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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Randy Skeete

Skin for Skin

Our loving Father in heaven, we thank you for the gift of life.

So many people who went to bed last night are dead.

Now Father, as I undertake this difficult task of preaching, it's a spiritual work, I'm carnal.

Speak through me, dear God, because everyone's need is different and I know not what is in their hearts, but you do.

So for the sake of your name and the integrity of the truth, speak through me, I pray.

I lay my glory in the dust and seek only your glory.

I offer this prayer from my heart in Jesus' name, amen.

Our subject for today, skin for skin, Genesis chapter 25, reading from verse 29.

Let's go to Genesis 25, reading from verse 29.

I'll be reading from the King James Version.

If you do not have a Bible, you may read with the person next to you, because the person next to you is a Christian.

The Bible says, And Jacob sought pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage.

And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

And he swore unto him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob verse 34 then Jacob took bread gave bread and pottage of lentils to Esau and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way finished that verse with me thus Esau despised his birthright Skin for skin I have a second title for this message 2 hungry men This passage is universally familiar in Christianity.

Esau was a man of the field, the Bible tells us in Genesis 25.

Jacob was a domestic man, he loved to be home around his mother.

Esau's father loved the flesh that Esau brought from the hunt, the venison he would cook it, the father would delight in consuming the wild game.

On this day, Esau came from the field having shot, killed, caught, trapped, nothing.

The Bible says he was faint, hungry and exhausted.

And momentarily we will get to the other hungry man who was hungry and exhausted.

And so Esau came from the field and he was faint, the Bible informs us.

In his hunger, in his exhaustion, Teetering on the brink in his mind of death, the Bible says, Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee.

1 of the most cruel things a Christian can do is take advantage of someone's circumstances.

So there's a source of the water in Loma Linda and an adventist doubled the price at the Loma Linda market.

It is a crime in the eyes of God to exploit people's weaknesses.

We know he subsequently confessed, was forgiven.

And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright.

Jacob understood the value of the birthright in the way Esau didn't or didn't care.

The birthright, I'm sure you're familiar, it represented a double portion of all that the father had going to the eldest boy.

He became the spiritual leader of that home.

He was the 1 who received the blessing from the Father just before the Father expired.

And if, of course, being in the line of Abraham, that man stood in the messianic stream.

Now what higher honor is there than to know that Jesus Christ is coming down the corridor of time and he's passing through you.

If Esau understood that, he did not care.

My brothers and sisters, how you value something determines how you act and behave towards that thing.

And so Jacob said, sell me this day, not give it away.

If you found out your friend bought a car for $15, you would not assume it's a Mercedes-Benz or a Lexus or a Lamborghini.

With all respects to those of you of Yugoslavian background.

And Esau's price was a bowl of lentil soup.

And Esau said, before he finalized the transaction, listen to him, verse 32, Genesis 25.

And Esau said, behold I am at the point to what?

And What profit shall this birthright do to me?

Now this passage from Genesis 25, 29 to 34 is fertile and many sermons can sprout.

But I want to stress the issue of survival.

Because it is something all of us are facing in this uncertain economy, survival.

Whether survival of your business, survival of your home, survival of your school enrollment, whatever it is, we are facing survival.

And Esau was facing survival and he said, Behold, I am at the point to die.

He looks at the imminence of death and then he looks at the birthright and he sees no value in the birthright.

Behold, I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

In the immediate circumstance of his hunger and his fatigue, the birthright was useless.

For all that it means in the eyes of God and man a birthright is not something you sip out of a cup it does not stave off hunger Esau wanted something temporal something physical something he could measure by the senses.

He could see it, he could smell it, hear it, taste it, touch it.

Give me some soup, because I'm a point to die.

What profit shall this birthright do to me?

My brothers and sisters, lest you look down your nose at Esau, we conduct ourselves in that way every day.

I am 29, I have no husband, what profit is my virginity to me?

It does not dispel the loneliness at night.

I lost my job when the economy turned down.

All the offers require me to work on Sabbath.

What profit shall this Fourth Commandment be to me?

I spent multiple thousands of dollars to enroll in this school.

I have 1 exam left to complete my PhD in some elevated science.

What profit shall that commandment do to me?

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Skin for Skin

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