Reaping and Weeping

Well this morning we want to consider Genesis 27 verses 30 through 40, so we're not quite out of the chapter yet. Of course, we began it last week. And as we said last week Nobody in Isaac's household comes out of this chapter looking very good there is sin at every turn the sin of Isaac the sin of his wife Rebecca the sin of Jacob and even the sin of Esau and Contrast of course to the sin we see the grace of God and so we have this testimony Before our eyes in Genesis 27 that where sin abounds the grace of God abounds much more.

Isaac has resisted the will of God. He should have discerned from the demeanor of his eldest son Esau. That he was not following after God's own heart that he would not be a suitable heir of the Abrahamic Covenant.

He should have noticed when he Married himself to pagan wives That he was pursuing his own will rather than the will of God. He should have been able to discern from Jacob that as deceitful as Twisted as Jacob was he was truly seeking God's blessing.

He had a desire for the things of the Lord the things of his heritage the covenantal belongings of Abraham his grandfather. So Isaac is resisting the will of God. Rebecca has resisted not only her husband You can see the marital breakdown there, but also she has resisted God in her own way.

She's chosen to walk by sight and not by faith. So concerned was she that God's promise to Jacob was now in jeopardy that she undertook to sin. To deceive her husband and to force her own son to sin against God and his father.

And so Rebecca has resisted the will of God. Jacob, of course has resisted Obedience and submission to his father. He has dishonored his father brought shame to his father. He's resisted the way of God walking in the truth of God.

He's also walking by sight rather than by faith. And so he like his mother deceives and he like his mother and like his father and like his brother Resists the will of God. So as Gordon Wenham points out in the context of this behavior each member of the family Self-centeredly seeking his own or her own interest.

The narrator is not simply pointing out how fallible God's people are but rather Reasserting the grace of God it is his mercy. That is the ultimate ground of salvation and that is certainly borne out in the lives of the patriarchs.

And so there's a great comfort here. There's a great comfort for the weary christian. There's a great comfort for the guilty believer that can feel the weight of their sin and the affliction of their conscience and And struggles with the sinfulness they see within them as paul struggled in romans 7.

There's a comfort that when God calls us he undertakes to bring his grace into our lives. To purge the sin within us. To make us more like him step by step season by season trial by trial. There's a great comfort when we look at the life of jacob when we are unfaithful.

God remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. That was a big focus. We had last week. Jacob is blessed despite his own sin. Jacob is blessed. Despite the sin that God is going to work out of his life.

Jacob is blessed. We need this grace abounding mercy renewing God of the twister and the deceiver. To be our refuge as we said from psalm 46 the god of jacob is our refuge. The god of jacob being the god who embraces twisted people.

Deceitful people. Selfish and self-willing people a stubborn and stiff-necked people. And he works their sin out in their lives by blessing and by trial. And he's faithful. But this morning as I mentioned last week last week, hopefully being an encouragement and a comfort.

But we're not just looking at the life of jacob in chapter 27. We're also looking at the life of esau. And so where perhaps there was comfort last week. We're looking perhaps more at conviction this morning not the blessing of esau.

But really the blessing of jacob, but really the curse of esau. And so we begin in verse 30. It happened as soon as isaac had finished blessing jacob and jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of isaac his father.

That he saw his brother came in from his hunting. He also had made savory food and brought it to his father and said to his father. Let my father arise and eat of his son's game that your soul may bless me.

You can picture the scene it's it's written so well that you can't help but think of what that would have looked like. For me that looks like. You know esau the thrill of the hunt. He he kind of dressed that game.

Whatever it might have been and took the time to prepare this meal and he must have just been this this beacon of joy the exhilaration of what he was about to receive. If ever there was a bounce in someone's step esau had it.

As he bounded toward the tent of his father and perhaps as we read just scarcely had jacob left.

And perhaps.

Just out of the corner of his eyes. What was what was that? You know goat hair dangling off his brother's body. And he's going what what in the world. And anyway, he just keeps pressing forward into the tent.

You can picture the excitement when he sets this Meal down before his father. You can you can almost hear it through the words. Let my father rise up. His father's Decrepit. He thinks he's about to die.

That's why he sent him out to get his really his last meal. And he says rise up father so that your soul may bless me. Right your your innermost being The very core of your being may bless me. You can picture the exhilaration of the moment.

And then that.

Emotional high to being completely perplexed when isaac says verse 32. Who are you? Who are you. I'm your son your firstborn esau. We have that firstborn imagery embedded again the firstborn. And of course this question would have confused esau.

It wasn't that long ago that isaac had sent him out of the tent and It was to bring the meal and here's esau with the meal. Who are you? Oh, no dad's lost it again. Area dementia's striking good thing.

I have this meal just in time for the blessing. He would have been so confused. And then even more confused verse 33 when he sees isaac trembling.

Who?

Where's the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came. I I blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed. Isaac trembled and in hebrew. This is an emphatic clause. There's different ways.

You can make something emphatic in hebrew. And this is a very elaborate way of making so if we if we could try to capture you translate it something like this. With trembling isaac greatly trembled, you know with trembling trembling isaac trembled.

It's just it's it's Emphatic. He was shaken to the core. He's practically convulsing. So isaac is confused now. And then he sees his father convulsing and what we know isaac doesn't know yet. It's not simply that he was in shock.

It was rather in response to the fact that he knew he had been fighting against the will of god. And so the shock is more than just wait, I thought I already gave a blessing who was that. That would have been surprised but the trembling the shaking to the core kind of trembling he knows.

His will has been overruled by the will of god spurgeon puts it this way. As soon as isaac perceives that he has been wrong in wishing to bless esau. He does not persist in it. He does not think for a moment of retracting what he has done.

He feels that the hand of god was in it. Indeed, he shall be blessed. That's what he says. Isaac knew that the lord was in it. And so he could almost say Esau I I sought to bless you. I I really did. That was the plan.

In fact, I I thought that I just blessed you. Where's the one who actually did what I commanded you to do? He's the one that's blessed and he's going to be blessed. I'm, not pulling back. I'm not recanting.

I'm not revoking. I'm not switching things around. Isaac understands something of the will of god in this situation. He will be blessed. So now esau is completely puzzled. Probably would have gone from confused to to fearful.

Afraid of how his father was trembling and now devastated by the news. And so he cries out verse 34. He cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry. So now we go from exceeding trembling to exceeding crying and it's a bitter crying bitterness having the connotation of a Vengeful crying the vulgate has it.

He roared like a lion. So it's not just self-pity here. It's it's rage. That's how esau is weeping. But you notice something isaac is not moved by this roar. He's not moved by this rage or by this pity.

He's not moved by the tears and the moans and the groans of esau. He's not moved by his attachment or his affection for esau. He's not moved by the meal that he loves that esau just sat down before him.

Isaac is unmoved by any of this. He's resolved now to the will of god for jacob's blessing. And so he says verse 35 your brother came with deceit. He has taken away your blessing. He put it together. And esau retorts and here you can see this vengeful spirit.

Is he not rightly named. For he has supplanted me these two times. Here you see i'm the victim. This is not what we read in genesis 25. This wasn't so much jacob's Sin as esau sin and yet esau paints himself as the victim.

He supplanted me. Two times now no probably only once this time you could say he supplanted you but not the first time. He took away my birthright and now look he's taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved the blessing for me?

Isn't there something?

Notice here that esau is unconcerned About the substance of the blessing that jacob received. He just wants a blessing. It shows again that his mind is tracking in material ways. I want to have material goods and comforts in this life.

Is there any other blessing for me? Jacob seemed to have been driven more by the spiritual connotations of the blessing the sense of lineage and of course. That's only going to be amplified as we move forward in the next chapter as jacob begins to encounter the presence of god.

But here esau is simply seeking for his own immediate. Is there anything left for me? And isaac said indeed i've made him your master. All his brethren i've given to him as servants. With grain and wine i've sustained him.

What can I do for you now my son? So isaac is completely resolved in the will of god and notice there's really almost no sympathy there for esau. We go from a man who's been bound in his affection toward esau.

To the point that it's driven him against jacob and really outside of god's purpose for his family. But here now that he's resolved in the way that god has moved. He he seems to lose any pity for esau.

What can I do for you now? What can I do for you my son? And esau said to his father. Have you only one blessing? Bless me also. Oh my father. And then he lifted up his voice and he wept. And so isaac finally responds.

With this blessing behold. Your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth. And of the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. But it will come to pass when you become restless.

Then you shall break his yoke from your neck. This blessing really is an anti-blessing. It's really no blessing at all. And so the way that isaac has already pulled away sympathy from esau now. He almost doubles down this.

This is more like a curse than a blessing. It's not immediately obvious, but Compounded within these words is the reversal of fortune. In contrast to jacob's blessing esau now must dwell in a completely derivative way.

He will not be the source of abundance as jacob's blessing promises to him. But rather he will depend upon that source of blessing. He will have to live a dependent life. The connotation is he's going to be a wanderer and he's going to live in a derivative way in a violent way.

He's not going to be blessed by the bounty of the earth so much as he'll have to get it by tooth and claw. Using the sword it's going to be a hard life. Gaining provisions will be difficult not natural.

The preposition we have in our translation of the hebrew preposition men we read Of the earth of the dew of heaven. It could be translated of it also could be translated and is better translated from or perhaps even away from.

So the idea is your dwelling will be away from from. The fatness of the earth derivative even removed from it. You're going to have to sort of get the crumbs of it.

What's left of it?

So it's a derivative life. And then it's going to be through the sword by your sword. You shall live. And so here this is not a blessing at all it's not this fountain of abundance. This creational blessing that is bestowed on jacob.

It's it's something derivative. It's something difficult. It's something arid and dry as as edom turns out to be another way. We see this is we have a reversal of the words dew and fatness. It was the other way around in jacob's blessing.

But here the reversal is meant to say it's derivative and so where where jacob has Abundance like the dew and of the fatness of that he has sustained for essence the other way around it's been reversed.

Another thing we have here is Really a generational Curse. Now again, it's a blessing but as we've said it's sort of an anti-blessing. Because esau Like jacob and like all of us as we've been reminded as as hogan reminded us from wiley because we're dots.

Not dots but lines. Then this blessing this Anti-blessing will apply to esau not as a dot but as a line. His blessing in other words is going to have generational consequences. It won't just be he who lives in a derivative way.

It will not just be he who lives under the yoke of his brother israel. It will not just be he who who has to live by the sword. It will be the generations of edom the edomites under the yoke of israel living in a derivative way dependent upon their blessing.

And as we read in second kings eight when the time comes that they grow restless they break the yoke of their brother. Now apparently esau takes this as a pretext to well i'm already restless. I hate my brother.

And so i'm going to break that yoke right now. I'm going to kill him. That's what we get in verse 41. But this is actually playing out generationally. And it seems that this is being fulfilled as we move on and there's abundant references and in numbers and second chronicles as well as second kings to edom and the edomites.

And so we have this generational consequence and then we also have this imagery of of cain and abel like cain. Whose offering was rejected by the lord? Esau wants to kill his brother. Esau has this cain-like vengeance in his heart.

I've been rejected by god. I am outside of the blessing of god and i'm going to kill my brother. And you remember the curse that came upon cain as a result of that fratricide. This was the curse genesis 4 12 when you cultivate the ground.

It will not yield its strength to you. You will be a vagrant. You will be a wanderer on the earth. That same preposition can mean not just away from but across from. And so the idea of exile is there as well as cain was exiled from the presence of god.

And then of course what esau should have heard is what cain heard from the lord the warning the rebuke. Why are you angry? Esau, why has your countenance fallen esau if you do well esau? Will you not be lifted up if you do not do well esau sin is crouching at the door the door its desire Is for you, but you must rule over it.

And of course esau chooses to do none of these things. And that's why we have the testimony of hebrews 12 don't we as we'll see in a moment. So that's what we have in our passage verses 30 through 40 and I want to circle back to verse 34 in particular.

When esau heard the words of his father. He cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and he said to his father bless me me also. Oh my father.

Father.

There seems to be a genuine change in the understanding and outlook of isaac. Isaac seems to have genuinely changed in the way. He had been thinking about his blessing His generation the covenantal heritage and his sons jacob and esau.

We don't have the sense that esau's Undergone any genuine change in his understanding of the situation his understanding of the blessing or the covenantal heritage. He doesn't have any new outlook.

It's the same.

Esau we've seen all along. What about me? What about my needs something in in the immediate moment? There's no real change here for esau. Certainly, there's no sense of repentance as we would define repentance biblically.

There's remorse everywhere regret everywhere, but if there's nothing. There's no repentance. Repentance is not bitter crying. It's not exceeding crying. It's not saying I wish I did have this bless me now my father.

It's not wishing for what has been forfeited by sin. None of that is repentance. No true sense of repentance can be found in the bitter voice coming from esau's throat. Or the vengeful murderous spirit within his heart.

And he seems to have no understanding or appreciation For the situation at all. This is a knee-jerk reaction to something that's been taken from him. Esau's tears were the tears of Frustration selfishness lack of regret for his own sin completely self-awareness self-victimization.

Blame on his brother. Hate for his brother. He. He has reference toward everyone really but himself when it comes to wrongs. And of course he has been wrong. We don't want to take away from the sin of jacob.

Jacob sinned against his brother. Jacob wronged his brother. Jacob did evil to esau. We don't take away from that for a moment. But we cannot ignore what scripture itself says about esau. When we feel sorry for this pathetic howling from esau.

And it plucks on our heartstrings and we say, you know, I kind of feel bad for the guy can't you know. Can't you somehow split the covenant between them? You know, isn't there a way that we can redeem him?

We have to remember that this is someone who despised the way of god. He despised his birthright. He willfully chose to live his life against god's will. What is it that my grandfather was always saying about marriage?

What did he do for you isaac my father? How he arranged that whole marriage so that it wouldn't be with the four women Of the lands that their hearts would not be turned away from the lord god. Yeah, i'm not doing that.

I'm going to double down. I'm marrying pagan pagan wives. The same man who rebelliously sold his birthright. The same man who seeks now to murder his brother. Is not the man that we should feel pity for hebrews 12 as we've read before Hebrews 12 beginning in verse 13 pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the lord.

Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of god lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by this many become defiled lest there be any fornicator. Remember we said a sort of immoral Godless or profane person like esau who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

For you know this that afterward when he wanted to inherit the blessing. He was rejected. So do you see the connection that hebrews 12 makes between the despising of the birthright and the rejection of the blessing?

Afterward when he wanted to he now has a desire for the blessing. He was rejected the connotation there not just rejected by isaac his father but rejected by god.

Why?

He found no place for repentance, even though he sought it. Earnestly zealously with tears great tears exceeding tears. He cried his heart out. He wept his soul out. He screamed his passion out. No one could weep more for what he had lost than he saw.

And yet he found no place for it. No place for repentance. Scripture says he was rejected specifically because he found no place for repentance. Some have interpreted the the place of repentance as Isaac's choice.

He found no place for repentance repentance meaning fundamentally a turning.

A change.

He found no place for isaac changing his mind. He found no place for isaac's repentance toward him. That's that's possible, but it's unlikely. It's more likely. The writer of hebrews is saying he found no place for repentance within himself.

Everyone else needs to change. My father needs to change. My brother needs to change. This whole situation needs to change. That all needs to change, but I don't need to change. He found no place for repentance.

He felt remorse he felt regret. But the regret that he felt the remorse that was painting him. It was only over the consequences. It was only as a result of what had taken place of what had been lost it it wasn't his role within it.

We've we see this. I mean we see this almost monthly. Don't we on the news headlines where some scandal is exposed and You know some politician is trotted out to give some public apology and we see the crocodile tears and we know there's There's no real repentance here.

Where there is sorrow it's sorrow that they got caught. There's no real repentance. And then they think the public apology justifies them to stay in the same position and kind of let's just all move on now.

And sadly that leaks even into the church where there's these tremendous.

Scandals.

And the leader is trotted out like a Politician and gives their public apology and weeps a few tears and maybe these are genuine spirit rot tears even but they feel like well. Now that's all dealt with right?

Now there's no consequence right. Even jacob has a consequence for his sin. Even rebecca has a con. Is there not a consequence for sin? He sought the blessing with tears, but tears don't bring it back.

He sought the blessing with Howling and rage but howling and rage don't bring the blessing back. He appealed to his father. But his father won't bring it back. Nothing short of repentance will bring it back.

And the connotation of hebrews 12 is. If he had found a place for repentance He would have received an incredible blessing from god. Because remember what we just read. When he wanted to inherit the blessing he was rejected because he found no place for repentance.

So the idea is if he hadn't. If he he wouldn't have been rejected if he had found a place for repentance. You see it's possible For a man to have a great deal of remorse because he feels the loss that his sin has brought about it's possible for a man.

From that place of misery and crying and and even real guilt. To have incredible opportunities to make all sorts of changes in his life. And even we take take a step back and look at that and we go. This is wonderful.

Look at all the changes he made there seems to be a genuine movement toward the things of the lord now. You know, it's very exciting for christians. We think there's a real change here. The lord's clearly at work in his life.

It's possible for a man to go from that place of guilt to make incredible changes. To have opportunities to make more changes. And it may even be during this time that the holy spirit has brought a certain amount of light.

Certainly christians in that in that man's life are surrounding him with truth and instruction and he's he's clinging to that and saying yes. This is true. Maybe the spirit's presence even allows some measure of conviction.

But it's still possible for that man to never find a place for repentance and so even when Esau is breaking down in tears himself convulsing with sorrow. And we feel some pity for him. We remember the testimony of hebrews 12.

And we remember that he never came to repentance. And if he had come to repentance He would have received a blessing from god. Something more that he even sought in that moment. And what would that have looked like.

Since we're chasing a hypothetical what would repentance have looked like for esau. At the very least it would have looked like this. It would have looked like a humbling of himself and saying My my sins have come upon my own head.

My brother wronged me but Really? This is just the outflow of what i've done. I hated my birthright. I thought so little of it my whole life up to this point. I I treat it as some joke. Every major decision i've made in my life even down to my marriage has been Governed by the uselessness of this birthright to me.

And now I see that I was pursuing the wrong things and now I see that my brother Is wrong and as twisted as he was he actually was pursuing the things I should have. He had more sense than I did. And now I realize if god's blessings on him then okay.

And so i'm going to humble myself.

And.

I'm gonna try to seek god's blessing in serving jacob as the blessing has come to jacob. And in serving jacob and and in trying to pursue the lord. I I think then the lord will bless me and establish me.

But instead of this We just have this rage. The spirit of cain this bitter vindictive godless profane man. And you see that he's ready to murder jacob. So much does he still despise the blessing of god.

Last week we said as sort of a refrain for the sermon jacob is blessed despite his sin. Jacob is blessed. Despite his sin which god is going to work out Jacob is blessed. And if there's any message this morning for us.

It's this.

Don't don't assume you are jacob. Don't assume you're jacob. Why not assume you're esau. Don't make the mistake of always Reading the narrative as though you're the character that god is blessing and forgiving.

And no one should be able then to take despite his sin. Jacob is blessing. Oh, that's so wonderful.

You know.

Oh that that was a great comfort. I love that I can have both. What we ought to do is humble ourselves and say lord am I blessed like jacob or am I resistant like esau. Have I actually found a place for repentance?

I recognize in preaching. So often in in a tone and on a topic like this you have what what we could call friendly fire. People are gunned down that you didn't want to gun down and i'm just saying this as sort of a footnote to the whole sermon.

You know, not that I have anyone in my mind that i'm drawing an arrow toward but inevitably you you're shooting well away from the people who trust are genuinely Convicted by the spirit and are blessed like jacob despite their sin and yet they're the ones that went.

Oh i've been shot. And then the people that you you have concerns about and you have this in your own life with people that name The name above every names and yet their lives seem to go on oblivious to him.

And they're the ones that almost seem unfazed by sermons like this. This is just the nature of it. I recognize that but.

Still.

Don't assume you're jacob. Don't assume you're jacob. Don't in other words assume you've found a place for repentance. Don't assume that despite your sin. You're being blessed when you may just be warranting the consequences of your sin.

And as you're doing so deadening your conscience and your sensitivity towards sin. And he saw we see the inevitable consequence of unrepentant sin in a person's life. I'll say that again in esau. We see the inevitable consequence of unrepentant sin in a person's life.

Lost opportunities are rarely if ever regained. Did he blow it here? Or had he blown it a long time before he got to this place? Was it only here that he lacked a place for repentance or had he never found a place for repentance throughout his life?

He always justified his actions his sinfulness. He always found a way to make himself the victim and that he did not need to change. But everyone and everything around him and outside of him needed to change everything, but him needed repentance.

And he might own up to a few warts and blemishes, but nothing more than that. Nothing more than what everyone struggles with. We all are like this, aren't we? That's not the way a justified sinner thinks of himself.

Don't assume you are jacob. Lost opportunities are often never regained. And those who despise god's grace In their youth. Will often never obtain it when they're older. We learn this from esau. And I say this to a congregation that has a lot of young people when you despise God's grace in your youth.

Don't think it'll be around for you when you're older. Esau is an illustration of this. Esau had the blessing had the birthright. He had it all in front of him. He had it but when he had it he didn't want it.

And now he wants it. But he cannot have it. And there's people in this church that they they have in front of them. They have it. They have it just walking it. But you don't want it. And you think I want it.

I do want it. I want it just not now just not yet.

Someday.

I'm when i'm ready when I you know, there's things that have to happen. I want to be sure that it's really of me. I want to be sure it's of myself. And when that day finally comes and i'll have it i'm saying to you No, no, you don't want it.

And the day will come when you when you want it and you can't have it. And you'll cry like esau cries and you'll howl like esau howls, but the father's will is unmoved. It's possible to sit under the word of god to hear the testimony of the gospel of god and to treat that that blessing like soup.

And so esau is an admission in admonition for all of us to give The first place in our lives to the things of the lord to not neglect the things that the spirit is bringing to us. What is the spirit convicting me of?

How is the lord moving through my conscience? What is the what is the lord placing upon my heart? What is he exposing in my life his presence his light his illumination? What effect what difference does it make?

Have I found a place for repentance?

Or am I forfeiting the blessing of god. Am I neglecting the things of the lord? Esau clearly had not cared for any kind of heavenly blessing. No spiritual birthright. No covenantal heritage. He assumed that the blessing could as easily come as it could easily go and that when he was ready he could receive it.

That was a mistake. He assumed that there was going to be a loophole for him.

Right.

Other people deserve what they get but there's always a loophole for me. There's always a way back for me. Other people lose control, but not me. I'm always in control. I never let things go out of hand.

I'm always able to catch myself. I'm unique in this entire earth of human image bearers. I'm actually entirely unique. I'm always able to catch myself and I never let things get too out of hand. Don't worry about me i'll be able to repent when I need to.

He had it, but he didn't want it now. He wants it. He can't have it. He neglected it. I was looking up. This is a sort of a marty anderson move in spirit of marty. Today, I looked up the dictionary entry for neglect.

And neglect is defined as a failure to care for a failure to provide for an abandonment. And I think that's an apt description of of esau. In fact, if I was john bunyan and I was writing esau as a character, I might name him neglect.

He failed to care for the grace of god. He failed to provide for ways and means in his life to obtain the grace of god. He abandoned the grace of god and we must be careful. We must not fail to care for the grace of god.

Fail. To provide the means of grace to to use the means of grace that we might obtain it. We must not abandon the way of life that god has opened to us. This is what scripture says as a rhetorical question.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Now take that rhetorical question and make it a positive statement. We shall not escape if we neglect so great a salvation. That's the testimony of scripture.

That's the testimony of esau. He does not escape the curse because he chose willfully to neglect the grace of god when it was made available to him. When he had it he didn't want it now. He wants it. He cannot have it.