Genesis 27 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] turn to Genesis chapter 27 tonight let's do it let's pray father in heaven we are your servants on this earth on our way to your home that Jesus described as my father's house that will one day be our home as well until then we are what the Bible calls pilgrims were marching through passing through this is a very temporary existence Lord I pray that we might live with heaven and mind eternity in mind the future in mind that we might be more effective while we're here in the temporal zone strengthen us Lord to hear your word and give us a deep hunger for your word and those Lord that have already come equipped with that hunger we ask that you would satisfy it reward it and that it would increase among us show us Lord how to take these ancient stories and see how they apply to modern times in both the prophecies as well as just the lesson literature that is there for our benefit and our learning Lord do you know exactly what we've gone through this week you know what we're facing in the future you know the UPS the Downs as David said my down sittings my uprisings my thoughts afar off and we commit it all into your hands we know that you're sovereign and you're working behind the scenes even as the story we're about to read depicts so beautifully we ask that your Holy Spirit would be our teacher in Jesus name Amen the 27th chapter of Genesis is in view tonight it's a very sad story about four people a family Isaac married to his beautiful wife Rebecca have by this time had two sons we read about them in chapter 20 five as they were born Esau and Jacob they were twins though Esau was born first and Jacob followed those are the main characters in the story those four people and as you go through the story there's one glaring apparent truth no one in this family trusts one another Isaac is the father he does not trust his son Jacob he favors his son Esau and he does not trust his wife Rebekah the Lord had spoken to Rebekah and said that the youngest son would one day be in charge and the oldest son would serve the younger in this chapter his heels are dug in and he's saying no way am I gonna let that happen I'm gonna bless my oldest son before she even knows about it I certainly won't tell her and I won't tell Jacob they've been holding on to that promise their whole life then you have Rebecca Rebecca is listening to the conversation that dad and number-one son Esau have together she's eavesdropping and as she's listening she starts scheming manipulating conniving figuring out a way to overturn the wishes of her husband then you have Esau who's always lived for himself lived for his own flesh then you have Jacob who will go along with his mother and has already in the past proven to dislike his brother and here will seek to steal a blessing so all four people in this family are messed up they don't trust each other it is one dysfunctional family the greater truth behind chapter 27 is though it's a dysfunctional family it's a very functional God God will function in the midst of their dysfunction here's a dysfunctional family but God will override all of the weirdness all of this superstition all of this stupidity and get his will done anyway so on one hand it's a sad story in the other hand it's a wonderful story of how God uses messed up people that's why I like this chapter the foolish things of this world the weak things of this world are seen in chapter 27 really if you think about it this shouldn't surprise us this is the continuing saga of Abraham's family Isaac was Abraham's son like father like son Abraham lied twice about his wife being his sister Isaac lies about his wife being his sister so we shouldn't be surprised that Jacob and his mom are tied together and trying to lie and misrepresent their own will and supersede that over God's will it has run in the family it's been a family trait for a long time but on a human level it's sad because you're gonna see some of the repercussions already by the end of this chapter it was Shakespeare who wrote oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive be careful about how you represent truth and some people see no problem with what they call little eyes or white lights oh it was just a little lie it was just a little lie CS Lewis used to say a little lie is like a little pregnancy you might not notice it at first but as the months go on it's apparent that there's a pregnancy and so it is with a lie as years go on the lie will become more and more apparent now chapter 27 let's call it round shall we of the fight between Esau and Jacob round one was while they were still in the womb remember they were womb mates they were twins is Rebekah was pregnant and she was having a difficult pregnancy and she called out to the Lord and she said you know I don't know why I'm having such a difficult pregnancy but there's a lot of movement there's like a wrestling match going on inside me and the Lord said well there's two nations that are in your womb no wonder it's not just one child you have two children who will become Nations they were struggling in the womb when the birth date came and Esau was born first the second one Jacob came out grabbing the heel of his firstborn brother as if he were grabbing him to trip him or pull him back in so he was given the name Yaakov supplanter or one who grabs the heel or one who trips one another up we read about that back in chapter 25 and I'm just gonna if you want to just turn back a page you can notice because that is the beginning of chapter 27 chapter 26 is a hiatus from that it says in verse 25 of chapter 25 and the first came out read he was also hairy like a garment a hairy old baby so they called him Harry Esau afterward his brother came out his hand took hold of Esau's heel and so his name was Yaakov he'll Kenter isaac was 60 years old when she bore them so their character this is what I want to show you their character shows up at their birth one is going to trip up his brother now that will continue through life this is round 1 round 2 is as the chapter goes on Esau is hungry comes home to Jacob and says look I'm hungry cook me that really great red chili stew that you love to make Jacob said I'd love to make you a bowl of red chili stew but I I want your birthright you're the firstborn son I want to assume the privilege of being the firstborn son Esau's response was interesting is what good is a birthright to me a you can't eat it I'm hungry I can't eat my birthright and it says he despised his birthright Jacob knew the power of the spiritual blessing behind the birthright so he said great it's a deal a bowl of beans with red chili of course for a birthright that was round 2 round 3 of this battle is in chapter 27 as now Jacob will connive to seal the blessing from his brother now there's something you need to remember as we're working our way through this chapter both Isaac and his wife Rebecca had their favourite child and that was bad that really divided the family because the kids knew that they saw that they felt that for Isaac his favorite son was Esau because he saw was a man's man he was very masculine he loved the field he loved to hunt he had a gun rack in his pickup truck had Field & Stream magazine all over the place he was an outdoorsman like a northern New Mexico hippie a man of the field and Isaac preferred a masculine son Jacob on the other hand was not like a northern New Mexican hippie he was more like a San Franciscan that is he was cultured he was a man of the city it says he was smooth skin he loved to cook he he'd watch Martha Stewart over and over again just to learn how to make that souffle so nice Rebecca preferred him he dwelt in tents he was more cultured not a man of the outdoors and so they each had their favorite and that will widen the gap and the animosity between these two boys as time goes on we're told that in verse 28 of chapter 25 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game but Rebekah loved Jacob as much as Isaac loves his son and wants to pass the blessing on to his firstborn son it was God who already said the elder Esau will serve the younger that is the younger Jacob will get the blessing he's gonna reverse the traditional law that was God's order Isaac wants to make sure that doesn't happen he's going to go against the revealed will and word of God there's a real lesson in watching out for first impressions that we might have just as there was Esau and Jacob said you know this is the guy that I want to have the blessings surely this must be the Lord's choice it's because I like him my choice must be God's choice he's a man's man he represents masculinity well that's going to be my choice but it wasn't God's choice our first impressions can be misleading if we're going by image we can be misled if we go by feelings we can be misled you recall the story of when Saul was rejected by God and the Lord sent the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel and the sons of David were brought before him and the first one that the prophet Samuel noticed was that tall masculine handsome regal looking Ely AB and when he saw the oldest Ely AB Samuel immediately thought surely this is the Lord's anointed and he wasn't gonna crown him his king pour the oil on him and God spoke to his heart and said no you won't I've rejected him for the Lord said God the Lord does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart the very one that all of the family despised and rejected was out in the fields his name was David he was the shepherd boy that was God's choice was not Samuels choice it was not the family's choice but it was God's choice we judge by appearance we vote by appearance we want leaders that seemed handsome and look the part and look as if they're intelligent and look as if they're decisive that's who we want were very image conscious and that's tragic that's a mistake because our first impression may not be the right choice American politics changed from the 50s and the 60s in a very key debate between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhous Nixon it was the first televised presidential debate that's when everything changed in America did you know that it is believed that Kennedy won the election because of that televised debate people saw and made their judgment for Kennedy based upon what they saw on television so what they saw was Richard Nixon who was sick in the past he was sweaty on his brow and sweaty rolling sweat rolling down his face so he looked sickly and pale front because because he had been sick plus his fashion statement wasn't quite right he were pale gray suit that sort of washed him out whereas Kennedy wear a dark suit had just come off a vacation and looked tanned and confident and he won the the vote and many pundits look back on that publicized debate as what won the election and that's when in politics people started not looking at crucial issues as much as image well that's what's going on in this house ad ad is all about the image so it can't have this little puny wimpy kid is the head of my family I want Esau well years go by after this what we just read in chapter 25 now we're in chapter 27 37 years are between chapters 26 and 27 that's how many years passed between just those two chapters that's the gap between 26 and 27 37 years in chapter 27 verse 1 Isaac is now a hundred and thirty-seven years old and he's he's failing his eyesight is giving out and he thinks he's about to die so let's watch what happens it's very intriguing now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see that he called Esau his older son and said to him my son and he answered Here I am and he said Behold now I am old I like the fact that he admitted it didn't try to cover it up or change it it's just that I am Who I am what you see is what you get behold now like look check it out you can see this right I'm old I do not know the day of my death now therefore please take your weapons your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me in the King James Bible it's venison nothing like a venison steak my dad used to be a hundred and would bring it home and my mom like Rebecca knew just how to cook venison and it's not easy to get the taste right so he was dreaming of it he thought I'm old I can't see and this is a perfect chance for me to get a great meal and bless my favorite son so it's just going to be a deal between us two gentlemen oh by the way this is gonna sort of throw a wrench in your whole view of this this blessing chapter we have a sunday-school view of Isaac being on his bed and blessing his two sons and we think sons are probably in their 20s they were both 77 in this chapter so the whole sunday-school view that you have growing up of this chapter of Isaac blessing his young sons throw it out he's 100 in 37 there 77 and still hanging around home I find it interesting that he's at 137 oh that's that's old but he's sure he's going to die he just knows he's gonna die I got to get ready cuz I'm gonna die you know what really happened you know how long he lived another 43 years so I'm thinking that this guy was a little bit of a hypochondriac you know he's the kind of person that would go on Web MD when they have any kind of an ache or pain and they'd read about every disease and they think I have all of them I knew it or they talked to a friend I know I'm gonna die like the woman who had a tombstone and it read see I told you I was sick I think that was Isaac I think he was sure he was gonna die but he wasn't gonna die for forty three more years why did he think he was gonna die here's my guess his half-brother Ishmael died at a hundred and thirty seven years old so when he got to his birthday he thought I can't have much longer to live Ishmael kicked the bucket at this age I got to get this blessing thing all sewed up so he called his son in told him to go out and make him the savory food as such that I love and bring it to me that I may eat that my soul verse four may bless you before I die now Rebekah was listening she's eavesdropping she's not in the room she wasn't invited but she's close enough to overhear it and she does when Isaac spoke to Esau his son and Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it so Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son saying indeed I heard your father speak too II saw your brother saying bring me game make me save free food for me that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death now therefore my son obey my voice according to what I command you if you're wondering where Jacob got his conniving character from look no further than his mother his mother taught him the ropes she was a pro she was clever she was a master and he learned from the best she had already concocted the scheme go now to the flock and bring me from there to choice kids of the goats and I will make savory food from them for your father such as he loves I'll make it taste just like the venison that he's saying he wants from Esau and then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it that he may bless you before his death classic classic here's a human being trying to help poor God out now God had said to Rebecca it was to Rebecca when she said why am I having such a difficult pregnancy and God said because two nations are in your womb and gave him the prophecy the older will serve the younger so she's thinking how am I gonna make this work what's the answer to that you're not supposed to make it work if God said he'll do it he'll do it with or without you through or not through you you don't have to manipulate or connive or help God out now that's a trap a lot of us fall into here's the trap knowing the Word of God doing the will of God but not doing it in the way of God that's the trap the trap is that the ends and will justify the means doesn't matter how you get to it just arrive at that end God said this is gonna happen I'll help God get there knowing the will of God or the Word of God doing the will of God but not in the way of God does it matter well just ask Moses God said Moses you're gonna be the next deliverer of the children of Israel oh he's all excited well he's nervous but he's all excited he's still working in the courts of Egypt so one day when he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew he thinks I gotta do something about that I'm the deliverer so he goes over and he rebukes the Egyptian for mistreating the Hebrew because he is a Hebrew the Egyptian doesn't want to hear about it so Moses kills the Egyptian and he thinks the Hebrews are gonna make me a hero because I killed one of their enemies well they didn't make him a hero they didn't trust him after that in fact they pointed the finger at him said you're the guy who murdered the Egyptian once he found that he was found out Moses fled for forty years in the Midian desert forty long lonely years no he'll be back but it'll take 40 years for him to reach the lesson so God can use him wasted years but years where God is molding and shaping his character all because he tried to help God out didn't have to help God out you just got to do what God said and he'll do do it through you or ask David if this concept is pertinent in his life he'll tell you you know the story how the David thought the Ark of God is out in Philistine country because they captured it we need to bring it up to Jerusalem so one day he arranged for a big parade twenty thousand people were there and there was dancing and there was singing and he knew how to throw a party and so he takes the Ark of the Covenant cuz he wants to take it from Philistine country up to Jerusalem and he puts it on a cart and he has two people one in front one in back one is Ohio up in front and in the back who'sa and as they're going down the road the road gets a little bit shaky and the wheels start to move a little bit and the ark starts tipping and Uzi gets so afraid that the arts going to tip over so I have to he thought steady the ark and help God maintain his composure on his way up to Jerusalem so he touched the Ark simply simply to steady it he had the best intentions right he had everything good in his heart as soon as he touched it God struck him dead I talked about raining on once parade the parade was over everybody went home David was totally bummed out he just couldn't believe God would do something like that and months went by and he was pouting and pouting and then one day decided I'm gonna read my Bible and as he read through the scripture he discovered that the way God prescribed the movement of the ark wasn't on a cart for efficiency you don't put it on a wagon or put it in a pickup that's to be carried on the shoulders of the priests that there's two staves one on either side two priests in the front two in the back and it's covered and that's how it goes to its place that's how God prescribed it that's his way knowing God's Word doing God's will but not in God's Way is good well when he discovered that he decided to take the ark up the right way put it on pre shoulders they went six steps only six steps no it was six miles away they had to go they'd walk six steps stop build an altar kill an animal and sacrifice the animal go six more steps kill an animal sacrifice the animal six more steps now to the average person in the world they would say that's not efficient that's not efficient the ark on a cart that's efficient you're right it's not efficient but it's effective the are got to Jerusalem yes right slowly but it got there yes the other way did the art get to Jerusalem the efficient way didn't get there so what is considered to be efficient by the world may not be effective in God's standards you're a weight on God your to seek God's will you're to read God's Word you are to have the right motivation but sure they do it God's Way the cart the idea was the Philistines they're the ones that took the ark and captured it on a cart now what is a cart a cart is simply boards and big wheels and that's what a lot of Christian organizations do let's have a board meeting and bring in the big wheels and let's get this thing moving but if they're not seeking the mind the heart and the the the ways of God even that group of Christians can go astray what is he saying what is God wanting what is the next step it's important to wait on the Lord it can be sometimes the most effective way to get things moving well I digressed a bit no I think I amplified it let's go now to verse 11 the go Jacob says Jacob said to Rebecca his mother now listen carefully watch this carefully look he saw my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smoothy smooth man it's skinned is in italics it's not in the original Hebrew I'm a smoothy smooth man smooth operator perhaps my father will feel me and I shall watch I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing you shall seem to be a deceiver little Jacob you'll seem to be a deceiver because you are a deceiver but isn't it interesting that what he is worried about isn't the fact that he is a liar and a deceiver but that he'll be found out as one he'll seem to be one a lot of people are concerned more about what they seem to be than really what they are what will people think about me you know honestly who cares who are you really is what counts there's a big difference between your reputation and your character your reputation is what other people think you are your character is what you know you are look at it like a bushel of apples reputation it's that top layer of apples in the market the ones they put up there to sell the bushel that's the reputation the ones you look at the character is all the apples underneath a box of cereal the picture on the front that's the reputation the cereal inside that's the character your character is who you really are when no one's looking it's what you say when you're talking to people who don't know you go to church it's what you do at night in a hotel room when nobody's there to see except God that's your care I'm gonna seem to be a deceiver dude you're way past that you are numero uno uno deceiver and then cease worried about then I'm gonna get a curse and not a blessing but his mother said to him your curse beyond me can you imagine that I'll take the curse if you get a curse do you know just move out of the way it'll hit me no problem only obey my voice no keep in mind he's 77 years old and his mommy saying you better listen go and get them for me any weddin got them and brought them to his mother and his mother made savory food such as his father loved and Rebecca took the choice clothes I laugh because I think you'll get the drift took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau which were in her house and put them on Jacob her younger son and she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck she knew that the only way this trickery was going to work is since her husband's eyes weren't functioning well that his senses his nose was still sharp and acute she knew that we have to deceive him with smell and Esau had his own Bo he had the outdoorsy bill that was his body odor we got a we got to put you know Jacob was like George or Gio Armani that was his smell Esau was more like locker room ambience so we got to get that somehow on Jacob and so you're worried some of your brothers clothes it's a dead giveaway and then he put she put the skins that had the hair on it because her brother was hairy on his hands because that's where his father would feel and the smooth part of his neck and it's interesting Kyle and deal it's too great linguistic scholars of the Old Testament report that in ancient cultures hair pieces had been used for generations from this time all the way up to the Roman times people took long animal hair horse hair goat hair camel's hair and used it to supplement they had hair pieces vast basically back then as a substitute for their own hair to make a hairpiece and so this was not uncommon to use animal skins for that kind of a purpose but to put it on the hands was a little odd but they had to fix smoothy up to be like his brother then she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob so we went to his father and he said my father um 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 just as you told me please arise sit 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 and he said because the Lord your God brought it to me his mama taught him well he's the spiritual fraud he's now using God to further his agenda now you know what this is called taking the Lord's name in vain well I always thought it was this like cussing no the idea of taking the Lord's name one better translation is never take the Lord's name lightly on your lips it's where you take the Lord's name and you empty it of its real potency its content and you try to use it for your own agenda so if this is God talk this is like praise the Lord daddy God you know just put a deer right in the road it's a lot but he's using God's name to further his agenda every now and then when a person wants to further his agenda and they want you to buy into his thing instead of saying you know I've been about something lately and this is what I believe what he'll say is the Lord spoke to me the Lord is leading me maybe so maybe he has spoken to you maybe he is leading you or maybe he's not but using his name will make people go oh well Who am I to argue with God because I've watched the Lord seemingly lead people into some really stupid things that I can't blame God for so we have to be careful we should every use the Lord of further our agenda and that's exactly what is happening Isaac said to Jacob now watch he's suspicious please come near that I may feel you my son whether you are really my son Esau or not now you know there was a lump right then in Jacobs throat oh man I'm dead meat where's my mom because she's gonna get that curse any moment so Jacob went near to Issac knees were shaking I'm sure and as he felt him and he said the voice is Jacob's voice you know I probably tried to do an imitation of his brother but the vocal cords wouldn't allow it but the hands are the hands of Esau and he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau his hands and so he blessed him now listen very carefully Isaac was old his senses were failing him he reached out to feel and what he felt deceived him but there was one thing that gave away his son Jacob that he should have trusted and there's only one thing that didn't fail and it was the word that he heard when he heard Jacob speak his words said that say Cubs voice it's the words that I hear that make me think it's a cur but my feelings are betraying me you know a lot of times our feelings betray us our senses fail us and if we're not absolutely 100% using the revealed Word of God as our guide we can be deceived you don't know how many people over the years I've watched getting into all sorts of tangents the things like well I went to this meeting and I know there's nothing really about it in the Bible the word doesn't say what they practice was right but I felt the presence of God you're being deceived you're you're simply saying the criteria for truth and error is how I feel about it at the moment it's the word that he heard that didn't deceive him his feelings betrayed him and so what we do when it comes to is this is this thing a biblical thing that we practice we asked this especially as New Testament believers did Jesus mention it in any of the four Gospels number two was it amplified in the book of Acts and practiced by the church as it was birth and number three was it elucidated and amplified in the Epistle Ettore literature written by Paul John Peter etc so example the Lord's Supper did Jesus speak about it yes or no yes was it practice in the book of Acts yes was it amplified in the Epistle Ettore literature yes baptism did Jesus mention it yes was it practice in the book of Acts yes and it was a spoken of in written by the yes in the Epistle being slain in the spirit that is falling over huh the president got booming you have catcher's catch you did Jesus mention it nope was a practice in the book of Acts never was it ever talked about or amplified in the epistles never or the notion of Christians having demons cast out of them did Jesus ever predict predict that nope practice in the book of Acts nope in the epistles nope oh but I felt so what you felt was wrong what you need to trust is the word that you heard not the feelings that you feel because they can be deceptive so that is the ultimate criteria this is a classic example of that verse 24 and he said are you really my son ISA you see it's too he's still suspicious are you you really my son Esau and he said I am he said bring it near to me and I will eat my son's game so that my soul may bless you and 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 now and kiss me my son probably still suspicious he wants to smell him is the idea come here let me give you you know it's an infection to kiss the father would give his son come here that I might kiss you and he came near and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his clothing and he blessed him and said surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord had blessed so he brought him close and he thought yep you're Esau take the blessing and get out of here go out to the field here's the blessing verse 28 29 therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven of the fatness of the earth and plenty of the grain and wine let people serve you and they bow down to you be master over your brethren and let your mother's sons bow down to you cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be those who bless you can you read into that shades of the blessing that God gave to Abraham and that Abraham gave to Isaac and now Isaac is giving to Jacob many of the elements are the same I'll bless those that bless you curse those that curse you I'll give you the land etc now there was the law do you remember the law we talked about a couple weeks ago the law Pramod Jena Chur the law of the firstborn the firstborn son in a family always got the blessing the inheritance the birthright he would take over and be the head of the family take over the father's agenda be in charge of the family he got a double portion of all of the goods that were left over but it meant he was the successor in the lineage to his father and I explained to you that's why Elijah the Prophet said to Elijah give me a double portion what that means is I want to be your successor as the prophet of Israel as the ambassador of God for these people that was the law promised Jen ature God said he would reverse it here now it happened as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father that Esau his brother came in from his hunting so exit Jacob with the blessing in hand his father gave him this blessing he spoke at verbally and in those days a verbal oral blessing was as binding as a legal written contract did you know that it was irrevocable a blessing of a father to his son spoken orally was irrevocable so enter Esau fresh off the field can't wait for the blessing to come his way he also made savory food and brought it to his father and said to his father let my father arise and eat of his son's game that your soul may bless me and his father Isaac said to him who who are you he said I am your son your firstborn Esau then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said who where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me I ate all of it before you came and I have blessed him and watch and indeed he shall be blessed it dawned on him and he realized now that he had blessed the wrong boy actually he blessed the right boy that was God's promise but in his mind it's not what I wanted I bless the wrong boy and the reason he trembled as he's under conviction I believe he's under conviction it's like you know what I was trying to pull a fast one on God and he beat me at my own game and it's this conviction of God God is doing his will even though it's against my will now this is what I want you to pick up on I find this fascinating when you get to the New Testament the New Testament treats Isaac very kindly did you know that did you know that when it talks about Isaac in the Hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 it says this one little sentence by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau really I I would say by trickery he blessed his son by subterfuge he blessed his son but it doesn't say by trickery it doesn't say by subterfuge it says he did it by faith I believe it was at this moment that faith was birthed is when he found out that he had been had found out beat at his own game by God and he realized God is doing what he said he would do even though I tried to prevent it and he believed and by faith he said I blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed I believe that's when faith was birthed at the very moment indeed he shall be bust there's a great proverb that I marked I want to read it to you in Proverbs 19 it's in verse 21 listen to this there are many plans in a man's heart nevertheless the Lord's counsel that will stand that is a proverb that sums up the sovereignty of God God does what he does and you might have a dysfunctional family but you have a functional God who does what he wants in the midst of a dysfunctional family you're gonna be blessed God said it it's happening even though I tried to prevent it that's the idea behind a verse 34 when Esau heard the words of his father he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father bless me me also my father now here's manly Esau men of the field wailing and crying like a baby no no I want the blessing but he said your brother came and with deceit he has taken away your blessing and Esau said is he not rightly named Jacob be careful now he saw because the blessing was whoever curses Jacob is going to be cursed is he not rightly named Jacob for he has supplanted or tripped me these two times he took away my birthright and now look he has taken away my blessing and he said have you not reserved a blessing for me was he sought correct was he right about Jacob yes and no he was right that his his brother was a cheat a manipulator a deceiver but it's not like he stole the birthright right there was a deal he goes tell you what I'll make you that red chili stew but I want the birthright who cares about my birthright you're gonna have it I don't want it he despised it the deal was made now he's saying it was all a trick here's the bottom line Esau never cared about spiritual things never did he was a natural man the New Testament first Corinthians would call him the natural man the natural man it says does not understand things of the Spirit they're spiritually discerned a natural man the Greek word suka cos means one governed by the flesh one governed by the appetites of the of the flesh the body dominated by the flesh doesn't really care about spiritual things but cares a lot about the flesh physical things it was a natural man nothing wrong with food nothing wrong with you're hungry but he despised his birthright he despised spiritual things that's the average worldly person they despise spiritual things Jacob appreciated spiritual things but he's going about getting them the wrong way we would call him a carnal believer not a spiritual man not a natural man but a carnal man he's going to use fleshly means to arrive at a spiritual end and hence the battle and Isaac answered and said to he saw indeed I have made him your master imagine how he felt as he heard that Isaac felt and all his brethren I have given to him as servants with grain and wine I have sustained him what shall I do now for you my son he saw said to his father have you only one blessing my father bless me me also o my father and he saw lifted up his voice and he wept he wept it was sincere weeping but he's still governed by the flesh and he'll laps right back into that very very shortly Esau would have lived by the motto eat drink for tomorrow we die have fun now get all you can do everybody's doing it life's all about the now all about you you know make your own way that that was his whole philosophy he was completely a hedonistic but he wanted also the double portion of his father's Goods the blessing that would come along with that and Isaac his father said and answered and said to him behold verse 39 behold your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above that is you're gonna live out in the open spaces you're gonna live out in the in the desert the deserted spaces of the dew of heaven from above by your sword that you shall live you have to fight for everything you get and you shall serve your brother and it so come to pass when you become Restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck the children of Israel the Jews will come from Jacob from Esau will arise the descendants known as the the will settle to the east south east of the Dead Sea out in modern-day Jordan the history of the of the people of the of the Moabites is is very interesting over time there was this consistent battle between Israel and this people for instance in 1st Samuel chapter 14 King Saul subjugated them a few chapters later he made them a vassal state they rebelled against King Solomon later on but to no avail he put a tighter squeeze on them and exacted taxes from them as time went on they successfully rebelled against King George Wonder King Amaziah they were once again subjugated so back and forth always under the thumb of the children of Israel these descendants of Esau but notice what it says it shall come to pass when you become Restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck the descendants of Esau in that area southeast of the Dead Sea after several years the Nabataeans just keep that name in mind will refer to them later on the Nabataeans in fact the whole book of Nehemiah Obadiah is about the Nabataeans in this area in Edom they pushed out these they pushed them out of the land and so the settled in Judah once again under Jewish rule while they lived in Judah they were forced to convert to Judaism forced to keep Jewish law by a Maccabee and ruler named John here Canas forced them to live like Jewish people even though they still had the lineage of Esau still under the thumb of the Jewish people until one guy by the name of an tippet ur his full name Herod Antipas got favored with Rome and territory was given to him to rule over and it was his son called Herod the Great who was called the king of the Jews by the Roman government so it was Herod the Great that killed all the babies in Bethlehem trying to kill Christ who is now in rulership in New Testament times at one time subjugated by the Jews but now risen to Authority and rulership and is in charge and that's the idea I think at the end of that verse that is the prediction and it came to pass by the way please be careful how you interpret scripture I take it very literally sometimes there's obvious figurative applications to it and yet a literal lesson is drawn from the figure but whenever you read a prophecy and it literally is fulfilled it then doesn't make any sense years later to say well I don't believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible I really can't take it word for word I go why you have plenty of precedent to do that I'll get off that soapbox our time is about out verse 41 look at this so Esau hated Jacob you don't have to turn to it but listen to this Malachi chapter 1 you know what it says the Lord says Jacob I have loved Esau I have hated and God didn't even explain himself as to you know why he does that and that bothers a lot of people the God would say Jacob I have loved Esau I've hated that bothers them and you know what it bothers me it doesn't bother me because he hated Esau it bothers me because he loved Jacob knowing he was such a cheat and a conniver in it he would make that declaration and he did so according to Scripture before they were born he made that declaration and preferred one over the other that was God's sovereign choice in predestination but here it says Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart the days of mourning for my father are at hand and I will kill my brother Jacob the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah so he sent him called Jacob her younger son and said to him surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you intending to kill you now therefore my son Sonny 77 year old Sonny boy come here Sonny listen to me obey my voice arise flee to my brother Laban oh yeah he's a really a winner in Haran and stay with him a few days until your brother's Fury turns away until your brother turns away from you and forgets what you have done to him and I will send and bring you from there why should I be relieved also of you both in one day go away for a few days you know what a few days turned into two decades 20 years and she will die without ever seeing her son again this is called your play and backfiring your fleshly energy backfiring you're not wanting to wait on God backfiring your carnal nature backfiring and I can only think that the last years of her life were miserable lonely years as she was thinking about all the paces she put her family and her sons through 20 years and when he comes back his mom will be long gone sad mother's I know you love your children be careful about the battles you fight and I know you'd like to just make it all better for them and so what do you do and there's this problem in the family you want to fix it fight the battle on your knees not with your hands or your mouth fight it on your knees pray for them that's where the battles are won and Rebecca said to Isaac look at this closing comment I am weary of my life I would be too because of the daughters of Heth now her son Esau married a couple of Canaanite pagan girls drove her nuts thought they were a bad influence if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth like these were the daughters of the land what good will my life be to me as she thought you know these people around here have such poor values I need to get him around my family such wonderful values honest salt of the earth kind of people like me and my brother Laban Jacob does not even know what he's in for this guy Laban has mastered deceit better than anybody he's like a PhD in it this guy here's a neophyte he's about to go to school for 20 years and what happens with Jacob in the deceit backfires against him he deceived his dad he will be deceived Jacob will be deceived by Laban he'll have to work 14 years for his wife the one he loved because Laban will deceive him number two his own sons will deceive Jacob in selling Joseph to the Midianites as they go down to Egypt and then lie and say oh he got killed by an animal here's his blood in this hippie coat that you gave him you will reap what you sow Jacob will reap what you sow this woman will reap what she has sown you've heard the old saying like father like son it's also true like mother like son or daughter the influence of a parent in example through a life will mark a child's destiny for years to come our Heavenly Father as we look at the way you parent us you're so perfect we read the scripture for those cues and I prayed that it would be the word that we hear rather than the feelings that we feel there are that are become the reliable guide for us to live or teach us to be people of integrity people of character not concerned about what seems to others that we are but who we really are who we are before you especially and you know us Lord right now you are looking at us and you see you see every thought everything about us we can't hide it from you what's even more wonderful than that truth is that you are willing to forgive to show mercy to pour out grace and to cause us through that grace to stand before you in confidence so lord as we close the service I pray your spirit would search us and see if there's anything wicked in us and lead us in the way everlasting I said the psalmist for we ask it in Christ's strong name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 10,069

Rating: 4.7460318 out of 5

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

Id: xot2oMdrz5w

Length: 61min 41sec (3701 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018