Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, May 17th. There's nothing wrong with having things, but the results of wanting stuff right now can be catastrophic. Today's podcast brings a warning from a story in Genesis about sacrificing your future for momentary pleasure. Many people today are living as if the irrevocable, unchangeable, unalterable law of sowing and reaping didn't even exist. They just act like you do whatever you want to do today.
Don't worry about tomorrow because it has absolutely no effect upon tomorrow. My friends, you can doubt that law. You can scoff at it.
You can rationalize it away. But the truth is, whatever we sow, we're going to reap. We're going to reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow, and oftentimes far more painful than we expect.
So I want you to turn, if you will, to Genesis chapter 25. And in this 25th chapter of Genesis is an account of two men's relationship and a decision that was made that affected him the rest of his life. One of those decisions that he regretted deeply, and he became bitter and resentful and hostile and angry even to the point of murder. He made a wrong decision because here's what he did. He sacrificed his future for the pleasure of the moment.
Think about what Esau did. He sold his birthright. Now, what was the birthright?
The birthright is what belonged to every firstborn son. And this gave him some awesome privileges and opportunities in the family. It made him the head of the family after the father passed away. It gave him authority and rule over the other members of the family. He was also recognized even when the father lived with recognition and privileges that the other children did not have. It gave him at least, if not more, a double portion of the father's wealth and inheritance. And you just saw a few moments ago that Abraham gave Isaac all that he had. He was his firstborn.
And so what happens? He comes in from a hunting trip, empty handed, and what does he do? The most valuable thing that he would possibly possess and could ever possibly possess in his entire life, he sold it off for one bowl of stew.
Now we're going to talk about why in a few moments. But what I want you to see is his disregard for the most valuable thing he had. He sold it off in a moment of weakness, in a moment of hunger, when he allowed his appetite to get the best of him, when he disregarded the truth, when he forgot about what he knew, when he rationalized it away, was not thinking about the future, but only for that moment he sold his birthright, his wealth, his privileges, his opportunities, his leadership, his reign over that family. He sold it all for one bowl of soup.
Now think about this for a moment. Esau could have come in and said, I am hungry. I am starving to death. I think I'll fix me a bowl of that. He could have prepared him a bowl of soup in that household, certainly. That wasn't the only soup available.
But he had to have it now, insisting on immediate fulfillment. If you think about our society, how many young girls have destroyed their future, warped their future in one night? How many people have set out on the course to destroy their human body? One drank. How many people have wrecked their minds and their bodies? One shot of cocaine. Just one.
Immediate pleasure. Don't wait for God's choice. Don't wait for God's ways to bring fulfillment and contentment in their life. Is there any need that you and I have, any God-given need in our life that He cannot supply? No. Is there any God-given need in our life that He does not and is not willing to meet? No.
Every single one of them. Legitimately, in His time, in His way. What causes us to sacrifice our futures, we have to have it when the appetite as it at its pinnacle, its zenith of intensity in our life. And if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you don't understand what it means to walk in the Spirit and to recognize that He will enable you to face any temptation, any trial. Listen, there's not anything you and I have to have at the moment that in any way will cause us to step out of the will of God or to lose the privileges and the opportunities that God has prepared for you.
He has a great plan for your life. But if you insist on having it now, we've raised up a whole generation of people who've got to have it now because it looks like their parents have always had it. So, give it to me now. Let me have it now. That's the game in our society.
Give it. Why wait? Listen, why wait when you can have it now? That's the way the world operates. You know why? Because that's Satan's plan. That's just as satanic as it can be to entice people into something they cannot handle. So, what they're doing is appealing to our present immediate desire, I want it now.
That has wrecked more people's lives than you and I will ever be able to think about. This is what caused Esau, his future. He wanted it and he had to have it right now.
Next thing I want you to notice about him is this. We sacrifice our future for the present moment when our focus is on the temporal rather than the eternal. Your relationship to God is the most important aspect of your life. There is not anything, any experience, nowhere at any time in your life that has even the slightest bit of comparison in importance with your personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and His will, His purpose, His plan, His goals, His best, His goodness for your life.
There is absolutely no comparison. And yet every day, because I've got to have it now, because it's something I can touch and feel and see, because it's something that affects my emotions, because it's something that satisfies, gratifies me now, the most important thing is that I have it now. Don't think about things that are eternal.
Think about things that are temporal. You've got to have it now. Must have it now. It's now this is the important thing. I can see this. I can touch that. Don't give me all those promises about God.
How do I know that's going to be true? Because He says so and He can't lie. And you see the fact that we don't think in terms of spiritual. Now think about this. He said, I'm about to die. What good is a birthright? He wasn't thinking what good is a birthright? First of all, the lack of one bowl of soup, it was not going to kill him.
And yet he sold the most precious thing he had, but one bowl of soup. Let me ask you a question. What are you thinking about? What are you tampering with that could cost you your future?
Think. Is it worth it? Is it lasting?
Is this something temporal? Is this an emotion that I want to experience? Is this something I want to possess?
How long am I going to possess it? For eternity? Am I willing to lay all of that down for something that is passing and has no real eternal value whatsoever? I have never met a person all these years who rejected God's call early in life who is happy, contented or successful in life.
They may have paraded lots of money and their fame and fortune, but you know what? They're not happy. You cannot be happy out of the will of God. And when you look at God's call in your life, whatever He calls you to do, and you look at the temporal, materialistic, sensual things that are out there between you and the will of God, and you make the wrong choice, you are sacrificing God's awesome future for something that is temporal and passing and you will never be happy, never be contented, never be fulfilled, and you will regret it all the days of your life. Show me one person who has ever turned down the call of God who is happy, not one.
And no matter what they may accomplish in the eyes of the world, deep down inside, when it comes to the end of life, they would exchange every bit of that for the will of God. Now notice, He did not say, give me a tub of soup, fifty-gallon drum of soup, just one bowl. And for one bowl of soup and one piece of bread He sold the most valuable thing He owned. And people do it every day. They sell their purity for one night.
They sell their health for drink, for drugs, for sex, you name it. Noting it all. Giving away the most valuable thing just for an emotion, something that's passing and temporal when it's all over. Notice something else, if you will.
For here He is with so much to give and so much to have. We sacrifice our future when we make irrevocable decisions in periods of physical and emotional weakness. And here's what that says to me. You and I have to be very careful when we make decisions. We have to be careful at the time we make decisions. We have to be careful of the condition we're in when we make decisions. Because there are times in all of our lives when, if we're really honest, we know don't make a decision. That is, when you're tired and weary, don't make big decisions. And let me just say this, and how many times have I said this to people, and sometimes they ignore it and sometimes they haven't. Don't make decisions when you are angry. 99% of the time you're going to make the wrong decision when you're angry. Anger, loneliness, listen, hunger, tired and weary, these are bad times to make decisions.
And so what happens? He forfeited, he forsook everything, he made a decision he could not change. When you gave away or bartered away or send away your birthright, you could never get it back. When you send away your purity, you don't get it back.
God will forgive you, yes. When you send away your good health, can you get it back? Oftentimes you can't. Sometimes you can, but oftentimes you can't. And so you and I could go through many aspects of life. There's some decisions that are irrevocable.
You cannot change them. And as you get along in life and there's sometimes in life you could change something maybe early in life, but there are other times in life you can't change that decision. Let me ask you a question. What is it in the bowl of soup in front of you today that's worth your whole future? My friend, if you'll think about it, nothing is.
You cannot put a tag on anything that is temporal that'll satisfy any appetite or desire you have that's worth your whole eternal future. But at the same time, a person can sacrifice their whole future as a result of turning aside from what is right and good and wholesome but that which seems to be satisfying their appetite at the moment. Doesn't work. It absolutely does not work. I wish I could tell you something.
It does not work. And so when I look at his life and see that he made this awesome decision, emotional decision at a time of weariness and realize what he sacrificed, when I think about the fact that he had no respect for spiritual things, none whatsoever, the birthright was a spiritual gift. This was not just something between father and son. Men and women sacrifice their future when they disregard, listen, the spiritual aspects of life. Think about this for a moment. If you've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're a spiritual being. Everything about you is spiritual. Your purchases, for example, with your money says something about your spiritual life.
The way you handle your time, the way you invest your life, the people you relate to, the friendships you have, the way you treat your family, all of these things have to do with who we are. We are so intimately related to Jesus Christ, everything about us is spiritual. The decisions we make that are ungodly are ungodly decisions, but we're still spiritually minded people. We can sin and sin and sin against God until we lose our edge. But because we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we're spiritual beings.
We might not act like it, but we are. And to disregard who you are and to choose to sin against God is to sacrifice, listen, God's best for your life, but far less than that. One last thing I'd mention here, and that's this.
And I've said this over and over again on purpose, but I want to make it a point. We sacrifice our future for the pleasure of the moment when we fail to examine the possible consequences of our action. When we fail to examine the possible consequences of our action. Now think about this for a moment. Here he was bowl of soup, inheritance, wealth, and all the rest. Instead of asking the question, if I sell my birthright for a bowl of soup, what's it going to cost me?
Cost them everything. And my friend, watch this now. This is what Satan does. If he can narrow your focus down in a moment of temptation, there's something you want, something you desire, something that's important, some appeal.
If he can get you to zero in on that and not think about the future, he'll get you to sacrifice your future for something that is passing and not important in life. Now think about this. Do you think if Eve had thought about the consequences of what she was about to do, she would have done it?
No. I mean, we can say, well, God's providential hand, all those things. But humanly speaking, if she had been able to see what's it going to cost me in my relationship to Adam, how's it going to affect my family?
One of my sons is going to kill the other one. Esau didn't look ahead. He didn't ask what's going to be the consequences of one bowl of soup, one sale, one surrender of my birthright. Because you see, later on, his father didn't bless him. He blessed Jacob. And so what happens is Esau gets left out totally and absolutely. Not only that, he ended up being bitter, angry, hostile, and planning to murder Jacob. He set out to kill his brother. You know what started all that?
One bowl of soup. So I want to ask you a question. What is it that you're towing with, looking at? Has a very strong appeal to you today. Looks good, feels good, touches good, smells good. You see great potential, great opportunity.
This is what you want. But you're not asking the question, if I do this, if I go there, if I take this, if I make this decision, what are the lasting consequences in my life? If I sacrifice my future for this present moment, am I not playing the fool? And the answer is yes, you are.
You don't have to. If you're willing to look at yourself and ask yourself the question, God, how did I get in this position? Why am I in this position, Lord? I want to do what's right.
I want to be what you want me to be. And ask Him to forgive you of your sins and tell Him that you want the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You're tired of messing around with life, tired of doing your thing and knowing in your heart that one decision after the other is leading you further and further down the road away from God. If you're willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, place your trust in Him and the fact that He died at Calvary and His shed blood at Calvary atone for a page your sin dead in full. If you're willing to ask Him to forgive you and to cleanse you, He will do that immediately, instantaneously. Your sins are forgiven, you become a child of God. Then you have the Holy Spirit who will enable you to make wise decisions. But now suppose you are a Christian. You are saved. And you say, you know what, this sermon is coming a little late.
I've already made some of those. I wish I hadn't, but I have. Now what? You ask God to forgive you for those wrong decisions. You acknowledge those that are irrevocable. You set about to change those that need to be changed.
You surrender your life to God and tell Him the rest of your life you want to follow His will and His purpose and His plan. You know what He'll do? In many cases, He will alter much in your life.
Some things He won't ever change. Some consequences will always be there. That is the penalty of disobedience to God. But you don't have to give up and quit in life.
You don't have to check out. You can repent of that sin, surrender your life to God and see what He will do once you have made that wise choice. And that is my prayer on your behalf. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you've done, whatever those decisions, and especially if you're looking at something in your life today and you're trying to make a decision, let me tell you, my friend, what the right decision is. The right decision is, Father, what would you have me to do? And do exactly what He tells you. Remember, nothing in life is worth sacrificing your future for the pleasure of that moment. Thank you for listening to Sacrificing Your Future for Momentary Pleasure. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
