Okay, let's see. This is, I think, down here.
All right, are you guys ready? Here we go. We'll
say good evening. Tonight we're going to be turning
in Genesis chapter 25. We'll also be looking
at 27 here in a bit. And if you've been with
us, you can remember that last time we embarked
on a study of this Old Testament character, the
character of Jacob from the Bible. And just remember
for us. Where he's at in all of this stuff. We've
got Abraham, who's the father of our faith. He
has a son named Isaac. Isaac has twin sons, Esau
and Jacob, who ends up becoming Israel. He has
12 sons who become the 12 tribes of him, Israel,
becoming the Israelites. The people of God, the
Israelites. So this guy that we're talking about,
this is the guy who really is the head. Of all
of the 12 families. Okay? So that's this character.
But one of the things that we found as we started
to look last week, and we started to look under
this title of this series that we're calling
the Jacob Enigma. And if you don't remember what
that word enigma means, enigma means a puzzle
or a mystery. So we really looked at how Jacob
is a puzzle, right? And one of the reasons that
we figured out, sometimes Jacob is just really
hard to figure out, rather, is one of the reasons
is it's clear he has godly ambition for his life.
He wants the blessing of God upon him, and yet
the way he goes about it is most ungodly. And
the way he goes about it is scheming in the flesh.
Downright deceit and twistedness as he grasped
for. Right. Remember that name, Jacob grasping
of the heel that bit as he grasps for the blessings
that can only come by grace through faith. We
saw this puzzle. We saw this enigma. And one
of the other things that we saw about the enigma
of Jacob is we see ourselves or we should in
Jacob as well. We too are people who recognize
and desire the blessings of God for us, but our
lives are puzzles as well. Because the way we
go about trying to gain that godly life is often
through our striving, through our conniving in
the flesh. And the truth of the matter is that
as we try to work and become Christians, It allows
us, causes us rather, to forget a very important
truth that we must never forget. That the biggest
enigma with the way he went about things is the
fact, remember last week, it's not just his character,
but it's the fact that God loves him to begin
with. Because the way this guy goes about trying
to do the business of God is everything but.
God still loves Jacob, which is good news. If
we find ourselves, as we look in the mirror,
and find ourselves being Jacobs, because despite
all of his faults, if God can still love Jacob,
good news, he can still love me. Right? So tonight
we're going to look again at Jacob, and tonight
we're going to look at the flesh. Right? And
tonight's title is called How Flesh Sells Out
and Caves In. Flesh Sells Out and Caves In. We're
going to look at flesh in a deeper way, how it
does these things. And we're going to first begin
reading in chapter 25. Let's see, beginning with
verse 29. Chapter 25 in Genesis, beginning with
29. Okay, so I'll just read. You can listen,
follow along if you're reading. Once when Jacob
was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the
open country famished. He said to Jacob, quick,
let me have some of that red stew. I'm famished,
in parentheses. That is why he's called Edom.
Jacob replied, first sell me your birthright.
Look, I'm about to die, Esau said. What good
is the birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to
me first. So he swore an oath to him, selling
his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau
some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank
and then got up and left. So, the verse concludes,
Esau despised his birthright. Okay, now I'm going
to skip chapter 26 and go to 27. But before we
do that, we're going to take a break. Why don't
you guys grab something to eat and come back
and I'll get started. With the next, with 27.
Beginning with verse 1. And actually, we're going
to read quite a bit. We're going to read 1 through
43. Oh, let me go ahead and Heavenly Father,
pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for
this day in our lives. recognize we have come
here to join closer to you that we might learn
your ways, that your ways might be our ways,
that we might truly submit our wills to your
wills. May this time that we spend with one another
nourish our souls. May this food nourish our
bodies. May we leave this place better than when
we came in. These are all the things that we
pray in your loving name. Amen. Amen. But I'm
not going to just sit here for five minutes.
I'm going to pick back up here in just a second.
I know. Yeah, no, I love it. I really do. I love
it. Yeah, right. Cool. No, he didn't. He stayed
at home. I think so. No, his friend couldn't
come over today. I think he just stayed home.
His friend's grandma? Gigi. Yeah, lives down
the block. So I'm going to go ahead and continue.
You just listen to me, okay? Because I've got
43 verses to get through here. So we'll just
read through it. You listen. Chapter 27, verse
1 through 43, 27 and 1. When Isaac was old and
his eyes were so weak that he could no longer
see, he called for Esau, his older son, and said
to him, My son, here I am, he answered. That's
Esau. Isaac said, I am now an old man and don't
know the day of my death. Now then, get your
equipment, your quiver and your bow and go out
to the open country to hunt some wild game for
me. Prepare for me the kind of tasty food I like
and bring it to me to eat so that I might give
you my blessing before I die. Now, Rebecca, that's
his wife, Isaac's wife. Now, Rebecca was listening
as Isaac spoke to his son, her son as well, Esau.
When Esau left for the open country to hunt game
and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob,
Look, I overheard your father say to your brother
Esau, Bring me some game and prepare me some
tasty food to eat so that I might give you my
blessing in the presence of the Lord before I
die. Now, my son, listen carefully and do what
I tell you. This is Rebekah now talking to Jacob.
Listen and do carefully what I tell you. Go out
to the flock. Bring me two choice young goats
so I can prepare some tasty food for your father
just the way that he likes it. Then take it to
your father to eat so that he may give you his
blessing before he dies. Jacob said to Rebekah,
his mother, but my brother Esau is a hairy man.
While I have smooth skin, what if my father touches
me? I would appear to be tricking him and would
bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.
His mother said, My son, let the curse fall on
me. Just do what I say. Go and get them for me.
So he went and got them and brought them to his
mother, and she prepared some tasty food just
the way the father likes it. Then Rebekah took
the best clothes of Esau, her oldest son, which
she had in the house, and she put them on her
younger son, Jacob. And she covered Jacob's hands
and the smooth part of his neck with the goat
skins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty
food and the bread she had made. He went to his
father and said, My father. Yes, my son, he answered.
Who is it? Jacob said to his father, I'm Esau,
your firstborn. I've done as you've told me.
Please set up and eat some of my game so that
you may give me your blessing. Isaac asked his
son, How did you find it so quickly, my son?
The Lord your God gave me success, he replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, Come near so I could
touch you, my son, to know whether you really
are my son Esau or not. Jacob went close to his
father Isaac, who touched him and said, The voice
is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau. He didn't recognize him, for his
hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau.
So he proceeded to bless him. Are you really
my son Esau, he asked. Jacob, very untruthfully,
The answer is, I am. Then he said, my son, bring
me some of your game to eat so that I might give
you my blessing. Jacob brought it to him and
he ate and he brought some wine and he drank.
Then his father Isaac said to him, come here,
my son, and kiss me. So he went and kissed him.
And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes,
he blessed him and said, ah, the smell of my
son is like the smell of a field that the Lord
has blessed. May God give your heavens due and
earth's richness an abundance of grain and new
wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down
to you. Be Lord over your brothers and may the
sons of your mother bow down to you. May those
who curse you be cursed and those who bless you
be blessed. After Isaac had finished blessing
him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's
presence, his brother Esau comes in from hunting.
He too prepared some tasty food and brought it
to his father. Then he says, My father, please
set up and eat some of my game so that you may
give me your blessing. His father Isaac asked
him, who are you? I am your son, your firstborn
Esau. Isaac trembled violently and said, who
was it then that hunted game and brought it to
me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed
him. And indeed, he will be blessed. When Esau
heard his father's words, he burst out with a
loud and bitter cry. said to his father, Bless
me, me too, my father. But he said, Your brother
came deceitfully and took your blessing. Esau
said, Isn't he rightly named Jacob? This is the
second time he has taken advantage of me. He
took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing.
And then he asks his father, Esau does, Haven't
you reserved any blessing for me? Isaac answered
Esau, I have made him lord over you, and have
made all of his relatives his servants, and I
have sustained him with grain and new wine. So
what can I possibly do for you, my son? Esau
said to his father, Do you only have one blessing,
my father? Bless me too. Then Esau wept aloud.
His father Isaac answers him, and he says, Your
dwelling will be away from the earth's richness,
away from the dew of the heaven above. You will
live by the sword, and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless, you will throw his
yoke from off your neck. Esau held a grudge against
Jacob because of the blessing his father had
given him. He said to himself, The days of mourning
for my father are near, then I will kill my brother
Jacob. Verse 42. When Rebecca was told what her
older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger
son Jacob and said, Your brother Esau is planning
to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my
son, do what I say. Flee at once to my brother
Laban in Haran. And we'll end our reading there.
I mentioned to you last time, and I believe it
with good authority, that Jacob is a picture
of... Our sinful nature, what we use, the word
that we use, flesh. Not just sin, but flesh.
The fleshliness of us. The human part of us.
The flesh is not something that's particular
to this guy Jacob in our story. But rather, flesh
is the result that comes to us from the forefather
of us all, Adam, way back in the Garden of Eden.
Through his sin, the flesh nature has come into
humankind, and so all of us are affected. Indeed,
we could say infected by the disorder of the
flesh. Now, last time I quoted from Jeremiah
17 and 9, which says the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. And when we
talked about that verse last time, I told you
that the Hebrew word for that, sorry, the Hebrew
root for that word. Deceitful in the original
language is actually Jacob, the original root
of the name Jacob. So that verse from Jeremiah,
you could actually read the heart is Jacobed
and desperately sick. So Jacob equals deceitfulness,
a twisted nature. The name Jacob is the same
word to describe our fallen human hearts. In
fact, to be more specific, the name Jacob means
to grasp at. To supplant, to try to smash and
grab. The reason it was given, right? Because
of Jacob and Esau when they're coming out of
the womb. Esau comes first. And Jacob reached
out his little fist and grabbed Esau's heel.
That's where we get that. As if to pull him back
into the womb so that Jacob may take over and
be the firstborn son. This is Jacob's nature.
But as we look at the enigma of Jacob and the
enigma of ourselves, we also have to admit that
this is the nature in all of us. That we are
all always grasping, aren't we? We're snatching
for things of significance, for satisfaction,
for a sense of meaning in our lives. And so often
the things that we are snatching for are things
that are actually apart from God. Yes, we have
already said that Jacob... did desire spiritual
blessings. Jacob did recognize the power of God
and God's blessing. Jacob did desire those things,
right? But we started looking at it last week
and it continues now where we see Jacob trying
to get those things by fleshly means. And that
can't happen. God's blessings must always be
gained in God's way. Now, we're not dealing with
chapter 26 tonight. You might notice I skipped
that out, but in chapter 26, Isaac, Father Isaac,
right here, he follows in the family of deceit,
right? Which is also the sin of his father, Abraham,
if you remember, right? Again, chapter 26, we're
not looking at this story tonight, but Isaac
goes to the Philistine country of Gerar. And
he lies to the leader there, Abimelech, Abimelech,
the Philistine king over his wife, Rebekah, right?
And he, like his father, says, she's not my wife,
she's my sister. And that was the same sin, like
I just mentioned, that his father Abraham committed
in chapter 12 of Genesis when he goes down to
Egypt and lied and said that his wife Sarai was
his sister. But in a way, it was only half a
lie because in the convoluted way of how these
things happened back thousands and thousands
of years ago, not only was she his wife, but
in a roundabout way was his half sister. So was
it a complete lie? But nevertheless, what I want
us all to see tonight is that Isaac is following
suit in a lineage of deceit that's running through
his family back to his father. And we're going
to see how that flesh works right through here
to Jacob and his whole network. But this isn't
just something that was inherited into Jacob's
life, but it was also something that was learned
by example. And here's where we get into this
conversation. You may have heard about these
psychological terms, nature and nurture. Psychologists
and psychiatrists and sociologists, they debate
whether we are who we are because of how we've
learned certain tendencies or whether we have
inherited those tendencies and they've just been
simply passed down to us. Now, I'm not one of
any of those aforementioned professions. I have
no qualification along those lines. But I'll
put my penny's worth in to say that I believe
that the Bible teaches actually that it's both.
Because we are both nature and nurture. I feel
like that, unfortunately, would probably save
a lot of money on a lot of worthless degrees
if we would just make it that simple and believe
in the Bible. We're both. We inherit certain
things. We also learn certain things. As kids
observe, right, how their parents or their guardians
or other significant authority figures, how we
react, how we deal in certain circumstances with
issues, right? And then we learn things as well.
Jacob's the same way. I believe he has inherited
much of his flesh, but he has also learned by
example from his parents and from his brother,
maybe even from his old granddad, Abraham. Now,
we might recognize the flesh in Jacob's family
portrait, but what I want to ask is, do you recognize
the flesh in you, in your own inheritance? Now,
we're not focused on failure. We're not focused
on sin, right? But I believe that by the end
of the message, I hope to convince you to get
your eyes onto Christ, onto the answer. rather
than continue to be in denial about how much
we're allowing the flesh to control our lives.
Because the fact of the matter is, if we're not
being real with the issues that are issues in
our lives, whether it's the world or flesh or
sin, we are not going to experience spiritual
victories. We will never overcome if our denial...
creates barriers and obstacles to the blessings
that God has put into our lives. We must seek
honesty and transparency regarding those problems.
And then, and only then, can we be helped. To
do so, we must understand what it is is our enemy.
So we're going to look at this in depth tonight.
We're going to look at two lessons concerning
the flesh. We're going to look at how the flesh
seems to always sell out. and how the flesh always
seems to cave in. And then hopefully we'll be
able to get to the answer to this puzzle, this
mystery of the enigma of the flesh. What is the
answer to how all of this works? Let's understand
it first. Going to Genesis 25 here, this is the
selling of Esau's birthright. If you look at
verse 29, first of all, once when Jacob was...
Cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open
country famished. Now, that's very instructive
because both of these brothers, if you follow
in the story, will find that they were actually
both working out their own natural inclinations.
Once when Jacob was eating some stew, Esau came
in from the open country famished. And if you
look back at verse 27, we read, or maybe we read
the last time the boys grew, and Esau was a skilled
hunter, an outdoor man. a man of the field, but
Jacob was a mild man dwelling in the tents. He
was a house builder. Jacob was a homemaker. So
in verse 29, Jacob's cooking the stew, Esau's
out in the field, and he's weary. So in this
story tonight, they are living out their natural
inclinations, their natural characteristics of
the people they are, but they're very different
individuals, aren't they? We all have flesh.
But however our flesh displays itself, we cannot
forget that we all have it. You are not immune
to the sinful nature of the flesh. So you stay
right there. But let me explain this in the New
Testament perspective. Let me flip very quickly
to Philippians in chapter 3. This is Paul here.
Paul writing to the Philippians. And Paul is
giving kind of a personal testimony to the people
in the church right here. He's talking about
himself. This is very much as this is like you
guys. This is a testimony. Right. At verse four,
Paul writes to the church. He says, even though
I, too, have reason to have confidence in the
flesh, he's naming it for what it is right away.
He says, if anybody has reason to be confident
in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised
on the eighth day. A member of the people of
Israel. I am of the tribe of Benjamin. I am a
Hebrew born of Hebrews. As to the law, he says,
I'm a Pharisee. As to zeal, don't forget you
dudes, I persecuted the early church. As to righteousness
under Torah, under righteousness under law. I,
Paul says, I was blameless. Yet whatever gains
I had, these I have come to regard as a loss
because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything
as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. It's for His sake that
I have suffered the loss of all things. And I
regard them, all of the things I could in my
flesh brag about. He says, I think of all of
that stuff as rubbish. It's all a bunch of junk.
In order that I might gain Christ and be found
in Him. Not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but one that comes through
faith in Christ. The righteousness from God based
on faith. I want to know Christ and the power
of the resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings
by becoming like him in death. Not only in death
like when I die, resurrection in death, but in
the way that Jesus was able to. Completely put
to death his sinful human nature. Never did Jesus
allow that nature to ever control him. So Paul
is saying, I'm not talking about just resurrection.
I'm talking about I need to participate in killing
this flesh. Putting it to the side. Making it
less effective is not the answer. You must die.
to that old part of you. You can't keep that
old part of you around as a transformed person
because you might not think it's a problem, but
that flesh is always there. And it's always looking
to sell you out or cave you in all of the time.
And we're going to see that in our story tonight.
Paul is saying, Through Judaism, I excelled in
the flesh, right? Now here's the thing. The things
that Paul is boasting about, these aren't bad
things. When I'm talking about the old sinful
self, you're probably thinking bad relationships
or maybe less discreet in my relationships. Habits
that keep me from being the person God needs
me to be. You know, bad stuff. Paul is actually
making the argument of how bad and how sinful
his self is by illustrating to us not the bad
stuff he did, but things that you guys normally
think is great. But I did all of those things,
not so that I could share God with the world,
but I could show how cool I am. And anytime we're
putting the spotlight on us instead of God. That's
flesh. That's how that works. Okay? Now, Esau's
manifestation of the flesh, despising his birthright.
Back to 25, chapter 25. He despised the blessing
of God in his life that is coming down from this
family line from Abraham. But Jacob's flesh wasn't
manifest in despising this birthright. In fact,
he wanted, he desired this birthright. But his
flesh was manifest rather than looking at what
God has to offer you and saying, I don't want
it, it's not important enough to me. That's Esau
despising his birthright, his blessing from God.
Jacob wants this stuff. Yay, that's good. The
problem is that Jacob is going to scheme and
connive and try to steal and lie his way to get
that stuff. Oh, no, boo, that's bad. Right? That's
the flesh. They both got it here. Esau, different
dude than Jacob. Same problem. Same problem.
All the way down the family line. Neither of
these guys are right, right? Though Esau seems
to have been particularly, in my personal opinion,
depraved because he didn't place any value on
spiritual blessings, right? I mean, you got to
understand, you guys have to understand when
I talk about these two things together, you know,
I put this out like, when he's talking about
birthright, he is talking about land and possessions
and head of family. But it's not just the birthright
that's given, but the blessing as well. Okay,
these two things that you really want to desire,
this is yes. You get the father's land, you get
the possessions, you get the servants, whatever.
You get to be the head of the family, right?
But more importantly, you get the blessing that
was promised to this dude, Abraham. That blessing
comes to you, right? So this birthrighting thing,
this isn't just about inheritance. But this is
actually... The blessing that God has placed
upon the people of Israel. The people that will
eventually be known as the Jews. Eventually will
also be involved in the new covenant with the
Messiah. Right? Through your line comes the Savior
of the world. And Esau could not have cared less.
And that's the way most flesh is displayed in
our world today. People who just simply totally
disregard the things of God, who do not value
spiritual wealth whatsoever. It's reflected in
the statement that Esau makes to Jacob in verse
32. He says, I am about to die, Esau says. Now
what's interesting about this statement, Esau
says, I'm about to die. Is that, I think as far
as I'm aware, most of the times that portion
of scripture gets interpreted, right? That Esau
was overworked and he was parched of drink. He
was starving for food. In other words, maybe
he had heat stroke and he was dehydrated, right?
In fact, I don't think that that's what it actually
means. I think it's a literal sense, like it's
the literal sense of him saying, I'm going to
eventually die one day, so what good is my birthright
or the blessing now? Who cares? I can't take
it with me when I die, and I'm hungry now. So
you want the whatever, you want that fairytale
stuff, great. I want some of that stew, right?
Even if it means getting what I desire and getting
it now is still worth it, even if it means trading
in on eternal oblivion. That's how Esau's flesh
is displayed in this story. Now let me turn,
you stay at 25, 27, let me turn to Hebrews chapter
12. Hebrews chapter 12 actually gives a comment
on this New Testament letter to the Hebrew church
in Rome. So whenever Christianity had spread
to Rome, there was a church, a particular church.
There was more than one. But a particular church
that was filled with former Jews who had converted
to Christianity. Their pastor, whom we don't
know who wrote this, is away from his congregation.
And he hears that his Jewish convert congregation
is beginning to experience some strife with their
family members and with other Jews that are in
their community. Because they're not converts.
And some of the Christians are becoming discouraged
because they're getting slammed all the time.
They're getting shade thrown on them all the
time from their family members. So the guy writes
back to his church in Rome and he writes a letter
of encouragement. That's what the letter to Hebrews
is. Let's look at that letter, chapter 12. I'm
going to begin at 15. The writer says, looking
carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace
of God, you live short of what God wants for
you in grace. See to it that no one fails to
obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness
springs up, causes trouble, and through it may
become defiled. Verse 16. See to it, the writer
says, see to it that no one becomes like Esau,
an immoral and ungodly person. This is how the
Holy Spirit is in the New Testament. How he comments
on the character of Esau. He's immoral. He's
godless. Right? That's how Esau's flesh is displayed
in the story. It seems unthinkable that we as
Christians could sell out our birthright. But
that's exactly what we do when we indulge in
the flesh. When we live in the sensual materialistic
existence without any real spiritual significance
or authenticity. Right? You've heard that saying
before. Everyone has a price. Well, guess what,
friends? That's true. What was Esau's price?
A bowl of soup? What was Judas' price? 30 pieces
of silver? The price of a slave? The question
placed before you, friends, tonight is, what's
your price? What will you sell your birthright
for? And what is our inheritance? All of the
blessings of God are yes and amen through Jesus
Christ. We get everything in Jesus. The marvelous
thing is, and this is a whole other subject,
we are adopted into God's family now. Whatever
God willed for Jesus, He has promised. to we
believers in faith as well. The irony is, Jacob
had it too. He didn't despise the birthright.
He wanted Esau's birthright. But he was scheming
in the flesh rather than relying on God's will
to get it. The absolute irony about Jacob, he's
scheming to get the flesh and what he already
had. You say, well, hold on a minute. I thought
we just said that the birthright was Esau's,
right? And all that stuff, right? And that's
true. But if you go back to where we were last
week in verse 23, at the end of chapter 25, in
verse 23, we find this prophecy, this promise
that was given to the mother, Rebecca, right?
That the elder would serve the younger. We talked
about how they simply should have just waited
for God to fulfill this. This is what I want
us to see. Jacob is now scheming to work through
his own flesh to gain something he was already
given by God. And so often that's what we Christians
do as well. We're living the Christian life,
but we're living it in the power of our own steam.
We're trying to gain things that we already have
in Jesus. Jacob was buying something. How ridiculous.
That he already had, had he just waited. You
see, the blessing of Abraham, right? The blessing
of Abraham is to all who believe. Not just those
who strive. If Esau, if he was a hedonist, right?
He was just interested in pleasuring himself
at the moment. Shouldn't have probably said that.
Jacob was an opportunist. Hey, thousands of words
come out of my mouth in an hour and I regret
maybe a half dozen. That's a good day. Jacob,
right? Esau was this hedonist. Jacob was an opportunist.
Remember, snatch and grab. He used Esau's fleshly
weakness, that sensuality, to flex the cunningness
of his own flesh. We're going to see how, again
here, verse 27, sorry, chapter 27, right? The
flesh not only sells out, now I want you to see
how it caves in. Let's look at the first four
verses of chapter 27. First fleshly character
we see here isn't Esau, but it's Jacob. I'm sorry.
It's not Esau and it's not Jacob, but it's Isaac.
And here's why. Isaac's old, right? Okay. You
have in first verse one, it says his eyes were
dim. All right. He thought he was dying, right?
And many of you have read the passage of scripture.
Maybe you believe that he was ready to keel over
real quickly. Anybody heard this story before
about how he tricks him with putting the clothes
on that smell like his brother and mom cooks
the food? Have you heard this story? Yeah? Were
you made to believe, did you understand it, that
Esau was literally on his deathbed? Sorry, Isaac.
Blind, couldn't necessarily tell one son, right?
Okay. His eyes were dim. There was talk of his
death. He said he was about to die. Thank you.
Right? Do you guys know, as I did my research
for tonight, did you guys know that... Anybody
want to take a guess how many years Isaac lived
after this event? Dang it. Did you look this
up? No, I didn't. I just guessed. Does anybody
else want to take a guess? Why don't you say,
Joyce? No. Someone just give me a... 43. Interesting,
40, 25. Isaac lived 43 years after this event.
About when he's going to die, kids see it, he's
been tricked. He's got four more decades. Right?
43 more years. Right? Maybe he just had a man
flu or something, but he thinks he's dying. And
so he panics. Right? He panics. It's his flesh
trying to sort things out before God can sort
things out. Right? To be sure. To be sure. A
man who thinks he's on his way out, Feels a desire
to secure his future. He has to secure his future
for his family, for his business, maybe even
the church, right? And you probably, like I have,
I've seen people who are obsessed to try to control
or manipulate situations on the brink of the
grave, right? To try to keep all of the power
and end up just leaving the fallout for others
to grapple with after they've gone. Pride of
the flesh. That's what we're talking about. Here
in verse 4. If you look at verse four, he says
to Esau, then prepare me savory food such as
I like and bring it to eat so that I may bless
you before I die. Now, there's so many questions
in the story of Jacob. It's incredible, right?
That's why it's such a puzzle. That's why he's
such an enigma. One of the things that I think
is an obvious question to focus on is why was
Isaac going to bless Esau? Right. But does he
not know that God promised in chapter 25 to his
wife through prophetic promise that the elder
would serve the younger? Does that seem like
that would even be possible? So why is he not
going along with God's promise and God's will?
Well, obviously, he favored Esau. So we're seeing
Esau, I'm sorry, we're seeing Isaac, but are
we seeing a spiritual man? Right? No, we're seeing
a fleshly man. At least at this point in the
story, why does he favor Esau? Is the further
question. Okay, now my hunch is that it was simply
because of his lifestyle. It's because of his
way of life. He preferred Esau's hard man sort
of attitude. His work in the field as a farmer.
He definitely liked his food, right? That's mentioned
several times. But we actually see that that
was all a smokescreen. Because Rebecca could
rustle up the same sort of meal. that Esau would,
and duped Isaac into believing that it was cooked
by Esau. So it wasn't his cooking so much, but
it was the idea of this red -headed, rugged,
hairy man going out, hunting game, being out
there, a man's man. This is what I believe Esau's
fleshliness. It's a false masculinity that I
believe we even see today. We see his... Flesh
displayed. Not only for the enjoyment of food.
I mean, Philippians talk about people whose God
is their belly. Right? They're sensual people
who live for their appetites. The tastes and
the senses. So as we're reading the story, you
could write all over this book of Jacob, right?
Flesh, flesh, flesh. Everywhere you turn. Fleshly
nature. Fleshly nature. Here Isaac's going to
give the blessing. To the wrong boy. Why? Because
he prefers him. Right? Esau's more of a manly
man. And, ironically, he loves his cucking. Now,
if Isaac had waited on God, and how do we know
he didn't wait on God? Well, he didn't wait on
God because, again, there's another 43 years
in Isaac's life. Right? So there was some additional
time. To bless his sons and get it right. If
he had waited on God in God's time, whatever
reservations he might have had about Jacob, they
would have been resolved. Right? I have to believe
that because I believe in God's promises. Not
just some of them. God's just not got a really
good batting average. God never gets it wrong.
Right? I feel like, from my own personal faith,
I have to. But what is Isaac trying to do? He's
trying to attempt to go around God's will so
that he can get his own fleshly way. And how
do we know that this is what he's doing? Because
he's doing all of this in secret. Right? You
can read the story here. He knows what he was
doing was wrong. Isaac. The flesh of Isaac. Then
verses 5 to 10. Right now we see the mother,
the fleshly mother, Rebecca. Verse eight. Now,
therefore, my son, obey my word as I command
you. Now, she had been eavesdropping and she
heard the whole plan that had been hatched between
Isaac and Esau. Now she brings Jacob in on this
plan instead of trusting in God to fulfill the
promise in Jacob. Right. She herself heard the
promise from God. What does she do? She tries
to manipulate the situation. And many a mother
have tried to do that. Well, Rebecca was a manipulative
mother. This is quite a family. Fleshly father,
hedonistic brother, manipulative brother, brother
I mean, manipulative mother, and Jacob is this
total opportunist. Their entire family is about
the flesh. Right? What in the world is going
on in this great book, the Bible? It's because
the truth, or let me just be honest, what are
families like today? How different are they today?
Right? In the same way, today's family is broken,
it's shattered, it's fragmented. The letter of
James in chapter 3 comes to mind very readily.
Verse 16, 3 and 16 in James, which says, For
where envy and self -seeking exist, Confusion
and every evil thing are there. And that's what
we find, unfortunately, today in the family.
The whole modern family is a mess. In fact, the
whole family of the human race is affected by
this sin and fleshliness we're talking about
tonight. You see yourself in Jacob, I hope. I
hope that you can see yourself in Esau. You see
yourself in the parents, Isaac and Rebekah. It's
both inherited and it's learned. The twistedness
of the family. Of course, the situation is exacerbated
and I don't have time to go into it tonight with
this story, but it's a convoluted plan. How Rebecca
gets Jacob to get this blessing from the father,
Isaac, instead of going to Esau. Look at verse
12. Jacob actually objects to the plan. Jacob
says, perhaps my father will feel me. If I put
all this fur skin on me, perhaps he'll feel me.
And I, I shall seem like. A deceiver to him.
Jacob, you are a deceiver. What do you think
you're doing? What do you think this is? I will
seem like a liar to my father. Jacob, you are
lying to your father. You're dressing up and
smelling like your brother. You are deceiving
dad. But you're still a part of it. There is
a semblance of morality here with Jacob, right?
He doesn't want to be what he is. He doesn't
want to be what he's doing. Who of us wants to
be that our way, right? That way. None of us
want to be twisted and fleshly, right? He continues.
He says, if I'm found out and I shall bring a
curse on myself and not a blessing. See, this
is what will always happen. Proverbs. Says a
curse without a cost shall not alight. Comes
because we live in the flesh. And every single
one of us attempt to grab at God's blessings
in the flesh. Jacob knew what he was doing wrong.
He objects to this being wrong. Right? Or maybe
it was just the fear of the possibility of getting
caught. Either way, he capitulates. Right? He
caves in and does it anyway, right? Because the
flesh always caves in. It always sells out and
it always caves in. If you operate in the flesh,
even if you are seeking after the blessings of
God in the flesh, you will always capitulate
to the flesh, right? It cannot produce spirit.
The flesh only produces death in this life. For
whom? Joel. Joel. Joel Alstee? That's for a different
night. Let's fast forward a little bit. Look
at verse 33. The whole plan's been blown. And
in verse 33, it's realized now that the wrong
guy's got the blessing, according to Isaac, anyway.
Then Isaac, verse 33, then Isaac trembled violently.
When he heard what happened, he had trembled.
Why? Because he realized you cannot defeat God.
You can't work a sly move on God. You just simply
can't do it. Because what happens is when we
operate in the flesh, right? And we're going
to see this a little bit later in Jacob's story,
right? He will meet himself, his deceivedness,
his opportunity, his opportunistness. He's going
to see his match, fleshly match in his uncle
Laban. We're going to get to that story next
week, right? It's interesting how God always
kind of does that. God will always lead us into
a cul -de -sac experience to remind us that we
cannot defeat him. When he hears the words in
verse 34, and then it dawns on Esau what's happened.
When he hears the words of his father, when Esau
heard his father's words, he cried out with an
exceedingly great and bitter cry. Right. A real
wrenching whale. All of a sudden, Esau's tune
has changed. Right. He had been Laodicea fair
up to that. He'd been disinterested in all of
this stuff, this blessing. I'm going to die one
day. And then what good will whatever this earthly
blessing be to me anyway? Eternal blessings and
all rather, I would have it here and now. Right.
I want the things that are to come to me and
I want them now. But now, all of a sudden, he's
become interested in the blessing. But unfortunately
for him, it's too late. How much of an epitaph
will that be on our whole human race? Right?
When our society finally falls. But back to 12
of Hebrews. There was a verse earlier when I
read from Hebrews chapter 12 that I didn't read.
Where it says in verse 12 and 17, after the verse
that says Esau... was profane, unholy, godless,
all that stuff, right? The writer says that he
sold his birthright for a single meal. Hebrews
chapter 12 and 17 says, you know that later when
he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected.
He found no chance to repent. There was no ability
for him to say sorry to his father, even though
he sought that blessing with his tears. His heart
is breaking now. He wants the blessing now. But
what's happening here with Esau is not true repentance.
It's not godly repentance. It's frustrated, selfish
ambition. It's flesh that has been thwarted,
beaten by God. Checkmate. I think he was crying
out in the fleshly competition because his brother
had gotten one over on him. Again, listen to
the words that he says in 36. Esau says, is he
not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted
me two times. He took away my birthright, and
now look, he's taken away my blessing. But you
really can't say that, can you, Esau? Verse 36,
he took away my birthright. But Esau, is that
what happened? Isn't it interesting how our sinful
nature, our fleshly parts of us, That old part
of us can rewrite our history. Did Jacob take
away his birthright? No. Esau, you sold your
birthright. Done deal. You despised your birthright
and you sold it for a pot of stew. The sign of
the flesh is often that we blame others for our
mistakes. Look at where all this fleshly jealousy
leads. Verse 41. Now Esau hated Jacob because
of the blessing with which his father had blessed
him. He hates his brother now. Esau said to himself,
the days of mourning for my father are approaching.
Then I will kill my brother Jacob. Now what's
very interesting there is Esau says the days
of mourning for my father are approaching. He
doesn't die for another 43 years. Just saying.
It's in there. It's very strange. But it doesn't
matter. Flesh always ends in death. And you might
say, ooh, that's a little strong Christian language,
right? Even good flesh? Even good flesh. The
old human part of you must die. So what's happening
is, it's like a tug of war in our bodies, right?
It's a battle between the flesh and the spirit
in you, right? And acknowledging that reality,
we must also acknowledge a number of truths if
we want to overcome the flesh, if we want the
spirit to win. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. In the sense
of, yes, I am talking about there is an eternal
in you. That will not be extinguished as a believer
in faith. That will return and have eternal life.
And in that way, your fleshly body will die.
But I'm also talking about there are three components
to this. There is you. There is you. I'm sorry.
There's you as the desiring Christian believer.
And as a result, you've been given a gift. The
Holy Spirit. Right? But because you're human,
you can't shed a third component. Your old sinful
flesh. Your old desires. Your prejudices. Your
wants instead of needs. Right? And what happens
is inside the you part, the spirit and the old
self are at war with each other. And we must
do everything we can to equip the spirit in that
battle that might overcome that old self. And
in that way, get us to a point, transcendentally
here even on earth, where those desires, those
prejudices, our own will kinds of things, no
longer have an effect in our lives. They've died.
They've withered on the vine. They no longer
grow and get stronger in my life. To do that,
I think the first things we need to do is acknowledge
just three things. Two things that you can't
do or shouldn't do and one thing that you should.
Number one is to remember, to never forget you
are not your sinful nature. You're not your flesh.
Verse 17, for the lusts, I'm sorry, I think this
is from Philippians. For the flesh lusts or strives
against the spirit. You're a battleground, right?
And the spirit against the flesh. And these are
contrary to one another so that, right? Imagine
these are personalities, boxers, if you will,
to be spoken of. There's flesh and there's a
spirit, then there's you, right? But then you
do not do the things. The old you would do. Allowing
the old you to die. Right? And in that way we're
being distinguished. Paul is distinguishing us
from the flesh. There's us and then there's our
old sinful nature. But Paul is reckoning that
you have in fact died in Jesus Christ. Right?
And as a result, you're not to breathe new life.
into your old life you're not to give it oxygen
you to recognize it is dead but if you consider
yourself as that sinful nature right what way
are you going to live if you see yourself as
your sinful nature you're always going to be
in a mental state of woe is me My heart is always
wicked. My heart is always deceitful. And so
you never move into that new heart that God has
given you. Taking away the old deceitful heart
and giving the heart of flesh away. How are we
going to move if we think of ourselves as trapped?
Despite God's grace. Trapped in that old sinful
nature. You see, our spiritual enemy has a lot
of us on our back foot. As if we're still living
in that old nature. We still have that old heart.
But you've died, but you've been born again in
a resurrected Jesus Christ. Now this is your
first primary foundation here if we're going
to let the spirit overcome the flesh. Remember,
you are not your old sinful nature. Well, what
am I then? You are that battleground on which
the battle, the tug of war between the flesh
and spirit is fought. And there is a great difference.
This is not just semantics or hair splitting,
right? And hopefully you'll see here in a second
why it's not. You're not your old sinful nature.
You're the one where the battle between the sinful
nature that you had and the Holy Spirit's nature,
which you've been gifted by grace, fights. But
here's the second. Coming out of that, you must
not fight with the flesh. You're the battleground.
And yet here's what a lot of us do. We reckon
ourselves, we relate ourselves to the sinful
flesh. And we try to beat the sinful flesh into
submission. But the sinful flesh is just far
too strong for us. The flesh will always win
out against us. You can't beat it up. Flesh is
the flesh. You must not fight flesh. You must
let the spirit. Now, I'm not saying there aren't
things for you to do guided by the spirit, but
it is the spirit's job to defeat your old sinful
nature, not yours. You're just replacing one
sinful nature with another sinful nature. So
a third thing comes from that then. Right? One,
you're not your old sinful nature. You're the
battleground. Two, you must fight, not fight
the flesh, but let the spirit fight the flesh.
But three, you must give way to the spirit. You're
not your old sinful nature. You can't fight flesh
with flesh. And you must give way to the spirit.
That's how this battle is won. It's not by struggling
and striving. Again, I'm not saying there aren't
things for us to do. Of course there are. But
we must give way to the Spirit. A brilliant illustration
of this is how to surf. I'm told. I don't know
how to surf. I've never even tried to surf. I'm
certain I would just sink. But I'm told by those
who know how to surf is essentially what you
do in your mind. You have to become one with
the wave. One with the force of the wave. And
just let the wave carry you. That's how to serve.
And that's how to win the battle over the flesh.
You're not your sinful flesh. You have sinful
flesh. But it has been disempowered at the cross.
You've now been given the new nature of Jesus
Christ. And you must reckon your old natural
self dead. And don't breathe new life into your
old habits. You must see it as dead. But you
must understand that the Holy Spirit's power
must overcome the flesh. So you go with the flow.
We as Christians are people who have to go with
the flow of the Spirit and let the Spirit have
its way. I want to finish by encouraging you
with two verses. And I'm only going to read them
to you. Isaiah chapter 41, 13 and 14. This is
wonderful when you consider everything we've
looked at these first two weeks as we've begun
looking at this enigma of Jacob. Verse 13 of
Isaiah 41, For I, the Lord your God, hold your
right hand. It is I who say to you, do not fear,
I will help you. God is saying to you, I want
to take your hand. You might have sold out. You
might have caved in. But God is still saying
to you, fear not, I will help you. Let's look
at verse 14. This is precious. Fear not, you
worm, Jacob. I mean, you could say, hey, that
doesn't apply to me, this verse. I mean, you
don't know what I've been through. You don't
know what I've been up to. You don't know how
cheap my price has been, what I've actually been
selling out for and caving into. I'm worse than
Jacob. I'm worse than any of that dysfunctional
family you showed us tonight. Look, Jacob was
a worm like all of us. All of us, fear not, you
worm of Jacob, you men and women of Israel, all
of the descendants of Jacob, who are stiff -necked
and rebellious people, listen to what God says.
I will help you, says the Lord, your Redeemer,
the one who will buy you back from the slave
market of sin, the one who will store you and
renew you. I am the Holy One of Israel. I am
absolutely holy. And yet I'm going to do this
for you because of what Jesus did. Thanks for
listening.