and you're just kind of like, yeah. I mean, you never say it. You're like, oh, I'm so sorry. You really deserve that. But then you walk away, and you're like, yeah, I'm glad I didn't get it. You know, the Bible says that we should not rejoice when things don't go well for others. Notice Proverbs 24, verse 17. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. This is God teaching us how to be just compassionate, normal human beings. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. Notice. And let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. You say, well why? Here's why. Verse 18. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him. Is that what happened to the Edomites? And he turn away his wrath from him. God says, if you rejoice when your enemy falleth, and if you're glad when he stumbleth, and God might see that, might see you rejoicing, and it's going to displease him, and it might cause God to actually turn away his wrath from him and to not do the things that he was doing because you're now rejoicing. It's like when you give one of your kids a spanking and the other one's laughing about it, and it's like, well, now I'm done with you, and now it's time to give you a spanking. Because you shouldn't rejoice at the fall of your enemy, right? Is what the Bible is saying here. Don't fall, don't rejoice when something bad happens to other people. Go to Proverbs 17. Look at verse 5. Proverbs 17 and verse 5. The Bible says, Proverbs 17, 5. Look at Proverbs 17, 5. So we should not be glad at the calamities of others. We should not rejoice when others fall. Our hearts should not be glad when they stumble. We should not say, you have this idea like, well, they had it coming and I'm glad, you know, we shouldn't, and though we would never say that out loud. The Edomites rejoice at the calamity of Judah. Now let me just say this and I want to be clear about this. If you're there in Proverbs, go to Psalm 58 if you would. If you go back into Psalms, Psalm 58. While you turn there, let me just remind you what Proverbs 24, 17 says. Proverbs 24, 17 says this. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. So this is not referring to us rejoicing at the fall of God's enemies. Because the Bible actually commands us to rejoice and be glad when the enemies of the Lord are destroyed. What the Bible is saying here is that you should not rejoice when your enemy falls because of the fact that God actually commands you and I to love our enemies. The Bible says, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you. We should not hate our enemies, we should love our enemies. But let's have enough humility to understand this. Just because somebody is my enemy does not necessarily mean that they're the enemy of the Lord. And the Edomites here are upset at the nation of Judah, but Judah is not the enemy of God. God is dealing with them, God is chastising them, and they're rejoicing at their calamity, and that displeases God. Notice Psalm 58, verse 10. I just want you to see this because some of you will ask the question, and I just want to answer it before you even ask it. Psalm 58, 10. Notice the Bible says here, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Verily, he is a God that judges in the earth. So when God destroys the wicked, and when God destroys the reprobates, when God destroys the enemies of the Lord, hey, we will rejoice. The Bible says that the righteous shall rejoice when he seeeth the vengeance, and the Bible says that he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Now, to me, this has to be talking about end times stuff. You know, I'm thinking this has to be like once we're in our glorified bodies, because I don't think you're going to want to have your feet touch the blood of a bunch of reprobates. You know, if God judges a bunch of pedophile reprobates, you don't want to touch their blood. But here the Bible says that he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So we see that this is not talking about, because the Bible teaches that we should love our enemies, but we should hate the enemies of the Lord. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? Am I not grieved with those that rise up against Thee? The Bible says, I hate them. Psalm 137, I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. So we shouldn't, the enemies of the Lord should be our enemies. But your personal enemy, the guy that you're competing for that raise at work, or your neighbor, or your fellow church member, or whatever, that's not necessarily the enemy of the Lord. And when things aren't going well for that person, you shouldn't rejoice. You shouldn't rejoice when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Go back to Obadiah chapter 1, if you would. So we're looking at what they did. They stood. They rejoiced. But then I want you to notice a third thing. Because remember, he said the violence against thy brother Jacob. And this is a progression. First they stood. Then they cheered. Raise it! Raise it! Destroy it! Destroy it! They stood. They rejoiced. But then I want you to notice thirdly, they participated. Look at verse 13. Obadiah 1.13. Thou shouldest not have. entered into the gate of my people. So now they're not just standing as Nebuchadnezzar is coming with his armies and and and bringing and destroying Jerusalem and bringing captives out of Judea. Now he says, then you took it a step further and you actually entered into the city. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Notice the emphasis is that you're hurting them on the day of their calamity. Look at verse 14. Neither shouldst thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape. Neither shouldst thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. I want you to notice verse 14. Verse 14 is a very interesting verse. He says, here's what you also did. You didn't destroy it, but you cheered it on. And then you stood in the crossways to cut off those of his that did escape. Now look, it's easy for us to read this and we just read it and we're like, it's an Old Testament book, nobody knows what it's about. And you just kind of read it and check it off your checklist or whatever. But you need to understand that this was an actual event. This literally happened. What happened? There's a city full of people, a city full of families. You have fathers and mothers and children, and you have Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king on earth at that time. He's besieged the city. Now he's broken down the wall. His military is coming in, and they're starting to kill people. They're starting to destroy people. They're starting to take people captive. And as a result, there is screaming, and there is yelling, and there is crying, and there are fathers carrying children, and mothers carrying children, and they're running out of the city. They're escaping out roads. Of course, the Babylonians would have been on the main gate, on the main roads. But the people that lived in that city, they would have known of little pathways, and little alleys, and little dirt roads, and little creeks and ways that they could have maybe jumped the fence and tried to escape. And they did that. They did what you and I would have done in that same situation. But when they did that, You know what they found? The Edomites waiting for them. Because the invaders, the Babylonians, would not have known of the local roads that the Israelites could have used to run and escape. But the Edomites did. And when the people used those crossways, when they used those roads, when they used those pathways to try to get out and escape with their lives and the lives of their families, When they took those back roads and those dirt roads to escape, you know what they found? They found the Edomites waiting for them. The Edomites stood in the crossways to cut off those of his that did escape. And then they captured them and they delivered them up, delivered up those of his that did remain. They found the people that were escaping and then they took them to the Babylonians. What's going on here? The Edomites are ingratiating themselves with the invaders. They are trying to get the Babylonians to like them by capturing the Israelites, capturing these Jews, capturing these people who are fleeing Judea. They know the dirt roads. They know the back roads. They know the ways that people might, the crossways that people might be using to escape. And they're sitting there waiting for them. And as they come, they round them up and they take them to the Babylonians. And you say, why would they do this? Well, you know, the Bible actually tells us why they did this. If you're there in Obaniah, flip back to the book of Amos, if you would, Amos chapter 1. We've actually studied, not that long ago, I think maybe it was a year ago, we did a study in the book of Amos. If you remember, in the book of Amos, Amos gives all sorts of judgments to seven different nations. And he talks about why God is going to judge them and why God is going to destroy them. Well, Amos brings up the Edomites and he actually brings up this very event. Amos 1, verse 11. Thus saith the Lord God, for three transgressions, look at the word, of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. Why is God not going to turn the punishment thereof? Here's why. Because he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pity. And I just want you to remember this phrase. We're going to bring it back up here in a minute. His anger did tear perpetually and he kept his wrath forever. See, the problem with the Edomites is that they had this perpetual hatred for the children of Israel. Because if you remember the story of Jacob and Esau, and we won't take the time to do it, you can study it out on your own if you like, I think you're probably familiar with it. Jacob deceived Esau And he got his birthright. You remember Esau was starving and very hungry. And he wanted food that Jacob had prepared. And Jacob stole the birthright from Esau. through that little finagle. And then he deceived Isaac and stole his blessing. And if you remember, Esau wanted to kill Jacob as a result. And these Edomites are perpetuating that hate. They're keeping that anger. His anger did tear perpetually and he kept his wrath forever. These Edomites, they hate the children of Israel. They hate the descendants of Israel. They're angry with them. Look at verse 12, Amos 1 and verse 12. Go back to Obadiah 1, if you would. So we see that the Edomites had perpetual anger. They had this perpetual anger and hatred. His anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. And that was the motivation for them to stand there, for them to rejoice, and for them to participate in the destruction of Judah. And I want you to notice, secondly, not only did the Edomites have perpetual anger, but the Edomites also took personal advantage. We already read it, but I just want you to see it. Look at Obadiah 1 and verse 13 again. He's telling them what they should not have done. He says, Notice the last part of verse 13. So not only did the Edomites Help the Babylonians, but they also entered into the gate and they began to loot the southern kingdom of Judah. The Bible says here that they laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. As these people are being taken away captive, they're going into their house and grabbing their clothes and grabbing their jewelry and grabbing their possessions and they're helping themselves and they're stealing and they're looting these people in the day of their calamity. And they are in a time when they should be helping them. They should be hiding them. They should be standing in these crossways, not ready to capture them and take them to the Babylonians, but ready to hide them and to help them and say, come with us, let us help you. Instead, because of their perpetual anger, they take personal advantage and they mistreat these people for their personal benefit. Now here's the thing, this is not unheard of in our world today. I mean, today you have natural disasters where a hurricane will destroy a city, and what do people do? They'll go in. As people are evacuating and running for their lives, you've got other people running in and breaking into their houses and stealing TVs and computers and jewelry. This is just something that human beings unfortunately do. But you know, we as Christians need to decide that we are not going to mistreat other people for our personal benefit. The world, they live their lives in this way where they'll say, it's a dog-eat-dog world. And you know, as we're climbing up that corporate ladder, if I've got to step on someone or if I've got to do some things, then it's just the way life is. No, it's not the way life is and it shouldn't be like that for Christians. We should decide that we're going to be moral people and honest people and generous people and kind people. And you say, well, then how am I going to make it in this world? How about you just put God first and let Him prosper you? Put God first and let Him favor you. Put God first and let Him bless you. But we should not be the type of people who lie. Listen to me. You should not be lying at work. You shouldn't be deceiving your boss. You say, but if I tell my boss the truth, I'm not going to get the promotion. Tell the truth! Don't mistreat people, and don't cross moral boundaries for personal gain. That's not only just a jerk thing, but it's gonna cause God to come down on you. They mistreated people for their personal benefit, for their personal gain. You say, well, why shouldn't I do it? And here's the real reason. The reason you shouldn't do it is because that's gonna come back on you. Look at verse 15. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen, We'll deal with that phrase here in a minute, but I just want you to see this phrase. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. This is just the law of God. It's taught in different ways. Paul taught it as, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. Jesus taught it. He said, with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured unto you again. And how you treat people is how God is going to allow people to treat you. This is why Jesus taught that we should love our neighbors and that we should treat people the way we want to be treated. But let me tell you something, the reason you should not mistreat people, the reason you should not lie to people, the reason you should not deceive people, the reason you should not do wrong for personal gain is because God is going to make sure that comes back on you. As thou has done, it shall be done unto thee. So we want to be careful how we treat people. Let me give you a cross-reference. Go to Ezekiel 35, if you would. Ezekiel 35, if you go backwards, you have Amos, Joel, Hosea, Daniel, Ezekiel. Amos, Joel, Hosea, Daniel, Ezekiel. And I kind of want to show you this because it's interesting to me how much God talks about this event. Maybe you've missed it as you read Amos or Obadiah or Ezekiel or Psalms, but it's all throughout the Old Testament. It's kind of a big deal. Let me show it to you in Ezekiel. Ezekiel spoke about it as well. Ezekiel, pretty much any prophets after the captivity spoke about this event. Ezekiel 35, 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, Look at Ezekiel 35, 2. I want you to remember that phrase. Does that sound like Obadiah? In the time of their iniquity, in the time that their iniquity had an end, look at verse 15. Notice how this is like Obadiah. And look, it's a simple lesson. Why do I have to be nice to people? Why should I not be rude to people? Why should I not be a jerk? I mean, Donald Trump, he's going to be the President of the United States. And he's just made his whole things being a jerk to everybody. So why can't we all be that way? Well, because here's the thing. If you're saved, God's going to make sure it comes upon your head. And God is going to look at the way that you treat people. And Donald Trump's not saved. Sorry to break your bubble, burst your bubble. You know, he plays by a different set of rules. And you're not running for president either, okay? So be nice to the person that does your groceries at the store and whatever. Just be a nice person. Because God looks down. Look, this whole chapter is about God saying it matters how you treat people. You shouldn't take advantage of people. You shouldn't be rude to people. You shouldn't be mean to people. You should treat people the way you want to be treated because God is going to make sure that that comes back on you. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee. Thou shalt be desolate, O Mountseer. Go back to Obadiah, Obadiah chapter 1. Now, we're going to get into verses 15 now into this idea of the day of the Lord, but let me just finish a couple things here in regards to the Edomites. Remember, they had perpetual anger, and they took personal advantage. And there's just a couple things that we, some takeaways that I think we should talk about. First of all, one thing that we can learn about the Edomites is this, that we should not be the purpose, we should not be the person, excuse me, who is perpetually angry all of the time. We should not be this person who's always angry. Because this is something that God brings up. Amos 1.11, his anger did tear perpetually. Amos 1.11, he kept his wrath forever. Ezekiel 35.5, because thou has had a perpetual hatred. And look, we as Christians should not be people who are just constantly angry, constantly agitated, constantly just on a hair trigger, just on a short fuse, just ready to be mad at anybody. That is not the way Christians should live their lives. And if that's the way you live your life, there's something wrong with your heart and you need to get your heart right. And it's going to kill you. It does bad things to your face. It makes your hair white. It makes you old. It's not good. You know what the Bible says? Here's what the Bible says. The Bible says, be angry and send knock. Look, we're all going to get angry. Everyone's going to get angry from time to time. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says, be angry and sin not. And here's what it says. Here's the command. And let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You say, what does that mean? Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. I used to have a youth pastor that would say it this way. He would say, get glad in the same shoes you got mad in. And the idea is this. Before the day's over, before you take your shoes off and get into your pajamas and go to bed, Take care of whatever wrath and anger you have in your heart. Look, in your marriage, don't have these fights that last weeks after weeks after weeks, and he's sleeping on the couch, or she's sleeping on the couch, or whatever. You know what the Bible says? Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. The sun should not go down without you dealing with your anger and with your wrath, without letting it go, asking for forgiveness, or accepting forgiveness, or trying to make things right. We should not be the type of people that are just perpetually angry. And again, remember, what the Bible teaches is that how we treat others is how God is going to treat us. Now aren't you thankful that the Bible says that His mercies are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness? Aren't you thankful that when you and I mess up, the Bible says that we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that every morning we get a new start and every morning His mercies are new every morning? God is not just perpetually angry and upset and just mad and holding it over our heads and He puts us on timeout for three weeks. But yet, parents do that to their children. I'm going to be mad at you for the next three weeks. Don't be that person. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Don't be perpetually angry and perpetually upset, because God noticed that about the Edomites, and he held it against them. And of course, we're going to be angry from time to time. People are going to make us angry, and situations are going to happen, and we understand that. The Bible says be angry and sin not, and the Bible says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. So you need to just get glad in the same shoes you got mad in and move on, because that is not the way of a Christian. But you know, another thing that I just want to highlight for you is this, that it's really interesting to me that the Edomites just hate the Israelites. And I understand specifically we're talking about the southern kingdom of Judah here, but their beef is with the descendants of Jacob, the descendants of Israel. And here's what's interesting. Esau hated Jacob. Remember Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Jacob had to run away and he goes and spends 20 years with Laban and all these things. Why? Because his brother wanted to kill him. And for good reason, I can understand why. You know what's really interesting to me? Is that Esau and Jacob eventually reconcile. You know the story. Jacob comes back and he's afraid because Esau is coming to meet him with like 400 men. And they embrace and they hug and they forgive each other and they move on. Here's what's interesting. The man Jacob and the man Esau eventually reconciled. But you know who never reconciled? Their descendants. They hated each other. They were angry at each other. They eventually forgave each other, reconciled, moved on. But apparently, their descendants never let it go. Listen to me, mom and dad. This is why when you have a problem with some church member, don't allow your children to be aware of that. Because you may eventually reconcile, but they'll have a hard time letting that go. This is why you need to be careful about involving people in all your feuds and all your fights and letting people, let me tell you what's so and so, because eventually you reconcile and you're buddies again, but then other people, they're like, I'm so mad at them. They're still my enemy. Esau and Jacob reconciled, but their descendants fought for centuries after that. So we need to be careful with this idea of perpetual anger. And we need to be willing to forgive people. And we need to be willing to ask for forgiveness and to reconcile those things. Look at verse 15. We've got to finish this chapter so we can move on to something else. In Obadiah 1.15, there's a shift. And from verses 1 through 14, there's been this focus on the Edomites. But now the focus goes from the Edomites to the entire world. I want you to notice that they're in verse 15. For the day of the Lord, and I don't have time to talk about the day of the Lord. I thought about preaching a whole sermon about this, but I don't want to because I preach so many sermons about the day of the Lord. Honestly, I probably preached like seven or eight full length sermons in the last three or four years about the day of the Lord. I feel like there's enough content out there. If you want to find it, you can get it. But the day of the Lord is the day of God's wrath. And the day of the Lord is referring to a future date. Now, what you need to understand about the minor prophets and about Old Testament prophecy is that they're dual prophecies. They always have two views in mind. They always have what's actually happening right then and there, and then there's usually symbolically something about the end times and about the day of the Lord. We know from the book of Revelation that There is a day coming when the sun is going to grow dark, and the moon is going to become blood, and the stars are going to fall, and we're going to have the rapture, and then it's going to be the day of the Lord. So here he says, for the day of the Lord is near. But notice, now he's not just talking about the Edomites. He says, upon all the heathen. He's talking about all the nations, all the Gentiles, all the world. And I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but let me just say this. What God is now doing is He's using the Edomites as an example of what He's going to do to all the world, all the heathen, on the day of the Lord. Because remember, why is God upset at the Edomites? He's upset at them because of their pride, and He's upset at them because of how they are treating His people while they're going through persecution. Well, there's coming a big persecution for believers called the Great Tribulation. And there's going to be the image of the Antichrist, and there's going to be the mark of the beast, and you're going to have to receive the mark of the beast, and you're going to have to worship the beast and his image to receive the mark of the beast. 666. And without it, you're not going to be able to buy or sell. And the Antichrist and his crowd is going to be actively pursuing against Christians. But did you know that there will be nations of the earth that are not necessarily with the Antichrist and not necessarily destroying the people of God? But they're going to stand by. And they're going to rejoice. And they're going to participate. They're going to stand on the crossways and deliver you up to the Antichrist. And God says, I'm going to destroy them for that. He uses the Edomite as an example of a future coming judgment on a future persecution of God's people. So he says, Verse 16, for as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. And here what God is saying, he's using this idea because the Edomites literally went on to the holy mountain, Mount Zion, when this happened, after the Jews were removed and taken captive, and they drank alcohol. as they celebrated, and God says, as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down. And you say, well, what is that talking about? Well, I don't want to just leave that for you because I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Let me just show you a verse real quick. Go to Revelation chapter 14. Revelation is not the only place that we find this. We find this in other places in Scripture. But I just want you to see this, that God illustrates His wrath being poured out as alcohol or wine being poured out upon the nations. And that's what He's referring to. He's saying, you drunk to celebrate their calamity? I'm going to pour out my wine of indignation, and then you're going to drink. He says, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. Here's the cross reference. Revelation 14, verse 10. The same shall drink. This is Revelation. and times, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. He says, when I throw you and cast you into hell, you are going to drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Now that should give you a little bit of a picture as to what God thinks about alcohol. It's not a positive thing. So we see the destruction of the Day of the Lord. Go back to Obadiah in verses 15 through 16. And then in verses 17 through 21, we see the deliverance. Because the Day of the Lord has two sides to it. It's destruction for those that are on the wrong side, and it's deliverance for those that are on the right side. Look at verse 17. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance. There shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And, again, I don't have time to develop all this. This is going to be a literal, physical, after the day of the Lord, there's coming the millennial reign of Christ, where Christ will literally, physically, on this earth, on this earth, He will reign physically from Jerusalem for a thousand years. You say, Pastor, when are you going to get excited about a politician when it's the Lord Jesus Christ? When Jesus reigns on this earth, that'll be something to get excited about. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. We talked about that last week, but let me just say this. There's a dual thing going on here. He's literally talking about the fact that the Edomites are going to be destroyed. And then he's using that as an example of future end times. So many Old Testament prophets will have these dual fulfillments that will be about the actual events happening right then and there and then in the future. And that's real clear if you study end times prophecy and specifically Old Testament prophecy. Look at verse 19. "...and they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plain the Philistines, and they shall..." I just want you to notice these words. "...possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead, and the captivity of the host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Shephar, shall possess the cities of the south." I just want you to notice that in verse 17, It says, possess possessions. Verse 19, it says, possess three different times. Verse 20, it says, possess twice. And the idea is this, that there is coming a day when God's people will possess the land during the millennial reign of Christ. And those are things that are happening, of course, in the future. Then look at verse 21. And I don't want you to get freaked out by that word because we use the word Savior and we tend to think of the Lord Jesus Christ and we should think of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the word Savior simply means deliverer. And what he's talking about here is the deliverers. shall come up on Mount Zion. So it's not talking about like Jesus, there's not multiple saviors. He says to judge the Mount of Esau, and then I just want you to notice the last part of verse 21, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. So we see here that this is referring to, yes, at the time of the Edomites and the destruction of Judea, but also it's looking forward to a day when it shall be said that the kingdom is the Lord's. The kingdom shall be the Lord's. And of course that's what the book of Revelation is all about. Let me just highlight one last thing for you and we'll be done with the book of Obadiah. And I want you to notice here in Obadiah verses 12, verse 12, just real quickly. We've already gone through the whole chapter, I just want to highlight this for you. Tonight, I entitled this sermon, the title that I gave this sermon came from the chapter. And the title is this, thou shouldest not have. Because that's a phrase that is brought up over and over in this portion of scripture. I just want you to notice it. If you didn't, look at verse 12. He says, but thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother and the day that he became a stranger. And then he says this, neither shouldest Thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Verse 13, Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Look at verse 14, neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those that did escape, neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. It's interesting to me that all throughout these verses, multiple times, he says, thou shouldest not have. Thou shouldest not have. Thou shouldest not have. Let me just share a verse with you real quickly and we'll be done. Go to Proverbs chapter 9 if you would. Proverbs chapter 9. If you open up your Bible, in the middle you'll find Psalms. After Psalms you have the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 9. And here we find the final application and it is this. That when you open up the Word of God, and when you read it, and when you study it. And here specifically, we have Obadiah, who's a preacher, a prophet, preaching the sermon. What you'll often find in the Bible, what you will find, what I find in the Bible, is often this message that says, thou shouldest not have. If you come to a church that actually preaches the Bible, you know what you're going to hear a lot of? You're going to hear a lot of, thou shouldest not have. I don't think a week of my life goes by that I'm not telling somebody, thou shouldest not have. Either through preaching of God's word, or sitting in that office, answering questions, or helping individuals. And sometimes, I hate to do it, but sometimes I just gotta tell people, yeah, that was a mistake. You shouldn't have done that. Thou shouldest not have. And you know, when it comes to the Christian life, we need to understand that God is constantly working on us. And God is going to constantly, unless you're the Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to constantly be dealing with things in your life and in my life where he's telling us, you shouldn't have done that. Thou shouldest not have. Are you there in Proverbs 9? Look at verse 8. We're going to be done in two minutes. Look at verse 8. Here's what the Bible says. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. If you reprove a scorner, he's going to hate you. Reprove not a scorer unless he hate thee, but then notice the contrast here. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase learning. You know, in the Christian life and just in life in general, you and I need to get good at receiving correction. Because the Bible says that when you reprove a wise man, he will be yet wiser. Obviously nobody likes correction. Nobody likes to be told, you shouldn't have. Thou shouldest not have. Nobody likes that. But when God is telling us, hey look, stop doing that. Stop acting that way. Stop thinking that way. Stop saying that. A wise person will receive instruction and a wise person will do what the Bible says. If you approve a wise man, he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." That's why I had to know a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. And Lord, we thank you. And we realize that the Bible, it's reprove and rebuke and exhort. And it is often more negative than positive. and usually we're being told not to and that we should not have done something more than we're being told what to do. And Lord, I pray you'd help us. I pray you'd help me to be the type of person who can receive correction when I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing and somebody calls me out on it. Lord, help me to receive that well because we all need that. Help us to have wisdom and to be wise people that are learning and that are trying to grow and increase because these Edomites, they were told over and over and over and God had to judge them. He had to do unto them as they had done to others. And Lord, I pray you'd help us not put ourselves in those positions. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to remind