Good morning. It's my privilege this morning to be able to open God's Word with you.
And we continue in the book of Genesis this morning, specifically in chapter 27,
! And then we'll leak into chapter 28 as well, the first section of 28.
But before we stand and read it, let me just tie into what we've heard over the last few weeks.
Just a couple of points I would want you to remember as we look into chapter 27.
The first is this. You would remember that Rebecca was barren, and she was barren for quite a number of years.
Isn't it interesting that Sarah was barren? Now, here we see that same pattern again.
Rebecca's barren. And Isaac prays for her, and she received child, and she had twins.
And they were struggling. There was a battle going on within her, so much so that she diligently, fervently prayed to God.
I guess worried maybe what was going on. She didn't want to lose her children after having waited so long
and being blessed to be pregnant.
And the Lord said this to her as she prayed.
It's in chapter 25. It says,
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.
And I want you to see, remember as well, this truth is that the boys grew up, and they were extremely different.
Here in the Scripture it says,
Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field.
When Jonathan preached on this, a man's man.
He was a tough guy, an outdoorsman.
And then we see that Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents.
So his personality, his interests, vastly different than Esau's.
And we see conflict in the family.
We see a little bit of a picture into the family as we read the very next verse.
It says,
Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.
He was a man that enjoyed the hunt, and he would bring back the spoils of the hunt.
And Isaac loved that.
And Rebecca loved Jacob.
Gosh, I don't think it's healthy to have favorites, is it?
And yet we see this dysfunction spelled out in Scriptures here.
What we also see about Esau is this, is that Esau despised his birthright.
You remember the scenario where he came back famished from a hunt, didn't have any food, was starving.
His brother had lentil soup, maybe had a little more than that.
He said, please give it to me.
He said, I will if.
If you sell me or give me your birthright, then I'll give you all the food you want.
And he despised his birthright, meaning he wasn't really interested in spiritual things.
And then we see this promise of God to Isaac.
You know, God promised Abraham, if we were to look back in Genesis 12,
just this beautiful promise of how he would use Abraham to bless the whole earth,
to bless nations, to bless peoples all around the earth.
There's a land promise involved.
We will multiply you.
And here we see again that he's now promising to Isaac,
and it sounds very similar to what he said to Abraham.
This is God continuing to accomplish his covenant promise,
and he's choosing to do it through Isaac.
And he says to Isaac, as the Lord appeared to him,
sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you.
For to you and your offspring I will give all these lands,
and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
The blessing that he received from God was powerful,
a reminder to him of what he had blessed
or what he had promised in the life of Abraham his father.
And then one more thing I want you to see.
Last week when we finished, there was a little caveat of truth there
that really is going to play into what we're looking at in chapter 27.
So at the end of 26, in the last verse, it says that,
or the last two verses, so when Esau was 40 years old,
he took Judith, the daughter of Beri, the Hittite, to be his wife,
and Basmath, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
So I see here a lack of leadership, spiritual leadership in the life of Isaac.
Would not Isaac have counseled his son to not marry with the women of this land,
this land of Canaan?
Which is exactly what Abraham instructed his servant to do for Isaac.
to send a go to the land, and you find a wife,
a wife that is a part of our people, and bring her back.
And we see that it was Rebekah, and we are part of that.
We've seen how that story has played itself out.
And now here we are at chapter 27.
And so in honor of God's word, I would ask if you're able to please stand
as we read chapter 27 and the first part of chapter 28.
It's a little bit long, so hang in there.
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see,
he called Esau, his oldest 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,
and 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.
Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau.
So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,
Rebekah 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 and bring me two good young goats
so that I may prepare from 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 Rebekah's 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 he went and he took them,
and he brought them to his mother,
and his mother prepared delicious food such as his father loved.
Then Rebekah 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 the young goat she put on his hands
and on the smooth part of his neck.
And she put the delicious food and bread
which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
So he went in to 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, your firstborn.
I have done as you told me.
Now sit up and eat of my game,
that your soul may bless me.
But Isaac said to his son,
How is it that you have found it 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.
Then his father Isaac said to him,
Come near and kiss me, my son.
So he came near,
and he kissed him,
and Isaac smelled the smell of his garments
and blessed him and said,
See, the smell of my son
is 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.
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 hunting.
He also prepared delicious food
and brought it to his father.
And he said to his father,
Let my father rise and eat 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.
And he said,
Who was it then that hunted the game
and brought it to me?
And I ate of it 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,
and 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 he said,
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, my father.
And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
And 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 high.
By your sword you shall live,
and you shall serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
you shall break his yoke from your neck.
Now 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 are approaching,
then I will kill my brother Jacob.
But the words of Esau, her older son,
were told to Rebekah.
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.
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice.
Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, and Haran,
and stay with him a while
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?
Then Rebekah said to Isaac,
I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.
If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these,
one of the women of the land,
what good will my life be to me?
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him
and directed him.
You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
Arise, go to Padan-Aram,
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 Abram to you
and to your offspring with you
that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings
that God gave to Abraham.
Thus Isaac sent Jacob away
and he went to Padan-Aram,
to Laban, the son of Bethul, the Aramean,
the brother of Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau's mother.
Esau saw Isaac had blessed Jacob
and sent him away to Padan-Aram
to take a wife from there.
And that he had blessed him,
and that as he blessed him, he directed him,
you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother
and gone to Padan-Aram.
So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women
did not please Isaac, his father,
Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife,
besides the wives he had,
Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael's,
Abraham's son, the sister of Naboth.
That's a long one.
Pray with me right quick.
Father, we love your word.
And I just ask this morning
that you would teach us from your word this morning.
Show us what you would have us see.
Help us to live in a way
that would bring honor and glory to your name.
And I pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Y'all can have a seat.
I'll start with a quick story this morning.
When I was much younger,
I had a good friend of mine,
Butch Floyd,
who was gracious to me.
I used to play a lot of golf
and he was a member at the Atlanta Athletic Club,
which is a really nice golf course in Atlanta.
And he invited me often to play golf with him
and member guests and just other rounds.
I was a youth pastor.
His son was in my youth ministry.
That's how we connected.
And he just wanted to bless me.
He did it in many ways.
On one particular occasion,
he called and said,
Hey, can you play this week?
I'm like, sure.
He said, I got somebody else
that's going to play with us.
I'm like, okay, cool.
And he said, yes,
one of the Atlanta Braves.
Now, the Atlanta Braves started their run in 1991,
if you're a fan,
and they went 14 straight years.
But before they started the run,
this would have been in the very late 80s,
this was the guy who was the best pitcher
on the Atlanta Braves.
And I don't know if you're like me.
For people that are famous,
I have this thought in my mind
that they're probably going to be a little stuck up.
And they're going to view me
as being a second-class citizen,
and they're not going to really want to talk to me
or show any interest.
I don't know why,
but that's just in my mind
that my expectation was
that the guy's going to be hard to talk to.
He's going to be aloof.
He's going to be, you know,
just a little proud of himself
for what he's accomplished.
And so my expectation as I walk into it,
I'm like, I don't want to ride in a cart with him.
You ride with him,
and I'm going to ride over here.
You know what was interesting is
his name's Jose Alvarez.
He played 88, 89 in that time frame.
And, man, he was the most pleasant guy
to be around, very gracious.
I mean, he didn't wait for me
to come up and introduce myself.
He came to me to introduce himself
and asked me about my family
and asked me how I was doing.
Just very, very gracious guy.
He was humble.
He didn't seem to have a silver spoon
in his mouth, so to speak.
Down to earth, gracious,
and not ashamed of his faith in Christ.
And I was shocked.
And not only did I play the one time,
played multiple times with him.
And each time it proved to be real.
It wasn't something he was putting on.
But my expectations were totally wrong.
I don't know if you've ever had that experience.
That one, in this case, was very pleasant,
that my expectations were wrong.
Well, let me share a verse out of the New Testament
before we really dig into the text here
that ties into this concept of expectation.
In Matthew 22,
Jesus is talking to the Sadducees.
They're trying to trip him up.
And they're asking him about life after.
They say there is no life after.
It just ceased to exist.
And he's saying, no, no, no, no.
Do you not know what God said
to Moses at the burning bush?
Do you remember what he says?
He says, I'm the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob.
And in my mind,
that God would say that they're mine.
These men are mine.
Especially when I was a younger believer,
in my mind, I'm thinking,
these guys must be honoring to God.
They must walk in a God-honoring way.
They must be faithful men
that God would say they're mine.
That was my expectation.
And lo and behold,
two of those men we see
in bold view this morning.
And we see this family
that is a wreck.
It is a mess.
We see this,
the ugly warts of sin
in bold view this morning.
In the lives of two of those three men
that God said,
I'm the God of Abraham
and Isaac whom we'll see
and Jacob whom we'll see.
But what we're going to see
is men that are
less than faithful
and a mess.
Their life is a mess in many ways.
There's friction in this family
that is palpable as we read this.
Did you feel it?
Look with me,
starting in verse,
I'm on the wrong page,
starting in verse 1 of 27.
I mentioned before,
why is it that Abraham,
being the spiritual leader
of his family,
would allow his son
to go off and marry
Canaanite women
when he knows
they're not supposed to do that
as people of God?
Where's the leadership?
And Isaac,
here it says,
Isaac was old.
I looked at,
if you do a little biblical math,
you'll come up with,
or at least some have come up with,
he's roughly 137 years old now.
And it's evident
that something's going on
because he's lost his vision.
His eyes aren't working.
He evidently has lost his taste buds
because they aren't working.
I'll tell you why in just a minute.
And he is wanting
to set his house in order,
it seems.
He feels like the day of his death
is just around the corner.
Even in verse 4,
you see,
he says,
I want to bless you
before I die.
As if he feels like
his death is imminent.
So he's trying to set
everything in order.
He wants to name his,
he wants to give a blessing
to his son with the birthright.
The son that he chooses.
And isn't it interesting?
He says,
he calls Esau.
And he says,
hey, Esau,
do me a favor.
I don't know when I'm going to die,
but you know what I crave?
I crave the food
from the deer.
He doesn't say deer here,
but he's out in the field.
I said,
please go hunt
and go kill one of the beasts
that you normally kill.
And could you prepare it
and bring it to me
so that I can enjoy this meal
before I bless you?
Because I want to give you
my ultimate blessing.
And so what does he do?
He takes off Esau.
We'll talk about Esau in a minute.
He takes off.
Do you hear what he's attempting
and desiring to do here?
We heard earlier
that Isaac loved Esau.
Why?
Because he liked the game.
I mean, it was...
So he plays favorites
because his belly is full,
because he likes the way
the thing tastes.
And honestly,
do you notice this?
He said,
take your weapons
and your quiver
and your bow
and go to the field
and hunt game.
He's like,
you're my warrior, man.
Go out and fight.
I mean,
you've always been successful.
Can you do me a favor
and go do it now?
It's as if he's really...
He has this idea of manhood
and he has this desire
to bless the one
whom he loves the most,
that is Esau,
because Esau is a man's man.
And he likes that in a man.
Whereas the other son,
Jacob,
is more of a...
The Bible doesn't tell us a ton,
but it does say
that he tends to be in the tent.
He's not an outdoorsman.
We can imply from the text.
He's a little soft.
If you were to put the two
up against each other
and say,
okay, y'all duke it out.
Who do you think is going to win?
It's hands down,
no question.
The man's man,
the tough and rough
and tumble guy
is going to win
every single time.
So I'm sure this mindset
is in the heart
of Isaac
and he just likes him better.
He wants to give his blessing
to this son
who would represent
his likes
and his wishes
and his will
more so
than Jacob.
But if I was a godly friend
of Isaac,
you know what?
I'd go up to him and say,
Isaac,
man,
what are you doing?
Do you not remember
what God said
to Rebecca,
your wife,
when she prayed?
And I'm sure,
you know,
remember when she shared it with you?
That the older
is going to serve the younger
and that
even though he's stronger,
it says that your youngest son,
Jacob,
is going to be the one
that's going to have the blessing.
Are you,
are you trying to undo
what God has already declared
he's going to do?
There's a willingness
to ignore
the declaration of God
that he gave
and do things
his own way.
It doesn't reflect
a guy that is surrendered
to God
and full of faith
in God.
He's going to do it
how he wants to do it
because he's the father
and he's going to give
the blessing.
And there's some sense
that this blessing
is a
one-time thing
is what it seems like
in the scriptures
because if you were to flip over
to verse 37
where Esau comes back
and says,
don't you have another blessing?
And he says,
behold,
I've made him Lord over you
and all his brothers.
I've given him
servants
and grain
and wine
and I don't have anything left.
I've already given it to him.
It's as if it is
a one-time
blessing.
It has a spiritual component
to it.
And we'll see more
about how Isaac
handles this whole thing
as we walk through.
But let me step
into Rebecca.
Let's look at Rebecca.
So you've got
the patriarch.
You've got Isaac,
the man who is
the man of God
according to Christ.
And what I mean by that,
he says,
I am the God of Isaac.
He's mine.
And then Rebecca,
notice what she did.
She's like,
either she's eavesdropping,
which the scripture
does not say that,
or she just happened to be,
it is a tent
and sound does carry.
So she's in the tent
and she overhears
this conversation about,
hey,
I'm ready to bless you.
I'm ready to give you
the blessing
that you would be
the spiritual head
going forward,
that you receive
the covenant promises
of God
that came to Abraham
and came to me.
I'm going to give them
to you as your father.
It's what I'm,
it's in essence
what he's saying.
You're going to be
the spiritual head
of the family.
Totally in opposition
to what God said.
And Rebecca heard it
and said,
no,
no.
Uh-uh.
Golly,
this is serious.
I'm putting my own spin
on this,
okay?
That isn't exactly
how it's articulated
in the scripture.
But notice what she does.
Rebecca tries to aid God
in fulfilling his promise.
Do you think she remembered
what God had told her
that the younger
will serve the older?
Sure she does.
And here she is
trying to twist it
so that she can accomplish
what she knows
ought to be accomplished.
Her faith in God
is not very strong here,
is it?
Instead of saying,
God,
I know you're almighty,
I know you're sovereign,
I know you're able,
I know you're going
to figure out a way.
Instead of going to prayer
and saying,
God,
I'm surrendering this to you,
I'm submitting it to you
for you to handle,
she says,
I need to take care
of this now.
If I don't take care
of this,
this is going to really
be a big problem.
My husband is going to go
against,
I can't talk,
go against what God
has declared.
I can't let him do that.
I've got to help God here.
And what's she do?
She comes up with this plan.
She calls her younger son,
Jacob,
who is much more compliant
in his own right.
And she says,
hey,
here's what we need to do.
We're going to trick him.
I'm going to get a couple of goats,
which by the way,
do you think deer and goat
taste alike?
Why is she going to get two goats
when he's going out
to get a deer?
And venison is a lot different
than goat.
She probably already knows
that his taste buds are gone.
He can't tell the difference
between goat and deer.
And evidently,
he couldn't as we walk
through the story
because he ate goat
and thought it was deer.
He thought it was from the field.
So his condition
must have been pretty bad
in this scenario.
So she knew
that she could trick him
with a different food,
with goats.
And then she had this brainstorm.
I'm going to take the hair
off the goat.
I'm going to tape it on.
Or I'm going to wrap it around you
so when he feels you,
he's going to feel all that hair
and think,
oh yeah,
of course it's Esau.
I don't know what I can do
for your voice,
but let's just hope
he can't hear real well.
And so she said,
and he says,
listen,
Jacob is over 40 years old here.
He's a man.
And his mom's coming to him
and saying,
I want you to do this thing
which you know is not right,
but we got to trick him
or else you're going
to miss out on this.
We got to help God
and make sure this comes to pass.
And he said,
wait a minute,
what if he fills my neck
and fills my hands?
He knows it's not me.
And she had a plan,
right?
She comes up with all this,
I'm going to give you garments
so that when he smells,
he's going to smell him.
I want you to lie.
I want you to tell him
that you're Esau.
We've got to trick him
so he blesses you.
Are you with me?
Come on,
you with me?
Let's go.
And if I were a friend
of Rebecca,
godly friend,
and I went to her,
I said,
Rebecca,
what are you doing?
Why are you trying
to control this situation?
Do you not have
any faith in God?
Do you not think
God's able to handle
this situation?
The God who spoke
the world into existence,
you've seen this play itself out
as you walked
and you washed it
in the life of Abraham.
And you lived it
in your life.
You've seen the faith
of God,
how he's,
what he's done,
how he's blessed.
And yet,
she wouldn't believe it.
So you're just like,
Rebecca,
no, no, no, no.
Have faith.
God will make this
come to pass.
You don't have to help him.
You don't want to talk
your son into doing
that which is sinful.
Why do you want him
to be deceptive?
Why are you willing
to deceive?
Come on.
That's not the way
to live a God-honoring life.
And then we look at Jacob,
a 40-year-old guy
who lets his mom
talk him into something
that's utterly sinful.
Where is he to say,
no, no, that's not right.
Mom, that is not right.
We should not deceive him
like that.
That's not the way
we're supposed to live.
That would be dishonoring
to my father.
But instead,
what does he say?
He says,
Mom, I'm not worried
about what's right and wrong
in a sense.
I'm just worried
about success.
Is this thing going to work?
Yes, I want
the spiritual blessing.
Have you noticed
as we've read
through the text,
not just this morning
but previously,
that he was interested
in spiritual things.
He desired the birthright,
which is the spiritual leadership
of the family.
There's some desire.
He's leaning that way.
He's just going about it
the wrong way.
He's trying to accomplish
something out of his own
deception,
his own man-made wisdom.
And it's utterly sinful.
Again, remember the expectation
I talked about?
Surely God would pick
godly men,
men that are full of faith,
that are honoring to him
to accomplish his plan
to fulfill his promise,
right?
Well, we got two strikeouts
going on.
We got two guys
that are not walking by faith,
that are trying to do things
in their own way,
full of sin,
and yet,
for some reason,
God is going to use them
and the promise is going
through these men.
Hard to fathom.
But I want you to see
as this plays itself out,
so the meal takes place,
he blesses him
with this powerful blessing
that echoes Genesis 12, 3,
the blessing of Abraham.
And I would say this,
it has a spiritual element
to it predominantly.
Yes, there's material,
there's land,
there's his possessions,
they're involved in this,
but it is a conveyance
of the spiritual head
of the family.
It's a spiritual blessing
upon this child.
And then,
what happens?
And then,
as he's walking out the door,
you can almost see it
in the movie, right?
You got,
he's taking a step out
and in the back door,
guess who's coming in?
Hey, pop,
I got some food for you.
Man, I've been out
to the field,
he's like,
wait a minute,
I am so confused.
Who are you?
Well, I'm your son,
I'm your son Esau.
And what does the scripture say
took place at that moment?
Verse 33
is a pivotal verse
in this section.
And verse 33 says this,
Isaac trembled very violently.
At that moment,
when he understood
what had just taken place,
is that he had been duped,
he had been deceived
by his younger son
who had pretended to be Esau,
and he had come in,
and he had given the blessing
to him,
and then,
I mean,
to Jacob,
sorry,
and then when Isaac comes in,
he shudders violently.
I'm messing names up.
When Esau comes in,
Isaac shudders violently.
Why?
It's because he realized
right then
that he had gone
against the will of God.
He realized
his sin.
He recognized
that he had done
exactly what he shouldn't have done.
That is,
he's given the blessing
to the one he shouldn't have,
but because of the circumstances,
the blessing landed
on the son
that it should have landed on,
and at that moment,
I think that he was struck
with his sin.
At some point,
we will notice this,
is that if we look,
skip ahead to 28,
so in 27,
Jacob is blessed
by deception,
but in 28,
I want you to notice
that Jacob is blessed
by intention.
Isaac called Jacob
and blessed him
and directed him,
you must not take a wife
from the Canaanite women,
and then if you look down
at the verse three,
God Almighty bless you
and make you fruitful
and multiply you,
may give you
the blessing of Abraham.
Do you see the difference?
His intention
was to bless
the wrong son,
and God didn't
let it happen.
Even though
the deception
and conniving
was involved,
ultimately,
the will of God
would not have allowed it.
Did God need
Rebecca to help him?
Did God need Jacob
to deceive?
No.
They did that
on their own volition,
but I do want you
to notice
that what God
had declared
came to pass,
and this is the first point.
If y'all are looking for,
okay,
what's the main point here?
Let me just share this.
Is that God,
excuse me,
sorry,
the sovereign plan
of God
will be accomplished
in spite
of the sinful desires
and plans
of men
and women.
Let me say it again.
The sovereign
will of God,
the sovereign plan
of God
will be
accomplished.
There's no power
or force
on all the earth
can change
what God
has planned.
We might not
understand
how it comes
to pass.
God takes even
the sinful
actions of people
and he
weaves his plan,
accomplishes his will,
even though
they did it
out of their own volition.
God in his sovereignty
is able to cause
things to come to pass,
his plan to come to pass.
He had already
declared it, right?
And when I,
when this
recognition
hit Isaac,
he recognized
that he had
purposefully done
what,
it was opposite
of what God
had declared.
He recognizes sin
and I believe
that there's a
repentance
from here
forward.
We see that
blessing
that is actually
as if he is
honoring the will
of God
and say
he will be blessed.
You know why?
It's because God
declared it.
He knows
that God
declared it
and yet
he ignored it
because of his
own personal
selfish desires
and now
he's become
aware,
oh no,
wow,
did I just
do that?
Did I just
intend
to do
just the opposite
of what God
had intended?
Am I trying
to come
against the
plan of God?
What have I
done?
Esau,
we don't
see anything
godly in Esau
either,
do we?
Matter of
fact,
if we were
to turn
again to
Hebrews,
which we've
done in
previous weeks
here,
we would
see a
guy who
is sexually
immoral
and how does
that play
itself out?
Well,
he's marrying
Canaanite women
because he's
lusting after
that type
of a life.
He is
willing to
go against
the decree
of Abraham
his grandfather,
the declarer
that you
shall not
take a
wife from
the Canaanites
and we
see it
again over
here that
that declaration
is made by
Isaac again
when he
gave a
direction
to Jacob,
don't take
a wife
from this
Canaanite
tribe,
you go
back and
you take
a wife
from our
people
and yet
Esau
could care
less.
He's doing
his own
thing,
his own
way.
Esau
could care
less about
spiritual
things.
This whole
headship and
family,
you know what
he wanted?
He wanted
all the
wealth,
he wanted
all the
privilege,
he wanted
to be able
to make
all the
decisions.
He wasn't
interested in
spiritual
things.
Even when
he's crying,
even saying,
God,
Father,
bless me,
bless me.
It's not
the spiritual
element of it
that he's
interested in.
It's all
the other
things.
It's the
wealth,
it's the
esteem,
it's the
leadership
that he
wants.
We see
his heart,
he's willing
to entertain
murder.
His intention
because he's
so mad
is he's
going to
kill his
brother.
He's going
to fix
this problem.
One way
or the
other,
he's going
to get
that blessing.
He's going
to get
the wealth
that comes
from being
the older
son.
I wrote
a note
over here
in Hebrews
and it
says this,
his desire
was for
worldly gain
and pleasure.
He treated
spiritual things
with contempt.
The word
of God
says that
no one
is,
the author
of Hebrews
is instructing
the readers
of the letter.
he said,
see to it
that no
one is
sexually
immoral
and unholy
like Esau.
A willingness
to walk
outside the
boundaries
of what
God
had called
him
to.
What do
you notice
about his
family?
There's one
more thing
Rebecca
here has
not done,
is she?
She overhears
or she
learns of,
somebody
comes and
tells her,
say,
hey,
by the way,
you've got
a problem
going on.
Just want
to make
you aware
that Esau's
plan is
to kill
Jacob.
Time
your husband
dies,
their dad
dies,
that he
intends
to kill
him.
And she
said,
oh man,
I got
to fix
this problem
too.
And so
what does
she do?
She goes
to him
and said,
I loathe
these Hittite
women,
these wives
that are
just destroying
our family.
please,
please send
Jacob away
to marry
one of our
people.
Send him
to my
brother,
Laban,
and let
him take
a wife
there.
And so
what does
he do?
He's like,
oh yeah.
So Isaac's
like,
yes,
of course.
Why did
I ever
let Esau
marry
Canaanite
women?
What was
I thinking?
That is
not what
God desires.
So yes,
he calls
him in
and he
blesses
him and
says,
do not
take a
wife from
here.
I want
you to
go to
Laban.
I want
you to
take a
wife from
there.
Go.
And what
did he
do?
He took
off.
Do you
see the
controlling
hand of
Rebekah
in this?
You see
how she's
conniving
even here?
She's like,
I've got to
protect him.
I've got to
keep him
from being
killed by
his older
brother.
And so I'm
going to
come up
with a
plan where
surely
Isaac will
hear the
wisdom in
this and
he'll do
it.
Well,
did he?
Yes.
This family,
it is a
mess.
I don't
know that
Rebekah ever
saw her
son again.
This one
that she
favored who
she's trying
to help
stay alive
sent him
away and
said,
you stay
there until
I call
you back.
Did she
ever call
him back?
Never did.
She died
in childbirth,
I believe,
if I remember
correctly.
Now,
you don't
hold me to
that,
but we'll
hear it as
we go
forward.
The second
point is
this.
is that
sin always
causes chaos
and destruction.
Sin always
causes chaos
and destruction.
Do you see
it?
Do you see
destroyed
relationships
here?
Do you see
chaos in
their family?
Deception,
they're not
honoring each
other,
they're not
living faith-filled
lives.
They're doing
things their
own way,
they're manipulating,
they're willing
to walk head
first into sin,
they know
it's sin
and they're
doing it
anyway?
You know,
and it begs
the question
to me,
it begs
this question,
God,
why would
you choose
to use
men whose
lives are
messed up
like that?
Why would
you do that?
I mean,
of all the
people you
could have
used,
why do you
choose these
two men?
they don't
follow you
in faith,
they don't
even do
what they're,
they don't
honor you,
they're willing
to be bold
face in
their sin?
Do you
see yourselves
anywhere in
this story?
have y'all
ever deceived
anyone?
Have you
ever come up
with a plan
to say,
I'm going to
figure out
how to get
my way
and I'm
going to
trick somebody
to get
my way?
Have y'all
ever hated
someone so much
that you'd be
willing to kill
them or at
least hurt
them or at
least get
back and
retaliate?
have you
ever
tricked
someone by
lying over
and over
again to
try to
get your
way?
You know
what's true
of all of
us?
There's not
a single
one of us
in here,
especially
before we
were in
the kingdom
that's
faithful to
God,
that honors
God,
that's free
of sin.
You know,
none of
us are
worthy of
being chosen
to be used
by God,
are we?
Not one
of us.
All of
us are
full of
sin.
You know
what?
Isaac and
Jacob were
not worthy
to be used
by God.
It's not
like they
were godly
men.
You know
what?
They were
broken
men in
need of
life change.
They needed
the touch
of God.
They weren't
able to be
faithful without
the touch
of God.
You know
what?
Neither
are we.
but by
the grace
of God
that God
would change
our heart.
Do you
remember a
time in
your life
when you
lived for
self?
You know
it's true
for all of
us in
whatever version
or whatever
form that
takes.
That is the
natural condition
man.
God
is that we
are focused
on self.
Until God
comes and
touches us
and brings
us into
his kingdom
through salvation
through faith
in his
promised son
Jesus
none of us
are going to
be faithful.
None of us
are going to
honor God.
We're always
going to walk
in that sin
path.
It's different
for all of
us but we
need the
life change
that God
brings through
his son
Jesus Christ.
Amen?
Apart from
God changing
Isaac and
changing his
heart and
showing him
his sin
he would
continue to
go down that
road but by
the grace of
God you know
what God did?
He chose him.
He said you're
mine.
And you know
what he did to
Jacob?
This guy who
was willing to
lie to his
father over and
over again.
Even when he
said are you
sure?
You're my son
Esau.
Yes sir.
There I am.
God needed to
change his
heart too.
You know
what?
God needs to
change all of
our hearts and
perhaps that's
already happened
in your life.
Has there been
a time in each
of your lives
when you've
recognized your
sin and you've
recognized that
God's provided a
Messiah Savior
so that we
could be in
relationship with
him so that we
can be his?
you know apart
from God's
touch and
God's draw
we'll never
know him.
Apart from
God saying
even in your
sin I'm
going to love
you anyway
and I'm
going to
draw you
into this
relationship with
me through an
understanding of
your sin
a recognition
of how that
separates you
from me
and I'm
going to
let you
I'm going
to share
with you
the powerful
life of
Jesus so
that you
understand that
he lived and
died in your
place so that
you could be
related to me
so that you
could receive
my salvation.
It's my hope
that all of
you have
understood the
need for his
touch and his
draw in your
life.
Let's pray.
Father it
is shocking
to me how
you take
sinful men
and you
change them.
God you
change them
so much
that their
life is
different.
God how
you show
them their
sin.
You show
us our
sin.
And Father
you transform
our lives.
You give us
a new heart.
Your word
says that
you'll take
our heart
of stone
and you
will change
it out
with the
heart of
flesh.
One that
is tender
to you.
One that
honors you
and you
will give
to us
your Holy
Spirit that
we might
know you.
We might
be marked
by you.
So God
for all
of us
this morning
Lord we
want to
embrace this
truth that
is so
apparent here
is that you
are sovereign
in every
way and
your will
will be
accomplished.
God help
us to walk
by faith
and help
us not to
walk in
sin and
manipulation
and lies
and Lord
help us to
trust you
in every
way in
our lives.
For those
of us in
the kingdom
God those
of us who
are Christians
I pray that
you would
give us
faith.
Help us to
walk in
faith like
the apostle
said increase
our faith and
so God would
you increase
the faith of
all of us who
are Christians
this morning and
if there's
anyone here
that's not a
Christian father
would you show
them their sin
and really the
rebellion it is
against you
and God
would you by
grace would
you show
them why
Christ came
and died so
that they might
know you.
God would you
grant salvation
to those here
that need it
this morning I
pray in your
name.
Amen.