God Said It, That Settles It
First B Jackson
2017-01-15

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Amen. Thank you. So, this morning, following that, God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me. Y'all know that I usually preach in order from the New Testament and today, we are going to go to Obadiah. Obadiah.

Alright. God's word of a dark cloud of impending judgment. God said it and I believe it and that settles it. Obadiah is a very, very dark cloud indeed. There's very, very little to hope for especially if you are of Edom or of the line of Esau but Obadiah is where we're going to start.

I'm going to do a kind of a sharp turn towards the end and work us back towards the New Testament but this week, as I was considering what to preach, I know the next book that we're going to and I'll let you know before the end of this sermon. We have been doing a chronological study. We started just by studying the life of Jesus in the book of John. I know that it's a late book but it gives us the gospel. It's the gospel of belief.

So we studied first from John, then we studied the book of Acts and we've been using that as a framework. Off of that, we've been building our chronological study of the rest of the New Testament epistles. Last week, I went through from Acts and I went through with maps and everything else moving forward from the time when Paul was writing to the Romans from Corinth and his whole travels between that time before he actually got to Rome. He didn't get there the way that he thought he would. He got there arrested and he's under house arrest in Rome and from Rome, he writes the book of Philemon, shortest book in the New Testament or well, it's a short book, not the shortest in New Testament.

It's a short book, one chapter 25 verses and we went through the whole book last week. So, if you missed it and a bunch of you did, the Nixal alert scared us all. The the government alerting us that it was the snow was coming and it would not stop. It would not lull. It kept a lot of us home.

So, if you have not heard about Philemon, we'll touch on it at the very end of this message but the from Philemon will go forward from there. Obadiah first though. So, here we go. Obadiah, the vision of Obadiah. Obadiah is named here but it doesn't even tell who his father is.

It doesn't tell which Obadiah. If you look in the Old Testament in different places, you'll see actually quite a few guys named Obadiah. We don't know which one this was. We don't know from the text where exactly this was or what time period. There are some people that think it was earlier, eight or nine hundred BC.

Most people think it's around six hundred BC when this was written but this is the vision of Obadiah. There's no doubt. It's scripture. God said it. I believe it.

That settles it. Actually, God said it and that settles it. I don't have to believe it for it to settle it. God spoke. The vision of Obadiah, thus says the Lord God concerning Edom.

We have heard a report from the Lord and an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, arise and let us go against her for battle. The her there is referring to Edom. Now Edom, if you don't know where it is or what it is, it is a kingdom. The Kingdom of Edom is down here in yellow. You can see the Moab, Kingdom of Moab, the kingdom of Ammon.

You remember the Moabites and the Ammonites from your studies of the Old Testament. Jerusalem is right here. This is the Kingdom Of Israel and Judah. So this Philistine state, the Philistine Plain over here, these are all of the surrounding areas around Judah. Now, the Kingdom Of Edom lasted from the thirteenth century or some people say a little early earlier than that, BC until one twenty five BC when they were defeated utterly by the Hasmoneans.

So that's the Kingdom Of Eden. This is at its largest berry largest it was about this size and you see the dark red is where it was even encroaching and moving towards Judah and Jerusalem and they were encroaching on Israel, Jacob's territory. Right? This is what it looks like. Looks like kinda like the cliffs of insanity from the movie, The Princess Bride, doesn't it?

So, that is a hard, hard thing. If you've got the high ground here, it's a hard thing to work against. So it's easy to defend. You just lean over with your arrow and shoot the people as they climb your wall. It's a it's an easy place to defend and the Edomites or Esau, could we turn these lights right here off so that we can see the slides a little bit better?

That thank you very much. So that is what they were thinking. Now, look how the size of that as compared to Judah, it is two, three times the size of Judah and the next verse here too says, behold. Now this is the Lord that has declared this. Behold, I will make you small among the nations.

You are greatly despised, hated. All of your neighbors can't stand you. Now I'm gonna make you small and it's the Lord that's speaking. So does Edom look small? No.

It's not small. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loftiness of your dwelling place. Most of their cities were cities on a hill that had a flat top, easily defended, and every other place in the Bible where it mentions the clefts of the rock. It's a good thing to be.

You have hidden my soul in the cleft of the rock. Cover me there with your hand as the hymn says. Usually, for the people of God to be in the cleft of the rock is a safe, safe place. But he's saying the arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock and the loftiness, the high upness, the loftiness of your dwelling place who say in your heart, now who's gonna bring me down to earth? In Hollywood, in Washington DC, on the news, and in the on the television, arrogance is seen to be a good thing.

Cockiness a certain amount of cockiness is expected of a politician or of a movie star or of a sports figure. But can you hear anybody saying that? Who's gonna bring me down to earth? Who's gonna who's gonna stop me? Who will bring me down to earth?

That is arrogance. It's not a good thing. God resists the proud that gives grace to the humble. Now, it's a dark cloud. We're not going to talk about grace at all in this book.

Though you build high up like the eagle, though you set your nest up among the stars. From there, I will bring you down and Obadiah reinforces it, declares the Lord. This is the Lord God almighty. He is the all powerful one. He has the strength to do it.

From there, I will bring you down. Declares the Lord. If themes came to you by night or if robbers by night and then he has a little parenthesis here. He goes, oh, how you will be ruined. The next verse here says, would they not steal only until they had enough?

If thieves came in, you know, thieves come in, they look for the valuables, they take that, and then they go, right? He's saying, it's going to be worse than that. It's not just the little stuff. It's not just what you think is valuable. It's all going to be gone.

Everything. This is a book of impending judgement and doom on the house of Edom, on the enemies of God. Now, as Protestants, as Christians, we have taken this to be for all of the enemies of God. Obadiah was specifically speaking in his time about Edom and this is one of what we would call a split range prophecy. It is true in the near future and then it is true in the future.

Does that make sense to you? It's a short range prophecy for just Edom but for all enemies of God. Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, say a whole army of people came and they were going to steal your vineyard and that grape gatherers came to to you. Would they not leave some gleanings?

You could go behind them and still find some grapes. Nope. That's not the way it's going to be. Oh, how Esau will be ransacked. Actually, it was the, oh, how you will be ruined and then, oh, how Esau will be ransacked.

Now, Esau, I highlighted his name there because Esau is the father of the Edomites. Most of you probably remember that. Sarah and Abraham, you know, God makes a promise to Abraham. He says, get up and leave the land which you know and go to a place that I'll show you and Sarah follows along with Abraham in that promise and then he says, and I'm going to make great generations and a great nation out of you and the two of em got together and figuring we're old. We can't that now.

Y'all remember the story, right? So, they devise a plan for Abraham to take Hagar and they come up with Ishmael which was not the child of the promise and the Ishmaelites are still still tormenting us actually. Still tormenting Israel too. That was not the plan of God. That was not the promise of God but Abraham and Sarah would have a son.

This child of promise would be Isaac and they did and then Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Now, Esau was the older brother. Y'all remember this from Old Testament, right? From Sunday school, this is a good Sunday school lesson. Esau, the ruddy hunter, red faced, and strong and Jacob, the mama's boy who hung around and cooked with mama.

That's the way it was presented to me anyway. Jacob was a heck of a cook. He made some stew and then Esau traded his birthright. Now, Jacob was a trickster. He was a deceiver.

He was not a great guy. He grabbed on to the heel even from the earliest. He grabbed on to the heel of his brother as they're coming through the womb and he was always a deceiver. His name even means deceiver. So we got two guys.

Actually, Esau looks like a pretty good guy. But he sells his birthright. Jacob, aka Israel, took that birthright and he became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel and that's what we see. Now, Esau became the father of the Edomites. So, this message of judgement that we have in Obadiah, the whole book of Obadiah is about how Edom will be utterly ransacked and ruined.

Oh, how Esau will be ransacked and his hidden treasures searched out. Can we say at the very beginning that to be an enemy of God is not a favorable position or a place to be envied? To find yourself at odds with the almighty. That's a bad bad spot to be in. All of the men that are allied with you will send you forth to the border.

Now who is the you? The you is Edom. All of the men who have allied with you, Edom, they're going to send you out to the front lines and the men who are at peace with you will deceive you and they will overpower you. So, even the folks that you think are on your side are going to be against you. His first line said that this envoy had been sent out to the nations to let's make war against her, Edom.

They're gonna deceive you and overpower you, the ones you think are your friends. They who eat your bread out of your bounty. Those are the ones that are going to set an ambush for you and trap you. There's no understanding in him. There's actually the King James version is even more dramatic.

I think in this. It's almost Shakespearean. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border. They pushed you out to the brink. The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee.

They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee. There is none understanding. In him, in all the land of Edom, nobody is understanding this properly and then Obadiah goes on with the words of the Lord which are true and will come to pass. Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy wise men from Edom and understanding from the Mountain Of Esau? Can I not take that away?

I'm almighty God. Then, your mighty men will be dismayed, oh Teman, and Teman is the southern part of Edom. So that everyone may be cut off from the Mountain Of Esau which is supposed to be indefensible, right? I mean, it's supposed to be easily defendable, excuse me. So that everyone may be cut off from the Mountain Of Esau and how?

By slaughter. Because of the violence to your brother, Jacob. Now, how was Esau or how was Edom against Israel? He says, because of the violence to your brother Jacob, you're sinning against the chosen ones of God, the people of God because you were violent towards them. You will be covered with shame and you will be cut off forever.

Forever. Utterly. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. How many of y'all have brothers or sisters, siblings? Most of us do.

Now, when my brother and I were little actually, I told this story day before yesterday. We had one pair of boxing gloves. I was the older brother, so I got we're both right handed. I got the left hand boxing glove. My brother's right handed and he was younger so he got the right handed boxing glove.

He could jab a little better with his right and we fought like cats and dogs. We just fought all the time, fought. We had cousins that fought worse than we did. Reggie and Ted were even worse when we were being real bad. My mom would say, y'all are fighting like Reggie and Ted.

Anyway, if Reggie or Ted or Jeremy or Thomas or anybody else in town was to mess with my little brother, no. You don't mess with my little brother. He's saying on the day that you stood aloof and watched someone whip your little brother. On that day, when you watched a stranger not of the house. Now Jacob and Esau were still brothers, you know, and their peoples were really related.

Edomites are Semitic peoples. He's saying that as close as our relationship was, I know that there was some animosity. I have another story from back home. There was a family that I knew that this part of the family did not talk to this part of the family. I knew both parts of the family could talk to both of them just fine.

And when I came down to what exactly was the reason why y'all don't talk to each other? Why does this part never talk to this part? So and so, four generations ago, had gotten a hall tree after a death in the family. A hall tree is the thing you hang your hat and coats on. That hall tree was the beginning of two factions that never spoke to each other because so and so got that hall tree after so and so passed.

It's the it's a true story. On the day that strangers carried off as well and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you two were just as one of them. You didn't say, you know what? I'm gonna help him out. I've got this great army.

I've got this position, and they have to go through me in some ways to get to them. You stood aloof and watched as someone whipped your little brother. You were as one of them. Do not gloat over your brother's day, the day of his misfortune, and do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction. How many times did Judah get whooped?

It happened. You know, it happened. He's saying, don't be happy about your enemy's downfall. Don't be happy when your little brother gets it. Yes.

Do not boast in the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of my people, capital m. That's God almighty speaking. Don't enter the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. Yes, you, Edom, enemy of God.

Do not gloat over their calamity in the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. Now, if I were to bring it forward into today, do you know when a pastor falls or when a minister falls? Do you know how many people just sit there and go, I love it when that happens. Bunch of hypocrites.

Christians are all like that. That's a lot like this. Don't gloat when people fall. Don't be upset. I mean, don't don't when other people are upset, be happy about it.

Don't gloat over their calamity in their day of their disaster. Don't loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. Do not stand at the fork of the road just to cut down their fugitives, the ones who are fleeing the fight, tripping them up, cutting them down, and do not imprison their survivors in the day of their distress. Strong words. And then, this dark cloud has a thunderclap of lightning.

And it is this, for the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. Now, when you hear me mention the day of the Lord, up until today, pretty much every time you ever hear me mention the day of lord, it's with a smile on my face and with a sense of expectation that we will be reunited with Christ. The day of the great and mighty day of the Lord. Ultimate salvation when we will know as we're known and when we love as we're loved. But for those who are enemies of God, it will not be that way.

That great and mighty day of the Lord is a sword that cuts both ways. For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. And I I realized that this is the reverend doctor Martin Luther King junior weekend and Monday is his holiday and when I read this, the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations just as you have done, it will be done to you.

Your dealings will return on your own head. I remember a quote. He would say this fairly often. It comes up in a lot of his sermons that the that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. It's a long arc.

It says, the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. Remember when he said, I may not enter the promised land but I've seen it and I know that it's coming. It bends toward justice. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your head.

That peaceful man and that peaceful message. He trusted in the justice of God. He trusted in the word of God. He trusted that as people have done, it would be dealt back to them. Now, again, there's no grace mentioned here for Edom, for the enemies of God, for Esau.

Because just as you drank on my holy mountain, all of the nations will drink continually and they will drink and swallow and become as if they never even existed. 16 says 17, but on Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. This is the only silver lining in this whole dark, dark cloud right here. There will be those who escape. Praise God.

There is a way out. Now, from our study of Romans, especially three, four, five. There's no one that's righteous. No, not one and so we're all enemies of God. We start out as enemies of God.

We start out in the position of Edom with the wrath of God hanging over our head. In the great awakening, there was a preacher named Charles Finney. He all know Charles Finney. Have you ever heard of him? So, he would go into a town.

They'd set up a tent. It wasn't just revivalism. It was a place where the actual great awakening was happening. Charles Finney would go in and preach 28 sermons in a row on the judgment of God. Night after night after night after night, the judgment of God.

You stand condemned and the wrath of God is just hovering over you. You're are a rebellious and enemy of God and he would offer no invitation and no hope for a whole month. After twenty eight days, then he would bring the gospel of the cross of Jesus and people would be wailing and and coming forward. He had the first two rows where the anxious seats for those who are not believers in Jesus and they would accept that but so far, this is the only silver lining that we've got. On Mount Zion, there will be those who escape and it will be holy.

The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. This points toward a savior. It points towards a redeemer. It points to a way out but it does not reveal what it is. And it will be holy and the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

Then the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph, a flame, but the house of Esau will be as stubble. Now, and flame and stubble. Which one's going to win? Fire and flame are going to do pretty good. And they will set them on fire and consume them so that there will be no survivor, not even one, utterly destroyed of the house of Esau.

For the Lord has spoken. God said it. That settles it. The Lord has spoken. Then, those of the Negev, we could do a geography lesson.

I'm just gonna move through it quickly. Then, those of the Negev will possess the Mountain Of Esau And those of the Shephelah will possess the Philistine Plain and all also possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria. And Benjamin will possess Gilead. Not only is Edom going to be thoroughly covered up. All of the rest around it is gonna belong to the people of God and the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarepheth and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepherad will possess the cities of the Negev.

The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the Mountain Of Esau and the kingdom ultimately, this is the last of last word of this whole book. The kingdom will be the Lord's. God almighty has spoken. The kingdom will be his, and the rest of them will be utterly cut off. Now that is a dark, dark cloud, isn't it?

Aren't you glad we have the New Testament? I understand Greek a whole lot better than Hebrew, and I understand grace, I think, though it makes no sense. Better than I understand law. When I look at Obadiah and I think, poor Edomites. Poor Edomites.

Poor enemies of God. Is there no hope? No. There was no hope for them. When we were in early Romans in the in chapter one and it said that God would turn them over in their sin to a reprobate mind.

They were past the point of being able to recognize their sin or God's holiness, and they would just be done for. Edom had already passed that point, and Obadiah was delivering the message. So the takeaways from this short, shortest book in the Hebrew Bible are enemy of God is not a position to be envied. As as bad as some people think that they are and flouting the cross and flouting God in front of people. I think of all the folks who just say, ah, I'd rather rule in hell.

Well, you're not gonna be ruling in hell than serve God. Enemy of God is not a position to be envied. To be arrogant is not a good thing no matter what Hollywood or Washington DC tell us. Cockiness or arrogance is not a good thing. Don't be so high and mighty.

The Lord God can and will bring you down. Security, I think of Peter. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, therefore. Security in your earthly wealth is illusory. Trust in the Lord alone.

For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. Now, that's Old Testament. That's a scary, scary thing. New Testament, that's an overjoyed statement. The day of the Lord is coming for all every tribe, tongue, and nation but we haven't gotten to that.

This is Old Testament right here. For those who remain enemies of the Lord, there will be no survivor. You will not make it out. So how about an invitation right now? No.

Diane said, you you you backpedal away from that Old Testament. You don't like that Old Testament. I don't like that Old Testament. I I recognize that it is the law of God and I recognize that it it points toward the new but without bringing the New Testament into it, it's really hard. I couldn't be Charles Finney.

28 of 28 messages of that in a row? No gracias. Why do people come back? Obadiah. So, last week, we were in Philemon and Philemon is a book that was written to a particular individual.

That individual was Philemon. He was a master. He had a church that met in his house and he was a master of at least one slave. Paul speaking on behalf of that slave sent one letter to one individual, Philemon. And we talked about it last week.

And to begin Philemon, we did the whole enchilada last week, one through 25. To begin, in the third verse, he said, grace to you and peace. He leads off with grace. My point every time we start a book is always start with grace and peace. That's what we have to offer as Christians.

The grace of God is what we have to offer and peace with him. He starts with it. The last verse in Philemon one twenty five is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. He ends with grace. I love that.

Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Now, there was none in Obadiah standing under the judgment of an almighty God. We all stand condemned but what he's offering is grace. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

So Philemon, if you look at the whole book of Philemon and the chapter four of Colossians, there's some very interesting correlations. Now when I put them on my computer screen, I could read this. Yeah. I put those up there. They're basically the same length.

They're about the same length. If you look closely, this says Paul. It's from Paul. That's from Paul. Grace be with you.

Grace to you and peace. Archippus is there. He's also here somewhere. Right there. Archippus.

We look and we see Onesimus. Onesimus is there. Onesimus is there. A slave. Oh, masters.

Grant to your slaves. Epaphras is here. Epaphras is here. Luke is here. Luke is here.

Demus. Demus. Archippus again. All of these guys over here, most of them are mentioned over here, and most of them that are mentioned here are mentioned here. Philemon lived in Colossae.

He had a church that met in his house there and so when the letter was sent from where Paul was imprisoned in Rome to Colossae, it was sent with a couple of guys. This is this section up here in orange, which I can read and y'all probably can't. Excuse me. In Philemon, we saw, I have sent him back, Onesimus. I have sent him back to you in person.

That is I am sending my very heart. I love this guy. This guy whom I wished to keep with me. He became a Christian while I was here in prison. Onesimus came and met and he has become a Christian whom I wish to keep with me so that on your behalf, he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel.

That's Onesimus. Onesimus is Philemon's runaway slave. Philemon had every right under Roman law to beat him or even to kill him. Martin Luther says, even as Christ did for us with God the father, Paul also does for Onesimus with Philemon. He's pleading Onesimus' case and he's saying, whatever he has done to sin against you, Philemon, put that to my account.

I will pay but receive him just as you would me. That's exactly what Christ did to step in between us and holy God and say, whatever they've done, put that on me and he did on the cross. Now, Colossians four says, so this guy, Onesimus, Paul said, I'm sending him back to you in person with this letter, this runaway slave. Imagine becoming a Christian, learning about Jesus, and working it out practically in your life by taking this back to a guy you knew could kill you. Taking that letter back.

It's about effective Christian faith that puts action with belief. Onesimus, Paul knew, was a believer. He knew that he was washed clean in the blood of the lamb, and he knew that he stood guilty before Philemon. And when he was sending him back, he was trusting in God almighty and in the godly character that Christ had produced in Philemon that he wouldn't kill him. That he would use him as a Christian brother in the mission of the gospel or send him back to Paul.

Now, look at Colossians. As to all of my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond servant in the Lord, will bring you information for I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know all about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts and with him, I have sent Onesimus. So now Onesimus and Tychicus are walking from Rome and getting to Colossae together. He sent an individual letter to Philemon to say, this is the right thing to do and I know that you'll do even more than that to Philemon and he sent to the Colossians, Tichicus and Onesimus and said, this is the gospel and he ends on this note, the very last verse of Colossians is I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, remember my imprisonment, grace be with you. It's the grace that's available through the cross of Jesus Christ.

That's Colossians four eighteen. Now we'll get into Colossians one next time that I preach. But I wanted you to see that these are hand in hand. They're going exactly same time period. It was delivered at the same time to the same place with the same heart from the same man.

Grace be with you and it is the grace of Jesus Christ on the cross. So, what happened historically to the Edomites? Does anybody know? I'm going to read something from the Easton. I'm looking for my glasses, Dale.

Let me borrow em. There you go. You got yours. Here we go. The Easton's Bible Dictionary says, there are many prophecies concerning Edom in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 25, 35, Joel three, Amos one, all of Obadiah, Malachi one, and they have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of the land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a noble people for or as a people, excuse me, for about seventeen hundred years, it says here. They have utterly disappeared and their language is even forgotten forever. In Petra, where kings kept their court, Petra was their capital.

It was actually called Selah at the time. But in Petra where kings kept their court and where nobles assembled there, no man dwells. It is given by lot to the birds and the beasts and the reptiles. It is utterly destroyed. God said it and that settles it.

But what he's proclaiming in the New Testament is his grace available through Jesus Christ. If you find yourself today standing as a rebellious enemy of God saying, I'll make my own way. Thank you very much. I pray you'd reconsider and accept the grace he's offered. In Jesus' name, would y'all stand with me and we're gonna sing where he leads me, I will follow.

Scott, would you come up and help out? If anyone would walk forward, I would receive you and turn off my microphone. When they

hear my savior calling, I can hear my savior calling, I can hear my savior calling take thy cross and follow follow me where he leads me I will follow Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him all the way I'll go with him through the judgment I'll go with him the

I'll go with him through the

judgment judgment I'll go with him with him all the way Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow I'll go with him with him all the way will you give me grace and glory he will give me grace and glory he will give me grace and glory and go with me with me all the way where he leads me I will follow where he leads me I will follow Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him. With Amen.

So, would you let the word of Christ richly dwell within you and all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God and whatever you do in word or indeed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Amen.