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Come on up, Van Carlsen this morning is going to talk about the vision of ministry.

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I hope that many of you will be a part of that.

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I'm going to ask you to open your Bible with me now to Genesis chapter 25.

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I'm going to begin reading in the 19th verse of the 25th chapter of Genesis.

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Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son.

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Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah,

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the daughter of Bethuel, the airman of Pate and Aram, the sister of Laban the airman,

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to be his wife.

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And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren.

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And the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.

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But the children struggled together within her.

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And she said, If it is so, why then am I this way?

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So she went to inquire of the Lord.

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And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated

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from your body.

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And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.

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When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

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Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment, and they named him Esau.

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And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel.

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So his name was called Jacob.

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And Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

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When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field.

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But Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents.

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Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game.

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But Rebekah loved Jacob.

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And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished.

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And Esau said to Jacob, Let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, that red stuff there.

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For I am famished.

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Therefore his name was called Edom.

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But Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright.

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And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die, so what use then is the birthright to me?

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And Jacob said, First, swear to me.

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So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

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Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew.

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And he ate and drank and rose and went on his way.

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Thus Esau despised his birthright.

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Couple of weeks ago my wife and I received a note from some friends of ours who are new

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parents.

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They are parents who are not particularly young and they have long anticipated the arrival

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of their child.

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The note on the back of the picture of this little baby was, Pray for us as we adjust

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to new sleep patterns.

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When I read that I could identify with it and so can many of you.

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The birth of a child changes life forever.

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And that's not all bad.

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The birth of a child brings great joy to a family.

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And when it's twins, it doubles the joy, not to mention the diapers and the stress level

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and so on.

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Isaac and Rebekah had been married for 20 years before they had any children.

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Like Abraham and Sarah, they apparently struggled with infertility.

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But Isaac prayed to the Lord that God would give them children and the Lord answered.

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With the birth of these boys comes another fork in the family tree of Abraham.

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We have seen the development already of several branches in his descendants.

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This is in fulfillment of God's promise to him to make him the father of many nations.

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And truly Abraham is that.

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But only one in each generation can be the bearer of the seed to advance the promise

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of a redeemer for the race of Adam.

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And God makes the choice as to which one will carry forth that promised seed.

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As we look at the text today, I want to approach it from two perspectives.

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I'm going to take two slices at it, one a horizontal slice and the other a vertical

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slice.

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In the horizontal slice, we're going to see it from the perspective of a family in conflict.

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Isaac and Rebekah were very much in love, but that did not preclude conflict in their

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relationship or in their parenting as we see in our text today.

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Some people mistakenly think that the home lives of Bible characters were perfect, that

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they really had no problems like we have.

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But people who think that have not read the Bible.

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Nothing could be further from the truth.

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In fact, the Bible never glosses over the reality that the people of old like we today

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live in a fallen world.

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And that fallenness affects us.

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It affects us in our marriages and it affects us in our families.

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It is interesting that as you read the book of Genesis, one of the themes that rises to

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the surface is the theme of family conflict.

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Have you ever thought about that?

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In the first place, there was Adam and Eve after the fall in chapter 3.

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God was questioning them and Adam's response was, well, the woman whom you gave me, she,

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and you can just see Eve with her hands on her hips saying, well, conflict.

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And then the conflict between Cain and Abel in chapter 4.

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The conflict in Noah's family in the ninth chapter.

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Then the conflict between Abraham and Lot in chapter 13.

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The conflict between Ishmael and Isaac in chapter 21.

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The conflict here in this chapter between Esau and Jacob, and it goes on by the way.

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The conflict between Jacob and Laban, his brother-in-law, chapters 29 to 31.

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And then the conflict between Joseph and his brothers, chapters 37 through 50.

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So what I'm pointing out to you is the Bible has a lot to say in this first book about

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family conflict.

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Now why is that?

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Perhaps God is illustrating for us the fulfillment of the curse in chapter 3 verse 15 where God

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speaks to Satan and he says, I will put enmity between your seed and the seed of the woman.

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Now we understand that to mean enmity between the spiritual descendants of Satan and the

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spiritual descendants of God.

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That is between those who are unredeemed and those who are redeemed.

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But it points to the fact that there is enmity in human relationships.

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In the New Testament, James tells us the conflicts arise because of the hedonism or the evil

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lusts in our hearts.

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That is, conflicts sometimes come because of self-centeredness, which is a part of our

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fallen condition.

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Conflict is the result of the fallen world in which we live and the fallen people which

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we are.

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Even God's saints still battle the effects of indwelling sin.

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I like that bumper sticker that was popular several years ago that said, Christians aren't

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perfect, just forgiven.

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We aren't perfect.

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In our marriages, in our homes are not perfect.

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We experience conflict and very often that conflict is because of our fallenness.

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In the text today, we see at least three expressions of conflict in the home of Isaac.

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In the first place, there is a prenatal conflict, a strife that takes place within the womb

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between Jacob and Esau.

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We see fetal movement here that was apparently abnormal as these two babies struggled with

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each other, wrestled with each other within the womb of their mother.

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The mother did not understand what this was about.

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She says, why is this taking place?

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She went before the Lord for an answer.

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God in some way, we don't know exactly what the means was, answered her and gave her the

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response of verse 23.

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There is prenatal strife.

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Secondly, we see conflict in parental favoritism because our text says that Isaac loved Esau

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and Rebecca loved Jacob.

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Let me tell you something, that's conflict big time.

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When you have two parents who choose sides over their two children and then we see the

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conflict of the personal disposition of the boys, they were so different.

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They were different in physical appearance.

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They were different in their natural interests.

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They were different in their attitudes and their outlook.

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They were different in character.

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Jacob was scheming.

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Esau was impulsive.

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Jacob thought long term.

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He looked at issues that way.

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But Esau was just the opposite.

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He saw everything short term.

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What matters is what I've got in my hand today.

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A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

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That probably originated with Esau.

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Jacob was refined.

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He enjoyed living in the tents.

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Like me, Jacob felt that a good camping trip was at the Holiday Inn.

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Esau, on the other hand, was an earthy man.

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He loved camping.

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He loved hunting and fishing.

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He would not be in church today either, just like some people.

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He would be out fishing somewhere in Minnesota's lakes.

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He was an outdoorsman.

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He was a man's man.

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He would fit in well in the sports bar culture of America.

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That was Esau.

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Esau was a man of the world who despised the eternal and lived for the temporal.

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On the other hand, Jacob had respect for the eternal and what the birthright stood for.

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He had respect for God's blessing in his family.

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These boys are so different.

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That builds conflict into the family.

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A family conflict can come from a lot of sources.

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The important thing about it is to learn to manage it.

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That is, to use it for good.

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Conflict in your home needs to be a time when you learn, for example, how to communicate

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better with those that you are in conflict with.

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Conflict in your home gives opportunities to learn the skill of reconciliation, of resolving

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conflicts on a righteous basis.

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You see, conflicts in our homes can destroy us or they can build us, depending upon what

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we do with them.

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They are inevitable.

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Some few folks, I hope, have the idea that the ideal is never having conflict and that

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ideal should be experienced in the Christian home.

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But the fact is that even in the finest Christian homes, there is conflict from time to time.

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Hopefully it doesn't dominate the relationships of the home.

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If that's the case, then there may need to be intervention.

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But understand that conflict is normal.

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It is going to happen.

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But use it for good.

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Let conflict build you up in your character, not tear you down.

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And by the way, your children need to see you, mom and dad, in conflict and how you

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resolve that.

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I don't mean screaming at one another in their presence or throwing lamps and pictures

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and books.

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That's not the conflict I'm talking about.

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That's conflict that's out of control and wrong.

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But they need to know that mom and dad, from time to time, see things differently and how

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to resolve that because that shows them that conflict can be resolved peaceably.

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You see, and that's one way, at least, that they learn by your mentoring them through

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conflicts.

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Well, that's the approach, the horizontal approach we want to take at this text this

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morning.

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It's the most family that is in conflict.

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Unfortunately, it did not get managed very well in this home.

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And we're going to see the result of that in the lives of the people in our studies

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to come.

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Now there's another way I want to slice this text this morning, and that is a vertical

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slice right down the middle from top to bottom as we look at not the family conflict but

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the divine choice that is exposed in this chapter, in this text.

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There's another theme in Genesis that the reader will notice, and that is the theme

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of God often choosing the younger and the weaker rather than the firstborn as he fulfills

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his promise to bless the nations of the world.

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That is, in the book of Genesis, very often we see God overlooking the firstborn who had

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the natural rights of being firstborn and choosing another child in the family as the

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one through whom he would work to bring about redemption and the blessing of the nations

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of the world.

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For example, we see this with regard to Cain and Abel.

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Cain's offering was rejected.

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He was the firstborn, but Abel's was accepted.

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Then again, the line of Seth, the younger of the children of Adam and Eve, was chosen

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to bear the promised line of redemption.

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And we see Ishmael, the son, the firstborn son of Abraham sent away, and Isaac, the child

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of promise, the younger one selected.

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We see in chapter 29, or we'll see, Rachel chosen over Leah who was her older sister.

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Later we will note that Judah was chosen to bear the line of redemption and not the oldest

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one in the family of Jacob.

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And then Joseph was selected over his brothers.

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And so there is this theme in the book of Genesis.

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Now why is that?

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Why is it that we see God very often choosing the weaker over the more advantaged?

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It is to reiterate, I say it is to reiterate, his blessing was not given based upon natural

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rights or abilities.

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But his blessing is given solely on the basis of grace.

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God writes right into the narrative of Genesis that his blessing is a gift of grace that

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is apart from human position and human works.

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Our friend Dr. John Sailhammer writes in the Expositors Bible Commentary, quote, God's

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blessing is extended to those who have no other claim on it.

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They all received what they did not deserve, close quote.

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See there's the point.

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God wants us to see that his blessing is given by grace, not by works.

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Now that's hard for us to grasp folks.

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And I'll tell you why, it's because of our mothers and fathers.

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Because we mothers and fathers train up our children with statements like, you be a good

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boy and you can go with me.

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Since you're a good little girl, I'll let you do it this time.

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That's normal.

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That's part of child rearing.

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I'm not criticizing that.

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But what I'm saying to you is that it teaches us a principle that's the opposite of grace.

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God does not bless us because we're good little boys and good little girls.

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God blesses us because he chooses to bless us.

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God blesses us though we don't deserve it.

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God blesses by grace.

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We need to get a hold of that.

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God chose Jacob over Esau before they were born.

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Before either one of them had done good or bad, God chose Jacob.

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And God said to their mother, the older shall serve the younger.

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You say, well, that's not fair.

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We humans are caught up with fairness, aren't we?

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But listen to me.

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Here's the reason this text is here in the book of Genesis.

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In the course of events, this divine choice of Jacob over Esau worked itself out in their

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lives.

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This story shows that God's sovereign choice did not run counter to the wishes of either

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brother.

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You need to think about that.

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God's sovereign choice made before they were born nonetheless did not run counter to the

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wishes of either one of these brothers.

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I need to talk about the birthright for just a moment because it's hard for us in this

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20th century culture to appreciate it.

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What is a birthright?

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The birthright belonged normally to the firstborn of the family.

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It involved several things.

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First of all, a double portion of the father's inheritance.

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When the estate was divided up at the father's death, the firstborn who had the birthright

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got twice as much as everybody else.

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That's probably because of the second thing I'm going to tell you about the birthright,

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and that is the person who had it was looked upon as the leader of the family or the tribe.

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He was in the position of headship.

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That doesn't mean a lot to us necessarily, but it meant a whole lot to those people living

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in a patriarchal society where a clan or a family had one leader, and it was that one

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who had the birthright.

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That brings me to the third thing I want to say about the birthright, and that is that

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it involved that person becoming the spiritual priest of his family.

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He was not only the authoritative head, he was the priest of the family who would go

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before God on behalf of all.

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So the birthright involved temporal blessings as well as spiritual blessings.

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Jacob valued the birthright, which belonged to his brother Esau.

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Esau, on the other hand, had no appreciation for it.

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Surely he understood the privileges involved, but he did not care because you see, Esau's

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bent on life was for the here and now.

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He had no appreciation of the eternal or of the spiritual.

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He was an ungodly man.

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That is, God was not important to this boy.

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He was profane.

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He was earthly.

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He was a fornicator.

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All this comes from the New Testament.

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He was a man of this world, and the birthright to him was meaningless.

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He despised it.

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That is, he looked down upon it with disdain.

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It meant nothing to him, but Jacob valued it, and he wanted it.

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And Jacob knew his brother didn't like it, didn't care for it.

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And so, probably for some period of time, he looked for a way to gain the birthright.

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And he knew his brother's character well.

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And so the story is set up for us that Esau came back in from his manly hunting and his

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outdoors activities, and the man is famished.

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He is really hungry.

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And Jacob is waiting.

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Jacob did not deceive Esau, but he did play upon his brother's weaknesses very cleverly.

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He had prepared this pot of stew, of lentil stew, this red stuff, as this uncultured man

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called it, this red stuff.

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But Jacob had prepared this with great care.

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We think that Texas chili recipes are guarded carefully.

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This is one of those recipes.

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Jacob put this together with whatever spices, and this pot of stew smelled wonderful.

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It could not have smelled better by design.

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And Esau wants to eat it, and Jacob begins to bargain with him for the birthright.

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And it is meaningless.

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It is worth zilch as far as Esau is concerned, and he gives it to him and swears that he

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may have it.

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And so in gaining the birthright, though it was done with a scheming that was not a faith,

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nonetheless there was not injustice done to Esau.

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It went along with his desires.

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And so although he did not deserve it, that is Jacob, nonetheless he obtained the birthright

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from his older brother.

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Now there is another reason this story is here, and that is so that it could become

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a New Testament illustration.

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I invite you to open your Bible now to Romans chapter 9, where the Apostle Paul is going

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to use this event as part of his explanation for what happened to Israel.

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Why Israel was passed by in the giving of the blessing of God, and why that blessing

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came to the church, which is largely a Gentile body, not Jewish.

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You need to understand the connection between chapter 8 and chapter 9.

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Notice for example the word elect in verse 33.

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Who shall bring a charge against God's elect, the chosen of God?

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He says in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

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Do you see the security there?

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He says something similar in verses 38 and 39 when he says, nothing in this long list

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is able to separate us from the love of God.

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But the people in Rome who may have been reading this would have been thinking, Paul, if that

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is true, then would you explain Israel to us?

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Because Israel was also chosen by God, but now you're saying Israel is set aside.

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Israel did not get the blessing, but you're saying to us we are chosen by God and will

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not be separated from God's blessing.

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Paul, we need to understand about Israel.

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And so Paul goes into three chapters now to explain that relationship of Israel to the

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church.

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He goes on to say in verses 1 through 5 that he himself would be willing to be separated

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from God if only the Jews, his brethren, according to the flesh, would believe in their Christ.

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But he wants them to know that it's not God who has failed.

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It is not God who has failed in his word.

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Look at verse 6.

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It is not as though the word of God has failed.

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God didn't fail.

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For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.

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That is, they are not all spiritually Israel who are descended from the man Israel, that

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is Jacob.

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Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but through Isaac

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your descendants will be named.

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In other words, just because someone claims bloodline to Abraham doesn't mean they're

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the children of the promise and will get the blessing.

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Verse 8 he says, that is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but

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the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

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For this is a word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah will have a son.

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And not only this, says Paul, but there was Rebekah also when she had conceived twins

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by one man, our father Isaac.

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For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, in order

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that God's purpose according to his choice might stand, not because of works, but because

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of him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger.

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Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

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And it's not talking about God emotionally hating Esau, this is language that simply

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reiterates the fact that God chose the one and overlooked the other.

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Before they were born, God made the choice.

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He says in verse 14, what shall we say then?

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There is no injustice with God, is there?

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He says is God fair?

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Is there injustice with God?

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May it never be.

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For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion

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on whom I have compassion.

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So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who

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has mercy.

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God's blessing does not depend upon human position, it does not depend upon human works

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and human effort, it depends upon God's choice.

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God's will to be merciful to whom he will be merciful.

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Paul is saying all of this to lay the foundation for the fact that, as he will explain, Israel

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did not appreciate its birthright.

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Israel did not value the blessing of God and the Christ of God, but rejected their Christ.

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God's word did not fail, Israel failed as a nation.

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And so Israel has been set aside.

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The firstborn did not receive the blessing.

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It was passed on to another, a second body, which by the way is the church and which,

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it says in Ephesians chapter 1 that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the

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world.

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We are in the church by the grace of God.

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God chose us to be a part of this elect body.

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Before we were born, before there was good or bad, he chose us to be a part of this,

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that he might have vessels of mercy.

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And so Paul is using that illustration about Esau and Jacob to explain this greater dispensational

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question as to what about Israel and the church.

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Today or this week we celebrate with the Jewish people the 50th anniversary of the modern

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state of Israel.

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Keep in mind it is a secular state, not a religious state, but it exists.

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What an amazing thing.

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And we are glad for that.

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In fact the problems that are there and tremendous conflict still going on within Abraham's

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family.

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Nonetheless, we thank God that Israel is there as a nation.

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Is God through with Israel?

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No.

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Paul goes on to explain in chapter 11 that the same group of people who have been set

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aside because they despised their birthright will be grafted in again when the times of

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the Gentiles have been fulfilled.

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That is when the church is completed.

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Israel then will be grafted in again to enjoy the blessings of the God of Abraham.

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And so there is this slice of the story you've got to get a hold of.

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It is the slice of divine choice.

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And that divine choice is always made by grace.

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The fact is that no one deserves the blessing of God.

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Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

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And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one

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should boast.

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Bounty is a gift given by grace.

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And all that we do is to respond to the promise by faith.

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But then isn't that what Abraham did?

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He believed God and it was counted to him also for righteousness.

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Now because this is Mother's Day, I want to close with some considerations for mothers

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and fathers regarding the children.

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Please arise out of this story that we've looked at in Genesis.

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First of all, with regard to your children, respect their differences.

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Respect their differences.

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00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,680
Please don't compare your children to one another.

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One of the greatest ways to break the spirit of a child is to say to Billy, Billy, why

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aren't you like Johnny?

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00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:40,200
Johnny is so good and you're so bad.

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Johnny is so smart and you're not very smart.

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That will destroy both children.

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You will see as your children grow older how much difference there is in them.

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God did not create children out of cookie cutters.

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Each child is unique.

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Each child has a bent as experienced parents here are well aware.

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Respect those differences.

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Don't play favorites with your children as did Isaac and Rebecca.

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It only reinforced the conflict between those two men.

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Secondly, with regard to your children, reinforce right values.

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Model before your children the qualities that God desires in their lives.

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It is hard for children to learn good values when they don't see them lived out in mom

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and dad.

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That may well have been part of the problem with Esau and Jacob.

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00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,080
We don't read a lot about Isaac's faith.

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He was a believing man and in many ways a godly man, but he seemed somehow to be very

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quiet about it.

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00:34:57,540 --> 00:35:01,200
He seems to be a private man with regards to his faith.

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00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:11,080
I wonder if Isaac really built into his sons the kind of spiritual values he could have.

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So I want to exhort us to reinforce right values in their lives.

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Thirdly, with regard to your children, release them to God.

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Alfred Torrey writes, it needs courage to let our children go, but we are trustees and

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00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:33,780
stewards and have to hand them back to life, to God.

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As the old saying puts it, what I gave I have.

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We have to love them and lose them.

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From the moment the children are placed into our arms after birth, we are beginning to

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nurture them to become adults and to go out into the world on their own.

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Some moms and dads have a hard time letting go.

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I want to encourage you to do that.

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When children are small, you can control them.

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00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,320
You can say it's time for your nap and put them in the bed, put the crib side up and

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they're there.

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00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,960
They will take a nap.

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When they're teenagers, you can say it's time to go to bed and negotiate with them.

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I'm stretching the point a little bit, but the fact is that we lose the ability to control

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and dominate our children, and rightly so.

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00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,520
They need to become independent from us.

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Part of that independence is our gradual release of them into the world.

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I tell you, it's scary.

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00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:53,040
There's risk involved in that, but we have to do it for our sake and for theirs.

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00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:57,840
I want to say to some of you parents who have done that and have found then that your children

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00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:04,960
turn to the right or to the left, I want to say to you, don't be discouraged by that.

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Yes, you made mistakes.

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00:37:07,300 --> 00:37:08,560
You blew it at times.

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I know that because we all have as parents.

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We would all go back and do some things differently if we could, but we can't.

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If you did your best by God's grace and God's help to nurture your children and to give

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00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:31,000
them right values and to bring them up in the Lord, when they turn to the right or to

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the left, don't be discouraged.

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Pray for them to come back to the right path.

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God may well bring them back.

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God has a time for doing that.

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Some of you are laboring under guilt about your children having done that.

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You say, oh, if only I had done this or that, they wouldn't have done this or that.

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Listen, when they are grown up, when they're out there on their own, they make their decisions.

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Stop holding yourself responsible for their decisions.

473
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:06,200
You need to release that guilt.

474
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:07,360
Let it go.

475
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:12,680
If there was failure involved, confess it to the Lord, confess it to them, but let it

476
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:14,640
go.

477
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:19,120
Don't continue to live under that kind of guilt that is unnecessary.

478
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,760
There's enough guilt that's necessary.

479
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,320
So don't live under the unnecessary guilt.

480
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:28,720
Let your children go.

481
00:38:28,720 --> 00:38:33,560
Commit them to the Lord and trust that if today they're not following the Lord as you

482
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:39,640
would like them to, that in God's time they will come back to that way.

483
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,140
Trust God.

484
00:38:42,140 --> 00:38:43,280
We need to pray and close.

485
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,000
Would you bow with me, please?

486
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,840
You may be here and that's your case.

487
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,960
Today you're laboring, you feel guilty.

488
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,840
There's regret in your heart.

489
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:54,200
Will you give that to the Lord?

490
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:59,920
Will you give that to Jesus, please, right now?

491
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:02,320
Tell them about it.

492
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:07,640
Acknowledge the failures if you've not done that before.

493
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:12,680
Insofar as it's reasonable and possible, talk to your children about your failures.

494
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:13,680
Apologize to them.

495
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:16,920
Ask their forgiveness if you've never done that before.

496
00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:23,640
But friend, don't live under the cloud of guilt about it.

497
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:33,300
Live free of that and in prayer for your children.

498
00:39:33,300 --> 00:39:35,120
And all of us need the strength of the Lord.

499
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:36,120
Don't win our parenting.

500
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:37,960
May God give that to us.

501
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:44,040
The power of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God as we nurture them.

502
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,200
Let's stand together, please, as we close in prayer.

503
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:53,440
Our God and Father, thank you for the home.

504
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:57,040
Thank you for the family.

505
00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:01,920
In the midst of the conflicts that many of us are facing today, we look to you and pray

506
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:10,080
for wisdom to learn from our conflicts, to grow through them, to teach through them.

507
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,800
And we pray that whatever stage of parenting we're at, whether at the early stage or in

508
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:23,360
the grandparenting stage, that you will show us how to do that as godly men and women.

509
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:29,240
We pray for our descendants that they will follow after the paths of righteousness and

510
00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:38,680
serve you all the days of their lives so that one day we may have a glad reunion in heaven

511
00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:40,880
as part of your family.

512
00:40:40,880 --> 00:41:01,280
In Jesus' name, amen.