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Subject 24 : Sermons for Those Who Have Become Our COWORKERS
[24-53] In Whom Did God Find Joy? (Genesis 25:19-34)
(Genesis 25:19-34)
“This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If all is well, why am I like this?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her:
‘Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.’
So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright as of this day.’
And Esau said, ‘Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?’ Then Jacob said, ‘Swear to me as of this day.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Esau and Jacob
Today’s Scripture passage speaks about Isaac’s twin sons, Jacob and Esau. If you understand the will of God towards Jacob and Esau, then you will be able to know 95% of the will of God. Abraham’s son Isaac gave birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. And when they were still inside their mother Rebekah’s womb, our Lord said, “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). And then the Scriptures tell us, “And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob” (Genesis 25:25-26).
God said that the older shall serve the younger. In other words, He teaches us here that all the people will be distinguished by two different kinds like these twins. What does this all mean? It means that there are people who receive the blessing from God while others do not receive any blessings. As shown in today’s Scripture passage, Jacob was a quiet man. He was a man who stayed inside his home taking good care of house work along with his mother. On the other hand, Esau was the complete opposite, a man of the field who liked to hunt.
Looking at the faiths of these two kinds of people, which one is the approved faith? The life of Jacob and his faith is the correct one. Jacob did not go out into the world, but rather, he stayed at home and took good care of his home. Dear fellow believers, what does this mean? Jacob’s way of life means that he led a life of following the Lord inside God’s Church after being born again through the remission of sins before the Lord.
You and I are the same. Whatever I may do, if I do it by uniting myself with the righteousness of the Lord, I always will feel happy and joyful. If I do God’s work and not do the work that is related to this world, that is, if I do the work that is related to God and His Church and serving souls, then I will be able to be fruitful, enjoy great satisfaction, and feel at ease, even though no great results may come from that work.
Even when Jacob and Esau were still inside their mother’s womb, God said that they will be divided into two nations and two people and that the older would serve the younger. This is telling us that Jacob, who lived with God, was one of the people of God, but Esau, who was not like that, was not one of His people. Let’s now look deeper into this part by taking a look at Jacob, the quiet one.
How Must You and I Lead a Life of Faith?
We must lead a life of faith like this Jacob. We have to take good care of our house work, sweeping the courtyard, fixing up the fences, and running errands well. In whom does God find joy? He finds joy in people who quietly and faithfully work inside their homes and do not go out into the world. Doing house chores all day and greeting guests might seem like a highly trivial affair to us, but our Lord finds joy in people who do such work. It is actually so. If we don’t go out into the world and do something spectacular, and if we dwell inside God’s Church and carry out the work that is related to God’s Church, that is, related to the spreading of the gospel of the water and the Spirit while leading our family lives, school lives, and vocational lives, then our hearts will feel blessed and be full of worth and joy. And God will allow us to bear beautiful spiritual fruits.
We the righteous agonize a lot over how we should lead a life of faith after receiving the remission of sins. And so, there are people who have this hope to serve the Lord by making money by running a big business. The reality is that there are many different types of people. But what do you think God really wants from us? He wants to find those who are united by faith doing His righteous work. Working inside God’s Church may not be something so grand, but our Lord finds joy in those who carry out God’s work quietly within the Church. To carry out the work of spreading the gospel by faith is the correct life of faith. The Bible says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This verse tells us to do things for the glory of God, whether eating or drinking, it tells us to do none other than the work of God. In contrast, it can be said that to do secular work outside the Church isn’t a genuine life of faith. God does not want us to give back the glory to Him by doing worldly work in abundance. Furthermore, He won’t even accept such glory.
Now then, what kind of faith does God genuinely want from us, and what kind of faith does He find joy in? It is none other than the work of the righteousness of God. In other words, the work of God’s righteousness is to spread His gospel of the water and the Spirit by believing in it and by uniting with God’s Church after receiving salvation from sins. All the necessary work that we do in order to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that is, offering prayers and doing the work of spreading the Word from God Himself, is what God finds most joy in. There are many effective means and channels through which we can preach this gospel of the righteousness of God. We offer our hands, feet, and body to the Lord, and we carry out the work of spreading the gospel Word that the Lord has entrusted us with by using all sorts of means, such as paper books and electronic books. And our Lord finds joy in people like us who do that work well regardless of our positions.
You and I must lead such a life of faith. You must know that those who receive praise from many worldly Christians are the enemies of God. Do you not know that the enemies of God are those who receive praise from worldly people? If you are receiving praise from worldly people, then you are carrying out works which revile God. When Christians return glory to God by receiving praise from worldly people, do you think God will accept such glory? This is a great misunderstanding. God does not find joy in that. If people of this world praise you, this only means that you are a false prophet, as the Lord Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). The people our God wants to find are those who spread the Word of God and preach about Jesus Christ, who is Life. This is what God really wants.
As we look at Jacob, we must think carefully about how we should lead our life of faith. For us, what kind of life of faith is really the proper life of faith? The proper life of faith is to put all our efforts into the work of spreading this God-given gospel of the righteousness of God, that is, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. To work night and day without rest in order to deliver the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the people of the world is truly worthy of blessing. This is the proper life of faith.
How must we, the genuine Christians, live? The work we must do now is the work of sharing with the people of the world this gospel which our Lord has entrusted us with. What else is there for us to do except for this glorious work? There is none. Our Lord tells us that Jacob was a mild person. Jacob wasn’t a man of the field. He did not even know how to hunt, let alone hold a bow and arrow. And so, his mother told him that since his father had asked for a savory dish which he loves, he should kill two choice young goats from the flock and bring them to her to be cooked. Afterwards, Jacob carried this savory plate of food to his father, offered it to him, and thus, received the prayer of blessing from him. In this manner, he received the blessing not by his own fleshly powers but by having worked according to what his mother had told him.
God Hates People Who Are like Esau
Jacob was a total opposite to Esau. Esau was Jacob’s older brother. Esau was a man of the field. He was an unjust man who sought only the things of the flesh. When his father told him to bring him savory food, he hoped to receive the prayer of blessing by offering it with the spoils of his hunt, for he was a man of the field, and so he offered his father this savory food he made, but far from receiving a blessing, he received a curse.
God likes people like Jacob and hates people of the field. Christians can thus be divided into these two types: People of faith who do the work of God and people of the flesh who do not do the work of God. Even among those who profess to believe in the righteousness of God, there are people like Jacob, and on the other hand, there are people who are like Esau in spirit even though they dwell inside God’s Church. These people who are like Esau continually obstruct the work of God from within God’s Church. What kind of people are they? They are those who actually do not believe in the righteousness of God but pretend to. People like this are those who try to govern and oppress the true saints who believe in the righteousness of God even though they themselves have not been born again and have not actually received the remission of sins. Just like Satan, they are hunters who hunt souls like Esau. Hence, they are false believers. Such people are the wicked whom God hates the most.
Esau, who appears in today’s Scripture reading, was a man of the field, and God did not find joy in him. But in contrast, Jacob was said to be a man whom God found joy in, and we also learn that Jacob was a mild man who dwelt in tents. In this world, there are people who belong to Esau and then there are those who belong to Jacob. All those who belong to Esau will be cursed. They are those who live out their lives relying on their own strength. These are fleshly people who are like Esau, that is, those who do not accept the Word of God just as it is, think on their own, and lead a wicked life of faith by having made up their own fleshly plans and notions within God’s Church. And these people leave the Church eventually and live according to their own will. Though they say they believe in Jesus as the Savior, they are wicked people who lead a life only for their own flesh and according to their own desires.
If you want to follow the righteousness of Jesus, you must obey the Word of God. By attending the Church of God, you must be born again by having accurate knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. After that, you must preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit which is the righteousness of the Lord. If a man were to try to preach the gospel without being truly born-again, then that man is without a doubt someone like Esau. Esau was a man of strong legalistic faith. Esau was like clergymen who are ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such people are the spiritual swindlers who exist inside Christianity. They are like Esau who was accursed.
Even though Jacob and Esau were born and raised by the same parents, why is it that Jacob was so blessed while Esau was cursed? Esau was cursed spiritually because he lived his life relying on his own fleshly strength. From a fleshly perspective, Jacob’s disposition could be seen as being worse than that of Esau, and furthermore, Jacob had more wickedness. But Jacob did not live according to his own desires. Rather, he did all things by obeying what his mother told him to do.
Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, represents the Church of God today. In other words, rather than doing things according to his own will, Jacob obeyed the will of God’s Church. Sadly, today there are so many wicked soul hunters like this looking for people to devour. How do you think these hunters would enjoy themselves by hunting for other souls? They enjoy themselves by making other souls go to hell by making them believe blindly in Jesus even though they themselves have not been born again. They certainly have a lot of fun doing this. If the true saints are left alone, they can save souls by preaching to them the true gospel, but these wicked hunters have been killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by them continually lying to people (Ezekiel 13:19). You can’t imagine just how joyful it must be for them to be doing such wicked work.
There are few joys in life, and among them is the joy of eating. There also are the joy of fleshly pleasures and the joy of hunting or fishing. But the greatest among of them is hunting or fishing. When you hunt with a rifle, animals are killed with its bullets and they die by bleeding to death, and people say that this is so enjoyable to see that happening. As you see an animal losing its life by your shooting it, you feel an ecstasy as though you have conquered something.
Soul hunters have this same feeling. As they roam around from place to place, they find happiness in hunting souls that should not die. But God abhors the work that they do. Instead, He gives blessing to those who believe in and spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God never gives His blessing to people of the field. Instead, He gives His blessing to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There Are Just Too Many Soul Hunters in This Day and Age
In this day and age, there are too many Esau’s, that is, men of the field who hunt souls. In contrast, the number of people who are like Jacob is just few in number. The number of saints who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the world is quite small, that is, the numbers of Jacobs are extremely small. Yet, the number of Esau’s, the men of the field, is very large that they overflow.
Dear fellow believers, I want you to know that for human beings, hunting is something quite amusing. I think these people have been hunting so many animals that now they have run out of a worthy game. And so, I think they might be now trying to slip inside the Church of God and carry on with their work of hunting for souls. When they hunt, something to eat appears right away. With the catch of just one deer, a group of people can be fed. People are drawn to these places where hunted animals are. In other words, churches that are ministered by the non-born again Esau-like pastors appear to make a revival, but in reality they hunt for souls and perform pseudo ministries. They seem to grow enormous. What does this mean? The reality proves beyond doubt that there are many liars and frauds in this world.
Dear fellow believers, you must know that these types of ministries performed by all those who have not been truly born-again are the work of Esau-type pastors. We just think of them as those who have not been born again. But this is not the end of the story. I want you to realize that those who conduct outreach ministries without having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are horrific hunters of souls. Therefore, we should not think mildly of them as those who have not been born again. You must rather view them as soul-hunters that will kill your souls.
Our Lord said that those who belong to the Esau family are people of the field. Esau and Jacob, even though these two men may have been twin brothers, did not have the same faith. They were brothers, but in actuality, they were the representatives of two different nations. And the faiths of the two differed from one another greatly. One of them was a man who received new life for having received the remission of sins from God, and thus was a blessed man in both body and in spirit. While the other one obstructed God’s work and fell into becoming a hunter of souls who acts as the Devil’s servant that kills people’s souls. And so, when we view Christians, we must recognize that there are two different types of people in the Christian community. We must not simply view them with the thought, “That person has not been born again. He is truly pitiful.” If we were to view them like this but do not have the ability to preach to them the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we would only be inflicting scars on them. We should be clear about what kind of people our opponents are spiritually, and then we should without fail prescribe the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them.
There are two types of non-born again Christians. There are those who do not even know who Jesus is despite having faith in Jesus as the Savior, while there are those who know who Jesus is but do not know about Him who has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We should view them as the lost sheep. As for those who seek after other souls even as they themselves have not been born again, we should view them as soul hunters, just like Esau. And you should know and believe that this is a fact written in the Bible. These soul-hunters continue to put in their efforts, unaware that they are in fact killing the souls of people. They are those who kill souls that should not die and then snatch the flesh as their loot. There are just too many people around like this. You and I should be watchful against those who kill the souls of people and plunder their property.
The Righteous Must Battle against These Soul Hunters
What kind of people must you and I battle against? They are none other than the hunters of souls, like that of Esau. On this earth, there are wars that still wage on, and one of those wars is the war between Jacob and Esau. Until the last day of this world, this war will continue. You can see Israelis and Palestinians still fighting each other despite having agreed on a pact. The people of Israel and the people of Palestine are originally descendants of Isaac, but they fight each other non stop. Take a look at the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of his son Isaac. Dear fellow believers, Isaac and Ishmael were both children of Abraham, but their mothers were different. Isaac was born of Abraham’s wife Sarah, but Ishmael was born of her maid servant, Hagar. What does this represent from a spiritual perspective? Each of them having a different mother means that the churches they attend and serve are different. Isaac was a child having been born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the Church of God, but Ishmael was a child having been born by flesh, not by the righteousness of God. This is why even now these two types of nations continue to aim their guns at each other. Though they originated from the same father, they continue to fight. It is because their faiths are not the same.
When we encounter other people’s souls, we must face them in earnest with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, as if we are engaging in an actual war. Knowing that our opponents are tied up in sins, we must fight courageously by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must not think of them simply as “the servants who have not been born-again yet.” They are like Esau, the hunters of souls. We must defeat these soul-hunters with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then will we be able to save the sheep of God perfectly. We must not be lenient to them like a good-hearted gentleman. We must realize that people who merely have not been born again are simply the lost sheep that have all too little knowledge about the righteousness of the Lord, but as for those who run around arduously without even having been born again, we must realize that they are the very soul-hunters like Esau.
We Must Learn Jacob’s Faith Well
You and I who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are those who possess Jacob’s faith. Jacob was a man who worked in the kitchen staying close to his mother, went anywhere his mother went, received instructions from his mother, and followed it. Like this, Jacob was a man who quietly took care of the house work. What kind of faith must we then have? Must we become someone like Esau or someone like Jacob? Without a doubt, we must become someone like Jacob.
However, even for us, there is this tendency to be similar to that of Esau. Therefore, we must think more deeply about this: why did God bless Jacob and carry out His work through him? Although God speaks a lot of other things in the Bible, He especially emphasized this: “Jacob did as his mother told him to do.” As we live out our faith, we come across much thought about wanting to do this and that. Nevertheless, we must not put forth such fleshly plans of ours before God. And in order to wholly follow the righteousness of the Lord, we must throw away these fleshly thoughts that we have. Only then will you and I be able to see what direction God’s Church goes and live out our faith by putting our focus on that. Such people can be looked upon as being someone who leads a Jacob’s life of faith.
Inside our hearts, we have a Jacob-like nature and also an Esau-like nature. But God abhors the Esau-like nature. God destroyed most of the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and the only ones to survive from the wilderness were Caleb and Joshua. The Bible says that God destroyed all the adults who came out from Egypt but spared their children who were born in the wilderness. God destroyed every single one of those who came out from Egypt. God even had Moses die when the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan River, and so, we can see how unfaltering His will is. What does this all mean? It means that God has destroyed the ‘I’ inside of us. This means that we must discard all our humanly plans.
We Must Live Out Our Faith by Knowing about What a Genuine Life of Faith Is
We must lead a life of faith by knowing what a genuine life of faith really is. Do we not raise a clamor or lie like the false prophets of worldly churches because we do not know how? Although we have the disposition to do so, we do not do it. Do you think I don’t know that if I were to say prayers with the imposition of hands on church members, my popularity would not go up? But I don’t do that because this is something someone like Esau would do, and I know that our Lord will not find joy in that. This is why I don’t do it. We must do the work the Lord finds joy in. The work of righteousness that our Lord told us to do will never be like that.
Yes this is true. Just as Jacob did only what his mother told him to do, we must also do only what the Lord has entrusted us with. The work that Rebekah ordered Jacob to do—this is the exact work that we should be doing. And this work is the spiritual work of delivering the gospel of the water and the Spirit to people.
Rebekah spoke to Jacob. She said to him, “Go to the backyard and bring me two choice young goats to prepare savory food for your father. Wrap its fur around your body, wear you brother’s clothes, take the savory food that I will make, and take it to your father.” Think about this. Who do you think would best make food that someone’s father loves? The mother makes it the best. For the mother has lived long with the father for so long now that she knows very well what his appetite is like. No matter how well the child may make the savory food, it won’t be as good as the one that the mother makes. So the mother had Jacob take the food that she made, and Jacob obeyed what his mother told him to do and then received all the heavenly blessings as well as all the blessings of the earth. Later, his older brother found out about what had happened, and Jacob almost got killed. But, also in that instance, Jacob’s mother told him, “Run away from him. Go to your uncle Laban, my brother.” Afterwards, Jacob became a man of great wealth and success for having done what his mother told him to do. Jacob received a blessing that is far greater than that of Esau, and his descendants also received this blessing.
We must lead our life of faith by knowing this Truth what God tells us in today’s Scripture reading. It tells us that we must lead a life of faith like that of Jacob. That is exactly the faith that our God wants to find in us. Even though we don’t seem to be doing any of God’s work, but as we carry out the work ordered by God’s Church, in the end, we will be bearing great fruits of faith and receiving the blessing from God. People who possess spiritual faith will be receiving the blessing of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth without fail (Genesis 27:28).
But what would happen if you were to become the people of faith like that of Esau, the man of the field? In the beginning, you will gain much spoils of this world, but later on you will be accursed spiritually and have no choice but to go to hell. Isaac prayed a curse upon Esau his son. This was something humanly impossible for a father, but it was God who had this curse be put upon Esau by taking Isaac as His agent. This shows us that people who lead a life of faith like that of Esau will be cursed by God. Through spiritual leaders in the past, God often blessed and cursed His people.
How then must you and I lead a life of faith? We must lead it like Jacob did. What this means is that we must live out our faith by having become a quiet person who follows the Word of God in His Church. If you decide to work alone apart from the Church, and no matter how many plans you may have, this kind of faith will not be a faith that brings joy to God. Once a man becomes a man of the field, it will be the end of him spiritually. A man of the field leads a life of faith as he pleases. And a person who carries out the work of God on his own accord while inside the Church is never a true person of faith. What I am saying is that if we do things on our own accord before God and in His Church, we will never become a true person of faith. To lead a life of faith by being instructed by the servants of God is what a true life of faith really is.
Our God has made you and me into someone like Jacob. But some people among us go on living without even realizing that they have become the people of God. There are many people who go on living having forgotten the fact that God has delivered all of us from the power of darkness and moved us to the Kingdom of God’s righteousness. Of course, the absolute majority of Christians on this earth are “dead men walking” because they lead a misguided life of faith like that of Esau. Also, on another side, there are many people who wonder relentlessly even with the knowledge of truth like that of Jacob.
I want you to know that you and I who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have already become the people of faith who belong to the Jacob family. Furthermore, I want you to also know that God has already set a straight way of life for us to live out our faith. Truly, there is no other way for those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our passed way of life which was like that of Esau has already passed away. Prior to believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we had been planning our life on our own, deciding everything alone by ourselves, and trying to fulfill everything through our own efforts. We never asked any help from God and did not rely on Him, not even a little. Such faith was a faith that led us to destruction. But God made you and me His very own people. I want those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to believe this fact. I want you to remember this. You and I must lead a spiritual life of faith like that of Jacob before God.
If we were to lead a spiritually upright life of faith, what would we gain? We will gain the fruit of righteousness which saves lost souls. But it will be a foolish act for us to make plans for our lives on our own accord, just like a man who beats the air when he tries to fight. For us to be living in our own fleshly way is like living a life of beating the air without having any purpose. Having discarded our own fleshly recourse, we must truly do the work of the Lord, receive His guidance, and go on following the righteousness of the Lord. And such people who carry out the work of the Lord are those who are leading a proper life by faith. I hope you will realize that God has already set a path of life for us to follow His righteousness by faith.
We cannot carry out God’s work on our own accord. Of course, fleshly thoughts are also rising up inside of us, and with this we can live out our lives perfectly following this world. But as for the righteous, even if someone were to tell us to lead a fleshly life, we cannot do so. We cannot do this because we are afraid and also because we know that it is wrongful. We cannot do this because it is only too obvious to us that we would then be accursed by God in both body and in spirit. Why is this so? It is because God has blessed us by having chosen us as the Jacobs. Because He has included us in His very own people, rather than regarding us as those who have not been born again, even if we are tempted to lead fleshly lives, we are not able to do so.
We Must Become People of Faith Who Know about the Righteousness of God
We must lead our lives of faith by knowing and believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit which is the righteousness of God. Those who genuinely pursue the righteousness of God inside God’s Church can never live according to their own fleshly desires. Instead of living as they please, they live by faith of believing in the righteousness of God. Take a look at Noah’s life. You can be blessed by God only by uniting your heart with the righteousness of God in your life just as Noah did.
Dear fellow believers, even though we want to do our own work, we are compelled to become servants who will bring joy to the Lord’s heart first. God’s work will never be realized if we were to carry out the work by thinking with our own thoughts and wisdom, “I must do these things this way in this situation, and I must do other things that way in that situation.” Furthermore, God does not accept works that have human thoughts instilled in them. To serve the Lord with one’s own thoughts and to act with one’s own wisdom isn’t a proper way of serving the Lord.
What kind of servant do you think could refresh the Lord heart? It is a servant who does the work of righteousness that the Lord desires. And even in doing of this, it is such a servant who does it speedily rather than tardily. Such a servant is the servant that really refreshes the Lord’s heart. People like Jacob who appears in today’s Scripture are the people of purity. They absolutely do not do things according to their own thoughts. They are the ones who do only those works that God tells them to do. Look at Jacob’s entire life. He was a man who did things according to what his mother told him to do. He was never a man who did things with some wisdom that was his. He might have been head-strong and swayed at times, but he was basically a man who did everything as he was told.
But how was Esau? Did he do what his mother told him to do? Although it might seem as though he did as he was told, but if you take a closer look at his life, he did them by adding his own thoughts to them, regardless of what kinds of works they were. In conclusion, he had been doing things as he pleased. What kind of faith must our faith be then? Let us look at today’s Word, and think about it. And then let us realize the fact that we must become a mild person before God like Jacob.
“Have I really been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? After having been born again, have I really been doing things according to what the Church of God tells me to do?” At each and every moment, we must check this. “Am I not doing things as I please? Don’t I possess my own thoughts or my own wisdom?” I want you to think about whether or not you have your own plans, do things on your own accord with your own property, and despise being told to do God’s work. Dear fellow believers, think about whether you are an Esau or a Jacob.
We must lead a life of faith like that of Jacob without fail. Our Lord blessed Jacob. He never blessed Esau, a man of the field. We must carefully examine ourselves to see what kind of people we are. Perhaps, you are someone who does things according to your own accord, aren’t you?
Dear fellow believers, you and I must become the people of true faith. People who actually believe in and follow the righteousness of God by faith receive the Lord’s blessing. People who actually follow the righteousness of God are the wisest and the most prudent people who receive the blessings from God. Such people are like Jacob in spirit, and they are those who believe in the Word of the righteousness of God wholeheartedly.
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