The Sin of Esau

I. Introduction
A. We’re in the fourth week of our series on Great Sins of the Old Testament. Today: The sin of Esau
B. Genesis 25:24–34 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread & lentil stew, & he ate & drank & rose & went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
C. Review story
1. God made a promise to Abraham – alone out of all the people in the world (Gen.12). This promise meant eternal life, it meant salvation for the world, it meant the coming of the messiah.
2. Then the promise was passed down to Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac.
3. Isaac had twin sons: Esau the oldest, and Jacob. As the firstborn, Esau had the right to the promise. But something strange happens by which the younger Jacob ends up inheriting it.
4. One day Jacob was cooking some stew, and Esau was out hunting. When Esau came home, he was exhausted and starving, so he said to Jacob, “Give me some of that stew!” Jacob said, “Only if you give me your birthright first.” Esau said, “I am about to die of hunger; what use is a birthright?” And so it was that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for some bread and lentil stew. And that’s what is meant that Esau despised his birthright. That was the sin of Esau.
II. Explanation
A. Romans 1:23 tells us that mankind exchanged the glory of the immortal God for created things. Instead of honoring and giving thanks to God (Rom.1:21), they began to worship and serve created things in place of the Creator (Rom.1:25).
1. And we see a clear example of this exchange in the story of Esau. Esau exchanged the eternal promise of God for a mere bowl of lentil stew.
2. Now, there’s nothing wrong with lentil stew. I’d love a bowl myself. And I understand that when you’re hungry, you feel desperate for something to eat. You can easily lose perspective.
3. And Esau did lose perspective. He didn’t think clearly. It was just a bowl of stew.
a. At an average of three meals per day, a person my age has eaten approximately 72,000 meals.
b. What’s one meal? And even after he ate it, he was hungry again in a few hours!
B. So, why did he do it? Well, in that moment, it didn’t seem to Esau that his birthright was doing him much good. It wasn’t addressing the real needs of his life.
1. It was all just words – promises about the future. And right now what he needed was lunch!
2. And Esau wasn’t in the mood to wait. I’m hungry and I’m gonna eat! That’s the spirit of Esau.
C. And that’s why this act of Esau is used in Hebrews 12:15–17 as the example of what not to do.
1. In Hebrews 11 the author gives us a list of great examples of faith. Be like Abel, be like Noah, be like Abraham. But then in chapter 12, he cites Esau as a bad example: Don’t be like Esau!
2. “See to it that no one is...unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
3. Here the author of Hebrews also refers to the second part of the story, when Jacob tricked Esau out of the blessing as well, by pretending to be Esau when Isaac was bestowing the blessing.
4. Afterward when Esau showed up and realized he’d been tricked, and that his father couldn’t change his mind, “he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry.” Genesis 27:34
5. This is what Heb.12:17 is referring to when it says, “he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (repent = change of mind) There was no opportunity to change Isaac’s mind and undo what he had done, though he sought it with tears.
D. The first problem of the sin of Esau is short-sightedness.
1. Very often we make a decision not realizing the long-term consequences because all we are thinking about is the short-term advantages and disadvantages.
2. This is as opposed to deferred gratification, the concept that you sacrifice the small benefit in the now in order to acquire the larger benefit in the long term.
a. It feels great to eat more than you should, but there are consequences to pay later.
b. It feels good to lay into someone you’re angry with, but it usually creates bigger problems.
E. But short-sightedness is not the only problem with Esau’s sin. It’s not even the worst problem.
1. The worst problem about the sin of Esau is not preferring a trivial and temporary pleasure over a more important, longer-term benefit.
2. The worst problem about the sin of Esau is what he gave up, what he discarded, what he despised.
3. “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” The sin of Esau is the abandonment of that which must never be abandoned, the abandonment of one’s only hope, the abandonment of one's only lifeline, the abandonment of that which is life itself, the abandonment of the only Savior of our souls.
4. Esau had the right to a treasure no other man on earth had. He had the right to God’s promise, and it included all of his future children.
5. And it doesn’t matter how high a cost we are asked to pay, it is never ever wise to give up something of infinite/eternal value in order to obtain something of only temporary value.
6. People who do this often don't realize this is what they are doing. But they are.
7. Let me tell you the story of a 12 year old girl I knew many years ago. She had gotten involved in our youth group and was just loving it. But her mother wasn’t so hot on the idea. The mother was afraid the little girl would become a Christian like her older brothers had. And so, while never forbidding the girl from going, she made her preference clear enough, and the girl stopped going.
a. Now, obviously God has a story for all His elect to come to Him, but this may well have been this girl’s Esau moment, when she exchanged her eternal salvation for a bowl of motherly approval.
8. It’s not like Esau WANTED to give up his inheritance. But he did. He exchanged his inheritance for a bowl of stew. And that was the epitome of foolishness.
9. When Moses lived in Pharaoh's house, he gave up those privileges in order to obtain an inheritance with the people of God. But by doing so he obtained advantages that far outweighed all the advantages in the world.
a. “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Hebrews 11:24–26
b. Moses did the opposite of Esau.
III. But the real opposite of Esau, of course, was Jesus.
A. Being very hungry, Esau ate when he shouldn’t have eaten. But not so with Jesus. Even though He hadn’t eaten for 40 days, He refused to turn stones into bread at Satan’s suggestion (Luke 4:1-4).
1. He succeeded where Esau failed. He would not throw aside His inheritance for anything (and we, of course, are His inheritance).
2. He yielded to God in everything including food, always saying, Not my will but Thy will be done.
B. And He was always sacrificing His own life in order to feed others.
1. When the disciples returned from the Samaritan town with lunch, and urged Him, “Rabbi, eat,” He refused to eat, in order to teach them a lesson.
2. Instead, He said to them, “I have food to eat you don’t know about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:31-34)
C. He was the opposite of Adam & Eve, the opposite of Esau, the opposite of the Israelites, the opposite of us. He succeeded where all others failed.
D. He did not come to eat but rather to feed. And several times He used His own earthly hunger as a way to feed others with spiritual food (e.g. Mt.21:18-19).
IV. Application
A. Now it’s obvious that Esau made a very foolish choice in selling his birthright for a single meal!
1. But it’s the kind of thing we do every day! And that’s why Heb.12:15-17 warns us to steer clear.
2. When emotions get control, when the drive to escape pain becomes all-consuming, we get snookered too! We get persuaded to forget about the long-term treasure and go after the short-term pleasure – just like Esau!
3. Why would we do something so foolish? Well, just like Esau, God’s promise of our eternal inheritance may not seem like it’s doing us much good in the here and now: It doesn’t pay the bills. It doesn’t fill our tummy. It doesn’t give us a needed vacation. It doesn’t provide a dream lover. It doesn’t make me feel good. It’s all pie in the sky when we die.
B. And that’s why we’re so vulnerable to the sin of Esau. That’s why so many married Christians go after someone else, who makes them feel better and more loved. That’s why so many Christian students and workers hide their Christianity from their friends at school or work, lest it cost them the approval and acceptance of others.
C. But it isn’t necessarily something bad we’re after. There’s nothing bad about a bowl of stew.
1. Some give up the hope of an eternal inheritance in order to enjoy good things like career, like health, like hobbies, like marriage, like children, like parents.
2. As Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” — Matthew 10:37
D. The Bible keeps pointing us away from earthly things and toward the most important Thing.
1. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matt.16:26
2. “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:25, 33
3. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Deut.8:3 & Matt.4:4
4. “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” John 6:27
5. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:2
6. I could easily mention a hundred more.
E. If you are an unhappy person, this is why. Satan has tricked you into thinking that you need this or that or whatever to be happy. If there’s some thing you think you need in order to be happy, then, until you get it, you’ll think your unhappiness is because you don’t have it.
1. And if you do get it, you still won’t be happy (since things never make us happy) and you’ll find some other thing you need in order to be happy.
2. But really it is believing this lie that makes us unhappy.
F. You see, our unhappiness is a result of Satan getting us to misperceive reality.
1. He is very clever in making earthly things appear more glorious than heavenly realities. Doing this involves the exaltation of one and the diminishing of the other.
a. Satan makes earthly things look much better than they are. Actually, they are like flowers. They’re in beautiful blossom one day, but the next day they’re shriveled up and thrown away. Or they’re like a big bowl of ice cream, which tastes wonderful one day, but the next day, it’s turned into another hunk of blubber.
b. And Satan makes Jesus look much less than He is. Satan is on a smear campaign unlike any other. He uses any means possible to persuade us that Jesus is the most boring, most stifling, most oppressive person ever. And because we have a little Esau in us, we’re vulnerable to his tricks.
2. Our first and main defense is to think clearly and perceive rightly. You see, what Satan is trying to lull us into is actually a form of insanity. He wants to make us think that the most delicious food in the world is distasteful.
a. But God wants us to listen to His word. God wants us to recognize where our impulses come from. God wants us to ask ourselves: Who can I really trust here: the God of truth or the master of deception?
b. The secret isn’t saying no to yourself or to the world’s pleasures, it’s seeing what you really need – it’s seeing that what you really need is Christ.
c. Pools have begun to open up. I spent a lot of time in the pool when I was young. We’d see who could hold their breath underwater the longest at the bottom of the deep end. And I remember coming up at the end, sometimes before I reached the surface feeling so desperate to breathe that my lungs would begin to convulse and everything in my body was telling me to open my mouth and fill my lungs. But I knew I couldn’t. I knew that breathing in water could actually kill me. And so I’d clamp my mouth shut and strain for the surface where I could finally gasp for air.
(1) That’s what we’re talking about here. Esau breathed in the water and it killed him.
(2) He lost perspective and refused to wait till there was air to breath. He breathed in a bowl of stew and it was fatal.
(3) He made two mistakes. He gave in to his fleshly impulses to breathe something which could not give him life. And he refused to wait for the one thing which could give him life.
(4) And what he did is understandable. Everything in him was telling him to make the exchange.
(5) But in eating that stew, he was cutting himself off from his one hope, his one source of air, his one source of life.
(6) Like Esau, sometimes all our impulses tell us to do something which will ultimately bring about our death. (See an example of this in Psalm 73.)
G. And often, we find ourselves at that same crossroads as Esau, that brief moment when he was faced with the choice between his birthright and a bowl of stew. We can’t have both.
1. I don’t mean that we must have no earthly enjoyment. God has freely given us all things to enjoy.
2. What I mean is that we can only hold onto one thing. God may give us a bowl of stew to enjoy, but we must never trade our inheritance in Jesus for that brief satisfaction.
3. No man can serve two masters. There is only one thing you can take hold of, and that must be Jesus Christ. And sometimes to take hold of Him means leaving your garment behind in the hands of the seducer of your soul (Gen.39:6-13).
H. And it’s not just grasping onto the promise of God’s inheritance, but it’s grasping onto Him.
1. You see, there’s no way any sinful person could spend a lifetime going hungry in the hope of obtaining heavenly food in the end! And God doesn’t do ask us to do that.
2. Listen to this: God doesn’t JUST give us promises. He gives us Himself.
3. Of course, He doesn’t give us Himself as we will enjoy Him when Jesus returns.
4. But He does give us enough of Himself now to sustain us till the rest of it comes.
5. When you’re in the middle of running a marathon, you don’t sit down and enjoy a 9 course meal. That has to wait till after the race is over.
6. But you still need sustenance while you run the race. And in putting His Spirit in us, God gives us the first installment of our inheritance. which we need to keep running to the end without fainting.
7. Some wonder how in the world they can finish this long, grueling race — but they’re running on empty. They have no nourishment, they have no Jesus flowing into them, they’re not abiding in Him so that His life is flowing into them like a spiritual IV. But you can’t make it on your own.
8. But the Lord is our shepherd and He supplies our every need. The Lord is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
V. There’s an extreme case of the sin of Esau in Mark 15:24.
A. While Jesus is on the cross, the soldiers who put Him there are casting lots to divide up His garments.
1. On the one hand, they are treating as garbage the most precious treasure the world has ever known, and yet on the other hand, they are treasuring a piece of clothing.
2. This is just plain stupidity. But it’s a stupidity which plagues the human race.
B. Lord, help us not chase after the garments of life while casting aside life’s greatest Treasure.

VI. Lord’s Supper.
A. In a final act relating to food & drink, Jesus drank down the cup of God’s wrath upon the cross. He drank down the punishment we deserved to drink, and by doing so earned a great reward.
B. And now He has passed that reward on to all those who recognize their sin and corruption, to all who wake up to Him and realize who He is and come to Him in faith, and surrender to Him.
C. This is our inheritance. And it is our great treasure.