SPEAKER_00: As we're in Genesis chapter 27, we're going to be focused on this family of Isaac, his wife Rebekah, and their sons Esau and Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac, like his father Abraham before him, went through a ruse of pretending that his wife was actually his sister because he was scared of the men in the area finding his wife to be attractive.
SPEAKER_00: You can read about that in Genesis chapter 25.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac really doesn't have much to credit him in terms of doing great things, other than the fact that Isaac dug a lot of wells and had arguments with his pagan neighbors over whether or not he had rights to those wells that he had dug.
SPEAKER_00: Not exactly the most thrilling area of Scripture to read about, but if you want to read more about that, that's Genesis chapter 26.
SPEAKER_00: We know, however, that Isaac did hear from God and that God told Isaac that he was going to bless him, and in fact Isaac was blessed in many ways.
SPEAKER_00: The story that we're reading today, Genesis chapter 27, we suspect that Isaac is roughly 100 years old at the time this takes place.
SPEAKER_00: And in case you think that's really, really old, the Bible tells us that Isaac lived to be 180 years old.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're really catching Isaac not so much at the end of his life, but we're catching him a little bit past the middle of his life today.
SPEAKER_00: He dies at 180.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that he died at 180?
SPEAKER_00: Because in Genesis chapter 35, we're told that that's the case.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 35 and verses 28 and 29.
SPEAKER_00: Now Esau's two sons, Isaac's two sons are Esau and Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: We are told that when Rebekah was carrying Esau and Jacob, that she had a very, very difficult pregnancy.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you ladies know what that's about.
SPEAKER_00: Had a very, very difficult pregnancy.
SPEAKER_00: So much so that she was crying out to the Lord, saying, Lord, what is going on with me?
SPEAKER_00: And God told Isaac and Rebekah that Rebekah's pregnancy was difficult because she had two rival nations in her womb.
SPEAKER_00: You read about that in Genesis chapter 25.
SPEAKER_00: And God made a prophecy and said, The older child will be a nation that serves the nation of the younger child.
SPEAKER_00: And this once again is sort of a reversal of the older, younger brother that we see throughout Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: We know that Abraham's first child was Ishmael, but it was the second child, Isaac, that was the child of promise.
SPEAKER_00: With Esau and Jacob, Esau is born a few moments before Jacob, but it's Jacob is the child that's going to receive the birthright and through whom the line of Christ is going to be worked.
SPEAKER_00: Esau is born first by just a few moments.
SPEAKER_00: Esau is described as coming out of the womb very hairy.
SPEAKER_00: He's a spider monkey kind of baby.
SPEAKER_00: He's got, you know, he's very hairy.
SPEAKER_00: I was a spider monkey kind of baby from what my mom used to say.
SPEAKER_00: And I used to say, oh, I don't want to be like Esau, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But he was very hairy.
SPEAKER_00: And contrast, when Jacob was born, he did not carry the physical characteristics of his older brother.
SPEAKER_00: Very different in look, different in appearance.
SPEAKER_00: They not only do they look different, but they act differently.
SPEAKER_00: Esau is the rugged outdoorsman type.
SPEAKER_00: He is a hunter.
SPEAKER_00: He is he's the man's man.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas Jacob is a little more stick to the house, and you know, you get the and he's a his brother is real rough and hairy, and Jacob says that he is smooth-skinned in comparison.
SPEAKER_00: So they look different, they act different, and unfortunately, Isaac and Rebekah decided that they would play favorites.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the story.
SPEAKER_00: And so these two brothers, they're twins in birth only, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: In every other respect, they're very different from each other.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible doesn't tell us anything about whether or not they had any fondness for each other growing up.
SPEAKER_00: But based upon the way things work out, you get the impression that like a lot of children that don't have much in common with each other, they just more or less are tolerate each other.
SPEAKER_00: That's reading a little bit between the lines.
SPEAKER_00: But a time comes when they are older, and Esau comes in from the field, the older brother, he's been hunting, he's hungry, he's famished, and he says, Oh, I would love to have something to eat.
SPEAKER_00: And there's Jacob doing the kitchen stuff inside.
SPEAKER_00: He's making a bowl of lentils and soup, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: And Esau says, I'd do anything for some of that.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob says, Well, would you be willing to give me your birthright as the older brother?
SPEAKER_00: And Esau says, Whatever, just give me that soup.
SPEAKER_00: I'll sell my birthright to you for some of that soup.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, Jacob says, Here, have the soup.
SPEAKER_00: Time passes on, and then we come to the events of today's chapter, Genesis chapter 27.
SPEAKER_00: And we begin in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And Esau answered him, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaac said, Behold, I am old.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know the day of my death.
SPEAKER_00: And let's pause here for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because so far, everything seems to be truthful at least.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac is roughly 100 or more years old at the time that this is happening.
SPEAKER_00: However, we know already that Isaac's going to live another 80 years after this occurs.
SPEAKER_00: But Isaac, his vision is going, and he lives in a day where they don't have prescription glasses, right?
SPEAKER_00: How many of us, if we take our prescription glasses off or we reverse certain surgeries that we've had, would be unable to see very well?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you would don't raise your hands?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not not, you know, we're not giving out glasses or anything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just, this is a this is a rhetorical question.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us, all right, right now when I've got my glasses off, I can see everybody in the back really well?
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, a little bit better than when I had these on.
SPEAKER_00: That's a little concerning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh I can see everyone in the back really well.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, ladies here, you're a blur.
SPEAKER_00: I I I can see you, I can make out who's who, but but you are a little bit blurry.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us without the aid of modern medicine would be pretty much blind already?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So Isaac lives at a time where there are no prescription glasses, he's 100 years old, and his vision is going.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know, we this is something that is a little bit something to think about.
SPEAKER_00: When you look at the ages of people in the book of Genesis and you see how long people lived, we don't know if a 100-year-old Isaac, if he was sitting with us here at the lunch, we don't know if he would look what we consider 100 to be, or if he would look much younger.
SPEAKER_00: We just don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But Isaac's vision is going.
SPEAKER_00: He thinks, well, vision going is a sign that death is coming.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to settle some things, put some things in order.
SPEAKER_00: So he calls his son, his favorite son, his older son, Esau, and says, I'm old, I don't know the day of my death.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow, go out into the field and hunt game for me, and make me savory food such as I love, bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pause here for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So we already have established Esau has a reputation as being a hunter.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac liked to eat the game that his son would hunt and bring to the table.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason he likes it is because it is savory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that word, when's the last time you used savory?
SPEAKER_00: Savory is the idea that it's rich and flavorful.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to name names, but I know there's a few people in here that like to put hot sauce on everything.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because they want to taste that, they want taste when they eat food.
SPEAKER_00: Me, you put hot sauce on something, I'm going to send it back.
SPEAKER_00: But some of the people really like to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac is one of these men, if he's eating, he wants his food to be real flavorful.
SPEAKER_00: And so he tells his son, go out and hunt and kill something and bring it in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: If you do that, then I'm going to bless you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to bless you before I die.
SPEAKER_00: Now that phrase, bless you before I die, has with it the idea that I'm going to do something formal.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do something of significance.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a case of go bring me a hamburger and I'm going to give you a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: This is a ritual that's being engaged in.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Rebekah, his wife, Isaac's wife Rebekah, verse 5, was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son.
SPEAKER_00: Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
SPEAKER_00: So Rebekah spoke to Jacob, her son, saying, Indeed, I have heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying, Bring me game, make savory food for me that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.
SPEAKER_00: Now therefore, my son, still talking to Jacob, obey my voice concerning what I command you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the flock, bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will take it to your father, that he may eat it, and he may bless you before his death.
SPEAKER_00: Pause here.
SPEAKER_00: So apparently Isaac's taste buds are such that he can't tell the difference between goat meat and the meat that Esau is going to kill in the field.
SPEAKER_00: And apparently Rebecca knows this.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies, if you've been married, if you have a husband now, if you've had a husband in the past, did you know more about your husband's taste buds than anybody else alive?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00: Rebecca is like, I know the type of food he wants to eat.
SPEAKER_00: You know, um, Nicole went to Walmart yesterday before all of the chaos kicked in.
SPEAKER_00: And she was buying us food that we would need in case we get snowed and iced in for the next few days.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to tell her what to get that I would like to eat.
SPEAKER_00: She knows.
SPEAKER_00: And Rebecca knows this about her husband Isaac, because they've been together for a long time now.
SPEAKER_00: So, but she says to Jacob, You do this because I'm going to make sure that he blesses you instead of blessing Esau.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us know this story.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11, Jacob said to his mother, Look, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man, and I'm a smooth-skinned man.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him, and I shall bring a curse on myself rather than a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Pause here for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: One of the translations of the name Jacob is deceiver.
SPEAKER_00: Another is usurper.
SPEAKER_00: And so whenever you see Jacob talking about deceiving or deceiving talked about Jacob, there would be a play on words in the original Hebrew language, and people would laugh at that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: But Jacob's worried.
SPEAKER_00: If he finds out, you know, if he reaches out for my arm and sees how smooth I am, and my brother's got all that hair, he's going to know something's up.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Rebekah his mother said to him, Let your curse be on me, my son, only obey my voice, go get them for me.
SPEAKER_00: And he went, and he got them, and he brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory foods, such as his father Isaac, loved.
SPEAKER_00: Then Rebekah took choice clothes of her older son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son, and she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
SPEAKER_00: Then she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: And so he went into his father and said, My father, and he said, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you, my son?
SPEAKER_00: Pause here for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac's vision is going, but we're not told that his hearing's lost any.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Jacob goes in, as much as he might have tried to pretend to imitate the voice of his brother, there was something in Jacob's presence there.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Jacob just carried himself differently.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he didn't, maybe I maybe Esau was one of these guys that walked into a room a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But there was enough of a difference there that Isaac is suspicious that something is up.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Who are you, my son?
SPEAKER_00: Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn.
SPEAKER_00: I have done just as you told me.
SPEAKER_00: Please arise, sit and eat of my game, so that your soul may bless me.
SPEAKER_00: But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you found it so quickly, my son?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Because the Lord your God brought it to me.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pause here for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how many lies are being told and it's increasing?
SPEAKER_00: And we've we've gone from imitate, we've gone from pretending that the game, uh, that the food is wild game, and it's actually something prepared in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_00: And we have the son that is disguising his appearance, and he's got, he walks in with the skins on his hands and on his neck, and maybe he's disguising his voice.
SPEAKER_00: And now we have this great lie that's being told.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord your God brought it to me.
SPEAKER_00: Lie after lie after lie.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21, Isaac said to Jacob, Come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really Esau or not.
SPEAKER_00: So Jacob went near Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
SPEAKER_00: And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands, and so he blessed him.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said, Are you really my son Esau?
SPEAKER_00: See, even after all this is happening, there's still a little bit of doubt.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I am.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Bring it near to me, I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you.
SPEAKER_00: So he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank.
SPEAKER_00: Then his father Isaac said to him, Come near now and kiss me, my son, and he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him, and said, Surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Stop here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it doesn't matter how clean you try to keep yourself when you're outside for hours on end, when you come inside, your clothes just smell a little differently than they do if you've been inside all day.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the way things are.
SPEAKER_00: Stop here.
SPEAKER_00: This spoken blessing that Isaac is sharing with his son, if you look at the language of that blessing, it is very similar in a lot of ways to blessings that God promised to Abraham earlier in the book of Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do a chronological Bible recap, you you become aware of these things.
SPEAKER_00: The language is very, very similar.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30 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 hunting.
SPEAKER_00: He also made savory food and brought it to his father, said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that your soul may bless me.
SPEAKER_00: And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.
SPEAKER_00: Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, Who?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me?
SPEAKER_00: I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him, and indeed he shall be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pause here for a moment because in verse 33, in verse 33, we have a phrase, then he trembled excessively.
SPEAKER_00: Some of your Bibles might have a slightly different translation than that.
SPEAKER_00: But this trembling that is happening is not because Isaac has suddenly realized that something's amiss.
SPEAKER_00: He's not trembling because he's worried about what happened a few minutes previous.
SPEAKER_00: He's trembling because in this entire exercise of blessing Esau, he knows he's been going against the word of the Lord that came when the two boys were born.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord that came when the two boys were born was you have two nations, Rebekah, struggling within you.
SPEAKER_00: The older will serve the younger.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone was going to get the inheritance blessing, it was clear in that prophecy that the younger one was supposed to get the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Esau was, and uh Isaac and Esau were doing this thing independent of everyone else, where Isaac thought that he would be able to choose who would receive the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And now that he realizes that he's given the blessing, and now that he realizes that his son Esau isn't the one who got the blessing, his trembling is as much because he realizes that God has intervened in this situation as it is that he's scared because he's a little confused about what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: He trembles exceedingly.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, O my father.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, there's that word deceit, deceive.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jacob means.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 36, Esau said, Is he not rightly named Jacob?
SPEAKER_00: For he has supplanted me these two times.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the story with the bowl of soup that's earlier in Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: He took away my birthright, and now look, he's taken away my blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?
SPEAKER_00: Isaac answered and said, To Esau, indeed, I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants, with grain and wine I have sustained him.
SPEAKER_00: What shall I do now for you, my son?
SPEAKER_00: Pause here for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The birthright blessing in ancient Israel was a birth was an extra blessing that was given normally to the oldest child of the family.
SPEAKER_00: If you were the oldest child of a family and your father passed away, you received a double portion of the inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: So if there were three kids in the family, they would divide the fortune up four ways, and the oldest would get a double portion, and then the others would get what was left in terms of portion.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that happened was it was the thinking was the oldest one is going to have the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the family name, and he is going to need resources to make that work.
SPEAKER_00: Esau here threw away his inheritance, even though he was the oldest son, sold it for a bowl of soup, and the blessing that would accompany that has now been taken by Jacob as well.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at verse 38 again.
SPEAKER_00: Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father?
SPEAKER_00: Bless me also, my father.
SPEAKER_00: He lifted up his voice and wept.
SPEAKER_00: Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven from above.
SPEAKER_00: By your sword you shall live, you shall serve your brother.
SPEAKER_00: It shall come to pass when you become restless that you will break his yoke from your neck.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 41, So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
SPEAKER_00: And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then I will kill my brother Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: And the words of the older son were told to Rebekah.
SPEAKER_00: So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said, Surely your brother Esau is comforting himself concerning you by intending to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to conclude our reading for today.
SPEAKER_00: But let's look at some takeaways and some reminders that we get from this story that we reviewed.
SPEAKER_00: I decided to take a story that we were all comfortable with.
SPEAKER_00: I figure we got enough chaos coming our way with this snowstorm in the next few days.
SPEAKER_00: Find something a little comforting, something we're familiar with today.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take a look at some takeaways.
SPEAKER_00: First off, the blatant favoritism that these parents show, Isaac and Rebecca, for their sons, that led to divisions in the family.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you may have grown up in a family where you were the favored child or one of the other children was a favored child.
SPEAKER_00: When children know that someone is loved more than them, rarely does that turn out well.
SPEAKER_00: Usually it produces lots of problems.
SPEAKER_00: In this particular case, because each parent was determined that their favorite would receive the blessing no matter what, it created great divisions in the family, and it's fair to say, based upon what we read further in the book of Genesis, that this family was never the same after this.
SPEAKER_00: For all intents and purposes, it destroyed the family.
SPEAKER_00: When Jacob left to be with Rebekah's brother, he was going to be there for decades.
SPEAKER_00: Esau and Jacob would be at odds with each other for the better part of another 80 years in some way, shape, or form with each other.
SPEAKER_00: God had already declared the older is going to serve the younger.
SPEAKER_00: But what did Isaac do?
SPEAKER_00: He tried to circumvent the plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: He tried to rob the blessing from Jacob to give it to his favorite son, Esau.
SPEAKER_00: And Rebekah likewise, when she saw what was up, she made sure that that plan was foiled.
SPEAKER_00: And so you see, even in the relationship between Isaac and Rebekah, their favoritism for their children creates this battle between the two of them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, nonetheless, the thing that gets forgotten in all of this is that God had already decided how this was going to turn out.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: God had already decided.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are reminded, even as this family is trying to circumvent what God has decided, that God's plan came forth anyway.
SPEAKER_00: God's plan didn't work because Rebekah and Jacob came up with this counter plan.
SPEAKER_00: God's plan worked because it was God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing that was going to stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing was going to stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Was the blessing Isaac's to give, or was the blessing the Lord's to give?
SPEAKER_00: It was the Lord's to give.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac put himself in a position where he thought he was in control of what God was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: And that is a problem that has plagued mankind forever.
SPEAKER_00: Mankind is always trying to force God to make a decision that goes along with their desires.
SPEAKER_00: And it never works because man can't force God, but God can force man.
SPEAKER_00: God's plan came to pass not because of this family and what they did, but in spite of this family and what they did.
SPEAKER_00: God's plans often work not because humanity is acting, but rather in spite of the fact that humanity is acting.
SPEAKER_00: Never let what people do discourage you about what God has said he's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: People can't get in God's way.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Couple of more things to take away.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac and Rebekah, the way they're acting, it's very clear that both of them thought that the blessing belonged to Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: And they took steps so that Isaac would give the blessing the way that they wanted it to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac had chosen Esau, Rebekah had chosen Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be careful likewise when we have possessions that God has put into our hands, and we make decisions about how we're going to bless people with the possessions that God has given us.
SPEAKER_00: When you are writing your last wills and testament, when you are making gifts of the things that you have in the here and now, and you are taking something that God has blessed you with, and you're making a decision about how you're going to use that to bless someone else, you need to remember that that thing, while it's in your possession, it ultimately belongs not to you, but to God.
SPEAKER_00: And so the decisions that we make in what we're going to do in sharing what we have with others, God is a part of that process because ultimately it all belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: It all belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now at the end of the story, we have Esau, he's crying out, he's got tears in his eyes, he really is acting like a person who cares about this blessing of God.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we know that the Bible makes it real clear that Esau is no one's spiritual leader.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, if you jump over into Hebrews chapter 12, God is talking here about Esau through his word.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 17, in that same chapter, the next verse, for you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
SPEAKER_00: The idea here is that Esau didn't get the blessing because Esau was a person who was never going to repent of the evil of his life and seek a savior, seek any kind of salvation, so that he could have a proper relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in today's world, it is so easy for people to join a church.
SPEAKER_00: So easy.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not, I'm gonna let's remove First Baptist from the conversation and let's just talk about a generic imaginary church out there.
SPEAKER_00: In America today, all it takes to join most churches is I would like to join your church.
SPEAKER_00: I love Jesus, I love these people, I want to be a member of that church.
SPEAKER_00: Most churches will sign you up right there, based on that statement.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, here and in many other churches, we understand that to become a church member means that you have to first be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And step one in being saved is recognizing that you need to repent of your sins because you are in a position in your own strength where you are facing nothing but judgment.
SPEAKER_00: You have to repent of your sins and recognize that Jesus has paid the price for your sins and trust upon what he did at the cross and who he is as a son of God, and put your faith and your trust and your understanding of any right relationship with God in the hands of Jesus and what he's done before you can become a church member.
SPEAKER_00: Esau would never be welcome in our church and other churches that hold that second standard because he wasn't willing to admit that he needed to repent.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews makes it real clear.
SPEAKER_00: It says there he had no place for repentance.
SPEAKER_00: If we were talking to Esau after he walked the aisle, we'd say, Hey, would you admit that you're a sinner in need of a savior?
SPEAKER_00: He would say, I'm not a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to repent of anything.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't done anything all that bad.
SPEAKER_00: I'm basically a good person.
SPEAKER_00: Why won't you let me be a member of your church?
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of man Esau was.
SPEAKER_00: Going back here, Esau had all the emotions of someone who looked like they were serious with God.
SPEAKER_00: He was shedding tears.
SPEAKER_00: He was wailing.
SPEAKER_00: He was putting on quite the show with his emotions.
SPEAKER_00: But emotions do not dictate blessings.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't bless us because we get all emotional about something.
SPEAKER_00: God blesses us because we're serious about who He is and who Jesus is and what he's done for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's where blessings come from.
SPEAKER_00: A person can put on an emotional show.
SPEAKER_00: We've got people that get paid to fake emotions.
SPEAKER_00: We call them actors and actresses.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole lot of people in churches today that would get an Academy Award for all the acting that they can do about how serious they think they are in their relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: I've had people talk to me, oh, Pastor Dave, I just don't know what's happening to me, and all these tears are coming down their faces, and they're not, and they mean it.
SPEAKER_00: Their emotions genuinely mean that they don't know what's happening to them.
SPEAKER_00: But when I say, you know, you really need to just surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, oh, I don't know if I'm ready for that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I I don't know if I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: I I love the following things too much.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not about emotions don't dictate blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Esau had all the emotions, but he didn't have any of the genuine repentance necessary to be blessed by God.
SPEAKER_00: So what happens as a result of all these deceptions with Isaac and Rebekah?
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first off, the differences between Esau and Jacob, they go from just being differences with each other to the point where Esau has decided, I hate my brother.
SPEAKER_00: I hate him.
SPEAKER_00: If mom and dad hadn't interfered in all this stuff, none of this hatred would have bubbled to the surface.
SPEAKER_00: Esau hates him now.
SPEAKER_00: Ate him so much that Jacob had to leave.
SPEAKER_00: When we read the story of Genesis chapter 27 and we go into Genesis chapter 28 when Jacob leaves, it is very likely that Jacob never saw his mother again.
SPEAKER_00: Same mother that put on that charade with the goatskins and all the rest of it, he probably never saw her again.
SPEAKER_00: This would not have happened if they had not decided to get all deceptive and try to rob God's blessings and direct it in their own directions.
SPEAKER_00: In time, however, later on in the book of Genesis, Jacob and Esau have a reunion.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob is very worried about that reunion.
SPEAKER_00: He thinks, oh, as soon as my brother sees me, he's going to kill me.
SPEAKER_00: Because the last time he and I had any communication, I had to leave.
SPEAKER_00: I had to flee to a whole different part of the world.
SPEAKER_00: But we learn at that reunion that where Jacob sends a bunch of people and a bunch of property to Esau in advance of their meeting, trying to calm Esau down.
SPEAKER_00: When they finally meet each other, Esau says, I don't need any of this that you've sent me.
SPEAKER_00: I have enough wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Esau had become wealthy even without the blessing of the inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: So when we look at all of this, one of the biggest things for us to remember is we don't control God's blessings.
SPEAKER_00: We don't control who God is going to bless.
SPEAKER_00: We don't control how God is going to bless.
SPEAKER_00: And if anything, when we think about our own children, we should desire that God would bless all of our children with what really matters.
SPEAKER_00: And what really matters is not the house and the car and the bank account.
SPEAKER_00: All those things make life a little easier.
SPEAKER_00: But what really matters is have our children trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior?
SPEAKER_00: Have they trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior?
SPEAKER_00: And we should never desire that one of our children would be saved and another one would be lost.
SPEAKER_00: We should never desire that the child that's easier to love.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's another thing about children.
SPEAKER_00: Some are easier to love than others.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just admit it.
SPEAKER_00: Some children are easier to love than others.
SPEAKER_00: Some it takes a lot of work to love.
SPEAKER_00: Some it doesn't take much work at all.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: We should pray that all of them get blessed and have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We should not go to the Lord and say, Lord, please reward the one that's been easier to love more than the one who's been hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: If we have those distinctions in our mind and in our heart and in our spirit, let's repent of that.
SPEAKER_00: And let's be people that want the blessings of God for all of our children.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Stay safe this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to visit anyone in the hospital next week.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Don't want that to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Keep in touch with each other over the next 48, 72 hours if you can.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here and you don't and you are on your own and you don't have family in town or anything like that, reach out to a friend, exchange numbers, ask someone to call you on Saturday or Sunday just to see if you're okay.
SPEAKER_00: There is no shame in that whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00: Let's close in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this story.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that even in a family as dysfunctional as this one that we read about today, that you show your love and your kindness and your blessings.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, we pray that for our own families, as dysfunctional as they are, if we are honest with ourselves, as dysfunctioning as our families are, we pray that you would also bless us and use us for your purposes to bless the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the gift of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He is what makes life worth living.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, and it's in his mighty name that we pray, and God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And we are dismissed.