This is your first time joining us here at Hosanna,
here in our sanctuary, or if you're watching
online for the first time, we want to say welcome
to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship
with us today. I am Pastor Nathan, and today
we are starting a brand new era in the book of
Genesis. We're going to be starting the story
of Isaac, the son of the promise, and his family
tree. You know, Genesis, if you remember from
way back a thousand years ago when we started
studying this book, I had mentioned that this
whole book is divided into ten sections. The
Hebrew, they call them toledots. These 10 sections
of the book are broken up, and they're all started
with a phrase that says, these are the family
records of, or these are the generations of.
And that's how you could tell the divisions through
Genesis. The first five of these divisions were
primeval history, and then the second five, and
through the rest of the book, are patriarchal
history, which record the Genesis, if you will,
the beginning of the nation of Israel and the
Jewish people. Now, Isaac... himself, his story
is largely dominated by that of his son Jacob.
And the reason being is because Isaac is just
kind of like a chill guy. There's not a whole
lot of events and things that take place during
his life, but his son Jacob is definitely a huge
character. And so what we're looking at here
in Genesis 25 today is really the summary of
Isaac's family tree, the beginning of his family,
if you will, not the whole family tree. But then
we're going to get into the epic trailer of the
movie. to come about Jacob and his struggle with
himself. And the reason it jumps into this right
away, I think, is most of us know and study scripture
to see the examples of what to do, right? God's
teaching us through his word how we should live,
how we should behave. And he does that through
so many different stories. Abraham is an example,
right? Not that he's a perfect man, but much
of Abraham's story as we studied through it were
wonderful examples to follow and things to do.
And there's just a smattering of what not to
do in there. But then there's other examples
in scripture like, Jacob and his brother Esau,
which teach moral lessons through what not to
do primarily, all right, with a smattering of
good things to follow. And so we're going to
be seeing that in the beginning of this story
here. But the point of this beginning section
of Isaac's life and his son Jacob is to keep
showing us that God's grace is not subject to
our expectations. It's not subject to our cultural
conventions. God's grace doesn't work. It's not
given out to people based upon our standards,
our definitions, and oftentimes God's grace goes
out to people where we simply can't understand
how that could possibly be. But that is the wonderful
truth about God's grace, that God is sovereign.
Sovereign means he doesn't answer to anybody,
including us, if you can imagine that, right?
Like, he is perfect and holy in all things, he's
righteous in all things, and his grace cannot
be restricted. Now, there are times when his
grace goes out to people, and we might find ourselves
disagreeing with how his grace is being handed
out, or, you know, to who he's lavishing his
grace on. But those questions are not for us.
God gets to choose where his grace goes. God
gets to choose who his grace goes on. We're the
ones to simply trust him and to follow his teaching
and his word and his example. Now, for those
of us that have experienced God's grace in our
lives and have received that salvation, I think
we are collectively, I could speak for all of
us, we are so glad that he is the one who makes
a decision unto whom and how his grace is meted
out. Because to be completely honest, if grace
was granted to people based upon our own standards,
I think we would disqualify ourselves fairly
immediately because we change our standards constantly
to make ourselves feel better about our error
and our bad qualities. And so today, we're gonna
see God continuing to saturate his people with
his grace in ways that both make sense to us
and ways that don't make sense to us. And we're
gonna learn again to trust his sovereign grace
because he is God. He is perfect. Even when he
gives grace to someone that doesn't make any
sense to us, it's right because he did it. Amen?
Let's pray. Father, we're so grateful to you,
God, and Lord, as your people, we are so grateful
that you chose to give us your grace because,
Lord, we know that we don't deserve it. And so,
God, as we read this story today at the beginning
of Isaac's family and his sons, Jacob and Esau,
Lord, May we be reminded that we are all sinners,
that we are all deserving of judgment, and yet,
Lord, you chose through your love to grant grace
to all of us. to all who would call upon the
name of Jesus Christ. And so, God, we pray that
you would just speak to us and encourage us,
Lord. God, if any of us are carrying attitudes,
Lord, where we might look upon a certain people
or people who do certain things and go, they
can't possibly be saved, Lord, may you just deal
with that in our hearts, God, so that we would
be people not trying to do your job, but people
doing the job you've given to us, and that is
to pray, to trust, and to follow. Lord, we love
you so much. We pray that you would bless today,
God. We pray that you would bless us. And Lord,
we pray that you would be blessed because you
are so worthy of all of it. We trust you. We
love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, we are in Genesis chapter 25. We're
going to be looking at verses 19 through the
end of the chapter today. And as I said, this
is the beginning of the story of Isaac's life.
This is what's taking place after the passing
of his father. And the whole story of his life
simply just starts with kind of a focus and summary
on some of the stuff we've already read. But
read with me in verse 19 of Genesis 25. It says,
these are the family records of Isaac, son of
Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac was 40
years old when he took his wife, Rebecca, daughter
of Bethuel, the Aramean, from Paddan Aram, and
sister of Laban, the Aramean. The record of the
ongoing promise of God. That is what we have
all the way from Genesis to the birth of Jesus
Christ and so on. This is the lineage here that
we're being reminded of. Isaac's lineage that
he was birthed from Abraham just to remind us
that he is the son of the promise. And then his
marriage. We already looked at him meeting his
wife and marrying her. But as the genealogies
are written, that would be the moment when you
would start having the family, right? So at the
point of marriage here. We're reminded all of
that, that she came from Bethuel. Rebecca came
from Abraham's family. Now, when it calls them
Arameans or Arameans, it's simply referring to
the area of the time that they were from, Paddan
Aram. That was people from this area were considered
Arameans or Arameans. And so these are just reminders
of what we've already closed in Abraham's life.
Now, when it tells us about Abraham fathering
Isaac, it's just meant to remind us again. This
is the promised son. This is the one whom the
blessing is going to come down through. This
is the one through God's intention and all of
that is going to happen. And so we remember,
you know, when he was born, right? How he was
born from miraculous circumstances. God waited
until the point where it was literally biologically
impossible for Sarah to have kids, for her and
Abraham to have children together. And yet God
did it. The miracle birth. And if you remember
when they were questioning, or at least when
Sarah was questioning God in this moment, he
said, not only are you going to have a kid, but
you're going to name him Isaac, which means laughter.
And of course, when they gave birth to him, I
imagine there was great joy and there was great
laughter. And you know that laughter we get sometimes
when we're like, I can't believe this happened.
And we're just like tears in our eyes, right?
And God knew that was going to happen. And so
they were commanded to name him Isaac. They followed
that command from God there. And so we have the
son of the promise. Up to this point in Genesis,
other than the fact that he's the son of the
promise, the most noteworthy thing we have about
Isaac's life experience is that he was willing
to be obedient to death on Mount Moriah. You
remember the story when God said, Abraham, I
want you to take your son and I want you to offer
him as a sacrifice up on the mountain. And Abraham
went and Isaac went with him. And then we remember
the point of the story as Abraham told all the
servants, wait here, me and my son are going
to go up the mountain. And Isaac was the one
carrying the wood for the fire, right? And you
remember when Isaac was like, hey, dad, we got
the wood. We got the fire. But where's the lamb?
Where's the offering? And then Abraham said that
God will provide for himself an offering. And
as that story went through, we remember how Isaac
went up the mountain, continued. Abraham built
the altar. Isaac willingly laid down on the altar.
I mean, what amazing obedience and trust in his
father and the example for us in trusting our
father in heaven. And so, That was the most noteworthy
thing that has happened in his life so far. And
then the rest of Isaac's story, it really generally
characterizes him as a really kind of laid -back
kind of guy, a go -with -the -flow kind of guy,
don't rock the boat, you know. He's just kind
of reserved. And it's really interesting because
when you look at the genealogies, you have Abraham,
all these wonderful things that happened in his
life, and wow, and then Isaac. He was born. And
then we get to Jacob and all these wonderful
things happen in Jacob's life. But all of it
is God's plan, God's ordained plan. And that's
really what the beginning of his story is going
to tell us all about. Now, in contrast to Isaac,
who is this kind of laid back guy, we have his
wife, Rebecca, who wasn't shy at all. As a matter
of fact, she was willing to step out, willing
to go the extra mile, willing to just get involved
because we remember the story when the servant
went to find her. He didn't know it was her,
but he had said this prayer that whoever comes
out and gets water at the well and also wants
to water my 10 camels, let her be the one. And
so this beautiful woman, Rebecca, came out and
she said, hey, can I water your camels too? And
we remember that there was 80 to 100 trips up
and down from that well carrying this amazing
amount of water, 250 gallons of water at three
gallons a trip. to make sure all of these camels
were fully watered. What an amazing woman. And
so when she was asked, do you want to leave with
a stranger and go marry this guy, Isaac, who
you know nothing about? Now, this was common
convention of the day. She said, yes, I will.
So we can imagine when she finally met Isaac
and they consummated their marriage that Isaac
had told her about the promises that applied
to him and his family, had told her about the
stories of his father and told him about what
God had said and the times that God had ministered
to him and said, hey, guess what? Your offspring
is going to be more than the stars in the sky.
And Rebecca might have got wide -eyed at that
point and went, whoa, that's a lot of kids. So
they were probably like, we should get started.
Which would be the natural thing to do right
in this time because raising the family was just
so important and having the family line continue
on. And, you know, after all, Ishmael, Isaac's
brother, man, that guy was popping out kids like
crazy, right? 12 sons of 12 tribes. But Isaac
was the one of the promise. Surely God's promise
was going to apply in his life, right? Surely
it was going to come to pass as things had come
to pass for his father. Surely it should have
been easy. Let's just... start making a family.
But it wasn't. Because just like Isaac's mother,
Sarah, Rebecca was barren. She was infertile,
and she couldn't have children. Now, you might
wonder, why is this happening again, right? It's
kind of like, you know, this is the sequel to
Abraham's story, right? This is God getting started
part two. And like, we saw the barrenness thing,
right? What's the new story here in part two?
But It's the same story. The barrenness, the
impossibility of having children. And I believe
what God is teaching his people here in the early
days of their existence is reminding them and
teaching them over and over that the promises
of God will not come by human effort. And they
never come by human effort. Now, God may call
us and speak to us and have us be involved in
what he's doing, but it's still his calling and
his prompting. And in many cases, when we try
to get involved, we mess it all up anyways. And
so God's like, thanks for helping, but like,
have you ever had one of those people? I mean,
the greatest heart, right? I want to help. I
want to help. But you know, if they help, it's
going to be. twice as long, three times as long.
And so you're like, hey, thanks so much. Hey,
I need you to hold that wall up over there while
I finish the project. Right? And so God is getting
involved here to teach his people continually
that it's going to be by his work. It was the
same for Sarah. It was a miracle birth. It's
the same for Rebecca, who's barren as well. It's
going to be a miracle birth. It's the same for
her daughters -in -law, Rachel and Leah, both
barren. It's a miracle birth. It's the same for
the mother of Samson. She was barren, miracle
birth. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, she was
barren, miracle birth. And then we come all the
way down to Elizabeth, who was the mother of
John the Baptist. She struggled with barrenness,
miracle birth. And then we get to Mary. Now,
Mary wasn't barren, but there was a significant
detail in her situation that was different but
equally as amazing. See, the other ones got pregnant
through the natural course of being with their
husbands, and God then blessed that union. Mary,
she conceived by the Holy Spirit. She didn't
even do the thing you need to do to get pregnant,
and she got pregnant. Miracle of God. And so
this is how God works. And the extraordinary
nature of these birds that we see throughout
scripture, they go all the way back to Isaac,
the son of the promise. And so here in verse
21, we kind of jump right into his story. Isaac
prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because
she was childless. And that means infertile.
The Lord was receptive to his prayer and his
wife, Rebecca, conceived. And so you can imagine,
you know, Isaac singing that song, hello, barrenness,
my old friend, right? Because here it's going
on again, right? I've heard this story my whole
life, you know, that I'm the promised son, right?
And mom couldn't have kids, and now it's happening
to his wife. But often what happens in our lives
is as we go through our own lives and then generations
come after us, that there's familiar challenges
that are going to be met with God's continued
grace. And that is kind of the point of the opening
of the story here. So barrenness is there, but
apparently Isaac had learned something from his
father. The maid servant is not the solution.
Don't go after the maid servant. What he does
instead is what his father should have done in
the first place. He prayed. He had learned to
go to God first, talk to God first, to bring
it to him, bring it to the one who could solve
any problem. And so he goes and prays. And when
it says prayed there, it means intense supplication.
Like this is almost the idea of pleading or begging,
if you will, but it's not begging as in the,
oh, please, I hope. But it was like, God, I'm
praying passionately for this thing because I'm
supposed to be the son of the promise. And, well,
if I'm the son of the promise who's supposed
to have offspring the way my father was promised
to have offspring, I can't do it with a barren
wife going through the same. issues and the same
struggles that his father went through, but getting
the opportunity to do it differently than his
dad did. Now, you might ask the question, how
long had he prayed? Right? Did he pray immediately?
Was this right after or what? Now, down in verse
26, we're going to read that when his children
were born, he was 60 years old. And so earlier
we read that when he met his wife, Rebecca, he
was 40. So that means 20 years of barrenness.
20 years of trying to have kids. And at some
point, it doesn't tell us exactly when, maybe
it was right in the beginning, which I think
it was, but it could have been later, Isaac started
praying for his wife. Praying passionately, intensely,
pleading with God that he would allow her to
conceive children so that the promise could continue
and then, of course, have that blessing in their
family. And it says the Lord was receptive to
his prayer. That word receptive means willing.
He was willing to answer it or he was moved to
answer it, right? And you say, well, if God was
so receptive, so willing, so moved to answer
the prayer, why did it take 20 years for him
to answer the prayer? Have any of you ever asked
that question of your life? Not specifically
this one, but... God, I believe you're willing.
I believe you hear me. I believe it's your will
because you've shown it to me in many ways. But
God, why are you waiting so long? Why are you
taking so long to answer my prayer? I don't understand.
Well, here's the lesson. God's timing is always
the right timing. Period. End of story. It doesn't
matter how long it takes for when it happens,
it's exactly the right time for it to happen.
Is God obligated to tell us why he's taken his
time? No. He's God. We're his creation, right?
He's sovereign. We aren't told here anything
about why it took so long and whatnot, but does
that mean that the Lord was any less receptive,
any less willing to answer prayer? Of course
not. See, it's easy for us to conclude these
types of things when we look at things from our
perspective. Because, yeah, we all have a ticking
clock, right? We have a life clock. We have a
ticking biological clock. There's all kinds of
clocks going on, right? And our whole life is
just this linear path towards one day it's all
going to end. God gives us a promise and we're
like, of course, God, I want to experience that
blessing for as long as I can. I want to live
in that blessing for as long as I can. Or God,
it's going to make things so much easier. And
so we're praying and we're praying and we're
praying. And why aren't you answering, God? But
his timing is perfect. That's a part of us understanding
that he is sovereign. We may not understand why
it's taking time. But we have to be able to step
back and start with this understanding that God's
timing is perfect. Because he is sovereign. He
is the only one that can see the future. He sees
the past, present, and the future simultaneously.
He's outside of all the natural constraints that
we have as humans living within this creation
and within time. God's outside of that. He's
the only one that sees every thread and can just
instantaneously know how every thread, every
possibility pans out and says, this is my will.
And this is what's going to happen. He's the
only one that could do that. Now, what is clear
here in Isaac's story is that God finally answered.
And what's also clear is that when he answered,
we're going to see that they understood the miracle
of this. That it was... God's divine miracle
that cured her infertility. And so thus, the
child she would bear would indeed be the continued
blessing of the promise. And so here we are at
this new beginning. God's eternal sovereignty
is just rising above Isaac's life as it has been
through the whole story. It's rising over the
story of Israel's beginning and God's plan. And
so again, we can imagine their joy, right? She
conceived. She got pregnant. It tells us in verse
22. Or no, it tells us here. Yep. Tells us here.
She conceived. Laughter, joy, happiness, celebration.
This is so awesome. 20 years we've been waiting.
20 years we've been trying. We're pregnant. And
then things got tough. Verse 22. But the children
inside of her struggled with each other. And
she said, why is this happening to me? So she
went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said
to her, two nations are in your womb. Two peoples
will come for you and be separated. One people
will be stronger than the other, and the older
will serve the younger. Now, just to give a greater
picture of what's going on here, when it says
the children inside her struggled with each other,
the Hebrew reads this way. The children smashed
themselves together inside of her. Different
picture, right? It wasn't these two kids in here
going, it's kind of cramped. They were fighting.
They're boxing. They're kicking, right? A lot
of you have seen it. I'm seeing it lately is
my assistant, Irene. She's pregnant. She'll be
sitting there. Whoa. And it's like, what happened?
She kicked me. Imagine two of them in there boxing.
I mean, it would just be nuts, right? And so
she prays what she would normally pray. Why is
this happening to me? Right? The joy of this
pregnancy is now concern. Why? It's almost like
she's saying, why did I even want to get pregnant?
This is miserable. This is not what I was expecting.
And hey, guess what? It's easy for us to fall
to doubt or questioning when God answers prayer,
but not in the way we were expecting. Right?
Like, oh God, you answered my prayer, but that's
not how it was. supposed to turn out. That's
not how I thought it was going to turn out. God,
didn't you get my suggestion memo? And why didn't
you? And so we start asking, what's going on?
Or we turn blame back on God, which might be
what she's doing here. God, thank you for the
answered prayer, but why is it happening this
way? This isn't what I was expecting. And so
what did she do? She followed her husband's example,
which is just a beautiful picture here. She turned
to God. She went to prayer. It tells us that
she went to inquire of the Lord. And this is
just simply, guys, listen up, a great picture.
This is the beautiful result of a godly husband
leading in his home the way he should. When a
man of God in his home leads by example, not
by just telling you should do this, you should
do this, but he does this. He's going to the
God in prayer for going to the God, going to
God first in prayer. He's reading the word. He's
worshiping God. He's doing all this stuff. You're
setting the example as the spiritual leader in
your home that God has called you to be. And
when you set that example, you're setting the
stage for your wife and your children to follow
that example. And so we see Rebecca doing this.
You know, it's unfortunate that in far too many
Christian homes in America today, the wife is
often the one taking the spiritual role of spiritual
leader. She's the one that's saying, hey, why
don't we go pray about this? Hey, why don't we
go to the word about this? Hey, why don't we
handle this in the way that God tells us to?
And it's unfortunate because the stress and the
strain and the weight of that, God called the
man to carry. And he called the wife to help
in that regard. But to put all of that burden,
man, if you're doing that to your wife, don't
do that because it's cowardly. It's weak. And
so we see Rebecca here responding, right, as
her husband did, going to God in prayer. And
God's answer to her prayer was very significant,
right? He tells her that the warfare that's going
on in her womb, right, it's not indigestion.
Right? It's not a bellyache. The war that's going
on, this is going to have far -reaching results.
This goes far beyond your pregnancy. There's
two nations, two peoples, and these two peoples
will divide and they would oppose each other.
And on top of that, what was the cultural norm
of the right of the firstborn would be overturned
and given to the secondborn. This is definitely
not... The blissful motherhood that she was expecting
to have after 20 years of waiting to get pregnant.
Right? Yeah, it took 20 years to get pregnant.
And now you're getting beat up inside your tummy.
And then when your sons are born, they're just
going to fight constantly. Now, what is the natural
question all of us might ask if the Lord told
us that? Why? Why, Lord? Where's the blessing
in that? Where's the... Where's the good in that?
I don't understand. Why is this happening? Why
is it happening this way? Now, God's answer to
her, she learned something very important, that
the troubles she was having, the difficulty in
her pregnant belly and all of that, it wasn't
her and her husband's fault. That might have
been one of the first things that she thought,
because after all, the stories of grandpa or
father -in -law Abraham, not grandpa. The stories
of him and what he did to try and make things
happen. So much of what happened in his life
were kind of responses to his being disobedient,
responses to him not doing things exactly the
way God wanted, not fully trusting God or, you
know, being concerned and all that. And she's
like, but this isn't anything to do with any
of that. He says, this is my plan. There's two
peoples. There's two nations inside of you. What's
taking place inside of you is according to my
plan. It's a plan I'm working out for my own
purposes. It's a plan I'm working out for my
own glory. Griffith Thomas, a commentator, said
the order of nature is not necessarily the order
of grace. You see, we so often have these expectations
of how things are supposed to pan out. And in
many cases, it's just like that's how the natural
world works, right? Cause and effect. You do
this, this is the result. And so much in this
natural world operates that way. But because
of that, we could risk, come under risk at applying
that to God and grace and how he wants to do
things. God, you answered prayer. So when you
answer prayer, that means I'm supposed to have
a perfect pregnancy and I'm supposed to have
these wonderful children who get along and serve
me and call me mama and call dada and you know.
But that's not at all how it's going to pan out,
is it? God's saying, this is my will. This is
what I'm doing through your life. And it may
not follow the order of what you're expecting,
but you don't get to dictate how I operate. You
just trust me. I'm sovereign. I'm God. This whole
idea of the natural order of things being upended
by God and his grace, it's a theme that's repeated
over and over in the book of Genesis. That grace
is God's choice. Whom he extends grace to is
God's choice. When he extends his grace and blessing,
it's God's choice, right? You go back to the
very beginning. The older brother Cain was rejected.
The younger brother Abel was accepted. In Noah's
time, you have Seth, who was the younger brother,
was chosen from the line of Noah to be the one
to carry the promise down. Instead of the older
firstborn Ishmael, you have Isaac was chosen
to carry the blessing and receive that grace.
Jacob's youngest son, Joseph, is the one that
is chosen over all the older brothers. Judah,
who is the one whom the Messiah came from the
line, he was brother number four. He wasn't the
firstborn. David. So insignificant that when
Samuel showed up to anoint a king, dad brought
in everybody but David because he was such a
nothing and a nobody. It's like, of course nobody
would consider him to be king of Israel. And
yet he was the one God picked. You see, how things
normally go or how they should normally happen
doesn't dictate how God's grace works. In your
life, in my life, in the life of this church
and every church. In the existence of this world.
Neither does giftedness or reputation or talent,
right? I am proud to be what God calls the foolish
thing of this world. He uses the foolish things
of this world to confound the wise. I am definitely
not wise. But he has chosen to use me. And people
go, why do you use that guy, right? The big joke
of Calvary Chapel pastors, you look at their
history, they're all drug addicts. They're all
just done criminals and all kinds of stuff. And
yet God said, yeah, those are the ones I'm going
to raise up to be pastors and pastor my people,
my flock. And it's hilarious sometimes. You know,
and yeah, I was talking to somebody the other
day and they're like, hey, what's your story?
And I was telling them, they're like, did every
single one of you guys in Calvary Chapel do drugs,
sleep around, steal, you know, all these things?
And you're like, we were in the world. We were
the least that anybody would think could rise
up to represent God. And yet God said, that's
who I want. And so don't think you have to be
this awesome, amazing thing in the world's eyes
for God to use you. Now, I'm not saying go be
as bad as you can because that's probably not
going to work either. Just trust God. Trust his
sovereignty. Trust who he chooses. Trust how
he works in all things. God's grace goes to exactly
whom he chooses to lavish it on. And it works
exactly according to his wisdom, not our own.
And so what we have here in this prophecy is
that the older will serve the younger. We know
that it's Esau who is the firstborn and Jacob
who's the younger. And God is saying, look, they're
going to fight from the very beginning. They're
fighting before they're even born. And when they're
born, it's going to be Esau's people. The people
that come from him are going to serve Jacob.
And so what we're going to see, though, through
this life of Jacob and all that is he's definitely
not the most moral of the two. Right? It's not
like he's the good kid and Esau's the bad kid.
They're both the bad kid. He's not the better
choice in that sense. Why does God choose Jacob
over Esau? Because God chose Jacob. over Esau?
That's the answer. Now, we're going to see all
of these things that God saw in Jacob later on,
that as Jacob develops. But right here, when
we read the story on the surface, it doesn't
say, this is exactly why I chose Jacob. It just
says he did it. And as we're going to get into
the details of this, we're going to see that
it's something that we might question. Like,
God, did you really make the right choice here?
But as we go on, we're going to see that God
offers no explanation to Rebekah as to why this
is happening. Right? He doesn't say, let me tell
you my plan, Rebecca. This is why you're having
all these, you know, tummy problems with these
babies in there. He doesn't say that at all.
There's no apologies from God that all this discomfort
and potential pain you're experiencing here,
well, it's due to my will and I'm so sorry about
that. No, none of that. He just simply says,
this is what it is. This is what I'm doing. Now,
his sovereign grace, we have to understand, it
transcends all human wisdom. His love is beyond
our understanding. None of it bows to human convention.
And we have to be people of God that believe
that and trust in that and hang on to that. Yes,
it's awesome when God says, hey, let me, I'm
going to let you know what's going on. I'm going
to give you some of the details of why things
are taking place the way they do. That's awesome,
right? I ask that question all the time. God,
what's up? And he almost never answers that question
for me. Now, does that mean I could be like,
well, then fine, I don't have to. No. God, you're
still sovereign. God, your plan is still perfect.
And I have to walk in that. So, this difficult
pregnancy now becomes a very spectacle birth
here, verse 24. It says, when her time came to
give birth. There were indeed twins in her womb.
That kind of gives us the picture that maybe
they weren't sure it was twins, right? Like she's
like, is there an alien in here trying to get
out? What is this, right? Something's going on,
and if it's one kid, this is definitely weird.
But it was indeed twins. And so the first one
came out red -looking, covered with hair like
a fur coat, and they named him Esau. After this,
his brother came out grasping Esau's heel with
his hand. And so he was named Jacob. Isaac was
60 years old when they were born. So the firstborn
here out of these twins is Esau. Esau in the
Hebrew means Sasquatch apparently. And no, it
doesn't mean that. But it says covered with hair
like a fur coat. We've all seen a fur coat, right?
It's not splotchy. It's like hair, carpet. I
mean, this guy was just covered in hair and he
was red looking. Very interesting looking guy.
But then the second son came out and it says
they named him Jacob because he was grasping
the heel of his brother, right? That word Jacob,
the name means he grasps the heel, right? They're
very clever in their naming here in the Hebrew
time. But it also, it means heel catcher. But
then it also carries some negative connotations
like supplanter. Right? And all of this is in
line with the prophecy that God had given Rebecca.
Yeah, these two kids are going to be fighting.
They're going to fight. They have been fighting
in the womb. They're going to fight on the way
out. Right? Jacob's like, no, come back. I'm
first. And yet this is going to characterize
their whole life. And then these particular meanings
of the name Jacob, it's going to characterize
his entire life, that he's a conniving, scheming.
calculating individual. And so verse 27, when
the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter,
an outdoorsman. But Jacob was a quiet man who
stayed at home. Isaac loved Esau because he had
a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
So these two boys, they couldn't have been more
opposite, right? And then when you add on top
of that their parents' conduct, you see the divide
between them is huge, right? Now what I mean
by parents' conduct is they're doing favoritism.
Dad has a favorite. Mom has a favorite. And that
didn't do anything to unite these boys together.
It simply made that divide even worse. And so,
you know, parents, just in general, be very careful
about favoritism. In fact, don't do it at all,
right? All of your kids are your favorite, right?
That's what I've told people my whole life. You
know, you're my favorite. That one's my favorite
too, and they're my favorite. Everybody's my
favorite, you know, because we are all God's
favorite. Every single one of us. And God just
lavishes his love equally. But here we see this
unfortunate favoritism playing out. Now, it may
be a case where you're not playing favorites
or having favoritism happen, and that's fine.
But you also have to be very careful about saying
or doing things that may imply that. Because
kids will often... They internalize that, not
say anything about it, and they'll carry it with
them for the rest of their life. And it'll, unfortunately,
excuse me, color so many of their behaviors and
their struggles and their traumas. And so just
be very careful. Have you got multiple kids to
lavish them equally with your love, even though
they're completely different kids? But anyways,
moving on from that, Isaac loved Esau. Why? Because
he had a taste for wild game. What that means
is Esau was the guy who would go out and he was
an expert hunter. He would bring in these animals.
He would like to eat the meat of these animals,
right? Definitely not a vegetarian. He was just
the outdoor guy. Later on, it's going to tell
us that he even smelled like the field, right?
He was just the quintessential outdoor man. If
he was alive today, he would be like, I live
off the grid and I live on the land. And I'm
a youth pastor for Hosanna Christian Fellowship.
For anybody that knows Pastor Rick, right? This
is Pastor Rick. He loves the outdoors. He loves
hiking. He loves camping, right? Every time we
plan a family camp, he's like, can we go to a
place where we actually camp? And I'm like, I'm
parked in the dirt with an air conditioner. How
much more camping can you get in that, you know?
So, but then opposite to this, you have Rebecca
loved Jacob. And it says he was a quiet man,
right? This means peaceful. It means calm, but
it also means controlled. And that word controlled
has an ominous meaning to it because it's like
the word I've already used, calculating, right?
You know, the bad guy, the super villain, you
know, kind of thing is always the one in the
back who's not the strongest, not the burliest.
You know, this is Esau, right? The big tough
guy, you know, and maybe not the most intelligent.
We're going to see something later that might
indicate that. But Jacob, he's the one standing
back in the corner saying, oh. You'll get what's
coming to you. That kind of guy, right? And as
we're going to see in the following verses, not
only were the opposites in personality, not only
were they kind of driven apart by the favoritism,
but there's also differences within their family
status that were a point of contention, at least
for Jacob. So verse 29. Once when Jacob was cooking
a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted.
He said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red
stuff because I'm exhausted. That is why he was
also named Edom. So the Edomites are the people
that came from Esau's line and they were mainly
populated, you know, south of the Dead Sea area,
kind of in the mountains from the Dead Sea down
to the tip of the, where the Red Sea outlet was
there at. And so these were the people that came
from him, right? And they were just very characterized
as ready looking, reddish looking people. Verse
31, Jacob replied, first sell me your birthright.
Look, said Esau, I'm about to die. So what good
is a birthright to me? And Jacob said, swear
to me first. So he swore to Jacob and sold his
birthright to him. Then Jacob gave bread and
lentils to Esau. He ate, drank, got up, and went
away. So Esau despised his birthright. Now, the
first thing you might notice here is neither
one of these guys is really painted in a positive
light, right? On the surface, however, A very
surface cursory reading. You might look at Esau
and you go, you know, his light shines a little
brighter though, right? Because it looks like
that Esau was the victim of a con job by his
brother Jacob. And the details here kind of give
the idea that Jacob planned this on purpose.
As if Jacob knew when his brother would come
in and he knew his brother would often come in
very hungry and tired. And so he's like, okay,
I'm going to make this very nice aromatic stew
for when he walks in because I know he's going
to be starving. And in this way, I'll be able
to steal the birthright from him. That's kind
of the picture that we're given here. And so
it could be a spontaneous moment, but I don't
think so. Now, this whole idea with the birthright
comes from the fact of their family status. Esau
was the firstborn, as we just read. What that
meant is that he was the one due to inherit everything
that the family had. He would inherit the wealth.
He would inherit the estate. But also as the
firstborn of Isaac, he was in line to inherit
the promise, right? Because all of that went
to the firstborn. And so from a conventional
point of view, yeah, he's the firstborn. He's
supposed to get everything. That's what this
birthright thing is, right? These are the rights
you have as the firstborn. And so Jacob's trying
to steal it from him. And what we see here is
that Esau apparently didn't value that birthright
very much. Right? Because he does what, I think
every male in this room has experienced, right?
When we are hungry, we are about to die. Right?
I'm hungry. He's going to be like, you just ate
two hours ago. No, you don't understand. I'm
perishing as we speak. I need to eat. Right?
And so he goes, what good is a birthright to
me? Now, Jacob apparently valued the birthright
so much that he's going to try and figure out
how to steal it. He sets this trap. The trap
is sprung. Sell me your birthright. I'm about
to die. What does it mean to me? Nope, that's
not enough. Swear it to me. Oath it to me. Because
that was like signing a contract in those times,
right? Okay, fine, you could have it. So he gave
him the food and all of that. But Esau's not
a victim here. And this is what we get from the
scriptures, right? What did Esau do that was
wrong? It tells us right in the very end of the
last verse. He despised his birthright. You see,
Esau is not an innocent victim here. He's the
bad kid because he despised that birthright.
That word despise means to look down upon or
to consider something worthless, right? So it
wasn't just the estate and the stuff he would
inherit. It was the promise that came along with
that. And guess what that promise was? That promise
was God's word. That promise was God's blessing.
That's what God had said to the family. And so
what Esau is essentially saying here is that
God's word, what God wants, what God's plans
are, mean nothing to me. What is important to
me, I'm hungry. So you can have that stupid birthright.
At the heart of this, it's Esau seems to have
not really believed in God's promises anyways.
Right? For Esau, that's what grandpa said. And
we all have grandpas, and they say kind of crazy
things sometimes, right? You know, and so it's
like, you know, that was just grandpa. Sure,
my dad had told me all about it, but, you know,
whatever. It could be that. It could be that
it was just something that was so intangible
to him, so unreal to him. If he did believe in
it, it was something that was so far off in the
future to have no effect today. And so he sells
his birthright. In this, what does matter to
Esau? What do we see that he did have value on
himself? He had value on only that which appealed
to his immediate need, what he wants now, what
he feels now, what his immediate desire was.
It's a self -centered, only what I can see and
feel attitude. Now, this is all an attitude of
seeking self -pleasure, making myself feel good
now, doing what I want first. And in the New
Testament, it's linked to sexual immorality.
It does this in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14.
It says, pursue peace with everyone in holiness.
Without it, no one will see the Lord. Make sure
that no one falls short of the grace of God and
that no root of bitterness springs up causing
trouble and defiling many. And make sure that
there isn't any immoral or irreverent person
like Esau who sold his birthright in exchange
for a single meal. Now the word immortal in that
verse is referring to sexual immorality. In the
New Testament, that often characterizes those
who just want to seek what feels good in the
moment. They don't care about the future. They
don't care about God's plan. They don't care
about God's promises. It's just what makes me
feel good right now. And then that word irreverent
means dishonoring the sacred character of something.
So essentially, when Esau sold his birthright,
what he was communicating is my immediate physical
needs and desires are way more valuable and important
to me than God's word, God's way, God's promises.
Or he's putting it this way, who God is and what
he wants for my life is less important than what
I want for me right now. Does that sound familiar?
Have we ever made that decision verbally or non
-verbally? Have we ever chosen to do the disobedient
thing because I want what I want right now? And
God, your promise, yeah, sure, I believe in it,
but it's so far off. That it can't possibly affect
how I live today. And so I'm going to choose
to do things, and I know they're wrong, and I
still choose to do them because right in this
moment, I want what I want. And then for the
believer who has the Holy Spirit inside them,
immediately after, you're like, what did I do?
Right? The guilt and the conviction come. And
then we swear, next time, God make me stronger.
And then the next time that temptation comes
along, you're like, you know what? I deserve
to feel good right now. So I'm going to do that
thing or say that thing or whatever it is. That's
a picture of what Esau is doing. That's a picture
of what Esau did. He despised his birthright.
He was a shallow person. He cared only about
himself. He was led by his feelings. He was the
person that says, you only live once. So I don't
care what God says. But when we look at Jacob,
we don't really see a whole lot of positives
about him either, right? Here's our words you
can use about Jacob. Opportunist, cheater, ambitious,
self -seeking, grasping, scheming, heartless,
exploitive, right? I mean, from the very beginning,
he was fighting to take what belonged to his
brother, right? Out of the womb, the first action,
grab his heel. No, I'm first. This was who Jacob
was. He was a conniving schemer. And it's something
that's going to plague the rest of his life.
But I want you to notice something very important.
What this last verse does not say, thus Jacob
took advantage of his brother and Esau despised
his birthright. It doesn't say that. Does it
even say anything condemning about Jacob here?
Does it say anything negative about Jacob's actions
here? Now, I'm not saying they're right. But
all it does is tell us that Esau and Esau alone
was guilty for his actions. He was the one who
had the birthright. He was the one who despised
it. That's all that's recorded here. And so really
at this point in the story, all we know about
Esau and Jacob is that Esau held no value in
God's promises. He didn't care what God said.
It was meaningless to him. And Jacob valued God's
promises and believed in them so much that he
was willing to steal them. to get them. Not a
good thing either. And then ironically, throughout
Jacob's life, all of his stumbles, the fight
that he would have with himself for the rest
of his life were simply because although he believed
God's promises so wholeheartedly, he did not
believe that he could possibly get them without
some type of sinful manipulation of the situation.
And that is going to be Jacob's story as we read
through. That he couldn't just simply trust God's
sovereignty and let God be God. So, we might
read this story and, you know, it could be easy
to get frustrated that God chose Jacob. Right?
God's already established it's not about the
firstborn. So, hey, pop out a third kid. Right?
These two are just, they're punks. Have a third
kid. That'll be the good one. But that's not
what God did. That's not what he chose to do.
What he chose to do was honor the birthright
that Jacob stole. Neither one of them qualified
to be godly men. Neither one of them were blameless
or good representatives of God's character. But
if you read this story and you think it's unfair
that Jacob got the blessing, despite being as
self -seeking as Esau, then you don't understand
how sinful you are. You don't understand what
the Bible says about the thorough sinfulness
that you have, that I have, that every human
has. See, in Romans chapter 3, it makes it very
clear. This is the state of humanity in its fallen
nature. Romans chapter 3, verse 10. As it is
written, there is no one righteous, not even
one. There is no one who understands. There is
no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All
alike have become worthless. There is no one
who does what is good, not even one. That's talking
about our mind and our intention and the things
we choose to do and how we choose to do them.
It says none are righteous. Verse 13 in Romans
3, our speech, their throat is an open grave.
They deceive with their tongues. Vipers venom
is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. I still have a buddy today who's
been walking with the Lord for years, and he
just freely cusses. Every time I talk to him,
I go, Colossians 3, and he laughs. Oh, yeah.
Colossians 3 is the verse that says, let no vulgar
language proceed from your mouth, right? Colossians
3, bro. It's a good thing you're not saved because
you cleaned up your language. But our throat
is an open grave. We deceive. We're liars. We're
connivers. We say things that hurt. They hurt
people like poison and venom. We're full of cursing
and bitterness, right? That's our speech. And
then verse 15, our actions. It says, their feet
are swift to shed blood. Ruin and wretchedness
are in their paths, and the path of peace they
have not known. And yet God gave you and me,
as described here in Romans, the blessing through
faith in Jesus Christ. This description here
is Esau. This description is Jacob. This description
is Isaac and Rebecca and Abraham. It's you. It's
me without Christ. Without Christ, we are enemies
of God, thoroughly sinful and spiritually dead.
And so when we read a story about God choosing
to extend his blessing and extend his grace on
someone, we go, how could you do it for that
person? Stop for a second. You go, how could
he do it for me? If you read this story and you
think it's unfair that Jacob got the blessing,
even though he's just as self -seeking as Esau,
then you don't understand God. He's king, not
us. He's sovereign, not you and me. He does what
he wants, when he wants, how he wants, and it's
always perfectly right. Every single time. As
we've said multiple times, our ways of doing
things, our human connections, our expectations,
our thoughts of who and how, none of that binds
God at all. God is right. He is good. He is loving.
He is righteous. He's just in everything He does.
What does that mean? Well, God in Christ is the
one who paid the price for sin. So he is the
one that gets to extend continued grace how he
pleases. And if we read this story and think
it's unfair that Jacob got the blessing, even
though he was just as self -seeking as Esau,
then you don't understand grace. Because grace
that is earned isn't grace at all. Grace, by
definition, goes to the undeserving. Grace, by
definition, goes to the unworthy. It doesn't
go out according to our opinions. It doesn't
go out to who we think should get it and who
shouldn't get it. God is sovereign, not us. And
grace is available to all of us. And it's available
to you here in this room today or watching online
if you don't know him. You might be hearing this
message and going, no, you have no idea what
I've done. God does. And he still died for you
2 ,000 years ago and paid the price for everything
you've done, even the stuff you haven't done
yet. And he said a promise. If you confess with
your mouth and believe in your heart that he
is the Christ, you will be saved. And I'm sure
as sure as I can be that there's somebody in
your life. They will think it's unfair that God
saved you. But he will. And he will save them.
And he saved me. And he saved so many in this
room. Now, yes, your sin is your responsibility,
right? Esau wasn't off the hook for his sin because,
oh, I was tricked. No, he was responsible for
his sin. You can't blame your parents for your
sin. You can't blame your upbringing for your
sin. But it's not about the, what are you going
to do to pay off the sin? It's about realizing
you can't and receiving this undeserved, unearned
grace that God has for you. Now, those of us
that have already received God's grace, that
know we have it, that know it's been given to
us even though we don't deserve it, you know,
remember that. Remember that because there's
going to be times when you read a story like
this. Or there's going to be times in this world
where you hear about so -and -so gave their life
to Jesus. And you're going to go, no, they didn't.
God wouldn't save them. There's going to be people
that you may have known or hear about who have
done the most heinous crimes you can think of.
And then one day they get saved and you're going
to be like, that's not fair. And God's going
to turn around and look at you in that moment.
He goes, you're absolutely right. It is not fair
that I saved you. But I did. Don't question God's
sovereignty. Don't question His plan. Trust Him.
Instead of being people who write people off
or try to tell God, you know, who and who can't
be saved according to, you know, what we think
is right and wrong. Instead of being those people,
be people who pray for everybody. That pray for
everybody. That welcome all to Christ. Because
all are welcome. Because he died for the whole
world. There are people who are going to walk
through the doors of our church living lifestyles
that you may think, oh, that's abhorrent. I can't
believe they live that way. God couldn't believe
you lived the way you lived before he saved you.
But you did. And yet he welcomed you into his
family. He welcomed you to come to him and say,
I recognize you're right. I'm wrong. I'm so sorry.
Please forgive me. And so when you look around,
when you're watching the news and stuff, pray.
Wow, that person's really broken that they would
do something so horrible. Pray, God, please,
whatever it would take, heal them. And then as
we do that, let God be God. Let God do what he
does because he's good at it. Amen? Let's pray.
Father, we're so grateful for you. And we're
so grateful for your perfect sovereignty and
your perfect plans and your perfect will. Because
God, you made a choice to save us. And we have
no business trying to tell you who to lavish
your grace upon. Yes, Lord, there's people you
lavish your grace upon that I simply don't understand
why. But then, Lord, all I got to do is look
at your word and now I understand. We have all
sinned. We have all fallen short. There is none
righteous, no, not even one. And before you,
there is no difference between the person who
murdered and the person who stole. They both
have broken your law and they are guilty of judgment.
So, Lord, let us not evaluate according to our
standards. Things that we think are bad and things
that we think aren't so bad, and Lord, it's your
standard that matters. Help us, Lord, to understand
that you see all things past, present, and future,
Lord. And so we may see somebody who's done horrible
things, but you see a person, Lord, that you
created who has been bound by sin, who has done
horrible things, God, because their fallen nature
and their fallen heart, God, and you see that
person that if they would just but call out to
you, they would be transformed. And so, Lord,
we ask that we would be people who are part of
that work to pray. To let you choose what you
choose when and how you choose to do it. Lord,
that we would be people that even as we're praying
for long times, we would trust in your sovereignty
because you are king. As we pray for the salvation
of friends and family, we would be patient and
trust your sovereignty because you are king.
As we lift up our own needs, we would just trust
you for your timing because you are king. But
Lord, I know there may be people here in this
room today and watching online that have never
come to know you as king in their life. Lord,
that they maybe have come to church today or
they're watching this message because, Lord,
something is stirring in their heart. And they're
not quite sure what it is, Lord, but it's you.
That you are drawing them to yourself. That,
Lord, you are revealing the wickedness of their
hearts. and the hopeless condition that is God.
And Lord, they're here today to hear that your
grace is available to even them. And so while
we're praying right now with heads bowed and
eyes closed, I just want to give that invitation
to anybody in this room. God has been speaking
to you this morning. You want to receive the
forgiveness that he has for you. You want to
be a recipient of that grace, not because you
earned it, not because you deserve it, but because
he loves you so much. That he wants to forgive
you of all of your sin. He wants to adopt you
into his family. He wants to give you the promise
and the blessings and the hope of heaven. If
you want to receive that this morning where you're
seated, I just want you to raise your hand. You
don't need to stand up or come up. Just raise
your hand and let me pray with you. I see you
in the back. God bless you. God sees you this
morning. Anybody else, God is speaking to you.
I see you on the side as well. God hears the
cry of your heart. Anybody else? God is speaking
to your heart this morning to come to Him and
to receive the greatest gift you will ever receive.
If you're watching online and you want to know
the Lord today, just pray this prayer with me.
We would love to hear about your decision. You
could email us or reach out to us, but what's
important is at this moment you confess to Christ
who you are. who He is, and believe in what He
did for you. Anybody else in this room before
we pray? All right. For those of you that raised
your hand, if you're watching online and you
want to receive the Lord, I just want you to
pray this prayer with me. Repeat the words after
me. There's no particular formula of the words.
It's just a prayer of just honest confession.
And so, say, Lord Jesus, I believe in who You
are. I believe that You are God who came to this
earth. I believe You lived a perfect life. I
believe You never did anything wrong. And I believe
You died for me on the cross. And Lord, I know
that I don't deserve Your grace or Your mercy.
or forgiveness. But God, I ask that You would
grant it to me according to Your Word, according
to Your faithfulness, according to Your sovereignty.
Thank You for loving me so much that You would
give me this free gift. I pray, Lord, that you
changed my life, that I would be the different
person you promised me to be. Help me to live
for you. Help me to glorify you. Fill me with
your Holy Spirit. I thank you. It's in Jesus'
name I pray. Amen. All right, if you prayed that
prayer today, congratulations. You are forgiven,
and you may not even fully understand what that
means, and that is okay. God has done a supernatural
work in your heart. But what we do want to help
you do at this moment is to help you learn to
walk with Jesus. to get to know him and what
that means. And so what we have for you guys
is whether you come up front after and let us
pray with you, or as you're leaving out the back
today, we have these white envelopes that we
call, you know, new believers packs, right? They
say, welcome to God's family on the front. I
just want to give you one of those as a gift.
It's free and go through the information inside
of it because it's all information built to help
you start to have this relationship with the
God of the universe who just saved your soul.
And I encourage you to never forget the marvel,
the marvel that he saved you. All of us need
to never forget the marvel that he saved us.
We are so deserving of his judgment, but his
love is so infinitely more broad than that. And
it's a life to just live celebrating that love,
celebrating who he is, celebrating what he's
done, and being so overwhelmed with the fact
that he saved you, you can't help but to tell
everybody else about it. So I pray that God would
bless your lives, bless your week. I pray that
God would give you great opportunity to share
with others what he has done in your life, that
they would have the hope, the opportunity to
come to him as well. Amen? Well, God bless you
guys. Let's close in worship.