PH 5-minute Bible teaching

When the world wins

The world values political power. It always has. The pages of Genesis reveal a sharp contrast between the exploits, pursuits, and “success” of godless men like Esau and those who choose obedience to God – like Jacob. It’s an important distinction for us to witness as we choose everyday which of those two paths to follow.

Those who pursue things seen, things that are visible, are often rewarded with prestige, honor, attention, and wealth. Such worldly power is so alluring, so tempting. But there’s a better way. If you want the audio-only version of this clip, just click here.

If you want to see the full sermon associated with this clip, you can find it here.

---

Transcript: When the world wins

Wed, Sep 27, 2023 : Peter Heck

(Begin transcript)

Finally, the world places value on political power. You know that to be the case, Esau and his descendants were extraordinarily powerful. You read it, we read it. They were chiefs. They were kings, they ruled over kingdoms with mighty power. They ruled, we read this, before any king ruled in Israel. Let me go back to that really annoying thing that I was just talking about.

I want you to imagine right now being a descendant of Jacob. Where are you? You are enslaved in Egypt. Jacob has followed and been obedient and has led you down this path of obedience to God and where are you? You are in the tar pits in Egypt at the end of a taskmaster’s whip. That's where you are. Your countrymen, your fellow believers are being bloodied and beaten. And it seems like God isn't anywhere to be found at all. You are miserable slaves. God had promised kings and a mighty kingdom and the mighty empire that would never have an end. That's what he told you. Just be obedient. And that's what's coming. And now you're sitting in a tar pit enslaved.

Meanwhile, you trusted obeyed and ended up whipped, but you look across town, and the people who walked away from God, the people who said, I'm not interested in your promises, God, what happened to them? Are they slaves? No, no. They're kings and they’re ruling mighty kingdoms. Isn't this the way it is with us? It seems so often that the world is winning. And it really annoys us. They're the ones that keep winning elections. They're the ones that are in charge of everything. They're the ones that are making the laws. And so what is the temptation for us? The temptation for us is to follow their path.

We've determined “Well, God needs our help.” We need to go about this the way the world says, not be obedient to God and His commands, not to be patient and wait on his promise, no, no, we're gonna hijack the world's methods. We're going to do things the world's way. We're going to approach this the way the world does, and then we will attain worldly power, and we'll do good things on behalf of God's people. We're going to help him out.

No, I mean, that's a temptation. Worldly power is incredibly alluring. Listen to this. This is where being a history nerd is a lot of fun. Okay, Mesopotamia. We all remember Mesopotamia, we've all been there. Okay. Ancient Mesopotamia, one of the earliest civilizations, there was a primitive tribe, this comes from history texts, primitive tribe that observed this custom, they would choose from among their people, a king, that would have a term essentially of seven years. During his reign, he would be given absolute authority to do whatever he wanted. If you were chosen King, you could have any woman that you wanted, you could have any place to live that you wanted, you could have all the money and all the food in the world. But there was one catch. Here's what the catch was, at the end of the brief seven year reign, that man would be put to death to make way for the new selected leader so that there was never a power struggle, they would execute that guy.

And here's the amazing thing. You want to know how alluring worldly power is, there were always men lined up to have their chance at being king. For seven years, they were willing to exchange their lives for seven years of power, and indulgence. That's how alluring it is. If that doesn't do anything for you, you're not impressed by that, some of you still have your eyes glazed over. Like, I don't know what's happening. But anyway, if that doesn't get you, how about this, I want you to remember Satan when he tempts Jesus. We're not talking about tempting Eve here. We're talking about tempting Jesus, Satan knows “I gotta bring my best stuff.” This is the Son of God, I'm not going to come in weak, I'm going to lead with the strongest temptations I can offer. And what's one of them?

He takes Jesus to a high point and shows him what all the kingdoms of the world and says, “You can have this, you can rule over all things and have all the power. If you'll just worship me, I'll give it all to you.” If you've ever seen the History Channel, they did the Bible miniseries, I don't know that this is what was going through Jesus's mind at the time, and neither do the people that made it, but I really liked the way they portrayed it. Jesus is having this vision of what they're, what Satan is offering him. And he's sitting on the throne of Caesar, as it's Rome, they conquered the world, and all the Roman leaders are bowing before him, and they're putting the leaf crown of Caesar on Jesus's head.

And at the moment it touches his scalp on the video, it flashes to the other alternative. And that's the way of Jacob, the way of obedience. And that crown of Caesar turns into a crown of thorns that pierces his skin and the blood starts dripping down. Those two choices, right? Worldly power is incredibly alluring. That's why Satan used it to try to trip up Jesus, you think he's not going to use it to try to trip us up as well? Trusting God is so much harder than that.

But I want to encourage you, those of you who are on the path of Jacob, if you got your Bible, flip it back to Psalm chapter two. You want to talk about power. This this is power. Listen to what God says in Psalm chapter two. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” All Mankind they plot in vain against the authority of God. “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed one.” Powers of the earth tried to rise up against God. “Let us break their chains.” Let's break God's change chains they say, “and throw off his fetters.” And how does God respond? Look at verse four. You want to talk power? “The one in throne in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I, I have installed My King on Zion, my holy hill.”

That's power.

(End transcript)