GOODBYE ESAU, HELLO FUTURE

Genesis 36



Pastor Rick Jackson



I will not lie to you. Reading this chapter may seem like a waste of time but it's not. I know it's not because "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable" and I need no other assurance than that. Several of the commentaries I usually use to study Genesis ignored it completely with no explanation. A few others gave the whole chapter a paragraph basically saying there wasn't much to it. Wasn't much to it? If we don't get something out of it maybe we have not put enough into it. Do gold nuggets usually lie on the surface or do they have to be dug out of the soil?



Hebrews 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.



I. THE REBELLION OF THE LIVING [v. 1-8]



1. Marriage does not always meet God's standard [v. 1-5]



2. Riches do not indicate God's blessings [v. 6-7]



3. People do not really change without God [v. 8, 25:30]



II. THE REALITY OF LIFE [v. 9-31]



1. Like Father, like sons [v. 9-12]



2. History has a habit of repeating itself [v. 13-19]



Edom, the elder twin-brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him:--Edom, Edomites, Idumea. "

The final issue between Esau and Jacob is seen in two men in the New Testament.. The Lord Jesus Christ, a son of Israel according to the flesh, stood before Herod, a son of Esau (Luke 23:6-12). - JVM

"The family of the Herods was Idumaean." - Ryle

"The Lord Jesus Christ had no word for him. He had identified him as 'that fox' (Lk. 13:32)." - JVM



3. Christians like to imitate the world [v. 20-31]



III. THE RELIABILITY OF THE LORD [v. 32-43]



1. God is no respecter of persons [v. 32-33]



Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:



2. Death comes to all men [v. 34-42]



3. Salvation is an individual truth [v. 43]



Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Ezekiel 18:19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.