WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.560 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:24.079 Father, we thank you for these truths that we sing of, Lord, that Jesus has paid it all. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:30.160 And God, as we consider all that we pay He paid, Lord, we're reminded of our debt. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:31.920 We're reminded of our sinfulness. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:33.200 We're reminded of our weakness. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:34.880 We're reminded of our brokenness. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:37.840 God, we're reminded of who we are in our sin. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:50.320 And God, we stand in awe of you because you, God, you considered it a worthy mission to send your Son, Lord, as a lamb, to take away the sin of the world. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.880 And so, God, we give you all the praise. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.359 Thank you for what Jesus has done. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:09.760 And God, I pray, as we submit our hearts to you, God, would we be found in a place of humility, being willing, Lord, to see us, for as we truly are in all of our brokenness and all of our weakness. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:15.280 Lord, in the struggle that we still endure with our sinfulness, Lord. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:25.280 God, I pray that you'd help us to see ourselves in the light of our sinfulness and therefore to see the glory and greatness of Jesus Christ in our midst. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:27.040 God, thank you for Jesus. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.519 I pray that you would draw our hearts to Him. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.640 And Lord, help us to exalt you as we sit under your word. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.040 God, we pray this all in the name of your Son. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:35.920 Amen. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:37.439 Amen. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.280 So good to worship together this morning. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.040 If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, you can open them up to Genesis chapter 27. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.480 If you don't have a copy of God's Word, the ushers are gonna come down the aisle right now. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:53.439 They're gonna make their way to the back, and you can stick your hand in the air, and they'd love to put a copy of God's word into your hands. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.959 And if you don't own a Bible, we'd love for you to take that home. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:04.799 It's our gift to you, and we trust that as you dig into God's Word, you're gonna be blessed as He reveals Himself to you. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.760 We're gonna spend our time this morning in Genesis 27. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:13.840 Before we get there, though, I want to just um maybe just highlight the work that God is doing in our midst. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.879 And I don't say this in any way, hope this doesn't come off boastful. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:23.360 I I say it to highlight the glory of God and the work that he's doing in our midst. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.199 And uh last weekend was incredibly encouraging. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.280 If you were here, I trust you were encouraged. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:32.879 It was incredibly encouraging to me and the elders and the staff. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.560 It was one of our highest attended Sundays in the history of our church. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:44.479 But more importantly, why it was incredibly encouraging to me was because I got the opportunity to speak with a number of unbelievers. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:54.080 And that really is the mission of our church is to be a light that is shining in this city and the surrounding area, a light that is shining to the lost. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:10.479 And as I consider why it is that God is working in our midst, so that we can be successful in that mission, so that we truly can be a light to the lost, my mind goes to a problem that Jesus brought up with his disciples in Matthew chapter 9. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:12.800 And this is the problem that Jesus said. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.680 Now, by the way, this is the pre-sermon, okay? 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:16.800 So this is just free. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.000 This is not the sermon, but I just hopefully want to encourage you here. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:25.840 Jesus said this to his disciples the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.439 And here's a problem that we still are in the midst of today. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:31.919 We are in the midst of a plentiful harvest. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.120 There are many who do not know Christ, but there are few lights that are shining. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.960 And so what do we do as a church? 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:39.840 What do we do? 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:41.439 Listen to what Jesus says. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.000 He says, Therefore pray. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:50.639 Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.439 You see, the only solution to the problem that we find ourselves in is to pray. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:03.360 And one of the things that we have done well as a church over the last year is to come together on our worship and prayer nights and to pray. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.639 Because there is a great problem. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.479 It's a problem too big for us. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.319 And so it encourages my heart when as a church we get together and pray. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.039 And I want you to know that we're seeing the fruit of that prayer. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:14.800 God is answering our prayers. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:21.920 And I want you, if you don't come out to our worship and prayer night, what I want you to feel right now is like this feeling of FOMO. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.120 I'm missing out. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:24.399 The fear of missing out. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:27.439 I'm missing out on the work that God could do through me. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.600 I cannot commend this to you enough. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:36.079 We have a saying around here that prayer is to the life of our church like what breathing is to your physical life. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.160 We cannot live without prayer. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.000 So please, can I beg of you? 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.480 I'd get on my knees if it wasn't too humiliating. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:46.639 Can I beg of you to take part in the mission that Jesus has called us on? 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:53.199 To pray with us in community with us on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:54.399 here at Anove. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:58.319 I trust, as the testimony is week in and week out when we pray. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.240 Every month when we gather for worship and prayer, God is going to bless us as we do that. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.399 Okay, that's the pre-sermon. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.399 You guys ready for the real sermon now? 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:07.680 Genesis 27. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.439 Genesis 27. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:25.600 One of the most shocking things about the ministry of Jesus, and it's a shocking truth that as we consider the life of Jesus today, we still have trouble wrapping our minds around the type of people that Jesus spent time with when he came to earth. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:27.680 It's very backwards, isn't it? 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:33.519 That as we read of the life of Jesus, we really find him in the most broken of places. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:43.680 I mean, this is the man who 2,000 years ago he came and he said, I'm not only the king of Israel, he pointed at every human heart. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:47.519 And this man, Jesus Christ, said, I'm the king of your heart. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.000 He said, I'm the king of the universe. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:57.839 Jesus came high and lifted up, worthy more than of any other human being of exaltation. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:07.360 And yet, when he came, he was not with the prestigious, he was not with the strong, he was not with the righteous. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.720 Instead, he was with the sick. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.000 Jesus was with the demon-possessed. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.160 Jesus was with the poor. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:18.399 He was with the weak. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:32.240 And it's hard to wrap our minds around this when we truly understand the glory of Christ because we understand the more prestige someone has, the less we expect them to be hanging out with kind of lowly folk, maybe like us. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:39.519 When the Queen would come to Canada, none of us would expect a knock on the door and to see the Queen there. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:46.800 And yet Jesus comes and he puts himself in the midst of the weakest, most undeserving people. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:56.959 Jesus made it clear that this was his mission, not only in his actions, but also in his words. 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:04.639 And so he said to those Pharisees who confronted him about this one day, who said, Jesus, why are you hanging out with these people? 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:10.800 Jesus said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:15.120 Jesus said his mission was not to come call the righteous, but sinners. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:21.439 And what I want you to see this morning is that the heart of God has always been like this. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:26.560 The heart of God has always been filled with compassion. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:35.439 So that the place that you will find God is in the midst of a broken, sinful, unrighteous people. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:42.480 This is where the compassionate heart of God always meets with his people. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:45.839 So understand this is a principle in your life, then. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:54.639 The principle in your life is that if you make yourself strong, you will never see God. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:58.399 Pretend to be righteous. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:11.199 Put on the mask of Christianity, speak all of the Christian ease, and you will never in that lifestyle have a true and meaningful encounter with God. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:32.879 But the moment in your heart that you begin to exalt in your weakness, that you begin to recognize your brokenness, that you begin to understand your inability, in that moment you will find yourself in the presence of God. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.039 This is the reality of who God is. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.360 I love how one pastor says it, Dane Ortland. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.200 He says this, it's going to come up on the screen. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:45.360 He says, it's the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:54.320 That we are declared right with God, not once we begin to get our act together, but once we collapse into honest acknowledgement that we never will. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:02.480 And listen, this truth is so important for us to hear because it tells us exactly where God is going to meet us. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.720 Do you know where God will meet you this morning? 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:10.080 It is in the place of honest recognition of your brokenness. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:16.000 I wonder if I wonder the condition of your heart as you walked in this morning. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.559 You know, I as a human being can't see into the condition of your heart, but God certainly can. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:25.519 And I wonder if you walked in this morning thinking that you needed to really have your act together. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:27.360 Almost as like a charade. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.600 Like I better not let anyone see into what's really happening in my heart. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.120 And maybe even with your family. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:34.240 You ever have those mornings? 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:38.480 If we're honest, we I have those kind of mornings all the time where you're with your family, you're fighting the whole way. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.480 As soon as those doors close, though, and you're walking in the church, everything's happy. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:46.240 You gotta put on the mask, you gotta put on the facade. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:54.480 I wonder if you walked in this morning, discouraged, frustrated, weary. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:03.120 I want you to recognize that it's in the vulnerability of your discouragement and frustration and weariness that God is gonna meet you this morning. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.080 Maybe you walked in these doors, it was just kind of part of the routine. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.000 Like this is what we do on Sunday mornings. 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.600 A little harder this morning with the sun shining, the heat. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.200 Yet you walked in here because this is routine. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:21.440 You've gone to church your whole life, and underneath the routine, maybe you've walked in here this morning disenchanted. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.480 Maybe this has just been a thing you've done your whole life. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:34.240 Maybe you're even beginning to grow cynical, you feel empty, and I want you to hear this morning that it's in the honesty of those feelings that Jesus will meet you. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:37.519 Maybe you're here and you're just utterly broken. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:41.679 You've struggled with the same sin year in and year out. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.240 You feel like you have not changed, you feel like you cannot be transformed. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.000 You feel like you should be so much more advanced in the faith. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:57.440 And I want you to know that it is those people, it is those people that when Jesus was here, he met with first. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.039 This is so important in the life of our church, isn't it? 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.639 That we understand this principle. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:22.480 That the compassionate heart of God seeks to meet with weak and broken people because we will die as a church if we pretend to be strong, if we are dishonest about our brokenness, there is no way we can ever thrive because God is in the midst of a broken people. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:32.960 What we're gonna see in Genesis 27, and I'm gonna read it for us in a moment, is a whole number of God's people, all of whom are broken. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:36.240 Not a single person in this story gets it right. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:44.960 But against the backdrop of the brokenness of these people's lives, is the plan of God being executed in their midst. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:47.200 It's the same backdrop of our life. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:54.159 In the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of our weakness, God is still relentlessly committed to us. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.840 And I want you to see that in Genesis 27 this morning. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:59.200 Let me read it for you. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.080 We're gonna start actually in Genesis 26, verse 34. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.279 And if you have a copy of God's word, you can follow along with me. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:18.080 Moses writes this When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith, the daughter of Biri, the Hittite, to be his wife, and Basmath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:27.200 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, My son, and he answered, Here I am. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:31.679 He said, Behold, I am old, I do not know the day of my death. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:39.840 Now then take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food such as I love. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:44.559 Bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.720 Now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:58.720 So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son, Jacob, I hear your father speak to your brother Esau. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:06.159 Bring me game and prepare for me pre delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.600 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:18.320 Go to the flock, and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.480 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:29.200 But Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:35.360 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself, and not a blessing. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:42.159 His mother said to him, Let your curse be on me, my son, only obey my voice, and go bring them to me. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:49.360 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:57.919 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.799 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands in the smooth part of his neck. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:07.440 And she put the delicious food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:13.039 So he went in to his father and said, My father, and he said, Here I am, who are you, my son? 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.480 Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.159 I have done as you told me. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.159 Now sit up and eat of my game, that you may that your soul may bless me. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:26.559 But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:30.159 He answered, Because the Lord your God granted me success. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:38.399 Then Isaac said to Jacob, Please come near near that I may feel you, my son, to know whether or not you are really my son Esau or not. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:46.080 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:51.600 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother's, his brother Esau's hands. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.440 So he blessed him, and he said, Are you really my son Esau? 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:57.279 He answered, I am. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:01.039 And he said, Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.600 So he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:09.360 Then his father father Isaac said to him, Come near and kiss me, my son. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:19.440 So he came near and kissed him, and Isaac smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, See the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:25.759 May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:32.320 Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you, be Lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:36.399 Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be every one who blesses you. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:45.440 As soon as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.720 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:54.000 And he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.960 His father Isaac said to him, Who are you? 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:00.000 He answered, I am your son, your firstborn Esau. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:06.399 Then Isaac trembled very violently, and said, Who was it that hunted game and brought it to me? 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.519 And I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:11.519 Yes, and he shall be blessed. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:22.399 As a son Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even also me, even me also, O my father. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.879 But he said, Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.759 Esau said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:31.840 For he has cheated me these two times. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.159 He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.200 Then he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:45.919 Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him Lord over you, and all his brothers. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:50.720 I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:52.960 What then can I do for you, my son? 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.639 Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.679 Bless me, even me also, O my father. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.240 And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:12.079 Then Isaac his father answered, and said to him, Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.920 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.519 But when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:23.839 Now Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:30.319 And Esau said to himself, The day of mourning for my father are approaching, then I will kill my brother Jacob. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:40.319 The words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah, so she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:42.799 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.240 Arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:55.200 And say with him, stay with him awhile, while your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.480 Then I will send and bring you from there. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.759 Why should I be bereft of you both in one day? 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.160 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:11.759 If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be? 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:17.440 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and directed him, You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:26.400 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:33.759 God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.200 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:51.440 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padam Aran, to Leban, to the son of Bethuel of Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:57.359 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, sent him away to Padan Aram to take a wife from there. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:01.599 That as he blessed him, he directed him, You must not take away from the Canaanite women. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:05.279 And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Padan Aram. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:18.799 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahadlath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebooth. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:23.599 I want you to see in this passage our unescapable brokenness. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:29.039 This is the first thing I want you to see that our brokenness is unescapable. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:34.720 Now notice the phrasing of this point as I want you to see it in Genesis 27. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.319 The real key thing here is that you understand that it is unescapable. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:48.160 That each of us, if we were honest with ourselves, as we march through this point, we will see our own brokenness. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:20:00.160 As we look into the mirror of God's word in Genesis 27, what we'll see is not a bunch of screw-ups and broken people of which we could look at and say, oh man, I would do way better than Jacob. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:01.839 I would really trust in God. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:08.079 Instead, what we'll look, what we'll see as we look into the mirror of Genesis 27 is ourself. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:10.880 In all of our brokenness. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:13.920 And this will be incredibly hard for us. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:19.680 Because as a culture, it's incredibly hard for us, isn't it, to deal with brokenness. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:25.279 That's why at every interview that you have been a part of, anytime you want to get a job, you know what you have to do with brokenness? 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.640 You got to pick up the rug. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:29.440 You gotta sweep that brokenness underneath the rug. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:32.640 That's why, even when an interviewer asks you your question, what do you do? 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.240 A question about your weakness. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:35.920 They say, hey, what are your weaknesses? 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.000 Well, you turn that into a strength. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:43.839 You say something along the lines of, oh, well, my greatest weakness is that I just care too much sometimes. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.640 Sometimes I'm too compassionate and it just gets me into so much trouble. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:56.480 You see, as a culture, we glory in our strength and hide our brokenness. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:04.079 Isn't it true that some of the people that you live closest to on your street, they would look at your life and think that everything is okay? 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.559 And is it doesn't that even happen in the church? 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:19.839 This place where we come, and the acknowledgement, if we're Christians, that we are sinners in need of a savior, we can even come in this place and start to believe that like the person beside you has it all together. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:23.119 Can you just do some preaching for me for a second? 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:25.920 Can you turn to your neighbor and say, you're broken? 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.359 Say you're broken. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:28.240 Preach it, okay? 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.519 Preach it, preach it. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:35.599 Some of the uh spouses were a little too eager for that one, a little too eager for that one. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.720 That's what I want us to see, is that each of us are broken. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:47.039 Because it's only once we understand our unescapable brokenness that we can understand why the gospel is good news. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:53.680 See, some of us, our hearts have grown so dull with the gospel because we've failed to see our brokenness. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:59.759 And of course, the gospel is gonna be boring to you if you think that you're perfect, if you think that you constantly walk in strength. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:06.880 If the Holy Spirit, by his grace and mercy, hasn't convicted you of your sin, of course you're going to hear the gospel and say, oh, oh, well. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:12.000 Of course your heart's never going to be set aflame with a passion for the glory of God. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.799 Because you can't see your own brokenness. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.880 See, Jesus' medicine is for the sick. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:21.279 And it was them that he sought. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.559 And today, this morning, it's the sick that he seeks. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:26.960 It's the broken that he seeks. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.640 And so I want you to see our brokenness in this passage. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:35.119 I want you to see the redemptive will of God working in the midst of a broken people. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:40.799 The first way that we are broken, I want you to see in this passage is that our desires are broken. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:45.680 We as a people have broken desires. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.559 In our desires, we are broken in every way. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.559 And we see this really from the very beginning of chapter 27. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.440 We see this in the life of Isaac. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.799 Now in verse 1 of chapter 27, we're told that Isaac was old. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.519 Don't you love how straight up scripture is? 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:05.279 Isaac is old. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:10.720 And one of the ways they knew is that his eyes were growing dim, so that he could not see. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:22.799 And the sense that we get as we march through this passage is not only that Isaac is physically blind, but also that this blindness is pointing to a sign of spiritual blindness that Isaac has. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:29.440 That Isaac, with the eyes of his heart, cannot really see what he truly actually needs. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:37.759 See, what we find in Isaac's life is that he's blind to the plan of God and the way that God wants to work through Jacob. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:46.160 You'll remember if you were with us when we were in Genesis 25, that God had told Isaac exactly what he was going to do. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.480 Do you remember that? 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:58.319 Genesis 25, Isaac was told that, or sorry, Rebecca was told along with Isaac that there were two nations in her womb. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:02.960 God said, two peoples from within you shall be divided, but listen to what God said. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:19.680 From the very beginning, before of all of Jacob's deceit, God said that his plan was to work through Jacob. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:27.759 So Isaac then, by setting his heart on Esau, set his heart on the wrong son. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:38.319 God had clearly told him who he was going to work through, and yet here is Isaac desiring to give the blessing to Esau. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:43.119 We saw it from the very beginning in Genesis 25, 28, this is what we were told. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:49.119 We were told that Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, and Rebekah loved Jacob. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:25:02.640 So instead then of Isaac delighting in the plan of God, instead of Isaac hearing God's plan and then saying, Okay, God, I'm on board, let's do this, Isaac's heart is drawn a different way. 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:07.839 His desires go the opposite way of God's desires. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:10.480 God desires to bless Jacob. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:13.440 Isaac desires to bless Esau. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:15.440 And so the question is, why? 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.440 And I want you to see it's because of Isaac's broken desires. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:21.519 Why does Isaac love Esau? 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:27.839 Well, we're told time and time again, we read it there in Genesis 25, that Esau loved the food. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.359 Sorry, that Isaac loved the food that Esau could make. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:33.440 This is the power of food. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:42.400 And here in Genesis 27, you get this sense that by everyone around Isaac knows that he is blinded by this love for food. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:44.640 Three times it comes up. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:50.960 Look at verse 4, where Isaac tells Esau, prepare for me delicious food, such as I love. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.039 Look at verse 7. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:54.160 Bring me game. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:56.319 This is Rebekah now talking to Jacob. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:03.279 Bring me game, prepare for me delicious food that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.920 Look at verse 9. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:17.519 Where Rebecca again says, Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:19.200 Look at verse 17. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:25.519 And she put the delicious food and the bread which she had prepared in the hand of her son Jacob. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:32.319 Everyone around Isaac knows that he desires food too greatly. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:40.720 Though we had clearly heard God's plan to work through Jacob, it is his love for food that leads him astray. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.279 And we look at Isaac and you say, How could you be so ridiculous? 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:56.079 So that the love of a thing of this world would cause you to disobey God and not desire his plan to be fulfilled. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:01.279 And yet, as we look at ourselves, we see those same broken desires, don't we? 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:13.839 See, instead of desiring the will of the Lord to be accomplished in our life, each of us, at times, if not now, each of us have desired our will to be done. 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:19.200 Each of us have sought our own desires, the fulfillment of our own satisfaction. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.960 See, this is the reality of our brokenness. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:28.319 I want you to understand that our brokenness is the nature that we have broken desires. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:31.920 But the problem here is not with desire itself. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:39.680 There's a whole worldview, in fact, a whole religion founded on this kind of idea that desire in and of itself is bad. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:49.759 If you were to talk to a Buddhist, the aim of the Buddhist is to release themselves from what they would say the slavery of desire. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:54.319 What the Buddhist wants is to desire absolutely nothing. 00:27:54.960 --> 00:28:01.359 And they think that true joy, that true satisfaction will come from separating yourself from the desire of anything. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:05.599 Well, that's kind of like an Eastern religion. 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:09.759 The Western version of that is found in minimalism. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:15.680 Minimalism says that I'll find the greatest joy once I separate myself from everything. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:20.319 Once I don't have any desires, once I don't desire anything, then I'll truly be happy. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:25.759 The reason why I'm so sad, the reason why I'm depressed is because I just have so many things. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:31.440 And I want you to understand that our problem is not that we have desires in and of itself. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.160 Our problem is that our desires are broken. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.079 Our problem is that instead of desiring the things that we should desire, we desire the things that lead to death. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:42.160 You remember Adam and Eve? 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:43.680 They had two options. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:47.839 They could eat of every tree and delight in obedience to God. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:54.480 Or they could eat of a tree of which they were promised one thing, and that was death. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:13.279 If I offered you all the food in the world, and then I also offered you a drink of poison, and you desired the drink of poison instead of all the food of the world, people would look at you and say, something is broken. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:15.519 Their desires are faulty. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:16.960 And so it is with us. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.160 It's the same thing. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:24.240 We desire things that are not of God, we desire things that lead to our very death. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:40.160 The requirement of us then is to come to God in humility and ask God to shape our desires, knowing that our hearts are broken, knowing that we are attracted to these things that lead to our death, and not then attracted to the things that lead to life. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:48.960 I was reading my personal Bible reading this morning, and sorry, this week in Psalm 63, and the psalmist had come to understand this. 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.359 Look what the psalmist says in Psalm 63. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:56.559 See, the psalmist understood that his desires had to be for God. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.000 This is gonna come up on the screen, Psalm 63. 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:02.720 It's gonna come up right now. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:03.200 Here we go. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:08.880 Okay, so here's what the psalmist says it says, so I will bless you as long as I live. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:12.960 I think this is like the fourth verse or something. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:14.480 Are these out of order? 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:17.599 Alright, well, let me read it for you, and maybe he can follow along. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:18.240 Here we go. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:20.400 Oh my God, you are my God. 00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:22.720 Earnestly I seek you. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:26.640 My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.519 As in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:34.880 Here's what the psalmist recognizes in this first verse There is nothing that can satisfy apart from God. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.720 So look what he does. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:41.839 He says, So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:46.000 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.240 So I will bless you as long as I live. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.559 In your name I will lift up my hands. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.119 The psalmist says, Woken up, and you know what he said? 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:57.119 Today I'm gonna live for the praise and glory and blessing of God. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:59.759 I'm gonna live to praise him. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:03.519 My soul desire is gonna be his blessing. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:06.880 My soul desire is going to be his praise. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:10.640 So then look what he understands will happen in this last verse. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:16.319 The psalmist says, My soul will be satisfied as with fattened rich food. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.279 My mouth will praise you with joyful lips. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:21.599 You know what the psalmist comes to realize? 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:26.079 That his soul is created for one food alone. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.279 There is only one spiritual food which will bring satisfaction to his soul. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:35.599 And that spiritual food is to praise the Lord. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:38.559 We get the illustration, don't we? 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.480 We know physically what food is satisfying like that. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:50.559 Like when the psalmist says this morning that if he praises God, his soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. 00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:54.240 Each of you can think about what kind of food that is. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:58.160 For me, that's like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:31:59.119 Can we just take a moment? 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.119 We do this all the time because I just love cookies. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:08.079 But can we just take a moment to delight in the glory of like, I'm talking not like one of those like chips ahoy, okay? 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:09.119 Not we're not talking that. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:14.079 I'm talking like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:28.160 When it comes out of the oven and it's cooled down for like seven and a half minutes, the perfect amount of time, and you bite into it, and the outside, there's the crunch, but then the inside, there's like the goo. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:32.799 Like it's not really cooked enough, and you're probably gonna get sick, but it's so glorious, isn't it? 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.440 And it just melts in your mouth. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.279 This fat and rich, satisfying food. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:49.119 Well, what the psalmist understands is that your soul is created for that same kind of spiritual satisfaction. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:33:00.960 That when you wake up every day and you make it your aim to praise God, your soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:03.279 This is the only way to find satisfaction. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:04.480 It's so backwards. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.039 Because what the world says is you got to focus more on yourself. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:08.720 Take some more me time. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:19.279 And the Bible says you focus on God, you make everything about God, and when you do that, you find the one thing that your soul can truly be satisfied. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:24.400 This is the food of every human soul to praise the Lord. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.119 What does that look like in your life? 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:31.759 Well, it means this: every day you wake up, you say, How can I live today to praise God? 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.119