Wrath: The Case of Esau

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Spirituality

4.8 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The story of Jacob and Esau is a great example of how anger works out in a family situation. Esau and Jacob were twins, and Esau was the oldest. When their father is fooled into giving Jacob the birthright, Esau can’t get ahold of his anger. We’re told that Esau held a grudge against Jacob and consoled himself with thoughts of killing Jacob. And when Esau’s father does pronounce a blessing on Esau, he predicts that Esau is going to be driven by anger all of his life. How can you make sure your anger does not imprison and control you? How can you make sure that you control it? This passage in Hebrews gives us some principles: 1) it tells you what anger is, and then, 2) it tells you three ways to handle it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 2, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-17. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Gospel in Life.
0:05.7	Why is the world so broken?
0:07.5	And why are we capable of inflicting such harm even toward those we love?
0:11.9	People point to politics, poverty, or psychology, but none of these fully explain what we see in ourselves and in history.
0:19.4	This month on the podcast, Tim Keller is teaching from a series exploring the question,
0:24.0	What's wrong with us?
0:25.3	Showing us how the Bible's teaching on sin offers the only explanation deep enough to face the truth
0:31.1	in all its complexity, and the only hope powerful enough to transform us.
0:43.0	Thank you. hope powerful enough to transform us. The passage on which our teaching is based is print out in your bullet, and it's Hebrews
0:47.7	12, and I'm only going to read from verses 7, pardon me, from 14 to 17, from chapter 12, verses 14 to 17. From chapter 12 versus 14 to 17.
1:02.7	Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
1:06.9	Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled but rather healed.
1:12.2	Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.
1:16.4	Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.
1:19.9	See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
1:29.9	See that no one is sexually immoral or godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterwards,
1:37.3	as you know, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no
1:43.2	change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
1:48.6	This is God's word. And what we're doing is we're looking at all through the, through Lent,
1:55.7	we've been looking at sin, what it is, and we've been looking at seven case studies, seven
2:00.5	deadly sins. and the last
2:02.7	one we look at here today has to do with anger. Let me tell you two stories about anger,
	...

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