Trinity Church Spokane Valley
Genesis 26:34-28:9
We return this morning to the book of Genesis. We took a brief break during the summer from the book of Genesis, but today we return. In our passage this morning is Genesis, chapter 26, verse 34, all the way through chapter 28, verse nine. So it's over a chapter today. The portion of scripture we'll be looking at. Now we're going to, it's a large section, but we are going to read it all because it is God's word. And what else would we do except for read his word as we gather together, as his people? Now I will approach it a little differently this morning. I'm not going to have you stand. We stand in honor of God's word, and that's what our custom, that's what we do on Sunday mornings when we read our portion of scripture. Today I'm going to have you sit. We're going to read, but as we read, I'm going to stop along the way, and I'm going to make some comment. I'm going to give some observation. I'm going to help you hopefully connect the dots as we read through it. And then when we are finished, and that's going to take a little bit of time, okay? It's going to take a little bit of time. So go ahead and take off your watch and put it in your pocket. Whatever clock you use, go ahead and put that down. It's going to take a little bit of time, okay? To walk through this entire passage and to look at it and connect all the dots. And then we're going to look at this passage as a whole. We're going to summarize it with a main idea. What is the main idea of this passage for us? And then I'm going to give some points of application, some points for us and some application for our lives today. This section of scripture, this word, is important for us today. And so we want to make sure we apply it to our lives. The text before you may be familiar to you. But I'm going to treat it as if you've never heard this story before. I don't want you to miss anything because you assume you know it already. That's what happens when we read the Bible. Sometimes we assume we know it really well, and so we miss actually what it's saying. So we're going to approach this as if we've never heard it before. And with that, I want to tell you that the key to understanding, the key to interpreting this passage is actually found back in chapter 25. So do this, turn back to chapter 25, just a page over. Okay, chapter 25. Look at verse 19 in chapter 25. I'm going to read a portion here. These are the generations of Isaac. Okay, Isaac was the son, the promised son of Abraham, the son that they longed for and waited for. Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethul, the hermian of Padanaram, the sister of Laban, the hermian to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived the children struggle together within her. So she had twins, the children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire the Lord, and the Lord said to her, now look what the Lord says to Rebecca. "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger." When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out, all read, his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's hill, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. Isaac, now catch this, Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game. But Rebecca loved Jacob. So two important points as a key to reading and interpreting the section of Scripture we're going to look at today. Two important points. God has told Rebecca that the younger of the two boys, Jacob, will be the one to inherit the promises of Abraham. He, Jacob, will be the head of the family. He will be the one through whom the promises of God continue. And that's been the story of Genesis. God has made promises. And how will these promises come about? Jacob will be the one to carry those promises. But he's the younger son. And he is not favored by his father, Isaac. He does not have the favor of his father. Rebecca favors him, but Isaac favors Esau. So these are the two points. The choice of God that Jacob will receive the blessing. That's the first point, right? God has chosen Jacob, not Esau, to carry his blessing to the world. Salvation will come to the world through Jacob. And there is intense favoritism going on in this family. Isaac favors Esau, Rebecca favors Jacob. And these two points shape the text that we're going to consider today. So now let's jump into our text. Chapter 26, verse 34. We'll begin there. When Esau was 48 years old, he took Judith, the daughter of Barrie, the Hittite, to be his wife, and based on the daughter of Elon, the Hittite. And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca. So here we have Esau Mary's Hittite women, two of them. The Hittites are descendants of Heth. As we saw back in chapter 10, I know you remember, you memorized that genealogy there. The Hittites are descendants of Heth. And we see that Heth is a descendant of Canaan, right? So Esau marries Canaanites. Esau has married Canaanites. Now this is important because it serves as the front bookend of our story today. And we'll see that the story concludes with another marriage of Esau to someone else. So these two marriages, these marriages of Esau border our story today. But let's continue moving on to the content, the main content of our story, which takes place. And you've got to get this. This takes place. Our whole story takes place in seven conversations. There are seven conversations that take place that happen, which form and shape our story. Seven interchanges between these family members, these family members of God's chosen family. So let's look at it piece by piece here, dialogue number one, conversation number one. Starting in verse one of chapter 27. When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dimmed so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son," and he answered, "Here I am." He said, "Behold, I am old, I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, go out to the field and hunt game for me and prepare for me delicious food such as I love. And bring it to me so that I may eat that my soul may bless you before I die." So here, this first conversation takes place between Isaac and Esau. Isaac now is an old man. It feels like we just met him, doesn't it? But it moves on very quickly. The story moves on very quickly. In this story, Isaac is old, he's blind, he's feeble, he's weak. We also see highlighted here his love again for Esau, and particularly his love for the game that Esau brings him. Esau is a hunter, unable to prepare delicious food. That's why Isaac loves him so much. He's driven by his belly, he's driven by his appetite. Now if you'll recall, back to last year, last semester, Jacob, had stolen Esau's birthright already. His birthright has to do with the material blessings the inheritance to be received from the father. So Jacob stole Esau's inheritance from Isaac. Jacob stole his birthright. Esau despised his birthright for a bowl of soup. So he had short-term desires that he was willing to forsake long-term benefit. The filling of his belly with food for all that his father could give him. But here we see Isaac in a very similar light. Isaac's driven by his appetites. He loves his son because he loves his food. And this desire, get this, this desire that Esau has, or that Isaac has for Esau's food, this desire is leading Isaac to go against what God has clearly said regarding Esau's future. God has already decided who will receive the blessing. God has already told them back in chapter 2. That's why we read it. God's already said who's going to receive the blessing, and yet Isaac is determined to go against God's clear will because of his desires, because of his choices. Isaac should submit himself to God's plan and God's purposes. But, and this is important, literally, his physical blindness. He's pictured physically blind, but he's more than physically blind. He's shown as a metaphor for his spiritual blindness as well. Isaac is blind, not a flattering picture of Isaac. He is wholly committed to a course that is in opposition to God's purpose. And that's where we find ourselves when we are driven by our desires. Now, our desires can be sincere, our desires can be legitimate desires, our desires can be truly felt and deeply felt our desires. But our desires are not to lead us. If we follow, if we are led by our desires, they will lead us against what God has clearly said. So that is the first conversation Isaac has determined to bless Esau even though God has spoken to the contrary. Conversation number two, let's look at conversation number two starting in verse five. This is Rebecca now speaking with her favorite son, Jacob. Verse five. Now, Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau. Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die. Now therefore my son obey my voice as I command you, go to the flock. Bring me two good young goats so that I may prepare them delicious food for your father such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies. But Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, behold my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. His mother said to him, let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go bring them to me. So now we have Rebecca. Rebecca listens in on the conversation much like Sarah was listening in earlier in the book on Abraham's conversation. Here Rebecca is listening in on the conversation. She hears the plans of Isaac to bless Esau. And she panics. She hears Isaac's plans and what does she do? Does she turn in trust to the Lord? Does she bring her petition before the Lord and ask for the Lord's intervention in her husband's life? Does she go to her husband? Does she go to her husband and say, Isaac, we know what God has said. We know God has set apart Jacob for the inheritance and for the blessing. We know that's God's plan. What are you doing? No. What does she do? She takes matters into her own hands. Rebecca does not respond well. And Rebecca we find is a lot like us. She takes matters into her own hands. She rushes off to Jacob, tells him what was about to happen, and then concocts a plan of her own. Now throughout this narrative, Rebecca is seen as the one who is active. She's the one who is the active central player in this narrative. Rebecca's plan, she's the active one. Isaac is passive. Rebecca is active. Rebecca's plan is to deceive the old blind feeble Isaac. She wants Jacob to pretend to be Esau and take the blessing that Isaac is intending for Esau. What did you see here? Jacob's not so sure this is going to work. Jacob's not so sure. But this isn't because of his moral integrity. It's not like Jacob is an upstanding. He says, no, no. He is concerned of what might happen if they're find out, if they're discovered in their plot. This is going to bring us curse, mom. Not blessing. Rebecca is willing to take that upon herself. She's willing to take that risk. I'm not going to let you, Jacob, miss out. Maybe somebody would want to paint her as this, you know, mama bear, right? I'm going to do whatever it takes for the sake of my son. Do you applaud that? Do you applaud that type of activity? No. We shouldn't. I'm going to do whatever it takes. See that my son, just what's coming to him, right? Just what he deserves. How much sin has been justified with that attitude? The point is this, Isaac is not leading the family in the right direction. Rebecca has a choice. Will she trust the Lord, or will she take matters into her own hands? And she chooses wrongly. She chooses to take matters into her own hands to try and accomplish God's purposes in her own strength, in her own wisdom, in her own scheming. And this leads to sin and brokenness. Verse 14, so Jacob went and took them and brought them to his mother and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. Then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son, and the skins of young goats, of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food in the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son, Jacob. Then we turn to conversation number three. Conversation number three is this conversation between Isaac and Jacob, who is pretending to be Esau. Look at it here. And if you can't get, there's a lot of tension here. There's a lot of what's going to happen. What if Esau comes in? And if Isaac discovers this, verse, go down to verse number 18, so he went into his father and said, "My father," and he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, you're first born. I have done as you told me, now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me." And Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found us so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the Lord, your God, granted me success." Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not." So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am." Then he said, "Bring it near to me that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank. So Jacob deceives his father. Not only that though, did you see it, not only does he deceive his father, his weak and vulnerable father, this is not a son honoring his father, this is a son who is taking advantage of his weak father. Not only that, he also blasphemes. Did you see that? He includes the Lord's name in his deception. "How did you come about it so quickly?" My son, "Oh, the Lord prospered me. The Lord." He blessed my efforts. He involves the Lord in his sin, blasphemy. He doubles down in his deception when pressed. Isaac gives him every opportunity to confess and come clean. But Jacob, his picture here is nothing less than a scoundrel. Jacob is a deceitful scoundrel. Isaac, now this is such a picture, Isaac, who is driven by his desire for good food, he's driven by his senses, he's a sensual man. Isaac, who's driven by his senses, has lost the ability to use any of his senses correctly. Do you see that? All five of his senses are pictured here in this passage. His taste has driven him to make a bad decision. His sense of touch lets him down, it deceives him. His ears work, but they get overrode by the rest of his senses. And then he smells the smell of the field, and this sense of smell deceives him. None of his senses work correctly. Then his father, Isaac, said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, "Look at this blessing." Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking that it's Esau. This is the whole contest, he thinks he's blessing Esau. But listen to the blessing he gives. Down to verse 27, "See the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine, let people serve you, and nations bow down to you, be Lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you, cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you." So here we see the difference between a birthright and a blessing. The birthright is where the father gives his inheritance to the first son, or to the chosen son, all of his material blessings. The blessing, though, is about the son's future. What is his future going to be? And here Isaac, thinking he is giving this future to Esau, he gives this future to Jacob. Did you see what the future includes for Jacob? This is nothing less than the Abrahamic promises, the Abrahamic blessing. The blessing of the land, right? The Lord is blessed. May he give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, plenty of grain and wine. Also the future, the promise of a prominent nation, becoming a prominent nation. That's what he says. Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you, be Lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. And then we see the blessing for those who are right standing with him, cursed to be everyone who curses you and blessed to be everyone who blesses you. These are the Abrahamic promises, the Abrahamic blessing. Isaac gives quite a future to Esau, except it's not Esau, it's Jacob. Jacob will inherit the Abrahamic promises just as the Lord has told Rebecca, just as chapter 25, just as God has said. So we see, do you see it here, Isaac is a man driven by his senses, and this is such an important point for us, a man who is driven by his appetites loses his ability to tell up from down, right from wrong, he loses all ability to use his senses correctly. And in his bad, sinful, willful rebellion against what God has clearly said. God is still accomplishing his purposes. Isaac is sinful, Rebecca is sinful, Jacob is sinful, don't even get me started on Esau, everybody is sinful and yet God is doing exactly what he said he will do. Let's go to conversation before. Starting verse 30, this takes place between Isaac and Esau, this is the sad reality of what's taking place Esau finds out. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father, Esau, his brother came in from his hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father and he said to his father, "Let my father arise in need of his son's game that you may bless me." His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I'm your son, your firstborn Esau." Then Isaac trembled very violently, violently trembled and said, "Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me and I ate it all before you came and I have blessed him?" Yes. And he shall be blessed. As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also my father," but he said, "Your brother came deceitfully. He has taken away your blessing." Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob for he has cheated me these two times? He took away my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing." Then Esau says, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him Lord over you and all his brothers I have given to him for servants and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you my son?" Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing my father? Bless me, even me also, oh my father, this is Esau's future. Do you have a blessing for me?" And he just wants something. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. I like true stories. I like true stories better than the stories we produce a lot of times in movies, right? Everything always works out at the end. That's not true to life. Esau has lost the blessing and there's nothing that can be done, nothing. Isaac trembles violently, Esau weeps bitterly. Jacob has deceitfully taken the blessing from Esau, but it is irrevocable. We cannot be gone back on, right? It's irrevocable. Listen to Esau's Christ, his father, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isn't there something one blessing my father, just one? Bless me, even me also my father." And Isaac's simple response is, "I have given him everything." Yes, he will be blessed. What's left to give you? Nothing, nothing. Hebrews 12 verse 17 gives us a commentary on this passage. Remember Hebrews 12, 17? You know, it says, Hebrews 12, 17, for you know that afterward, when Esau desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he saw it with tears. Many times that's interpreted as, you know, if somebody is truly repentant, maybe that God will still turn his back on them. That's not what Hebrews 12 was saying. The repentance, right? What is the repentance of Esau? Is it a godly sorrow? Is it a godly repentance? What's the repentance of Esau? The repentance of Esau is only a worldly sorrow. He is sorrowing for sure. He is weeping. How often have people wept over regret or over the consequences of sin or over their failures? How often do people weep? But that does not mean they are truly repentant. Esau's regret, he weeps bitterly, is a worldly regret, not a godly sorrow. All that is left for Esau is curse and exile. Look at it. And this is not a blessing, verse 39. Look at it there. "Then Isaac, his father answered and said to him, 'Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on it high." So what is he describing there, exile? You're away from the land. You're not going to be blessed in the land. You're going to be driven out away from the fatness of the earth. Why your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck. Esau's exiled from the blessing of the land to wonder, who else does that sound like? Like Cain, right? Cain. Like Ishmael. Ishmael is a wild donkey who seeks to break free from the yoke of his master. And this is exactly who Esau is, he's pictured here as a wild animal, wanting to break free of the yoke of Jacob, the yoke of Israel. And this produces Esau's fate, produces a murderous hatred for his brother. He will kill Jacob as soon as he has the chance. Now, Esau hated Jacob, sort of tells you verse 41, Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father approaching, then I will kill my brother Jacob." Conversation number five, Rebecca again hears what's going on with Esau that she warns Jacob, look at verse 42, "But the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebecca, so she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, 'Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. He's going to have revenge on you. This is his blanket at night. Now therefore my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Heran, and stay with him awhile until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him, then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?" Again, Rebecca is here the central player, she's going to control everything, she's going to control everything, right? She has the plan for Jacob to go back to her family in Heran, but in Her mind it's only a temporary stage, just go back there until all this passes over, wait out, Esau's anger, Esau's at night keeping himself warm with the thought of revenge against Jacob, just go and wait until all that passes over. She doesn't want to lose both of them in one day, but in fact, and this is important, she will never see her son Jacob again. She sends him back to Heran and he will never return in her lifetime. In seeking to control everything, she's lost everything. In seeking to take matters into her own hands, everything that she cares about has slipped through her fingers. She loses everything, her deceit, her plan has cost her her sons. Conversation number six, now she must persuade Isaac. So then Rebecca said to Isaac, verse 46, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women." Hey, they're the Hittite women again, they show up in the story again. I loathe my life because of the Hittite women that Esau had married, right? If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what goodwill my life be to me? So using the poor marriages of Esau as the motivation, Rebecca pleads with Isaac to send Jacob away. This is in direct contrast to Abraham's strategy. Remember when he sends back a servant, he doesn't want the promised son to leave in danger of him not coming back, he doesn't want to separate the promised line from the land. But when Rebecca is planned, let's send Jacob back to find a wife. The danger of leaving the land and not coming back is real. Rebecca's involvement once again endangers the promises and dangers, what God is doing. And that leads to conversation number seven, the last conversation, chapter 28, verse 1. "And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him. You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women, arise, go to Padanoram to the house of Bethul, your mother's father, and take as your wife from there, one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham. That's Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Padanoram to Laban, the son of Bethul, the army and the brother of Rebecca, Jacob's and Esau's mother." So this is the last conversation. While it's not his original plan, Isaac now has confirmed in his right mind, in his right senses he's confirmed that Jacob is the one to inherit the Abrahamic blessing. Therefore, because he is the one to inherit the Abrahamic blessing, he must not marry a Canaanite. That is quite a word, by the way, the original audience, the original intent here, the original audience would have heard this, marrying Canaanites is no good for God's chosen people. You are not to marry a Canaanite. Jacob must go and find a wife from his mother's side of the family, which is from Abraham's brother. This is exactly where Isaac got his wife. He's going back to where Abraham originated from to find a wife. Now look at Esau's response. This is where our narrative concludes. Look at Esau's response. And this is again that latter half of the bookend. We started with Esau's marriages to the Hittite women. Now we're going to see Esau marries again. Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padanoram to take a wife from there, that he blessed him and as he directed him, you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and got to Padanoram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, he's already married to two of them, but when he sees that this does not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mehelath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebbath. Esau sees the blessing upon Jacob and his father's warning not to take Canaanite wives. Esau already has two Canaanite wives, but he decides to try to fix his bad decisions with another bad decision. You see that? I'm going to fix everything. My dad is happy with Jacob going to find a wife from the family, maybe I can fix all this and give my dad's favor back if I'll just marry somebody from the family, but then what does he do? He's somebody from Ishmael's side. He goes and marries another wife compounding the issue. A sad commentary on Esau, an already sad story, trying to fix his bad decisions with more bad decisions. You know anybody like that? Esau is outside of the covenant promises. Those people, do you know who his people become or the name of the nation that comes from Esau? Edom, and what is their future? Edom will indeed, like the wild animal from the yoke of Israel, Edom will break away from Israel and will eventually join league with Babylon against Israel, for which they will be judged, which is what the book of Obadiah is about. I know you were curious about that. What is Obadiah? What does that have to do with Edom? Why is Obadiah, the book of Obadiah all about Edom? Well, it's about the judgment that comes upon Esau and his family because of the betrayal of Israel, of Jacob. So, story concluded. What are we to take from this story this morning? At the heart of the story is the simple question of who is to receive the blessing of Abraham - who is the chosen son? Who will continue the promised line? Just as the Lord said in chapter 25, his choice is upon Jacob, not Esau. At the heart of this story then is the truth, the reality of God's gracious - notice what adjective I gave to it there - God's gracious election. I know sometimes people think I talk about election all the time, the doctrine of election all the time, especially those who don't like the doctrine of election, it really brings that up all the time. The reason I bring it up all the time is because it's in the Bible all the time. Like the entire story of Scripture is framed around this truth that God chose Jacob and not Esau. God chose Abraham and not others. God chose Isaac, not Ishmael. God chose Jacob, not Esau. So this shapes the entire story. You can't miss it. God has placed his choosing love upon a particular people. But let's consider these people for a moment. His place is particular choosing love upon a particular people. But let's consider these particular people for a moment. As we look at this story, what do we find? We find four characters, a family, a family in complete disarray. And what does that show us? Point number one. If it was up to us - that is, if it was up to man, if it was up to us, blessing would never come. God's plans and purposes to bless his creation, to bless his mankind, the creation and the crown of his creation, mankind, God's purpose is to bless the world. It would never happen if it was up to us. If it was up to man, blessing would never come. And here we have a sad example of that point. The family through which God is bringing salvation. That's the family we've been dealing with this entire morning. The family through which God is bringing salvation to the world is not a pretty picture. While this story is about more than fractured family relationships, while this story is about more than the fractured family, the sinful family, it's not about less than that. God's chosen family reeks of sin. Did you get that all the way through? Again, let's consider the four characters of this story. Isaac, passive, not leading his family in the right direction, driven by his appetites, driven by his desires, lost control of his ability to tell right from wrong, going against what God has clearly said. This is the patriarch. This is the leader of the family, weak, feeble. Let's consider Rebekah. Rebekah, you surfer, does not respect her husband or the leadership of her husband, does not trust the Lord, takes matters into her own hands, controls everything because if he's not going to do it, I've got to take it under my own control, deceitful. Can you imagine? What does this do to their relationship for the rest of their marriage? Complete dishonesty, Esau, again, like his father, driven by his desires, disobedient evidence is only worldly sorrow and regret. Oh, he's so sorry and regretful, but here's nothing for the Lord, trying to fix everything with his flesh and then Jacob. Jacob, the dishonoring son leading his blind father, astray, I mean, think of that. What is the picture of social injustice? It's somebody taking a blind person by the hand and leading them into a pit to fall. That's exactly who Jacob is, deceitful, scoundrel. This is God's chosen family. Have you ever thought, have you ever had this thought as you look around, maybe you look around, maybe you're in the habit of looking around, have you ever thought that your situation, that your family is somehow unique? Well, you know, my husband does not lead the way he should. My husband's passive. My husband doesn't take the leadership. He's weak, not worth respect, right? Now, I wish he would be a little more like these husbands. You look around and you kind of start to compare your family with others, man, all these other families have it together, all these other families. They've got something on the ball, not our family, people new, our family. Maybe you're the husband and you're looking at your wife saying, man, my wife doesn't respect me. She goes behind my back. It's like always her plans. She's the one that always takes control of everything. The kids even know that, right? Mom controls everything, whatever mom wants. That's what mom gets, right? Nobody says anything because we don't want to rock the boat. You know, mom's always right, mom's always the one who gets what she wants. And that's not fun for anybody, is it? Man, you look around and say, I wish we had those marriages. I wish we had a marriage like those people. You find yourself doing that. You see the turmoil within your family and the disagreements and the fights, I wish my kids got along. Look at all those kids, we get this all the time. Look at all those kids sitting in church. There's perfectly obedient, what perfect kids. I wish we had those kids. What's wrong with that? The fact is none of us know what's going on in anybody else's life. And here we have the chosen family. The family that God intends to bring salvation to the world through, right? And what do we see? This is God's grace to us. What does He show us? He shows us that this family is completely riddled with sin, deception, failure. Why? Because this is every family. This is all families. When a guy tells me, I'm not leading my family the way I should, I always say, yeah, man, join the club. I don't know anybody that would say, I've done this perfectly. I've got it figured out. But see, we get so busy comparing ourselves to others, thinking that others have figured it out, that we are the only ones. And I love the fact that God puts the disarray of the chosen family. He puts it here in ink, in print, so that everybody can see. It's not up to them. It's not up to man. If it was up to us, blessing would never come. We see in this story man's inclination towards sin. Our hearts are not inclined towards God, but away from Him. I mean, if any family is going to serve the Lord, if any family, wouldn't it be this one? So point number one, if it was up to us, blessing would never come. But praise God, He is committed to bring blessing to fallen man. If it was up to us, blessing would never come. But praise God, He is committed. He is determined to bring blessing to fallen man. He's going to do it. Jacob receives the blessing of Abraham through his father, Isaac. The promises of God will not be derailed, they will not be detoured. And here's such a central point, God doesn't need us. As we saw, if it was up to us, blessing would never come. God doesn't use our strength and wisdom to accomplish His purposes. God doesn't use our strength. It's not like we come to Him with something to offer Him. I was listening to a message this last week and it was not a good one. I was listening because somebody asked me to or whatever, but that was the point of the message was the pastor was trying to encourage people to be like, "Hey, look in your hands. What are you having in your hands?" Right? Nothing? That's all God wants. He just wants whatever you have to offer. Just give it to Him. He can use whatever you have. That sounds really great. But here's the truth. What do I have in my hands to offer Him? I have nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing that He could use. Nothing. I'm empty handed. And you see, that is the point we've got to come to, that empty handedness before we can really see what God has done and what God is doing. He doesn't choose Jacob because of anything Jacob has done. And this is the point of Romans 9, isn't it? This is the point of Romans 9. This is what He says. I chose Jacob before they were even born, not because of anything He did or didn't do. I chose Jacob because that was what my mercy decided. It's all according to His mercy. God has chosen the weak to confound the wise. God has chosen the rebellious to demonstrate His love. God has chosen the worst of sinners to manifest the immeasurable riches of His grace for all eternity. So on what grounds, on what grounds does God choose? Any of us, only His mercy, only His grace. So I ask you, on what grounds do you boast? On what grounds do you think anything highly of yourself? What are your accomplishments? What you have given God? On what grounds do you judge anyone? Maybe you're on the opposite side. Maybe I talked about the family, it looks around and says, "Man, we're not like all these families that haven't put together. Maybe you're on the other side. Maybe you look around and say, "Man, I'm glad we're not like all these families that really are a mess." It was on my way to church this morning, on my way to the gathering this morning. I had to stop at one of those, I had to stop at one of those crosswalks, you know, that we have all over Spokane. The crosswalks, I stopped and there were people, they'd been sleeping in a bush, they'd been sleeping on the ground and they were a sight, man. I stopped and I had to stop for them, they were walking across and you know what started in my heart? What starts in most of our hearts, right? I let them, "Pfft, these people, like come on, you know, I got places to go, I got things to, people are a mess." But then as is normally the case, the Lord smites my heart and he goes, "What are you, what are you getting ready to go preach there, man?" Like, "Do you think that you're better than they are in any way, shape, or form? Are you a recipient of my grace and mercy because you've accomplished something? Say for the grace of God, so go on, there's nothing that separates us from each other, right?" I've not accomplished anything, that makes me Lord over you. So where do we find pride in boasting, or reason for boasting in pride? God gives his salvation based on his mercy and his mercy alone. And this sovereign election is irrevocable. His plans of salvation for those that his mercy has granted, his plans of salvation cannot be thwarted. And that's why the doctrine of election, I don't know if you realize this or not, but all the way through the Bible, the doctrine of election is always, always in every place an encouraging doctrine. It is never a discouraging doctrine, it is always encouraging. Why? Because I look at myself and I see my sin and my failure and my weakness, and he says, "No, no, you are kept, you are mine, I'm going to bring you all the way home." This is an encouraging doctrine. We cannot be lost because it's not up to ourselves to keep ourselves. That sovereign election cannot be thwarted without his purposes. All of us would be lost, all of us find ourselves here in chapter 27 of Genesis. Now, it is not to say, I have to say this, that it's not to say that our sin will not bring consequences, it brings consequences, again, this is not less than family relationships that are fractured. Our sin will bring consequences upon our life when we seek to control, when we seek to accomplish God's purposes and our own strength, when we seek to be wise in our own eyes, when we are weak and feeble in faith, this will bring consequence upon our life, driven by our appetites and desires. But this is the doctrine of election. God will bring his people all the way home. He will bring us all the way to him. And when we stand before him one day, blameless, without spot, when we stand before him, we will not be able to take credit for anything that's been done, but we will give all glory and all praise to him. He is the one that's accomplished it. Nothing that I've done, if it was up to me, blessing would have never come. If it was up to me, I would have been lost, but it's not up to me, thankfully, it's up to him. He has done the work and he's bringing us all the way home. When we stand before him, we will not be able to boast in anything that we have done. This is the truth. You and I, you've got to hear this, you and I are not impressive. You and I are not impressive people, but instead we owe everything to him, everything. If you see anything good and glorifying to God that comes out of my life, it is all due to God. Nothing that I've done and the same goes for you, to God alone be the glory. If it was up to us, blessing would never come, but praise God, he is committed to bringing blessing to fallen man, and how is he accomplishing this? He is accomplishing this in his blessed Son, Jesus Christ. Against the backdrop of Genesis 27, against the backdrop of man's unfitness, the unfitness of the chosen family, the unfitness of Israel, the unfitness of man, against the backdrop of man's unfitness, we see the fitness, we see the glory. We see the perfection of Jesus displayed. He is the Son that pleases the Father perfectly. He is the Son who has submitted himself to the Father and the Father's will perfectly. You see, in the story of Scripture, maybe you know this already, maybe you don't. In the story of Scripture, there is no hero. Save the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read the Bible, and you're trying to find your heroes in the Bible, and I'm thankful for Hebrews 11 and the Hall of Faith and how we see God working in their life, but there are no heroes in Scripture. They all find themselves in Genesis 27. The only hero is Jesus. He's it. He is the hero of the story. Sin deserves the curse, like Esau. We deserve to be exiled. We deserve to be cursed because of sin. We are under the curse of sin. Esau cries out. Did you see the cries of Esau? We could go back and look at how sad of a scene that is. He cries out. He weaved bitterly because he knows that his condition is irrevocable, his condition. It cannot be helped. He's full of regret, but worldly sorrow. He cries out because he's rejected. He has no future. But those cries of Esau are matched, triumphed with the cries of Jesus on the cross. He was cursed for us. Remember what he says? Eli. Eli. I'm not so back tonight. Remember that? My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me? That's why Jesus cries out. Why was he forsaken? Because of my sin. Because of your sin. He was cursed for us. The tragedy, the curse of sin, and its effect on mankind has been answered in Jesus. He has brought the promised blessing of God upon the world. And so what are we to do? We are to look to Jesus. Consider him. Instead of looking, you say, Paul you always say look to Jesus, but what does that mean? I don't really know what look to Jesus means. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Just like I said earlier, you look around and you compare yourself to other people and you look around and you assume things about other people and you look around and you say, well, I'm better than them, but I'm not as good as them and you look talk things all the time. Right? So what do we do? We look to Jesus. Consider him. Stop comparing and contrasting yourselves with others. Stop looking at yourself and look to Jesus. Consider him. Instead of thinking of other people and all the people that have it together, right? Whoa, it's me. No, look to Jesus. Instead of thinking much of yourself and your accomplishments and what you have to offer, not glad I'm like these other people, no. Look to Jesus, consider him who is the only one worthy to be considered. The chosen Son of God who walked perfectly before the Father, who suffered for the sin that is mine, experiencing the curse of sin on our behalf. He was forsaken for us and then he rose again, conquering sin and death. Who could take sin to the grave and then rise in power? Who could do that? Only Jesus when that's exactly what he's done. And now he sits on the right hand of the Father. And what is he doing there on the right hand of the Father? He is secured for you and me, all those who have faith in Christ. He is secured for us, eternal blessing. Eternal blessing for all of those who are in him. Consider Jesus. Look to him, not to yourselves, not to others, but to him who has made a curse for us. We may have life in him, and eternal blessings forevermore. Father, we thank you for this chapter. We thank you for the picture that it gives us, the truth, that if it were up to man, if it were up to us, blessing would never come. All of us would be lost. But God, we praise you because you have committed yourself. You have decided to bring blessing to fallen man for your glory and your glory alone. And you have done this in the person of your Son, Jesus. I pray again for those who have not trusted and put their faith in Christ, that they would see that they are still under curse. They are still separated from you, but that they would see Jesus work on their behalf and come to him in faith. And for all of us who profess faith in Christ already, that you would encourage us once again to look not to ourselves, to not be discouraged in our failures, to not be despairing, but to be encouraged by what you have accomplished, to look to Jesus, to find our hope, power, to find our security and identity in Him. We thank you for this word, and we ask for your blessing of it in our lives as we leave. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]