Issac series - Esau

How to Develop Gangrene of the Soul

Sunday 5/27/07 a.m.

Genesis 25:27-34

The OT is our example for us to learn from;

1 Corinthians 10:6 & 11

Esau is a bad example; He lived his life with no concern or care for godliness!

Esau is mentioned in 85 verses throughout the Bible, and never in a positive manner.

• Sadly, things of great spiritual value are often handled in profane or crafty ways.
• Some people treat spiritual and eternal things carelessly, for they see them as of no value.
• And others, though regarding such things highly, use the spiritual cause to serve themselves through craft and manipulation.

Hebrews 12:16 states that Esau was a profane person. What is profane?

Open with 2 Timothy 2:16-17

Profane is used 5 times in the NT; in 1 Tim. 1:9-10 it is part of a list of ungodly sinners, Esau was an ungodly sinner;

In 1 Tim. 4:7, 6:20, and 2 Tim. 2:16-17 it is related to empty babblings and false teachings and beliefs that eat away at someone’s soul as a feeding place for Gangrene. The ultimate result in order to save the body is amputation. Esau refused to repent of his ungodliness and therefore was removed from the list of those who loved God:

God hated Esau[1] – Mal. 1:2-3, Rom. 9:13

Gangrene begins with a wound. Somewhere, his soul was wounded or pained. It could have been his desire for pleasure. In Gen. 25:27-28, both Esau and Isaac loved what was good for the taste buds instead of what was better - the satisfaction of the hungry soul. Perhaps the wound to his soul was his hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure, that which feels good to the flesh).

It is wrong to sacrifice spiritual provisions to satisfy one’s physical appetites.

Can I prove this assertion? Did Esau have his priorities out of order?

1.         Esau Had His Priorities Out of Order Proven by the Selling of His Birthright;

            Gen 25:27-34     “thus Esau despised his birthright.”

            Jacob, though an indoorsman, was a better hunter than Esau. He too craved—but                                                 something worth craving.

            Once he had grabbed by the heel; now he pressed the matter harder. But danger lies even                                     in such spiritual ambition.

            Believers should seek things of spiritual value, but they should avoid the devices of the                             flesh to try and attain them.

            What Jacob needed as well, was a reordering of his priorities.

2.         Esau Was Immoral, Thus Proving That His Moral Purity Was Compromised;            Heb. 12:16a“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane[2] person, as Esau, who for one                                           morsel of meat sold his birthright.”

3.         Esau Was Profane, Nasty, Nonreligious, Vulgar, Lacking In Spirituality;Heb 12:16b    

• But ironically Jacob was the craftier hunter, baiting his trap for the hungry “animal.”
• Jacob, the second-born, then had the birthright.
• The calculating, quiet man who recognized the spiritual value in the birthright manipulated his profane brother into giving it up.
• Perhaps knowing the oracle (v. 23), Jacob had been waiting for this opportunity.    However, God later made Jacob realize that His promises are not acquired in this way (cf. his grandfather Abraham’s manipulating, 16:1-6).

4.         Esau Was Unequally Yoked and a Grief to His Parents, Gen 26:34

            (The Priority of keeping the spiritual purity of the Hebrews by refusing to merge with                                idol worshipers)

5.         Esau Had An Anger/hate Problem

            (Lack of control; God’s Spirit can control anger when it is a priority)

            Gen 27:41-42 – “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father                                blessed him: Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself,                               purposing to kill thee.”

6.         Esau Had A Rebellion Problem, He Rebelled Out of Spite.

            (the priority of being humble and submissive vs. pride, arrogance and rebellion)

            Gen 28:5-9 v.8  “And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his                               father;”

Esau became the father of the Amalekites, Israel’s fiercest enemy

Gen 36:9, 12 

Esau is considered the father also of the Edomites, one of Israel’s enemies

Gen 36:19     “Esau, who is Edom,”

Gen 36:43     “he is Esau the father of the Edomites.”

----

[1] The Hebrew words for loved and hated refer not to God’s emotions but to His choice of one over the other for a covenant relationship (cf. Gen. 29:31-35; Deut. 21:15, 17; Luke 14:26). To hate someone meant to reject him and to disavow any loving association with him (cf. Ps. 139:21). Nor do these words by themselves indicate the eternal destinations of Jacob and Esau. The verbs refer to God’s acts in history toward both of the two nations which descended from the two brothers. Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1576.

[2] profane. 2a unhallowed, common, public place. 2b of men, ungodly.

          1.             Marked by contempt or irreverence for what is sacred: profane words.

                2.             Nonreligious in subject matter, form, or use; secular: sacred and profane music.

                3.             Vulgar; coarse.