Father, God, thanks for a chance to study today. And God, I do pray as we get into Genesis 36. It does say that all Scripture is God breathed and profitable, and Timothy. So, God, this is from you, and it’s for us. So, God, please allow us to understand how this applies to our life, how it reveals something of your character, and how it affects our relationship with you and the life that we live here under the sun. So, we ask for wisdom from your Holy Spirit to rightly understand what you’re trying to tell us. And we ask, Lord Jesus that you bless our time together in your good name. Amen.

Genesis thus far has covered about 2,000 years of human history. We have been moving at breakneck speed through human history. And it’s a selective series of snapshots that Moses, the author, gives us – not about everything and everyone and everywhere, but about certain times, people, places, events. And in so doing, he has primarily focused in Genesis 1 through11 on creation, and then in Genesis 12, he introduced us to a family that goes from one generation, Abraham, to the next generation, Isaac, to the next generation, Jacob. And in so doing, Moses has focused on the believers, on the Christians as it were – the people who do know and love and belong to God.

The question that arises though, what do you do with all the unbelievers? What about all the people who didn’t know God, who didn’t love God, who didn’t worship God, and weren’t Christians as it were? What happened to all those guys? Genesis doesn’t say a tremendous amount. Here in Genesis 36, however, it dedicates a whole chapter to those people. And literally, it’s like taking a page out of the Edomite phone book and just listing one generation after the next – a whole bunch of non-Christian people.

And there’s a few clues that Moses drops in here about these people. And as we read it, I know there’s silly names and they’re people that lived 4,000 years ago, but just like today. You and I – our names are in the phone book, and if somebody pulled that page out of the phone book, they wouldn’t know who we were. They wouldn’t really care, which offends us because we know we’re very, very, very important, and they obviously don’t see that. And so there’s something profoundly wrong with them.

In the same way today, we’re gonna look at a bunch of people that don’t mean much to us because we don’t know them. But you can just insert your family, friends, people driving by, all the non-Christians you know. You can just insert their name. It’s the same point.

So, here we go, Genesis 36:1. And I’m not gonna put it all up on the screen because it would take like a month to just read it all. And I’ll just read it, and if you’ve got a Bible, you can follow along. This is the account of Esau. Now again, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – three generations. Jacob’s twin brother was Esau – not his twin. They were born at the same time, so I guess that makes them twins. They didn’t look alike, but they were born at the same time – Jacob and Esau. And this is the account of Esau and his family line, all the non-Christians in the family. And that is, it says – “Edom,” – so they become a nation called the Edomites. And then Jacob becomes Israel, the nation of Israel.

So, through one brother comes the nation of Israel. That’s like the church, the people who belong to God. The other is Edom – the Edomites. That’s like the world, the people who don’t know God. And you can read Obadiah, a Book a little later in the Bible where these two nations come into great conflict just like the brothers did. So, here we go.

“Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan.” Are those Christian or non-Christian women? Non-Christian. A non-Christian guy marries non-Christian women. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. If you’re a Christian, you marry a Christian. If you’re a non-Christian, you marry a non-Christian.

“Adah,” – here we go – “Daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah,” – this is gonna be hard, man. “Oholibamah,” – that’s what it sounds – okay, that’s what we’ll call it. Holy Alabama, that’s what we’re gonna call her. “Daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite – also Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah.” Korah means bald, all you bald brothers. There you are. You made the Bible. Leviticus – I think it’s 13:40 says, “If a man has lost his hair, he is bald, clean, and fit for the kingdom.” So, praise the Lord, all you bald brothers.

“These were the sons of Esau,” – what’s that got to do with anything? Not a thing. “Who were born to him in Canaan. Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household,” – big family – “As well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob.” He gets wives, kids, gets rich, and lives away from his Christian side of the family.

“Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock.” They’re both too rich. “So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir. This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a concubine,” – girlfriend – “Named Timna, who bore him Amalek. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah. The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath. The sons of Esau’s wife Holy Alabama daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon, whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam and Korah,” – Larry, Curly, Moe. “These were the chiefs among Esau’s descendants.”

Now we’re sitting here. They’re organizing into political parties, governments. They have chiefs. They’re gonna have kings. You know what? Israel’s not gonna have this for a few generations. The pagans – the non-Christians – they organize quicker, get their society together first, get their chiefs together, kings together. What does that say? The non-Christians are usually ahead of us. Some of you understand this because you listen to Christian music.

We’re always behind. Like they do a cool film, and then seven years later, we do a kind of cool film. And they write a cool book, and 27 years later, we kind of write a cool book. And then like now, you know, Christian kids are starting – they’re into hip hop. It’s like, you know, yeah, you know, wearing parachute pants, driving Camaro’s. We’re always a little bit behind. We’re just a little bit behind. And that’s okay. That’s the way it is cause, you know, the non-Christians, they’re out ahead of us. And that’s what happens here. The non-Christians are out ahead. And Christians always say, “Man, how come we’re not setting the trend? How come we’re not out front?” We’re just not, man. We’re just – we’re junior varsity. Welcome to the JV.

These were the chiefs among Esau’s decendents. Verse 15, “The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam and Amalek. These were the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in Edom; they were grandsons of Adah.
 The sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the chiefs descended from Reuel in Edom; they were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah. These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these were their chiefs. These were the sons,” – see, this is what happens when you say, “I’m gonna teach you the whole Bible. See. See what happens? You know they’re not doing this somewhere else this morning. You know like in America we’re the only ones doing this right now – not good.

“These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs. The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister. The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam,” – Pete, Repeat, all of them.

“The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the desert while he was grazing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.” Well, good, because we were all wondering. There’s been a huge debate over that. Whole denominations have split. The Presbyterians splintered seven ways over that one. But now we know. Thank you, Moses. That’s your memory verse right there – change your life.

“The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran.” Like hip hop guys. They all rhyme. “The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir.” Fourth quarter, last paragraph.

“These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned.” See, the non-Christians got there first. They always are ahead of us. “Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah.” I don’t know. I think it comes with rice. “When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah,” – I shouldn’t have said that – “Succeeded him as king. When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith. When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king. When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Acbor succeeded him as king. When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel,” – public school – “Daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.” I won’t even go there.

“These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. And this was Esau the father of the Edomites.” Praise be to the Lord. Thus saith the Word. Amen. And so there you go.

No, this is how far we’ve gone. We’ve descended so far there. If I can read, I’ll get a standing ovation. So, here’s the deal. I gotta preach on that. How many until today wanted to go into the ministry? And now you’re like, “No, that’s cool.” I don’t know what to do with that, you know. It’s a list of names. And we go, “Well, we don’t know anything.” Here’s what we do know. Somebody got a hot springs. That’s my hook. I gotta work with that.

Okay. Here’s where I’m gonna go with this. I’m gonna try and make something out of this, and here’s where I’m gonna go with it. This is the line of the unbelievers, from ________. And the curious thing is this. You see that from Jacob’s line, Israel, comes a bunch of believers. From Esau’s line come the Edomites, a bunch of unbelievers. It’s like the church and the world. And what you get from this is it’s amazing that from one guy could come a whole family that shares in his beliefs, his lifestyle, his customs, his practices.

And so what we’re doing today, we’re shifting our focus from looking at the believers to looking at the unbelievers. And we see a couple of things about this unbelieving family that relate to all unbelievers. Some of you are here today. You’re not Christians, okay. You need to pay attention to this. You’re gonna leave here. You’re in one of the least churched cities in America. Most of the people around us today, they’re not Christians. They’re like these people – just people that are in the phone book, and then they die. They marry, have kids, make some money, try and get some real estate, run for office, vote, just do their life.

The first thing I want to point out is that God did speak to Esau. Do you remember when God spoke to Esau in his lifetime? He was going to kill his brother, Jacob. And God showed up and said, “No, no, no. I’m God. No killing anybody today. You’re not allowed to kill your brother.”

So, here’s the deal with Esau. He is not an unbeliever because he’s never heard from God. He’s an unbeliever despite the fact he’s heard from God. A lot of people think, “You know, there’s people that don’t hear from God.” Well, I’ll tell you what. God speaks, and God can do anything he wants. He can in a dream, a miracle, an angel. He can speak to anybody anywhere he wants. And there’s a lot of people who aren’t Christians, not because they haven’t heard, but because they don’t care.

Some of you, you’ve heard sermons, Bible studies. You’ve heard. Some of you, God has actually spoken to like he did Esau – some of you about dreams, visions, angels. God is audibly spoken, I’m convinced, to people that are even in the room this morning. But the amazing thing is Esau hears from God – doesn’t become a Christian. You say, “How could that be?” Well, the same way in Jesus’ time. Jesus goes out, preaches. Lots of people hear him. Some people love him. Some people don’t. Some people think, “Well, if I could just see God.” Jesus is God. People saw him. People heard him. People saw him rise from death. And some people still didn’t love him; still didn’t obey him; still didn’t follow him; still didn’t worship him; still didn’t belong to him.

See, Esau is a guy who has no excuse. He gets, “Well, I’m an atheist,” – because God talked to him. “I’m an agnostic. I’m not sure,” – because God talked to him. He can’t say, “Well, I believe in other religions,” – because one God talked to him. “Hi, I’m the one God.” He has no excuse. And that shows you that the problem isn’t just that people lack information, but the problem is really hardness of heart. And sometimes the information falls off the heart like bullets off a rock, right?

And the thing of it is, it’s not that some people don’t understand Jesus or they don’t hear about or from Jesus. It’s that they just don’t want to obey Jesus, and they don’t want Jesus to be God. They want to be God. James says that, “Even the demons believe in God.” You know, people believe in God. Demons believe in God. Satan believes in God. Esau believes in God, but he doesn’t love God, doesn’t follow God, doesn’t serve God, doesn’t confess his sins to God.

So, the first thing is that even when there are unbelievers in the world – and there are many. There’s – we’re outnumbered and surrounded here. Seattle’s run by non-Christians. It doesn’t mean that none of them have lacked an opportunity to hear about and from God. In addition, did he have – Esau have, in his life, other Christians who did love God that were willing to talk to him, pray for him, answer his questions, and help him? Yeah.

Who were the Christians in his life? His brother was a Christian. His 12 nephews, that he was their uncle, that became the 12 tribes of Israel. That’s part of the believing side of the family. His dad and his mom were Christians. His grandpa, Abraham and Sarah, they were Christians. Some of you were like that. You grew up. Your mom and dad are Christians. Grandma and grandpa are Christians. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces – Christian. Some of you, your families are like that. There’s two sides – the Christian, and the non-Christian side. And the Christian side, you know exactly what they believe. You just don’t love Jesus. You don’t want to read their Bible. You don’t want to do what their God says. You don’t want to live like they live.

You know, the world is filled with people like this. They hear about God or they hear from God. They know Christians, and maybe even have Christians in their family. They get together at Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays. Here come the Christians – nothing. They just don’t care. They don’t care to learn about God. They don’t care to grow in God.

Here’s some other hallmarks of this unbelieving family. How does it go for them financially – the unbelieving side of the family? Are they doing good? They’re loaded. They’re so loaded that they have to move into a new area to accommodate all their people, all their livestock, all their industry. What does that say? That says that non-Christians still can succeed very, very well in business. They can make a ton of money, have a nice house, new car, make MTV’s Cribs. They can live a decent life. They make money.

How many of you right now, you’re frustrated because you work for a non-Christian or you have a non-Christian in your neighborhood? They’re doing better than you. They have a bigger house, bigger car, nice TV. You’re flat broke. You go, “Oh, I love Jesus. How come he doesn’t give me some? He gives it all to the unbelievers. They’re loaded. They’re doing good.” I’ll tell you what. For the Christians, this life is as close as we will ever get to hell. And for the non-Christians, this is as close as they will ever get to heaven, okay.

And so they’ve stored up their treasures here, okay. Now you think about this, though. But we sometimes get frustrated and jealous. We say, “Man, God, they’re doing so good. We’re doing so bad. Their company took off. Ours tanked. And their real estate is worth a ton, and ours isn’t. And God, how come? Who do the unbelieving side of the family – who do they marry – believers or unbelievers? Unbelievers, okay. If you’re here and you’re single – and most of you are statistically – believers marry believers. And unbelievers marry unbelievers. Don’t mess that up, okay. That’s important.

And so the unbelievers marry unbelievers. Do they have babies? Yeah, they have a lot of kids. That’s all these people. Somebody had them, okay. They had them. So, these kids get born – unbelieving mom, unbelieving dad, doing pretty good financially. Grow up in the suburbs, ride around in the minivan. You know, listen to the iPod and go to therapy and take meds. It’s just regular families. And what happens then is they make babies who don’t know God, and they don’t’ raise their babies to know God cause here’s the other thing they do. The unbelievers, do they intentionally live in a community with believers or not? Not.

See, all of the believing side of the family is over here in the Promised Land. The unbelieving side of the family is over here away from the Promised Land. They say, “You know, it’s crazy over there. They go to church. They pray. They’ve got holidays. You know, they say, “God bless you,” when you sneeze. We just don’t want anything to do with that – that side of the family. We want to live over here. We want to have our own life, our own values, our own morality, our own way of doing things. This is the world. That is like the church.

So, this is what unbelievers do. They live together. They marry together. They make babies. The other thing they do is they hold power. They are chiefs and kings. This is the unbelieving life. There’s more of you. You hold power. You make money. You rule a government. You don’t’ want anything to do with Christians. You don’t pray. You don’t tithe. You don’t read Scripture. You don’t obey God. You have some kids. And you raise kids that are just like you who don’t know God. And they continue the legacy that doesn’t know God.

And some of you get very frustrated by that because you say, “Man, you know, it’s wrong that we live in an area where the non-Christians and the atheists and the universalists and the feminists and homosexuals run the government. They run the school. They run everything. They’re in charge. They set all of the policies for business. They squeeze out our profit margin. They tax us for stuff we don’t like.” Yeah, it’s Biblical. It’s Biblical. That’s the way it is. The Edomites ruled long before Israel had kings. They were organized long before the Israelites were organized. They’re pumping out more kids, making more money, wielding more power.

Some of you feel very frustrated about this. Say, “That’s just not right. We’re God’s people. We should have the money, and the power, and the kids. Everything should be ours. The schools and the government, that should be ours. That should be ours.” And Christians get very furious and very frustrated.

The question then becomes why would God or how could God allow this to happen? How could he allow non-Christians to have so many babies when so many Christians struggle with infertility, miscarriage? How could God allow all the non-Christians to hold political office and organize more quickly and get their people into positions of power more efficiently than the Christians who believe the Bible? How could God allow them to marry? They don’t even honor the institution of marriage. These are polygamists. They’ve got a bunch of wives and girlfriends, and it’s a totally messed up, perverted culture. How could God let that – allow that to happen? How could God allow these people to live this life?

Because here’s what they don’t do that the patriarchs have done. They don’t build an altar. They don’t’ go to church. They don’t pray to God. They don’t read their Bible. They don’t tithe any money – nothing. It’s just all about themselves – make money, take care of your family. That’s it – very selfish. The question is God, how could you allow that to happen? Very unfair.

Theologically, what this is going to lead us into is a big theological discussion today. Today is gonna be one of those framework sermons where you’re gonna get a framework for life on the earth. I want to take all the disconnected pieces of life under the sun, and I want to put them together for you in a picture. Here’s what we’ve learned so far in Genesis. In Genesis, God made us, gave us the earth as a gift. Creation is a gift. And he told us if we sin, what happens? Cause effect. You sin, you die.

So, here’s what should happen. As soon as you sin, you should die and go to hell – everybody – first time. That’s it. No repeat offenders. Die, go to hell, all right. This starts in the womb, okay. This starts in the womb. David says, “I’m sinful from my mother’s womb.” As soon as we sin, justice would say we should all died and go right to hell. ________ just. You violated God’s purposes for creation. You’re not doing what he told you to do. You’re his enemy. He’s done with you. He’s sick of you. Goodbye. So, technically, God has every right to have sent every person to hell immediately upon the commissioning of their first offense. And everything that they get beyond going to hell is grace. And I believe that is the theme of Genesis 36.

Now, as we’re gonna get into grace, let me explain this to you. There’s multiple effects of grace. And today I’m gonna distinguish two kinds of grace for you – saving grace and common grace. And I believe that common grace explains why Esau gets to be rich, married, perverted, grandpa, successful, Godless man, who ignores God, who has even spoken to him. Why in the world didn’t Esau just get sent to hell and not get married and not have kids? Why? Common grace.

Let me explain this to you. I’ll start first with saving grace. Paul says to the Ephesians, “It is my grace you have been saved.” And that is saving grace, as clearly as I can point out. That is saving grace. The point is this. God is holy, righteous, perfect, and good. We are sinful, disobedient, defiant, and rebellious. Because of that, we should die and be sent to hell, separated from God because just like if someone was living at your house and they kept assaulting you and trashing your house, you would kick them out of your house.

Heaven is God’s house. We sin. He has every right just to kick us out of his house and send us to hell. That’s totally just. But God did something amazing. God because the man, Jesus, came into human history, dealt with all of our temptations and hardships. He didn’t sin. He died as a substitute for our sins. Three days later, he rose to give saving grace, okay. When Jesus died, he took all my sins, past, present, and future. He paid the penalty for them. I don’t need to die and go to hell. Jesus died in my place. He gives me his forgiveness. I give him my sin. I’m saved by grace.

I can’t stand before God with my resume, nice guy, moral guy, decent guy. I tried real hard. All I can do is stand before the father, look over at Jesus, and say, “I’m saved by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.” Okay. That is saving grace. You don’t get to heaven. You don’t get your sins forgiven. You don’t get to be a friend of God without saving grace – something you didn’t merit, earn, or deserve. Saving grace is good for this life. And then when you die, it’s also good for eternal life. So, once you get saving grace, it’s good forever.

Now to distinguish that, there is something that the theologians call common grace. And we’re gonna do a little theology today. You gotta think. I know it’s early. You just got done with finals. I know. I’m sorry. But common grace is this. Common grace goes out to everybody – Christian and non-Christian. And it makes life on the earth better. But it’s only for this life. It doesn’t do anything for you in eternal life. If all you get is common grace, you die and go to hell. Your life was better than it could have been, but you still die and go to hell.

Now here – this is common grace. Common grace goes out to Christians and non-Christians. Everybody gets common grace. Only Christians get saving grace. Common grace makes life better. You say, “Well, how does it work?” Anything that is not going to hell is common grace.

Some of you say, “Like what?” Like breakfast – common grace. You say, “My breakfast wasn’t good.” It was better than hell. It was better than hell. Going to work – you say, “I don’t like my job.” It’s better than hell. Say, “I don’t like driving in traffic.” It’s better than hell. “I don’t like the Mariner’s bullpen.” Better than hell, better than hell. Right? It’s better than hell. Say, “I don’t like pop music.” Better than hell. It’s all better than hell – all better – “I’m getting older. I need to eat low carb. It’s terrible.” It’s better than hell. Okay, everything that’s not hell is common grace. It’s a gift. You didn’t deserve it.

So, the answer is how come the non-Christians get to make money? Common grace. How come they get to get married? Common grace. How come they get to be in power? Common grace. But they don’t deserve it. Just like we don’t deserve to go to heaven, they don’t deserve to go to the mall. It’s common grace. It’s common grace. God’s a good, loving, gracious, merciful God. He’s being nice to everybody. That’s how he works.

And let me go a little deeper on this. Here’s some places that we see common grace. Part of it is it’s in creation. It’s in creation. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that the sun comes out and the rain falls on who? Christians and the non-Christians, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous, everybody. So, you know, yesterday I mowed my lawn. I got all done mowing my lawn, and as soon as I did, it started to rain. The first raindrops hit me. Jesus perfectly timed the watering of my lawn. I appreciate that. And as I put my lawnmower away, I came out to the front of my house, and I looked over, and you know what? The rain was falling on the neighbor’s lawn too, even though they don’t love Jesus. What is that? Common grace.

See, they told us we were gonna have a drought. And then the rain fell on the believers and the unbelievers. And the sun comes out too, Jesus says, on the believers and the unbelievers, you know. If the sun ever comes out again, it will come out on the believers and the unbelievers. And the believers and the unbelievers will go to the beach. And the believers and the unbelievers will go for bike rides. And they will go pick berries. And they will go for walks. And they will enjoy creation. And they will watch the sun set. And they will get tanned and/or burned. And that is common grace. It’s common grace. It’s for everybody. Sunshine – for everybody. Rain – for everybody.

It says as well in the Book of Acts that food and gladness are for the righteous and the unrighteous. It’s for the believer and the unbeliever. So, you know what? You go to the Bite of Seattle, Taste of Tacoma, Folk Life, Bumbershoot. You know what you’re gonna see? Christians and non-Christians. Doing what? Having fun, eating food, having fun and eating food. Why is that? Because God is a gracious God, and he gives common grace to everybody.

So, you know what the non-Christians are doing right now? They’re not doing what we’re doing. I’m not assuming that all of you are Christians. But they’re enjoying common grace. Some of them are out enjoying it in creation. They woke up, and they said, “I’m not going to church. I’m going to the beach. I’m not going to church. I’m going up in the mountains.”

Some of them got up today, and they – here’s what the non-Christians do. They live their life with common grace. That’s it. They got up this morning. They went to Starbucks, got their fix, got their cappuccino, whatever it is. I drink tea. I don’t know what they drink, but something that’s burned coffee that’s way too expensive. And they went and got that. Then they came home. And they sat there, and they read the newspaper, and they’re flipping through the channels. The Mariners are on at 10:00 today, so now they’re about the third or fourth inning, and they’re cursing violently. So pray for them.

And they’re living their life. And then they may take a nap or go for a walk or wash their car or pet their dog. They’re gonna watch a movie. That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna wash their clothes. They’re gonna go to the mall. That’s what they’re gonna do. What is that? Common grace. God’s allowing them to have some nice things today, some enjoyable things – a bite to eat. Oh, that was good. Something to drink, a place to take a nap, a chair to sit in, a paper to read, friend to call, activity to participate in. All of it is common grace, and it’s better than hell. That’s where everyone should be today – in hell.

There is some other places we see common grace – in learning. Science makes progress. Technology makes progress. Human understanding of many things makes progress. We had a woman this week, she gave birth to a child after about 50 hours of labor. And she wasn’t giving birth, so they had to do a C-section. Well, had there not been technological advancement by common grace, she probably would have died in childbearing like the woman did last week in Genesis. Now this week she’s having other problems. She had to go in for – I think it was the removal of her appendix last night. It’s terrible to have a C-section and your appendix out, but it’s better than hell. At least they give you drugs, you know. It’s better than hell.

And the deal is without common grace that allows generations of doctors to make further research breakthroughs and technological developments, she just dies. So, you know, those of you who go to work, and you work on a computer, that’s a technological advancement made possible by common grace. Those of you that drove here in a car, you’re gonna go home. You’re gonna turn on your heat – central heating. That’s technological advancement – by common grace. You want to drink a water. You’re not gonna say, “Where in the world am I gonna dig a well?” Like none of you have put a lot of time into the well location process. You go, “Oh, we have a tap, and it comes through pipes, you know. This is how it works,” – technological advancement.

I want to watch TV – click, click, click, click, click. I want to order something. I get online – credit card, technology, science, medicine. What is that? Common grace, common grace. Because God allows some people to be very, very smart. You say, “But they don’t love Jesus.” Yeah, but they’re smart. That’s why Christians have gotta be so careful that we don’t say, “Oh, we only do Christian things.” Because so much of what we do on the earth is not Christian or non-Christian. It’s just human. It’s just person, okay.

I was dealing with a fundamentalist pastor a while ago. He said, “I think Christians should only do Christian things and not do what the non-Christians do.” I said, “Like what? Wear pants and floss?” I mean what – you know. Common grace means some people have figured some things out, you know. If the guy is a good mechanic, and he’s figured out cars, and you say, “What do you think about Jesus?” He says, “I don’t.” He still might be a good mechanic. He might still be a good mortgage broker. Might still be a good real estate developer. Might still be a good medical doctor. You say, “But they don’t love Jesus.” True, they don’t love Jesus, but they’re working out of common grace. They’re smart.

Some of you are smart. Some of you think you are. You’re not that smart. And some people are born beautiful, and life goes good. People buy them drinks and marry them. All right, ladies? And for the rest of us, like we’ve gotta read. We’ve gotta make it our own way. You know, “Hey, what is that? How come she’s so hot?” Common grace, common grace, man. What about some guys? They wake up. They’re huge. They’re strong. They can run a 4440 and they weigh 300 pounds. They’re going in the NFL. What is that? Common grace. Some people are strong. Some people are creative. Some people are smart. Some people have certain eccentric abilities and talents. What is that? Common grace.

And all this helps contribute to our learning. Medicine makes developments. Technology makes developments. Transportation makes developments. You know, we’re not living outside digging wells, burning wood that we chopped down with our own hands to heat our home. All of it is the result of common grace. Find it in creation. Find it in learning. Also find it in morality.

Now how many of you think that the world is a jacked up place with a bunch of evil people, okay? All in favor – aye. How many of you know it could be much, much, much, much worse? Because through common grace, God has imparted to each of us what Romans 2 calls a conscience. It’s part of common grace. Everybody gets one. Now, some people break theirs, lose it, right? But your conscience is like a moral rudder that gets you through life.

That’s why if you walk out right now and you interview 100 people, you say, “What do you think about child pornography? Are you for or against?” Everyone should say, “We’re against.” You say, “Why?” “Because the Bible says that God made children. He’s the father, and he loves children. And he didn’t make them for that purpose.” No. They’ll just say, “It’s just wrong.” “So, how do you know it’s wrong?” “It just is, and everybody knows it’s wrong.” Well, that comes from your conscience. It’s common grace. Everybody gets a conscience. And out of that conscience comes an echo of the laws of God. Certain things we just know are right and wrong. It’s common grace.

And without that, can you imagine how bad people would be? If you’d take the conscience out, we’d call that person who doesn’t have a conscience a sociopath. They have no brakes. They just roll toward evil and nothing slows them down. So, you know what? I know the world is bad. That’s why we have cops and guns. And we have military. And we have weapons. And we have locks on our doors and alarms. I understand that. That’s why some of you ladies are carrying mace in your purse today. I know.

Imagine what it would be like if there wasn’t common grace through the conscience. We see it in creation. We see it in learning. We see it in skills, talents, abilities that God affords each of us. We also see it in morality, and we see it in creativity. How many of you are kind of arty? All right, this is Mars Hill. I might be the only guy who doesn’t play guitar in the whole room.

And I was so proud of our men this year. We went on our men’s retreat and guys played sports. That has never happened in the history of Mars Hill. Before that, they’d all write poetry and sing songs, which is fine. But we have guys playing sports. And it just – it felt right. And – but the art – see, this is Seattle. Seattle loves the arts and creativity and nature. Isn’t that Seattle? If you put Seattle together, it’s creativity and nature. Those are the two hooks on common grace they love. We love creation and creativity, but they know nothing of creator at Seattle.

Creator gives us creation, which are the raw tools to be creative. So, we take color and light, and we take different fabrics, and we take different mediums, and we create. How many of you love fashion? How many of you love interior design, lighting, and color? I’m fascinated by interior design, to be honest with you. I walk around Seattle, and I go into people’s homes and businesses and such. And what I find is a lot of people use these colors on their walls – orange, red, and yellow – in Seattle. Why? Those are the colors of the sunset. We never get one, so we create this illusion. “Oh, look, it’s a sunset.” We deceive ourselves. It’s our therapy. So we paint sunsets on our walls.

You go to a hot climate where there’s brilliant sunsets, I don’t see those same colors. I see muted colors on the walls because creation dominates here. Creation’s dark, so creativity dominates. Lighting – how many of you love lighting? How many of you love acoustics? It’s important. Music is very important to some of you. Your iPod, if you lost that, it’d be like losing your salvation, man. It’d be like, “I am done. It’s over, you know.”

Some of you, you love the club scene. You have your favorite bands. You love music. You love certain instruments. Why is that? Because God gave certain ability to certain people to play certain instruments. Some people have natural rhythm. Some people don’t, all right. Some people have an amazing voice that God has just given them – common grace. Others don’t, right.

And God gives some people the ability to create acoustical experiences like this where somebody designs an entire sound system. You know, the first mega church in the history of the world was Charles Hadden Spurgeon, and he’d preach up to 5,000 people between multiple services on a Sunday in a room that was a little smaller than this. They would all stand. They couldn’t sit down because there was no amplification, and he had to preach without a mic. See, we get together, and we get the benefits of a band and sound. What is that? Common grace.

Did the non-Christians invent the speaker? Probably. The sound board? Yeah. Rock and roll? Of course. You know, but it’s common grace. I mean our audio equipment here was given to us. It’s amazing – hundreds of thousands of dollars of gear – distributed audio system. All of it is put together with an analyzer, computer program. There is even distribution throughout the room. It’s amazing, okay. It’s put together by one of the leading sound designers in the world – created these sorts of speakers and this sort of distributed system.

Does he love Jesus? Not as far as I can tell. How in the world did he get to know that? Common grace. God obviously gave him a mind that had the ability to understand the human ear, acoustics, and live sound – common grace, common grace. We see it in creativity.

How many of you love poetry? You love the arts? How many of you love film – big film buffs? I love film. I went and saw – Friday night – date night. I went and saw Ron Howard’s movie, Cinderella Man. All dads should go see it. It just broke me. My dad was an Irish Catholic blue collar laborer trying to feed his kids. That’s all I’ll say. You go see the movie. It’s that guy. I watched the movie. It was a wonderful time with my lovely wife sitting in a theater owned by a non-Christian watching a movie made by a non-Christian on speakers designed by non-Christians. If you order popcorn, it’s cooked by some high school kid who doesn’t know Jesus, right?

I mean, you say, “Well, why does God allow this to happen?” Cause God allows some nice things to happen in our life. And he allows people to do them through common grace. Other places we see it – we see it also in society. People get to get married, enjoy each other, grow old together. They get to have children. They get to organize as families. They get to organize as cities. They get to organize as nations so that there’s protection and care. And I know we don’t have the best government. And I know like the foster care system isn’t the best. But why is there a foster care system? Because of common grace.

Some people’s conscience’s said, “You know, kids that aren’t taken care of, somebody’s gotta try and do something.” Why is there adoption? Common grace. Why is it when you drive by an elementary school there’s a crosswalk and a sign that says, “Slow, children present?” Common grace. See, we all know it’s wrong. Not all of us know that. Some of us have broken our conscience. In addition, how come we all know it’s wrong, if we all do know it’s wrong? Well, that would be common grace – through our conscience.

Why is it that some guy’s sitting there with an orange vest on in the rain, holding a sign walking little children across the street? Because he read the Bible, and he loves Jesus? No, because of common grace, because of common grace. You get my point? Our whole life is common grace. Our whole life is common grace. And I believe that’s what he’s saying about Esau and his decendents.

They got married. They had kids. They went to work. They bought land. They built homes. They dug wells. They made advancements. They held political office. They organized a society. They put together plans. And they put together bands. And they had events. And they had barbeques. And they enjoyed their life. And they had some good times. And it was certainly better than the hell that they deserved. Here’s what they never did. Thank God. Acknowledge God. Prayed to God. Obeyed God. Sought God. Worship God. Started a church. Never did any of that.

The point is this – that God is good to everybody, and only a handful of people ever say thanks. God is good to everybody, and only a handful of people ever realize that the good things in their life came from God. And even if the things in their life aren’t that good, it’s better than hell, and God’s still being good.

I’ll give you an example. We are all just spoiled brats. That’s what we are. Me too – chief of hypocrites, first of sinners. Here’s my illustration. Here’s how I see it. It’s like every day we get up. We go downstairs. And every day is Christmas. And the house is filled with presents. And we open them up every day – a cup of coffee, breakfast, chair to sit in, central heating, automobile, radio, TV, favorite band, speakers, eyeglasses so that we can even read.

We go outside – fresh air, sunshine. The rain waters our lawn. The flowers grow. We cut them and put them in a vase on our mantel. We crawl in bed at night, and we’re sleeping in a bed, not on the ground. We get sick, we go to the doctor. We want to check out some information, we log onto the internet. We want to talk to a friend, we dial them up on the cell phone.

Every day we come downstairs. We open all these presents – every day for 70 plus years of our life. And not once do we ever think, “Who keeps giving me all the presents?” We never even ask that question. Just open them, enjoy them. Complain a little bit cause they break. Complain a little bit because there’s so many of them. We don’t have a place to store them. Complain because they’re all over the house, and we can barely walk through the house because there’s so much stuff that’s been given to us.

That’s the line of Esau. They’re blessed. They’re married. They’re having kids. They’re making money. They’re buying real estate. They’re drinking water. They’re sitting in chairs. They’re sleeping in beds. They’re building society. They’re running the government. And every day they come downstairs, open up all their presents, and never ask, “Who keeps giving me the presents? Maybe I should say thank you. Maybe I should have gratitude. Maybe I should share some of these things that I’m getting with other people.” They never think that. They never think that.

Friends, our whole life is filled with good gifts. James says that every good and perfect gift comes from where? From the father above. It comes from God. Here’s common grace. Common grace goes out to everybody. Christians and non-Christians sleep in a bed, drive in a car, drink coffee, fall in love, make babies, watch movies, listen to music, enjoy their favorite sports team, grill flowers in their garden, work on their tan. And only the Christians know where it comes from.

Only the Christians say, “Thank you, God, for sending good things into my life. This is wonderful common grace. Thank you, God. I didn’t invent the telephone. I just use one. I didn’t invent the couch. I just lay on it. I didn’t invent the car. I just drive it. I didn’t invent medicine. I just do what the doctor tells me. I didn’t invent central heating. I just turned it on. Thank you, God. Thank you for bestowing certain people with certain abilities and opportunities to take the resources and creation to be creative, and to make a world that allows me to have opportunities for joy and life and love and friendship and good things. Thank you so much, God.”

Esau’s line never, ever gets that. Some of us think like Esau’s line – so focused on what we don’t yet have, so driven for the pursuit of what we do not yet own that we forget to thank God and enjoy the people, the experiences, the opportunities, and the pleasures that he’s already given us. It’s like a kid who in the middle of opening one gift is already looking at the next one, and doesn’t even realize what they’ve just opened. Immediately set it aside to get to the next present.

And that’s the unbelieving line of Esau. That’s why they never stopped to build an altar. They never stopped to worship and thank God. They don’t build stones of remembrance to remind them that things do happen because of God, okay. The question then persists for non-Christians, unbelievers – many of you, maybe this is an awakening for you. Maybe you’re realizing that, my goodness, there is a God. And he’s great, and all this stuff is from him. What in the heck was I thinking? I didn’t see it because it was so much, I just thought it was normal. It’s not.

You know what’s normal? Hell. Everything else – grace. Why would God allow people who don’t thank him, who don’t acknowledge him, why would God allow them to benefit from him, to bless them, to serve them? Why would he make them beautiful, smart, talented, rich? Why would he let them fall in love, make babies, vote? Why would he allow them to do that? How many of you, this is a troubling question? I’ll give you some answers.

One, I believe it is part of God’s way of preparing his children for salvation. It says in Psalms 19 and Romans 1 – the creation tells us something about God. How many of you, before you were a Christian, you loved creation and you didn’t know why? And it dawned on you, this is a great gift. I love to go swimming. I love to go hiking. I love to go camping. I love to garden. I love to see life come out of dirt.

And then one day it dawns on you, you know, I didn’t make all this. This seems like a really nice gift. Maybe there’s a gift giver, and it helps to prepare God’s children to acknowledge him. It says as well in Romans that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. How many of you got saved not because you hit rock bottom, but because it just kept going pretty good? You say, “You know, I should have died. I should have gotten pregnant. I should have gotten raped. I should have gotten ripped off. I should have gotten fired. I should have gotten disowned. I should have gotten divorced, whatever it is. I should have gotten beat up, and I didn’t.

It seems like every time I should get hammered, I get kindness and mercy and love and grace. Maybe God is trying to kill me with kindness. Maybe God’s kindness does lead to repentance. I think we do a great disservice when we only share the testimonies of those who hit rock bottom and say, “You see, when you hit rock bottom, God’s there for you.” You know what? God is there for you. God’s also there for you when you’re healthy and you’re wealthy and you’re happy. God isn’t just for the people who have hit rock bottom. God is for the people who are riding high. We all need God.

I believe that is one of the ways that God prepares us. For some of you, God is gonna let your sin take its mark, and you’re gonna get crushed. For some of you, he’s gonna keep saving you from the consequences, and eventually he’s gonna kill you with kindness. I believe another reason why God allows this common grace to go, it shows his mercy, his goodness, and his love. It shows us that God is good, and we’re bad. Just like spoiled kids – we have a room full of toys and set there and throw a fit. Walk in and say, “What are you throwing a fit for?” “I’m just not happy.” “What are you not happy about?” It’s better than hell. It’s better than hell. It’s better than what you have merited. It shows how bad we are, and how good God is.

How many of you give gifts to your enemies? How many of you give blessing and kindness and love and grace and mercy and lavish wealth and possessions on those who ignore you and hate you? How many of you have given a gift – a substantial gift – and somebody didn’t even say thank you? And you’ll never give them another thing. And God isn’t like that. When the Bible says he’s holy, that means he’s different. He’s not petty. He’s not bitter. He’s not short tempered. He’s not short sighted. God is patient and loving and merciful and gracious and kind. And he takes people who should just be crushed and sent to hell, and he gives them presents, even though they will never say thank you or ask who dropped them off.

It shows us something of the nature of the goodness of God. Friends, some of you struggle with the concept of hell because you say, “How could a good God send people to hell?” Here’s my question. How could a good God allow people to live? How could a God put up with this world? How could a God put up with people like me? It’s not shocking to me that people go to hell. It’s shocking to me that anyone makes it out.

If I were God – if you were God, we wouldn’t put up with this. We wouldn’t put up with this, but we can’t even drive in traffic without one hand on the horn and the other finger out the window pointing to the Savior. You know, that – we just – we don’t like the world, and we’re not happy with it. God doesn’t like the condition of the world. He’s not happy with it, but he keeps being gracious, loving, merciful, kind, totally different than us. It tells us something about God. It tells us how great and different God is. I don’t know if some of you knew that.

A couple of other things it tells us. It shows us that God honors our image and likeness – what the theologians call the image Dei, okay. We are, theologically – if you haven’t heard – we’re kind of reformed, okay. I say kind of because certain reformed guys wear briefs. We wear boxers. We’re sort of casual about it.

And reformed kind of means Calvinism. If you don’t know what that means, that’s okay. And the first point of the five points of Calvinism is total depravity. I don’t really like starting there. All you Calvinists can send me emails and show how wrong you are, but the problem with the five points of Calvinism, and some of you are Calvinists, is it starts with you’re a sinner. Is that a good place to start? For example, if you’re gonna share the love of God with your mother.

Would you start there, or would you start with creation where the Bible starts? “Mom, God made you. God made you beautiful. God made you holy. God made you good. God made you to be connected to him, and to live a life that pleases him. Then, Mom, sin came into the world. And because of sin, now we’re totally depraved, okay.” I believe we’re totally depraved sinners. But I believe that we weren’t made that way. I believe we were made as image bearers of God – the dignity, value, worth. We were made great, and we’ve sinned.

So, now we do great evil, but we’re still great. We’re great evil doers is what we are. And total depravity means this. Everything in us is affected by sin. Our thinking is crooked. Our emotions are crooked. Our desires are crooked. Our finances are crooked. Our tongue is crooked. Our friendships are crooked. Our sexuality is crooked. Everything about us is completely messed up. It’s like a virus gets in a server and affects everything.

Any of you ever tried to pull the Morning Glory out of your yard? This stuff is demonic. It is this vine that grows around everything in the yard, and it chokes out the life and kills it. I was pulling Morning Glory this week, and the stuff is amazing. Like it grows so fast. Like if you pull it all, go have a ham sandwich, come back out, it’s back. And it just mocks you with its deep laugh. And if your kids are playing freeze tag, you’ll come out, one kid just covered. I mean the stuff just grows like that. And it’s in everything in my yard. I start pulling it. And they say, “I know. My gosh, it’s in the hedges. It’s around this. It’s around this.”

I just planted a new vine to go up the house. The new vine is about this big. The Morning Glory is about this big. You’re going, “What in the world? Sin moves quick and it overtakes everything.” That’s the way it is. Sin has wrapped itself in your mind. You don’t think straight. In your heart – you don’t feel straight. In your tongue – you don’t speak straight. In your desires – you don’t walk straight. It’s just everything is just infected and twisted and crooked and dying and wrong.

But you know what? You weren’t made that way. You were made in the garden, like a garden. And now sin has come in, and it has corrupted everything. And I believe that’s part of the reason why God does give common grace. I don’t believe he’s honoring the depravity. I believe he’s honoring the image and likeness. “I made you. I love you. And I’m gonna bestow dignity and kindness on you, even though you’re sinful and evil.” He’s honoring that which he has made. He’s honoring the image and likeness that you and I bear.

Two other things I think he’s doing. One, he is benefitting believers. How many of us greatly benefit by common grace that has been given to unbelievers? How many of you work for an unbeliever, and because of that common grace given to that unbeliever, you get to pay your bills? How many of you went to a school run by unbelievers working off of common grace, and learned some things and got a degree? How many of you, when your car breaks down, the tow truck driver and the mechanic are unbelievers, working off of common grace?

How many of you, your favorite hobby was invented by an unbeliever? Your favorite sports team is owned by an unbeliever? Your favorite band is a bunch of unbelievers? The sound system you listen on was invented by a bunch of unbelievers. You go to a restaurant. You eat good food cooked by – well, first of all, grown by unbelievers, harvested by unbelievers, trucked in by unbelievers, prepared by unbelievers, cooked by unbelievers, brought out to your table and set before you by unbelievers. And it benefits the children of God.

I know that everything in the world gets used for sin. I know that terrorists use airplanes, and so do missionaries. I know that the porn industry distributes things online, and so do Bible study ministries. There’s a lot in the world that’s used for evil that also can be used for good, and it’s the result of common grace. It benefits your life. It benefits mine. Here we are today – central heating, walls, roof, drove here in cars, sound system, video, band. Where does all this material come from? At one point, there was just the earth. And somebody had to make these things out of the raw materials – common grace. And it benefits believers.

Your life, my whole life is a bunch of gifts from people who don’t know Jesus. Jesus allowed them to have the joy of creating or making or doing those things. And then you and I have the joy of benefitting from them and enjoying them. The difference is that we know that they came from God, and the people who did them for us don’t – which is sad really. Because you know what’s better than the gift is the giver. You know what’s better than the things that he gives is the person he is. And that’s the heartbreaking thing. So many people love what God does, and they don’t know God. But the believers do, and it benefits us.

And the last is too, it just shows us how bad we are. How many of you haven’t had a grateful thought in a really long time? How many of you complain more than you praise? How many of you have never even stopped when you’re brushing your teeth, saying, “Toothbrush – thanks?” Right? You put clothes on, “Clothes – thanks.” Go downstairs and have breakfast, “Breakfast – thanks.” Sitting in a chair, “Chair – thanks, Lord. Maybe you do love me. Maybe you have been in my life. Maybe there’s just something profoundly wrong with me that I don’t have eyes to see, that I’m just blind to all of your provision.”

It shows us how bad we are. I was thinking about this week. There’s not a lot that I’m as grateful for as I frankly should be. It’s so simple. I was sitting at the table this morning having breakfast with my daughter. She’s a year and a half – cute as can be – blue eyes, blonde hair. She knows how to live. This girl is – she’s alive. I mean she is just – she’s yelling. She’s just this excited, happy, just bigger than life little girl. I just adore her. The other kids are sleeping. She comes down to have breakfast with me.

And she sits down in her chair next to me. “Hi, daddy.” “Hi, Lexie. How you doing?” And we’re chatting. And she’s got these pajamas on. They’re baby clue with a ducky on the front. And she looks, and she says, “Duck, duck.” And she says, “Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.” She’s trying to get me to laugh. And she’s laughing, and she loves these – they’re little ducks on the front of it. She loves these ducks. And she looks at me, and she says, “No duck, no duck.” And she’s really troubled that I don’t get to have any ducks on my shirt. I’m not troubled. She’s troubled. And I thought, “You know, isn’t that common grace, that somewhere a clothing designer for pajamas for an 18 month old girl things, ‘You know, they’d probably like a duck on the shirt.’”

And so this whole industry gets set into motion to come up with the right duck. And then the duck gets hand stitched on the shirt, not a stick on cause they’ll peel it off. Somebody thought this through. So it’s stitched on, cause she’s tried to take the duck off. So that my 18 month old daughter can get up in the morning and laugh and make quacking sounds. Why? Common grace.

That’s God in Heaven going, “You know, that unbeliever will like making pajamas for kids. And that other unbeliever will like drawing that duck. And that other unbeliever, who’s gonna sew together that shirt, can feed their family. And then that little girl can sit at the breakfast table with her daddy and make him laugh cause she quacks.” Friends, that is our God. He’s that good. He’s that good. He’s that thorough. He’s that intentional. He’s that thoughtful. And his name is Jesus. That’s our God.

So, here’s your assignment. Your assignment is to be grateful, okay. Out of these family comes two boys, Jacob and Esau. Jacob – his line are the believers. They worship God, tithe, share, thank God, live together, marry believers. And they teach their kids, “We belong to God. All our stuff belongs to God. Life belongs to God. You know, Jesus has come, and he’s gonna die and rise and take away our sin. We’re God’s people. Be thankful. Throw parties. Eat. Drink. Celebrate. Be happy. Be glad. Common grace is good for life, and we have saving grace too. We’re doubly blessed, and it goes forever.”

And the other line is Esau and the nation of the Edomites who are blessed too, but they don’t know God. They don’t know how to get their sins forgiven through Jesus. They don’t know that common grace runs out. Most people spend their whole life just running off of common grace, feeling like, hey, it’s pretty good. And then they die and they go to hell because they never got saving grace. And their grace account, as it were, runs out.

My heart’s desire is that all of you would enjoy common grace. Go to concerts. Eat food. Drink tea. Drink coffee. Go to the beach. Go swimming. Ride your bike. Grow flowers. Listen to music. Have a good time. Enjoy yourself. Amen. But don’t forget the saving grace. Don’t just eat your food, listen to your bands, do your hobbies, die, and go to hell. Make sure that in addition to the common grace that we’ve all been given, you ensure that you also have saving grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And here’s how you get it. You repent. You repent of who you are, and what you do, and what you don’t do.

And you realize that everything in you is crooked – thought, word, deed. That we sin by commission. We do stuff we’re not supposed to do. We sin by omission. We don’t do things that we’re supposed to do. And we take all the gifts and never say thanks. And we complain because it’s not what we wanted, or it broke, or there’s so much of it that it’s hard to manage.

And so, friends, repentance is this. You take your sin today. It doesn’t need to be a complicated thing. It just needs to be a sincere thing. You take your sin and you give it to Jesus. You ask him to forgive you. You can do that in prayer in your seat. You can put your head in your hands, and just silently to yourself say, “Jesus, forgive me of my sins and give me saving grace.” Give yourself to Jesus. Let him take away your sins. Let him give you his saving grace. It’s very simple.

God has made it simple because God is a loving, gracious God. He doesn’t want to make it complicated. He doesn’t want us to have to die and reincarnate and pay him back. You know, Jesus has done all the work. We’re saved by grace and his works – not by our works, not by the good things. In his works, not by our works. Not by the good things we do, by the good things he’s done. Not by dying and going to hell to pay God back, but because he already died as a substitute in our place. And the greatest gift we get is not just the gifts of God, but God himself gives himself to us.

We show that here in the partaking of communion. It’s showing Jesus’ body and bloodshed for our sin. We’re saying, “You know what? In addition to common grace, God has given me saving grace through Jesus.” If you are a Christian and you give your heart to Jesus today, take communion with us. We give our tithes and offerings to show that everything comes from God for the purpose of sharing. And we leave here to go do two things – live a life of common grace, and live a life of saving grace as the people of God, marrying believers, living in community with believers, raising children to love God as well, worshipping God, thanking God, celebrating God. And not letting the opportunities for gratitude pass us by. Amen? I’ll pray.

Father, God, thank you for a chance to get together and to look at this family line. And God, it’s sad to say it’s like many of our family lines. These people didn’t know you. They didn’t love you. They didn’t worship you. They didn’t pray to you. They didn’t serve you. They didn’t seek you. God, it’s sad that generations would be like that – hundreds and thousands of people. But God, it’s just like the phonebook here in Seattle. If we ripped it out and just read the names, odds are it wouldn’t be any different 4,000 years later.

God, I pray that nobody in this room would be among them. That like you grabbed Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, you would grab us. You would allow us to belong to you, and let us marry people who love you, Lord Jesus, and let us raise children who worship you. And let the good times in our life be celebrated with gladness. And let the hard times be celebrated too because everything in life is grace if it’s better than hell. And that, truly, Lord Jesus, is what we all deserve today. I thank you for the common grace that you’ve showered on this world and on our city. We’ve been greatly blessed and benefitted by it. God, I pray that in addition to the common grace, you would apportion saving grace to each of us through your Son.