Genesis #32 - Unlikely Grace #4 - Tragically Misunderstanding God's Promise (Genesis 27:1-40)

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if you have a Bible and I hope you do take it and turn with me to the book of Genesis book of Genesis as we return to the sermon series that we've been in for the last month now unlikely grace
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God's grace in the lives of imperfect people and this
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Morning, if you have a Bible and I hope you do take it and turn with me to Genesis 27 Genesis and the 27th chapter
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Genesis chapter 27. I have on screen that we're gonna look at 1 through 40, but actually we're just gonna read the first 13 verses
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But we are going to study verses 1 through 40, but it's a very long section. And so in the interest of time
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We'll just read the first 13 verses together. So Genesis chapter 27 beginning in verse 1 if you've got one of the red hardbacks we give away that's on page 21 page 21 and And If you are able to do so, can
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I invite you to stand with me as you read this portion of God's Word? we always like to stand at this moment because we want to give you respect to the
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Word of God even with the posture of our bodies and so Genesis chapter 27 and Beginning in verse 1
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There's just 27 beginning of verse 1 brothers and sisters. These are the words of our Living God What's that says?
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When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see He called his older son
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Esau and said to him my son and he answered here I am He said look
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I am old and do not know the day of my death So now take your hunting gear your quiver and bow and go out in the field to hunt some game for me
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Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat so I can bless you before I die
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Now Rebecca was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in Rebecca said to her son
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Jacob Listen, I heard your father talking with your brother Esau He said bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat
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So that I can bless you in Yahweh's presence before I die Now my son
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Listen to me and do what I tell you Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father the kind he loves
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Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies
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Jacob answered Rebecca his mother. Look my brother Esau is a hairy man But I am a man with smooth skin suppose my
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Father touches me then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself
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His mother said to him your curse be on me my son Just obey me and go get them for me
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Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding of it and invite you to join with me in prayer let's ask for the
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Spirit's help and We will launch into God's Word this morning. Our gracious and loving
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Heavenly Father We thank you for yet another opportunity to come to spend time in your word and to hear you speak to us
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Father this is one of those texts that defies Our Understanding and how to properly come to it
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See what you are saying to us from but we know that because it's your word. You are speaking to us through it
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So father I ask that your spirit would give us help That he would open our eyes that we would see wonderful things out of his law
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That the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so that we would know the hope to which we've been called as your people
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Now father as I pray that for us. I pray that for our friends back in Medford Cornerstone Christian Church.
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Thank you for Pastor Quentin and Pastor Mark and the session there and the leadership that they provide
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Pray for Pastor Quentin as he begins the Advent series this week Faith family there.
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Pray for your blessing on their ministries and all that's happening there for your glory
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And we pray that that would happen even here now that as we minister your word and as we hear it
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That your spirit will be pleased to use it to build up our faith in the Lord Jesus it's in his name that we pray and for his sake.
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Amen Please be seated. I've tagged the message for this morning tragically misunderstanding the promises of God tragically misunderstanding the promises of God and I've given it that title because that's really the big theme of These verses verses 1 through 40 that we're going to consider this
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Morning Now as we get started this morning, allow me to I hope set
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Expectations for what you're about to hear. This is not going to be a massively uplifting sermon.
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I Apologize, I really wish it would You're hearing this text this morning.
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I've had to live in this text all week. It's not been a very fun week and It's not because God's Word is it valuable?
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Of course it is I love being in God's Word, but as you read this narrative and as we're gonna walk our way through it You're going to see that this is not a happy text and as a result
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Because we always want sermons to or they put this way preaching of the text should match the tone of the text and so When you're in advance if this were like one of those terrible medication ads on TV that my wife and I always laugh at I I'm from the
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UK as you can hear from my accent I'm not used to watching an ad and then someone say oh, by the way, this might cause death I say that because if this were one of those medication ads on TV It probably say something along this sort of line
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It would say something like this sermon may cause discomfort introspection and self -examination If you prefer to be unchallenged and unstretched this sermon may not be right for you
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And I say that because like I said, even as I studied this text this week I've never ever asked myself this in preaching, but I asked myself
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And I wish I had something more encouraging and inspiring this week But we have a commitment here at Redeemer to what we call expository preaching that we work our way through books of the
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Bible That's kind of the meat and potatoes of what we do here in the pulpit and we do that Acknowledging that every portion of God's Word is valuable
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Every portion of God's Word is important And even if I don't particularly find the text to be pleasant to me as I'll be honest
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I didn't find this week's text to be God still has something for us
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You see this text is a stock one, but it's given by God with that kind of design
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It's designed to be a stock text Let me not say that there's no hope to be seen in this passage because there is
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But if we could use the analogy of a train going into a long dark tunnel It's gonna be more dark than light for most of this
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Let me just again. I want to set expectations appropriately But here's what
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I hope will happen I hope that as we march our way through these verses that that introspection and self -examination
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I talked about that might just happen or I pray happens. I pray that that will lead us back to not ourselves
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I don't want us to become as Luther said curved in on ourselves No, I hope that that will lead us back to the foot of the cross where the
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God who wounds us Also is able to heal You see at the heart of the discomfort of this passage as I've tagged our message this morning is a failure to rightly understand who
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God is and how God works and The reality is we're gonna read this and you may think this is fit for a soap opera and it kind of is
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Please please please Do not do the thing that we often do a man that person the Bible was absolutely terrible because if we are not careful
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We'll see this as the message unfolds. We could find ourselves in a very similar situation to this
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This is chapter 27, which assumes you've been in chapter 26 in chapter 26 We I think we can all agree.
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We saw some growth in Isaac I mean didn't necessarily start off the greatest but we've seen growth in him.
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In fact, you could make the he's become Increasingly aware of God and his presence as his life has unfolded
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In fact three times in chapter 26 the presence of God is mentioned so if you've got
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Bible nearby just turn over the page to chapter 26 and in verse 3
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Isaac has this assurance from God of his presence for his future So 26 verse 3
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God tells him to stay in the land as an alien and I will be with you and bless you
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Jump down to verse 23 where we see not only God's presence promised for the future but God's presence promised in the present so verse 23 from there
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He went up to bear Sheba and Yahweh appeared to him that night and said I am the God of your father Abraham Do not be afraid for I am with you
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And in fact even Abraham Abraham Isaac's enemies acknowledged That God had been with him in the past.
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So jump down to verse 28 Remember what they said they we they replied we have clearly seen how
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Yahweh has been with you past present and future there has been this
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Acknowledgement of the presence of God even with the temptations of life But as we come to the edge of the basin that is
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Genesis 27 Time has passed Isaac is a little older now and it would appear that Some of that growth some of that understanding some of that deepened faith that had developed some of that's worn down with the years and Unfortunately, Isaac is going to set the tone for this chapter with his failure to understand the
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God that he is Called to work with and his failure to understand that sets up failure for every
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Character in this story. There's a fundamental Misunderstanding of how the promises of God work and in my short ministry
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I've seen this happen or even worse happening in progress to too many believers not to say something about it
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Because before we throw stones at Isaac, let's be clear. This could happen to us just as readily
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Every one of the characters in this Torah drama We're about to read will fail in this area and let me put it to you that if we fail to learn from their examples
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We might too. Hey family, what happens when we take the promises of God for granted?
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Well that kind of is my big idea for this message simply put taking the promises of God for granted only leads to pain and spiritual
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Taking the promises of God for granted only leads to pain and spiritual
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Simple sentence, but very very very difficult Taking the promises of God for granted only leads to pain and Spiritual brother sisters for the rest of our time.
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I want to look at this story in three scenes Three scenes that shed light on how we can avoid
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Taking God's promises for granted three scenes that unfold
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They're not the most equal of them will spend more time in others to be fair But three scenes
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I want you to see from this text that will shed some light on how we as God's people can avoid taking
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God's promises for granted So three scenes
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Well as we come to our story our story opens with the first scene that we can title promises mishandled promises mishandled in verses 1 through 13
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Coming to chapter 27 Isaac is about a hundred years old at this point And as I imagined someone who's turning a hundred probably does a lot.
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He's reflecting on his mortality it seems Because come with me to verse 1 text says when
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Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see He called his own he saw and said to him
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My son and he answered here I am he said look I am old and do not know the day of my death so now take your hunting gear your quiver and bow and Go out in the field to hunt some game for me
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Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat so that I can bless you before I Isaac thinks he's not long for this world.
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And so he calls his son and says go hunt Bring me a meal. Let me give you the blessing that I give
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I'm supposed to give as the patriarch of the clan Before I die, but of course, this is the book of Genesis, which means that there is more going on than meets the eye
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So a few things first of all Isaac might be feeling really old, but actually he's gonna live 20 more years after this
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Well, he's right he doesn't know the day of his death so we can't really fool him too much for that But if you've been following the flow of the story so far in our series in Genesis 25 through 36
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You might be wondering wait a minute What's Esau doing here
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Because remember back in chapter 25 verse 23 what God's promised to Rebecca was Okay, she forgot
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Let me read it to you Genesis 25 23 and Yahweh said to her two nations are in your womb two people will come from you and be separated
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One will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger
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Esau's not supposed to receive this blessing right now So why is he in the room? Actually, we know why he's here.
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We're told that in chapter 25 to Remember allow me to remind you
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Esau was Isaac's favorite Esau loved Isaac because Isaac was a hunter and bought him food he liked
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Like Jacob he was kind of a homebody and he's always at home That's why he's in the room because I have to believe that Rebecca told
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Isaac what God had said but in this moment Isaac is either forgotten or doesn't care and on Z either one is not that great
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Favoritism by the way is a problem that will come up again in the book of Genesis This is not the last time we're going to encounter
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Favoritism in this family seems to be a bit of a chronic problem But Isaac kind of jumping the gun in terms of thinking he's about to die.
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That's not the biggest problem He saw being in the room it's not ideal But it's not the biggest problem.
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The biggest problem is probably the most subtle But we we read it and you probably just skipped by it, but look at verse 4 again.
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It tells him go hunt And it says then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me
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So that I can bless you before I die Anyone notice the problem with that phrase?
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In case you haven't allowed me to spell it out for you Isaac has taken a gracious promise and has now made it conditional you go do something for me and I will give you this blessing and Lest we think it's a slip of the tongue
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It actually that phrase appears three times in our text. So jump down to verse 7 Tells him bring me game and make a delicious meal for me
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So that I can bless you in Yahweh's presence before I die
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And Rebecca will repeat it in verse 10 Tells Jacob then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies
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This is a massive problem because this is not how this promise is supposed to work
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God didn't do that with Abraham as far as we know from the narrative of Genesis And if it happened, he would have told us
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Abraham didn't do this with Isaac but now here is
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Isaac and Essentially what he's doing is he is turning grace on its head
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Somehow some way Isaac has attached the blessing not to the grace of God Which by the way, that was the case for him because remember he wasn't the oldest
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Ishmael was But God said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
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Ishmael's not the one Isaac is the one Who's the son of the promise?
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He's the one through whom your family will be named. He seems to have forgotten all of that and has made this if you will
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Pay for play or better yet pay for pray and right here in this verse
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We see the first way in which the promises of God are mishandled. They are treated as rewards for good behavior and not gifts of divine grace and Isn't that what legalism does, you know legalism making favor with God either in salvation or in sanctification
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Conditional on your obedience to a set of rules Isn't that what legalism ultimately does?
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doesn't legalism tell us that do this and I will bless you or be happy with you or show you favor
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And we rightly acknowledge just how horrific it is when people treat each other that way
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But can I put it to you it is downright demonic when we paint God as functioning that way
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Isaac has mishandled the promise of God by taking a gracious promise and making it about works
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That's bad enough, but a legalistic Almost selfish tone to Isaac.
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Give me something. That's what the text emphasizes that I love a legalistic and selfish tone isn't the only issue in this passage because Our text makes us know that mama
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Rebecca is indeed lurking while this is going on. So look at verse 5 by the way When you read verse 5 and it says she was listening
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She's not in the tent culturally at this point in time. Only men discussed clan business This would be considered clan business in the ancient
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Near East. So she can't be in the room But it's a tent. It's not that hard So verse 5
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Now Rebecca was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring him
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Rebecca said to her son Jacob pay attention to the way That's phrase Rebecca said to her son
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Jacob. Listen. I heard your father talking with your brother Esau He said bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in Yahweh's presence before Now son listen to me and do what
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I tell you go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats And I will make them into a delicious meal for your father the kind he loves
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Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies and this is the second way in which
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Promises are mishandled in this narrative because if Isaac mishandles them by tying them to works that benefit him
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Rebecca mishandles them by thinking that they belong to her Regardless of how they are received.
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I mean for a moment think with me on this What are the chains of sins that?
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Rebecca has strung together in just a few words Well, there's pride Rebecca basically says forget your father and honestly forget
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Yahweh. We are doing this my way So you've got pride Then there's dishonoring her husband because think about this
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Isaac is dead wrong for what he's doing But the answer is not basically to mock her husband's infirmity in ignorance by pulling a fast one on him
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So we can add to the rap sheet if you will pride dishonoring her husband
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It's fraud in the mix because after all Jacob is an Esau, but she's scheming to pass off Jacob as though he's
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Esau By anyone's reckoning we can call that pride. So we've got
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Fraud excuse me. They've got pride, dishonoring her husband, fraud And of course, we already know this family has a favoritism problem because again notes how she refers to Jacob or the text refers to my son
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What Esau wasn't your son? As you know in this series, I'm not necessarily Esau's biggest fan, but I do feel for him in this moment.
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Mama That's not your son? Seriously? But Rebecca loves
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Jacob so much that she is willing to con Esau her other son
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In order to make this happen And to be fair that last charge you can put that on Isaac rap sheet.
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They're both as bad as each other in this But here's what's interesting. That's what I noticed this week as I was studying this
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They've both sinfully given into favoritism as parents, but they've done it in ways that kind of conform to who they are
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Go with me here for a second Men in the room, as one of you, can we agree that generally as men we are very task and mission oriented?
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Generally speaking We value mission, we value tasks, and we generally think of everything
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Maybe I do this, but I imagine if I ask around enough most of us view things in terms of success and failure
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Did I accomplish the task or did I not? Esau is skilled at a task that Isaac both respects and He profits from So he likes
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Isaac Rebecca like most women is nurturing and relational and values that and that's a good thing
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That's how God has made ladies in general and just who happens to be the homebody
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Always indoors, always easier to connect with because he's actually around Jacob.
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Oh, let's not forget that you know little Jake is also on God's side apparently because God told Rebecca he's the one who's going to be blessed not the other way around But that doesn't excuse the favoritism from either parent
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And while I'm not one to give parenting advice as someone who's only had a child for three years I think we can all agree parents don't do this
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Shouldn't need to be said, but we are human and let's be honest as humans We don't always value that which is not naturally appealing to us
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So if God has blessed you with kids love them equally But like I said,
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I'm not here to give parenting advice it's just kind of that was a freebie enjoy that one but But more than parenting advice by proxy
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This story is cluing us into the fact that neither Isaac nor Rebecca Understand that the promise of God is sovereignly given
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God is not impressed by skill or ability and God is not moved by what you consider to be most valuable and dear to you
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We can we can say this quite plainly Isaac and Rebecca should have known better But let's not bang on them too harshly because let's be honest
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We can be just as prone to mishandle God's promises, can't we? I mean, isn't that the point?
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I'm gonna have you turn there But if you're taking notes Hebrews chapter 2 Isn't that the point of the exhortation
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Hebrews 2 for this reason? We must pay attention all the more to what we have heard so that we will not drift away
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But if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience receives a just punishment
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How will we escape if? We neglect such a great salvation
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And by the way in the context of Hebrews 2 neglecting a great salvation is not losing salvation
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It's failing to pay attention to the message of salvation It's mishandling it
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And so for a moment if I'm if I may allow me to get practical with this Are there areas where you may have failed?
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To handle God's truth with the appropriate amount of care and the appropriate amount of understanding
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Could it be in the area of your own personal devotion to Christ? Could it be in the area of your commitment to the
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Lord's Day and the means of grace? Could it be in the raising of your family? Could it be your witness for Christ in the public square?
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Could it be in our own diligent pursuits of growth in godliness? I don't know what areas you might be struggling in you might be here and you're not struggling at all
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Great. Wonderful. I want to encourage you to keep pressing on Oh, and by the way find a way to help those who are struggling
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But maybe you're in the camp where if you're honest with yourself, you know I might be struggling with this
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I might be mishandling all of the great spiritual privileges. God has given me in Christ But please do not hear me as condemning you when
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I ask that question because if you are struggling Can I reassure you that there is fresh grace in Christ for the most weary of saints?
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That doesn't have to be your story We're coming back to our text
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Rebecca has put this now to Jacob and Jacob has some legitimate concerns. He's not stupid.
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So verse 11 Jacob answered Rebecca's mother Look, my brother
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Esau is a hairy man And I'm a man with smooth skin I think that's kind of a problem
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I agree more than a little bit Suppose my father touches me
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Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself
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These are legitimate concerns I have to applaud Jacob even he recognizes. I don't know mama.
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I don't know about this here I mean My mom would never put me in this situation
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But I imagine if I was talking to my mom some of you met my mom. I love my mom dearly But if she she might be watching this.
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Hi mama. Um If I won't put me in this situation,
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I would have these questions because this is kind of a matter of life and death Jacob knows that this is a dangerous scheme and he rightly voices his concerns
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But mama ain't hearing any of that because look at verse 13 and note just how cold this response is
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His mother said to him Your curse be on me my son Just obey me and go get them for me
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She doesn't acknowledge any of the fact that This this might be a bad idea Doesn't acknowledge any of that doesn't actually care for his concerns in this moment.
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Just says, you know what if he curses you You know what let it be on me you
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Charge it to me You just go do this Can I put it to you that if you think about this this is something of an anti -gospel if you will
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But think about it In the gospel We acknowledge that we have sinned against god in the way that we think in the way that we talk and in the way that We act but god willingly steps in and god willingly says he will take on the punishment that we deserve in christ
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And we go free. That's the gospel message, right? Rebecca by her actions is doing the polar opposite of this
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She calls jacob to sin in thoughts word and action and when he points this out She says i'll take the punishment you go and sin promises have been grossly mishandled
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Isaac does it by making the promises about him. Rebecca does it through flippant sinful maneuvering and that sets up the stage
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For our second scene the first scene is promises mishandled, but our second scene Our second scene involves promises misapplied promises misapplied whatever concerns jacob has
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That on that level of uneasiness he feels it gives way to rebecca's scheming.
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So look at verse 14 So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother
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And his mother made the delicious food his father loved Then rebecca took the best clothes of her son older son.
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Esau which were in the house And he had a younger son jacob wear them She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part on his neck
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I guess she found a way out of that hairy situation Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son
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Isaac there's a part of me that wants to applaud the genius of this and a part of me a larger part that is incredibly appalled by this
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She's found a way to make this work and now The game is afoot verse 18 When he came to his father he said my father
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And he answered here I am Who are you my son? Jacob replies to his father.
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I'm Esau your firstborn I have done as you told me Please sit up and let and eat some of my game so that you may bless me
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Jacob makes his opening gambit, but let's give isaac some credit here. Isaac is old, but he's not slow
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Because look at verse 20 But isaac said to his son
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How did you Ever find it so quickly my son He he replied jacob replied because your way your god has made it happen for me
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The unmitigated goal of this moment You have now added blasphemy to the list of problems with this story
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It's almost as though god in heaven at this moment. I imagine that he just said wait what we are dragging me into this now
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Verse 21 then isaac said to jacob, please come closer so that I can touch you. Are you really my son esau or not?
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Again, isaac's old but he's not slow He did not recognize him because His hands were hairy like those of his brother.
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By the way, he's wearing a goat skin. How hairy was esau? Again, the text doesn't double
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If yeah, I have so many questions anyway And he replied I am verse 25 then he said bring it closer to me and let me eat some of my son's game
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So that I can bless you Jacob brought it closer to him and he ate he bought him wine and he drank
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Now I I have to believe that moses didn't intend this to be funny But let's be honest.
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It kind of is I mean this this is a couple of the random questions.
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I Kind of living in this text this week as i'm thinking how much is jacob sweating in this goat suit right now
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I mean they're in the desert after all but forget the heat. This is some ocean 11 type nonsense like I have to imagine that he's like drenched in sweat and it's not just because he's hot also
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Did you see in verse 21? And verse 22 he says so jacob came close to his father
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Isaac when he touched him. He said the voice is the voice of jacob But the hands are the hands of easel again.
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He's not slow He's like Something about this doesn't seem to add up.
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I can only imagine the liver shivers that uh Jacob had to feel in this moment
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But oh, I am so done But whatever liver shivers he might have felt are pretty short -lived because look at verse 26
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Then isaac his father said to him, please come closer and kiss me my son So he came closer and kissed him which was a very cultural thing to do at that point
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That's 27 when isaac smelled his clothes. He blessed him and said The smell of my son is like a like the smell of a field that yahweh has blessed
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May god give you from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land an abundance of grain and new wine
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May people serve you and bow in worship to you be master over your relatives. May your mother's sons bow in worship to you
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Those who curse you will be blessed And those who bless you those who bless you will be blessed
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The blessing that isaac gives in these verses. It's actually poetic in its structure It's got four verses to it and each one is a particular blessing
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So the first one's in verse 27 that language of a field that is blessed by god It's supposed to tie into the land promise that god had made the second
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Second blessing he gives in verse 28 that language of due richness and abundance all points to financial prosperity
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So you have the land financial prosperity first half of verse 29 In reference to political and kingly dominion
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In fact one commentator puts it like this isaac's fierce pride in esau demands an empire for him against the decree of 20 of chapter 25 verse 23
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And finally the end of verse 29 in keeping with genesis chapter 12 verses 2 and 3 He's promised divine protection that anybody who blesses him will be blessed and anyone who curses him will be cursed
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These are weighty promises there's You get the sense that isaac isn't just saying words to say words
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He means this this is coming from his heart These are strong words from a proud dad
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But remember why isaac is doing this and who he's doing it for He's not He's not doing it because i've experienced the blessing of god and I want to ensure that my son receives the promise of god
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No, he's doing this because it's esau his favorite and because esau his favorite brought him the meal that he wanted
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Remember I said that this sermon is going to be like going through a long dark tunnel for quite some time Allow me to give you just a brief glimmer of light here.
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It's not the light at the end of the tunnel, but a little bit Isaac might not have intended to bless jacob to this magnitude
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But you know who did? God did You see promises might be misapplied by men
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God has never made a clerical ever
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You know clerical errors are man's problem God doesn't make mistakes
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Man might misapply god's promises, but god has never misapplied his promise to anyone And so yes, this is like I said, it's
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Fraud, it's theft. It's deception. It's disrespect on multiple levels
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And yet even in this we can see the grace of god at work And so you see promises mishandled
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You see promises misapplied And all of that sets up our third scene As we witness promises mourned
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Promises mourned verses 30 to 40 If this story hadn't gotten sad enough
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It's about to get a whole lot more tragic because as soon as all this is done along comes esau verse 30
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As soon as isaac had finished blessing Jacob and jacob had left the presence of his father isaac his brother esau arrived from his hunting
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He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father He said to his father let my father get up and eat some of his son's game so that you may bless me
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Really? I esau has taken these words to heart But his father isaac said to him
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Who are you? He answered I am esau your firstborn son
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Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably Who was it then? He said who hunted game and brought it to me
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I ate it all before you came in and I blessed him indeed He will be blessed
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Like I said, there's a small part of me that in this story feels for esau a little bit After all he had taken his dad's let's be honest legalistic and favoritist words to heart
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I can only imagine that this was probably the best meal he'd ever cooked in his entire life Putting all that work expecting to cash in Only to hear this
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But what's done is done. You catch that at the end of verse 33 Isaac says I ate it all before you came in and I blessed him indeed.
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He will be blessed And this moment and the weight of it hits esau like a ton of bricks verse 34
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When esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father bless me to my father
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But he replied your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing
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Esau mourns the fact that he's not going to receive the promise and like I said at first glance it might seem reasonable
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To be sympathetic to esau in this moment on a human level. I can get it. But before that kicks in too strongly
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The rest of the bible has something to tell us about this And actually we've looked at this verse in passing
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I want to take a little more time with it Keep something here in genesis 27 turn with me to hebrews chapter 12
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Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews towards the end of the new testament there
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Hebrews the 12th chapter The author to the hebrews is spelling out the implications of us having a great high priest in the lord jesus and So pick it up with me in verse 15
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Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15 Hebrews 12 15
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The writer to the hebrews says Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of god
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And that no root of bitterness springs up causing trouble and defiling many And make sure that there isn't any immoral or irreverent person like esau
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Who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal? For you know that later when he wanted to inherit the blessing
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He was rejected Even though he sought it with tears Because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance
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For the sake of time i'm going to skip a bunch of the technical details for this passage and kind of just get straight To the point the authors of the hebrews is making the point he's making is this that Esau's response that we see in genesis 27
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This is not the response of repentance For his immorality and irreverence because think about every time we've seen esau so far.
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It's not been good But i'm going to give you a very brief summary the first time we meet him. He flippantly sells his birthright
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The second time we meet him is when he engages in this inconsiderate marriage to outsiders from god's covenant people despite knowing better And now we meet him
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And there is just this Undiscerning and almost entitled view that even though he has sold his birthright.
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I'm still going to get this blessing And I don't think the author to the hebrews is being mean when he says that esau is immoral and irreverent
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He's not being mean I think he's being honest And remember why he's being honest.
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Why does he pull this as an example? This is one of people call these the warning passages for various reasons.
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I'm not crazy about that label. I prefer exhortation passages But whether you call them warnings or exhortations
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We can all agree the author to the hebrews is writing to christians And here's the point.
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I think he's making That if christians are not diligent. Did you note the repeating of the verb in verse 15 and 16 make sure
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It's from the word that we get an overseer or an elder from He uses word in english we say a church is episcopalian they have bishops overseers
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It's the same word that's used here to look over something that some of your translations would say see to it
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It's calling them to be diligent And he says be diligent that you don't turn out like esau
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Why because if christians are not diligent they can end up living like esau
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Disregarding the nature of god's promises only to suffer regret when they reap what they have sown
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I told you this is the part of the sermon where this might not seem like the most encouraging thing in the world Bear with me.
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It'll be over quickly I've been a pastor for a very short time
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Pastor for a very short time, but i've been a christian for a decent amount of time I would like to tell you that i've never seen what the authors of the hebrews describes they play out
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I would love to tell you i've never seen it but I grew up in a pastor's home been around church my entire life
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Now i'm a pastor I have seen it way too many times In case you haven't allow me to spill it out for you.
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You have a professing believer Here's this professing believer You know you can
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All kind of see that this person has a very blasé attitude when it comes to the things of god Yes, they'll turn up for worship
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But it's kind of a thing to tick off the list I can go about be about my business the rest of the week When you talk to them about the things of god, it's very clear.
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There's no personal engagement. They're not spending time in god's word They're not spending any time in prayer. They're not spending any time in fellowship.
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You can just tell something's not right here And you can all see the warning signs. It's like a ship that's about to run aground on a reef of rocks
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And you can see that happening But you're powerless to stop it
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Because they don't see the problem Until it's a problem And then you hear oh, there was a blow up in their life in some way shape or form
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And it's been interesting. I've seen two responses to that when that happens For some it's the wake -up call they need
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And god is gracious and he puts them back on the path. He as the psalmist says he restores their soul and from that moment on Their christian life is the greatest thing that you will ever see and those people tend to be the most devoted The most committed why because they know what happens
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When they the ship as it were runs aground But can
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I tell you that for every person i've seen do that? I've also seen people for whom the blow -up happens
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Whether it's marriage work career finance name, whatever it is the blow -up happens and instead of repentance and coming before the lord and seeking restoration they become broken and angry and Disillusioned all the while never taking personal accountability
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They're sad. My past in london used to say this they have remorse because they are suffering the consequences of their action
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But it has not turned to repentance They're sad.
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They got the harvest they asked for but they're not sad enough to actually repent and believe the message again
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And you know what ends up happening with those folks? Like a spiral Just gets worse
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It just gets worse. It just gets worse and there comes a point where there's no digging them out of that And I put it to you the authors of the hebrews would have you remember this if you can learn anything from esau
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It's this don't be him Don't take all the blessings and privileges you enjoy as a christian for granted
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Don't become somebody who mourns for all the wrong reasons. There's a right reason to mourn
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Remember the beatitudes blessed are they who mourn because they will be comforted There's a right reason for christians to mourn at times.
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Don't let it be this Well, let's go back to genesis 27 and as you come back to 27
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The view of the authors of the hebrews I think is justified because esau's grief seems to last for all of 60 seconds before grief turns to anger because look at verse 36 so he said
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Isn't he rightly named jacob Jacob y 'all call the one who grabs the heel.
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It's closely related to the word y 'all key the one who grabs one who takes the one who deceives to take
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Isn't he rightly named jacob for he has cheated me twice now He took my birthright
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And now he has taken my blessing probably not the time to talk to esau at this moment
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But if I did I want to say Revising the story a little bit boss because You could argue he took your birthright, but you gave it to him
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Yeah, you're not taking your blessing. But guess what you gave him the birthright You just wanted to make good on the entirety of the deal
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Greece then turns to desperation look at the rest of verse 36 Then he asked, uh, haven't you saved a blessing for me?
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That's 37 but isaac answered esau look I have made him a master over you have given him all of your relatives all of his relatives
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As your as his servants and have sustained him with grain and you wine. What thing can I do for you my son?
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Esau said to his father. Do you only have one blessing my father? Well, yes, because technically isaac didn't have a blessing to give god is the one who gave the blessing
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Says do you only have one blessing my father bless me to my father you can hear the desperation in his voice
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And he so wept loudly And it's sad because all that isaac has to offer him now is a parody
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Of the blessing he gave to jacob. Look at verse 39 His father isaac answered him.
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Look your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land Away from the dew of the sky above you will live by your sword
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And you will serve your brother, but when you rebel you will break his yoke from your neck
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All he could offer is a parody There's no prosperity No dominion his only hope of anything
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Would be in conflict with his brother and just like that the story ends
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That's 41 is going to begin a new narrative that carries through chapter 28 Humanly speaking.
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This is a highly bleak narrative There are no redeemable characters in this story humanly speaking
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Nobody seemed to get how it is that god works And the end result i'll take you back to why
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I said was my big idea for this sermon The end result is just pain and spiritual ruin for everyone
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I have to think The text doesn't say this but allow me to just kind of jump in here for a moment
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I have to think that first of all isaac and rebecca's relationship was never the same after this Remember, he's gonna live for another 20 more years
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Imagine living in that house Again, isaac's old but he's the brain is still functioning
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He has to live the rest of his life Basically being unable to trust the wife. He married in his youth
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Rebecca has to live with the guilt of the fact that she has I don't know if she feels guilty. Actually. It's hard to tell But I have to think that if she's a human being with something of a conscience
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And she's watching her oldest son ball his eyes out That she now has to live with that Even if she thinks it was the right thing to do.
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She still has to live with that Spoiler alert for next sunday.
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Esau's not happy In fact, he says i'ma wait for dad to die and then i'ma kill that fool
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Put my blade to him and that'll be the end of him Spoiler alert for next week's sermon jacob has to run
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I mean, he's again I have to give jacob credit but the two brothers. He's not he's not stupid He's like, yeah, it's probably not safe for me to be here anymore
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This family is broken as a result of this This is not a happy narrative because I apologize
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I wish I could come to you with something positive and light and uplifting. We'll do that next sunday. I promise But why have we spent the time in this?
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Why didn't we just skip it and get to the happy stuff? Because the reality is the same problems and perils and if we're not careful the same results
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Might happen for us. Maybe not quite as dysfunctionally and as drastically as this But if we're not careful, we can take god's ways and god's word for granted and end up in the same kind of hurt and pain
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I promise you there's light at the end of the tunnel. Here's the light at the end of the tunnel That doesn't have to be you That story doesn't have to be it does not have to end like this not for you
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God loves you with an irrepressible love christian. I'm not sure if someone's told you that recently, but let me tell you god loves you with an irrepressible love
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He sent his son to die for you if you're a believer We're about to celebrate the table the table reminds us of this reality
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And do you think that the god who loves you who sent his son to die for you who keeps you by his power?
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That he doesn't want you to avoid this Of course he does
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And that's the hope that doesn't appear in this passage, but it does appear for us That this doesn't have to be our story that actually
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Even if we end up sinning in ways similar to this There like I said at the beginning of the sermon there is fresh grace
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For even the most weary and bloodied and lost of saints. Amen And heavenly father we thank you that that is indeed the truth that in christ
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All the promises of god are yes and amen That even when we on a human level mishandled them he is faithful and just to forgive us all of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
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And so father we can read these words bleak as they are and tragic as they are And still find hope for us as god's people
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Father help us that we would not Mishandle and misapply your promises
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Father help us that we would not mourn The way that we saw mourns help us that ultimately we would trust you
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That we would take you at your word that we would live lives that say lord I trust you imperfectly to be sure but I trust
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You know father even in those moments where we fail in those moments where we fall short