Family Drama - Genesis 27:21-46

[0:00] Genesis 27. Last week, we left our friend Jacob off. We left off in verse 20. And Jacob was outside his dad's tent, dressed in freshly skinned goat skins with savory meat that he was standing there holding. And so we're going to try and make a run at the rest of the chapter. Today's message, the title would be Family Drama. I didn't even like putting that up there. I don't like watching movies with conflict. There's enough conflict in life, and not in my home, really, that I don't need to watch a movie if that's not entertainment to me.

[0:38] So Family Drama. I found this quote, a dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it. Which is ironic. Dysfunction just means not functioning according to expected expectations or proper form. That describes our entire world right now. Everything's dysfunctional. Every family. Because they've gone away from what God says is a family, right? So I just thought that was interesting. Well, let's pray again. Lord, we just want to, again, just think of when Elijah built the altar on top of Carmel. And it says that he just poured water on it over and over and over.

[1:15] And to me, Lord, that's just a picture of just prayer, Lord. Just bathing it in prayer, Lord. Putting the whole altar together. Arranging the sacrifice. You know, we come together. The message is set. But Lord, if you don't set it on fire, Lord. If you don't just come with the power of your Holy Spirit, we have nothing, Lord. And so what can we do? We can offer our lives up to you, Lord. And then we can just soak them, Lord. Just bathing them in prayer. Asking for the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, Lord, we pray again that you would come and you'd speak to us this afternoon. Thank you, Lord, for all of our friends and family here. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so, you know, I was going through this this week and I was going back through my notes and I'm like, man, this is all so negative. There's not a lot here that's really exciting and encouraging. And I hate to break it to you, but as we go through Jacob's life, there's not a lot there that's like, yes, this is how I want to pattern my family, my home, my life. So we're going to start with some good news. And if you remember last week, we kind of looked at this verse. We ended with it. Psalm 37, 5, and 6 says, commit your way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.

[2:19] And he shall bring forth our righteousness as the light and my judgment as the noonday. What's the key part there? Commit your way unto the Lord. And it's hard. It's hard sometimes to commit that we're going to be all in with the Lord. We want to hold on to some of that. We see that with Isaac's life, where he's gone from this place where he's praying for Rebecca and God's speaking into their life to where now he's allowed the flesh, right? He's a little bit of compromise where his relationship with Esau was all based on the fact that he liked what Esau could produce in the natural. Philippians 1, 6 tells us, Paul writes this, he says, being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Who's going to be the one to perform it? Me? No. He will do it. God's word doesn't fail. And that's the whole point of this. We've seen with Abraham, Isaac, now Jacob, a lot of time with Jacob and his family. That this is God's family of promise? This is the son, Isaac is the son of promise? You've waited all this time, Abraham and Sarah, and it's turned out like this? Yes, because God's promise and God's word cannot and will not fail. Your faith cannot fail.

[3:27] Do you know that? If your faith is in Christ, it cannot fail. Because it's not about our faith and our ability to project faith. It's about the one we have faith in. Now we will fail. We will fail quite often. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says, let your covetousness, not your covetousness, let your covetousness be gone. Let your conversation be without covetousness. And conversation, it doesn't just mean like your language. Yes, that's your speech. But it's your way of life. It's your habits and pattern of life. Let your lifestyle would be a better way to say it. Be without covetousness. And be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that you may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. So he said, hey, you can live a contented life. Why? Because he said, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you.

[4:19] So despite what we do, despite our ups and downs and failures, the point is, he says, that God has said he's never going to leave us or forsake us. I don't have to try my own effort to grab on and hold on to something. Is the idea there. And then that turns into what? So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man will do unto me. So that all goes back to that, that the fact that we are acknowledging that this is God who's doing it. So we are often tempted to think that our efforts and actions affect God's faithfulness to us. I think my efforts, my actions, my inaction is actually going to affect God's faithfulness towards me. Maybe, but they don't. Our efforts and actions have no effect upon God's word and promise. How do we know that? Because of this and because the last 2000 years of history, God's promise hasn't failed. God's word hasn't failed, despite Israel's failing, despite the church's failing, right? But my actions or inactions, my efforts, they do, however, have an effect upon my ability to appreciate and partake in all that God has for me. And that goes back to that verse there in Hebrews, right? I can choose to live a life that acknowledges that, hey, God's in complete control. He's never going to leave me or forsake me. Great. This should be the result.

[5:35] I'm content. I'm bold. Wonderful. Now, if I don't live that life and acknowledge that, I live a life of covetousness and fear, trying to grasp onto things and do it in my own effort. No, I'm afraid of man.

[5:45] I'm afraid. Has God's promise and word failed? No, I'm just not partaking of that. So for Isaac and Jacob, we're going to see God's promise isn't going to fail, but they are not going to necessarily live in all that God have them experience of that promise. So again, now as we jump into the text here, some good news first, God's promise, God's word does not fail as we look at this dysfunctional family. So I looked up what a goat, a Middle Eastern goat, that is a little Middle Eastern goat. I don't know if that was the kind back then, but just thinking like Jacob's covered in this. And it said specifically that she took the skin from the kids, the young goat, and put it on him. So freshly skinned and just stuck it on the guy, right? And there's a red, hairy creature. And then I found this picture. I thought this describes Jacob really well. He's standing outside the tent.

[6:38] He's covered in red and hairy, and he's got savory meat. So I thought, there he is. Covering hair with some savory meat. There's Jacob. So Jacob's standing outside his father's tent, and this is where he's at.

[6:55] And I will take that down before we start reading the text, so that's not distracting. Verse 21. So Jacob is at his father's tent. He's come in. If you remember, Isaac in verse 20 said unto his son, how is it you found it so quickly? And he then says this phrase that probably caught in his throat, because the Lord thy God brought it to me. So in verse 21, Isaac said unto Jacob, well, come near, I pray you, that I may feel you, my son, whether you be my very son Esau or not. Or you see three or four different times here. Jacob's, Isaac is like, come near, come near, come near. You know, Jacob's like, oh, I don't want to draw me here. And so he says, I pray thee that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be who? My very son Esau or not. That's really strange, right? That'd be like if I said to one of my kids, if I was like, Henry, Henry, come here, come a little closer.

[7:50] It's a little dark right now in the house. I want to make sure you're Henry and not pity. Why would I think that? Obviously, Isaac's got something going on, some checks in the spirit, like we said. So deceit, we talked a little about that last week, right?

[8:06] What is deceit? Well, deceit is that which misleads another or causes him to believe what is false. Literally, it's treachery. It's using a place of trust to bring about a deceitful end, right? And so here we see from the text, what does deceit do? Well, deception, what does it do? It stands afar off. Does Jacob come near, come near Jacob? Jacob's like, it destroys trust, doesn't it? Man, it's going to just destroy Isaac's trust with Jacob.

[8:38] How could you believe someone again after they've deceived you like this? Even if you want to, how do you know if what they tell you is true? And it removes God from the equation. Nowhere in here, unfortunately, are we going to see Isaac, Jacob, Esau, or Rebecca turning to the Lord. So deception, it stands afar off, but honesty draws near, doesn't it? You can draw near, draw near to God with a heart full of assurance. Deception destroys trust because it uses trust to accomplish its own end. And deception and self-effort remove God from the equation completely. So why do we deceive? Why would we ever deceive?

[9:16] Why not just live in truth? What is it that causes me to lie? What is it when I'm a little kid and my mom says, hey, did you, you know, put your dirty laundry in the washing machine like I told you? Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, it's the fifth time you've been asked. And you're like, and then she goes out of the room and you quick grab your laundry and you run down, you throw it in the machine. It's like, but why? Because deceit is a shortcut that we think has more value than the truth. We think deception will bring us something that has greater value than the truth. So instead of, I prize the truth above all else. I will not sell it. I'm holding on to that.

[9:53] Oh, well, I'm now prized something higher than the truth. I place something of higher value. Well, what is that? Well, it's probably self-preservation. That's what it is. So I've just elevated myself above God, right? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God, the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations. It's all in the mind and the heart and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So in deception, I'm exalting myself against the truth and against the knowledge of God and saying, no, my way is better.

[10:25] Deception is a shortcut, but it leads to destruction, doesn't it? Revelation 21.8 says, speaking at the end when Christ returns and he says, but the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. I mean, if you lie, you're going to hell. Well, you're going to hell already, unless you are born again and you're in Christ. It's just saying this is the ultimate end of deception. The place where deception ends is in hell. And if you want to be the deceiver and live that life, this is where you're going to be when you're not in Christ. So Jacob now, Isaac says to him, draw near. And in verse 22, and Jacob went near unto Isaac, his father, and he being Isaac felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And like, I'm sorry, but like Esau, buddy, those are hands.

[11:26] Yeah. I've met some people blessed with, yeah. I don't know how to finish that tactfully, but anyway, that's a hairy guy. Okay. That's all I'm saying. So he says, come near and let me feel you. And so Isaac is drawing, he's having Jacob drawn near, but what is he trusting in? Well, we know he can't see.

[11:49] We're going to see this word here in verse 23, and he discerned him not. When we trust our feelings, how easily we're deceived. Isaac here, he's relying on natural judgment. He views the situation, what?

[12:04] Through his own character. Because he could never imagine pulling a stunt like this. He's like, well, I can't attribute that to Jacob. I would never picture him doing this. This can't be it. You know, and this, something doesn't feel right, but you know, my heart just says yes. And so I'm going to go for this. And he discerned him not because his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. Isaac's lack of spiritual discernment in this instance, because he's basing everything off his feelings, off his natural senses on how he is viewing the situation. He's thinking, well, I wouldn't do this, and I would process this like this, and I would handle it like this. This can't be what's going on.

[12:44] My family would never do this. Isaac's lack of spiritual discernment led him to put his trust in what? His own senses, his own feelings, and his own judgment. This is where he's at right now in his life.

[12:56] You think of where he came from Genesis 25, where he's praying and asking God and interceding on behalf of his wife. And now his wife's not in the picture, and he's just in this spiral where he thinks, hey, everything's fine. I don't see anything wrong. Despite what Disney tells us, never trust your heart. Ever. Proverbs 28.6 says, he that trusts in his own heart is a fool. But whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered. You know what that means? It is unwise to follow your heart, to follow your feelings. Well, this is, oh, I just think, you know, oh, but she says she loves me, you know.

[13:39] Does she love the Lord? What's her character? Yeah, but it feels so good. We think more together. It's just like, never trust your heart. Why? Because then you're a fool. What does a fool do?

[13:50] Scripture says that a fool says in his heart there is no God. So when I trust my heart, I've removed God from my heart. Because the fool says in his heart there is no God. So as soon as I turn inward and trust my own heart, I've pushed God out. Jeremiah 17.9 and 10. We know that says the heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked. Who shall know it? I, the Lord, try the heart. God is the only one who knows the heart. But look what happens when we put our trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3.5 and 6 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And what? He will direct your paths. So if I take this heart, see the heart is not meant to be followed. The heart is meant to be led. And it's meant to be led by God. If I try and lead it, it's just this ugly circle. You know, it's like your dog walking in circles around and around.

[14:38] It's like, what is he doing there? You're never going to get anywhere. When we trust in the Lord with all our heart, when we take this heart and we put it all into the Lord, we put all our trust in him, well then we have this promise that God directs our steps. Because we're no longer leaning on our own understanding. Unlike Isaac, who at this point is totally leaning on his own understanding. So by following his feelings, Isaac has been led into being complicit in his own deception. Instead of having discernment to see that his feelings were wrong and the situation, he is now, in a sense, part of his own undoing. He's part of this because he's following his feelings.

[15:16] And he said in verse 24, are you my very son Esau? And he said, I am. I'm sorry. At that point, you go, okay, go get your brother Jacob and bring him in here. If you think it's Esau, right? Go get him and bring, we got to sort this out because this is crazy. I mean, you know, you got the furry coat of Esau, but you got the squeaky voice of Jacob. Something is wrong here. No, this is Jacob's chance though, to come clean. He could have. You say, you know what, dad, this is nuts. I did not want to be here. I mean, this was mom's idea. This wasn't what I was planning to do. I just, I can't believe I found myself here. Again, Proverbs. There's a lot of good Proverbs about truth and your heart and deceit. He that speaks truth shows forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. And Jacob's going to have his moment. He's going to have his moment. We're going to see that in verse 30. He's going to walk off and he had his blessing. And then it all falls apart before you know it. He's being thrown out of the house and sent on this long journey. Proverbs 23, 23 says, buy the truth and sell it not. Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. And there's where we said that when we deceive, we say, well, there's something of greater value than the truth. I'm going to deceive to gain that instead of, what does it say? Sell it not. Buy the truth. That is the greatest value is the truth. And he said, bring it near to me. So Isaac says, well, bring me that savory meat. I want my beef jerky. And I'll eat of my son's venison that thou may, that my soul may bless you. And he brought it near to him and he did eat. He brought him wine and he drank. So here Isaac is continuing to equate spiritual blessing with physical satisfaction. He says, well, bring that near to me. Satisfy me. Oh yes. And then I'll be in a great place to just my soul will bless you. This is all just fleshly and carnal. He thinks that his physical satisfaction is somehow linked with a spiritual blessing, right? God wants to satisfy us, but not at this level. He wants to satisfy us at this level, deeper level, right? So that we can, like I said in Hebrews, we can live a life without covetousness. Why? Because I know God is, he's for me and he's going to provide everything I need. And so he brings it near.

[17:38] And we see here, his father, Isaac said unto him again, he's brought the food near. He's standing outside the tent. He comes in. He now brings it near. All right, here it is. And now his father says this, come unto me. He's already grabbed his hands and felt the furry hands and kiss me, my son. Oh, Jacob comes in closer now. You know, he must've been sweating like crazy. That was some wet goat skin.

[18:00] Um, and he came near and he kissed him and Isaac smelled the smell of his raiment and he blessed him. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. There's another famous kiss in scripture, right? That was deception. Judas says to the men that he's bringing with him, the whole, you know, the gang of thugs that have donut faces that in the movies, they're just a rabble and they come along. He says, listen, the one who I kiss, he's the one, hold him fast. He comes up to Jesus and Jesus says to him, well, he kisses him and he says, master. And he says, friend, do you deceive me or do you, do you deceive, um, deceive me with a kiss? Not deceive me. He says, friend, do you betray me?

[18:44] Sorry. Did you betray me with a kiss? The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Because why? They're out for their own end. They're out for their own game.

[18:56] There's nothing in it for you. Natural perception is easily fooled because it can only see things from its perspective. Isaac is being easily fooled. I mean, it's not his voice. It's not his real hand. It's not, it's not him.

[19:10] And yet he's completely fooled because he's only looking this from his natural perception. He only has one view that he can see of this and it's his own. Um, therefore, he says, this is the blessing now. I'm sorry. We didn't finish 27.

[19:24] Um, and he smelled him, the smell of his raiment and blessed him and said, see, the smell of my son is the smell of a field, which the Lord is blessed. Therefore, God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine. God's blessing is not material gain.

[19:42] Let people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brethren and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses thee and blessed be he that blesses you.

[19:55] That sounds a little bit like the Abrahamic covenant, doesn't it? But it's like some hodgepodge. Like he chopped up part of it. He added the end on where he says there, um, cursed be everyone that curses you and blessed be everyone that blesses you. But it's not the full blessing.

[20:10] It's only part of it. And God's covenant cannot be entered into halfway. God's covenant is either all or nothing. And Isaac, he's trying to take a part of this. He's like, you know what? Um, my dad used to do this with our family. Um, gather around kids. We're going to read a story from chicken soup for the soul. And, uh, you know, we did religious things. We were kids and we're going to put them into our home. Yeah, that'll be good. I want my kids to have morality. You know, the people are like, well, I'm going to, I want my kids to know about God and country.

[20:37] Oh, it's like, okay, but you can't enter into a part way. Just like Jacob here or like Isaac, he's leading his family into destruction because he has no spiritual discernment.

[20:50] Genesis 12 verse three is where the Abrahamic covenant. And God said, I'll bless you that bless, bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you. And in usual, all the families of the earth be blessed. But in Genesis 17, he says to Abraham, I will make you exceeding fruitful and I'll make nations of you and kings shall come out of you. And I'll establish my covenant between you and thee, or between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be what? To be a God unto them and to thy seed after thee. And I'll give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. There's so much more to that covenant. And what is the key point of the covenant? That God is their God, that God is the God of the promise, the God of the people of promise. And Isaac just pulls out one part and says, yeah, this applies. And this is what I want that man, anybody who curses you is going to be cursed. Anybody that blesses you will be blessed.

[21:52] Verse 30. And it came to pass as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob and Jacob yet was scarce going out from the presence of his father. Man, you know, he got out of there quick. That Esau, his brother came in from his hunting. So Jacob, he got his blessing. He got what he wanted or what he thought he wanted. But any victory, one in the flesh or self-effort is ultimately a defeat.

[22:17] The worst thing that can happen is when our self-made plans work. Nothing worse than a victory in the flesh. You just think, well, hey, that worked. Okay. And God blessed it. All right. You know, there's a little fallout, but I can deal with that. Galatians 6.8, he who sows to the flesh shall what?

[22:37] Of the flesh reap corruption. You can't escape that. Romans 8.8 says, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You just can't. So if we have a victory in the flesh or our own self-effort, it's actually a defeat. So Esau comes in and Jacob's out of there as quick as he can.

[22:54] He's running back to mom. Verse 31. And so it tells us what Esau has been doing. He also made savory meat and brought it in unto his father and said unto his father, Oh, let my father arise and eat of his son's venison that thy soul may bless me. Right? He's so, I don't know. Esau just comes across to me is like, so not self-aware of anything that's going on. He's just kind of like, Oh, look, I got two wives of the Hittites. Son, they're from the family of terror. You know, that's what their name means. Oh, yeah. You know, and what you eating there, boy? Oh, I got some red soup. Oh, yeah. Where'd you get that? Well, I'll spend a thousand dollars for it. Sold my birthright for it.

[23:33] It's like the guy. And here he just comes in. He's like, Oh, yes. Let your soul bless me. That's what it's all about. And I think there's a picture here that the flesh believes its own press, right? The flesh just, it believes everything that you can give to it. Yeah, I'm red and hairy. And I mean, be like a, this was a Disney movie. He'd have his own song. We're not into Disney because they say follow your own heart. But anyway, it believes its own press. And here's this guy. So, so not self-aware. He doesn't know what's happening. He, he's sold his birthright. And yet he's going on like everything's okay. And Isaac, his father said unto them, said unto him, who art thou?

[24:15] And he said, I'm my son. I first born Esau. What do you mean who I am? Dad, I know you can't see, but you're all right there. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, who, where is he that has taken venison and brought it to me? And I have eaten of all before thou camest and have blessed him.

[24:33] Yea, and he shall be blessed. Isaac didn't eat venison. He ate goat. The world substitute is no good. Isaac began to understand though, but I think even in the midst of this mess, that God was still at work. Because he says, and he shall be blessed. I think he realizes what happened. I think he's like, wow, I tried to go around God. I tried to shoehorn Esau into this.

[25:02] And God yet had his way. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great cry and said unto his father, bless me, even me also, oh my father, the tears of Esau. Hebrews actually talks about Esau. There's some other places that talk about Esau. We know that Esau eventually became the people of Edom, the Edomites. When Israel is going out of Egypt and they're in the wilderness wandering, they send to Edom and they say, to the king of Edom, they say, can we pass through your land?

[25:37] And for truly you are our brethren, because Jacob and Esau are our brothers. And the Edomites send back, not a chance. Don't you come in our land. Don't you take a drop of water. Don't you do anything. And so because of that, they come under God's curse. And other times they've turned against Israel. So we're going to see down here where it's going to talk about, they're going to throw the yoke off of Israel. And so they would come underneath. Eventually when Israel's in the land, they would be subservient to Israel. But when the kings start to go astray and turn away from the Lord, they rebel. And then eventually the Nabataeans, when they come up into the land and start taking people captive from the area, from Israel, and the Edomites all go into captivity, and they're no longer a people. Herod the Great, if you remember, the one who, when Jesus is born, at Christmas time, Herod the Great, the wise men go to him to find out where Jesus has been born.

[26:30] He was an Edomite, an Idumean. He was of that lineage, or believed to be. But here we have Esau crying these great tears. And in Hebrews, Hebrews 12, 16 and 17 says, in speaking, speaking direction to God's people, it says not to be like this. It says, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

[27:01] Where did he learn that? Where did he learn to prioritize food like that? Put such high value on that. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, so he sought it carefully with tears.

[27:19] And here we see that. So we see that he was rejected. God had rejected him. Isaac, you're playing out God's will in this? There's another spot in the Old Testament where Israel is traveling through the wilderness, right? And they begin to come into the land. And there's a king there. He's really worried about this. His name is Balak. Balak sends to this prophet, who supposedly can hear from God, named Balaam. Because everything Balaam curses is cursed, and everything Balaam blesses is blessed. He says, come and curse this people for me, and I'll make you rich.

[27:55] And so Balaam comes to curse these people. But every time he opens his mouth to curse Israel, a blessing comes out. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together. Oh! And Balak said unto Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies. Behold, you've all together blessed them these three times. And Balaam said unto Balak, dude, I told you at the beginning, when you were sent for me, if Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do either good or bad of my own mind. But what the Lord says, that will I speak. He's like, these people are blessed. I can't pronounce a curse on what God has pronounced a blessing. It's not going to happen. And so Isaac is seeing here that despite his own self-effort, despite where he's at, God's promise, oh my word, God's promise, is not going to fail. It will come to pass as God had promised. And so Esau cries, he lifts up his voice and cries. And in verse 35, Isaac responds. He says, your brother came with subtlety, fraud, or gain through deceit. Literally, he defrauded you and has taken away your blessing.

[29:12] And then Esau says, is he not rightly named Jacob, supplanter, heel catcher? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. Did he? Did he take away his birthright?

[29:26] I don't remember that. I remember that. Oh, that's right, Esau. You sold that. You pawned your birthright for red beans. You didn't take your birthright, Esau. He took away my birthright, birthright. And behold, now he's taken away my blessing. He says, has thou not reserved a blessing for me? You remember in Genesis 25, Esau comes, he says, I'm going to die. What care I for this birthright? I don't care about it at all. And he sells it. And then it says after that, that Esau then despised his birthright. Now, all of a sudden, it means something to him. Now, all of a sudden, it's so important when he thinks there's something in it that can bring him fulfillment.

[30:11] And then he says that Jacob's taken away his blessing, but whose blessing was it really? In Genesis 25, when Rebecca is wondering what's going on, she's never been pregnant before. And she's like, nobody I know of has had this experience. This is just crazy. And so she goes to the Lord and the Lord says unto her, two nations are in your womb and two manner of people shall be separated from your bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger. And so right there, God has spoken and said, hey, I have a specific special plan that I've set aside Jacob for. He's going to be the more prominent one. He's the one. I have a promise for him. So whose blessing was it really? Was it Esau's to be blessed or was it Jacob's?

[30:56] Either way, this is not the way you go about getting it. And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, behold, I've made him your Lord and all his brethren have I given to him for servants. And with corn and wine have I sustained him. And what shall I do now unto my son? Unto thee, my son. Just a little aside that's really interesting. He keeps talking about and all his brethren. He shall rule over his brethren. I don't know anywhere. I can't find anywhere in scripture that says Isaac and Rebecca had any more children or that he had like concubines or anything, but he keeps referencing this. It's very interesting. It's like multiple. So, but anyway, he's saying, I've given him, given you to be his servant. Isaac had led his family into this terrible situation, yet he's still not willing to turn to the Lord for help. He's still holding out that.

[31:44] If you look how many times I is in that verse 37. I've done this. I've done this. I've done this. Christian practices and principles are never meant to be divorced from Christ. No matter how much VeggieTales you watch, it will not teach people about Jesus. It's morality removed from the gospel, right? Christian practices and principles are never meant to be removed from Christ. We can't, you can't expect the world to live with morality and to live with, and look, I love VeggieTales. Watched all the time when I was a kid.

[32:20] But there's no gospel. There's no you've sinned. There's no that you are going to hell and has nothing to do with your actions. As we're looking at here, these people are under God's blessing and promise. Did they deserve it? Did they earn it? No way. Not a chance. It's all God's grace.

[32:36] And parents, we are not the determiner of our children's future. It is not for us to determine their future as much as we might like to think it is. Now our part is to help them determine God's future for them, right? Our part is to see, you know what? It looks like my classic story is my oldest was very talented artistically. I thought, oh, maybe. And she liked animation and stuff like that and she would draw. So I spent $400 one summer for her to do this animation course, and she hated it.

[33:10] Absolutely hated it. Horrible. She trudged through it. And so that's all our thing that we always revert back to and say, well, it was always that animation course. It didn't work out too well.

[33:21] But now she knows animation wasn't for her. And who knows? Maybe someday the Lord will use it in her kids' lives or something like that, a skill she learned. But it's not for us to determine.

[33:32] But it is for us to try and figure out, with the Lord's help, Lord, which way are you taking them? What have you determined for their future? And that's the fun we get to have as parents as we walk with Christ and walk with our kids in Christ and just watching how he shapes them.

[33:47] And so Esau said unto his father in verse 38, Has thou but one blessing, my father? Isaac had no blessing, Esau. That's the point. Bless me, even me also, oh, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

[33:59] I'm sorry. He's like 70 years old, guys. Next week I'll have the, I'll finish the, putting the timeline together and I'll print it out and you guys can see the different ages. But they're around 70 years old, these twins. When he goes, Jacob goes to Haran, he's in his 70s.

[34:13] So, I mean, this is a sad picture. Esau, in Esau, we see a picture of self-fulfillment. The world and the flesh, they love God's blessing. They love it.

[34:24] They want God's blessing, but only so much as it brings them fulfillment. And you see that today, unfortunately, in so much of the modern Christian world. You see it in the songs. You see it in the entertainment they produce.

[34:36] It's all about self-fulfillment and self-realization. Not many movies sell when it's all about holiness and self-sacrifice and dying to yourself and saying no to the flesh and living for Jesus.

[34:48] They don't sell very well. They're not very fun. But the other thing here is, if you're an adult and you're still looking to your earthly father to fix your problems, you're looking to the wrong father.

[35:02] Esau's like, Dad, I expected more of you. Don't you have anything more? I got nothing. Right? Don't look to your earthly father to fix your problems.

[35:14] Look to your heavenly father. And Isaac, his father, answered him and said unto him, Behold, here's a blessing. Your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above.

[35:25] And by the sword thou shalt live and shalt serve your brother. This is a little of that Balaam, I think, where, like, this is the Lord pronouncing this, speaking through Isaac here. And it shall come to pass that when thou shalt have dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

[35:40] That will be, again, much later in Kings. That is 2 Kings, if you want to write it down, 8, 17 through 20.

[35:52] And that is Jehoshaphat's son marries Ahab's daughter and turns away from the Lord. And at that time, the Edomites rebel against Israel. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him.

[36:09] And Esau said in his heart, Days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. I'm going to kill you. But I'm not going to do anything to rock the boat. Because right now, you know, daddy's paying the bills and mom's doing my laundry.

[36:23] So, but once they're gone, look out, bro. So, as we said, Galatians 5, 17. Or no, this is a different verse in Galatians. I was thinking it was the one that he sows the flesh, love the flesh, reap corruption.

[36:37] But this tells us the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. They can't cohabitate together. The flesh and the spirit can't be together.

[36:48] Jacob, the chosen vessel of promise, cannot cohabitate any longer with the man of the flesh in the world. In Esau. And the world hates to see God's people blessed.

[36:59] Because it just reminds them that they're not under blessing. They cannot obtain what we have unless they're willing to go about it the same way we obtained it. Through promise. Right? They want to be like Esau.

[37:11] They want to have the blessing, but have all the fulfillment that the world gives them. Envy of someone else's blessing only shows we do not understand where blessing comes from.

[37:21] Esau had no idea where blessing came from. Bless me too, Dad! And I was just like, hey, I'm fresh out. The blessing I had was supposed to be the blessing that came by way of Abraham, which came by way of covenant. So when we envy what someone else has, all we're doing is confessing we don't really know where blessing comes from.

[37:38] You know, it doesn't come from you. It doesn't come from the world. It doesn't come from self-effort. It comes from here. It's like, you know, I'm not going from the world.

[37:53] It's like, you know what? I can't figure this out. Kill it! Be gone! Be done! It's so destructive. It's such a destructive mindset to have, especially in a family.

[38:06] In Luke chapter 9, Jesus is traveling with his disciples around Galilee. And there is a town that they pass through, the Samaritans, and they don't want anything to do with them.

[38:19] And it tells us in another place, specifically, that's because Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem. He is ready to go to Jerusalem. So he's just not being quite as responsive as he usually is. And so the Samaritans are like, fine, get out of here.

[38:30] And it says, James and John, when they saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Even as Elijah did. They're really feeling it now because they had been sent out with power to cast out demons and to preach the gospel and to heal.

[38:44] So they're like, do you want us to turn on the flames? But he turned and rebuked them and said, you know now what manner of spirit you are of. What spirit would that be?

[38:55] Jesus wants them to be of. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. I came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved.

[39:09] That's the spirit. Jesus said, I didn't come to condemn the world. The world is condemned already. That's not why I'm here. I'm not here to heap condemnation on those that are condemned. I'm here to bring salvation. And that spirit that says, hey, the best thing we can do is just take them out.

[39:24] That's not the Lord. That's not the Lord. No matter who's running for president. It's not the Lord. And these words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebecca. Uh-oh. I read it in my book.

[39:35] Not again. These words of Esau were told to Rebecca. And she sent and called Jacob, her younger son. She must have like a spy network within like the servants and stuff in her family.

[39:45] She always knew what happened in Isaac's tent. And she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, behold, your brother Esau, as touching you, does comfort himself, purposing to kill you.

[39:59] She's still not giving the full truth, is she? She's twisted this again. What did he say? He said, hey, when my father's dead, I'm going to kill him. She kind of puts this spin on it and says, hey, Esau, he's comforting himself.

[40:11] He's going to kill you. He wants to kill you. Well, that's not exactly how this went down. She's still manipulating the situation to bring about her own end. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice.

[40:23] Arise and flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran. Not again. Mom, I obtained the blessing. I'm going to lose my family. Romans 11, 6 says, and if by grace, it's no more of works.

[40:39] Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. We're not going to obtain this through our own efforts.

[40:51] We cannot gain what has been given, and we cannot be given what has been gained. That's what Romans 11, 6 is saying. You can't gain what's already been given to you. It's not possible. Man, I wish I could convince my wife to marry me.

[41:04] We really are married. You know, why would I need to gain what I already have, what's already been given? She's already given me her hand. And we cannot be given what has been gained.

[41:15] Right? You can't give something that you already have. Well, oh, let me give that to you. But, oh, like if Derek came up here and took my Bible and said, you know, we've been friends a while now, and I really want to give this to you.

[41:26] It would be really awkward. I'm like, well, thanks, but it's already mine. It doesn't work that way. But we try that with the Lord. We try and convince him to give us what he's like.

[41:38] I want to give this to you. But the only way you can receive this is a gift. Yes, Lord. And pretty soon I'm going to be ready to earn that gift. I'm going to try a little longer. And we come back around a week later.

[41:49] Lord, would you please just give me your peace? I've been struggling all week. I've been trying. He's like, well, I told the disciples, my peace I give unto you. My peace I leave with you.

[41:59] Not as the world gives, give I unto you. The world gives how? Well, you have to owe them something. He gives freely. So we try to gain what we already have. Verse 44, as we wind this down, and tarry with him a few days.

[42:14] So Rebecca says, go to my brother Laban. Stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turn away. A few days will turn into 20 years. Genesis 31, 38 tells us that Jacob will be in Haran 20 years, and he'll never see his mom again.

[42:27] He'll never get to see her. Go and tarry with him a few days until your brother's fury be turned away. Well, there's a problem with that. Proverbs tells us about a brother's fury.

[42:41] A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. How are you going to win your offended brother, Jacob? How are you going to get around all of his contentions?

[42:53] Because they're usually true. Until your brother's anger be turned away from you, and he forget that which he, in this part, he forget that which you've done to him, then I will send and fetch you from thence.

[43:07] Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? The idea being that if Esau kills you, we're going to have to kill Esau, because that's the just punishment, I lose both of you. So look, you go. And when everything cools down, I'll call you, you come back.

[43:20] But how she phrases this here, and he forget what you've done to him, what I've done to him. Rebecca, this was your idea. What happened to Genesis 27, 13? Your wonderful theology. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be your curse, my son.

[43:33] Only obey my voice. Where's that gone to? Relationships are never meant to be about self-fulfillment. For Rebecca, her relationship with her son is all about her own fulfillment.

[43:43] And she's just manipulating the situation to bring about her own end. Is she really thinking of Jacob? I don't think so. I think she's just thinking of herself here. Philippians 2, 4, and 5 says, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[43:57] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And that goes on to say, Who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself of no reputation, and take upon himself the form of a servant.

[44:08] Became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That mindset. Where Jesus said to James and John, You don't know what spirit you are of. Let this mind be in you. And Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life.

[44:22] Literally means disgusted. Because of the daughters of Heth, the Hittites that Esau married, those two women. Heth means terror. I am disgusted with these women.

[44:33] If Jacob take a wife of the daughter of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do to me? So Rebecca convinces Isaac that he needs to act based upon her needs for fulfillment.

[44:47] Isaac, I'm not fulfilled in this relationship. You need to act, and you need to fulfill me in this. She's using the truth, too. Remember at the end of verse, chapter 27, it says that they were a grief to mine to Isaac and to Rebecca.

[45:01] But she's using the truth to manipulate the situation, not to bring edification. And Rebecca, that wording at the end there, when she says, what good shall my life do to me, literally means her life will no longer be green.

[45:15] My life will dry up. And so Isaac, we're going to find out in chapter 28, he's going to listen to his wife, and he's going to send out Jacob. He sends out the son of promise, and he keeps Esau.

[45:28] Cast out the scorner, and the strife ceases. Well, he chooses to keep Esau. Now, this time, I think he should have been sending Esau away. But our dysfunctional family, as we close this, Isaac, what was his role in this dysfunctional family?

[45:45] Isaac's mentality was, don't rock the boat. I'm getting my venison. All right? I'm good. I got my kids around me. I got my food. Don't rock the boat. Rebecca, her dysfunction was manipulation.

[45:57] She used the truth. She used lies. She used whatever she could. She used intimacy with her husband. She used what she held over her children to manipulate things to her own end. Esau was appeasement.

[46:08] Appeasement. It's all about appeasing. Appeasing his flesh. Appeasing Isaac's flesh. Just kind of like, hey, hey, bro, just keep it chill. You know, we don't need to get all stirred up over all this stuff about holiness and that.

[46:20] I mean, let's just have a good time. And Jacob was, the ends justify the means. Willing to do whatever it took to secure what he thought was the right end. But each member of this dysfunctional family, they're ultimately looking out for their own interests.

[46:36] And they're looking to each other to obtain fulfillment. And that will always bring destruction. So family drama. Family drama, it can be selfish. It can be deceitful.

[46:48] It can hurt those closest to us, can't it? But you know what else? It can never stop God's promises from being fulfilled. Your family drama, okay, my family drama, maybe you don't have any family drama.

[47:00] Maybe we're a church full of people without family drama. That's great. We can go to ministry we can do. But your family drama and my family drama, it can never stop God's promises from being fulfilled.

[47:13] Joshua says this at the end when they're into the promised land here and he's towards the end of his life and he's speaking to Israel and he says, hey, remember, the Lord God, he gave unto Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers and they possessed it and dwelt therein.

[47:26] And the Lord gave them rest round about according to all they swear unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand and there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel all came to pass.

[47:45] Did they deserve that? Not a chance. Not a chance. Did they realize the full potential of that promise in their own lives? No, they didn't. They never fully took the land. God's faithfulness to his promise and his word is never based upon our functionality.

[48:01] We're dysfunctional, we're functional, but it's upon his grace. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.

[48:12] The truth, sell the truth. I mean, buy the truth and sell it not. Sorry. Sorry. If human failure and dysfunction would cause God to break his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then it would cause him to break it with us as well.

[48:27] But it didn't. Human failure and dysfunction never caused God to turn away from this family of promise. The nothing you and I ever do will cause him to break his covenant with us.

[48:40] You know, Paul will write in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9. kind of comes to this realization that the things of his life, the ups and downs and all of that, that something is happening in spite of that, that's superseding that.

[48:56] And he realizes, as God speaks to him in this moment of weakness and fear, the Lord says to him, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

[49:07] Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. At any moment during this saga, Isaac or Rebecca could have said, you know what?

[49:18] It was Isaac's place. You should have said, you know what? Guys, stop, stop, stop. Man, I'm sorry. I have just been kind of rolling as just what I thought was best and look where I've brought us. And whoever you are, go get your other brother and your mother and bring them in here.

[49:34] All right, now tell me what's going on. Like, okay. You know, Esau, man, you can't live for this stuff. It's a dead end, bro. You're just, there's nothing in your future. And Jacob, if God has promised you, then God will bring it about.

[49:48] You don't need to try and make it happen. He's going to do it. Rebecca, we need to go on a date. We need to have some alone time. We need to go talk. But I was thinking about communion, and we're not doing communion today, right?

[50:01] But I was thinking about where in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, after this manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this is the cup in the New Testament, in the new covenant in my blood. This do you as often as you drink in remembrance of me.

[50:15] He said, just keep remembering this covenant. Don't get away from it. This is your salvation in your life, guys. This is where it's at. But I've sinned, but yes, come back to the table. Come to the table.

[50:26] I grew up in an, an assembly of God and some community churches. And I heard like, well, we're going to have communion now. And the Bible says not to drink communion unworthily. And it's true. You know, if you're not in Christ and you just kind of flippantly are even in Christ.

[50:39] If you're flippantly and you take that, it says some have fallen asleep. Some have died before their time because of that. So as a kid, I always thought, oh man, I know I've sinned. I can't take communion. And when I take communion, I'm like, okay, everything's good.

[50:51] That's not what that means. That's where we come. We come to the table when we are broken, when we're in sin. That's exactly where we come. We come to the cross. We take the cup. We take the bread. And we say, Lord, thank you.

[51:02] I remember what you did on my behalf. You freely gave me this. I don't have to earn it. But his grace is sufficient for my dysfunctional family, for all my family drama. God's got it.

[51:13] And he's going to keep his promise and his word. So the best thing we can do, I guess, looking at this, the application, the best thing we can do is, man, stop once in a while and just double check yourself.

[51:25] Lord, is this a Christian principle that I've just kind of removed from you? Is this my idea? Am I trying to bring about my own end? Whose fulfillment am I really seeking? And just once in a while, just go back to that place of remembrance.

[51:38] Lord, I remember that covenant. It took away all my sin. And now here I am again to surrender this life to you. So we're going to end in worship. And just let the Lord minister to you as you respond to him now.

[51:51] Speak back to the Lord what he's spoken into your heart. Father, we thank you that you've given us this wonderful picture of failure. Lord, nobody else would write this book.

[52:02] Nobody is writing a book about Buddha and all his problems. But if you want to try and promote someone, you write the best things about him. I think when Jesus, when you were on the earth and your brothers, it says your brethren came to you and said, hey, go up to the feast.

[52:15] If you want them to know about you, go on up. And he said, ah, your time is always now. But my time is not yet. And after they had left, then he goes up quietly. Because he did have a reason to be there.

[52:26] He had a purpose, but it was not what the world thought. Not what they planned. And Lord, as we look at this book and we look at the scripture, we look at Jacob and we see, God, this is the man that's going to be Israel.

[52:38] The tribes are going to come through him and the blessing. We enjoy the blessing of Abraham because of this man, because of you fulfilling your promise to him. So Lord, I pray for the families here and for the children, Lord, that God in our homes and our dysfunctional homes and in our family dramas, that the promise of God, which will not fail, and the truth of his word, which will not fail, that we would continually go back to that in all of our problems and say, kids, this is where it's at.

[53:02] Okay? I don't know what I'm doing and I failed and I messed up again. But I come back to the word because it doesn't fail. So we thank you now, Lord, and we worship you in spirit and in truth.

[53:16] In Jesus' name, Amen.