Genesis #31 - Unlikely Grace #3 - Temptations in the Pathway of the Believer Pt.2 (Gen 26:26-35)

Redeemer Bible Fellowship

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November 29, 2023

00:17: Let's come to God's Word. We are continuing on in the sermon series that we started a few weeks ago that we've called
00:23: Unlikely Grace, God's Grace in the Life of Imperfect People.
00:31: And this morning, if you can take your
00:38: Bibles and turn with me to Genesis chapter 26, we're going to read the last set of verses there from verse 26 to 35,
00:52: Genesis chapter 26 from verse 26 to 35. If you have one of the red
00:58: Bibles that we give away, that's on page 21, page 21. By the way, if you want one of those, just put your hand up.
01:05: We can get one to you. Genesis chapter 26 from verse 26 to 35, page 21 in the red hardback
01:11: Bibles we give away. Give you a moment to get there, Genesis 26.
01:19: If you're able, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we read this portion of Scripture?
01:27: By the way, if you did grab one of those red Bibles, that's yours to keep, that's our gift to you, so feel free to write in it, mark it, that's yours to keep.
01:36: Genesis chapter 26, beginning in verse 26, brothers and sisters, these are God's words.
01:44: Now, Abimelech came to him, that's Isaac, from Gerar with Azath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army.
01:54: Isaac said to them, why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you. They replied, we have clearly seen how
02:02: Yahweh has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties, between us and you.
02:08: Let us make a covenant with you. You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you, but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace.
02:20: You are now blessed by Yahweh. So he prepared a banquet for them and they ate and drank.
02:27: They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them on their way and they left him in peace.
02:35: On that same day, Isaac's servants came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, we have found water.
02:43: He called it Sheba, which means the oath. Therefore, the name of the city is still called
02:54: Beersheba. Today, when Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives,
03:03: Judith, son of Beeri the Hethite and Bazimath, daughter of Elam the
03:08: Hethite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
03:17: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will abide forever. Let's pray, ask for God's help, and let's come to this portion of God's word.
03:24: Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity to open up your word and to hear you speak to us as your people.
03:35: We pray that as we come back to this chapter of your word that we've been studying, we ask that your spirit would shine light upon the word.
03:44: You would help us to understand the things that are written here. And more than just understanding things that are written, that you would press them into our hearts, that these will not just be mere words that we hear, but that your spirit would use the word that he inspired to change us, to transform us, to make us more like the
04:04: Lord Jesus. And Father, as we pray that for us, we also pray for our friends over at Trinity Presbyterian Church over in Medford.
04:14: Thank you for Pastor Dustin and the wonderful ministry he's doing there, and pray for their elders and deacons and for that congregation as they are serving there in Medford and seeking to reach their community with the gospel.
04:30: Thank you for all of the various ways in which you've equipped them for ministry and pray that they would continue to know your blessing as they seek to minister.
04:39: Pray for their worship service, which is happening even now, that you would bless that time of gathering and pray that you would do the same for us as we come under the sound of your word now.
04:48: We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated.
05:01: This is part two of a two -part message, and given we had a holiday this week, I thought a little review might help us all.
05:08: I know it did for me when I was putting this together. Genesis chapter 26 is one narrative.
05:13: We broke it up just for convenience sake, but really the theme that holds this one chapter together is the theme of Isaac's response to challenges that come in his way.
05:29: As we've marched our way through this chapter, last week we got to verse 26, and this week we're going to finish it off.
05:36: I hope that you have noticed that Isaac just seems to encounter one potential problem after another.
05:42: And I say potential problem because on the surface it might not look like a problem is there, but actually there are some issues.
05:50: In fact, last week when we introduced the message, I used the language of landmines to explain what was going on here, that these are dangers that kind of float beneath the surface.
06:01: You don't quite see them until they pop up. And I phrase them as temptations because each event that happens basically places
06:13: Isaac at a crossroads. He could do one thing or he could do another thing. The last time we saw three temptations in Isaac's pathway,
06:21: I won't spend long on this, but verses 1 through 6 we saw the temptation to forget the promises of God as he encounters this famine that takes place.
06:31: So there's a temptation to forget the promises of God. There's then a temptation to repeat the failures of the past in verses 7 through 11 where he pulls on a old family trick, it seems, and it doesn't go well for him.
06:46: So there's the temptation to forget the promises of God, the temptation to repeat the failures of the past.
06:51: And then there's a temptation to respond to persecution. Isaac moves from the
06:56: Philistines and settles in his own area but finds hostility from the Philistines, in fact, from the king of the
07:02: Philistines. And once again, Isaac is faced with the decision, am I going to go about this my way or am
07:09: I going to go about this God's way? I won't revisit everything I said in the message. If you go to our website or our
07:16: YouTube channel, you can find the sermon from last week on there if you want to listen or re -listen to it.
07:23: But the big idea that I gave last week was this. I said that the life of faith involves the navigation of many temptations, and these are temptations we can only navigate by the grace of God.
07:37: Well, since the chapter remains the same and the theme remains the same, the big idea stays the same, so I just put it in your study guide to make it easier this week.
07:45: The life of faith involves the navigation of many temptations only by the grace of God.
07:56: But for the rest of our time this morning, I want to look at two more temptations in this passage. I promise
08:02: I won't be before you long, just two more temptations that Isaac faced in our passage, and of course, we're going to look at these with some lessons that we can learn for our own walk with God.
08:13: So, two more temptations that Isaac faced with some lessons that we can learn for our own walk with God. You see, on the life of faith, just like Isaac, we will be faced with, point number one, the temptation of unforgiveness when you are wronged.
08:30: The temptation of unforgiveness when you are wronged.
08:38: As we come to verse 26, we actually don't know how long had passed between the events of 12 to 25 and this new section that we find ourselves in.
08:48: But as you come to verse 26, you can't help but think that something big is happening here. So, look at verse 26.
08:55: The text says, now Abimelech came to him from Gerar, him being Isaac, with Azath his advisor and Phicol the commander of his army.
09:07: These are three high -ranking officials in the kingdom of the
09:12: Philistines. We don't know who these men are exactly. Phicol may be a title just like Abimelech was.
09:18: We talked about that last week. We don't know for certain, but what we do know is, and think about this with me for a moment, if a king, his advisor, and basically the army chief of staff for the country turns up at your front door, this is not a small deal.
09:36: This is no small affair. This is kind of important. And the importance of this makes
09:45: Isaac's response a little bit interesting. Look at verse 27. The text says,
09:51: Isaac said to them, why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.
09:57: Now, I've got to be honest for a moment, there's a not so small part of me that kind of relates to Isaac's response here.
10:09: Those of you who know me well will find no surprise in what I'm about to say. But I'm not big on diplomacy.
10:20: I can do it if I really have to. But by nature, I'm sorry, if you're wrong,
10:26: I'm not really trying to have a discussion about that. Isaac's response, to me, on a human level, makes some sense.
10:36: I mean, think about what's happened to Isaac up to this point. So look back at verse 14 for a moment.
10:43: Verse 14. Remember what Abimelech did to him? Oh, sorry, verse 16, excuse me.
10:52: Verse 16. As Isaac is doing nothing wrong, he's told in verse 16, leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.
11:04: He gets expelled, essentially, from the capital city, Gerar, because he's perceived to be a threat. And we talked about this last week.
11:10: He's perceived to be a threat, even though he's done nothing actually threatening. So think about that.
11:16: He's expelled from their capital. He's targeted by the locals, we talked about this last week, for the crime of, as one commentator put it, living while rich.
11:27: Oh, and let's not forget, he moves away from them. And what do they do? They start fighting with him about land.
11:33: In fact, they keep stopping up his wells, which was basically a death sentence for him and his family.
11:43: All of that had taken place in the background. We don't know how long it's been since all this happened. And now there is essentially a delegation at his front door, well, tent he lives in.
11:57: I can understand a little bit on a human level that Isaac might be just a little bit annoyed by their presence.
12:05: Just a little bit. Just a little bit. And I can imagine, again, putting myself in Isaac's shoes for just a moment, moving from just a little bit annoyed to a lot bit annoyed by their words, because look at verse 28.
12:21: They replied, We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. Yeah, no kidding. It was precisely because the
12:26: Lord was with me that you kicked me out in the first place. Now honestly, as you read this, both in English and the original language, it's hard to determine if this is flattery on their part, or an admission of how messed up their behavior was.
12:41: I kind of lean towards the flattery part because of what else they have to say. Already this is not, again, putting myself in Isaac's shoes for a moment, this already doesn't sound good.
12:51: And it's about to get worse, because let's keep reading. They replied, We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties.
13:00: Literally, let's form a treaty between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you. You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you, which, let's pause for a moment.
13:11: That's a lie. Let's pause. No, that's a lie. They actually had harmed
13:17: Isaac, more than once. But let's put it, we'll come back to that in just a moment. You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you, but have only done what was good to you.
13:29: Again, if I were Isaac in this moment, I'd be like, you just get out of my house. This is now moving from the ridiculous to the absurd.
13:39: Sending you away in peace, that's not what happened. You are now blessed by Yahweh.
13:45: Yeah, no thanks to you. Again, put yourself in Isaac's shoes or sandals, I guess.
13:51: What part, I can't figure out, to be honest, what part of this comedy of errors is worse? Turning up uninvited to my house, essentially,
14:02: I don't know if you guys have this phrase over here. In the UK, we say a man's home is his castle. Okay, you do.
14:10: This is my place of peace. You're now bringing your bad vibes to my place of peace. Go away.
14:17: I don't know if that part is worse. Maybe the weird attempt at flattery or an apology, because I actually don't see an apology here.
14:26: Some commentators say, yeah, they're apologizing. An apology requires the use of the words, I am sorry, will you forgive me?
14:33: Pause for a moment. If ever someone apologizes and actually doesn't say, I'm sorry, it's not an apology.
14:40: I don't know if that part is bad. Or the attempt at revising history. Hey, see, we didn't, we didn't, you know what, yeah,
14:50: I know that whole kicking you out and telling you to go away and messing with your wells, but hey, look, it all worked out in the end, right?
15:03: Or, again, I'm just trying to think which part of this is the worst. The use of all of these fake facts, all of this fake news, these alternative facts to suggest a treaty that really, if you think about it, has no benefit for Isaac.
15:16: They weren't harming him anyway, they sent him away. All the benefits for the Philistines, again, note the way they say this, you will not harm us just as we have not harmed you.
15:29: I don't think it's by accident the commander of the army is here. Like I said, on a purely human level,
15:37: I feel for Isaac, especially as someone who in my short life has encountered all of these tactics from people.
15:43: Isaac is faced with a temptation in this moment that I know all too well.
15:50: He is faced with the temptation to respond to bad behavior and ill intentions with more of the same.
15:59: See, sometimes preachers can step in the pulpit and we give this aura of being 100 % perfect and nothing ever rubs us the wrong way and we never have bad days.
16:08: Listen, I'm not going to defile the pulpit by lying to you in it. See, I would love to tell you
16:16: I have never had the desire to ask somebody, and this has happened to me more than once, where somebody is in my home disrespecting me that I've never had the temptation to say, please get out or get thrown out.
16:29: My wife is around here somewhere. She can confirm. She has to give me a look like, Kofi, don't you say it.
16:38: I'd love to say that I've never received an email laced with sarcasm and insults and thought my job before I was a preacher was that I was a copywriter.
16:50: I know how to use words. I can make a grown man cry, right, and I wouldn't feel bad, but I will sleep like my son does.
17:03: And before you look at me and say, bro, stop it, get some help, let's be honest. We have all faced that temptation at one point or another, haven't we?
17:11: If you work in the working world, you've definitely encountered this. I can multiply stories of moments where I had to literally go into a bathroom and pray,
17:18: Lord, give me the patience not to reply to this stupid email the way I want to reply to it. We have all faced that temptation, even if we neither have the tools or the time to act on it.
17:31: But I told you that's on one level. You see, thankfully, as a believer, God's word is true, amen? 1
17:37: Corinthians 10 .13 says, first of all, no temptation has come upon you. It's one of my favorite verses when it comes to the issue of temptation.
17:44: 1 Corinthians 10 .13, no temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity.
17:50: First rule of dealing with temptation, you are not special. You are not the first person to deal with this temptation. Second rule, but God is faithful.
18:00: I mean, we could just close it right there. God is faithful. Temptation is going to come, but guess what? God is faithful.
18:06: He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way out.
18:19: I love how the New American Standard translates that, the way of escape. Look around this room, there are fire exits.
18:25: They're clearly posted. If something were to happen, we have a way out of here. And Paul says that every temptation that comes to you comes with it, a way out of that temptation, so that you may be able to bear it.
18:42: You see, I told you the temptation comes to me in these moments. But here's what
18:47: I've had to remind myself a lot in my Christian life. Just because temptation comes knocking doesn't mean
18:53: I have to answer the door. And I want to zoom in for a moment before I get to Isaac's response.
19:03: I want to talk about this issue of unforgiveness because let's be honest. We will all encounter this at some point if we haven't already.
19:10: So let me zoom out from Isaac for a second. Let's think big picture. Let's think a little more personally. Firstly, why is forgiveness so hard when people wrong us?
19:21: Have you ever thought about that? That when people wrong us, it's the hardest thing in the world to forgive them.
19:31: Back in London, we have one Christian radio station. Well, we did for a very long time. But years ago, the one
19:39: Christian radio station we had in London, they put together a campaign. They had a service, actually a really good service, called
19:45: Premier Lifeline. Premier was the name of the radio station, Premier Christian Radio. And they had a lifeline that people go calling and get prayer, counseling.
19:53: It's actually a really good service. I think it still goes on to this day. And they did like a mass advertising campaign.
19:59: And I remember it was very well done. The poster had, it was a very simple poster. It had a man on the front who was in tears.
20:08: And on top of this man in tears, they had the words, God knows it takes a miracle to forgive.
20:17: And isn't that the truth? Forgiveness can be one of the hardest things to extend to people, especially when they have actually wronged us.
20:32: And if we think honestly about this for a moment, forgiveness is hard for three reasons. Think about this with me. Sometimes forgiveness is hard because of justice, because of justice.
20:46: What do you mean, Kofi? Simply put, I'll be honest, this is my problem. Put my hands up. This is, of the three
20:51: I'm about to give you, this is where I struggle the most. Sometimes our thinking goes like this.
20:57: You did me wrong. And until you fix it, we're not good.
21:07: Is that always a bad thing? No. Actually, we don't have time. And if you come on Wednesday, I might have more to say about this.
21:13: And I have time. I do think the Bible teaches that there is a difference between a heart of willingness to forgive and the actual, what some people call, the transaction of forgiveness.
21:26: And that that transaction can't take place where repentance hasn't taken place. But the fact that I can't extend forgiveness where there's no repentance doesn't mean
21:36: I get to say, you know what, I don't even have a heart to forgive this person. No, no, no, no, no.
21:42: I don't get to say that. Yes, the actual moment of forgiveness might require the person's repentance.
21:49: But whether they repent or not, I'm supposed to have a heart that's willing to hear that. I can't just say, well, you did me wrong. That's that.
21:57: But maybe that's not your problem. Like I said, that's my problem. But maybe that's not your problem. Maybe your problem is the hurt that comes from somebody's bad actions.
22:08: How could you do something that painful to me? Sometimes it's justice.
22:16: Sometimes it's hurt. And because we're here and we have to say this, sometimes it's just straight pride.
22:25: Essentially, you kind of ask yourself in your mind, or you ask this person in your mind, do you know who I am?
22:34: I'm Ghanian by descent. My parents are Ghanian. I grew up in a church predominantly surrounded by Nigerians.
22:40: Nigerians have a very humorous way of talking. Absolutely love it. And when you offend one of them, at times they will use this language of, you did that to a whole me.
22:52: And the image is me, all of me standing here right now. You did that to me.
22:58: Do you know who I am? Regardless of the reason, whether it's justice, hurt, or pride, regardless of the reason, can we all agree that forgiveness can be really tough business?
23:13: But can I share with you something that's helped me and continues to help me when people wrong me?
23:19: You see, when people wrong me, there's two ways I can approach it. Two ways I can approach this. I can approach it with, some writers back in the day used to call this a legal frame.
23:32: Another way to put it, with a legal mindset. A legal mindset says, you wronged me, and I will deal with you exactly as your actions deserve.
23:42: You broke a law, you got punished. Not always a bad thing.
23:52: We have two people in our audience who work in the legal field, so I want to be careful with my words. But if, actually this did happen to me,
23:59: I got a speeding ticket once. I know, pastor. Didn't mean to, it just happened.
24:06: But yes, I got a speeding ticket once. The speeding ticket doesn't respect the fact that I was trying to get home in a hurry.
24:14: I was late home from church. My wife was pregnant, I wanted to get home, make sure she's okay. The speeding ticket didn't care.
24:24: Like, the speeding ticket has no regard for who I am. Like, the law is the law. I had to pay the thing.
24:31: I did. No complaints, because I did it. It's fine when it comes to the masses of people, but it's a little difficult to do that with people.
24:44: I mean, you can do that with people, guess what? You end up with very few relationships, because everyone just says, can this guy show me a little grace, just a little bit?
24:54: See, you can deal with issues with a legal frame, and I'll be honest, naturally sometimes I tend in that direction. Black is black, white is white.
25:00: Right is right, wrong is wrong. Or, door number two, I can approach issues with a gospel frame.
25:11: A gospel frame says, you wronged me. The reality of being wrong doesn't change. Can I pause for a moment?
25:17: Let's not try to be so Christian, where we say, that person didn't, no, if they wronged you, they wronged you. The difference is in how you respond to it.
25:26: You see, in a gospel frame, you say, you wronged me, and I will respond in the way that God deals with me.
25:35: You see the difference? One says, I'll deal with you exactly as your actions deserve.
25:42: And one says, I'll deal with you the way that God deals with me. That presumes, of course,
25:48: I can know how God deals. Thankfully, we have his word. And since we have his word, I can actually tell you how he deals with you and I.
25:58: So Psalm 103 verse 8 says, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
26:06: He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities.
26:19: Jeremiah 31, 34. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother saying, know the
26:25: Lord, for they will all know me. From the least to the greatest of them, this is the
26:30: Lord's declaration. For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
26:43: When I was baptized, one of the verses, he asked us all to pick a verse. And this was the verse that I picked. I grew up using the
26:49: King James Bible, so I just have it burned into my memory in the King James. Isaiah 44, 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions.
26:59: And as a cloud your sins, return to me for I have redeemed you.
27:11: How has God dealt with you? I mean, think about it. Actually, that's not the question.
27:17: To get the question, how has God dealt with me? How many times have I wronged God? Actually, I tell you, that's actually not the question we want to ask.
27:24: Here's the question we should ask. How have you not wronged God in one way or another? I don't know about you.
27:32: But if I had to sit down with a piece of paper and write all the ways that I have wronged God in one way or another, we might be here a minute.
27:40: Let's be honest, if you had to do it, you might be here a minute too. Yet think about how
27:46: God deals with us all the times that we wrong him. Does God cut us off? Does God throw us out of his household, the church?
27:58: He might do so in a temporal sense. We call that church discipline when someone is unrepentant. But if we repent, no, he doesn't.
28:08: Does God respond to me the way that I sometimes respond to him? Can you be glad that he doesn't do that?
28:17: In Christ, the forgiveness that we have received far exceeds any offense we could ever commit.
28:24: And it even exceeds any offense, catch this, that we might be on the receiving end of.
28:33: That's why Paul can say one of those verses that I think is weighty when you read it. I mean, the first time
28:38: I heard it, it literally froze me dead in my tracks. Ephesians 4 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
28:51: I don't know about you, but that scares me a little bit. I mean, Paul, just as God in Christ forgave me?
29:00: Yeah. Just as God in Christ forgave.
29:09: I mean, what is it that we sing often here at Redeemer? Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more.
29:18: Okay, Kofi, that's all good and wonderful. Great. All right, I hear you. Isaac didn't know all of that, did he?
29:26: I'm back to Genesis 26 with me. Did Isaac know all of that? Actually, no, he didn't, if you think about it.
29:34: But what did Isaac know? Let's think about this for a moment. Because actually, I want to put it to you that we're kind of in the same place.
29:42: Isaac knew that he was the child of the promise. He knew what God's promise was. He knew that from him would come one through whom all the nations would be blessed.
29:50: And I have to think that that had some impact on his decision -making because look at what happens in verse 30.
29:58: How does Isaac respond when these people who have clearly wronged him, when they come to him, look at verse 30.
30:07: So, he kicked them out of his house and said, don't come back. So, he, if I can put it in modern terms, blasted them on social media, made sure everybody knew just how bad these folks are.
30:23: Do not move to Philistia. These are not great people. Gave him a bad yelp review.
30:31: No, he doesn't do that either. He doesn't just, he doesn't even say, you know what?
30:37: I'll hear you out at least. He doesn't even do just that. Verse 30 says, so he prepared a banquet for them and they ate and drank.
30:51: And apparently, it was a good party because verse 31 says, they got up early in the morning, which means they were there all night.
30:59: They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them on their way and they left him in peace.
31:10: He goes all out in receiving them. He actually agrees to their treaty request and he even sends them on their way in peace.
31:19: Isaac responds to the temptation to give in to unforgiveness, catch this, with grace, with lavish grace at that.
31:32: And what's interesting is that God seems to providentially bless this because look at verse 32. On that same day,
31:38: Isaac's servants came to tell him about the well they had dug. We have found water.
31:44: He called it Sheba, which means oath. Therefore, the name of the city is still called Beersheba, which is the well of the oath, today.
31:54: Beersheba will end up being the southernmost tip of the nation of Israel, by the way. When you read the Old Testament, you'll hear they use this language from Dan, which is way up north, to Beersheba, which is way down south.
32:05: It's interesting, Isaac's gracious response even has some real impact on the fulfillment of God's promises.
32:14: Beloved, one way wrong, our response ought to be one of grace, not law. Again, take it from someone who knows, not always easy.
32:27: Not always an automatic first response. It takes me a while to get to this point.
32:37: Must be, I've had a lot of practice. Can I put it to you that it's always worth it in the long run?
32:45: Now, there's so much to say about true forgiveness. I don't have time to get into all the issues when it comes to the subject of forgiveness.
32:53: If you want to know more, there's one resource I highlighted in this week's study guide. It's called Unpacking Forgiveness.
33:00: Unpacking Forgiveness, biblical answers for complex questions and deep wounds by Chris Brauns, B -R -A -U -N -S.
33:10: Pastor Chris is a pastor in the Chicago area, and he wrote this book out of his pastoral experience as he was dealing with people who had experienced serious hurt from other people and were struggling with forgiveness and were struggling with some of the advice they had been given, not just in the world, but even in the church.
33:31: I highly recommend this book to you if you want to dig more deeply into the subject of the nature of biblical forgiveness and how that works itself out in relationships.
33:42: But for now, Isaac successfully navigates the temptation that we all face towards unforgiveness when we are wronged.
33:55: But that's just one temptation in this passage. And I'll put it to you that if you think the temptation of unforgiveness is tough, this next one we're going to consider is even worse,
34:06: I would think. You see, there's a temptation to respond with unforgiveness when you are wronged, but there's also, point number two, the temptation to be bitter when life disappoints you.
34:23: The temptation to be bitter when life disappoints you.
34:29: Verses 34 and 35 might seem like a really weird add -on to this section.
34:35: It just seems to come out of nowhere, so let's read it. Verse 34. When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives
34:42: Judas, daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basmath, daughter of Elon the Hethite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
34:53: On the surface, it might not seem like that big a deal. Okay, so he married some folks and parents didn't like them. Okay, that's happened before.
34:59: No big news here. But of course, this is the book of Genesis, which means, of course, there are multiple layers as to what's going on with these few words.
35:10: Let me see if I can unroll them. Layer number one, this is Esau. If you were here in our first message, you may remember that I don't like Esau very much, if I'm honest, and there's a lot more unlikable behavior to come from Esau.
35:27: If you were here, you remember how much or how little I genuinely think of Esau, which ain't a whole lot.
35:33: Remember, this is the rocket scientist who figured that a bowl of stew, stew that he didn't even know what it was, was worth as much as a double portion of an inheritance that by our estimation was probably worth millions of dollars by our standards.
35:53: I'm sorry, Esau is not a paragon of intelligence and reasoning skills. He just isn't. That's one whole layer to this.
36:02: Second of all, there's the tricky issue of polygamy. I'm actually going to save that for Wednesday night, because we need a whole sermon just to deal with the
36:11: Bible and polygamy. But let me keep it simple for now. We can all agree this, that when you read the
36:18: Bible, polygamous and close to polygamous arrangements never work.
36:25: Every one of them you see in the Bible come with problems. I don't think that's by accident. We've seen it even in Genesis.
36:32: Remember Hagar and Sarah? That didn't quite work so well. There's a third layer to all this.
36:43: This I want you to see. So keep something in Genesis 26. Come back a couple of chapters with me. Genesis 24. You remember this, those of you who were here a few months ago when we hit this chapter, that Genesis 24 is the story of how
37:01: Isaac met Rebekah. Remember how that story begins, Genesis 24, verses 1 to 4?
37:07: Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and Yahweh had blessed him in everything. Abraham said to his servants, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, place your hand under my thigh and I will have you swear by the
37:19: Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the
37:26: Canaanites among whom I live, but will go to my land and my family to take a wife from my son
37:36: Isaac. Abraham didn't want a Canaanite wife for his son, and you can be sure
37:42: Isaac didn't want that for his firstborn, because remember Esau is his firstborn. And that kind of leads into the final layer of problems of all this.
37:51: If Esau, again, Esau, what more do we need to say? If that isn't a problem, if polygamy isn't a problem, if the fact that this was not the custom of their family isn't a problem, there's another layer to this, and this one
38:04: I want you to see as well. So turn over a few books to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 7,
38:10: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 7,
38:24: Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 1. When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and he drives out many nations before you, the
38:34: Hethites, Gilgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, all of the ites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you.
38:43: And when Yahweh your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them.
38:51: Yeesh, God, seriously? Is God a racist? Is it because these are foreigners?
38:58: Is that where this is going? Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
39:05: You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.
39:11: This sounds kind of intense, but pick it up in verse 4, God gives you a reason. Is it because they're not
39:17: Israel? No, not necessarily. Verse 4, because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods, then
39:29: Yahweh's anger will burn against you and he will swiftly destroy you.
39:36: No, God is not a racist. That's a distinctly human problem. God doesn't know anything about that. But God does hate idolatry, and marrying outside of the covenant people is a massive temptation to idolatry.
39:51: Oh, by the way, the whole Old Testament bears this out. Every time they go messing with the other nations around them, they get dragged into their idolatry because, big key to reading your
40:01: Old Testament, a clean thing can't make an unclean thing clean, but an unclean thing can make a clean thing clean.
40:15: Say that five times fast. Simply put, every time that God's people hang around the ungodly, they don't make the ungodly more godly.
40:28: The ungodly make them more ungodly. And so God says, let me just help you because I know the tendency of the human heart.
40:35: Just don't go near him. You see,
40:40: Esau's self -centered decision -making shows just how little he cares about life under the covenant.
40:51: And when you think about all, you put all of this together, you can see why verse 35, come back to Genesis 26, why it says what it says, that they made life bitter.
41:03: That's actually not what the original language says. The original language, if you've got a CSB, actually has it in a footnote. It says they became bitterness of spirit for Isaac and Rebekah.
41:16: It didn't just cause them bitterness. They became the cause of bitterness for Isaac and Rebekah.
41:26: This is very clearly not what they wanted. This is a disappointment.
41:33: And can I put it to you that if you haven't found out already, you will find out soon. The journey of faith that we are all on is lined with moments of disappointment.
41:42: Things will happen that will throw you off of your spiritual pivot. If you will. And the question is this, what do you do when those moments happen?
41:51: What do you do when those moments come? How do you handle moments when you don't get what you want?
42:04: But one more passage, this is my last passage I'll have you turn to you. I'm almost done. Telling me all the way to the
42:09: New Testament, 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. 2nd Corinthians is by far one of Paul's most personal epistles.
42:25: In the 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 beginning in verse 3, you read these words. Blessed be the
42:32: God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
42:50: But just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
42:58: If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.
43:10: And our hope for you is firm because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you will also share in the comfort.
43:22: That's the theology. Now Paul's going to tell you his own experience. Look at verse 8. We don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia.
43:33: We were completely overwhelmed beyond our strength. Catch what Paul says.
43:38: This is an apostle writing, by the way. So that we even despaired of life itself.
43:50: Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Wait, Paul, you weren't prosperous and happy all the time?
44:00: Nope. By the way, anybody who tells you when you become a Christian, life becomes easier and everything becomes prosperous. You never have problems.
44:06: You'll never have moments of disappointment. In fact, you don't have to say it. Tell them I said it.
44:11: You don't know what you're talking about. It says we felt we had received the sentence of death.
44:21: Look at how Paul views it. So that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
44:31: He has delivered us from such a terrible death and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again while you join in helping us by your prayers.
44:43: Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many. Paul doesn't say what this moment of disappointment was.
44:51: All he says was it was bad and it taught us to rely on God.
44:59: Paul recognizes that disappointment is cautious. It's part of the syllabus in the divine classroom of character.
45:08: No one said you have to like the lesson. But the reality is you're going to learn it one way or another.
45:19: Because think about this. After all, isn't this where the walk of faith gets real? Isn't this where the walk of faith gets real?
45:27: Isn't this where, to use the well -worn out phrase, the rubber meets the road? I'll be honest.
45:35: I consider it weird when you meet people who say, I'm never disappointed by anything. Really? I'm sorry.
45:42: It's a strange person who is never disappointed. The question is not when will you be disappointed or if it will happen.
45:51: Guess what? If you live in this life, you'll be disappointed at some point. The question is, what will you do when that disappointment comes?
46:03: You see, disappointment hurts. It might not be what you want. But can
46:08: I put it to you that even when disappointment happens, this is exactly where we learn dependence on the
46:16: Lord. It might not be Isaac and Rebecca, but can
46:24: I leave this with you as we wrap up this message and we come to the Lord's table? When disappointment strikes, ask yourself this.
46:36: Do I trust the Almighty to do what is best? Or do
46:43: I think that given half a chance, I could have done it better? Can I put it to you that as we walk with God in this journey of life, that might be the most subtle temptation on the path?
46:57: That might be the moment where you're like, okay, this really puts my faith to the test. Lord, I didn't want this.
47:08: I didn't ask for this. The question is, do we say,
47:14: Lord, I didn't want this. It's not wrong to say that, by the way. It's honest. This isn't what
47:19: I asked for. It's what you say after that, that makes the difference.
47:27: Is the answer, and again, I'm not saying that this is immediate. This is the journey of a lifetime to be able to say this.
47:34: Lord, this isn't what I wanted, but I'm willing to trust you anyway. Or is my answer,
47:42: Lord, this isn't what I wanted and you need to do something about it. Or worse, I'm going to do something about it.
47:53: One of my favorite songs from growing up. It's an old song.
47:58: It says, I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone.
48:04: In my distress, he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own.
48:10: I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend.
48:16: If I but ask him, he will deliver, make of my troubles quickly an end.
48:24: Attempted and tried, I need a great Savior, one who can help my burdens to bear.
48:30: I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. He all my cares and sorrows will share.
48:40: I love the chorus of the song. The song simply says, I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear these burdens alone.
48:50: I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me.
48:56: Jesus alone. And that's how we ultimately deal with the disappointments of life.
49:02: In fact, that's how we deal with all these temptations that we've considered in this chapter. I can't do it on my own.
49:08: I can't be this. And neither can you. But I know somebody who can bear burdens.
49:18: I know somebody who I can talk to. Another song
49:24: I grew up hearing. Makes no difference what the problem. I can go to God in prayer.
49:29: Yes, I have this blessed assurance. I can go to God in prayer.
49:37: That's how we ultimately deal with any of the temptations that come in our pathway is believing people.
49:44: We recognize our weakness. We recognize our limitations. And we go before the only one who is able to help us.
49:52: Amen. Well, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the honesty with which it speaks, for the clarity with which it speaks.
50:06: Father, I ask that as we have heard your word, we have heard of our need of you when men sin against us, when we are disappointed by life.
50:20: Father, I simply ask that you would help us not to trust in our own understanding.
50:26: Not to try and forge out our own solutions or to demand our pound of flesh, but to ultimately trust in you as the giver of every good and perfect gift.