The Ultimate Buyer’s Remorse

Turn to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. I’m conscious of the fact that there may be much still in the minds of some here today. The media is ablaze with what has happened. I sought to address that in the immediate moment on Wednesday. So if you’re not here, you can go online and hear that message. I will address something a little more this evening that will tie into what has happened in recent days, just in the past week. Maybe a word, maybe particularly for the young people, but not just for them.

This morning we’ll continue our series in Hebrews 12. Going through the book of Hebrews, we’re in Hebrews 12. Let us read the Word of God from verse 11. Begin at verse 11. We have gone as far as verse 14. And we will look at verses 15 through 17 with the Lord’s help. So let’s hear the Word of God. Hebrews 12, verse 11.

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

Amen. What you have heard is the word of the eternal God, beloved, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray. Lord, we’re thankful for the work of Christ. We have no trust or hope in any ceremony, whether it be ecclesiastical or otherwise. It’s not based on being born in the church, being baptized, religious devotion, pilgrimages. Thy work alone O Savior, it’s all Thy work alone. By faith we believe that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Help us now in the Word, give power, give the Holy Spirit. Oh, give the Holy Spirit, that’s the need. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Have you ever bought something and later had that sinking feeling of regret? We call that buyer’s remorse. Sometimes it’s some item of clothing that maybe in the store seemed to fit and then you get it home and you realize, you know, this doesn’t really fit me and you’ve got the tags and all off it already and it’s still hanging there years later and maybe you’ll fit into it sometime. Maybe it’s some technology that was meant to improve your life and yet it’s sat in a cupboard somewhere pretty much unused since it was taken out of its box.

Or maybe you’ve tried to get someone to serve you in some way, some kind of service person, you’ve hired them to come and fix something, and instead of fixing it, they didn’t fix it, and in fact, probably made it worse, and you’re thinking, what am I gonna do here? I still have to pay him, and the problem still exists.

Buyer’s remorse, that sinking feeling upon the realization that you’ve lost something that you will never get back—time, money, whatever. That’s what happened to Esau in a form.

If you go back to Genesis 25, the account, and I’ll very quickly just read over some of the pertinent verses that pertains to what Esau did. Genesis 25 verse 29 reads as follows. “And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.” Just note that. “And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 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 Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”

I ask you to note two references to Esau’s experience that he was faint, because that’s part of what is in the mind of the Apostle as he makes reference to Esau. You go back to Hebrews 12, you will remember, in verse 3, “Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

Verse 5, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”

This language of fainting relates to an experience that can be spiritual as much as it may be physical. In a moment of carnal desire, Esau swore away his birthright and all that it meant, everything that was tied to the birthright, he gave away in one moment for one morsel. This is equivalent, at least if we just look at it purely in the temporal expression of taking an inheritance worth today’s money, millions, and in one moment of hunger, giving it all away for one meal.

And it wasn’t even a very special meal, just a stew made up by your brother. The idea of it boggles the mind that it could be possible that someone would be so in the moment that he would transfer something of such immense value for a bowl of stew. It defies belief. But Esau, this is what he did. He despised it. He thought little of the privilege that was his by birth.

And when you come to Genesis 27, and the bestowing of the blessing comes, you remember the time when, of course, Jacob is deceiving his father, and of course, he comes in and Isaac confers the blessing of the firstborn upon Jacob. And Esau comes in, of course, and that cry that goes up, cannot believe it. Realization that the birthright is truly gone. And that cry that filled that tent is the ultimate expression of buyer’s remorse.

And yet, this is what’s even more remarkable. Esau was only lamenting the material. He was not lamenting the spiritual underpinnings of his birthright, which we’ll see as we proceed here today.

Keep the context of Hebrews in mind. They are suffering, and suffering has a natural reflex. It looks for a way to escape. It tries to find a way of easing the experience of the moment. And the danger is we might choose a cheap or easy escape that we will live to regret forever. Regretting it forever.

So many of the things God has for us are not cheap nor easy. To be a Christian means to take up your cross. To enter the kingdom of God is through much tribulation. Very little is easy except in the knowledge that all of our sins are laid on Him and thus the yoke of Christ is easy. The burden is light, but there is a challenge to the flesh.

At some point in Charlie Kirk’s life, he decided to give himself to a ministry that as time went on, he became very conscious of the fact that there was a risk inherent in what he was doing. You don’t have 24-7 security unless you know there’s a perpetual risk to your life. But he chose. He made a conscious choice. And we believe, as best as we can tell, in this moment, he has no buyer’s remorse.

The Ultimate Buyer’s Remorse

There’s two main heads. Community guardrails. There are community guardrails to this, and then there’s contrasting fruit. Community guardrails and contrasting fruit.

Look at verse 15. This is where we’re picking up. “Looking diligently”—present participle, ongoing, has a sense of ongoing, and it is connected to what has come before. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently.” There’s a sense in which we are all pursuing and doing this together, that together we are endeavoring to look diligently. We’ll see what exactly we’re looking at in the passage as we proceed, but I want you to see from the outset that there’s a collective call here. The looking diligently puts its arms around the community.

One commentary puts it this way, “While their leaders may have particular pastoral and teaching responsibilities, this activity of watchful care is incumbent on everyone, regardless of their particular gifts.” So, the looking diligently. I just want you to see this from the outset. It is putting its arms around the whole community. The apostle is saying this is on us all. On every one of us, we are to look diligently. We are to give ourselves to this work, and that language—

That verb governs three subordinate clauses that follow, and you can see them in your translation, because they all begin with the word, “lest,” if you have the authorized version before you, “looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” So the whole community then is to be given to this work.

What is the work of the church? To prevent, to prevent the danger that this passage is warning about. What are we all, not just me, not just you and your own, but all of us, to be looking diligently, giving ourselves, being attentive, may occur within a life and then spread to an entire body of people.

First, Don’t Let Any Struggling Person Fall Short of Grace

First, it says, what I’ve summarized is, don’t let any struggling person fall short of grace. Don’t let any struggling person fall short of grace. “Let any man fail of the grace of God.” The word “fail” means to come short. “Looking diligently, lest any man come short of the grace of God.”

Now, I say that, and you might think to yourself, what does that mean? Can grace come up short? That’s not what it’s saying. It’s coming up short in seizing upon, laying hold upon grace, grasping grace.

How do men do this? How do men come up short of grasping grace? At least three ways I can think of.

First, refusing to repent and yield to Christ’s lordship. Refusing to repent and yield to Christ’s lordship. The gospel’s put forward, it makes a demand to turn from your sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and if you don’t grasp that. Like believe in the Lord Jesus, give yourself to Him, turning from sin, then you’ll come short of the grace of God.

You might also say substituting grace with works, having a form of godliness. And so you may be in the community, as was the case, this passage is dealing with those in the context of a religious community, a Christian community. But it’s quite possible for people to be in a community like this and still going about trying to establish their own righteousness, having a form of godliness. And if you do that, if you substitute the gospel, if you substitute the grace of the gospel with your own works, you’ll come up short.

We may also include in there, failing to continue in the race. The field continues to come up short, the field of the grace of God. This whole book is pushing in the language of perseverance. Perseverance in believing, resting, and living for Christ no matter the cost. And so there are people who have made profession, they appear to believe the gospel, but they’re in danger of dropping off. And by dropping off, they will show they’ve come short of the grace of God.

So that’s the language. And so the warning here is really what we’ve seen already. If you go back to Hebrews 3 and 4, if you remember there, where the scene of the wilderness is brought into focus. And the apostle’s driving at that scene, he’s making application in Hebrews 3 and 4 because what happened there with the children of Israel was that they had the gospel preached to them, they had the truth, they had the favors, but they refused to believe and they did not enter into the promised land for one reason only, unbelief. And they came short of the grace of God. They came up short through unbelief. They failed. Whatever profession they had made, whatever belief they had expressed, they came up short.

And so coming up short really has unbelief at its heart. Now, when you see this, this is a warning to the church. You’re to be looking diligently because someone, anyone at any time could fail of the grace of God. They start to express that, but I’m gonna tell you something. You will seldom see it first in a mark of blatant expression of unbelief, where they walk in some Sunday and they just say to you, “I give up on this whole thing. This is my last Sunday, I’m not coming back.” That’s not the first mark.

The first marks, of course, will be private. They will be in the hidden area where man does not see but God sees. Neglect of prayer, neglect of the Word, neglect of repentance and prayer. And with that neglect, there will be unhardening that happens within the soul that will then spill over into the corporate, into the public, and you’ll see them becoming a little more distant in various ways. They might pull out of ministries, or you can just see it on their face. Something is wrong. You are to be aware of that.

And then as you engage in them, don’t expect them always to be honest with you and say, “I’m struggling to continue.” Often what they will do is they will place the blame, because they’re looking for an exit, they will place the blame on something else. If they’re young, they may be blaming it on their parents. “And their parents do this or that or the other, or they don’t do this, that or the other.” And they’re talking, you listen to them, they’re hoping to have in you a sympathetic ear that will say, “Yes, yes, I understand, I see, I see it’s sad what you’ve come through.” And again, you’re kind of affirming the blame on the parents, but what they’re actually doing is angling for the exit, looking for your sympathy along the way.

And now should you challenge them and say, “Look, none of us have a perfect childhood, none of us have it every way we might want,” and you start challenging it, you’re going to find that they may not appreciate it. Attacks may go to leadership, attacks may go to the pastor, or a particular sermon, they didn’t like the way that was phrased. And so using that, but that’s not the reason for the problem. That’s not. That’s what they’re telling you. What they’re not telling you is, “I’ve been neglecting God for months. I’m not in the Word. I’m not in prayer.” And there’s a hardening of heart that the devil will harness and begin to destroy. But beloved, you’re to be aware of this.

So this passage, “looking diligently.” But looking diligently, there’s a danger that people fail at the grace of God, and we don’t want to just say, well, if that’s the outcome, we just leave them to themselves. That’s not what the apostle is doing. He’s speaking to people who are on that path, or at least perceived to be possibly going down that way, and he’s trying to grab them before they’re lost altogether.

Also, Don’t Let Any Bitter Person Go Unchecked

“Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The phrase is “root of bitterness.” It’s an all-encompassing term. It’s actually coming from, drawing from, the Apostle is pulling this from Deuteronomy 29. And there, on the edge of the promised land, as Moses’ ministry is about to come to an end, and the rest are about to enter into the promised land, that new generation, Joshua’s going to lead them. Moses gives warning. He says in Deuteronomy 29 about, “lest there be among you”—this is how it’s translated—”a root that beareth gall and wormwood.” A root, what’s he talking about a root? He’s talking about one person. Beware, lest there is among you, one who will turn to idols and corrupt the whole.

But the application is any sin allowed to exist within the community has a very real danger of corrupting the whole body. A sin unchecked in one family member may corrupt the entire household. A sin unchecked within the church has the potential to corrupt the entire church. Sins unchecked in a nation have the potential to corrupt the entire nation. And if you have any perception at all, you have seen this.

People say you can’t legislate morality. Well, in one sense that’s true. You can’t legislate the new birth. But you can legislate to curb men so that men remain conscious of the fact that this is condemned in our society rather than permitted and even praised. And so as our nation, for example, just to pull it into that scope, as the nation has given allowance and heralded and exalted and praised and sometimes given even through the courts permission to things that are explicitly unnatural and wicked, so the nation embraces it more and more and accepts it, it corrupts the whole. That’s what Moses warned Israel about, and that’s what the Apostle Paul is drawing from as he looks at the congregation, that they are not to let the bitter person, the person who has some sin, issue that is within them, whatever it might be, it can be expressed in different ways.

That bitterness may be, “I am fed up with having to suffer as a Christian. I’m fed up feeling ostracized by my family.” Whatever it might be. That language, that spirit, that behavior, that countenance begins to move through the body. So we are to look diligently. We are to look diligently. If we see this, it has to be addressed because what does it do? It springs up and troubles. It troubles and thereby many be defiled.

Churches have been destroyed. Nations have been destroyed. And households certainly have been destroyed. The woman who teareth down her own household, Proverbs speaks of. She tears it down, the whole household. Sin unchecked, not addressed. And what I want you to see that we are all involved in this, beloved, we are all involved in this. Times you are going to be, and other times I am going to be, or some other person is going to be, best situated to discern and therefore address this progression of sin and unbelief.

And Also Don’t Let Any Carnal Person Destroy the Community

“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau.” So it progresses where the expression becomes so visible that you have in your midst someone like Esau. The word “fornicator” is broad for various sexual sins. We’re not told of Esau giving himself to explicit sexual sin. We do know, and may be involved in this, that he gave himself to ungodly Hittite marriages and it was a grief to the heart of his parents. So perhaps the unholy alliance was enough. How the unholy alliance came about, whatever the case might be, but this is how he is described as a fornicator.

And profane, the word “profane” is interesting. The word itself, as you look at the compound word, pictures a man stepping over a threshold into a place where he doesn’t belong and he treats it like the same. And so we get the sense of profanity here as treating holy things as common.

Now, you can do that. You can treat holy things as common, and it’s a form of profanity that goes beyond language. We use the word profanity often in relation to language. But really, at its heart, in most cases, scripturally and spiritually, it deals with their holy things, and they are treated in an unholy way.

And so there’s a movement today, and I can see it’s a response to, for example, if you lived in a time, maybe you grew up in a church, where there was a real pressure to, if you really wanted to be a devout Christian, you’ll give yourself to be a missionary or a pastor. So you think about it, the real Christians, the real Christians are pastors and missionaries. And maybe that’s what you grew up under, you felt that pressure, that’s really, and you have this tiered Christianity. And everything else is common, and this is the sacred position. The real devout people go there. Well, that’s not true. Not to the extent it was presented.

But in response to that, of course, there’s been a wave of people looking at various things and almost putting their arms around everything as if everything is equally sacred, but it’s not. It is not. It wasn’t true in the Old Testament. It isn’t true today.

Very simple example. Very easy example. When you sit at the Lord’s table, it is not like any other meal you participate in. It is sacred. It is distinct. And you might get on in certain ways in your home that aren’t exactly Christian when you eat your dinner. You have a meal and fellowship in that way. But the Scripture’s clear, you mishandle the Lord’s table, the gathering of the church coming together and participating in that way, it can bring sickness on you. It can bring death to you because it’s not the same.

There are other examples that could be given, but the point is profanity is treating holy things as common. Some things are sacred. So God’s name is not like anything else. And Scripture often when it uses, I didn’t total them up, but I did scan through the use of the word “profane” in the Word of God and it seemed a heavy emphasis was placed upon the name of God. There’s nothing more holy than God, and he takes exception to the mishandling of his name. And what, not just in the use of it, but how you attribute, if you attribute false things to God.

The Sabbath. Scripture warns of it being treated in a profane way. The blessings of God, the Word of God itself. The profane man is as one, he is as swine before whom pearls are cast. It means nothing. And it’s the opposite of the spirit of a man.

I was thinking about this, thinking about my early Christian life and certain things that formed me and got into my own soul, and I’ve mostly carried through with a similar kind of thought to this day. I remember being converted and having a Bible, and reading it, and I couldn’t, and I still—there may be some exceptions to this, but they are exceptions. I could not put it on the floor. I could not put a copy of God’s Word on the floor. Now you say, “Well, it’s just a copy of God’s Word.” But certainly when I was a young Christian, it was like, this is not like any other book. And it communicates something of my spirit if I treat it that way.

And so even when I go downstairs, go down to the fellowship, and usually I’m last down there, and everybody’s Bible’s all across the pew there at the side. I’m always looking for a way to squeeze it in somewhere. So I won’t put it on the floor.

A young man may feel less even about the way he comes to church, how he dresses in public worship, afraid to denigrate the expression of what he is doing. He’s not required, doesn’t say scripturally that he must be dressed in a certain way, but he feels such as the sacredness of what he is doing, he is not going to denigrate the event or the exercise by coming in as if he’s just headed out to Walmart.

Sensitivity. I’d much rather, and I’m making no laws here for you, don’t take my conscience as your own, but I do feel a whole lot more at ease at the man who thinks about these things and has a sense of the fear of God that he’s fearful of denigrating in any way, treating cheap what is most holy.

Now, the language that you have here, verse 16, “fornicator or profane person” contrasts with the positive in verse 14. “Follow peace with all men.” Peace is broadly man’s relationship with man. Fornication is broadly the way Esau was expressing sin in the context of within humanity, relationship with one another. And then holiness, holiness primarily is how we live before God, how we act before the living God. Profanity is also, largely speaking, that which is done directly against God. So there’s a contrast here that the apostle is bringing out. Here’s what the believer does. He follows peace with men. He doesn’t fornicate. And he endeavors to be holy. He doesn’t profane.

And Esau’s example used. “Who for one morsel of meat,” it says, look at it, “who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” You can’t compute this. You cannot compute. It’s like being a member of the royal family and you’re going, you’re heir to the throne and all the wealth of the realm and you decide to give it all away for lunch. Who does that? Unless you think lightly of the privileges in which you stand. And that was Esau. He despised his birthright. Couldn’t understand the value of it.

Of course, it had practical things, a double inheritance, headship in the family. When the patriarch goes, you become the patriarch. But the main issue was the hope of the Messiah. The hope of the Messiah was bound up in the significance of the firstborn and his birthright. And there’s so much involved there, I can’t get into everything, but he was willing to trade all that was communicated in, being the firstborn with the birthright, to trade all of that for a bowl of stew.

This translates then to his despising of Christ, his rejection of the gospel, his cheapening of all the promises that he knew about. So he is unlike our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn son. He is the one, later Israel would be called God’s Son, Christ is the true, faithful firstborn who never failed. He is the Redeemer of the firstborn as well. Under the law, the firstborn had to be redeemed by sacrifice. Christ is the firstborn because of His perfection, did not need to be redeemed in that sense, but He became the Redeemer, laying down His life for others.

He’s also the elder brother and the heir of all things. The firstborn received a double portion, double inheritance. Double inheritance because he had an increase of responsibility, a weight of position. But Christ doesn’t get a double inheritance. He receives all things because he took all responsibility. And then he shares his inheritance with his people. And he’s not ashamed, this book says, to call them brother. He brings His brethren in close to Him and bestows the blessings of His inheritance to them. And He is the firstborn from the dead. The firstborn opens the womb. Christ is the firstborn. He opened the tomb there of resurrection, the firstborn to rise, the first one to rise, and therefore He is that one who shows the harvest of resurrection that is going to come.

This is bound up in the firstborn and the blessings of the firstborn, and Esau, whatever knowledge he had of that, certainly he had some understanding of it being tied up in the promise of the Messiah, and he just set it all aside. And the thing is, this is the thing, you remember back in chapter 11, remember this, because you’re saying, “Well, how could Esau, what could Esau have known?” Well, what did his grandfather know? His grandfather wandered around seeking for an inheritance that was much more than the promise of the land. He saw beyond and he sought for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He saw that. He understood the inheritance. He recognized that it had a spiritual aspect and he was giving up everything for that. And his grandson despised it.

Some of you know it. You know what it’s like to have offspring, maybe grandchildren, who today seem to be taking lightly their privileges. This passage is a warning. It’s such a heavy warning to those who grow up in the privileges of being in the church among the Lord’s people.

Our Lord Jesus was so distinct, he would not give up anything to compromise the inheritance promised to him, even though it cost him his life and the suffering of Calvary. Esau, what are you suffering? A little bit of hunger. Christ, what are you suffering? The agony, wrath of God upon me, where sin is laid on me.” Yet still he wouldn’t give up.

But the point of this section, these verses, verses 15 and 16, understandable of it, is looking diligently. This is the point, it’s the community guardrails that are being put up here and we are to look and see the progression here, the progression of neglect. Listen, neglect of spiritual graces leads to an infection which leads to the death of apostasy. So, you have the initial problem that results in infection that leads to death. We are to see the problem early. So the infection doesn’t spread and death comes in to the individual and spreads to the entire body. It’s a warning.

There’s Also Contrasting Fruit

There’s also contrasting fruit. Contrasting fruit. You come to verse 17, “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” The apostle, again, sets here contrasts. Look at verse 11 where we began to read. “The chastening for the present, it does not seem joyous, it’s grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

So, we go through this suffering now, but we’re to endure it. We’re not to compromise, we’re not to grow faint, we’re not to sacrifice what we have in Christ for the promise of relief. The Father in this moment has brought chastening to us, but afterward it’s going to yield fruit, good fruit.

Verse 17, “Ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, afterward, when he should have had the good fruit, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

One afterward is the lasting fruit after temporary sorrow. The other afterwards is the lasting sorrow after temporary relief.

So as you look at this verse 17, note the sorrow he felt, the sorrow that Esau felt. He sought it carefully with tears. He sought it carefully with tears. What is the “it”? What does “it” refer to? I believe it refers to the blessing, not repentance. It can be read that way, and the original language isn’t explicit, but I think the context shows, and even if you go back to the passage itself, when his cry goes up, he’s looking for the blessing. That’s the cry. He wants the blessing. It’s not the repentance. It’s the blessing he sought with tears.

And that’s what he wanted, and he lamented over the temporal aspect of it. His cry, we’re told, in Genesis 27, 34, was great and exceeding bitter cry. Weeping, weeping, howling, howling over the loss. But it was the loss of the temporal blessing.

Oh, he had sorrow. Scripture speaks of sorrow. In 2 Corinthians 7, we are told there that the sorrow of the world worketh death. There’s a kind of sorrow that is not of God and it doesn’t bring life. It works death. A worldly sorrow may fill the eyes with tears. Godly sorrow will turn the feet into the way of obedience.

So Esau was the opposite of Moses. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esau was opposite. He wanted the pleasure of the meal for a season.

Some of you may wonder, well, am I Esau? Maybe I’m Esau. Maybe that’s speaking of me and I am at a point in my life where if I was to seek for God’s mercy, I wouldn’t find it. Listen to me, Esau wasn’t looking for God’s mercy. If you have a feeling of yearning and needing the mercy of God, you’re not Esau. You’re not Esau. Thank God. You want the mercy of God? You come, believing in Jesus Christ as God’s remedy for your sin, there on the cross, bearing your guilt, dying in your place, offering himself as a sacrifice for sin. You believe on him. You will be saved. Guaranteed, you will be saved.

But Esau had no concern. There is no expression that He might be brought back in spiritually. That was not the lament. It was the blessing. It was the material loss. It was the dawning. It was the buyer’s remorse. But only as it pertained to the physical.

And the sorrow he felt, the sentence he faced. “For ye know how that afterward, what does it say? When he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.” He was rejected. “For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” He found no place of repentance. What does that mean? Repentance is a change of mind. Where was he trying to find the change of mind? In his father. He wanted to try and convince Isaac, “Change your mind, dad. Give me the blessing.” But Isaac’s no was heaven’s no. It could not be reversed. It was gone, and gone for good.

The permanent sense of loss, he was rejected, yes, of his request before his father, but also he was rejected before the living God. And this language of rejection again is permeating through Hebrews, and we have had warnings, most notably chapter 6 and chapter 10, of being rejected finally because you turned from the blessing of the gospel. That is the warning.

Let me put a point on it for you. You reject the gospel. At any given moment in your life, you are in danger of it being the point at which you’re ultimately rejected. You do not dictate to God when the time is that you turn in repentance and faith to God. You don’t. And he will cut off. He will close the door. He will shut you out. And when He does, it’s over. And then you’ll be like Esau, because you will walk away and it will be like nothing to you. And you may at times say, “I miss the church, I miss some of my friends,” but you won’t be missing Christ. You won’t be missing the pardon, the forgiveness, the standing, the adoption, the promise of eternal life.

This is the sentence Esau faced, judicial abandonment, lost, rejected, gone. In the language of Genesis 6, verse 3, “The Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.”

Now, beloved, you may be looking at me saying, “That’s a heavy message. That’s a heavy message.” But I want you to understand what is at stake. The apostle is so concerned that there are those making steps, falling from the grace of God, and he is harnessing every conceivable legitimate scriptural argument to reason them to their senses and beg them to stop now before it’s too late. That’s the message. And that’s what God and His providence has for you and me today. So that if you’re trifling, and playing games spiritually, and neglecting the means of grace, and not reading the Word, and not giving yourself to prayer, and being trite with the public worship of God, and just generally being blasé, as we might say, you are in danger.

Lord Jesus, even in the distress of not just a few hours of hunger, but in 40 days and 40 nights without bread and water, Satan came, “Command these stones be made bread.” And he was resolved, “I shall not tempt the Lord thy God.” Resolved that He might be your Redeemer and your Savior. And then He says of you, follow the same path. Do not grow faint like Esau. Do not grow weary in your mind. But see the Lord Jesus Christ who endured the cross, despising the shame, is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And you are to endure to the end yourself.

Be very careful, be very careful, especially the young, but all of you here, every choice is an exchange. Every choice is an exchange. That substance or medicine may seem justified, but there are side effects you may regret forever. That guy, that girl may seem worth it, but you’re exchanging the security of marriage, the promise of the security of marriage, for the bondage of a Christless home. You get the idea. Some choices will bring about a great sense of buyer’s remorse. Make sure it’s not you.

And especially as it pertains to Jesus Christ. Esau sobbed and wept. The outcome was fixed. He had lost the material benefits of the birthright. But his warning stands that there’s a loss even greater that Esau didn’t even care about. It’s the loss of the soul. Jesus posits the question, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world?” Not just a material birthright, gains the whole world and loses his soul. What will it profit you?

Today, my friend, if you do continue standing away from Jesus Christ, have not yet believed, this is the wake-up call. This is God’s message that comes to you in this moment and says, right now, right here, make your peace with God through Jesus Christ and resolve to have in Him an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. Bound up in him is so much more. You may lose something here in this world, but what you gain will be of such eternal consequence, and yet even temporal blessing, you will have no buyer’s remorse. Come today.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

If you’re a child in this church today with Christian parents and no choice in whether or not you are at church from one Sunday to the next, this message is for you. It is time to seek the Lord. Esau was careless with his blessings, and he lost oh so much. Do not be careless. Come to Christ today.

Maybe there’s someone here backslidden, and the question mark in your own soul today—the word has brought an alarm. The heart has been stirred. And the sense of urgency has not been lost on you. If you come to him, remember, he will never cast you out.

Lord, we’re glad that we may come and come and come again. I pray no one here would lose the sense of interest in Christ and be left like tragic Esau, numb to spiritual privileges and so carnal in his reflexes. God, I pray, save every soul here today. Help us. May thy word not be lost on any. Bless our afternoon. Help us to mull over what we’ve heard, to respond as is necessary. May we return tonight to hear again from Thee.

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.