Sunday Morning Sermon Series - The Dysfunctional Family Part 2 - 04/24/2021

Jacob’s Rebellion, Family Dysfunction, and the Promise of God

Now, last week we talked about this. Jacob and Esau were just absolutely bratty to each other. Esau was off hunting all the time. You know why? Because he couldn't stand being at home. And that was daddy's favorite, because Isaac was vicariously reliving his little sissy boy of childhood through his redneck son Esau.

You know, he was like, yeah, I'm a wuss, but look at my boy Esau, man. He's a hunter. He's a man's man. And so Esau was always out running around, and he was the firstborn. But God had said, Jacob is going to be the head of this family.

Jacob is going to receive all the wealth. Well, Isaac and Esau said, yeah, whatever, God. Well, Rebecca and Jacob, you know, she taught him how to cook and how to sew, and he kind of pranced around the little tents, you know, and he was like, hello, everybody.

You know, he was just a little sissy boy, right? And so Rebecca said, you know what, we need to speed this process up a little bit. So we're going to go trick your daddy into giving you both the birthright and the blessing of the family now.

So they tricked Jacob. Jacob blesses, I'm sorry, see, this is why I have the chart. Isaac blesses Jacob. Esau hears about it and goes, what? Are you kidding me? I'm going to kill Jacob. Mommy intervenes again.

Instead of letting Jacob and Esau figure this out like men, she tells Jacob, run away, run away, run away. And so he does, and he goes and travels off and stays with his uncle Laban. Now, while he's in with uncle Laban, he marries two different women.

He marries two women that are sistas, sisters in English, marries two women that are sisters. Now, that's going to be a really cool household, right? So he marries them, and he sleeps with both of their handmaids.

So he's got four women pregnant, right? All at the same time, they're all giving kids. Jacob gets rich and wealthy, but he is not where God told him to go. So finally, God comes up to Jacob again and says, son, get up, go back, make things right, and take the land that I gave you.

Jacob Going His Own Way Instead of God’s Way

And that's where we're going to start in chapter 32, verse 1. Now, if you look at verse 1, if you look there at verse 1, everybody either turn on or open up to Genesis 32. If you look there at verse 1, it said, Jacob went on his way.

Now, that is an actual thing. Jacob said, all right, he got up and went on his way, but it's also a thesis of Jacob's life. Every time God said, son, go left, Jacob said, I'm going to go right. Now, I know none of you good church people in here are that stubborn with God, but Jacob was.

Jacob constantly did what Jacob wanted to do, what his flesh wanted to do, what his self-centeredness wanted to do, rather than doing what God had asked him to do. And so he gets up, and he's going back to the promised land.

Now, I want you to understand how dysfunctional this family is. I want you to think about this. Where is Pastor Sia? There's Pastor Sia, and there's Nava. Naomi. Hi. Here is three generations. Me, Pastor Josiah, and Naomi.

God had promised me Memphis, Tennessee. He said, son, no, really, the state of Tennessee. I'm going to give you the state of Tennessee for your possession, and you're going to have so many kids, and you're going to be so powerful, and so wealthy.

Out of you is going to come the Messiah to save the world. Out of that lineage. And I take myself, and I move to Arkansas. Pastor Josiah then, the next generation, takes his family and moves to Missouri.

And then Naomi and her family sit there, and forget this, they move all the way to California. They keep for three generations, it's not just one guy, for generations people are in rebellion. Can you say the United States of America?

Because that is where we are. We sit there and say, God bless America, and I hope those words choke in your throat as you say them. We don't need God to bless America. We need to obey God. We are never going to be a repentant nation until we stop using little platitudes and prayers and FCA chants, and we come back to a place where we repent before a holy and righteous God individually, as families, as churches, and get unified under the word of the living God.

But we don't want to do that. Why? Verse 1. We all want to go our own way. Go keep going down a little bit. Start in verse 3. Let's continue the story. It says this. Jacob sent messengers in front of him.

Here's Jacob's plan. I got to go back to the holy land because Esau's over there. I got to make things right with Esau. But Esau's a pretty powerful dude. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to send messengers to Esau and say, hey brother, me and you, we got to chat.

We got to get, I got to make things right, okay? And so he sends messengers to Esau. The messengers come back. If you read there, the messages come back. Verse 6, it says when the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, we went to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you.

God said go meet him, but obviously Jacob's dragging his feet again, and so Esau's coming to meet him. Now look, it says there in verse 6, with 400 dudes with him. He's got 400 guys in his gang. The bloods and the crypts are fixing the meat, man, and they're, they're fitting to get nasty, right?

So Jacob's sitting there. Not only is he afraid of his brother Esau, now Esau's got 400 trained dudes with him. Now look what verse 7, it says. Jacob was greatly afraid in distress. Can I talk to y 'all a minute about this?

How are you doing today? Just listen. It's in our colloquial. It's in our language. It's in our church people. How are you doing today? Here's what I hear. The number one answer. Oh, I'm so tired, man.

I'm so tired. I'm tired. Well, bless is the one that makes me vomit, but I'm so tired. I'm so tired. And here's the other one. I'm so stressed. I'm just stressed. I'm stressed. That's usually this side of the room.

I'm stressed. I'm stressed. You're 23 years old. You got a part-time job. What are you stressed about? You ain't got a wife yet, son. You don't know stress until you got a wife. When you sit there and ask her, what do you want for dinner?

She says, I don't care. You have to list 70 different things because all of a sudden she cares. You have no idea. And then when you have a wife like that, then you end up being even dumber and start having kids.

That will stress you beyond all measure. Guys, church, if you're always tired and you're always stressed, your spiritual life is not plugged into where it needs to be. Okay. Please stop being tired. You know what that really is?

It's plausible excuses because of what Jacob is right now. He is afraid. He is standing in a place where he shouldn't be. And that's what causes you tired and depression. Listen, let me tell you about depression.

Let me tell you about it. And I don't need to read a book. I have to live with it every day. You know what depression is? It is nothing more than your reasoning and your little brain to run away from issues.

I promise you this. And don't start telling me your trauma stories. I don't care. You come to a place in your life where you stop procrastinating and dealing with the issues in your life, you can beat depression.

Oh, you'll still live with it. Trust me. But you can overcome it. You have got to stop procrastinating in your life because when you do not follow God's Word and you are a born-again believer and the Son of God and you are being disobedient, don't be surprised when you're tired, stressed, and depressed.

There is nothing more miserable in this world than a backslidden Christian. Ain't nothing more miserable. And you, here's what we do. We wait for decades to get it right. After our kids are in rebellion, after our grandkids are in rebellion, after everything in our life has fallen apart, oh, then we need to seek God.

But then we'll do the same thing Jacob's doing. We'll seek God only halfway. Back to our text here. It says that he is distressed. Now, when I write sermons, I read a bunch. I read a bunch. And I do read on the computer, but I also read books.

There are these papers that are bound together and you open them up. Never mind. But I also read books. It's funny. I'll read a bunch of books from Baptist commentaries and other denominations too. I'll read them.

And here's what some of these commentaries said. Here's what some of these commentaries said. They said this, Jacob is truly seeking God out at this point. Jacob's really, he cries out to God. He's seeking God.

Jacob’s Prayer and the Difference Between Repentance and Regret

Let's read Jacob's revival, shall we? Let's read it together. When he finds out and he gets scared, start in verse 9. Are you ready? Now, as we read this together, I want you and your brain to hear in the background.

Just hear that music softly playing in the background. Then Jacob said, God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, because God might forget who he is. The Lord who said to me, God, I'm going to remind you, go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper.

Oh, I'm so unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. Indeed, I crossed over the Jordan with my staff and now have become two camps. Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him.

Otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers and the children. You have said, I will cause you to prosper and will make your offspring like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted. Come right now.

Take me by the hand and just say, Pastor, Pastor, I just need a prayer. Pastor, I just need to repent. Here's what's hilarious. People want to come and repent of a sin instead of their sinful nature. Now, you might sit there and say, Pastor, I think you're being a little hard on Jacob.

All right, well, let's look at this. Let's look at this prayer of repentance. Are you ready? He is scared and afraid. Now, for 20 years, there's nothing recorded of him speaking about God. He ain't speaking to God.

He ain't doing nothing with God. He's being in rebellion for 20 years. Now, all of a sudden, he's halfway trying to obey God. He's going back to his land. He's going back to meet Esau. Esau's coming with 400 men.

All of a sudden, he's like, Dear Lord, oh, forgive me. And then he starts reminding God of God's promises. Now, I want you to notice something about Jacob's priorities. Look again carefully at what he says.

He says, Lord, oh, my goodness. Look at verse 11. He says, Lord, he may come attack me, the mothers, and the children. Who's he really worried about here? It's all about me. I'm going to prove this point more in a second, but it's all about me.

Daddies, husbands, for you women's lib people out there, you're about to be seriously disappointed, and you're about to be seriously offended, but you are an idiot, and your twisted up political ideas are destroying your family.

Wrap your brain around that if you have to. Come and talk to me. I'd love to talk to you about it, but Gloria Steinem is a godless, satanic idiot. But we'll get to that more some other time, all right?

Listen to me for a second. Dads, you're in charge. You say, oh no, my wife wears the pants of my family. Guess who God's going to hold accountable? You don't get to negotiate with God's Word, okay? If God said this is the way it's going to be, guess what, Skippy?

That's the way it's going to be, and your opinions, your ideas, or the circumstances of your situation do not change that. Now, how do you become the man in the head of your family? Put this in exact opposite order.

You do not think of yourself first. You want to rule. You want to lead. You want to be the head of something. You should be last. You're the last guy up, and you're the first guy up, and the last guy down.

Guys, are you praying with your wife? Are you ministering with your kids? Are you teaching them the Word of God? Well, no, pastor, they won't listen. You know why? Because you ain't trying. Do you feel awkward praying with your wife, guys?

Seriously, think about it. When you crawl in bed, all right, you reach a little hand over there, say, hey, baby, let's pray. And you're like, I don't know how to do this. This feels weird. Dear God, it's like you're 13 again, asking on our day.

Dear God, bless my family. You're going through puberty again, I guess. I don't know why the voice is cracking, but God, will you pray for me? Please help my family. Amen. And you feel awkward, and you feel stupid, and so you don't do it anymore.

You are such a woman. You're sitting there going by your feelings. What did God tell you to do? It's not up to your feelings, or how you feel, or if you're stressed, or if you don't feel like it, or, but you don't get that option.

You don't get that option. As a man and as a leader in your home, you are the number one slave in that household. It means you serve your family and lead them by example. You want rebellious kids? It's real stupid easy.

Here's how you get them. Live a hypocritical lifestyle where you claim one thing and your family does something else. They will see right through that, and they will rebel against it every time. Be consistent in your life, or suffer the consequences.

So here's Jacob. Here's Jacob. God, I'm really concerned about me, and the women, and the kids. We'll show that a little bit more. Watch this. So it's repentance time. He's praying, and then watch this.

Verse 11, by the way, it says, rescue me. Okay, whatever. Watch this. Here we go. Now he just prayed this prayer. Now if you're thinking, pastor, you've been a little hard on this guy. Man, this was a sincere prayer.

Let me tell you something about repentance. Repentance is a changing of the mind and the heart, which will be evident in the changing of the actions. If you sit there today, and you feel convicted, you say, oh, well, that's wrong.

I really feel bad, but I'm not going to change anything. That's not repentance, okay? That's not repentance. Repentance starts with the heart and the mind and shows up in the body. So let's skip down to verse 13.

Let's see what Jacob did. So he gets to a place where he's about to cross over. Verse 13, it says, he spent the night there and took part of what he brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau. So he's sitting there, he's sitting there, and he has this gift for Esau, but he gets a little hungry.

So he dips into the gift basket to get the chocolate covered turtles out, you know? And he's munching on them. He's eating on them, and it shows what his bribery gift to Esau. And then watch this, verse 14.

He does this. He takes all those cattle, all those gifts, verse 14, and entrusts them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, go on ahead of me and leave some distance between the herds. Verse 17, and he told the first one, when my brother Esau meets and asks, who do you belong to?

Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you? Then you will tell him, these belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my Lord Esau. And look, he is behind us. And he told the second group that and the third group that.

And everyone who was walking behind the animals say the same thing to Esau. And I'm going to appease him. I'm going to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will give me.

Forgive me, verse 21. So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in camp that night. During the night, Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 sons and crossed the fort of Jabbok.

He then took them and sent them across the stream with all his possessions. Now, has this guy repented? Let's watch for a second how this strategy is working, okay? So Esau is over there at Walgreens, right?

I'm over here at Shelby Farms. Here's my game plan. I'm scared. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my servants. I'm going to take my servants and the bride gift, and I'm going to send them all on ahead.

They're coming down Witton, or whatever this road is. Yeah, Witton. They're coming down Witton, and I'm going to wait, and after about a mile, what I'm going to do is send another group of servants. And then after about another mile, I'm going to send my first wife, who I really don't like that much, and her kids, right?

I'm going to send them along. And then the very last thing I'm going to do is my favorite wife, Rachel, and my favorite son, Joseph, which is going to end up biting them in the rear later, I'm going to send them last.

And while they're going to meet Esau, it's a great military strategy, because watch what happens. He gets down, the first group gets down here. If they're attacked, they're all going to run away, and they're going to run into the second group.

It's going to be like a marathon relay to make sure the message gets back to him really quick. That group's going to go, and then they're going to run to the third group, and the third group is going to come back, and all of a sudden, he's going to go, hey, let's go.

Now, if I lose my first wife and my six boys, or my ten sons, that's going to stink, but at the end of the day, I'm going to be safe. Has he repented? Let me ask you a question. Men with daughters, would you let your daughter marry this guy?

I mean, seriously, you know? I mean, think about it. Me and Winter are driving down the street. We get attacked by a bunch of antiques. Well, no, they're peaceful. We get attacked by a bunch of thugs, let's say.

Redundancy. They get attacked by a bunch of thugs. I go, baby, get on up out of the car and get these guys off my paint job. But he's repenting now. Guys, repentance is not just simply a change of guilt.

It's not simply admitting that you're sinful. It's actually stopping what you're doing. I hear people, Pastor Josiah said this a while back, if you are struggling with sin, prove it. Because here's what people say, well, I'm struggling with this sin.

That is basically code for I'm wallowing in it. Struggling is I feel bad about it, but I ain't doing nothing about it. That is not how you win a fight. You don't feel your way to victory. You've got to pull some triggers and swing some hands, right?

You've got to throw some bows to win this fight. You're going to have to start making a difference in the choices that you're making. This guy ain't repented. He ain't repented. And I'm going to prove it to you right here, because now God shows up.

Jacob Alone Before God and the Hope for Broken Sinners

Verse 24. Verse 24. Ready? Watch this. Jacob is all alone. Jacob was left all alone. Once again, let me tout to you the great Baptist theologian. And this is what he said. Jacob was all alone because he wanted to spend some alone time with God.

No, I'm serious. Go read it. Jacob was such a godly Christian that he knew before this meeting, he wanted to spend some alone time with God to get prayed up. You know why he was alone? Because he sent his entire possessions and family out as a decoy, as a chaff bomb to accept any missile coming at him.

That's why he did it. Oh, but no. We Christians got to super spiritualize everybody. In the Bible, oh, they're the greatest people in the world. Abraham was a racist pig and a liar. Look at these losers.

Guys, it's important that you read scripture as it is and quit Sunday schooling everyone in the Word of God. You know why? I need the reality of their lives to give me hope in my own pathetic existence.

Right? But we don't want to do that. We want our little kids to have good examples. And so we make all of them have white skin and blonde hair and on the little felt boards we all sit there and they have little smiles and little rosy cheeks and little glowing things behind their head.

And they're all just great Christian people. Lies. That's why our churches are filled with hypocrisy and lies. Because we haven't learned the lesson with the examples God has given us. They're a bunch of self-righteous, self-centered little pigs that keep rebelling against God.

Now, why do we preach that? Not for the shock value of the reality of it. Because we need to see that there is hope no matter how far you have fallen.