(upbeat guitar music) ♪ I love growing in your grace ♪ ♪ You have your hand on me ♪ ♪ And all that I do wrong ♪ ♪ Love will keep me strong ♪ ♪ I love growing in your grace ♪ - All right, let's open our vials tonight to Genesis chapter 27. One story, one chapter, one main lesson. All of us should be able to catch this one. A majority of Genesis, the last, well, 38 chapters, from chapter 12 through 50, are really devoted to the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We're only covering 400 years of time, whereas the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we covered 2,000 years of history, very quickly through major events. But when you get to the patriarchs, there's a couple of things that God would want us to learn, not the least of which is we find the historical origin of the chosen people of the Lord, the ones that would bring forth the Savior, and that's important because, as we've told you, when we started Genesis, God's only interested in two things, the first and second coming of his time. And everything in the Bible points to those things. But you learn from the, in the process, going through these lives of the patriots, and we get a lot of information. We get the special spiritual lessons of what it means to have a true relationship with God. His plans to save us, his love for us, his patience with us. And there's so much more. We spent, and have spent, he'd been with us on Wednesday night at all. We spent almost 100 years of Abraham's life together with him in the scriptures. This friend of God, we watched him take great steps of faith, we watched him stumble and doubt. We watched victories surrounded by great defeats. We saw the birth of his son after years of prayer at 100 years old. He had a child. We saw the awesome faith of Abraham at 125 years in Genesis chapter 22. And he was asked to sacrifice to the Lord this only begotten son. Compared to all of the patriarchs, and we told you, I think last time, Isaac is little more than a footnote in the Bible. He's certainly a miracle baby. But at the same time, you find him a bit in chapter 25. He shows up in last week, this week, and next week a teeny bit. His death is recorded in chapter 35 at 180 years old, but he really doesn't leave much for us to run with other than the examples we look at tonight. His life, his involvement, his minimal, it's almost dismissed rather quickly. Abraham and Jacob and Joseph each get like 12 full chapters of information's lives for us to learn from. Isaac, less than three. For all practical purposes tonight, we're gonna leave him in the rear of your mirror. I mentioned him again next week, but even tonight the pictures begins to change, and Jacob becomes the one in focus. And he's a very different man. Abraham was a man of faith. Isaac, his son was a carnal kind of a believer. He was moved and strove a lot in his flesh. He had tremendous highs. He let his dad time up at 25 to sacrifice him. Somehow thought that was okay. He had tremendous lows. And tonight is really one of them here in before us. Next week as we turn to Jacob, like I said, we'll get a lot more detail. And the lesson from Jacob, give it to you early in case you're gonna miss next week, is that God is very patient with the weakest of us. And he will work with us and wait upon us. And even if we strive to get ahead in our own strength, years of relying on our own abilities, God's not going anywhere. His commitment to you is sure. Jacob lived by the seat of his pants for a long time. But if you wanna know about God's patience, just look at the life of Jacob. You can't walk away from this guy without going, "Man, the Lord is patient." And boy, the Lord is patient indeed. Isaac was 75 when his father Abraham died, but at 40, he had gotten married to Rebecca, this beautiful wife. For 20 years, they prayed to have children. They weren't able to, and finally at 60, God gave her twins. And the Lord came to Isaac and to his wife and said, "Look, there's a striving in your womb. Two nations are represented there, and the elder will serve the younger." And God made a declaration already early on that the valued possession or place, the cherished place of the firstborn would be given to Jacob the younger, and not the firstborn Esau. Typically, the right of the elder was just that. The firstborn was given that right. He received a double portion of the inheritance as a successor, if you will. He was given the right of divine and direct lineage to the Messiah. His name would always come up. He was made a holder of the priesthood in his family and with his family. He was chosen to be the one through whom God would speak. And so he would be the vessel through whom God would bring forth his word. You might remember if you were with us in chapter 25, Esau sold his birthright, which wasn't gonna be his anyway, to Jacob for a pot of stew. In chapter 27 tonight, that comes into play again. Last week of year with us, we went with Isaac, who followed his dad's example. But interestingly enough, we told you, he followed his dad's example before he was born. So dad did the same things Isaac did, but these things happened well before Isaac had been born. He went wandering down to Egypt. God stopped him in a place called Gerar. It's a Philistine stronghold. And there he spent a long time getting rich. And you go, Lord, why would you bless this guy? Light about his wife, just left a bad impression. But the Lord began to give him stuff so that the people of the area started saying, get out of here, you got more than we do. You're a threat to us. And over time, God pushed this man through blessing back to the middle of a country where he belonged. So God had a way of just moving this less than faithful guy. But there were times of real devotion in Isaac's life, but there aren't very many of them at all. We ended chapter 26 last week making a comment about Esau, the firstborn who wasn't really chosen by the Lord to hold that position. That at 40 years old, he married a couple of heathen women who broke his father's mother's hearts. He would down the road a couple of years from now, do it again because he didn't get what he wanted from them. So he was trying to punish them as well. That's the end of chapter 26. We're at 27 tonight. There was 37 years that passed between these two chapters. So when you get down to verse 35 of the last chapter, just say, plus 37 to move ahead. It's like I said, it's the last view really of Isaac and his family setting. It's Isaac, his beautiful wife, Rebecca. There are two sons, Jacob and Esau. And it is quite the dysfunctional family that is portrayed for us. And we will take a look at least all of these four characters tonight to see what we might learn. What we do know, reading the chapter, hopefully you read before you come, and no one trusted each other. The favoritism of dad for Esau, of mom for Jacob that you had read about in chapter 25, has separated the spouses, has put the siblings kind of at each other's throats. Isaac didn't trust Jacob, didn't trust his wife. Esau despised Jacob, hung onto his father. They were in cahoots. The will of God, which had been clearly made known, and you can go back and read it at their birth, that Jacob would be given the place of the firstborn in terms of rights. The older will serve the younger. Now comes into focus again. And here's how it comes about. Esau, sorry, Isaac thinks he's dying. And if he's gonna die, he wants to be sure that even though God had made his will clear, that he was gonna bless his favorite son, Esau, with the blessings of the firstborn. And he was gonna give it to him, even though he knew God's revealed will, he was gonna dig in his heels and just laterally want to do what God has to say. Meanwhile, his wife Rebecca, having other plans, was going to help God get what God wanted. And by the way, what she wanted as well at all cost. Her life, the ends will justify the means. A truly messed up thing. But the great lesson is, and I want you to not lose this tonight, in spite of all of the weird dysfunction and sin and selfishness, God still functions in the dysfunction to accomplish his will. No matter what anyone else is doing, God will still get what he wants. And whether you think you've helped God out or now, you've got, no, he's gonna get what he wants because he's God. So on the one hand, it's a very sad story of these four. And on the other hand, it's a glorious truth that God can use messed up people and override and overrule the weirdness and lying and deceit and selfishness and stupidity of this family that is headed for the Jerry Springer Show. This is what chapter 27 is all about. It is good to learn that God uses the foolish to confound the wise. That God uses the weak of this world to put to shame the might. Yet we hardly wonder how this family got like this. Isaac lied like his dad. Now mom and dad are in cahoots with their kids. This is no way to run a family. But this is typical in this home. It was a family trait. Everybody's doing their own thing, trying to get their own away. C.S. Lewis said that a little lies like being a little pregnant. He says, "It doesn't show immediately, but trust me, it soon will." And unfortunately, though God is always good and in charge, the repercussions of stepping away from his will have to be lived with and faced. And we'll read some of it here. We'll read a lot more of it next week in the next two chapters. But this battle between Esau and Jacob has been raging for years. This is the third time. The first time was in the womb, struggling, who gets to be born first? The second was what the cell of the birthright for a pot of stew. And again, that's the focus of round three. As their favorite parents choose sides, Isaac chooses his field in streams reading sun. Esau, Rebecca chooses her Martha Stewart watching culture Jacob. Well, let's start with the unspiritual father first, first one. Now, it came to pass when Isaac was old, his eyes were so dim that he couldn't see, that he called Isaac his older son. And he said to him, my son, he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Behold, now I am old. I do not know the day of my death." But that's honest, by the way, he was right. Now, therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me and make me that savory food, such as I love and bring it to me that I might eat of it, that my soul might bless you before I die. Isaac is sick. He's blind, he seems to be bed-ridden, certainly wasn't able to get around, but he was convinced he was gonna die. Couple of reasons for that. His brother, half-brother Ishmael, had died at 137 years old. Isaac right now, 137. And I don't know what was going on in his head, but he was just sure that this was the end of it. He might have been a little bit of a hypochondriac. He had a web MD on his computer. He looked everything up, was sure that every fatal illness and symptom that accompanied them, he had. I'm sure that on his tombstone were the words, "I told you I was sick." In actuality, clear this up. He lived 43 more years. He died at the ripe old age of 180. Yet he believed he was dying, and before it was too late, he made sure of one thing. Go get your stuff, go get me something, make me some food. I'm gonna bless you before I die. I don't know where I'm going, but it's gotta be close. Little sneaky little guy. Esau saw a way to get back with a dish of venison what he had lost for a pot of stew. I don't wanna upset your concept of what you're watching here, or your sensei school, understanding what's going on here, but both these boys are 77 years old, right? Jacob will be almost 100 years old when he comes back with his kids. So, how wrong it has gone for Isaac, who years earlier, years earlier, 112 years earlier to be exact, had gone with his father Abraham up to Mount Moriah, and God had used him as a type of Christ, the one who would willingly submit to his death. But for the rest of the Bible, he's a backslider. He's a guy who just said in his ways, led by his flesh, always willing to circumvent the will of God, just to get what he wants. Everything that moved him was something he could feel or touch or taste or hold. Foolish, setting aside God's preference. The unspiritual father had quit leading though Isaac knew better. And I believe, according to Hebrews 11, which we'll see in a couple of minutes, that Isaac made it to heaven, but Isaac didn't take a lot of fruit with him in terms of his life's work. Well, beginning in verse five, we then get to meet the second one of our cast members. The unsurrendered wife, unspiritual father, unsurrendered wife, verse five. Where we read now, Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son, Eric, and just see her listening at the door. And Isaac went to the field hunt game and to bring it in. So Rebecca wanted to speak to her favorites onto Jacob, her son. She said, "Indeed, I've heard your father "speaking the Esau, your brother." He'd said, "Bring me game and make savory food for me "that I might eat it and bless you "in the presence of the Lord before my death. "In the presence of the Lord, can you imagine?" Now, therefore, my son obey my voice according to what I'm gonna command you, going out of the flock. Bring in here two choice kids of the goats. And I will make some savory food from them for your father, such as he loves, and you'll take it to your father that he might eat it, that he might bless you before he dies. So we meet Rebecca, Eve dropping on her husband. Nobody trusts anybody. Not invited to be in the same room, but she doesn't trust him. She sees them whispering, "What are they up to?" And out of sight, she listens and she quickly determines that by hook or by crook, whatever it's gonna take, her favorite son, Jacob, will get the blessing Isaac intends to give to Esau. After all, the Lord had told both of them, 77 years ago, that this was his will for the family. This is what God intended to do. This is what God wanted. Like Sarah with Hagar years earlier, Rebecca truly believed that sometimes to accomplish the will of God, you're gonna have to give him some help. I don't know if you've ever found yourself in that situation. Don't write that off too quickly, because there's a lot of times when we think, "I know what the Lord wants, but maybe, "maybe I can do something about it." As if somehow the Lord is sitting ahead and going, "Gosh, I hope he does something about it "or I may not get what I want." But yet we view the Lord's interaction with our lives that way. And she has some biblical precedent in her favor. For God had clearly said, Jacob would be the one to take the blessing. Soon the world's proverb of God helps those who help themselves will be found in a losing proposition again. This won't work. God only helps those who realize they can't do it without it. It's the way it works, it's very opposite. But even believers who know his word have done the same thing. And you sometimes get arguments from people trying to justify what they did by saying, "Well, the Lord's will was done." But there's a hundred different ways to get to the Lord's will. And sometimes you're just not on the same road. Oh, you end up in the same spot, but you didn't get there the way God intended you to get there at all. When Paul wrote to the Romans, he kind of mocked that line of reasoning. He said to them in his argument, "Well, what should we say then? "Should we continue in sin so that grace "could much more abound? "Certainly not." It's kind of dumb idea is that. But that's so often what we run into. It's kind of a damnable philosophy of man. It's certainly not the Lord. I actually had someone tell me years ago sharing how they got someone to church. And how to say, "Oh, you know, if you just come with us." He didn't tell them, they were taking them to church. But he came to church, he got saved. But it was lying and cheating and deceiving. And this guy was hustled to church. She goes, "But he got saved." Well, I know, he'd have got saved anyway. This isn't working. How can you feel good about that? Rebecca needed to submit to her husband. Look to the Lord. She might have mentioned to him, remember what God told us when the kids were born? And then we prayed for them. And this is what the Lord said his will was. But just like Isaac, rather than taking out the spiritual armor, she goes to doing the same thing he does. She's gonna lie and deceive and not trust the Lord. And while Esau is out hunting, she'll send Jacob out to kill some animals that are closer. And she's gonna try to make goat meat taste like deer meat, game meat. Ah, it'll be fine. I'll just throw in a little bit more paprika. You know, it'll be just gone. But learn from this of nothing else at the will of God, knowing the will of God, and accomplishing the will of God in a way that is outside of the will of God, is not the work of God. I can't say that twice. I hope you heard it. It's a trap of the devil. It's the actions of an un surrendered life. And here is Rebecca, her husband's unspiritual, but she's not surrendered to the Lord. Though she wants the right thing, she's going about it the wrong way. And we can be guilty of that as well. Oh, I just know this is what the Lord wants. And so I start, you know, doing whatever I can do to make that happen. And the hard thing by faith is just to wait and let God make it work. Not being slothful, but also not being manipulative. You think about Moses, you know. The Lord told Moses he would be the deliver of his people from Egypt. Okay, I'll wait to see how that works out. No, not Moses. One day he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and an altercation follows, and he, the would-be deliver of the Lord, kills this Egyptian. And then you read, he assumed that the people knew that he was the guy. Well, maybe so, but God didn't send him to do that. So rather than being the hero, he's treated as a criminal. People are going to turn you in. We saw what you did. And he runs for his life and will spend the next 40 years of his life on the backside of the desert, learning that God doesn't need his help. And that God, and that he's not a somebody, he's a nobody, but God will use nobody's. He's just not willing to use somebody's. And it took a long time for him to learn. In like manner, David, when he went out to retrieve the Ark from the Philistine countryside, he brought an ox card and a couple of guys and a worship team, second family of chapter six. He thought, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do a good deed for the Lord. The Lord doesn't want to be out here in Philistine land. He wants to be, you know, back in the tabernacle, a place of worship where his people are, where his name is. Go get him, it'll be awesome. And they start to move this thing. And it didn't take long for, you know, the cart to hit a bump. And we read that the oxen stumbled and this fella Uza reached out to kind of steady the Ark and lay hold of it and the Lord killed him on the spot. And old David was furious. He called the place the breakout against Uza from that day, I'm not going home. That's the way you want to be, Lord, I'm going home. And for months, David stayed home, discouraged, pouting, angry. And then someone brought him to the Bible. God's word, the directions from the law. And in God's words, he discovered God's will. And so he went back. But this time he did things God's way. Bring the transport, bring the staves, put it on your shoulders, two in the front, two priests in the back. God's prescribed method and knowing God's way and doing it his way, that worked. In fact, David went beyond what God asked. The Lord talked about worshiping. Well, David said we're going to take six steps and then we're going to stop building an altar and worship. And then we're going to take six more steps and we're going to build another altar and we're going to take six more steps. He was not taking any risks. Was it efficient? No. Was it effective? Yes. And they did that six steps thing for six miles. I don't know. God doesn't need your help. You need his. Rebecca wasn't seeing that. She overheard the plot. She had a plot of her own. I heard someone once use the analogy that a card is nothing more than boards and big wheels. Now, I thought, you know, a lot of Christian organizations will look to their boards to bring in big names to get the ball rolling. Stupid, doesn't work. How does God work? As we wait upon the Lord, filled with the Spirit, seeking to accomplish as well, looking to Him to do the work, He does great things. But we need to learn that we can, you know, there's a rest for the people of God and a lot of it has to do with not doing this. Even if you know what God wants, don't do this. Her plot here is launched and she tells her son about it, her favorite son. She said, I'll get the right spices. I can make the goat taste like deer meat, you know, whatever Esau's failures for a mom can certainly fix it up. So we have this unscriptural father. We have this unsurrendered mother. And then we have another unscrupulous brother 'cause Jacob doesn't care. We read in verse 11, these words. And Jacob said to his mother, to his mother, Rebecca, look, Esau, my brother is a hairy man. I'm a smooth skinned man. Yes, you are. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. I want you to notice Jacob's only concern here is whether or not he's gonna get caught. He didn't say the Lord wouldn't like this. That's deceitful or whether this is an acceptable idea to the Lord. He said, what if he finds out it's me and I found out I'm a deceiver. He doesn't mind being a deceiver. He just doesn't want you to catch him as a deceiver. And in the process, he says, and then I might lose. The blessings might become a curse. I'm already in line for some stuff. This could make it a whole lot worse. Like Jacob, there are a lot of people that are more concerned with what they seem to be than what they really are. What will people think of me? Let me say this to you, who cares? You're only pleasing the Lord, aren't you? So it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks as long as God is pleased and he's never fooled. There's a big difference here between reputation and character. Reputation is what is seen on the outside. It can be formulated. It can be shaped. It can be manipulated. You can make the worst of politicians look good. Well, I don't know if you can, maybe that's too much. Character on the other hand is what you are when nobody's watching. Well, Jacob is worried about seeming to be a deceiver. No, you don't just seem to be. You are a deceiver. Well, I don't want anybody to think that of me. Well, I wouldn't worry, Jacob, you're way past that. You're worried about losing a blessing. You've got a long way to go, pal. This is gonna be a tough 20 years for you in the next few chapters. His mom, verse 13, assures him. She says, "Let your curse then be upon me, my son. Only obey my voice and go get them for me." Or in other words, I'll take full responsibility if anything goes wrong. And here's 77 year old mama's boy, Jacob, runs out to do exactly what mama had told him to do. You just listen now, boy. Okay. No heart for anything spiritual at all. Well, we read in verse 14, he went then and got them and brought them to his mother. And mother made savory food just as his father loved. And Rebecca took the choice close of her eldest son, Esau, which were with her in the house. And she put them on Jacob, her young son. And she put them at the skins of the kids of the goats that she had just killed on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she gave the savory food and the bread which she had made into the hand of Jacob, her son. So mom cooks the meal, she makes a new outfit. And Jacob has some of Esau's choice clothes to wear. Remember dad's blind, but if you're blind, usually your other senses work pretty good. So his smell sense seemed to be working just fine. So Jacob's has to put on Esau's clothes, which I suspect were smelly and outdoorsy and maybe woodsy, I don't know, sweaty. Lock a room guy. Not Jacob's normal Chanel for men, fragrance. (audience laughing) You're getting the picture. For one final touch, let's dress them up in some animal skins. Goat hair on your arms, goat hair on your neck, get rid of your little smooth look to have you look more like Esau, who must have been one hairy guy. (audience laughing) Now off to full dad. Time for Jacob to perform. Verse 18, "So we went to his father and he said, "My father and he said, "Here I am, who are you, my son?" And Jacob said, "Well, I may saw your firstborn. "I've done just what you've told me, "please arise, sit and eat of my game "that your soul may bless me." Look father, but Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you found them so quickly, my son, "and Jacob, true to form, "well, the Lord your God has brought it to me." Stellar performance. Produced by his mother to fool her father. And supposedly, remember, don't lose this, accomplish God's will. Note the lies that are told. He's even bringing the name of the Lord in on it now. This is pretty scary. To further his agenda. By the way, this is using the Lord's name in vain in every sense of the word. Using God's supposed involvement to move forward your own plans. Yeah, Dad, God put a deer right in front of me and that was it. We're sometimes as pastors put in a difficult place because people will come and ask, sometimes your opinion or they'll try to force your hand a little bit, they'll tell you a story or whatever it is. And then they will end by saying, well, that's what the Lord told me to do. And then I'm kind of stuck. All right, what if the Lord told you to do that? What are you talking to me for? Then they'll say this, what do you think? Really, it's between me and the Lord now and you're gonna pick who you're gonna listen to? But they add these words and the Lord spoke to me. The Lord told me, well, I'm sure there are times that that's true and if that's true, then live with that. But I'm sure that there's times when God's name is just added to something to make your case a little stronger. The Lord said to me, and I usually say to people, if the Lord has told you to do that, you don't need my opinion at all. In fact, I don't want to be involved. What do you think was the Lord? Okay, now that's a different story. 'Cause if Rebecca had asked me, I said, well, this is not the Lord's will. What you're doing here is ridiculous. Well, he told me to talk to you. No, he didn't. And if you add the Lord's name to your arguments for emphasis and to get your request made or your decoration here, you're guilty of everything Jacob is doing here. I've seen the Lord, supposedly the Lord, lead people into very stupid decisions. And then I could do, God deals with the individual and that's between them and Jesus, but I'm telling you, I would be willing to tell you the Lord didn't tell them to do this. And I think if you knew the story, you go, that's not the Lord at all. Well, that's the case here. No one trusts anybody and we read in, even in Isaac's hesitation here in the following verses, I think it must have left a lump in Jacob's throat, a quiver in his voice, that curse he was so afraid of could be just around the corner. Mom said she would handle it, but could she handle it? That can be pretty harsh. Oh, we read in verse 21, Isaac said to Jacob, well, then come near to me that I might feel you. Everybody's trusting everybody, is it? I'm getting a weird feeling here. Spivy senses, let's, come here Jacob, I just, whatever your name is, get over here. Whether you are my son, my son, he saw or not, can you imagine? And Jacob went near to his father and he felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, I can imagine. But the hand is the hand of Esau. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hand. And so he blessed him and then he said, are you really my son, Esau and Jacob said, I am. Old blind Isaac was used to ruses. His family was used to have truths and without his eyesight, he felt like he was at a disadvantage. Jacob could not fully disguise his voice. Maybe the goat skins could look a bit more convincing, I don't know, that just seemed very hairy to me. But though he, we read that in verse 24, Isaac was still unsure. He wanted to feel him, I hear his voice, that's throwing me off, his arms feel like, you know, he smells like the right guy. Feels like the right, come on, tell me the truth now. Like, shouldn't that be normal in the family? Tell me, are you really, Esau? Yes, I am. Isaac's feelings could betray him, but God's word will never betray us. I think we need what God has said to establish our heart so that when we feel differently, we won't be let away by how we feel. And that's certainly what happens here. People share what they believe about God, not based on his word, but how they feel. Bro, how do you know that was Lord? I got goosebumps. I was slain in the spirit. Great. How do you know that's the law? Feelings will mislead, they're fallible, they're subject to circumstance and change. God's word is established so that you can to tie yourself like a, you know, you can tie yourself to the dock of his word. And now you can, you can't be moved then. But Isaac's just going by what he knows and what he thinks and smells like, you know, I'm pretty sure, come on, don't mess with me. No, that's really me. So we read in verse 25, well then bring it near to me and I'll eat of my son's game so that my soul might bless you. And so he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him some wine and he drank and his father, Isaac said to him, come here now and kiss me my son. Last chance. And he came near and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his clothing. And then he blessed him and he said, surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of the field, great. Which the Lord has blessed therefore, may God give you of the do of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, plenty of the grain and wine that people serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be master of your brethren, let your mother's sons bow down to you. Curse would be everyone who curses you and blessed be those who bless you. Still not so convinced, come here and let me kiss you, let me smell you, I guess it's okay. But you see, the carnal man is always blind and he's always led through life by his senses, how he feels, what he smells, you know, his instinct, he is fooled by them all. And so Isaac here prepares to bless whom he believes to be Esau. Contrary completely in defiance of the will of God, which he knew. (breathing) Before we continue, let me ask you this question, did God intend Jacob to have the birthright? And the answer is yes. And everyone in the family knew it. But God has to teach us that we can do the right things and he'll work out the circumstances. We don't need to help God out. Such an important lesson for us Christians. We don't need to help God out. Even when circumstances seem to forbid or prohibit or hinder what we believe God wants to do, if God is involved, God will take care of it. We see it in the letters of support that we get sometimes or we should say appeals for money that we get in the church or I'll get in my own mailbox. People that, brother, you know, it's been a tough couple of years, we're on the radio. If you don't send us some money soon, like 90 days, we got to go off the air. And I'm thinking, go off the air. Why do I care? If God's not paying your bills, what are you doing, man? Now you got a stoop to begging and writing these, you know, pressure letters, you send it to the wrong guy, you should have saved yourself some money. It's just not the way it works. People manipulate you, they lay gift trips on you, they gossip about you. Look, if you know God's purposes that they're going to stand, nothing can prevent his will from being accomplished, then you don't have to be political, you don't have to scheme or connive, you don't have to try to make friends in all the right places or say, hello, the other right people, you don't have to play the games the world does because God runs your life off the hook. It will be one of Jacob's greatest lessons of his life, 20 years from now when he comes back to this place. You can sure dig a deep hope in sin by doing otherwise as they have done here. And there'll be sad consequences for years and a few of them will read in the last couple of verses here tonight. So Esau's convinced, all right, I'm doubting, but it must be him. He blesses Jacob thinking it's Esau, gives him the blessing of the firstborn unlimited power and prosperity, lordship over his brethren, divine protection, a curse to anyone who would oppose him, a blessing for those who would submit to him, sounds just like the promise God made to Abraham. And Jacob lives, lives, lives, leaves, thrilled. Runs out of the room, gives mom a high-fide. We did it, you were right mom, praise the Lord. But on the heels of this ruse comes our fourth character that we have laid build, unsaved son. I'm sure that Isaac will make heaven. I'm not so sure about Esau, not my call. Just telling you what I can gather from the scriptures and it really doesn't make any sense. But at least in the story, here's a guy that has no concern at all for the spiritual life at all. So we read in verse 30, now it happened as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob. And Jacob had scarcely gone out from the father, this is close, right? It's one of those cliffhangers. From the presence of Isaac his father that Esau, his brother came in from hunting. He also had made savory food. He'd brother to his father, said to the father, let my father arise in heat of his son's game that your soul might bless me. And father Isaac said to him, who are you? He said, well I'm your son, you're a forest barn, I'm Esau. And Isaac trembled exceedingly. He said, who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came and I have blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed. Couple of things that happened here. Number one, there is this rude awakening in Isaac's life. He trembled exceedingly because what sunk into him now was he'd been found out. And I think the Holy Spirit adds these words and indeed he shall be blessed because to Isaac's credit, and I haven't been too kind to him, he decided at this point he would no longer try to defy God's will. He knew what it was. He had tried to circumvent it. But if you go to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 20, you will read these words by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Now you might say through trickery or through hustle or through manipulation, but God's response to Isaac's attitude of heart here is he trembles exceedingly. He realizes that the Lord was smarter than he was, if you will, and he said, I'm not gonna change it. God said it, now God accomplished it. And for him, that was enough. Tearse words in Hebrews chapter of faith, which only speaks about the things that pleased the Lord. Here's a guy that realized that God had his way despite my plans, Isaac is back for the moment. You read this and you say to yourself, well, it sure sounds like Jacob and Rebecca have their way, lies and deception sometimes seem to work. Yet Hebrews said it was faith on Isaac's part that God allowed to stand. In other words, that the Lord had his way. There's that scripture in Proverbs that says, "There are many plans in a man's heart, but the Lord's counsel, it shall stand." Remember I said to you in the dysfunction of the family, the function of God is still to get what he wants. So you can look at 100 situations and go, oh, if you knew my home family, I don't know if that's ever gonna work out. I just know God can do anything. And he's very good and capable of doing the very things we think he can't do. Esau, the unsaved mass, verse 34, heard the words of his father and he began to cry with exceedingly great and bitter tears. And he said to his father, well, then bless me also, my father. He said, "Your brother came with deceit. He's taken away your blessing." The unsaved man found no way to change his father's mind and he wept, not because he was repenting. Oh, I wish I'd obeyed the Lord's will. He was angry because he'd been duped. Whatever material breastings came in this idea, this was, these were tears of bitterness, of anger, not of joy. In fact, you can read in chapter 12 of Hebrews, that Esau was a natural man, governed by his flesh, who didn't care at all, not a wink about spiritual things. Oh, we read in verse 36 that Esau said, if he, is he not called rightly Jacob? He has supplanted me these two times. He's taken away my birthright and now look, he's taken away my blessing and he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" And Isaac said to his son, "Indeed, I have made him your master and all of his brothers I have given to him a servant with grain and wine, I've sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?" And Esau said to his father, "Have you not one blessing my father? Bless me, me also, oh my father." And he lifted up his voice and he wept. And Isaac, his father said to him, "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, you shall serve your brother, and it shall come to pass that when your restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck." The history of Esau will find him establishing the tribe of the Edomites. So when you get to Edomites later on in your Bible, one of Israel's huge enemies, he will be the one that caused that tribe to farm. They would be subservient to Israel. The last recorded Edomite in the Bible is Herod. Interestingly enough. So his dad gave him a blessing, but it wasn't much of a blessing at all. Verse 41, "And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, "The days of the morning for my father are at hand, and then I'm gonna kill my brother Jacob." Esau believed he was gonna die. Rebecca believed he was gonna die. Jacob believed he was gonna die. Isaac believed he was gonna die. The only thing the brother didn't believe is God. You're not gonna die. Gonna be here for years yet. But notice Esau's plan. As soon as dad dies and we bury him and wait on those 30 days of morning, then I'm gonna kill Jacob. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna be the only heir left the whole merely matter, law belonged to me because he'll be out of the way. There's a scripture in chapter one of Malachi where the Lord speaks and says, Jacob, if I loved Esau, have I hated? And there are a lot of times people get upset when they read that and say, well, how could that be? Be it, it leaves them confused. But I'll tell you what confuses me. That the Lord said, Jacob, if I loved, that confuses me. I get that Esau have I hated. He's a real, you know, he's a real snake in the graph. But Jacob was terrible and the Lord loved him. This conniving, cheating, lying, selfless, actor and goose with his mother to defraud his father and help the Lord out. Yet the Lord made him his choice. Oh, we stand a chance, don't we? (congregation laughing) Verse 42, and the words of Esau here, older son, were told to Rebecca. So somehow word got to him. I don't know her, I don't know who he told, but she sent and called for Jacob her young son and she said, surely your brother, Esau has comforting himself with the intent to kill you. Now, therefore my son obey my voice 'cause mom's really done well so far. Arise and flee to my brother, Laban, living in Heron. Stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you and you forget what you have done to him, what you have done, mom, you help. Then I will send and I'll bring you back. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in that one day? And so, Rebecca said to Isaac, I'm just weary of my life because of the daughters of half. Those were the ones that Esau married in the last chapter. If Jacob takes a wife from them, like these who are in the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to be in? So she, still hustling, we got to send Jacob away. You see, Esau married, oh my gosh, those are horrible. We got to send him back to the homeland, back to my brother where he can find a good wife from amongst us. And so, let's pack him on. So, Esau is making plans, still scheming. Rebecca, still scheming and plotting, finding a way to meddle. I'll pave the way for you with your dad. I'll tell him about how he agrees with it. Esau married these heathen women. You should go back to my family to get a wife for yourself. You don't want to marry one of them. I'll just, oh, I've lost both of you, you know, mom's tears are never done. Okay, we get it. So, Jacob packs up and leaves, and he heads for Uncle Laban's Rebecca's brother. Now, just to kind of fill in the gaps before we stop tonight, in Rebecca's plans, notice that she said, just be away for a couple of days, and then I'll get you back here. Well, it was a long way to travel. But, needless to say, she said in verse 44, just a couple of days. As have helping God out, always, you know, is always the right thing to do. What it really brought is grief. These few days would turn into 20 years. By the time Jacob would come home, his mother would be dead. So, he never gets to see mom again after this meeting. This was it. She had other plans, but they certainly didn't accomplish what she wanted. Perhaps the years that followed would teach her she could truly let God accomplish as well without her help. For the next 20 years, and we're gonna go over it in the next couple of chapters that the Lord gives us, Jacob would find in his uncle Laban a worthy adversary. He was better at hustling and being crooked. That was Laban's forte, it's a forte. So, we know that where Rebecca came from, another home of hustlers. (congregation laughing) And there's lots of different lessons to learn from there, but years later, his own sons would take his favorite child. You might remember Joseph and claim that he had been killed and Jacob would have to grieve over the deception with his own family. It just kept kind of just keeps rolling forward. Reaping what you're sowing is not worth sowing in the first place. So, what a family, what a price and for, for only Isaac, and I would say this sincerely, for only Isaac by the time we come to the end of the chapter, he's the only guy that sure God will have his way. Mom's planning, Esa's planning, Jacob's planning, Isaac goes, trembles and goes, whatever I said, that's what I said. We're not changing it at all. So, Jacob heads to Laban's house. I think we're gonna look at two chapters next week. So, would you read ahead? And I'll have some questions for you before we go, all right? (congregation laughing) Father, thank you for your word to us tonight. What a wild family, Lord. What an amazing bunch of people in your lineage. And yet you laid out all for us out in color and just amazing to watch. Lord, we're so thankful for the work that you're doing in our lives. We're thankful that even if we try to get in there and mess around and make things happen, like we like to do, that your promises, that your ways will be exactly what we'll find. You might not like the consequences because if we've been stirring the pot, we may not like what we've done to ourselves and trying to scheme or connive or plot around. But Lord, it is sure that your will would be accomplished because you're the Lord. And in all of the dysfunction, you function well. But teach us, as your people, this year, to just if we know your will for something, just to pray and wait, to watch and see, to be available, to serve, but never to conniver, to manipulate or to set the stage or put our hands in there like we so love to do. May we let you be the Lord of our lives and may we rest in your oversight because we realize that in the end, you're gonna have your way and no one's gonna be able to stand in your way, no one's gonna be able to plot or against you, no one's gonna be able to outsmart you or somehow get the upper hand, you're the Lord. And to those who surrender to you, we'll find your best in our life. May you teach us that even just from this, one chapter tonight, we pray. You need prayer tonight, guys will be here, the pastors are here, we'd love to pray with you. Just whatever you're going through, maybe it's a good night to just get your hands off of some stuff. You know, stuff you've been trying to make happen and make work and it's just not working out. And you just believe God has called you somewhere or to do something and the doors don't seem to be open or people seem to be against you or maybe situations aren't working out for you. But God is big, bigger than you and your problems. And if he's willing and this is what he wants, your best bet is to just pray and wait and watch and see what God will do. We have to do it at the church all the time. Lord, what are you gonna do now? God, how are you gonna solve this problem? So easy to wanna throw in her two cents, but that's what it's worth, two cents. What I want is God, would you buy your spirit, lead and guide and direct our lives? I know that's what you want for you as well. So if you need to pray, we'd love to pray with you. Maybe it's just, this is a good night to let some of that frustration that has been caused by you trying to make things happen for the Lord. Maybe just leave it here, go home with peace and let's see what God will do with your life. He's a faithful God. (gentle music) - Well, thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and rating our podcast. You can visit us on the web at morningstarcc.org and on our YouTube channel at MorningstarCC. Again, that's at MorningstarCC. If you'd like to support this podcast, please look us up at patreon.com/morningstarcc. Again, that's patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/morningstarcc. (gentle music) (upbeat music)
