Sermon Notes + Quotes:
Transcript:
We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and we do have extra copies, if anybody would like one. Just raise your hand up real high. Somebody will drop one off at your row or your aisle. You can also use your device if you would like by jumping online. The internal network is listed up there and the password is the same as the name of the network.
We are calling our Book of Genesis study In the Beginning for good reason. It opens that way. I’ve pointed out before that perhaps the most offensive verse in the Bible for some people in the world in which we live today anyway, is Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” stating that we are created, and not self-defined or self-created, to some would be offensive; to some that would be a difficult thing to grasp.
Perhaps the second most offensive verse in the Bible is verse three. “And God said.” So, this is not just a battery the universe runs on. This is not just an impersonal being. This is a being that speaks, that created communication, who has things that He loves and wants and desires, an agenda; and He makes all of that clear by communicating. Didn’t just create, drop kick us over the back fence of the universe and say, “Have a good time. You all figure it out.”
And I’m so glad. I don’t know about you, but I’m really glad that’s not what has happened to us. We have come through the creation story. Now we’re in the story of the patriarchs and today we’ll be in Genesis 27. It’s an amazing story, you guys. This story is filled with conspiracy, deception, family dysfunction and conflict. A lot of you might just call that breakfast or getting ready for church. After I read this story of Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, I tried to imagine them getting ready for church in our day and time and loading up the chariot and coming on in. But it’s pretty amazing. You’re going to probably find yourself identifying in one way or another, either positively or negatively, with somebody in this chapter. But I’ve got to tell you from the onset, there’s no heroic protagonist here in this chapter.
Everybody comes off looking a little bit weak. The father is Isaac, the mother Rebecca. The two boys are Esau, the first born, Jacob, the younger of the two. And Isaac continues to show favoritism, as does Rebecca. Isaac to Esau, Rebecca toward Jacob. And if you remember what has transpired up to this point, Esau had returned home famished, desperately begging for some of the lentil soup that Jacob was making one day. But Jacob told Esau he would only give him some of that soup if he would give to Jacob the birthright. So, in their tradition, the birthright went to the firstborn son, the eldest son. It was a double portion of the inheritance and, as well, when the patriarch or the father would pass away, the right to become head of the family would also pass along to that firstborn.
Reading this, I keep thinking to myself, “It’s like a soap opera.” And I don’t watch a lot of soap opera operas in my life. I have not. But when I have, and even when I watch some non-soap opera television, I talk to the TV all the time. I talk to the people on the show, and I go, “Don’t do that. Don’t make that choice. Stop. Watch out. He’s going to die.” I say that all the time. “He’s going to die.” Kim and I say that to each other constantly. “He’s gone.” And it’s before it happens. But you read this, and I think you’re going to find again some of that happening.
Now, there are seven scenes. Think of this as a play, and there are seven scenes. I’ll try to mark them for you as we go through. Ready? Set your eyes on the page. Genesis 27. “It came about when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see that he called his older son, Esau, and said to him, ‘My son.’ And he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ Isaac said, ‘Behold, now I am old and I do not know the day of my death.'” Of course, none of us do, or most of us don’t. There are some people that get that sorted and figured out in one way or another, but it’s pretty common that none of us would know that. He’s old enough to know as his senses are fading, that his death is somewhere near. “‘Now, then, please take your gear, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. Prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love.”
This term savory is six times in this chapter, which is interesting to me. I’m not a big numerology guy. I’m not looking under the rock to discover some really significant meaning to the word savory, like we should all go out and buy some Chipotle sauce or something and put it all over our food. I just know that it’s interesting. We get that live body detail, reminding me this isn’t just a generic fable. This is legit life. “‘…prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love. Bring it to me that I may eat so that my soul may bless you before I die.'”
Again, he’s all about the food. And that’s scene one closing right there. Scene two. “Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it home, Rebecca said to her son.” Notice that the narrator is making it clear to us that they each have a favorite. “Rebecca said to her son, ‘Jacob, behold, I heard your father speak to your brother, Esau, saying, ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ‘Now, therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.'”
By the way, I don’t know if you remember. As we’ve been tracking, I’ve been trying to highlight what their ages are as we go through this. Isaac’s probably about 137 right here. He’s going to live to, I think, it’s 180 and the boys are 70ish. So, you parents, consider what would happen if your kids decided to live at home in the basement until they were 70 or something, right? So, this is what’s happening. The boys are 70ish. “‘Therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. Go to the flock. Bring me two choice kids.'” That would be a young goat. “‘Bring me two choice kids from there that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.'” She knew how to cook what he liked, and he’s asking for his favorite dish. And she wants to conspire together with Jacob to somehow or another beat Esau to the punch here.
“‘Then you shall bring it to your father that he may eat so that he may bless you before his death.’ Jacob answered his mother, Rebecca, ‘Behold, Esau, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, then I shall be as a deceiver in his sight and I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.'” See, Jacob, he’s concerned about being caught. This is interesting to me. He’s not concerned about being a liar. He’s just concerned about being seen as a liar.
And, man, we are so guilty of that in our own day and age, too. The way we think. It’s not really wrong unless you get caught kind of a saying that some people use occasionally. It’s only if you get caught that something’s wrong. That’s not what determines whether it’s right or wrong. And Jacob doesn’t know that he’s already in the mode of, “It’s only wrong if you get caught.” And we see that, that kind of thinking, erroneous thinking, going all the way back to this guy here.
“‘So then I’ll get a curse and not a blessing.'” He’s looking to control the outcome just like Rebecca is.
“But his mother said to him, ‘Your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go get them for me.'” Now there’s a real division, as you can see, in the family, isn’t there? “Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. She put the skins of the kids on the hands and on the smooth part of his neck.” So, she’s literally strapping body parts from these dead goats onto Jacob, and in places where it would be likely that Isaac would touch him. “So she also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son, Jacob.” Close of scene two. Each of these scenes is defined by the conversation. The first conversation was Isaac with Esau, but the sort of snoopy listener, Rebecca in the background, eavesdropping in on the whole thing. And then this second scene, of course, Rebecca talking to Jacob.
Scene three, verse 18. “He came to his father and he said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau, your first born.'” Okay? That’s the first of four lies that Jacob will tell, I mean, boldfaced lies. This isn’t just trying to hide what you bought somebody for Christmas kind of lies. This is “I will now deceive you” lies. “I have an agenda. I will accomplish my agenda through deception.” And Jacob’s name even literally means “a heel grabber” with the idea of somebody who’s tripping someone else up. He’s a deceiver. You’ll see that even reiterated here in this particular chapter.
“‘Who are you, my son?’… ‘I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me.” That’s lie number two. He has not done as you told him. “‘Get up, please. Sit and eat of my game that you may bless me.'” This is a hint to how bedridden Isaac has become. “Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?'” Here’s lie number three. And Jacob said, “’Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.'” Just a little pastoral advice, folks. If you’re going to lie, don’t use God in your deception. That just broke my heart right there. And these are major personalities in the Bible. Note that, okay? “The Lord God caused it.”
There’s so many people saying the Lord God caused something or other to happen. And so often people are using that as license for something they want to do, their agenda. Listen, we said this before here in the village Chapel time and time again. Do not mistake the patience of God for His endorsement on your sinful behavior. Sometimes he’s being patient with you and he’s being merciful in not bringing those consequences that might naturally fall your way for the foolishness you’re committing. But don’t mistake that patience of God with his endorsement of your behavior, your attitude, your sinful activity, whatever that may be. Here he is doing that sort of thing or at least pretending to as he talks to his father. Verse 21. “Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come close that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son, Esau, or not.’
So Jacob came close to Isaac, his father, and he felt him and he said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the of Esau.’ And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So, he blessed him. And he said, ‘Are you really my son, Esau?'” One more time. He’s a little incredulous because his senses are messing with him. The voice doesn’t sound like the right voice, but the touch. And then here’s the fourth lie. Here is Jacob’s response.
“‘Are you really my son, Esau?’ Answer: ‘I am.'” Now, those are two really beautiful words later in the book of Exodus, when Moses says to God, “Who shall I say to the children of Israel? Who shall I say sent me?” And Yahweh reveals his personal name to Moses and it’s I Am. Here, though, Jacob is using these two simple words in such a way as to deceive his own father, whom he should love, and to take advantage of his own brother, whom he should also love, in conspiratorial cooperation with his mother. “So he said, ‘Bring it to me. I will eat of my son’s game and I may bless you.'” This is Isaac, of course. “He brought it to him. He ate. He also brought him wine and he drank. His father, Isaac, said to him, ‘Please come close and kiss me, my son.'”
He’s still a little suspicious. “So he came close and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his garments.” Remember, Rebecca had put Esau’s clothes on Jacob, right? “He smelled the smell of his garments and he blessed him and he said, ‘See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.'” As he’s going through his five senses, he’s using now his smell. And this is like the smell of a field, which it’s not a new Calvin Klein fragrance, Eau de la Field or Eau de la Pasture or something like that. No, this is the smell of Esau, the guy that goes out hunting all of the time instead of the smell of Jacob, who works a little bit in the garden and harvests the lentils and makes some soup and stuff like that.
“‘Now, may God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and abundance of grain and new wine. May people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master of your brothers and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless you.'” This indeed is kind of an echo of what we read in chapter 12, for instance, verses two and three. It echoes some of that. But here we do kind of see that four of the five of Isaac’s senses fail him. Everything but his hearing is failing him now. His eyesight’s gone and now he just did the smell thing, he’s done the touch thing. And he’s getting ready to taste this game, this food that Rebecca cooked that Jacob delivered to his dad.
And, by the way, I was going to use this as one of my sermon points, the epistemological weakness of empiricism. And everybody I talked to about that said that would be like, “No, don’t do that.” That would not be the kind of… But what’s happening here is epistemological means that that’s that branch of philosophy that deals with “What can we know and how do we come to know it?” Empiricism is that belief that the stuff we can really know is the stuff that our five senses tell us, and that’s it. Nothing else. And that’s weak, in my view. You believe in so many things that your senses cannot verify. How do I know that? Well, because you believe in hope, you believe in love, you believe in right and wrong. All of you do. You’re not going to find that under a microscope and you’re not going to find it under a telescope. You just can’t trust always your five senses.
We used to travel a lot on the road, and I’ve told the story before. We were coming down 40, some of you know this, coming from Knoxville, and there was a literal wall of fog cutting off the highway in front of us. It looked like the highway itself stopped at that wall of fog. My senses told me that the road did not go on, the road went no further. If you believe just what your senses will tell you, you might believe a lie. It’s good to double check, verify these things.
Scene four begins with verse 30. “It came about as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.” So, you got to see Jacob going out in the back door of the tent and Esau coming in the front door of the tent. That’s how close this is in the sort of play, if you will. “And he also made savory food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, ‘Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game that you may bless me.’ Isaac, his father said to him, ‘Who are you?’ And he said, ‘I’m your son, your firstborn, Esau.’
And Isaac trembled violently and said, ‘Who was he, then, that hunted game and brought it to me so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him. Yes, and he shall be blessed.’ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, ‘Bless me, even me, also my father.'” He’s reduced, a 70-some-year-old man, to a childlike cry right now. “And he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.’ And he said, ‘Is he not rightly named Jacob for he has supplanted me these two times.'” He’s deceived me. He’s the heel grabber. He tripped me up these two times. “‘He took away my birthright and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ And he said, ‘Have you not reserved a blessing for me?’.
“And Isaac answered and said to his son, ‘Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I’ve given to him as servants and with grain and new wine, I have sustained him. Now, as for you then, what can I do, my son?’ And Esau said to his father, ‘Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me, also, oh my father.’ So Esau lifted his voice and he wept. Isaac, his father, answered and said to him, ‘Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling. Away from the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword, you shall live. Your brother you shall serve, but it shall come about when you become restless that you shall break his yolk from your neck.'” Close scene four. Interesting.
Verse 41 opens scene five. “So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near and then I will kill my brother, Jacob.'” Now the narrator is giving us some insight into the thoughts of Esau here and just how outraged he was, how much hate and rage have taken over his heart. “When the words of her elder son, Esau, were reported to Rebecca, she sent and called Jacob.” And by the way, the narrator is saying something that Rebecca did not say. “Esau is your son too.”
Parents, don’t play favorites. Love every single one of your children. “But when the words of her eldest son, Esau, were reported to Rebecca, she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, ‘Behold, your brother, Esau, is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.'” So now Esau, one of the four main characters of this particular chapter, has murder on his mind. Again, nobody looks good here. “‘Therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Haran to my brother Laban.'” We remember Haran, don’t we? We remember Laban, don’t we, from previous chapters when Abraham sent his servant to go fetch a wife for his son, Isaac, and Rebecca’s the one that the servant brought back, right?
“‘Go there and talk to my brother, Laban,'” verse 44, “‘and stay with him a few days until your brother’s fury subsides.'” So, she’s thinking this is going to be a passing wave of anger and she’s going to send Jacob away under the guise of “Go stay with you with my brother, Laban, [his uncle, Laban] until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I shall send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?'”
She won’t see him again. She doesn’t know that, but she won’t see him again. We know because we’ve read the rest of the story, but she says to him now in scene six, she says to Isaac, “‘I’m tired of living because of the daughters of Heth.'” That would be the Hittite women that Esau actually had married. “‘If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” In other words, “I can’t handle any more Canaanite daughters-in-law in the household here.” Again, this is just family dysfunction on so many levels. But, yeah, Jacob will go away for what ends up being about 20 years. And she, Rebecca, to the best of our knowledge, will never see him again. A couple verses from chapter 28 will be scene seven.
“So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.'” Evidently, he’s concerned about what Rebecca’s concerned about or concerned that she’s concerned about it and wants to work with her on this. “‘Arise, go to Paddan Aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. From there, take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. And may God Almighty, El Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he also give you…'” and he’s kind of reiterating the blessing here, isn’t he?
“‘May he give you the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you that you may possess the land of your sojournings which God gave to Abraham.'” Do you understand what the narrator is recording here for us? The importance of the covenant promises of God and the path of those promises, too. God is ultimately in charge, though common tradition in the world around them, even in pagan cultures, was that the firstborn would be the one to get both the birthright and the blessing, God has sovereignly chosen to pass this through the line from Abraham to Isaac. Remember Ishmael was born before Isaac.
God sovereignly decided that the promise would go through Abraham and Sarah, not Abraham and Hagar. Through Abraham and Sarah comes Isaac. And then we’ve already been told in chapter 25 that that same blessing would be passed along to the younger of the two children that Rebecca is about to have. And so, Isaac, in choosing to try to circumvent God’s plan and give that blessing in this last chapter here to Esau, he’s actually going against God’s will, revealed to Isaac already.
So now I think Isaac, a little bit more awakened to this whole thing as he sends Jacob away, reiterates the blessing to Jacob, the second born. “Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take to himself a wife from there. And that when he blessed him, he charged him saying, ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.'”
A couple more verses. “And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.” So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father, Isaac. And Esau went to Ishmael and married, besides the wives that he had, the two Hittite women, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.”
Some Bible commentators will say Esau seems to be leaning back in the direction of honoring his parents here, because at least he’s choosing his third wife from among their extended family, meaning Ishmael’s daughter. I’m not sure about that. I think there are commentators that would go either way on some of this stuff, but we’re going to stop right there in terms of our text for today.
There’s so much here. We’ve got three of these. First of all, look at the honesty of the Bible, will you? Here’s four big names in the Bible: Isaac, Rebecca, Jake, Esau. No attempt to hide the fact that all four of them behave badly in this chapter in one way or another. Isaac’s trying to get around the plan that God’s already revealed to him. “But let me give this blessing. I know that thing went down with the soup between Jacob and Esau and the birthright thing but let me give the blessing at least to Esau here. He is my favorite after all.” And there’s so much about that that you could unpack. And Esau was attempting to break his own oath, in which he swore to Jacob that everything would pass along to Jacob in that moment where he said, “I’m so hungry.” And so, Esau’s not shown in a very good light here.
It’s interesting in this chapter, by the way, the two brothers never really talk, do they? That’s not one of the scenes we see here. They’re not talking to each other. And at the end, what we have here is this serious rift, but glory, hallelujah, when they come back together in just a couple chapters, we’re going to have a great time watching them reconcile. What God can do in terms of family reconciliation will be a wonderful thing to take a look at.
But here Esau is also, I think, kind of thinking to himself, “Maybe if I get this soup and give it to dad, maybe he’ll give me the blessing. I can circumvent this promise I made to Jacob some time ago trading my birthright and my father’s blessing.” It kind of was wrapped up together a bit. And so, he’s trying to circumvent that promise that he had made. And Jacob resists a little at first, but I don’t think it’s because he thinks deception is wrong. I don’t think he has any compunction at all about that. I don’t think he’s worried about that. He’s just worried he’s going to get caught. He’s so modern, or post-modern, in that way, isn’t he? A post-modern ancient guy. How about that? But because the Bible is honest, this is what I love about the Bible.
I know this isn’t one of those stories where you all are going to go home and embroider some verse from this chapter and put it up on the wall. I get that. But when I read this chapter and I see how honest the Bible is, I’m encouraged myself. I don’t know about you, but I am. Why? Because it’s like a mirror. Not only does it reveal God to us, but the mirror is held up to my own life and my own face, my own heart, my own tendencies and I need to know this.
It’s part of a good diagnosis to the really big question that everybody asks. Even Pagans asks this question. “What in the world is wrong with the world? What is wrong with people?” We all say it all the time. All you have to do is turn on the news. It doesn’t matter what day it is. It doesn’t matter how horrible. They rip and read all the time. That’s cheap news. “Let me tell you how bad people behave” and then they just back the truck up and dump it all out for us in their little broadcast.
And as long as they can keep us in a sensational mode, we’ll be addicted to what they’re offering because we just can’t get enough of that. And it’s just interesting. Bono, he’s the lead singer for the band U2. He says,
“That the Scriptures are brim full of hustlers, murderers, cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me. Now it’s a source of great comfort.”
–Bono
That’s kind of the way I feel about this too. I read this and I think to myself, “Look at all that we thought we knew about people like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And look at the general sense we had. These are the holy people of the Old Testament.” And there is a sense in which what we’re learning here is that the honesty of the Bible brings glory to God, because look what God can do even with broken people?
And it really goes no further than the mirror in my own bathroom at home because He’s working in my life. He’s working in your life too. And that’s a good thing for me to know. I’m really glad the Bible is as honest as it is. Eugene Peterson has gone home to glory but I’m reading his biography right now. It’s kind of upset me because the book publishers came out with two biographies, a biography of Eugene Peterson and a biography of John Stott.
And so, I’m now reading chapter after chapter and I’m getting the two confused. It’s like watching two shows and confusing the whole thing. There’s no confusion between the two in terms of the way they thought and the kind of work they did. But look at how the Lord used both of them in different ways. And here Eugene says,
“No literature is more realistic and honest in facing harsh facts of life than the Bible.”
–Eugene Peterson
And isn’t that honesty something that, ultimately, you and I will find attractive in this day and age where there’s so much intellectual confusion and moral bankruptcy? You know what’s really helpful when stuff is just swirling out there and you can’t really tell where true north is? You know what’s really helpful? A little clarity, a little honesty, a little humility.
It’s so refreshing that the Bible doesn’t try to spin all of these characters in such a super positive way. No, we get the honest truth about them here in this chapter, and I do appreciate that. Secondly, not only notice the honesty of the Bible here in Genesis 27 and through verse nine of 28, but notice, too, the patience of God. How many times do the characters of the Bible, and how many times do we, test the patience of God? I’m constantly flirting with temptation. You are too.
I was talking with somebody yesterday about the difference between temptation and acts of sin, and we were talking a little bit about how it’s not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted. I’m tempted all the time. I’ll be tempted today. You’ll be tempted today as well. The question is how do we respond to that temptation? What do we do with that? Do we entertain it and entice it at some point? Or do we flee youthful temptations or, whether they’re youthful or not, flee temptation? Do we resist temptation? Are we aware that we’re even being tempted?
We all know those sources, the world, the flesh, the devil. They all exist. I don’t know how synchronized everything is, but I do know there is a strategic pattern. I have more than once awakened to the fact that there is a certain strategy. The enemy of my soul has actually arranged it so that I would be tired and hungry at the same time so that when someone says something to me that really bothers me, then I blow up at them. Amen.
That’s right. And what that word means is “true that”. Yeah, so my brother knows this. We both know this, and your laughing is your amen. See, you know it too. We talk sometimes about when you’re making decisions, for instance, there’s that old acronym people say. S-H-A-L-T. Shalt. Thou shalt not make a big decision. And SHALT stands for when you’re sad or when you’re hungry, when you’re angry, when you’re lonely or when you’re tired. You could probably think of some other things to put in there as well, but it’s good to stop. Instead of the impulsiveness that we see in Esau that first time when he came back and was fooled by Jacob, the deceiver, the supplanter, the heel grabber. Esau is just all impulse at that moment, and it costs him.
Look at the patience of God though. Look at who God chooses to work with. Flawed individuals like these four and flawed individuals like all of us. And that serves the purposes of God, which is really the third thing I wanted to say and the last thing I want to say today. So where is this? Patience of God. Oh yeah. I’ll remind you from Nahum 1:3, “
The Lord is slow to anger, great in power.”
Nahum 1:3
I love that.
A.W. Pink says,
“How wondrous is God’s patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand.” …
In other words, boldly.
“…The Divine Law is trampled underfoot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him.”
–A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God
How’s that for perspective? You’re not going to hear that kind of perspective in a lot of churches today. It’s more the therapeutic age. Everybody’s wanting to make you feel good, make you feel better, stroke the seekers, massage the tithers and make sure everybody can go home with something they can hang on the wall. It’s that real nice make you feel good kind of a thing.
But this is the truth of the Bible. It’s telling us the real honest truth. And it’s also showing us how patient God is. Now, what’s your response to that kind of patience? If you acknowledge point number one that there’s this honesty in the Bible and that it’s really telling the truth about sinful human beings, what is your response to this God who is so patient? Well, I think it’s to look at the trustworthiness of His plans and to recognize those. How amazing is this God? In spite of all the foolish of these four people, in spite of all the foolishness in your life and in my life, look what God is doing. Look for what God is doing. God had a plan to redeem the world, which He had set in place. He fully intended to bring to fruition. God was going to send a Savior.
And as God planned, the person who would be the Savior would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I wonder if you have someone in your life that reminds you of one of the four characters in this chapter. Maybe an Isaac, who’s trying to work around God’s plan. Or a Rebecca maybe who conspires against even those she’s supposed to love. A Jacob, who can tell a boldfaced lie and would steal from his own family members if he could get away with it. Or an Esau, who consistently shows disregard for everything he should treasure. Wow.
I want you to know, in spite of the fact that those are the kind of people in this chapter, and frankly those are the same kind of people that are in this room. And I’m one of them – we are all like them in so many different ways. In spite of all of that, we can rest assured that God’s plans and purposes will be accomplished. In other words, the burden isn’t on me to be a perfect pastor. The burden isn’t on you to be a perfect mother, a perfect father, a perfect son, daughter, brother, sister, whatever. Why? Because of the grace of God which flows in and out of the hearts and lives of sinners, such as we are.
And it’s for His glory and it will accomplish His purposes. His plans are trustworthy. John Lennox, in his book Seven Days That Divide the World said this.
“Genesis is concerned with actual and not mythical events in the world. And over it all God the uncreated creator presides, speaking His creative word so that all is accomplished.”
–John Lennox, Seven Days That Divide the World
Amen.
I love that. And you and I will sit in periods of time like the slice of history that we’re sitting in right now and we’ll go, “What’s God up to?” with all of this stuff that’s going on in the world, with the misbehavior of everybody around us. Okay, I’ll grant that what you’re saying is right, that I can see brokenness in the mirror, I can see sinfulness in the mirror in my own bedroom I admit that it’s me, that I’m part of the problem. What is God up to? How in the world can we possibly trust what God is up to? And as we come to the table today, this is what compels us. This is what motivates us, people.
We’re in such awe that the God who made us, is now telling us the truth about ourselves in the Bible, that we’re sinners, that we’re flawed. And He is also saying, “And, look, my love for you, you didn’t earn it so you can’t shake it. You can’t lose it. And look how patient I am with you.” And some of you are sitting in here going, “I don’t deserve for Him to be patient.” Well, you’re right. But grace is for the people that are guilty and know they don’t deserve anything. So, if that’s what grace is, that’s what’s on offer to you. And that’s what this Bible tells us. And that’s why we study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel. Because this God will accomplish His purposes through flawed sinners like me and like you – like Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Esau. And so, we will give Him thanks all along the way.
One of the other sinners in history, more recent, of course, than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, was a man named John Newton. This man was a captain of a slave ship. Can you think of anything more heinous? Can you think of anything that would be more despised in our own day and time than that? And rightly so. But God got ahold of this man and here’s what he ended up saying.
“God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts.”
–John Newton
And by that he didn’t mean he’s about to fatten your wallet and give you everything you want. What he means is he’s about to rearrange your heart and your priorities and your affections in such a way that you will actually love God again for the first time, for some of you. That you’ll actually love what God loves, that your eyes will weep over what God’s eyes weep over. And I’m using an anthropomorphism there. I acknowledge that. But His heart breaks over the sin in this world, so much so that He’s done something about it. And what He has done about it is what we’re going to come and give thanks for in just a few minutes at the table of the Lord.
Let’s pray together: Lord, thank You for Your amazing grace. Even as we study these old stories and see that the great people, great personalities in the Bible, faulty, frail, inconsistent. I pray, Holy Spirit, that You’d use all of that to open our eyes to see Your glory, Your grace on offer to sinners such as we are, as we identify with these folks that we read about in the Bible.
And this grand narrative, Lord, this just keeps coming home to us, that You’re in pursuit of a people You can call Your own. And You’ve done everything necessary to make us Yours, to reconcile us to Yourself. And so, we will come and give thanks. We’ll give You praise and honor and receive from You what we cannot purchase, what we cannot manipulate, what we cannot lie our way into. You actually know what a wretch I am, and yet You still love me. We give You thanks and praise. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen and amen.
(Edited for Reading)
