Genesis 25 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] let's pray tonight father as we as we are about to go through part of our journey tonight going through the historical biblical inspired record we um we see part of your plan of redemption part of the plan that even then included us in your mind for we were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the earth and we know that the Bible is really all about Jesus and it all points to him even the genealogical records the records of Abraham Isaac Jacob and your plan Lord as we see it unfold we get even more excited it's more marvelous and Lord once again I humbly thank you for a fellowship of believers that loves you and therefore loves the book that you have given to us with so many wonderful words that express your mind that reveal your heart and they change our lives we now give you the rest of this time and part of our worship that we rendered to you this evening is to have our full attention we're here we want to hear from you and know how we can respond to you in Jesus name Amen well if you thought that Abraham was old last time we met together in the previous chapter you're right he was old he was a hundred and thirty-seven years old he was an old guy but he's still going in this chapter he has a few tricks up his sleeve in fact if you thought that was old how about a hundred and seventy five years old when he finally kicks the proverbial bucket and is buried in the Cave of Machpelah next to his wife Sarah that's what's in front of us Abraham in his sunset years the golden years know somebody once said that the great thing about being Abraham's age is that he didn't have much peer pressure well that would stand to reason cuz he wouldn't have many peers now woody who are that old but though he is and by the way just for those who may be new to this study you hear those kind of numbers and you think I don't know if I can believe in a book that has people living that long and we explain that from a scientific perspective several weeks back when we talked about the conditions on the earth prior to the Great Flood the antediluvian age limits then and then after the flood how that constitutional change over the earth the vapor canopy that would be burned off that ages rapidly deteriorated but we're still close enough to the original creation that even with the bombardment of ultraviolet light people live to be a hundred and seventy-five years of age it's a lot less than 969 years like Methuselah so they're starting to taper down and they will taper down to the average age that is given to us in the Book of Psalms which is 70 years peradventure the Lord would give you ten more said the psalmist great but we see the age declining but we will see Abraham in this chapter is a hundred and seventy five years of age when he dies it's funny how people will talk about their future age and how old age scares people I hear people talk about that the really amazing thing is to discover you're already there when you really didn't know it I'll never forget standing in line I was buying something and the lady did say now I can give you a senior's discount I wanted a choker I heard about two women who knew each other a church they were elderly women quite elderly older than any of you and one was talking to the other and she said you know the hard thing about getting to be our age is that you lose your memory and she continued on and she said I know that I've known you all my life but for the life of me I can't remember your name what is it and the other lady thought for a few moments and she said do I have to tell you right away both were struggling to remember I've always liked this list that if you're wondering if you're old or not it says you know you're getting old when all the names in your contacts book and in MD you know you're getting old when you get winded playing chess you know you're getting old when you sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there yeah you know you're getting old when you try to straighten the wrinkles in your socks and you discover you're not wearing any socks I'm not wearing any socks you know you're getting old when your pacemaker accidentally opens the garage door you know you're getting old when you bend over to tie your shoes and you wonder what else you could do while you're down here okay back to the story we never got to see Abraham in his early years we don't know much about his upbringing there's a snippet here and there in the Bible that describes what his home life was like what the belief system was like but not much by the time we meet Abraham he's already married in Chapter 11 and God calls him out of where he's at to a new place but we do have the advantage of seeing him in his latter years and I believe that's important because how you start is not nearly as important as how you finish the race you want to finish well however you started it whatever and whatever you've been through whatever but but now wherever you're at finish it well and I believe that through all of the foibles and mistakes and yeah Abram made a bunch he finished quite well now it says in verse 1 Abraham again took a wife let me let me just back up a little bit and say something that was on my heart and I sort of let it go but I think I want to share it we're gonna see Abraham die and and actually it's a good thing because when you're 175 years old it's like okay you're done death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person sometimes we feel that it is it is not the worst thing that can happen certainly is death and then eternally separated from God that is the worst thing that can happen but death in itself can be a blessing because it's a release you see there comes a time when this body is incapable of expressing adequately Who I am it's temporary the Bible calls it a tent a tent Paul calls it that in second Corinthians chapter five it's a tent now tents are cool but they're temporary if you go camping the first night is great you love it you look at each other there you go we should do this all the time this is fun because you have the fire going and you cook the meal outside you're under the stars Wow but if you are in that tent say five six seven eight days later it's not quite as fun you start smelling rather ripe yourself the sleeping bag and that little mattress you have underneath isn't nearly as nice as your soft bed at home so here you are in a campground in a tent it's temporary it's fun but you long for permanence and comfort and so even the Bible says Paul puts it this way second Corinthians chapter five verse one for we know that when our earthly house this tent is destroyed we have a building with God not made with hands eternal in the heavens now that's permanent Jesus called it my father's house here you live in a tent one day you're going home to your father's house something permanent and we all realize that as we get older no matter how much we try to keep ourselves in good shape and we all should we exercise we eat appropriately for the most part but as time goes on we recognize the limited nature and the temporary nature of the tent a the the flaps get flappy ear the polls wiggle loose the edges are frayed you notice it when you look in the mirror and so I'm glad when Paul wrote second Corinthians 5 you said in this we earnestly groan that's something else that comes with age listen to yourself when you get up in the morning mm-hmm that's okay it's biblical we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our home our habitation as Paul said that is from God okay now Abraham again took a wife the old geezer lives 38 more years after his first wife Sarah dies Wow 38 more years he says Abraham again took a wife and her name was cateura well if he lived to be a hundred and seventy five I suppose the midlife crisis years for him would be around 95 now I don't know if he had one but they say most people do have some kind of reevaluation at least once in their lives around mid light and it manifests in a number of different ways I don't know if Abraham like wore gold chains and got a convertible camel or chariot and you know decided he was gonna act and look younger but at any rate he's got a little wind left and he gets married a second time and her name is Katara it means scented one or perfumed one perfumed one no I I have been in Bedouin tents and the idea of something smelling good inside of that tent would be welcome so we hope that it fit her her name is that she had nice perfume that's what her name meant cateura meant scented one or perfumed one now you might be thinking well now wait a minute what would interest her in a guy that's a hundred and forty years of age I mean how interested could anybody be in a hundred and forty year old man well we're not told what the circumstances were but do keep in mind he was very wealthy he had 318 trained paid servants many flocks many herds that means whatever children were born would have a nice inheritance as we shall see and so she would be taken care of as well as her other children now we have a hint in the Bible in first chronicles chapter 1 don't need to turn there but you can if you're taking notes 1st chronicles chapter 1 gives again the historical genealogy of Abraham and calls cateura abraham's concubine which was very common in those days to have not only a wife but concubines it was prevalent in those cultures so for her now to become his wife meant that she moves from concubine status to legal status married status the status changed it's a permanent status now which includes the rights for inheritance and we should also say that it was more than just a legal contract I'm sure that I'm sure that Abraham loved cateura and I'm sure that cateura had a love for Abraham you see as one ages his or her capacity to love or need to be loved does not diminish at all now we're living in a culture that is dealing more and more with age they say that we are living longer as an example at the turn of the century last century at the turn of the century being 1900 there was only 4% of the American population aged 65 and older today 12% is age 65 and older so treat three times the amount in a hundred years in our recent culture there are in America just over 12,000 people over the age of a hundred years old I know one of them I've met a few but the one that I know is a beautiful man by the name of George Beverly Shea he has been the singer for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusades for years he's 10 years older than Billy Graham but he looks amazingly spry and young back in 1976 his first wife died he was 68 years old at the time he married again in 1985 to a beautiful gal by the name of Carlene I've known them both today George Beverly Shea is a hundred and one years old and going on 102 now I don't know that perhaps his second marriage had anything to do with that you know gave him a whole new lease on life a whole new boost but Abraham did the same thing married again her name was cateura it's a she bore him now we have a little genealogical record watch these names she bore him Simran Jacques Shan me Dan Midian ich Bach and schewe Jacques Shan begat Sheba nd Dan and the sons of D Dan were uh Shireen latouche eeeem and Leo meme and the sons of Midian were f a' affair hana OB de l da and these were the children of keturah so he has six more sons that's a total of eight sons altogether seven grandsons and three great grandsons that's not even to mention the gals in the family they're keeping the genealogical record which were male-dominant the son of the son of the son of and keeping that down but he had several children now one of them notices named Midian so just a heads up on Midian you're gonna see that name come up because Midian will go to a place and it will become an area known as Midian the area of Arabia the desert later on Moses will flee to Midian and he'll flee there because he kills an Egyptian and he's running for his life and living out in the desert for about forty years out there he marries a Midianite woman so we're seeing how some of those records come together remarried lots of kids lots of grandkids he's a very prolific man I was reading this and I couldn't help but think of the text in Ephesians 3 that says now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think so just just go back in your mind and think about Abram when he was Abram and he couldn't have a child with his first wife it was impossible he's 75 and then 90 and he finally has his first child at age 100 with Sarah that is he had Ishmael first but with Sarah age 100 and now all of these other children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think now I need to show you why this is important and probably included in the text why are all these names given because the promise was made and go back to chapter 17 go back to chapter 17 of Genesis and look at verse 4 as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of what many nations not one many no longer shall your name be called Abram member he no children at this point but your name shall be called Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make many nations of you and Kings shall come from you so I tell you what what a great lesson about the fact that no matter what age you find yourself at don't ever think that it's over well I'm in my sunset years like I can't really contribute much please banish that thought do you know that both in and out of Scripture some of people's greatest accomplishments were in the latter years of their life Moses was 80 years old when he's finally called to get started in the ministry Caleb was 85 years old you're gonna read a great story in the book of Joshua I can't remember what chapter chapter 14 I'm guessing where caleb is 85 years old they cross over the Jordan River they're in the land God promised them and Caleb comes up to Joshua and he says now I want you to know something I'm 85 years old today it's my birthday today I am as strong today as the day Moses sent me with you to spy out the land therefore give me this mountain I'm ready for more action I'm ready to fight if need be I'm 85 but his greatest accomplishments were in his latter years you can even look outside of Scripture Michaelangelo 89 years of age when he painted his most famous work you can see it in the Sistine Chapel if you ever visit Rome it occupies an entire wall of the Sistine Chapel it's called the Last Judgement magnificent painting he was 89 years old and he was about 90 years old when he was still on his back touching up things on the very ceiling of the Sistine Chapel John Wesley you've heard of him the great preacher he was 88 years old he was still preaching going strong that is after having traveled some 250,000 miles by horseback after preaching four thousand sermons after writing prolifically he's 88 and he's still preaching strong I don't know why he comes to mind but JC penney was 95 years of age he was still keeping office hours wearing a suit and tie going into work and then as I mentioned George Beverly Shea I heard him a couple years ago he was 98 at the time maybe 99 and he stood up and he sang pretty great for his age so some of people's greatest accomplishments can come in the latter years of their lives there's an old English saying that says the older the fiddle the sweeter the tune I like that verse 5 of chapter 25 I know we're moving rather slowly but again what do we care it'll be here next week the Lord tarries and we're here and Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac now watch this here's Abraham he's wealthy it's now time to get his house in order to make a will and to dole out the property to his progeny Isaac is first because he's the son of promise and so the will is very simple here's Abraham's will Isaac gets at all that's the will however it says but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had and while he was still living he sent them eastward away from Isaac his son to the country of the east I read somewhere that you could divide up the the lifespan of a man into seven decades since that's now like the average age the seven decades of a man and they all rhyme spills drills thrills bills elves pills and the last one wills Abraham is at that last stage it's time to make a will and though he has already sent Ishmael and Hagar out with some kind of provision though the Lord said let them go I'll take care of them and make a great nation out of him and though he gives some to his concubines and the children who were born to him with cateura the inheritance because the genealogy and I'm going to explain something very important called the law of Pramod Jenna Chur in just a minute put that out of your mind you'll get it in a minute Isaac the son of the promise gets the bulk of it so he gives all that he has to Isaac did you notice that it says while he was still living he sent them eastward in other words Abraham is taking the responsibility he's older now but he wants to make sure that his family is provided for and while he is clear and cognizant in cogent he can make those decisions now because if he doesn't make those decisions it's gonna get very complicated when he is unable to make them and people would argue back and forth wherever there's a will there's an argument and Abraham knew that so he gets his house in order very important I think that's a scriptural principle I believe in that one of the best pieces of advice is in the Bible is when the prophet Isaiah will come to king hezekiah of judah in second Kings 20 and says get your house in order for you are going to die and you will not live any longer so he warned him you're gonna die your time is about up you need to get your house in order which to him meant you better select somebody who is going to be your successor to the throne get all that in order now now the New Testament takes that principle and moves it up a notch listen to what Paul says in first Timothy he says if a man does not provide for his own relatives especially that of his own household he is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith in other words as a man of the house you are called to take care of those in the immediate family it's a calling of God get the house in order and do what you can in advance to provide for them you will have to trust the Lord eventually but do what you can now and I believe we see that even in the life of Jesus remember he is on the cross and the last formal family declaration on the cross is when John is there and his mother Mary is there and even in his agony he wants to make provision for his mother and says son behold Your Mother mother behold your son that wasn't Jesus given Mary to the whole human race as it has been misinterpreted it's simple John take care of my mother treat her as your mother she's your responsibility mom you're gonna go with him and he'll take care of you and that is what happened history even bears that out so Abraham is alive he's making decisions he has to dole up his property his money and he does so and Isaac gets the bulk of it but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had while he was living he sent them eastward getting him settled away from his son Isaac to the country of the east now I did tell you last week in the week before that Isaac is a beautiful type of Christ it's very obvious when you get especially to chapter 22 but consider this just as the father Abraham gave it all that he had to his son Isaac do you know the Bible says that the father has given everything into Jesus hand it's a beautiful corollary Jesus even said all that the father has he has put in my hand my authority and when he prays in John chapter 17 verse 2 he says as you have given him authority that is the father given him the Son of Man the authority that he may give eternal life to as many as you the father has given to him the son in other words you have given me these people they're mine you gave them to me there they're my people they're followers of me I have that authority and I have the authority from you to give them eternal life to all those you have given to me now here's a thought based on that if we belong to Christ if the father has given us as a special gift to his son Jesus Christ and if we were to as the Bible says live our very lives for the glory of Jesus Christ and what if this thought sort of dominated our day where you get up in the morning ago I belong to Jesus I'm his Jesus purchased me with his own life the father has given me into his authority I want today to live for the one that the father has given all things to think God how different your day would be how different my day would be you would see everything is a divine appointment rather than as a distraction or rather that is a bother or why do I have to go through this you would let's say you have a job that isn't so exciting to you anymore maybe you work for the post office and you deliver packages or for Federal Express or for UPS what if you saw that as I'm doing this by the will of God for the glory of Jesus so that every house you stopped at as you deliver that gift you pray for those who are inside god bless them somehow Lord open up their hearts to Jesus Christ and you prayed for every single person on your route how radically different it would go for you during the day or if you work in a doctor's office or dentist's office or you're a clerk somewhere every person you come in contact with how can I be a blessing dinner how can I pray for them because I want to glorify the Lord all things are for the son it's a thought beautiful 5 verse 7 this is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived a hundred and seventy five years then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age I'll say an old man full of years and he was gathered to get or gathered to his people so we're even given the reason for his death well what did Abraham die of years he just had a lot of them too many it's time to go now in my Bible and perhaps in yours to the words of years are italicized are they that's because in the Hebrew of years isn't there it's it's thought to be implied by the text it simply says Abraham died full not a great way to die I'm full I'm satisfied and by the way the term can sometimes carry a more than quantity but quality of life he died full God had blessed him he was full he was rich enriched satisfied he had walked with the Lord he had walked with the Lord for over a hundred years in a relationship with him he died full and he was gathered together with his people years ago I had the privilege of asking dr. Jay Vernon McGee who's now in heaven to speak here on a midweek service he was in his 80s or around 80 something feeble even then he had battled cancer but still preaching and I remember him saying that night and he said many other times he goes the Lord is gonna have to retire me I'm not gonna retire well here is God retiring Abraham at a good old age there's a beautiful a proverb in Proverbs 16 I'll turn to it and just read it to you listen to this the silver-haired head do we got any of those got a few of them I'm I'm developing my own that's why I like this verse the silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness you see old age is good if it's accompanied by the presence of God the blessing of God the last few days one of our dear friends and pastors on staff Dave rau has been absent from here he's down in Texas because his mother is dying she's on her deathbed and I know that feeling very well he sent me a picture today of his brother took on his cell phone with Dave holding his mom's hand and his mom there with this beautiful white crown of hair she looks so beautiful she's looking at the portals of glory and I thought of this verse the silver haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness now notice something about the text that we just read in Genesis 25 notice it says in verse 9 oh we didn't get there yet so let's get there and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah member that's the place he bought for his wife and buried her Sarah in which is before Mamre in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth their abraham was buried and Sarah his wife notice that Ishmael and Isaac are together at the funeral right now they have been separated haven't they for a number of years there's been a rift in the family a division Hagar was sent away with Ishmael Sarah and Isaac raised their son excuse me Sarah and Abraham raised their son Isaac so they haven't seen each other for a while until the death and this is unfortunately too often the case you can almost be guaranteed that there's going to be a couple of times where families who have been split apart broken apart where there's been strained relationships get together weddings funerals but almost always funerals it's always good to settle as many accounts relationally as you can before funerals so they don't get messy and weird as they often do but they're together because the will has been pronounced and because he is their father they bury him in the cave where their mother was buried verse 12 verse 11 excuse me you came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son isaac and isaac dwelt at beer-lahai-roi do you remember that place remember hagar named that place it's just a well in the middle of nowhere it's in the middle of the desert but there she conceived and she bore a son Ishmael and she called the name of the place beer-lahai-roi which means in Hebrew I believe the well of the one who lives and sees and that's where Isaac now dwelt in the middle of nowhere but there was water now this is the genealogy verse 12 of Ishmael Abraham's son whom Hagar the Egyptian Sarah's maidservant bore to Abraham okay you got to know something if you haven't seen it yet and you probably have and so I'll just reiterate we probably already know when it comes to biblical genealogies there are some that are included very briefly and then they pass away very quickly while others are highlighted built upon amplified picked up later on and that is because though the author's want you to know in the Bible the authors of the Bible ultimately it's the Holy Spirit wants you to know the genealogical records they're giving you just enough information here with Ishmael and you see it with others to let you know the history in the history s'ti but then it it's done because there's only one genealogy the Bible is ultimately concerned with Jesus Christ the line that goes to the redeemer to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3 the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent the Bible is all about unfolding who that is and so we have the genealogy it's very brief and there's also many nations that come from him fulfilling the promise of God Abram and these were the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names according to their generations you ready for these names I'll try to give them they're more original pronunciation the first born of Ishmael neba yacht then kadar abdic odd be ale me Bassam misma do ma Massa Hadar T Magette or na fish and Kadima these were the sons of Ishmael these were their names by their towns and their settlements notice twelve princes according to their Nations these were the years of the life of Ishmael 137 years so he died at the same age that Abraham was when his wife Sarah died that's trivial doesn't mean anything it just came to mind and he died he breathed his last and was gathered to his people they dwelt from Javy LA as far as sure and so you might read then go I don't know where that is so the author wants you to know this which is east of Egypt as you go down toward Assyria that's helpful in it no it's not because we don't know where that is that's that somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula it's out in the desert regions in ancient Arabia that's what his world was he died in the presence of all his brethren okay what what we just read the names of these twelve princes and then the thirteenth the Big Kahuna Ishmael the early genealogies of Islam begin here Islam regards Ishmael as a very important person and though not every Muslim on earth can trace his physical genealogical heritage back to Ishmael all Muslims can trace their spiritual heritage back to Ishmael and that is because twelve times in the Quran his name is mentioned and he's mentioned is a very important person in fact in the Quran it's called surah or section surah 19 verse 54 it tells the reader that Ishmael was a prophet a prophet an apostle and a prophet those two words are used so he's very important and and they trace a lot of their lineage back to Ishmael okay so keeping that in mind I better take you back if you don't mind a couple of chapters go back to chapter 16 to see something to be reminded of it I think it will be helpful in the rest of the biblical future as well as even in modern times verse 8 of chapter 16 he the Lord said Hagar Sarai's maid where have you come from and where are you going and she said I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit yourself under his hand see the word submit very important concept in Islam the word Muslim means one who submits a submissive one and they even believe that Abraham was the one who coined the term Muslim submissive one's to the will of God there is in their tradition the sentence that says and Abraham called you muslimeen or the submitted ones a very very important concept submit under her hand according to Islamic tradition Abraham and Ishmael traveled to Mecca and there they built a shrine called the Kaaba the Kaaba is the holy shrine in Mecca where people go every year and make the pilgrimage it is believed that Abraham and Ishmael are buried in Mecca even though the Bible says Abraham is buried where he bran the Cave of Machpelah Israel his tomb is there even to this day but according to Muslim tradition Abraham and his son Ishmael are buried in Mecca they founded they built the Kaaba the sacred shrine now just a note about the sacred shrine the Kaaba it was once a shrine that housed 360 different idols representing 360 various gods that were worshipped by the various Arab tribes in the region Allah was one of those gods of the multiplicity of gods Allah was the moon God Muhammad took a special should I say liking to Allah and claimed that he was the one true God and he wanted to unify all of the tribes he squashed all of the other gods killed those who did not submit and Islam was established but isn't it interesting that what is called today one of the three great monotheistic religions of the world actually began as a polytheistic religion well you move on and it says in verse 12 notice what is the future of Ishmael he shall be a wild man now literally it's a wild donkey is the text a wild donkey the term wild donkey refers to an animal called the onager it was not a slur it was a compliment we think that's not very good no it's very good an onager was a fiercely independent animal of the desert and and regarded and valued highly in that day he's going to be fiercely independent is the idea but notice this his hand shall be against every man and it speaks of a state of war or a state of being at feud with with other people and every man's hand against him and he will dwell in the presence or of literally against all of his brethren it's interesting prophecy because Muhammad himself is called the prophet of the sword and traces his lineage back to Ishmael the prophet of the sword his hand will be against every man interesting prophecy especially interesting in that Islam itself divides the entire world up into two camps and two camps only camp number one dar al-islam the house of Islam the house of those who submit second class for the whole world the other one if you're not Muslim daaad Harbor House of war you're either Muslim and and of the house of Islam or the house of war in the Koran there are 109 verses called war verses one out of every 55 verses in the Quran is about making war feuding against others either an inclusive statement or a call to arms it's just interesting in light of the origins of Ishmael and the prediction made about him and those who would follow him so he breathed his last he was buried gathered with his people they dwelt from Javie law we already read that verse 19 see how far we can get we may be able to make it this is the genealogy of Isaac Abraham's son Abraham begot Isaac Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as wife she was obviously much younger he was 40 the daughter of Bethel well the Syrian of paddan-aram the sister of Laban the Syrian now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife watch this I love this here's a husband praying for his wife and here's why he's praying because she was barren she can't have children and the Lord granted his plea and Rebecca his wife conceived the children were always seen as a direct blessing of God Psalm 127 children are a heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is his reward thus to have no children to be barren was as if you were left out or cursed I'm not going to get into that theology but what I want you to understand is here's a husband praying for his wife I love this I know we live in a advanced age a modern age the age of fertilization you can go to specialists and figure out all sorts of ways of getting pregnant but please don't leave out the spiritual component where you say Lord how do you want us to plan our family who should be included how many we were able to have one son he's better to me than ten he's a wonderful wonderful guy even with the broken tibia but we would have had many more if we could the Lord knows those things some people are not able to have children but they can adopt and so the interesting thing I find so often story after stories we were unable to conceive so we adopt two children as soon as we did my wife got pregnant there's two more etc the Lord knows those things bring God into the family planning and submit that to the Lord so verse 21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord because she was barren and the Lord granted his plea and Rebecca his wife conceived but the children struggled together within her and she said if all is well why am I like this you know it's tight in there there's two kids in there and and watch this so she went to inquire of the Lord what did she do she prayed and the Lord said to her now watch what God says talk about being startled imagine this two nations are in your womb yikes two nations I just wanted a child and you're telling me I got two nations well of course it meant two children that would give birth to nations the two nations are Israel and Edom the and the Israelites two people shall be separated from your body one people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger now I told you about a law called the law a prom again ature not a fancy long word the law a prom again etre was what we're seeing with Isaac and what we see here we see a reversal of that law here typically that law stated in that culture that the firstborn son has privileges and rights number one he becomes a head of the family the authority of the family falls upon him he is the new Sheikh or the new head number two he gets a double portion of the goods the physical inheritance because the family line is being passed on to him now that will help you when you get to the whole story of the prophet Elijah and the other prophet Elijah who was following Elijah around following him around following around and he finally said to Elijah I want a double portion what he's saying is I want to inherit your ministry I want to take your place so to speak I want to be the one who inherits this powerful ministry to the nation of Israel but the law primogeniture is turned around here it's not the firstborn it's the second born which is funny because it seems to be almost a biblical precedent all the way through it wasn't Ishmael it was Isaac it's not going to be easy so it's gonna be Jacob the deliverer is going to be what the children of Israel didn't think of when Moses appears and says I'm the one God called to take you out of bondage they didn't know what to do with Moses and what about Joseph he was the youngest at that time and scorned by his brothers but he was the one God chose to be the prime minister of the Egypt and really of the known world so it's a beautiful principle and here's the lesson for us we make a grave mistake and you'll see it here when we start judging by appearances because when Esau is born he's manly he's hairy it says and they call him Harry cuz he's full of hair and his dad loved it loved him he was a man at the field he was a hunter Jacob was a mild man he was a man inside the tent he liked to cook with mama he could make a killer red chili stew but he was a mild man and the Bible says the Bible says Rebecca loved Jacob Esau loved excuse me Isaac loved Esau I should just read it and not have to tell you to you and then I I won't get confused so when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth indeed there were twins in her womb so you might say they were womb mates oh well they were right were they okay they were womb mates and the first came out red and he was like a hairy garment I don't know what to do with that it's just there's like a hairy garment all over so they called him Harry that's what he said means Harry here comes Harry afterward his brother came out in his hand took hold of Esau's heel so his name was called Yakov one who grasps the heel or heel catcher so we have Harry and heel catcher those are the kids names the original idea of Yaakov is somebody is the idea was the idea that God is at my heels protecting me or protecting my son but because of the personality of Jacob he seems to be one who grabs the heel to trip his brother up in life it came to mean he'll catch her somebody who connives and manipulates to trip other people up that was his name and notice this Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them so they had waited 20 years for children so the boys grew and he saw was a skillful hunter a man at the field Jacob was a mild man see mild man dwelling in tents what are we gonna cut mom nothing wrong with that today I mean some of the best chefs are men but in those days it's just a little weird an Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game but Rebekah loved Jacob Jacob cooked his stew and he saw came in from the field and he was weary and Esau said to Jacob please feed me with that same red stew so just pot of red chili let's just kind of make it contemporary for our culture red chili on the stove for I am weary therefore his name is called Edom which means red and the country of Edom will come from ISA now before we finished the text and we'll set it up for the next time Isaac loved his son Esau he was a man's man Harry this is my kid he's a man he's hairy he likes to hunt to kill things and he favored him and in those days and you can see it through his eyes and probably in the eyes of most men in in many cultures Esau was more attractive as a male specimen more so than Jacob cooking meals with mom so Dad favored him but here's the lesson there's more than meets the eye when we start judging on outward appearance we can miss the boat totally because this was not God's favored one Esau was the firstborn but the second born as the prophecy said we'll get the inheritance and be the one that God chooses in fact what does God called throughout the Bible the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob so he's hugely important to the Jewish nation as one of the patriarchs it's God's choice so we often see this whole law Pramod janitor or whatever might be overturned God says now forget that that's outward I've chosen someone else later on we're gonna read of Samuel the Prophet going to search for a new king of Israel and he goes to the house of Jesse and he sees the first born named Ely AB and he looks at Ely AB he's tall and he's handsome he's good-looking he's strong and Samuel immediately judges by outward appearance is it surely this is the Lord's anointed and God interrupts his thought process and said nope I've rejected him for the Lord does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance God looks at the heart and you find this principle by the way all throughout the Bible and I want you to know how good that is we fit into it we even find in the New Testament Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth and remember when Nathanael heard about that and said can anything good come out of Nazareth yeah I like the Messiah the Savior now here's the principle called the Nazareth principle as soon as people say can anything good come from that town or can anything good come from that person it's like God is waiting to show the world what God can do through that town or that person he is that's a biblical principle it's like really can anything good come from that person or that place watch watch what I can do now when we get to first Corinthians chapter 1 Paul says you see your calling brethren not many mighty not many noble after the flesh recall but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and the weak things of this world to put to shame the things that are mighty that no flesh would glory in his presence so here's the principle mighty God chooses pretty lame instruments to work through God doesn't look for the most educated and the mighty and the this and that he looks for just like broken people beat up people people that the world would trash and say can anything good come from that person guys oh yeah watch this and here's why he doesn't that no flesh would glory in his presence you know what it's like if there was a surgeon in a modern surgical suite with all of the latest gizmos and gadgets to be able to perform a surgery if he could do it or she could do it under those conditions that would be expected but if that same surgeon was in the middle of the jungle and only had a Swiss Army knife and some yarn to sew the person up if he could or she could successfully perform that operation under those conditions that person would be greatly applauded as somebody who's above and beyond why because they're confined to meager tools so God chooses meager tools so that he gets the glory so that when God does something it's all about him and not about the tool we go that was pretty cool tool yeah no wonder God used that person he's so smarter she's so this or it's like I don't get it I don't know I got to use that person can anything good come from that person do you see what God's all about that's God's style that's why when I first read that verse in first Corinthians I went yeah that's my life verse from now on cuz I know the truth about me and those who know me well also know the truth about me so I love it and you should love it as God will choose what the world does not choose or looks over or ill regards so Jacob verse 31 and we'll close as we take a diverse 34 Jacob said sell me your birthright as of this day and he saw said look I'm about to die what is this birthright to me it's just a promise I can't eat a promise I'm hungry Jacob said swear to me as of this day so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob and Jacob gave Esau bread and a stew of lentils a little red chili on the side and then he ate and drank arose and went his way and Esau despised his birthright I will explain more of that as we get into this story later on I have a question in light of the fact of a person making the birth right which was a spiritual not just a physical heritage but a spiritual one despising it could it be that some here are despising so to speak their birthright you're not valuing what is most valuable in life that is a spiritual inheritance spiritual life spiritual things now we read a couple times in this chapter so-and-so died and was gathered together with his people then this guy died and he was gathered together with his people one day you're gonna die one day the local newspaper wherever you end up dying will have your obituary in it you will be gathered to your people now if your people happen to be God's people you're gonna be surrounded with God's people the moment you die and in the presence of God if your people will the worldly people and you didn't care about the birthright spirits or things you'll be gathered to your people the best time to start a godly life is while you're young and then you develop a habit and a practice it becomes the fabric of your life oh yeah you can wait to your deathbed to receive Christ but I love what Solomon says seek now your Creator in the days of your youth best choice a young person can make is to give their lives to Christ best person a middle-aged best choice a middle-aged person can make best choice an older person can make but don't leave earth without a relationship with the author of life through Jesus Christ Heavenly Father we thank you for the spiritual inheritance that has ours through Christ thank you for the Bible study tonight the richness that flows from the pen not only of the human author Moses who gave us Genesis but of the Holy Spirit who preserved and allocated it for our benefit Lord we have seen briefly Esau a man of the flesh a natural man only caring about natural things physical life and Jacob though he was a manipulator as we'll see he had a he had a deep caring and desire for a spiritual inheritance Heavenly Father I pray that those who don't know you personally in this room or watching by internet or listening via radio they don't know you would you please grab a hold of their life save them transform them give them hope and newness Lord we are living longer and longer we know the medical science can add years to our life but only Jesus Christ can add life to our years and so I pray for those who don't have that kind of life tonight that they might entrust their lives to Jesus as our heads are bowed as we're praying right now and you're maybe thinking about your own life and your own choices I want to challenge you who are in this room and there's a lot of people in this room if you're not certain that if you were to die you'd be in the presence of God if you're not sure that you'd go to heaven when you die and you will would you give your life to Christ tonight would you acknowledge his impact in drawing you to himself and you would surrender to him and say I believe I want to give my life to Christ and be forgiven of my sin and have a brand new start whether it's the first time for you or you've strayed away from him and you want to come back to him tonight would you raise your hand up before we close this service and it's so doing you're saying pray for me god bless you sir anybody else not over here on my right toward the back in the back a couple of you way in the back in the front here in the back on my left on this side on my left right over here toward the middle on the left anybody else raise your hand up in the family room hands toward the back again father in Jesus name we pray for those with the raised hand and the heart crying out to you they want to be set free and I pray Lord that as they as they put feet to the hands as they give their lives to Christ tonight you do a work a deep work a real number of transformation in the life of every one of these individuals whom you love in Jesus name Amen would you stand to your feet and we're gonna sing a song and as we do I'm gonna ask those of you and I saw a lot of hands go up family room front back middle get up and find the nearest aisle and come stand right up here where you're gonna I'm gonna lead you you're gonna publicly pray to receive Christ Jesus so often called people publicly to follow him and so in the like manner I'm calling you publicly like Jesus would you come up stand right in the front and what a couple of you guys stand in the front and kind of show them where to go you're about to enter into what the Bible calls the New Covenant not based upon your good works but on the one finished work of Jesus on the cross for you he paid for your sins he bought you so I'm gonna lead you in a prayer I'm gonna say the prayer out loud I'd like you to pray it out loud after me from your heart to the Lord this is you giving your life away to him who gave you life to begin with let's pray lord I give you my life I admit that I'm a sinner please forgive me I place my faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose from the dead I turn from my sin I turn my life over to you I embrace you as my savior and my master fill me with your Holy Spirit give me strength to live for you in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 10,691

Rating: 4.7460318 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Genesis, Sermon

Id: v8XZvU6ZSNc

Length: 68min 5sec (4085 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018