The Sinister and the Sovereign

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I invite you now to take out your Bible and turn with me to Genesis chapter 27.
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We have been going through the book of Genesis now for quite some time, verse by verse, chapter by chapter.
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We've been taking long sections here as we begin to go through these longer narratives.
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And my goal today is to look at all of chapter 27.
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It is one story.
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It is one narrative captured within the chapter.
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And the great thing about it is it is a familiar story.
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Well, that can be a two-edged sword.
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Because when we come to a familiar story in the Bible, it's good because we somewhat know the people and the circumstances and the things, but sometimes we think we know it too well and therefore we don't have to pay attention.
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So might I encourage you that even though you may know this story, even though you may be very familiar with the events of the narrative that we're going to look at today, please try as best as you can to look at this narrative with a set of fresh eyes.
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In fact, I want to tell you what we're going to do.
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We're not going to just read chapter 27.
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It's 46 verses.
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We will read all of it, but we're also going to read two verses before it and we're going to read nine verses after it.
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So we will read quite a bit of scripture when we get to the portion of reading.
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But the reason for that is we we most of us know if I walked around, I says, what happened between Jacob and Esau and Isaac and Rebecca? You could probably at least those of you who've been in church for a while, maybe nail out the story fairly well.
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But what is often missed.
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Is the relationship of what came before it and what comes after it? Last week, I preached Genesis 26.
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And you'll remember if you were here, I ended at verse 32.
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I did not read verses.
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I'm sorry.
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Verse 33.
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I did not read verses 34 and 35.
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And the reason why I didn't do verse 34 and 35 last week is because I believe that it actually goes with the next chapter.
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I believe verses 34 and 35 about Esau taking the Canaanite brides actually refers to or rather the Hittite brides.
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It refers to what's about to happen.
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And you'll see why when we read.
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So let us stand together.
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We do stand for the reading of God's word.
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If you need to sit because this is going to be a long reading.
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If you have a difficulty standing, you're welcome to sit.
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But I encourage everyone who is able to please stand.
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And we're going to begin reading in chapter 26, verse 34.
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And we're going to read into chapter 28.
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When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith, the daughter of Beorai, the Hittite, to be his wife.
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And Basimath, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
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And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
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Chapter 27, when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, my son.
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And he answered, here I am.
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He said, behold, I am old.
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I do not know the day of my death.
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Now, then take your weapons, your quiver and your bow and go out into the field and hunt game for me and prepare for me delicious food such as I love and bring it to me so that I may eat that my soul may bless you before I die.
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Now, Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau.
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So when Esau sent to the field, excuse me, so when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, bring me game and prepare for me delicious food and that I may eat it and bless you before I die.
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Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you go to the flock.
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Bring me two young goats so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father such as he loves.
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And you shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.
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But Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
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Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.
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His mother said to him, let your curse be on me, my son, only obey my voice and go bring them to me.
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So he went and took them and brought them to his mother and his mother prepared delicious food such as his father loved.
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Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son, and the skins of the young goats she put on the hands and on the smooth of his neck.
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And she put the delicious food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son, Jacob.
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So he went into his father and said, my father.
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And he said, here I am, who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn.
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I have done as you told me.
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Now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me.
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But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? He answered, because the Lord your God granted me success.
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Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come near me that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.
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So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, who felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
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And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands.
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So he blessed him.
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He said, are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am.
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Then he said, bring it near to me that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.
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So he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank.
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Then his father Isaac said to him, come near and kiss me, my son.
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So he came near and kissed him, and Isaac smelled the smell of the garments and blessed him and said, see, the smell of my son is the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed.
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May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and of plenty of grain and wine.
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Let people serve you and nations bow down to you.
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Be Lord of your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you.
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Cursed be everyone who curse you and blessed be everyone who blesses you.
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As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting.
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He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father.
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And he said to his father, let my father rise and eat of his son's game that you may bless me.
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His father Isaac said to him, who are you? He answered, I am your son, your firstborn Esau.
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Then Isaac trembled violently.
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And said, who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me and I ate it before you came, I have blessed him.
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Yes, and he shall be blessed.
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As soon as 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.
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Oh, my father.
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But he said, your brother came deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing.
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Esau says.
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Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has cheated me these two times, he took away my birthright and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.
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Then he says, have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made him lord over you and all his brothers, I have given to him for servants and with grain and wine, I have sustained him.
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And then can I do for you? What then can I do for you, my son? Esau said to his father, have you but one blessing, my father, bless me, even me also.
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Oh, my father.
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And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
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Then Isaac, his father, answered and said to him, behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be and away from the dew of heaven on high by your sword.
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You shall live and you shall serve your brother.
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But when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck.
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Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
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And Esau said to himself, the days of mourning for my father are approaching.
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Then I will kill my brother Jacob.
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But the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebecca.
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So she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
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Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran and stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done.
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Then I will send and bring you from there.
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Why should I be bereft of you both in one day? Then Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life.
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Notice this again, connecting this back to what we read earlier.
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Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.
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If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me? Chapter twenty eight.
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Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and declared to him, you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
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Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your father's your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
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God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you and may and that you may become a company of peoples.
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May he give you the blessings of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham.
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Thus, Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob and Esau's mother.
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Just a few more verses, verse six.
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Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there.
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And that as he blessed him, he directed him, you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
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And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan Aram.
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So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mehalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaoth.
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Let us pray, father.
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It's a lot to get through today, father, but this whole story wraps up.
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In a very important moment in the history of the patriarchs, where you, O God, saw fit to ensure the line that would bring forth your messiah and you did it, Lord, even through the sinister acts of men.
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So, Lord, let us see today that even when the world plots evil, you, O God, are working for good.
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Even when the world hates you, you are working out your plan and your purpose in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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I know that was a lot.
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I appreciate your standing through all that.
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And I want to make a very.
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Immediate connection.
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The reason why I asked us to read chapter 26.
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Verses 34 and 35 and chapter 28, verses 1 to 9, is because those are the bookends of this very famous story.
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I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I imagine if I asked you to raise your hand and ask how many of you know the story of Jacob stealing the blessing from Esau, many of you would raise your hand.
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You know the story of how his mother died.
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Dressed him up.
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He became the first cosplayer.
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You know, he went in playing the role of Esau.
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We know that story.
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But what most people don't realize.
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Is that the bookends actually play a major role, because right before this event happened, Esau chooses to take for himself two Hittite, which are among the Canaanites, two Canaanite wives.
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And you might say, well, what is the problem with that? Well, the problem is those wives were among the pagan worshipers, they were not worshipers of the one true and living God.
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And it tells us in the end of chapter 26 that those women made life bitter for Esau's parents.
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Now, I am a I am a father of five children.
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I have a daughter, 23, all the way down to a daughter of four.
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I have three daughters and two sons.
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One day, if the Lord grants them the blessing, they will all be married.
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And I pray that that epitaph that is at the end of chapter 26 does not reign over my household.
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That the son and daughter of mine would take a bride or a husband that would make life bitter for me.
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But we know it happens.
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Amen.
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We know that that does happen.
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Fast forward to the end of the story.
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We know we're going to go through it, I promise.
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But fast forward to the end of the story after Jacob has taken the blessing from Esau, Esau has cried out for give me something, you know, we're going to talk about this.
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He really just give me anything.
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Do you not have one blessing left for me? And then he sees his father send Jacob away to get a wife from the same place he got his wife.
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Remember where Rebecca's from.
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She is from Paddan Aram.
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She is from the house of Bethuel.
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And so he sends Jacob to get a wife from there.
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Why? Because he does not want Jacob to have a wife that will make life bitter for him.
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You see.
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And it also protects Jacob from the murderous heart of Esau, because Esau wants to kill Jacob.
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So Rebecca steps in and she goes, I know how to protect my son, we will send him to Paddan Aram to get a wife.
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And in doing so, he will be too far away for Esau's murderous rage to have its blood lust fulfilled.
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But then Esau, in an attempt to try to win favor with his parents, goes to Ishmael of all people.
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Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the the the half brother of Isaac.
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Isaac to get a wife for what reason? He's still groping for some kind of blessing, he's still groping for some type of approval.
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So that's the bookends of this story.
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He chose wives unwisely, they made life bitter for his parents, then this story happens and afterwards Esau looks for another wife, someone to please mom and dad.
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I'm desperate to find some blessing to get something that makes sense.
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All right, so that's the bookends.
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Now let's look at the actual narrative.
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We're going to we're going to begin back at verse one and we're going to look at six conversations that happen in chapter 26.
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It's breaking into if you break down chapter 26, it's six parts.
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We have the conversation between Isaac and Esau.
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Then we have the conversation between Rebecca and Jacob.
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Then we have the conversation between Jacob and Isaac, who he thinks is Esau.
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Then we have the conversation between Isaac and Esau.
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Then we have one verse where Esau talks to himself.
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And then we end with Rebecca and Jacob.
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So let us look at verse one.
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The narrative of Isaac and Esau says when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his son and said to him, my son.
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And he said and he answered, here am I.
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He said, behold, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
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You know what's interesting about that? Isaac is going to live another 40 years.
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You think that this story happens on his deathbed, but if you actually read through all of the narratives of the text and you begin to start sort of it doesn't tell us how old Isaac is in this moment, but what it does tell us, it tells us enough in the other stories, what comes before and what comes after that we can sort of break it down.
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Martin Luther actually believed he had it nailed.
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He said he was 137 years old.
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I don't think we can be that specific, but here's something we do know.
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Ishmael dies at 137.
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And it seems as if Ishmael is still alive because it says in the next chapter, Esau went to Ishmael to get a wife.
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That's part of the reason why I wanted to mention that.
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Seems like Ishmael is still alive.
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So this would make Isaac younger than 137 at this point.
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I think he was closer to about 100.
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I think he's still got a lot of years left, but he's down in the eyes.
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He has lost his ability to see.
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And, you know, we have a new church member now.
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He's a is it is it optometrist or ophthalmologist? Optometrist.
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So, you know, how important it is that people have good eyes and are able to see and how disturbing it can be for people as they begin to lose their eyesight.
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I'm a few years ago, I had my eyes examined when I was 15 years old and I had 2015 vision, they said was better than better than normal, like it was like I felt like Superman, like I could see I could see as far as I could.
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I mean, it was great.
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A few years ago, I got into competition shooting and I found out that my right eye is totally gone.
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My right eye.
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If I close my left eye, you are all a blob.
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I didn't know because I can still see really well out of this eye, but as this one is getting worse and worse and worse and you notice where Matt stands next to me with the music.
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So he's here and I'm here in our music we share.
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So last Sunday I was because this eye ain't no good anymore and I'm kind of, you know, so I got I need to wear my glasses and I and I I forget a lot because this one still works.
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So this one throws me off, but this one is is really bad.
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But as I get older, the perfect vision I had as a child is is gone and it's just going to probably keep getting worse.
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Well, Isaac is at a point where his eyes are gone and that becomes a very important part of the story, because Rachel and Jacob are going to use that little bit of information about him to trick him.
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They're going to use that that failure of his body to fool him.
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By the way, if you want to take down a note, he doesn't die until chapter thirty five, verse twenty eight.
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It says he dies at one hundred eighty years old.
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So wherever he is now, if he's one hundred to one hundred and forty, some around in there, he's still got at least 40 years to go.
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But he thinks he's dying because he's lost his eyesight.
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He's probably lost some of the vim and vigor of youth.
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He's probably feeling somewhat down.
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He thinks he's going to die.
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And so he calls Esau to him.
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Now, why does he call Esau to him? We know Esau is his favorite.
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The Bible does not mince words.
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It tells us Esau is his favorite because he ate of Esau's game.
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He liked Esau's manly nature that he would go out, he would slay the animals, he would bring back the animals and he would cook a feast.
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You ever seen churches that do a beast feast? Brother Chuck, I'm on next year, buddy.
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We're going we need to have one here because I know all you good cookers, cooks, all you guys who cook really well.
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Go out into the land and bring forth the bounty because it's good.
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Isaac favored Jacob, I'm sorry, Isaac favored Esau because he ate of his food.
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And he was his first born, so he tells him to go.
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Kill.
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Bring it back, prepare and the phrase delicious food, I think in some translations it says tasty food, that word is used like seven or eight times in this chapter.
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That becomes a focal point.
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This tasty food further blinds.
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The man of God.
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Because first, he's blinded by his lack of sight, but he's also blinded by his appetite.
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I didn't mean to rhyme that, but it worked.
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But he he's blinded by his appetite.
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So he says, go and prepare for me delicious food that I that my soul may bless you before I die.
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And I want to say something about that.
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I promise I'm not going to spend this much time on every verse, but I want you to understand this concept of a blessing among the ancient people was understood to be so much more important than we think of these things today.
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We think of words like blessing and cursing as being meaningless.
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We say them so.
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Flippantly that it seems as if they have no meaning at all, somebody sneezes, we say, God bless you.
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Somebody does something wrong, we say curses.
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But the idea of blessing and curses was very important and believed to have true and genuine power in the ancient world.
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And in one sense, among the people of God, it did have true and genuine power because Isaac is not just speaking as a father blessing his son, he's speaking as a prophet, prophesying over the next generation.
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Remember, he is the man of God speaking among the people of God, speaking on behalf of God, and he is speaking with the authority of God.
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So this isn't just a father giving his son life advice, this is a prophet prophesying over the next generation.
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Understand, this is a powerful word of blessing.
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It is not just simply, well, God bless you, it's not a well wish, it's not a vain hope.
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It is a true prophecy.
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Oh, and by the way, I want to say this before we go on.
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It was normally done publicly.
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We'll see it later.
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We'll see it when Jacob will bless his sons.
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Remember, he brings them out one at a time and he blesses them.
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And it's a public proclamation of blessing.
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Why do you think? And again, this is somewhat speculative, but we can use a little sanctified imagination.
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Why do you think it is that Isaac has pulled Esau into his into his tent privately and said, listen, go get me the food, the food, you know, I love that tasty, delicious food.
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And you come back here and I will bless you privately.
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Why do you think that it was private? I'll tell you what I think.
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And again, if you want to argue with me later, you and I can we can go round about.
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But here's what I think.
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I think the reason why it was private was because Isaac knew it wasn't the right thing to do.
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Isaac had to have known at this point that Jacob had been prophesied through the mother to the mother by God.
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That the older will serve the younger and that the younger would be the one who would carry the blessing, not the older.
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And and you'll remember another little event in the life of Jacob and Esau, Jacob had purchased the birthright, and we'll see there's a little bit of a distinction between birthright and blessing, but typically the blessing and the birthright went together, the blessing and the birthright would go together.
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So Jacob has purchased this birthright.
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So not only was it prophesied that it was supposed to go to Jacob, but it was purchased by Jacob.
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So Isaac, because of his favoritism for Esau, is going to do this, as it were, in a clandestine manner.
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He's going to do it secretly within his tent so as to avoid the battle, which would have been battle royale with Mama because Mama favors Jacob.
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It would have been battle royale with Mama and it would have been a legal issue with the other son who had purchased the birthright.
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And he had done so legally because he says, if you go back to that passage, it said he said, swear to me before I give you this pot of porridge, swear to me that that birthright belongs to me.
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And he did.
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So it is a legal right and it is a professorial right that this belongs to Jacob, not to Esau.
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But Isaac is willing to put away the word of God and he is willing to put away.
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The legal rights of his son.
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Because he favors Esau, you know, with me, can I get what I'm saying, because this is this is setting the stage, by the way, I preach this text about.
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Thirteen years ago, I found my notes, I'm not preaching the same notes, but I did reference my notes from 13 years ago, you know what the title of my sermon was called 13 years ago, title of the sermon was there is none righteous.
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Because let me tell you something in this story, there ain't no heroes.
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Isaac is not the hero, people think maybe he's the victim because he's the one getting fooled.
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But he's doing something wrong, too.
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He by showing favoritism to Esau and by avoiding the blessing to Jacob that was supposed to go to him, he's wrong.
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Esau is a man led about by his belly.
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Of course, he's wrong.
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Isaac and Rebecca, I'm sorry, Jacob and Rebecca, we about to see they are sinister to the hilt.
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I will say this, though, Bob Utley, he's one of one of the guys Mike and I was talking about him the other day.
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He's a he's a commentary guy and I do like him.
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You know who Bob Utley is.
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I really like him.
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I like his kind of Southern mannerisms and I watch his videos a lot.
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He does believe that Jacob wasn't as sinister as I think he kind of thinks it in all of this.
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He was just trying to follow the will of God.
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Y'all can we can discuss that later, but.
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We see the conversation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob sends Esau out, go get me some food and when you come back, I'll bless you and we'll do it right here in the hidden tent.
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It'll just be us.
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Well, guess whose ear is at the door, Mama Bear, Mama Bear, do not like what Mama Bear hears.
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So it says in verse five, now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son, Esau.
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You remember Sarah? She was listening at the door one time, too.
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She heard God outside of the tents there in Mamre and she heard the Lord and she laughed at the Lord.
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I don't know what it is with the women in this family, but they sure do like the eavesdrop.
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Just something to notice, you know, Sarah like eavesdrop, well, Rebecca, she's got her ear to the door and you got to think it's a tent.
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It's not like, you know, you got to put a glass up to the door like you do with a solid wooden door.
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All she's got to do is get a little close to the to the to the to the skins of the tent and she can hear in.
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She hears what's happening.
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So she runs and she gets Jacob.
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Now, we've already read the text.
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So I'll just sort of sort of simplify.
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She runs to Jacob and she says, Jacob, listen, your dad's going to bless your your brother.
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But here's what we're going to do.
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I'm going to go and I'm going to prepare the food and I want you to dress up like your brother.
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Now, for a moment, that's just wild.
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The whole story sounds incredible because she's she's going to take these animals, these two young goats.
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She's going to prepare them.
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She's going to take the hair off of them and she's going to somehow attach it to his neck and his hands.
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He had to look like like Michael J.
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Fox and Teen Wolf.
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I mean, he just had to look crazy.
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And for those who grew up in the 80s, you know what I'm talking about for those who don't.
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Sorry, but but he just had to look really cheesy.
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And then she puts the robe of Esau on to Jacob, which some people make a big deal because it does say it says his finest robe, I think, is the way the Hebrew reads.
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Some people think this was like some type of a royal garment that he would wear to events or something.
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I don't I don't think so.
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And the reason why is because the smell of this garment doesn't smell like like good.
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It says in a little while it smells like the field.
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It smells like Esau smells.
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And I don't know if you I had a teenage son.
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He's in the Air Force now.
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But when he was home, the smell of a teenage boy, it's not a positive odor in general.
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And I was once a teenager, so I can you know, but they're there, but they do tend to have their own unique smell.
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Walk in the house, he took his shoes off, didn't wear socks for whatever reason.
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And the shoes are eight feet from you, but you catch that waft.
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Well, this is the moment, you know, he gets dressed up and if you notice what happens and I know we're jumping ahead here, but just for for the sake of time, I want to do this.
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Notice what happens beginning in verse 18.
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It says so he went into his father and he says, my father, he said, here I am.
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Who are you? Who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your first born.
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I have done as you told me now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me.
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So here's Jacob Esau, I'm sorry, here's Jacob, Isaac can't see him, all he can do is hear him, but he's got the hair around his neck, the hair on his hands.
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He's wearing this garment of whatever sort it was.
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He stinks like Esau and he's carrying this meat, which is not wild game, but it's but it's pasture, you know, goat, you know, so it's he's got this meat.
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You got to think he was somewhat nervous.
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And when he walks in, his father says, he says, my father.
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And he says, here I am.
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Who are you? Who are you, my son? Why is he saying, who are you? Because in a moment you're going to say he's going to say he sounds like Jacob.
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He doesn't sound like Esau.
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Now, the text doesn't say this, some commentary writers say that Esau or Isaac tried to sorry, there's so many names, Jacob tried to change his voice to sound like Esau.
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The text doesn't say that.
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But you can imagine with a little sanctified imagination when he walked in, dad, it's Esau, you know, trying to trying to make himself more like the tough guy rather than the the smooth faced insider that we know that he truly is.
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He tries to come in and fool the father.
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Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your first born first lie.
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Right there, immediate lie.
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Notice the title of today's sermon, in case you missed it, Tyler, today's sermon is called The Sinister and the Sovereign.
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I'm explain that later.
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Just understand, I still believe even 13 years after I preached it the first time, I still believe everybody in this story is is is guilty of something.
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God is still sovereign, but everybody in this story is guilty.
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And right here is the first guilty.
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Jacob says, I am Esau.
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Straight up lie.
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I am Esau, your first born.
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I have done as you told me.
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Now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me.
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But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? Immediately he's got suspicions.
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How is it that you found the game so quickly, my son? And he answered, because and notice this Yahweh, the capital capital capital capital capital D, that's the sacred name, because Yahweh, your God granted me success.
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Lie number two, and that when invoking the name of God.
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So not only did he lie and say, I'm Esau, but the second time he lied and he invokes the name of God in his lie.
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That's like somebody saying, I swear by the name of God.
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That's pretty powerful, especially if you know you're lying.
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Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come near me that I may feel you, my son, notice Isaac still not certain.
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Still not sure if this is really him, he says, come near to me that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.
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So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, who felt him and said.
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The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
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And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands.
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So he blessed him.
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I just for a moment, like I said, I swim in this text all week.
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I know for you guys, I don't know if you read ahead.
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I hope you do.
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But if this is your first time like reading this in a while, just think of this moment.
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Here's this guy.
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He's got this hair stuck all over him.
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Looks got to look got to be a true sight to see.
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But his father can't see him.
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All he can do is feel him.
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He hears him.
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He says, you don't sound like Esau.
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You came back too quick to really be Esau, but I'm going to touch your hands and I feel the hair that tells me you're not Jacob, because Jacob is a smooth man and you are a hairy man.
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In verse 24, is this is the killer for me every time this week that I've read this text and I've read it through so many, I've read different translations, I look at the Hebrew.
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This verse is, oh, it's just to me, it just wracks my soul.
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Listen, he says, he says, are you really my son, Esau? Notice that's the fourth time.
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That's the fourth time that he's shown some type of question.
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Are you really my son, Esau? And Jacob says, I am.
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Then he says, bring it near to me that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.
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So he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank.
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Then his father, Isaac, said to him, come near and kiss me.
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I think this is another another verification.
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Get close to me, kiss me.
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And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments.
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And he said, see, the smell of my son is as the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed, that was the final straw.
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He now believes that it's that it's Esau.
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He's got hairy hands, but he's got the voice of Jacob.
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He got the food very quickly, but he blamed it on God.
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He's done all of these questions.
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He's answered them.
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I am Esau.
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I am Esau.
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Now he catches that waft of that stench and he says, this is the man of the field.
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And now I will give the blessing.
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Verse 28 is the blessing.
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The blessing is in two parts.
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The first part is prosperity.
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The second part is power.
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Notice prosperity.
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He says, may God give you.
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Of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine, understand those were the pictures of.
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Financial prosperity in the ancient world do was very important in an arid climate where there wasn't a lot of rain, so dew was used in the irrigation, in the watering of crops, and he's saying, may the dew of heaven.
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And the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine be yours, so he's he's guaranteeing him through a prophetic oracle, you will be a prosperous man.
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But then he says you will also be a powerful man.
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Look at verse twenty nine.
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Let peoples serve you.
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Nations bow down to you.
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Be Lord over your brothers.
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Now, he only has one brother, but in this sense, I think he's referring to all of his contemporaries.
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And may your mother's sons bow down to you.
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And then he invokes the Abrahamic blessing.
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Listen to this and see if in your mind you can't remember this from Genesis chapter 12 and also back in other passages in Genesis.
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He says this cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you.
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Remember, that was the blessing given to Abraham.
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This is everyone who blesses you will be blessed and everyone who curses you will be cursed.
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He's receiving the Abrahamic blessing from his father in regard to his power.
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You will have prosperity.
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You will have power.
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And again, these are not just mere words.
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This is a solemn promise which carries the weight of God behind it.
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It is unconditional.
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It is irrevocable.
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As we will see in a moment.
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No takes backs, as they say.
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This will be his blessing.
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Verse 30, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting.
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This is an interesting moment because it seems as if they passed each other almost in transit as.
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Jacob is coming out, still looking like Teen Wolf, he's got and I mean, it doesn't say Esau saw him, I'm certain that he didn't.
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But imagine had he seen.
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Imagine had he broke forth from the veil of the tent only to come face to face with what is now his ridiculous doppelganger.
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He would have been completely confused and utterly enraged, but they miss each other by just enough.
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Verse 31, he also prepared delicious 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.
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Now, you've got to imagine Esau's heart going in there.
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He thinks everything's fine.
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He thinks everything's hunky dory.
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He's ready to receive the blessing, even though it's a clandestine blessing.
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It's going to be in the secret of the tent.
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He's still going to receive it.
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Right.
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He's walking in.
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He's he's got his hands on his food.
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He is the true Esau.
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And he burst forth through the veil of the tent.
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Dad, I've got dinner.
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And dad screams when he realizes what has happened.
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Notice what it says.
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His father, Isaac, said to him, who are you? He answered, I am your son, your firstborn Esau.
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And then Isaac trembled very violently.
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See, in a moment he knew.
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He knew what had happened and he said, who was it? That hunted the game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came and I blessed him, yes, and he shall be blessed as soon as 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.
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But he said, your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.
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Esau said, is he not rightly called Jacob? And the word Jacob means he'll grab her or supplant her.
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Is he not rightly called the heel grabber for he has cheated me these two times? By the way, he didn't cheat him the first time.
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That was a legitimate transaction bore by a person whose stomach was more powerful than his brain.
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That was his fault.
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He didn't cheat him, he outwitted him, but he didn't cheat him.
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But you see, Esau feels now the double slight.
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And I want to tell you something.
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I haven't seen a commentary mention this.
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So this is.
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And of course, I've read all the commentary, so somebody else probably had this idea before me, and it's always scary to say something new, you know, if it's new, it's usually not true, you know, that adage.
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But I will say this, something I noticed from the text as I read it over and over when he cries out and says, is there not one blessing left for me? And the answer is essentially no.
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That's what.
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Isaac had in store for Jacob, nothing, because had Esau received the blessing, Jacob would have received because he cries out, don't you in the new living translation, because I read a bunch of different living, I read a bunch of translations, I know new living some it's not the greatest, but it does have somewhat of an interesting way that it puts stuff sometimes.
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And it says in the new living translation something to this effect.
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Have you not even one for me, father? Have you not even one for me? And I thought that would have been the cry of Jacob.
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But.
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Had Esau.
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And his father been able to do this under the cover of their tent.
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Jacob would have been the one crying out, I have nothing.
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And Jacob was the one who, through the prophecy, had been promised everything.
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Now, we do have.
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In this section.
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Verse 37, Isaac answered and said, Esau, behold, I have made him lord over you and all his brothers, I have given him servants and with grain and wine, I have sustained him.
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What then can I do for you, my son? He's asking, what can I do? Esau said to his father, have you not but one blessing, my father, bless me also, my father.
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And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
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Verse thirty nine.
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Isaac does pronounce something upon Esau, and there's a little bit of a distinction in how you translate this, and I will say this is one of the time where, depending on the English translation you read, will come across quite differently.
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And again, I know times I got to be sensitive to time because I could dive into this and we could spend another hour on this.
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I don't want to do that.
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But there is a term in the Hebrew here which some English translations translate in the positive and some translate in the negative.
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And I do believe that it should be translated in the negative.
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Here's what I'm talking about.
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It's in verse thirty nine.
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Then Isaac, his father, answered and said to him, behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be and away from the dew of heaven on high.
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Some people, some translations translate it in the positive.
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They translate it.
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Behold, the fatness of the earth you shall dwell in and in the dew of heaven you shall have essentially saying he got the same blessing as Jacob.
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But that cannot be.
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So the it's called a men, the word is men here, and it has a negative, I think that I think the ESV is correct here because it says away from the fatness and away from the dew, because the blessing for Isaac, sorry, for Jacob, there's so many characters, the blessing for Jacob was that he would have to do that.
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He would have the the fatness that he would have those things.
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Well, the the essentially this is an anti blessing for Esau saying away from those things is where you're going to be.
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In fact, the only positive thing that he gives to Esau is this verse 40.
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He says, by your sword, you shall live.
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You shall serve your brother.
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But when you grow restless, you shall break his his his yoke from your neck.
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Now, here's what's interesting about that.
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I think that that, again, is a prophecy of something that happens much later, much like the prophecy of the older serving the younger is really something that's going to happen generationally later.
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We actually see in the book of Second Kings, chapter eight, verses 20 to 22, a fulfillment where the Edomites.
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Break the yoke of the Israelites and they come out and revolt against Judah and receive their own king, and some people believe that's a fulfillment of this prophecy again, it's a little difficult to understand and see how that would be so long.
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But oftentimes these prophecies are that way.
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We go back to the prophecy when when Noah prophesied over his grandson, it was a prophecy of something that was going to happen much later.
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And so this is likely something that would happen much later.
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But here's the other thing I want to mention.
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And you've got your Bibles open to Genesis, if you would very just very briefly turn with me to Hebrews, chapter 12.
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I want to show you something in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 15.
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It says this, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.
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That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
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For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
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Now, I want to I want to comment on that very briefly.
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Some people have read Hebrews chapter 12, verses 15 to 17 about Esau, and they have come away with this understanding.
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Esau wanted to repent of his sin.
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And he wasn't allowed.
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I do not believe that is what Hebrews is saying, the repentance that is being referred to in.
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Hebrews, chapter 12 is not the repentance of sin, but rather the desire to receive the blessing he wanted, he wanted to be able to change his situation so that he would have the blessing.
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People think that Esau wanted to repent of his sins, there is no indication that he wants to repent of his sins.
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He wants to kill his brother, as we will see.
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I want to read from McLaren's commentary.
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McLaren writes really well on this side.
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I just want to quote directly from him.
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These words, speaking of the Hebrews 12 passage, it says these words have been often used.
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As these words have been often understood as teaching a very ghastly and terrible doctrine that a man can earnestly and tearfully desire to repent and be unable to do so.
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Such teaching has burdened many a heart and put obstacles before many feeble feet in the way of a return to God.
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It seems to me to be a contradiction by a thousand places of scripture and to involve something very much like a contradiction in terms.
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The idea of repentance in Hebrews chapter 12 does not mean Esau wants to be forgiven of his sins, but rather he wants to recover his blessing.
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He wants his blessing back and he can't have it.
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And he cries out, notice he's not crying out for forgiveness, he's crying out for a blessing.
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And that is an important distinction.
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And here you say, well, why does this matter? The Bible tells us that anyone who truly repents of their sin will be forgiven.
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The Bible tells us, in fact, it tells us that if we have sinned, we have a mediator with God who will forgive our sins and he will cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
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See, some people have looked at Hebrews chapter 12 and says, well, Esau wasn't allowed to repent, maybe I'm not allowed to repent, maybe I'm too bad.
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That's not what it's saying at all.
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It's not what it's saying at all.
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Esau is not attempting to repent of his sin.
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He's attempting to reclaim his blessing and he can't have it.
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So what does he do instead? Verse 41, back to Genesis and we'll close very quickly.
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In verse 41, Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
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And Esau said to himself, the days of mourning for my father are approaching.
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Then I will kill Jacob.
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And I love what Bruce Waltke says at this point.
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He says the murder in Esau's heart identifies him as the seed of the serpent, as surely as it marked out Cain and Lamech, because both Cain and Lamech also hated and killed their brothers.
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And here Esau wants to do the same.
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The seed of the serpent resides in the heart of Esau, but the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebecca.
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And she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said, behold, your brother comforts himself by planning to kill you now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran, and stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away.
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And this goes into the next part of the story, which is where she uses this issue with Esau's wives as a reason to send Jacob away.
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Notice that in verse 46.
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Then Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of these Hittite women.
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Therefore, let's send Jacob to get a bride for my brother.
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See, she's protecting him.
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She knows Esau wants to kill him.
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So she says, here's how I can protect him.
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I'm going to get Jacob to send him away.
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And that's what he does.
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But understand this.
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Rebecca says something here that doesn't come true.
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She says, notice this.
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She says.
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In chapter 45, until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you've done, then I will send and bring you from there.
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Why should I be bereft or why should I lose both of you in one day? Because what would have happened had Esau killed Jacob, then Jacob would have been dead and Esau would have been guilty of murder and he himself would have had to forfeit his own life.
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She would have lost both of her sons.
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But guess what she did? She still lost both of her sons in one day because in this action that she does, she sends she sends Jacob away and the Bible never says they see each other again.
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In fact, did you know her death is not even mentioned? The only other time we hear about Rebecca after this story is when her tomb is mentioned.
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We hear about the death of her maidservant, Deborah, her nurse.
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But we don't hear about her death, which is a wild coincidence, because so many other people's deaths are mentioned, but hers is not.
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And again, I quote Bruce Walkie, he says this.
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Ironically, she suffers even more than she anticipates, at least socially, if not physically.
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Her relationship with Esau must have been irrevocably damaged, and she never sends Jacob from his exile in Paddan Aram.
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Finally, she even loses a memorial in Scripture.
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And though Rebecca parries Esau's violent resolve, nevertheless, she must taste the bitter consequences of her deception.
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So this is where I'm going to draw to a close.
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As I said at the beginning, there are no heroes in this story.
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Everyone in this story is in some way guilty of something.
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Jacob clearly lied.
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Rebecca clearly instigated that lie.
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Esau is led by his belly.
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Isaac is led by his.
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Isaac tries to give the blessing to the wrong son, knowing full well that the blessing truly belongs to the younger son.
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Everyone here is wrong.
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And yet here's the beauty, I know we're down, I've deflated us all, our balloons are empty.
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Let me try to pump them back up for just a second.
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God is still working.
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Because even though all of these sinister acts are happening.
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God is still bringing about his sovereign will.
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Because God's will is that Jacob is going to go to Paddan Aram and he's going to take not one, not two, but several wives.
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He's going to take two wives and their handmaidens, and he's going to create the 12 tribes of Israel.
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And one of those tribes is going to be known as the tribe of Judah.
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And at the end of Genesis, we're going to see that out of the tribe of Judah, the scepter, meaning that which is held by the king, will not depart because Jesus is going to come through that line.
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You see, here's the thing, even in the midst of sinful, wretched, sinister acts, God is still reigning from his throne, bringing about his ultimate purpose.
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You ever get really frustrated watching the news or social media? You ever think to yourself how wicked men and women are and just how out of control everything seems? Well, guess what? Men and women have always been wicked and God is still able to bring about his purpose even in the midst of wickedness.
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There are the sinister and there is the sovereign and the sinister will never outweigh the sovereign.
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God's will will be done.
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It was done in the life of Jacob.
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And it will be done in years as well.
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But let me finish with this thought.
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I know I keep saying I'm in the plane, but we are still responsible for our sins.
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Brother Andy, on Wednesday night, talked about the balance between understanding divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
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It's right here.
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God's sovereignty is bringing about all of these things to bring about his end of bringing his son into the world.
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But every one of these people are going to experience having to essentially having to deal with the sin that they've committed.
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Rebecca is basically going to go out of the story.
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She's no longer going to be in the story.
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She'll never see her son that she loves again.
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Isaac will basically be a man of obscurity for another 10 chapters, and then he's going to die.
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Esau, well, we know what happens to Esau, but Jacob, the great trickster, is going to go live with Laban and he's going to learn what tricksters is all about and how he made himself look like his brother to fool his father.
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His father in law is going to take the sister, make her look like her sister to fool him.
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God is sovereign.
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But we're still responsible.
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We are still responsible for what we do, and the Bible says we reap what we sow.
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We've got to be serious to understand there are consequences to what we do, real and genuine consequences.
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And I wish I had another hour to deal with that.
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I'll just leave it with this.
01:00:00
Even in the midst of our failures, God is still at work.
01:00:04
Heard something the other day and it was so great, it said the wonderful thing about God's sovereignty is all of the plans he has for me have already included all my stupidity and praise the Lord.
01:00:16
He's already included all my mistakes, but his plan is being worked out.
01:00:21
So let's trust in him.
01:00:23
And let's know that his plan is being worked out.
01:00:27
Let's pray.
01:00:28
Father, I thank you, Lord, what a lot to go through today, what a lot to think about.
01:00:34
I pray that you would be glorified in this.
01:00:36
And I pray most of all, Lord, that we would see your hand at work, even in the midst of sinister men and women.
01:00:41
Lord, your hand is at work and you're bringing about your will.
01:00:46
Lord, may it be.
01:00:48
That we would trust in you and Lord, if there are those here who have not trusted in you, if there are those here who have not.
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Found in you the great sovereign of their soul.
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But Lord, they're still battling, maybe it's battling unbelief, maybe it's battling a love for sin in the flesh, Lord, that they would turn from those things, turn from their sin.
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Turn to Christ.
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The Lord, the one who was prophesied, has come and he has said, everyone who believes in me will not be put to shame.
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And it's in his name we pray.
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Amen.