God Helps Those Who Can't Help Themselves - Genesis 27:1-20

[0:00] All right, so my message today is, finish this phrase, God helps those who help themselves. God helps those who can't help themselves. My grandma on my dad's side was Catholic.

[0:11] She said that all the time. Well, you know, God helps those who help themselves. Girl, my mom, nuts. She was like, oh, I can't see how she says that. Anyway, so if you want to look at a brief outline, I kind of took it off the theme of, you know, in this chapter, Isaac's going to send Esau out to go hunting to get some venison.

[0:36] So chapter one through four is open season. That's where he says, hey, go out in the field and get me some choice venison there, go hunting. And five through seven is fair game. That's where Rebecca overhears the conversation.

[0:47] And she's like, hey, this is fair game. Whoever gets there for the blessing first wins. And I've got a horse in the race. Eight through 13 is the hunt. That's when they're preparing to go in and trick Isaac.

[1:01] And verses 14 through 17 is the hunter. When Isaac is hunting his, I mean, sorry, Jacob is hunting his prey, which is 18 through 20 with Isaac there.

[1:12] So it's just a fun little way. I almost titled the message open season and put that like a little, you know, a movie that came out a few years ago with a deer on it. But anyway, so verse one.

[1:25] So, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old, his eyes were dim, but he could not see. He called Esau, his eldest son, and he said unto him, my son.

[1:36] And he said unto him, behold, here I am. So Isaac was blind. He couldn't see, right? It's what the text is telling us. His eyes were dim. He was old.

[1:46] And Isaac's physical blindness is not nearly as troubling as we're going to see his spiritual blindness. Isaac had become blind to the flesh, right?

[1:57] We know that from years ago when it says Isaac loved Esau and Rebecca loved Jacob. And then Esau continues this pattern of following after the world, following after the flesh, where he marries at 40 years old, those two Hittite women, right?

[2:13] And so Isaac, he's continuing this kind of, this walk away from the things of the spirit and going with the things of the flesh. And verse two says, Well, Hebrews 9.27 says, So we all have an appointment with death.

[2:38] Does anybody here know their appointment? No? Me neither. Neither does Isaac. He doesn't know his appointment. He's like, oh, but I know not the day of my death. You know what, Isaac?

[2:48] Nobody does. Okay, get over it. You know? So that's where we're supposed to have peace with death because of God, I mean, because of Jesus who conquered death. But Isaac right now, he's somewhere between 100 and 130 years old.

[3:01] I have this picture. Made me think of being in a church like this and in Sunday school. You know, there's Esau and there's Jacob as little kids, and that's kind of how you think of them, you know, or maybe then as teenagers.

[3:14] But the reality is, if you remember from the last chapter, Esau was 40 when he married those two women. By the time Jacob is going to leave and go to Haran, he's in his 70s. And then he goes and he finds Rachel, this young girl, and marries her and Leah.

[3:30] So I'm hoping to have a timeline for you next week to hand out. Evie's been helping me verify the numbers and work on it. But you can figure out Isaac's, I mean, sorry, Jacob's age by looking at Joseph's age and kind of working backwards.

[3:42] Because we know Jacob was in Haran for about 20 years. You know when Jacob comes to Egypt and dies, and we know how old Joseph was.

[3:53] You can backtrack from there and find out, okay, Joseph was maybe 13 years after he was in Haran. He has Joseph. And then figuring out Joseph's age, you figure out Jacob's age. And the dude is in his 70s when he gets down there to Haran.

[4:09] So a lot different than we think it is. And it does come into play when you see some of the text here of what mom and dad are kind of saying to the sons and how they're interacting.

[4:21] So it's a point that a man wants to die. And we know that Genesis 35, 28 says the days of Isaac were 180 years old. So Isaac is going to live 50 more years from this date.

[4:35] You know, that'd be like bringing your kids around you. You're maybe in your 50s, and you're like, kids, I don't know the day of my death. We need to settle this now. I'm like, well, mom, dad, you've got a few years. What's going on?

[4:45] But I think Isaac had an unhealthy fear of death. I think it ran into family. If you remember, the first time Abraham in Genesis 12 goes down into Egypt, right, what does he say about his wife? Oh, she's my sister.

[4:58] Why? I don't want to get killed. And then the next time we see him go, he goes to Gerar. He goes to Abimelech. He says the same thing. You know, my wife, I mean, who wouldn't want this 95-year-old, 99-year-old woman?

[5:11] I mean, look out. They might kill me for her. And then we see the same thing with Isaac, as we saw in Genesis 26. When he goes down there, he says, I feared lest I die for her.

[5:22] He was afraid. And you think, well, okay, Isaac has this unhealthy fear of death. But I think the same way we looked at how he kind of shied away from the altar, I think that same kind of event could very easily produce in him this unhealthy fear of death.

[5:39] If you look in Genesis 22, verses 9 and 10, we read this before regarding the altar. Abraham and Isaac come to the place that God had told them of. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar of the wood.

[5:53] And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. You know, he's about to kill his son. It's impacted Isaac's life. There's things in our lives that will impact us greatly. And sometimes they're tragic.

[6:06] Sometimes we don't understand them. But there is a way to process them, right? And it's with the Lord and with his word. The further Isaac gets away from the things of the Lord and the further he gets into the flesh and self-effort, the more these things are going to trouble him.

[6:22] For us, though, we don't have to fear death, do we? Because we know, oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through who? Our Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:33] Jesus took the sting out of death. So death is now just a doorway for us into resurrected life. There is no sting in death. When we fear death, what does that mean? It means we've moved away from that place of recognizing that there is no sting in death.

[6:47] There's no fear in death because Christ has took it from there. It means we're moving away from the things of the Lord and towards the things of the flesh. But verse 3 says, Isaac says, I like this, Now therefore, son, you remember he can't see.

[7:01] He's like, take your weapons, your quiver, your bow, go to the field and get me a big book. Get me some venison. Isaac had become ruled by the appetites of his flesh.

[7:12] This is why he loved Esau. It says, and Isaac loved Esau because of his venison. You know, because he was a hunter. He goes, yeah, he's out there. Because he did eat of his venison.

[7:25] That's Genesis 25, 28. Isaac was more enamored with the weapons of this world than the weapons that he should have been using to safeguard his family. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 and 4.

[7:39] For though we walk in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What are those strongholds?

[7:50] It's casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. The strongholds that our weapons fight against are the strongholds in the mind, right? When Satan shoots his darts, and we need the shield of faith, is to protect our mind and our heart because of the things that the enemy shoots in there.

[8:06] And they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. And so here, Isaac is more enamored with the weapons of the flesh. And he says, Son, make me some savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, and my soul may bless thee before I die.

[8:22] Son, go get my favorite Chick-fil-A meal, bring it back, and I'm going to bless you before I die. And here we see too, what does Isaac say? That who may bless him? That his soul may bless him.

[8:33] What capacity does my soul have to bless your soul? Well, there is some, right? Friendship, fellowship, there is that, right? We hang out with the people we love and we like.

[8:47] You don't, you know, generally we don't invite people over that drive us crazy. It's like, you know that one family? Let's invite them. Now, next time you're invited over, don't think, which category do we fit in?

[8:59] But Jesus said what? He said, hey, it doesn't do you any good to have over those that can pay you back, and those that are friendly. He says what? But those of the kingdom should be willing to reach out to those that are more marginalized.

[9:11] But anyway, so here he says, go out. He says, my soul will bless you before I die. There's nothing wrong with healthy appetites and desire. There's nothing wrong. If you like hunting, great.

[9:22] When I was a kid, me and my whole, my dad and everybody, we hunted. I didn't get anything. I just slept in the deer stand. But that was what we did. And I hated venison as a kid.

[9:33] Hated it. It's all my mom cooked with. It was free meat. And now I love it. You know, I can't get it. If I can get it now, it's like so nostalgic. So there's nothing wrong with healthy appetites and desire.

[9:44] There's nothing wrong if you like, you know, hiking, sport, adventure, whatever. There's nothing wrong with the healthy appetites and desires that we can partake of. The problem is when we allow them to rule over us.

[9:55] We allow them to be the dictating and driving thing of our life. See, Isaac loved Esau for all the wrong reasons. He was more interested in how successful Esau was in the field than how holy he was in his heart.

[10:09] There's a lot of people today that are very concerned about how successful they are in the field, what field they're in. The field of work, the field of sports, right? And Isaac, unfortunately, concerned himself more with that than the state of Esau's heart.

[10:25] Because Esau, this guy was not in any way tracking with the things of the Lord. And yet Isaac put all of his time and effort into him, but it didn't result in fruit. The appetites of the flesh, they blind us, just like Isaac, to the external, I'm sorry, to the eternal by keeping our minds fixed upon the temporal.

[10:44] So we're blinded to the eternal because we're so fixated on these appetites and desires here. It just happens to me. We were talking yesterday, the guys we got together for breakfast, and we were talking about what it is to value, from Philippians 3, value true value.

[11:01] What is true value? Why do guys pull back from valuing things of the spirit, things of the word, things of worship? You know, ladies kind of dive right into that, like, yes, let's go.

[11:11] And guys are kind of like, how you doing, brother? I'm good. Brother? If we call each other brother. How you doing? Good, good. How you doing? Good. Where you work? What you do for hobbies? Nice, nice. Have a good week. You know, that's a whole other message, and we're not going to dive into that.

[11:25] You want to find out the answer, talk to me afterwards, of why men shy away from those things. It all goes back to Adam. But anyway, so there's nothing wrong with those healthy appetites.

[11:36] But Romans tells us in Romans 8, verses 6 through 8, he says, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

[11:53] So then they, which are in the flesh, what can they not do? They cannot please God. There's no way we can make this flesh, the carnality, the nature that is part of this perishing world.

[12:05] We can't. We can't make it please God. There's nothing. We can't reform it. We looked at that yesterday, and we looked at Philippians 3. Paul says that the things that were gained to him, he counted loss.

[12:16] And we were discussing that, how he gives this whole picture of the flesh, but it's not licentiousness. It's not debauchery. It's not fevery.

[12:28] It's his picture of him as a, oh, now I heard the noise. It was this picture of him as a Pharisee, just perfect man. Everything you'd want to know in a guy.

[12:40] Upright, upstanding, religious. And he's like, that's the flesh. That's all the flesh, and I count that loss. And Romans 12, 2 says, And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

[12:57] So Isaac, as a dad, was encouraging his son to prioritize and value things that had no eternal value. He was not allowing him to be conformed. I'm sorry, transformed, but conformed.

[13:10] Isaac had allowed appetites to rule over his flesh, and he was modeling that to his son. And this is what I think for Isaac, he was prioritizing capability above character, appetite above attitude, and like interest above being like-minded in the things of the Spirit.

[13:28] This is what he prioritized. This is what he's showing his son, how to live. The scripture tells us we should have appetites. We should have very healthy appetites. Not for the things that this world desires.

[13:41] Matthew 5, 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. Nothing in this world will satisfy, but hunger and righteousness. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, righteousness can fill.

[13:54] It can satisfy. It can bring us to a place where we can actually say, Hey, I have enough in the Lord. I don't need all that to try and continue to fill this hole. Psalm 107, 9, For he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

[14:09] That's God's desire. That is God's desire. Real quick before we move on from this verse. It says there that Isaac was going to bless him, didn't it? Remember, what did Jacob do with the pottage, the red pottage that then poor Esau for the rest of his life was called Edom, or red, because of that, right?

[14:27] Jacob took his birthright. He sold it to him, his birthright. Well, I always thought these were the same thing, the blessing and the birthright, right? But they're not, because we're going to get there in a week or so.

[14:39] Further on in Genesis 27, verse 36, it says Esau, responding to Isaac, says, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he supplanted me these two times.

[14:50] He took away my birthright. Behold, now he's taken away my blessing. They're not the same thing. In Deuteronomy, you can look there on your own, chapter 21, verses 15 through 17, it talks about if a man has two wives, one wife he loves, one he hates, and he has the oldest son by the one he hates, and then he has a son by the one he loves, he can't supplant that first one and give the inheritance over here to the one he loves.

[15:14] But the birthright, the right of the firstborn, must go to firstborn. That's different than the blessing. That's something completely different here. Verse 5, or verse 5, And Rebecca heard, and so here we have, fair game, Rebecca's like, alright, whoever gets to the finish line first.

[15:34] Rebecca heard when Isaac spake to Esau, his son. And Isaac went, and I'm sorry, and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it. He goes out to stalk his game. And Rebecca spake unto Jacob, her son, saying, Behold, I've heard your father speak unto Esau, your brother, saying, Bring me venison, make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord, before my death.

[15:59] So Rebecca now, hears this whole thing take place. What does that mean about Isaac and Rebecca? Where was Rebecca? When Isaac's about to make this huge family-altering decision, this decision in the life of his son, she's nowhere to be seen.

[16:17] Rebecca, who at one time, without him ever even having to ask her, or her ask him, he recognizes, you know what, she's struggling. She's really struggling because she doesn't have any children. I'm going to go, I'm just going to pray for her.

[16:29] And God heard his prayers. He was so in tune with his wife. Now he's like, he doesn't even know where she is. She's not even part of this. And Rebecca, look at her response here. Look at what she does.

[16:43] She uses her intimate knowledge of her husband, right? Which should be care and consideration. She's using this intimate knowledge of him to manipulate him. She's like, oh, oh, I know what he likes.

[16:54] No problem. I got this. I know your father. Well, this, this will work. And so she's using this intimate knowledge of him, her intimacy with her husband, to manipulate the situation.

[17:05] Neither Isaac nor Rebecca are seeking each other's counsel in their family decisions. Even worse, did not sought the Lord at all in this. They use his name all throughout this, but there's no care what he actually thinks.

[17:20] When the flesh and appetite rule the home, nobody gets blessed. There's no blessing in this. So what does it look like when the flesh is at home? When the flesh is at home in my life, when I know the flesh is in my home, what's that look like?

[17:35] The flesh is at home when, well, look in verse five, the flesh lives for the moment. We have this picture, here's Esau, Esau, our buddy who, he didn't care about the future at all.

[17:45] He was all about the moment. Just give me this food or I die. Here, you can have my birthright. I don't care what that is. The flesh has no honor. And that's Rebecca, right? Come on. She's going to pull this thing over on her husband.

[17:57] Where's, where's the honor in this? It's all about what she can get for herself or what she's trying to bring about. And the flesh uses God and others for its own end. And that's in verse seven there where it's, hey, hey, that the Lord bless you.

[18:13] The Lord wants to do this. I'm going to try and, and twist this whole thing. We're going to do this whole scheme to trick your dad to gain God's blessing. God's blessing. It's not going to be in that. Sorry, this is such a downer of a message.

[18:25] There's some good stuff in it too, but we just, it's just so good about going through the word. You cover the topics that are there. I wouldn't probably not have picked, hey, let's talk about family relationships and husband and wife and kid interaction today.

[18:37] We just teach through the word and God is so good to just bring out whatever he wants to. But what does the flesh want? The flesh wants what it wants now. Right? That's what lust is.

[18:48] Lust is essentially desire fulfilled in the moment. I can't wait. It's got to be now. And then what is verse seven? If you look at the end there, how does Rebecca twist this a little bit? Remember what Isaac said?

[18:59] He said that my soul might bless you. Well, Rebecca makes this a little more than it actually is. She says, and bless you, that Isaac may bless you before the Lord.

[19:10] Right? Isaac never said that, did he? She adds that. And small deceptions can lead to big lies, can't they? Yeah, has God said, Eve, that you may not eat of the fruit?

[19:23] Yeah, God said we can't eat it and we can't touch it. And he said, gotcha. Because God didn't say you can't touch it. Go ahead, Eve, reach out and touch it. She does. Does she die? No.

[19:34] Well, wait, God must have lied to me. Because I touched it and I didn't die. And I thought God meant I can't touch it. So that means if I eat it, I probably won't die either. The small deceptions leading to big lies.

[19:44] And so Rebecca's twisting this a little bit. Right? She's raised Jacob. He's probably heard since childhood, Jacob, God has promised me when you're in the womb that you would be the one. Right?

[19:55] The interesting thing is by the time we get through the end of this whole thing, you know, we finally get through 27 and all that. Jacob never gets a blessing. Isaac blesses him, but it's not until God comes and blesses him.

[20:06] This doesn't work to get this blessing he thinks he's going to get. And what? We'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, verse 8, Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.

[20:20] Jacob, do what I tell you. Remember Jacob's how old? Somewhere between 40 and 70. Right? He's, he's, brother. Time to do your own laundry.

[20:32] Make your own lunch. Okay? Time to get out of mom's basement. Tent. And, okay? You know what? It's easy to hide our own responsibilities behind other people's decisions.

[20:44] Isn't it? It's very easy for me to hide my responsibilities behind someone else's decision. Oh, well, I mean, they chose to do that. You know, but what was Jacob's responsibility? Man, it was time to step up and lead.

[20:56] That's what he should have done. He should have said, no, mom. If God promised this, God's going to do it. God's going to bring this about. I don't have to make this happen and we don't need to do this. Verse 9, Go now to the flock, Jacob.

[21:08] Mama's got this. Fetch me from fence two good kids of goat and I will make them savory meat for your father such as he loves. Here we see the flesh is predictable. She's like, oh, your father's so predictable.

[21:22] I know his appetites and desires. I know. This is very predictable. And Rebecca, again, using her familiarity and intimacy with her husband to attempt to manipulate and control the situation instead of what?

[21:34] She should have cared for her husband and she should have confronted him. That would have been care in this situation. She should have said, honey, this is not God's will. What are you doing? Look at Esau.

[21:45] He's not walking with the Lord. You remember what the Lord said about Jacob? Rebecca played Isaac for a fool, didn't she? You know, look at him.

[21:57] What a fool. Think of when Abigail comes to David and she says, talks about Nabal, her husband. And she says, Nabal is his name for Nabal he is, which means fool.

[22:08] A fool. But for Rebecca, Isaac is being played for a fool. Instead of encouraging him to be the father and husband he needs to be, she's taking advantage of this situation.

[22:19] And all it does is do what? It reflects back upon her as the type of man she was encouraging her husband to be. Oh, he's such a, yeah, but what are you doing in his life to encourage him?

[22:30] What are you doing to help him pass that? Oh, he's never on time for anything. Oh, he never talks to the kids about the Lord. Oh, he, whatever. But all it does is reflect upon her because this is the type of man she was encouraging him to be.

[22:46] In verse 10, and so she says to Jacob, and then once I've made this food, you're going to take it to your father that he may eat and that he may bless you before his death. Surely God will bless you for this, right?

[23:01] This is like, look, I got this idea. You say to your siblings, right, we're going to pull this over on mom and dad. It's going to work out. It's going to be great. When does that ever work? Never worked for me. I used to tell my younger sister, listen, you'd be a great younger sister if you just do what I told you when I'm your older brother.

[23:16] Then I told her to do really stupid things. Then she wouldn't listen to me anymore. But deceit, deceit is disastrous, isn't it? Absolutely disastrous.

[23:27] A blessing obtained by deception will always end up a curse. You can't obtain a blessing by deception. It's going to end up a curse. What Rebecca thought was a good idea, what Jacob thought was a good idea, will tear this family apart.

[23:42] This blessing he's going after, he's never going to see his mom again. She's going to see her family split apart. And she's going to be stuck with Esau and his two wives. And then he's going to try and make it better by adding to that and going and getting more wives.

[23:54] That's great. There's an object, there's a lesson in there, everybody. Don't make your life worse by marrying more wives. Once again, no, Proverbs 11, three, we'll move on from that.

[24:07] The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. And that's just like we've talked about, that those who sow to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.

[24:19] So Isaac and Rebecca as parents, let's just look at them for a moment. Isaac and Rebecca, their relationships with their son, their sons, become means of personal fulfillment, aren't they? Esau's like, I mean, Isaac's like, Esau, yeah, I'm blind and stuck here.

[24:35] You know, entertain me. Go get something delicious. Isaac and Rebecca were failing as parents not because of their lack of love for their children. Did they love their kids?

[24:46] Well, Genesis 26 says they did. They loved their children. But for the lack of restraint in their own lives. And then subsequently in the lives of their children, instead of encouraging what was best in their sons, Isaac and Rebecca, encouraged behavior and interest that fulfilled their own appetites and desires.

[25:05] That's what they encouraged in the life of their kids. Because they had no control over their own appetites and desires. They just passed that on to their children. Jeremiah 29 11 tells us what God's desire is for us as a father.

[25:20] For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. And that just doesn't mean like, you know, those who sow to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. Well, that's an expected end.

[25:31] The wording there for expected end means not just that it's an end that's expected, but it's an end that God expects. The end there where he says, the thoughts that I think towards you are peace and not for evil. That's the end God will bring to us.

[25:45] And so Jacob now responds to his mother in verse 11. And he says, But mom, behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

[25:56] That is a strange verse. But he's so manly and I'm just, my father peradventure will feel me.

[26:09] Sorry. I shall seem to him as a deceiver. I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. Jacob's relationship with his dad had degraded to what?

[26:19] His father was just a means to an end, wasn't it? Like, hey, hey, wait a minute. Well, dad might bring a curse on me instead of a blessing. You know, yeah, I'm going to deceive dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[26:30] I don't care about our relationship. I just want to make sure the end result is a blessing. You know, and I don't get cursed. That'd be really bad. The priorities of Isaac and Rebekah were reflected in Jacob.

[26:42] Jacob was no more concerned with perception. I mean, Jacob was more concerned with perception than reality, wasn't he? Well, what am I perceived as? He's going dressed as Esau, trying to feel like Esau.

[26:55] That's not the reality. But he wanted to know, hey, I want to make sure that what I'm perceived as, what I identify as, is what's important here. And he was more concerned with results than character.

[27:08] And so the sad thing is that Jacob was seeking to obtain what God had already given, isn't it? God had already given him this. Jacob is wrong in thinking he's got to get the birthright from Esau. He's wrong in thinking he's got to steal his blessing.

[27:19] Because God had already promised. He said, hey, the elder will serve the younger. So leave that to the Lord to figure out what that looks like, Jacob. Now his mother, she's got a great idea in verse 13, doesn't she?

[27:31] His mother said unto him, upon me be your curse, my son. Now only obey my voice and go fetch me them. Bad theology never results in a blessing.

[27:42] This is some bad theology. Like, I'm going to take your curse upon me. You can't do that. That's crazy. That's like when Isaac said, you know, my soul will bless you. I don't want a blessing from your soul.

[27:54] I want a blessing from God. This is bad theology. He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. That is good theology. It's not always good to hear when I'm in the flesh.

[28:07] But he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Sorry, Rebecca, it doesn't work that way. If Jacob sows to the flesh, he shall of the flesh reap corruption. God is a spirit in John 4, 24.

[28:20] And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Truth. Verse 14, And our buddy Jacob went and fetched and brought them to his mother.

[28:34] His mother made savory meat such as his father loved. Now look in that verse. Look at those opportunities Jacob had at any of these times that turn around. Jacob went, Jacob fetched, Jacob brought.

[28:46] As Jacob's going, he could have thought, you know what? This is a really dumb idea. I shouldn't do it. As Jacob fetched, he picked up those items. Maybe this isn't the Lord.

[28:58] And as he brought them back to his mom, maybe he should have said, Mom, let's talk. I'm 70 years old. I can make my own savory meat. I'm moving into my own tent.

[29:12] But he had multiple opportunities to stop this whole mess. He could have just put the brakes on. He couldn't. So Rebecca takes the goodly raiment of her eldest son, Esau, which she had with her in the house.

[29:23] She's doing his laundry too. And put them upon Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck. Dishonesty always takes us further than we intend to go.

[29:36] There's no way Jacob intended to be here with goat skins hanging off of him. Right? He always takes us further. Like, well, I know this isn't really true, but it'll get me through this situation quick.

[29:48] Oh, I just built on another problem now because this person just asked me about that lie I told. Okay, well, I'll just tell him this and then I'll take care of it. It always takes us further than we intend to go.

[30:02] And for Jacob, what's he trying to do? Who's he trying to look like? What's Esau a picture of? He's a man of the field, a man of the world, a man of the flesh. Looking like the world is never going to result in a blessing.

[30:15] Here's Jacob trying to look like the world. Right? All of Jacob's self-effort could never make him into something he was not. No matter what he identified as. No matter what. Even if he identified, sorry, I shouldn't, even if he identified as a furry.

[30:30] He wasn't. Even with all of his goat skins. Okay? That's not what he was. But there is some way that he could have become someone else, doesn't there? And he will eventually.

[30:41] We're going to jump ahead real quick and look at Genesis 32. This is after he wrestles all night with the Lord. And he's going back to see Esau. He's going back to see his red and hairy brother. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day.

[30:56] And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. Jacob's thigh was touched by the angel. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint.

[31:07] And he wrestled with him. He continued to. I broke a rib before. Falling down, playing paintball at a youth thing. I fell and it was a crack. That was bad. I don't know how you continue to wrestle with a hip that's out of socket.

[31:22] But he continued with that persistence. And he said, let me go. The angel says this. For the day breaks. He said, I will not let you go. Except what? You bless me. I want a blessing.

[31:33] I've been trying to find a blessing all this time. And he said unto him, what is your name? Esau? No. Isaac? No. Abraham? I'm a heel catcher.

[31:45] I'm Jacob, son of Rebecca, the noose. And he said, no, your name will not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel. For as a prince, you have power with God and with men and have prevailed.

[31:57] Jacob, you found your blessing. But it wasn't in something you did, was it? It was that you held on to me. You held on to the source of the blessing. So Jacob, he could not, through any amount of self-effort, turn himself into Esau.

[32:10] Verse 17, And then Rebecca takes the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared and she puts it into the hands of her son Jacob. The help that Rebecca thought she was giving her son was only setting him up for failure.

[32:24] You know, Rebecca would be what's called a snowball, a snowplow parent, right? There's nothing and she removes everything from his way. Right? The helicopter parents goes to hover and there's snowplow parents remove every obstacle.

[32:36] Well, parents, not every obstacle is meant to be removed from our children's lives. Lamentations 3.27 says, It's good for a man that he bear the burden in his youth. Kids, chores are good for you.

[32:48] Sorry. I didn't like them either. But it's good for a man that he bear the burden in his youth. We live in a society that tries to remove all trouble from people's lives.

[32:59] You know, are you feeling anxious? Well, I'll give you this substance. And there's legitimacy. You know, there's times where God uses that. You know, the scripture says better to enter into life maimed than hell and destruction whole.

[33:11] There's times in our life where that's just a maimed area of my life and I'm accepting that and I'm not going to be whole right now. But you know what? I'm going to pursue the Lord and things of him. But suffering, scripture tells us, suffering, so for the present time, you know, does not seem joyous, but afterwards it works a peaceable fruit of righteousness.

[33:30] That through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. Suffering removes many of our psychological problems that we see in this society.

[33:43] This narcissistic society that think that everything should be handed to them. There should be no problem. A little bit of suffering, I don't mean like you're beat up on someone. I'm just saying a burden, you know, living in reality of the life that they're in.

[33:56] I'm not having someone who's always removing obstacles in front of them. Hebrews 12, 6, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. Verse 18, and he came unto his father.

[34:10] So here comes Jacob and he says, my father. And he said, here am I. Who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau.

[34:21] You're first born. I think it was more like, I'm Esau. And I've done according as you bade me. Arise, I pray you. Sit and eat of my venison that thy soul may bless me.

[34:31] There's so much here. Isaac clearly sees something's not right because he says, who are you, my son? Right? Jacob just comes and says, my father, here I am.

[34:43] He didn't say he was Esau. So he's like, I recognize this voice as my son, but why would he say, who are you? He's kind of like, whoa, something's not right here. So I don't think Jacob was as fully in on this as his mom was.

[34:56] Right? If you're going to try and act like your brother and your dad can't see, you put goat skins all over you, you're wearing his clothes so you smell like him, why is it going to be the dead giveaway that you're not your brother?

[35:07] You just don't sound like your brother. Right? He doesn't seem to do anything here to try and like top his brother's voice. I don't think he was fully in on this. But here, a troubled soul has no capacity for blessing.

[35:19] And that's Jacob. He's a troubled soul. Isaiah 57, 20 says, the wicked are like the troubled sea which cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt. I think that's Jacob. He's just so troubled.

[35:30] This is not where he should be but what he should be doing. And for us, we can learn never push past God's roadblocks. Clearly, Isaac has a roadblock here and Jacob.

[35:41] Never push past them. There's a reason God puts them up. Our biggest roadblock, you know what it is? That's the peace that God puts in our hearts. That's our biggest roadblock.

[35:52] Colossians 3, 15, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts which also you are called in one body and be you thankful. Wherever God's peace is, we go. Wherever God's peace is not, we don't.

[36:03] We stop. That's our biggest roadblock, our biggest check. As long as God gives us peace, great. God puts a check in your spirit, stop. The Lord is never pressed for time, is he?

[36:16] He has all the time in the world. We were talking about that yesterday. It's like, okay, we give up a whole Saturday morning and you can feel like, well, I have projects to do. You know what? When you give your time to the Lord and you value that time, the Lord has a way of stretching and manipulating and lengthening time in the craziest of ways to give you the opportunity you need to do things.

[36:36] But here we see that for Jacob, he was pushing past all these roadblocks. And Isaac in verse 20, this is the last verse we'll end with for today. Isaac said unto his son, how is it you found it so quickly, my son?

[36:53] And he said, well, because the Lord, my God, brought it to me. Man, you think that got caught in his throat a little bit there. Jacob was attributing to the Lord the results of the flesh and self-effort.

[37:06] He's like, this is the Lord. The Lord did all of this. Oh, it's wonderful. You know, it's like being in a prayer meeting, right? Lord, you know, I wore out my shoes.

[37:18] I wear size 13, not wide, medium. My favorite brand is, and if you would provide that, and then next week, someone from the prayer group said, hey, you know, God put it on my heart to give you these shoes. It wasn't the Lord, folks.

[37:32] Right? Jacob was attributing the efforts of the flesh and self, the thing, attributing the Lord that it's the Lord who had done that. Proverbs 12, 22 says, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.

[37:48] There's no way Jacob can turn this around as being a blessing from the Lord. Proverbs 20, 17, bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards, his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

[37:59] One thing, Jacob, in that moment, to say, oh, the Lord did this, and then afterwards, how he's going to regret those words probably the rest of his life. So for us, as we close, we've looked at this picture of a family that's kind of a mess.

[38:16] We never need to help God bring about his word. God's word said it. God's spoken to us. Now, there's general revelation, and there's particular revelation. I can read this book, and I can say, you know, for God so loved the world.

[38:32] He gave his only begotten son. Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. General revelation. I can believe that. But then God speaks to me particular revelation. Maybe I'm in a time where I'm struggling with my Lord, my salvation.

[38:44] Is it secure? And then I read in there, God so loved the world that whoever believes in him shall have everlasting life. I have it now. And God speaks that particularly to my heart and says, you have it now.

[38:55] It's not someday, currently, you have everlasting life. That's particular. I don't need to help God bring about his word. I didn't need to help God bring about his word to me. They said, hey, I want you to start a church.

[39:07] He's going to start a church. I want you to pastor a church. Okay. We were talking on the way in this morning, who and I, that we haven't picked anything. It's great. I don't have to think about, no, let's see, the next step in the church planting program, and then, I think the method that I read in this book, only method I've read about is in this book.

[39:24] Every place we've been in, God has pigeonholed us into it. We got no money, so he gives us a place for $25. Then he gives us a place for nothing. The guy just says, use it, and we're going to, you know, contribute for sure.

[39:36] But the point is, the Lord can provide. You don't have to make his word come about. So at this time in the world, how many people were there? I was reading this article that said, if the birth rate was the same as it is today, then from Noah to Abraham, which is about eight generations, I think, you can check me on that, eight or ten, there would be 135 people in the world today, or in Abraham's day.

[39:58] If the birth rate was what it was, like it is today, when Noah comes off the ark and they have the amount of kids the birth rate is in the world today, there would be 135 people in the world. But, if you look at the rate that they were having children, it's about 10 per person, you know, when you look at the amount of sons they had, and then if you double that and say, you know, daughters as well, what's this at?

[40:19] 11 million. There's about 11 million people right now. So this dysfunctional family, the husband and wife that are not in sync with each other, horrible examples for their children, out of 11 million people in the entire world, you know, the only family that God looks down on and says, that's the one.

[40:39] That's the one I've chosen. That's the one I'm going to bless. This one. No matter how dysfunctional your family is, God can use it, and God can work through that, and God can bring, God is the only one can bring a blessing.

[40:52] We don't have to make it happen. We don't have to try and force God's word to fit within our little picture. But what do we have to do? We have to trust that he's able.

[41:03] And like Galatians 3.3 says, are we so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Right? We stay in the spirit. We stay in the thing that brought us here, right?

[41:15] You dance with the one that brought you. The Holy Spirit, he's the one who's done this. The life and the work is inward. Isaiah 40.29, he gives power to the faint. To them that have no might, he increases strength.

[41:27] You don't have to be strong. You don't have to be self-sufficient. You don't have to try and do it on your own. God specifically says, are you faint? Do you have no might? That's who he gives power to. Jesus said when he came in Luke 5.32, he said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

[41:42] Right? To enter into the kingdom of God, Jesus says, you must be born again. What is the requirement to get into God's kingdom? You have to be what? Human? Cats and dogs don't go to heaven?

[41:54] You have to be alive? You have to be a sinner. You can be the other two, but if you're not a sinner, you can't be saved. Only those who need salvation are saved.

[42:04] Jesus said that he who is sick doesn't need a physician. Right? Sorry. He who is whole doesn't need a physician, but the sick. Now in today's world, even if you're whole, they tell you you need a physician.

[42:18] I'm going with what Jesus said. Jesus said, you don't need one unless you're sick. And so he says, I've not come to call the healthy, but those who have a need, and they recognize their need.

[42:29] Psalm 37, 5 through 7, and then verse 11 says, commit your way unto the Lord. Trust also in him. If Jacob would have only taken this to heart, it wasn't written then, but if he had taken this attitude, commit your way unto the Lord.

[42:43] Trust also in him and who shall bring it to pass? He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noon day. Jacob, you don't have to do it on your own. Rest in the Lord.

[42:54] Wait patiently for him. Threat not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Don't worry about the Esau's, the big, cool, red, hairy guy in your life.

[43:07] So what? God's got this. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. So as we end, Proverbs 10, 22 tells us, what?

[43:20] Read it with me. The blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and he adds no sorrow with it. Right? The blessing of the Lord. We want the Lord's blessing.

[43:32] We don't have to try and strive for it and work for it. It's already been promised. Why try and obtain what God's already given me instead of just enjoying it?

[43:43] Now there are things in our lives that we talk about that particular revelation to us, that particular word. When God reveals something to me, I'm ready to get there and do it. Let's go! You know? So, what?

[43:54] Last, last summer, about July, when the Lord really began to speak to me and say, hey, I want you to pastor a church and leave the church you're at. I was ready.

[44:07] Let's go! Well, nothing happened until March. You know? But then as you look back, you see God's faithfulness and his timing, which allows you to look forward and go, well, if that was back there, then surely he could do that again and he will do that again.

[44:21] But the Lord doesn't add sorrow. If it's his blessing, he has no desire to add sorrow. Now, that doesn't mean, like we talked about, remove all obstacles and suffering to come. But God's desire is not to add sorrow to your life.

[44:34] His desire, unlike, you know, what Jacob and Isaac and Esau and Rebecca realized, it was to bless their lives and they were already a family under blessing. They were already the family chosen by God.

[44:45] Look, if you put your faith in Christ, you were already a family, a person under blessing chosen by God. So just enjoy it. Right? And then parents, check yourself.

[44:56] You know, I need to check myself. What am I passing on to my son, to my daughter? What am I saying is valuable? What am I saying is worth giving their time to?

[45:07] And so Father, as we close now, we just want to worship you, Lord. Lord, you've spoken into our hearts through your word, Lord, through this crazy situation. Only you would write this book and hold up your people.

[45:20] Out of 11 million people, you're holding them up saying, these are my people and they're a mess. And Lord, it's because they're not a life of perfection. That's not what you want to hold in front of us.

[45:31] It's a life of faith. And what you're showing us is that your word and your promise, it will pass the test, Lord. That Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Lord, the promise will not fail because you're the one who made it.

[45:47] They will fail and so will we and so will I, horribly, but you will not. And so, Lord, the things that we do have control over, Lord, I don't have control over Esau. I don't have control over the future, but I do have control over whether I walk in the spirit or I walk in the flesh.

[46:03] I do have control over whether I'm going to take the time and the opportunity to invest myself and my family in the things of the Lord. Lord, I do have the time, Lord, to do the things that will bring blessing to my life, hungering and thirsting after righteousness that I might be filled.

[46:20] Lord, I pray that we as a family collectively, Lord, we would not look to fill ourselves and our children and our homes with things that just wear out. I need a next fix. I need another filling.

[46:31] That, Lord, we would be in the field, not the field, Lord, that's white under harvest. That whether we're in our field of business or on the field for playing sports or whatever field, Lord, we'd recognize we are in the field that is white for harvest and that there are souls to be one, Lord.

[46:48] There are people to be called into your kingdom. And, Lord, there's a church out there today that thinks that they don't need the body. And so, Lord, we pray that you would be the only person whoever leads this body, Lord.

[47:04] I 100% confess I have no plans and this is not my idea. This is all you, Lord. The things that you've spoken into our heart, we want to be doers and not hearers only.

[47:17] Lord, help us to respond in faith and in our spirits to say yes and to do what you've called us to do, to worship you in spirit and in truth.

[47:29] In Jesus' name, amen.