Will you turn with me now to Genesis
chapter 25 and we continue our exposition of
the book of Genesis and read as our
scripture reading this morning the last few verses
of chapter 25 and then I'd like to
turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and read a
verse or two there about Esau.
Genesis chapter 25 and verse 27, we read,
When the boys grew up, Esau became a
skillful hunter, a man of the field, but
Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.
Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a
taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came
in from the field and he was famished.
And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me
have a swallow of that red stuff there,
for I am famished.
Therefore his name was called Edom.
Edom means red.
So that was Esau's second name.
Esau meant the hairy one.
Edom, red.
But Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I'm about to die,
so of what use is the birthright to
me?
And Jacob said, First, swear to me.
So he swore to him and sold his
birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew
and he ate and drank and rose and
went on his way.
Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Now turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12
and listen as I read verses 14 through
17 of chapter 12 of Hebrews.
And here we have an inspired comment upon
the story of Esau in the book of
Genesis, dealing not only with the sale of
the birthright, but also the lost blessing about
which we shall read later in the book
of Genesis.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14 through verse
17.
This is one short paragraph.
Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification
without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one comes short
of the grace of God.
I think the authorized version renders it, although
I didn't look this up, this is memory,
fails of the grace of God.
Now that is a reference to Esau.
You can see he's leading up to this
and so we're justified in saying that it
is Esau who failed of the grace of
God.
That no root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble and by it many be defiled.
That there be no immoral or godless person
like Esau.
The authorized version renders this, no fornicator or
profane person like Esau who sold his own
birthright for a single meal.
And there is a little bit of a
stress in the Greek text at this point
on the word translated single here.
One morsel of bread, just one morsel of
bread, not a series of meals, but a
single meal.
For you know that even afterwards when he
desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected
for he found no place for repentance though
he sought for it with tears.
Now there are two ways to understand that
last statement, no place for repentance.
It might be understood of Esau's seeking repentance
himself but it's much more likely that what
it means is that he found no place
for a repentance on Isaac's part.
For Isaac had blessed Jacob and had not
blessed Esau and so the change of mind
that he sought was a change of mind
in Isaac that he might receive the blessing.
But he found no place for a change
of mind in Isaac though he sought for
it with tears.
For Isaac though his own faith had evidently
deteriorated had nevertheless recognized in what had happened
when he was deceived by Rebekah and Jacob
the hand of God and recognizing the hand
of God and the providence of God and
the blessing of Jacob when he thought he
was blessing Esau.
Isaac at least had enough spirituality to stick
by the blessing that had taken place.
Consequently Esau found no place for change of
mind in Isaac though he sought it carefully
with tears and the bitter cry of Esau
seeking for the blessing after it had been
stolen from him is one of the tragedies
of the book of Genesis.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
The subject for this morning in the exposition
of the book of Genesis is Esau's profane
act.
F.B. Meyer in his little commentary on
the life of Jacob begins one of his
chapters by saying brothers were these two men
yes twin brothers but brothers could not differ
more widely before their birth their difference was
foretold at their birth it was evident from
their birth it began to broaden and increase
the linked hands of the brothers reaching across
the tiny reel of their earliest infancy were
soon parted as the stream of life widened
between them and they passed to their destiny
along opposite banks it is true that no
two brothers could be more different it would
seem than Esau and Jacob these utter opposites
however illustrate some crucial aspects of human life
they represent two views of life in the
case of Esau there is the man of
the world in the case of Jacob there
is the quiet man Esau is the man
whose God was his belly to use Paul's
expression in Philippians chapter three and Jacob is
the man whose God was Jehovah to use
one of the psalmist's expressions Alexander White who
has also written a chapter on the life
of Esau has said that Esau lost his
birthright with all its blessings largely through his
lack of imagination but what the Scotsman meant
by imagination is not what we mean when
we use the term today he meant that
the things that are unseen the things that
are eternal were the things that Esau had
no imagination of on the other hand Jacob
with all of his frailties and all of
his faults and all of his crookedness was
a man who at least had one priority
right he was a man who trusted in
Jehovah the result was that Esau was a
man who looked at things purely from the
standpoint of the material in the present and
the visible but Jacob is a man who
had a different attitude and that's the second
thing about the two men that is crucial
there are two attitudes to life Esau's attitude
was the attitude of unbelief it was the
attitude of unconcern he is the living illustration
of the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God for they are
foolishness to him neither can he know them
for they are spiritually discerned and Esau had
evidently no comprehension of spiritual things and no
desire for spiritual things he's the man of
whom the writer of the epistle to the
Hebrew speaks in terms of fornicator and profane
or godless man he's the earthbound man he's
the man whose vision is only so far
as things on this earth on the other
hand Jacob is the man who has faith
with all of his frailties and faith is
something that pleases God the scriptures say without
faith it is impossible to please him and
Jacob though there were many other things that
he did not yet have had that fundamental
thing faith he was not a profane man
profane incidentally in the sense in which the
Bible uses it is a term that expresses
that which is secular profane itself is derived
from the Latin word phonem which means temple
and the Latin prepositional prefix pro which means
before and so it referred to the plot
of ground out in front of the temple
not within the temple and therefore it signified
things that were secular things that were not
dedicated to God and so the profane man
may be a very personable and likable kind
of man but he is a man who
does not have any fundamental relationship to spiritual
things Esau was profane Jacob was a man
of faith so far as their everyday life
was concerned you might have preferred the other
one to Jacob but nevertheless there was a
fundamental commitment which later manifested itself in growth
and grace and then I think these two
illustrate the two destinies of life there are
those who pass through this human life with
us with whom we rub shoulders with whom
we talk with whom we may live and
as a matter of fact with whom we
may live in the closest of relationship husband
and wife and still when the time of
death comes the two pass to different destinies
Esau is a man who failed of the
grace of God he fell short of the
grace of God and on the other hand
there is Jacob who for nine months at
least was with Esau in the womb of
Rebekah Jacob the man of faith rough he
led a very tortuous kind of life but
nevertheless he ultimately found his way into the
presence of God and furthermore being a recipient
of the sanctifying ministry of the Holy Spirit
this crooked man this man who so often
sought to run ahead of God it seemed
near the end of his life manifests the
growth in grace by blessing Joseph and saying
the God before whom my father's Abraham and
Isaac walked the God who has been my
shepherd all my life to this day the
angel who has redeemed me from all evil
bless the lads now that is real growth
in grace and that came from the fundamental
commitment that had been implanted within him by
God in the beginning he was interested in
the things of the Lord so here we
have the two men Jacob and Esau and
I ought to ask the question of you
as we begin in whose footsteps are you
following now the passage begins with a note
concerning the family situation and this story incidentally
is written in a very remarkable way there
is an extraordinary solidity and precision of style
manifested in this brief little account one of
the commentators has said in this Moses occasionally
surpasses even Dante now the two sons have
spoken of in the 27th verse of the
25th chapter where we read when the boys
grew up Esau became a skillful hunter a
man of the field but Jacob was a
peaceful man living in tents Esau and Jacob
were as opposite as the nations that they
begat Esau was the father of Edom enemies
of the children of Israel Jacob is the
man whose name becomes Israel and after whom
the children of Israel are named but these
two men are as different as those nations
that they fathered in the case of Esau
we have the rugged cunning hunter incidentally there
is nothing wrong with hunting of course but
for you hunters in the field I want
to pass on a choice bit of biblical
learning for you there are only two hunters
that I can remember who are mentioned in
the Bible and both of these men are
mentioned as judged by God one of them
is Nimrod he was a rebel against the
Lord and the other is Esau this cunning
hunter and Esau is sent forth in Scripture
as one who was totally indifferent to the
fundamental facts of spiritual things Esau loved excitement
but he was an undisciplined man he was
the very proverb of manly courage no doubt
Isaac loved him he loved him not only
because of the things that he received on
his table as a matter of fact we
learned later on Rebecca could cook goat meat
so well that Esau couldn't tell the difference
between goat and venison so it was not
simply that that caused Esau to be beloved
by Isaac he was a man's kind of
man he was the ruggedest the brawniest the
shaggiest of all the rugged brawny shaggy creatures
of the field and of the forest among
whom he lived and died he had an
eye like an eagles no doubt his ear
never slept his foot took the firmest hold
of the ground his hand was full of
all of the kinds of manly skills that
men and others admire no doubt he was
an expert with his bow and arrow furthermore
he was the pride of the whole of
the family because when he came home in
the afternoon he usually came home with some
provisions he was a prince among men and
no doubt a prime favorite both of men
and women and even the children and it's
obvious too that his personality was an appealing
kind of personality for in spite of the
tragedy that affected him later on it is
Esau who behaves in a most personable way
with Jacob his brother who had he thought
stolen his blessing and bought his birthright from
him but in spite of all of this
that one says about Esau that is good
he was nevertheless a pagan man all the
time he was more an animal than he
was a man in the truest sense he
was all body and no soul and spirit
all the time a profane person who failed
of the grace of God it is sadly
true but it is possible for individuals who
are very appealing very personable very admirable in
the things that we men and women admire
but nevertheless it's very possible for that person
to be just what Esau was a fornicator
and a godless man it's one of the
sad tragedies of the Word of God that
we do have that the cunning hunter I
heard of a minister once who went hunting
he should have known better I guess but
anyway he went hunting and suddenly a big
bear got after him he took off so
fast and his coat was flying in the
breeze so straight that you could have played
checkers on the back of it and he
was desperate he was looking for something that
he might escape the from the bear the
bear was gaining on him and finally he
saw a tree but the lowest limb was
20 feet from the ground he made a
frantic leap for it and missed however he
grabbed it on the way back that's my
hunting story for the day now notice the
two parents we read in verse 28 now
Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste
for game the text reads in the Hebrew
because the game was in his mouth but
Rebecca loved Jacob now here is an example
of the conflict and tragedy of preferential treatment
of children it often happens you know even
in the 20th century that there is preferential
treatment of children Isaac loved Esau Isaac's faith
was at this time evidently decaying but Esau
but Jacob is the one upon whom Rebecca
had set her heart there was something that
was fundamentally similar between Rebecca and Jacob and
as far as I can tell we must
assume in the light of the later things
that we read in chapter 27 and following
that it was the spiritual kinship that she
felt with Jacob she remembered the prophecy that
the older shall serve the younger and so
consequently she understood that Jacob was ultimately to
have the birthright it was the prophecy of
the Word of God now she did not
of course have the faith and trust to
rest in the promise of God she wanted
to scheme a little and connive a little
in order to obtain the birthright and the
blessing for Jacob she loved Jacob however because
of this spiritual relationship that existed between them
and this is an illustration of the fact
men that it's always good to stand on
the woman's side because this is a woman's
world in which we live it is not
a man's world now in case you wonder
about that think of this when a man
is born what do they say how is
his mother and then when a man is
married what do they say wasn't she a
lovely bride and then when a man dies
what do they say how much did he
leave her so you can see that from
beginning to end this is a woman's world
now Jacob and Rebecca had this thing between
them Rebecca loved Jacob and Jacob was under
the influence of Rebecca it is great to
have a mother's Christian influence in one's life
too I don't want to make fun of
that because many men have been in the
human side at least blessed by having a
faithful mother evangelistic singer F.A. Mills who
died some years ago had a wonderful Christian
mother she raised her children in a Christian
home and when she died Mr. Mills sang
at her funeral and in the song that
he sang there was this stanza oh mother
when I think of thee tis but a
step to Calvary thy gentle hand upon my
brow is leading me to Jesus now it's
great to have a Christian mother and for
you Christian mothers one of your greatest tasks
in life the greatest no doubt is to
minister to your husband and to your children
in such a way that they remember you
spiritually no doubt Jacob never forgot the influence
of Rebecca upon him and though she was
had a preference for him there was still
a great deal of good that came from
it well the sale of the birthright is
a rather prosaic incident it seems so inconsequential
until you read in the New Testament that
this incident is fraught with far-reaching consequences
one day Esau just happened to come in
when Jacob was cooking a stew now you
can see from this that Jacob was a
mature man that is the meaning of that
is that he did the things that he
was called to do with more maturity than
Esau Esau was the cunning hunter Jacob was
the mature man that is he was a
man who tended the flocks and the herds
in the way that he should have and
he also dwelt in so he was around
the house a great deal some have said
he was a mother's boy well there is
no real indication of that in the word
so we'll just let that drop we know
this that he was a man who spent
time around the tent and furthermore we know
he could cook so it just happened say
it just happened last week incidentally someone stood
up in the audience after the meeting and
said to a friend that she had evidently
brought to the meeting since I had said
a few words about the sovereign grace of
God I've been known to do that occasionally
she turned to her friend and said he
occasionally gets off on that subject she doesn't
know I heard the conversation and but then
she went on and said something that I
thought was rather interesting as it was reported
to me she said he occasionally gets off
on that subject but then she said when
I first started coming here I used to
believe that other way but now I believe
this way so getting off on that subject
occasionally does some good now here it just
so happened speaking as an Armenian it just
so happened that Esau had been out hunting
and when he came back home there was
Jacob cooking some lentil stew red levels on
Jacob stove now I understand that this is
still a very savory kind of dish I'm
not interested in it myself except except for
one thing it does contain rice and I
do like rice being a Charlestonian you know
Charlestonians eat rice and worship their ancestors and
especially eating rice is good but it was
made of onions and garlic and rice and
then mixed with some form of meat like
lamb or of beef and it no doubt
was a dish that smelled wonderfully to Esau
as he came in from the field the
Hebrew text says he was faint we often
say that I'm faint with hunger not only
famished not only hungry but from hunger and
so as he comes in there is Jacob
now it is just of course a happening
you understand but when Esau arrives he sees
this and smells this that Jacob is doing
and in the 30th verse he makes this
very vivid request for something to eat he
says let me gulp that Hebrew word means
almost let me gulp let me swallow some
of this red stuff there literally of the
red this red and it's not surprising incidentally
that he repeats himself because you know when
people do get in a hurry they do
tend to repeat themselves so he was in
a hurry he wanted something to eat and
he says let me swallow some of this
red stuff there and the Bible adds Moses
adds at that point therefore his name was
called Edom or red he got his name
from this incident and throughout his life this
incident attached itself to Esau well Jacob is
a very intelligent man I would never have
liked to have made a bargain with Jacob
I know that people say of course they've
even used the expression he me out of
this but we'll see later on that Laban
Gentile Jacob out of a lot too so
we shouldn't think of Jacob as the only
crooked man in the Bible it actually belongs
to human nature now these are not the
first words about the birthright it's very clear
they had discussed this previously everybody knew the
prophecy that the elder should serve the younger
Jacob no doubt had approached at other times
but now he saw his opportunity Esau was
weak and it might be that at this
point he would sell the birthright now what
is involved in the birthright well of course
there was a double portion of the inheritance
that is there was worldly prosperity involved in
it perhaps well that's not the real thing
that interested Jacob nor was it the thing
that made much of a difference with Esau
because he became a very wealthy man later
on he had a retinue of 400 warriors
who served him so he became a wealthy
influential man it was however the the thing
that made the person who possessed the birthright
the priestly head of his family he became
the person who dealt with the Lord and
when the Lord spoke he spoke to the
person who possessed the birthright and so the
person who possessed the birthright was the mediator
between God and the family the person who
possessed the birthright was the one who had
the privilege of communion with the Lord it
was he who was the spiritual leader it
was he who was the priest of the
family so Jacob thought a great deal of
this it was not worldly prosperity that he
was interested in nor was it immunity from
trials because you had the birthright it didn't
mean that therefore you were going to have
an easy life as a matter of fact
it was just the opposite he wanted to
stand however in the spiritual line of Abraham
and Isaac and especially in the messianic line
to be in the line that would ultimately
lead to the Messiah he wanted that spiritual
relationship he wanted to be in the spiritual
aristocracy he wanted to be a true pilgrim
in every sense on the way to eternity
and so he wanted the birthright it was
an expression of a desire that God had
put in his heart for fellowship with God
in a most intimate way so seeing his
opportunity he said first sell me your birthright
sell me your birthright today well Esau gives
a frivolous reply which indicates that he really
wasn't interested in spiritual things at all to
him he is maybe the first hunter who
invented the expression of bird in the hand
is worth two in the bush because he
responds in this frivolous way I'm about to
die so of what use then is the
birthright to me well Jacob wants to nail
it down so that there's no question about
it and he said swear to me today
first swear to me now Jacob's methods are
not admirable after all God had promised him
the birthright he could have waited but Jacob's
not sanctified yet he has the right adjustment
in his life the priorities of the Lord
are there he is fundamentally committed to the
Lord God but he's not yet sanctified and
so we should not expect him to live
in the way that he will live later
he wants to nail it down now so
in the power of the flesh he will
have this birthright first swear to me but
on the other hand while we criticize Jacob
notice Esau while Jacob's methods are not admirable
his interests were on the other hand in
the case of Esau his interests are very
very bad listen to what he says or
listen to what he does so he swore
and he sold him his birthright the solemnity
of the matter was no deterrent to a
hungry Esau one morsel of bread a single
meal is all the value that he puts
on the place of special communion with God
and my dear friend sitting in the audience
one wonders what is the evaluation that we
place on communion with God when spiritual things
are secondary and tertiary in our lives you
men your businesses stand first often in your
life you women the interests of your children
their social well-being frequently stand higher than
the interests of the Word of God we
are playing the same old game of Esau
again when that happens Esau the godless profane
man he swears he sells his birthright and
we read the tragic sentence in verse 34
then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew
and then notice the last of that sentence
he ate he drank he rose he went
his way there is something even in the
expression of Moses that suggests carnality so carnal
that one feels cannot help but feel some
contempt for Esau for the likeness with which
he took the privilege of fellowship with God
now occasionally when we studied Jacob and Esau
we are inclined to think let me put
it this way we are inclined to have
sympathy with Esau rather than Jacob I believe
that most of us feel that way we
read through the account and we cannot help
but have our heartstrings tugged at by the
tragedy of the life of Esau and when
we see Jacob scheming and conniving this crooked
man we tend to want to condemn Jacob
and admire Esau and feel compassion for him
but notice God's view of Esau look at
that last sentence thus Esau despised his birthright
so this is God's view of this handsome
man with the ruddy skin and the luxuriant
air the man of the open country the
rugged lover of the chase he despised his
birthright scripture has no word of condemnation for
Jacob at all but there is unequivocal condemnation
of Esau and when we read in the
New Testament that he is called a fornicator
and a profane man who for one morsel
of bread sold his birthright we have God's
view of this personable attractive manly kind of
man with the generous spirit but who deep
down within was totally empty of spiritual concern
now there are many lessons in this story
in Esau we see in addition to what
we've already seen that little things often reveal
the real nature of a person it's not
the average kind of experience but it's sometimes
that unusual little thing that gives your clue
to the character of an individual and this
little incident of the cooking of the lentil
stew and the combination of the chase revealed
the kind of man that Esau was the
trifle showed that he was empty spiritually in
Jacob of course we see the fundamental necessity
of commitment to God now he should have
waited but nevertheless there was the fundamental commitment
I'd like to return to what I began
with for the remaining moments of our study
I began by saying that this incident reveals
two views of life it does there is
one view of life in which the things
that are visible material are made the predominant
interest and the other view of life is
the view of life in which the things
that are eternal the things that are lasting
the things that are invisible are made the
things of special interest Carlisle has an interesting
paragraph in which he describes Esau he says
he's that kind of man of whom we
are in the habit of charitably saying that
he is nobody's enemy but his own but
in truth he is God's enemy because he
wastes the splendid manhood which God has given
him passionate impatient impulsive incapable incapable of looking
before him refusing to estimate the worth of
anything which does not immediately appeal to the
his senses preferring the animal to the spiritual
he's rightly called a profane person alas while
the body is so broad and brawny must
the soul lie blinded dwarfed stupefied almost annihilated
two friends were talking one spoke to the
other about a good man who left a
sizable estate the other said what a pity
that the man left his money behind when
he might have sent it on before him
he's not likely to ever hear again of
his money now the Lord Jesus said something
about things like this he said lay not
up for yourselves treasures in heaven treasures upon
the earth but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven it is possible to send our
treasure on ahead of us and Jacob is
the kind of man who did that Esau
was the kind of man who left everything
here furthermore this incident reveals two attitudes of
life there is the attitude of unbelief in
the case of Esau he had the opportunities
that Jacob had he had the knowledge of
spiritual things so far as we know they
were twins they were brought up together they
were together constantly mother fed one and the
other you can just see Rebecca just like
this twins twins someone has said is the
living proof there's no such thing as free
will but you can see that these two
constantly together had equal opportunities but the attitudes
that they had were different in the case
of Esau emptiness blindness obtuseness stubbornness with respect
to spiritual things in the case of Jacob
oh there was the crookedness and the scheming
and the conniving but nevertheless there was the
fundamental commitment ultimately of course today it comes
down to the relationship that we bear to
the cross of Jesus Christ may I ask
you where is your fundamental commitment is it
to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the forgiveness of sins that we receive
through faith in him who died for sinners
is that your fundamental trust is that really
expressive of the fundamental commitment of your life
or is it something else is it perhaps
that you think that you can get to
heaven by the things that you do do
you not realize that when you think that
you can get to heaven by the things
that you do that you are slandering the
God of heaven who has given Jesus Christ
for sinners do you think for one moment
that anything yet that you can do to
obtain eternal life can compare with what the
scriptures say about you as a sinner in
under guilt and condemnation and headed for a
Christless eternity and that the Lord Jesus has
offered the atoning sacrifice for sins don't you
see that if it were possible that righteousness
could come by the law there would be
no necessity for the death of Jesus Christ
in fact as we said in the studies
in Galatians the cross of Christ would be
the greatest blunder that this world has ever
seen and God would be the one who
had committed it Christ died for the simple
reason that there is no salvation apart from
the blood that was shed it was a
necessity if there is to be any salvation
that the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of
God should die for sinners one of the
most famous of the Scottish evangelists of the
20th century was John McNeill he's now with
the Lord he ministered in Scotland he ministered
in the United States even in Birmingham Alabama
in the church of which I was a
member before I came to Dallas the South
Hollands Presbyterian Church there mr.
McNeill was a man who traveled all around
he was an evangelist primarily and he was
known as that but he did stay in
places for a little while and generally left
because evangelists usually run out of messages after
a while they're not used to staying in
one place they're very good for a while
but then they have to go on that's
characteristic of evangelists I speak as a Bible
teacher of course but anyway mr.
McNeill once got in a bunker and he
was on it on the golf course this
is said of him he got in a
bunker on a golf course and he was
flailing away and unable to get out of
this giant bunker and one of his preacher
friends said to the other preacher friend with
whom they were playing well mr.
McNeill has finally got a steady job well
anyway he was a very godly man and
he was an evangelist who served with the
British forces in World War one he went
to France where he did duty in the
young men's Christian Association when that Association was
truly Christian his biographer Alexander Gamay tells an
incident that happened when he landed in France
the commanding general wanted him to come in
as the man who would be ministering to
the men to give him some instruction and
one of the things the commanding general said
to mr.
McNeill was now I want you to instruct
the men that when they go over the
top that if they should die if they
should fall from the enemy's fire that it's
going to be all right for them in
the next world because they died for their
country mr.
McNeill is said to have replied to the
general general if one of your men under
your command were to win the Victoria Cross
for valour and I were to belittle the
deed by which the declaration was won you
would not like it and I want to
tell you general that you are cheapening Jesus
Christ's sacrifice and according to mr.
Gamay the conversation ended right there and he
was never in his preaching required to say
anything other than the fact that if one
does not believe in Jesus Christ there is
no salvation and finally there are two destinies
of life just think of it one mess
of pottage sometimes one little of some kind
of liquid is the thing that makes a
difference one moment unbridled passion one forbidden look
one forbidden act in this case one look
at one mess of pottage but oh the
bitter cries of regret that followed so I
say to you my dear friends in the
audience I will not be able to preach
to you forever and some of you are
very young I want you to remember that
there are only two views of life there
are only two attitudes that we may have
to life and there are only two destinies
and the one road that leads to eternal
life is the road that has been made
possible by the blood that Jesus Christ shed
on Calvary's cross and so I urge you
as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ
to recognize your sin and guilt and condemnation
and therefore your need and to turn from
trust in whatever you may be trusting in
other than him come to Christ put your
trust in him by the grace of God
respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit
and conviction and can and by that ministry
of the Holy Spirit believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved may
God speak to your heart remember Esau the
profane man may God help you to turn
from that kind of life shall we stand
for the benediction we are grateful to the
father for the privilege of proclaiming the Word
of God and we do ask that through
the Holy Spirit thou will speak to the
hearts of those who may be here who
do not know the Lord Jesus Christ Oh
God deliver us from the destiny of an
Esau through the work of the Holy Spirit
bring to faith repentance and eternal life may
grace mercy and peace be ours through the
Lord Jesus we pray in his name Amen