I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning we are going
to be talking about how, you know, after those
big life -changing moments that we can have with
God, right, those times where they seem like
big major crossroads of growth or something,
how after those moments, we still wrestle with
our old nature. You know, we've been talking
a lot about sanctification as we've been looking
at the life of Jacob. And I've said it a couple
times, but sanctification, it's a process that
we go through. You know, it would be nice. if
salvation was just a one and done thing, right?
Boom, you're saved, you're without sin forever.
Wouldn't that be amazing? You know, never having
to struggle with the old nature again, but that's
not quite how it works. And some of the biggest
struggles we have as believers here in this world
is reconciling the two realities that I'm saved
and yet I still sin. And so Jacob, as we've been
studying him, we're going to be in chapter 33
this morning. And at this point, he had just
experienced one of the biggest moments in his
life, in his walk of faith, as he wrestled with
God up on the hill of Peniel. And that was the
place where God had finally broken him from his
total self -reliance, his scheming, I'm going
to plan it, I'm going to do it my way, nature.
had broken him of that and when i say broken
It's quite literal because God had dislocated
his hip after this night of wrestling, and really
it was a picture of practically and symbolically
removing Jacob's last out. The one thing that
he would always go to in his own means of working
things out his own way, and that was to run when
his plans didn't pan out. God was literally taking
that away from him to place Jacob in a place
where he had to depend on. God. He had to trust
God, and although at that point he was forever
changed by the crippling grace of God, and he
would forever bear the mark of that crippling
in his dislocated hip, it didn't mean that he
was perfected on earth. It didn't mean that he
was complete and without sin. In fact, his wrestling
with God, this major, major crossroads in his
life was just simply one more, albeit major,
but one more step in his personal process of
sanctification. And so this morning, what we're
going to see is that strange mix, that strange
dichotomy of a person who is saved, who's in
the process of change, who's growing in their
spiritual walk, growing in their relationship
with God, while simultaneously taking steps according
to the old nature. It's a thing that we all deal
with. It's a thing that we all struggle with
and we're going to learn some very important
lessons today about what to watch out for as
we continue through our own personal process
of sanctification here in this world. But before
we get into that, we want to worship God. You
guys want to worship God this morning? Yeah.
God, I mean, this is what we're going to be doing
in heaven forever is just praising him. And I
just can't wait because it's going to be like
a heavy metal concert for eternity. That's my
heaven, sorry. You know, it's just going to be
awesome. And I just, we get a glimpse of doing
that here when we gather together, when we worship
in our own devotional times. And it's such a
beautiful thing to be able to do that. So let's
pray and then we'll worship God Almighty. Father,
we love you so much. Lord, you are amazing. You
are almighty. You are sovereign. You are light.
You are love. God, you are just everything. Everything.
You created everything, including us, Lord, and
we are so grateful. God, one, that you created
us in your image, and two, Lord, that as we were
born into sin because of Adam, That you did the
work to restore that image into our lives. That
we would have the opportunity for our spirit
to be born again. Lord, that through your sacrifice
on the cross, your great love for us, that you
chose us, Lord, which in and of itself is a mystery.
But it's your great love, God. And Lord, so many
of us that know you, Lord, we're still here on
earth. And God, there's a reality that we still
struggle with our old nature. Lord, sometimes
we may ask the question that, God, why don't
you just take away the old nature when we get
saved? And Lord, I think there's an answer in
your word about that, God, that, Lord, you want
us to choose to love you, not be forced to, not
be made to because we have no other option, but
to choose to love you, God. And the very fact
that our old nature is still with us here on
earth, Lord, causes us to live a life where we
have to choose you, where we get to choose you.
And so, Lord, we know it's through your spirit
dwelling within us through the process of sanctification
that we get stronger and stronger in that each
day. But, Lord, as we wrestle with these two
natures that we have, God, our old nature and
our new nature, Lord, may we remember that, God,
we are saved by faith, that we are not saved
by our actions or our lack of actions. We are
saved by faith, Lord. And that is the process
of sanctification to become more and more like
you, that your spirit rots in our life. But God,
you love us through all of it. God, we want to
praise you this morning. We want to worship you
this morning for all that you are, all that you've
done, the amazing changes in our lives because
of you and your great love. Lord, we thank you.
We thank you for everything. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. All right, we are in Genesis chapter
33. And we're going to be covering the whole
chapter today. But just to kind of bring us up
to speed, you know, after the night of wrestling
and the gracious breaking and the gracious renaming
that Jacob experienced up on that hill called
Peniel, he was now ready to meet his brother
Esau. His brother had been traveling. Jacob sent
some people forward to kind of... smooth the
road, if you will. And they told him that Esau
was coming with 400 men. And that made Jacob
nervous because the last time Jacob had seen
his brother, his brother wanted to kill him because
of what Jacob had done in stealing the birthright
and stealing the family blessing. And so, but...
The time had come. Now, Jacob was here about
ready to meet his brother with a brand new nature
that he was given when God touched him up on
the hill of Peniel. He had a new greater dependence
on God, a lesser dependence upon himself. But
still, like I said, for all he knew, the 20 years
that had transpired had only made Esau more murderous
and more angry. And so he had met the Lord. He
had prayed. He had been humbled. And really this
was all a factor of his own growing peace with
God. As Jacob's relationship with God was deepening,
as he was growing to know the Lord more and to
be more at rest in who God was in his life, he
really understood that he had to reconcile with
his brother as he was going to be going back
to the promised land and really stepping into
what God had for him. You know, as Jesus said,
you know, if you come to the altar of worship
and you have something against your brother or
sister, Go reconcile with them first and then
come worship God, you know, because God is a
God of peace and he desires peace between us
and him, which is the work he did. And then we
get to extend that work in maintaining peace
between us and our brothers and sisters. And
so now his crippling up on Peniel had taught
him that it wasn't his plans, his scheming, his
own ideas, his own trying to handle the issues
that kept him, that protected him. It was God.
That he learned as God dislocated his hip that
it was through surrender that he would find victory.
It was through dependence that he would find
strength. It was through weakness that he would
win. And that's what that moment was all about.
But, you know, as Paul asked, then why do I keep
doing the things I don't want to do anymore,
right? We come to these situations in our life,
we have these major moments with God, one, obviously,
our salvation. And then throughout our walk with
God, we have these major crossroad moments, if
you will, those times where we have a special
revelation of God or our understanding deepens
in a significant way. And, you know, they're
kind of like those, we look at them as signposts,
places where we kind of took major steps forward
in our faith. And yet we have these moments and
then right after we find ourselves still wrestling
with our old nature, still wrestling with the
things we used to do, still struggling with the
same methods or, you know, really wrestling with
the flesh. And we ask that question, you know,
how come I have these great moments with God
and my faith is deepening and yet I'm still doing
the same old stuff? I'm still going back to it.
And, you know, the reality is what we see here
in this chapter is that Jacob was now both a
broken man, and a blessed man at the same time.
And that is a picture of humanity in Christ.
That here on this earth, in God's infinite wisdom,
that we come to the place of being saved. We've
put our faith in him. We've been accounted as
righteous through faith. And we are set free
from the power of sin and death. And yet, our
old nature is still here with us. And we still
wrestle with this. And this is what we see in
Jacob. His old nature is still with him. A tempting
force that was constantly trying to lure him
away from dependence and obedience on God. It
was constantly trying to draw him back to himself.
And it was something he would wrestle with until
the end of his life. And so that brings us to
Genesis 33. Read with me in verse one. It says,
now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming towards
him with four. So he divided the children among
Leah, Rachel, and the two slave women. He put
the slaves and their children first, Leah and
her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the
ground seven times until he approached his brother.
And then, so Jacob has had this big moment, this
big crossroads, he has a new nature, he's growing
dependence on God, and now the crisis is upon
him. And that's often how God works in our lives,
right? It's right after that major moment of
growth, that major moment where the truth hits
us, the application lands, and it's right after
we go into the fire. It happened with Jesus right
there at his baptism. This wonderful moment where
the Father appeared, you know, and the Holy Spirit
came down, or the Father spoke and the Holy Spirit
came down, and he said, this is my son. You are
my son whom I love. Well, pleased, right? What
an encouraging moment, right? Just for all who
were there to witness, and it had to have meant
a lot to Jesus, too, in his humanity. Right after
this, he is... taken out into the wilderness,
to be tempted by Satan. And that's often how
things can work out in our lives. And so the
crisis was here, the opportunity to apply what
he had been learning, what he had learned up
on that mountain wrestling with the Lord, it
was now. And so he frantically arranges his family
for this formal presentation to his brother.
And yet we still see favoritism. We still see
Jacob treating parts of his family better than
the others as he takes the two slave women who
technically weren't his wives, they were concubines,
and their children, and he puts them up front.
And then behind them is his wife Leah and her
child, or her children, and then at the very
back of that procession is Rachel, his favorite,
and her son Joseph. Now, it doesn't tell us here,
but I can imagine... The chatter going on amongst
the kids, right? Why is Joseph in the back? I
mean, Esau's coming to kill us all, right? You
know? Sucks to be you, right? You know, it's
like, I don't know how they were talking and
how they felt about this, but Jacob is still
wrestling with his favoritism. In case there's
a slaughter, at least Rachel and Joseph could
get away. It tells us that even though Jacob
has come to this crossroads and he's had this
big change in his life and this deepening dependence
on the Lord, he's still being influenced by his
fear. He's still being influenced by worry. And
then it says he goes out and he bows. Now, this
whole bowing seven times thing, this is understood
to be royal protocol. There's these tablets called
the Tel Armana tablets, which have been found,
and they kind of... talk about how this bowing
seven times is what you would do when you were
approaching a king, okay? So you take this with
all the animals and the gifts that Jacob had
sent forward to his brother Esau, and now he's
bowing seven times, you know, even though Jacob's
like, okay, the Lord's with me, and I trust God
and everything, he's still laying the flattery
on a little thick here, okay? Now, Despite the
fact that we still see his favoritism, despite
the fact that we still see him being influenced
by his fear a little bit, we see a major point
of growth in him. And the fact is, is that he
stepped out front. It tells us that he himself
went on ahead and then bowed on the ground seven
times. He's out front now, leading instead of
hiding behind. He's now out front in humility
instead of hiding in the back and trying to scheme
and deceive and handle things himself. He's out
front now living the lesson that God told him
that, look, you can't run because I've dislocated
your hip. Just surrender your ways and be humble.
And so he's doing this, and it's a big change
in his life. There's still some calculating.
There's still some scheming, still favoritism,
but he's out front. You know, I read this as
I was studying for this, and it really was a
great picture of what we've been talking about
in sanctification, right? Sanctification is a
process. And this is what I read. Someone said,
sanctification is not a light switch. It's a
dimmer switch. Right? Sanctification is that
you're unsaved, poof, you're saved, and you're
perfect without sin. It's a slow fade as we live
our life here on this earth with the Holy Spirit
in our lives. One commentator said, it is one
thing to be privileged with a special visitation
from or a manifestation of God to us, but it
is quite another to live in the power of it.
And that's the struggle we all face. That's the
root of the question, why am I saved and yet
I keep sinning? And we try and reconcile these
things, and then the devil does a good job getting
in there and trying to say, well, if you're sinning,
you must not be saved. Or if you're really saved,
you wouldn't be sinning at all. You know, and
all these things are issues we wrestle with when
the reality the Bible makes very clear is that
here on earth, as a Christian, as a believer,
we live in this two -nature kind of reality.
It's what Paul talked about throughout Romans,
that our new nature, our born -again nature,
exists simultaneously with our old nature. And
Paul does a whole lot of talking about like,
hey, you want to answer the question, why is
one stronger than the other at any given time?
He says, it's because of which one you're feeding.
You feed your spirit, your spirit's stronger.
You feed your flesh, your flesh is stronger.
But these issues of wrestling back and forth.
They aren't salvational issues. Now, they can
be, right? The Bible talks about very clearly,
you know, we know people by their fruits and
stuff, but I'm talking about you and the Lord.
You know. You know if your faith is in God. And
if you're still wrestling with these things and
wrestling with issues, the Bible is very clear.
Your old nature exists with your new nature.
So don't let the enemy condemn you for it. This
isn't a license to sin. Paul dealt with that
too in Romans. But for those of you who are constantly
bouncing back and forth, but I trust God, I love
him so much. Oh no, God hates me, I'm lost. Stop.
God's word tells you that there is now therefore
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
and called according to his purpose. No condemnation.
You are not condemned when you sin as a believer.
And I say when because you will. But God took
that into account when he died on the cross for
you. God knew that when he died on the cross
for you, and he still did it. Jesus didn't go
to the cross and be like, well, you know, Nathan's
going to sin five times the day after he gets
saved, and so I'm not going to do it. He didn't
say that. What he said as he looked upon all
of us is there's nothing they could do to stop
sinning. There's nothing they could do to be
righteous. And you know what? I love them so
much that I want to pay the price for all the
sin that they've done and all the sin they haven't
done yet for the rest of their life so that we
can have a restored relationship. And when you
put your faith in that, that moment he goes,
now I start. The slow process of sanctifying
you for the rest of your life. Don't let the
devil condemn you. Doesn't mean you want to sin.
But when you do, stand in the grace of God. Plead
the blood of Christ and know you're forgiven.
Now, verse four. It says, Esau ran to meet him,
hugged him, and threw his arms around him and
kissed him. And then they wept. Put yourself
in Jacob's shoes. Relief? Confusion? What's going
on? Right? He was expecting violence. I can imagine
the moment, right? Esau appears. Jacob's like
bowing. And then Esau starts running at him.
He's like, oh no, here it comes. He's going to
kill me. And then boom, hug. Throws his arms
around him. The very thing he prayed for. He
wanted favor. He wanted acceptance. He wanted
love, right? This is what he had learned that
God had for him. I love you. You're my kid. You're
my beloved. You're in my family. Stop questioning
that. And then he's like, God, please. He prayed,
you know, please save me from my brother. I just
want favor with him. And he gets it. God answers
that prayer, the very thing he was praying for,
their reunion. It was tearful. It was filled
with emotion, joy. And for Esau, the implication
here is Esau's like, I'm so happy. My brother
is back. I haven't seen him for 20 years. And
Jacob is, I'm still alive. He didn't kill me.
Whatever it was Esau intended, Because there
are some commentators that speculate that on
the way, Esau's intent when he left Seir was
to kill Jacob, right? That was the point of the
400 men, the malicious -sized army. But on the
way, God softened his heart, right? There are
some commentators that say that. That's possible.
You know, the gifts, some people say, oh, the
gifts had their effect and whatever. Some even
speculate that it wasn't until the moment Esau
saw his brother that he was like... I'm not gonna
kill him. That's my brother. I'm so glad he's
back, right? There's all these speculations.
It doesn't say specifically here. But whatever
was intended, the sight of his long -lost, separated
brother, it broke him. And it's just a neat picture
because for Jacob, it's instead of the sword
that he was expecting, God gave him a hug. And
so verse five. When Esau looked up and saw the
women and children, he asked, who are these with
you? He answered, the children God has graciously
given your servant. graciously given your servant.
Then the slaves and their children approached
him and bowed down. Leah and her children also
approached and bowed down. And then Joseph and
Rachel approached and bowed down. And so the
hug, the tears, the reunion, the relief, and
now the family is introduced to him. Who are
all these, right? Family was a huge deal in the
culture. Having sons was a huge deal in the culture
because that meant the family was going to continue.
And so Esau. Who are all these? And so they give
the family introductions, the honor, the respect
is given. I imagine Jacob is like, you better
bow because we don't want him to kill us, right?
But what do we see here Jacob doing? He says,
these are the children that God has graciously
given me. Jacob's giving full credit to God for
the blessing of his family. There's no mention
of Laban. Who are all these? Oh, let me tell
you the story about Uncle Laban. None of that.
It's just God did this. God has blessed me. Brother
Esau now has been introduced to Israel. He has
been introduced to the genesis of God's chosen
people. And so verse eight. So Esau said, what
do you mean by this whole procession I met? And
he's referring to all those animals, the waves
of gifts he had sent on ahead of him. Jacob says,
to find favor with you, my lord, he answered.
I have enough, my brother Esau replied. Keep
what you have. But Jacob said, no, please, if
I have found favor with you, take this gift from
me. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it
is like seeing God's face, since you have accepted
me. Please take my present that was brought to
you because God has been gracious to me and I
have everything I need. So Jacob urged him until
he accepted. Now Jacob here is fully recognizing
that seeing God's face at Peniel and wrestling
with him and seeing Esau's face here are connected.
Jacob is connecting the dots. He's going, oh,
I see the lesson here. Everything is coming together.
See, the reality is that Jacob was not ready
to face Esau until he faced God. Jacob was not
ready to interact with Esau and receive what
was going to take place here until he had interacted
and received what God had for him up on the hill.
Jacob had seen the face of God and lived. Right?
That's Peniel. He's like, I saw God's face and
I'm alive. And then he sees Esau's face and he's
alive. Jacob was crippled by God, and that was
his humbling, and that had to happen before he
could be reconciled with Esau. God blessed Jacob
before Esau forgave Jacob, before Jacob received
that forgiveness, and it's this principle that
we see throughout Scripture where it's always
God first, man second. It's a very significant
principle in the language of love throughout
Scripture. In fact, when you look at the Ten
Commandments, the first four are about loving
God. The second six are about loving humanity.
Jesus himself said, all the commands are summed
up in this. Love God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. Love others as yourself.
That's always the process. That's always the
structure. It's always the order. Get right with
God, and you're going to be able to effectively
get right with everybody else. That was very
the thing that was happening in Jacob's life.
He's getting right with God. He's experiencing
peace with his creator and then suddenly he's
like, oh my gosh, I'm not at peace with my brother.
But he was able to pursue this peace effectively
and appropriately because he had been getting
right with God first. You see, if he was not
right with God first, I don't know that he would
have been bowing seven times and humbling himself
before Esau. He might have had a last moment
of, wait a second, I have the birthright. Speculative,
of course, but the idea here is that Jacob had
learned the lesson of grace, and it was very
large on his heart in this moment, right? That
he said, these are the children that God graciously
gave to me. Esau says, what's up with all the
gifts? And he's like, they're meant to find favor
with you, favor. Another way you could say favor
is grace. And then he insists. Esau's like, no,
no, no. And he's like, no, really. God has been
gracious with me. Jacob had learned a great deal
about grace. Right? We know what grace is. Grace
is getting what you don't deserve. Mercy, that's
the opposite. Not getting what you do deserve.
You guys understand the difference? We deserve
judgment. We did not get that mercy. We definitely
don't deserve to be adopted into God's family
and to receive salvation or forgiveness, but
that is exactly what we got, grace. And Jacob,
he's learning all about getting what he doesn't
deserve. He's coming to that place where he's
beginning to understand my ways don't work. I
can't depend on myself and my scheming and my
lying and all of this stuff. And so he's just...
Grace, God's been gracious, and God graciously
gave me these kids, and he's getting it. Now,
this back and forth between him and Esau, you
know, Esau going, no, no, no, I can't take the
gifts. This is probably a cultural etiquette
thing. I learned a long time ago in Middle East
culture. There's a process of etiquette that
takes place when somebody offers you something.
I was told a story once. I can't remember if
Pastor Gary told me the story or Pastor Emil
Haddad told me the story or someone else. Honestly,
I don't remember. But the story was this. In
the Middle Eastern culture, if someone offers
you something, you cannot accept it on the first
offer. You have to say, oh, no, no, no, thank
you. And then the etiquette is, is the person
must go, no, please, I insist. And then you're
supposed to go, no, really, I'm okay, right?
There's this whole little back and forth thing
that is supposed to happen. Now, both parties
know I'm offering, I'm going to accept, right?
That's how it works. But you have to do this
back and forth thing. It's honor and all this
kind of stuff. And the story I heard was there
was a pastor or somebody from the Middle East
that had come to America, and they were at an
event, and it was an American pastor that was
hosting the event or somebody American hosting
it. And so the Middle Eastern guy had just come
straight from the plane, had been traveling a
long time, and the host is like, oh, hey, are
you hungry? Do you want anything to eat? And
the Middle Eastern guy goes, no, no, no, no.
And he went, cool. And the Middle Eastern guy
is like, I'm starving to death. Why is he not
offering, right? It's one of those cultural,
you know, things. And so, you know, oh, no, no,
no, and yes, please, and yes, please, and stuff.
But there's also the possibility that Jacob still,
you know, because he has this lingering fear,
this lingering fear that caused him to, you know,
lay out his family in a certain way, that he's
just wanting to make extra sure, right? And as
we grow in our walk with God and we're going
through our sanctification process and we have
these big moments where we move forward in our
faith, sometimes we'll still have those lingering
old nature elements in us that are like, well,
just in case. You know, it can't hurt to add
this little extra, you know, and, you know, cults
are built around that. Jesus plus, right? Oh,
yeah, Jesus, Jesus, but you have to do these
works. You have to stand outside the... you know,
steel craft with your pamphlets and stuff on
Sunday morning as they do. And, you know, you
have to do all these things or you are not saved.
And, you know, it's just, we don't know exactly,
but he insists. And so Esau will accept the gift.
And then, you know, in this process, again, culturally
accepting the gift meant. It was an affirmation
that we are friends. The friendship is sealed,
right? Kind of like a wedding ring at a wedding,
right? It's like that is the sign that we are
married. Well, in the accepting of gifts in the
culture, as soon as you said, I accept the gifts,
what you were saying is any beef we had is squashed.
We're good now. So Esau is communicating to his
brother, look, the old score, it's settled. We're
good, right? So Esau then invites Jacob to come
to his home in Seir, and there was a problem
with that. The problem was that Seir was outside
of the promised land, the land that God had told
Jacob to go back to. So again, I didn't have
a chance to make graphics, but, you know, here's
a map, okay? And here's the Mediterranean Sea.
Here's Israel. Right in the middle is the Dead
Sea and the Jordan River. Can you see it? All
right. South, the southern part of Israel is
the Negev region. This is where Bathsheba was.
Not Bathsheba. What's the name of the city? I
forgot. Beersheba. So many Shebas, right? Beersheba.
And then over here was Seir. Okay, so this was
the land that became known as the land of Edom.
It was outside the promised land. Effectively,
the Jordan River was kind of everything west
of the Jordan River was the promised land. And
so Esau's like, hey, come home with me. You know,
come visit. Jacob is now in a conundrum, right?
He's wanting to appease his brother. He's wanting
to be very compliant. And yet God said, go back
to the land I promised you, which is definitely
not in Seir. Now, here is the moment. Jacob.
who is now Israel, new relationship with God,
dependence, trust, yay. This is the opportunity
for him to be very Israel in how he responds
to his brother, but unfortunately, he responds
in a very Jacob -like manner. Read with me in
verse 12. Then Esau said, let's move on and I'll
go ahead of you. Jacob replied, my Lord knows
that the children are weak and I have nursing
flocks and herds. If they're driven hard for
one day, the whole herd will die. Let my Lord
go on ahead of his servant. I will continue on
slowly at a pace suited to the livestock and
the children until I come to my Lord at Seir.
Esau said, well, just let me leave some of my
people with you. But he replied, why do that?
Please indulge me, my Lord. You know, again,
Seir was outside the promised land. It had been
well known that God had said, look, my chosen
people, the ones under the blessing, are going
to be separated from all other people. They're
not supposed to intermarry, all this type of
stuff. This was well known. And so Jacob trying
to disengage from Esau is a very appropriate
thing here, right? But the problem is, is Israel
should have simply spoken the truth in love.
Bro, I appreciate the invite to your house. But
God has said this. So I have to depart the other
way. But thank you. So glad we're together, right?
You know, handshakes and all that. But we're
going to separate. But that's not what happened.
Instead, Jacob declines the invitation with excuses
and exaggerations. Oh, the kids. The poor kids.
They're so weak. They couldn't possibly travel
with you to Seir even though they've traveled
with me from Haran. But we're not going to talk
about that. Oh, and then the flocks too. The
flocks, they're breeding. They can't even though
they also have traveled with me from Haran. But
we're not going to talk about that either. And
so he's basically just kind of dancing around
the issue without just saying, no, God said that
I'm supposed to do this instead. And then he
straight up lies. You go on ahead. I'll catch
up. That never happened. That never happened
until the end of Jacob's life. Now Esau, whether
he was kind of something's weird here or just
being a friendly brother there, he's like, oh,
yeah, I'll leave some of my people behind. They
could help with the weak kids and they could
help with the flocks. But Jacob insisted. Why
do that? You know, and I mean, every time Jacob's
words are here, that's what I see. You know,
the... The shoulders, come on, you know, the
shady guy's shoulders. And why do that? Please
indulge me, my Lord, right? He's still laying
on the stuff. But this shows us something, that
Jacob indeed was reconciled with his brother,
but Jacob didn't want to be too close to his
brother. And the possibility here is Jacob maybe
wasn't fully sure that we're good meant we're
good, right, Jacob? Was a deceiver. Lived his
whole life that way. He had lived for 20 years
under a deceiver. Being deceived and taken advantage
of. And what does a deceiver expect everybody
else to do? Deceive. So there's the possibility
that Jacob was like, I mean, we're good, but,
you know, maybe what if we're on the way and
then he, you know. kills me and my family on
the way or something, right? There's a possibility
there. And we've already seen him catering to
his old nature, his old fear a little bit. And
so it's very likely that that's why he was like,
uh, you know, and wasn't real ready yet to just
stand up for righteousness and truth. I can't
do that. See, one of the most uncomfortable times
in my life after I got saved is my old friends
going, hey, let's go do the thing. And, you know,
when I first got saved, I was, oh, I'm a little
embarrassed to say I'm a Christian. So it's,
oh, I'm busy that night. I got to wash my hair.
You know, all the normal excuses. And then finally
coming to the point where, you know, hey, let's
go do this or go to this party, do that. And
I said, no, I don't want to do that. Well, why
not? I'm a Christian. I don't do that anymore.
Oh, you think you're better than us? No, actually.
I'm exactly one of you, but God saved me. That's
the difference, and I want to honor him. And
I went through that just even a few years ago.
Some old high school friends, you know, we're
all old now, and they're still doing backyard
parties with kegs and red cup beer, and I'm like,
when are you going to grow up, you know? But,
you know, I had run into one of them at a store,
and... she's a Christian now. And I was like,
oh. And she was like, you do what? And I'm like,
yeah, I'm a pastor. And, you know, there's this
cool moment of just kind of, hey, cool, I'd love
to get together and talk and stuff. And then
so, you know, a few weeks later, she was holding
a party at her house. And it was all old high
school friends. It was like all of a sudden all
of our old high school buddies were all running
across each other again. And I couldn't make
it to the party. And then I see pictures on Facebook.
That's high school all over again, right? You
know, and I remember like, oh, why didn't you
come? Why didn't you come? And at this point,
I was just like, guys, that's not who I am anymore.
Like, I don't want to go and, you know, drink
the bad beer in the red cup out of a keg, and
I don't want to pass out in the bushes like so
-and -so was in that picture. That's not me anymore.
And then I privately went to the person. I was
like, hey, what are you doing? What do you mean?
I'm like, you know, we're Christians, right?
You know, I'm like, you know, you're saved and
I fully believe that, but you know, why are you
living the old life still? And that turned into,
oh, Nathan thinks he's better than everybody.
And I was just like, no, not at all. You know,
because you get the opportunity to tell people,
you're like, no, I wanted to be at that party.
And that bush looked really comfortable. I wanted
to pass out in it too. But that's not who I am
anymore. I want to honor God with my life, not
cater to my flesh. And, you know, anyways, I'm
not sure how I got on that whole tangent there.
But, oh, yeah, there we are. Okay. Jacob's still
going, I'm not sure, right? He was both Jacob
and Israel at the same time. This is the dichotomy
we're seeing here. This is the issue that we
have, right? We're both our new person, our new
nature and our old nature at the same time. Israel
would have spoken the truth in love. Jacob rationalized,
right? Oh, well, maybe I'll go to see her one
day. I'm not technically lying. But it's hard
to try and be Jacob and Israel at the same time.
And there's maybe some of you in this room that
have been trying to be Jacob and Israel at the
same time, right? You're trying to live your
new nature and your old nature at the same time,
and it's tough. And you feel terrible inside
because there's conviction. And stop. Stop. Stop
trying to live both. You can't live both. And
as we're going to see, trying to do both only
leads to more difficulty. Verse 16. That day
Esau started on his way back to Seir. But Jacob
went to Sukkoth. He built a house for himself
and shelters for his livestock, and that's why
the place is called Sukkoth. Esau and his 400
men, they kind of march off the pages of history,
save for a brief appearance at their dad's funeral
and then one mention in another genealogy. But
this is kind of the last we hear of Esau, right?
Esau was not a part of the story of redemption.
And as we've gone from Adam, we keep narrowing
down and narrowing down into the story of God's
people through whom which the Messiah came. This
is the biblical story here. So instead of going
back to Seir, like he said, Jacob then goes to
a spot that's back north across the Jabbok River.
So again, here's our map, right? Dead Sea, Jordan
River. They're meeting up here somewhere, and
there's this river called the Jabbok that goes
west into the Jordan River. Jacob follows that
back, and he stops at this place called Sukkoth.
Now, it wasn't called Sukkoth when he got there.
It was called Sukkoth because of what Jacob did
when he got there. That word Sukkoth means booth,
stalls, huts, or shelters. So this place, and
there's archaeological evidence today, people
think they know where it is, and it's basically
when you enter into the Jordan Valley, that was
very fertile. You remember the place Lot decided
to go to when Abraham gave him a choice? This
is where he stopped, this very fertile valley,
possibly to rebuild his flocks from all the stuff
that he had given to Esau as a gift, but there's
a symbolic thing going here. You see, Sukkoth,
the area, It's not quite in the promised land,
but it's real close. The fact that he built booths
and shelters here, there's a symbolism here.
Booths and shelters are compromises, right? Tents,
they typically lived in tents. Tents were temporary.
You set up the tent, tear it down, you keep moving,
right? Sukkoth, boot. Booths, stalls, huts, shelters.
These are dwellings that are not quite tents,
but not quite permanent. What we see here is
Jacob going, well, I'm doing what God said, right?
He said, go to the promised land. But he's stopping
right before he gets there. There's a partial
obedience here that he is involved in. It's a
compromise. Well, I'm doing what God wants, but
I'm doing a little bit my way still. You see,
Jacob has gone from my way is the only way to,
okay, God, I'm going to do your way, but I'm
going to mix in a little bit of my way, and it's
called a compromise. And compromises are often
worse than direct obedience. We know what Jesus
said in Revelation, right? I'd rather that you
were hot or cold, but if you're lukewarm, I'm
going to vomit you out of my mouth. Obey or disobey,
but don't play this stupid game in the middle
where you're like, I'm obeying you, God. And
you're like, no, you're not. Partial obedience
is still disobedience. And so God had told Jacob,
come back to the promised land. And the reason
this is being pointed out here is because the
next place he gets to is Sukkoth. Shechem, which
is in the promised land, but this whole episode
here in Genesis 33, it took place over eight,
nine, ten years. So it wasn't like he just went,
boop, stopped in Sukkoth, refill, and then got
to Shechem. That he spent time there in Sukkoth
before entering into the promised land as he
was supposed to. And God had called Jacob back
to the promised land. As we're going to see,
it was most likely that he called him back to
Bethel specifically. But again, this suggests
that Israel is still walking in a little bit
of the Jacob in his life, where he's still giving
in to his old do -it -my -own -way nature. So
verse 18. After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,
he arrived safely in Shechem in the land of Canaan
and camped in front of the city. He purchased
a section of the field where he had pitched his
tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father,
for 100 pieces of silver. And he set up an altar
there and called it God, the God of Israel. Now
again, if you look at the map, right, Jabbok
River, here's Sukkoth, here's the Jordan River.
If you travel this way another 20 miles, you
get to what's called Shechem. Now that's a straight
shot. If you follow the river, it's more like
30 miles. But the point is, is Shechem is now
in the promised land. And it says that he arrived
there safely. Safely likely means he arrived
in peace, right? There was no war, not being
chased. It was just, he arrived in peace. Finally,
he's back inside the promised land. Now it says
he pitched his tent, so his at least initial
intent was to stay there temporarily, but we're
going to see in the next chapter that that wasn't
the case. But his crossing over the Jordan, finally
coming into the promised land, that should have
been an occasion of great fanfare. This has been
the moment where the trumpets, and Jacob's doing
the thing, and he's in the promised land, and
hallelujah, everything's so wonderful. But it's
just strangely just glossed over. And he got
to Shechem. Why is that? It's because like Sukkoth,
Shechem represents a halfway obedience. He didn't
go all the way back to Bethel, which I'm going
to tell you why I believe that's where he was
supposed to go in a moment. He definitely didn't
go all the way back to his father's house like
God had specifically told him to. And so instead
of this fanfare and this celebration, look, Jacob
did what God wanted him to do. It's kind of just
this muted, facts -only description of his movement.
Now, before we get into the other stuff, even
though it was halfway obedience, we still see
that Israel is still faithfully believing in
God's promises because he purchases land when
he gets there, and that parallels what Abraham
did. You remember when Abraham got to the land
there, and he purchased the land at Machpelah.
purchased that to be a burial place, and there
was this symbolism that Abraham said, look, I
believe God's promise so strongly that this land
is gonna be ours that I'm putting an ownership
stake, I'm putting my flag down here, even though
it's technically not ours yet. And so Jacob is
doing the same thing where he's purchasing some
land there, and it's him declaring his belief
in the promises. But again, we still have this.
saving, believing faith mixed with partial obedience.
And so he builds this altar, this wonderful altar,
right? It tells us in verse 20, he calls the
altar God, the God of Israel. Israel, it's El
Elohi Yisrael. It means the mighty God is the
God of Israel, right? Do you notice he didn't
say the mighty God is the God of Jacob? Interesting.
Jacob was... using his new name. He was declaring
his new nature, publicly acknowledging God's
power and grace in his life. Right? Pretty awesome.
When he left the promised land 20 years, or left
his home 20 years earlier and he stopped in Bethel.
You remember in Bethel, you know, he had that
vision of God and the angels going up and down
the ladders. And then Jacob immaturely said,
God, if you do everything you said you were going
to do, then you will be my God. And now he's
back in the promised land and what does he do?
publicly proclaims, God, you are my God. God
had done mighty things for him. God had just
blessed his life over the course of his life.
But here's the problem. The altar should have
been built in Bethel, not Shechem. The altar
should have been built in Bethel, the house of
God, where God reiterated the promises to him.
The reason I believe is he was supposed to go
to Bethel. In Genesis 31, 13, when Jacob is reiterating
the dream to his wives to convince them that
they should leave, God says this to him. I am
the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the
stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get
up, leave this land, and return to your native
land. So it seems to indicate there that where
God was specifically calling Jacob to come back
to, at least maybe his first stop, was Bethel.
Now, instead of going there, Jacob stops in Shechem.
It's a partial obedience, and as we're gonna
see in the next chapter, his stopping in Shechem
ends up being disastrous for his family. We're
gonna see in the next chapter that his only daughter
is raped. We're gonna see that his sons go on
a murder spree, just slaughtering people, wreaking
out vengeance for that, and then Jacob himself
succumbs to fear again. Then after those events
in chapter 34, God specifically commands Jacob,
get up and get to Bethel. So we put those details
together and it's like Jacob was supposed to
go to Bethel. That's where that altar was supposed
to be built. Why? Because that's where Jacob
declared, if you do everything you said you're
gonna do, you are gonna be my God. And now he's
building the altar, he's declaring, you are my
God, but it's in the wrong place because it's
partial obedience. And you'd think, well, Why
did Jacob do this? I think it was because of
when it tells us that he arrived safely, that
he arrived in peace. Everything's well, nothing's
going wrong. You see, we often mistake present
protection for broad approval. When everything's
going well and going right in our lives, we can
easily think, oh, God's happy with me. I must
be doing good, right? because we interpret the
opposite, right? When things are bad, oh, God's
mad at me. He's striking me down, which the Bible
mixes all that up constantly, but he came safely
to Shechem. There's no problems, no conflict,
no nothing. I'm in the promised land, right?
This is what God wanted me to do. Let's not talk
about the stop in Sukkoth, but I'm here. I'm
being obedient. Praise the Lord, right? And God
must be with me because nothing bad is happening.
But just because he arrived safely doesn't mean
God was approving of his location and his timing.
God had told Jacob, I'll protect you if you do
what I say. You don't do what I say, you're on
your own. And you go, wait, but God always protects
his people. Yeah, but when we don't do what he
says, he lets us experience the consequences.
You know, it's like that's what counseling has
become for me over the years. My younger years
of ministry, I used to think, oh, no, I've got
to have the answers, and I'm not a psychologist,
and I'm not a therapist. And as the years have
gone on, God's like, you don't need to be. Because
the answer to almost every single question that
comes up in counseling is do what the Bible says.
Yeah, but, well, then you're on your own. Good
luck. And guess what? Guess what, guys? You ready
for this? Every time someone does what the Bible
says, it gets better. Every time. Every time.
My marriage has fallen apart. Do what the Bible
says. Marriages are fixed. I'm having relationship
struggles. Do what the Bible says. Relationship
struggles cease. I'm having issues at work dealing
with people. Do what the Bible says. I'm having
this issue with this person at church. Do what
the Bible says. Every time. And so, but we can
mistake these times of peace and protection as,
oh, even though I know I'm being partially obedient,
it must not be that bad because God's with me.
And that is not at all the case. It was like,
be careful, Jacob. Because your present situation
of peace and safety doesn't mean that you're
being fully obedient. And we're really good at
lying to ourselves, right? We're really good
at minimizing that. I know I'm not doing everything
God told me to do, but we'll bury that. Oh, look,
everything's great. Jacob is doing what we all
do. He's making an attempt to follow the Lord,
and at the same time, he's not fully obeying
the Lord. He builds his altar, right? Lord, thank
you for bringing me to safety, publicly proclaiming
to the world. God is the God of Israel. I am
his. I'm a new person. I have a new nature. Praise
God. All of that was true. I proclaim you as
my God. But the reality was is he didn't go all
the way to Bethel for whatever reason. It could
be this lingering fear of Esau, right? Here's
Sukkoth directly west of Shechem. Esau is way
down here in Seir. Well, I don't want to get
any closer to Esau. It could be that. Some commentators
speculate that. But the idea is that he was still
catering to his flesh. He was still catering
to that old nature while he was simultaneously
walking and proclaiming that he was Israel. You
see, we all know the scripture that says God
wants obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice,
right? Well, I'd like to add to that, not that
I'm like, oh, you're adding to the Bible. No,
no. Full obedience is better than partial obedience,
okay? And we think, oh, partial obedience is
better than sacrifice. I'm right with the Lord
right now. There's going to be great consequences
as we'll see in chapter 34. But he was the new
man Israel and simultaneously the old man Jacob.
We all have that same struggle. We all have that
same struggle. And we have to take care. We have
to... We have to be diligent to be aware of that,
right? Like I said, this chapter likely covers
eight or more years from the time that he meets
Esau to Sukkoth and then to Shechem, but God
was still moving. He was in the slow, dim process
of sanctification that we're all in. And we don't
see God being like, Jacob, I'm going to smite
you in Sukkoth because that's not where you were
supposed to stop. It's the same in our lives.
God wants us to obey, and yet we still struggle
with bouncing back and forth between our new
nature and our old nature. I agree with Paul
when he said, what is the answer? Praise God
for Jesus Christ. Praise God that I'm saved by
faith and not what I do and don't do. Praise
God that he loved me enough for whatever reason
to die for my sins. and to claim me as his and
to mark me with the Holy Spirit, the seal as
Ephesians says. And then in the process to go,
okay, that's not what I told you to do. There's
gonna be consequences and they're not gonna be
good ones. I still love you. You're still my
kid. I'm still with you. We have to understand
that in our choices, even though God is with
us and God is there, Our choices, especially
our compromises, no matter how small, they have
long -term compounding effects, consequences
in our lives. That is why when we come to the
crossroads of choose God, choose flesh, choose
to do what God wants, choose to do what I want,
when we come to that crossroads, it's not a saved,
I'm not saved situation. It's a God, be glorified
in my life, or don't be glorified in my life.
And really, I think God, because God knows that
we're not as altruistic as we think, right? Wouldn't
it be awesome if we were just all like, it's
just because God, that's why I'm gonna choose
to be right. None of us are that selfless. God
knows that, I love it. So God says, tell you
what, there's rewards in heaven. Really, rewards?
He knows that about us. You might go, that's
kind of selfish. Bible talks about the rewards
in heaven. He also says, Consequences if you
do the bad thing. So we come to these crossroads
and we have the free will choice, God says, to
choose us and be rewarded or to choose disobedience
and there's consequences. And I think that we
have these stories of consequences and this wrestle
because the struggle is real and we wrestle with
these things and it's not a salvational issue
if you've truly put your faith in Jesus Christ,
but it is a consequential issue that you will
bring. difficulty and tragedy upon your life
and your family's life if you choose disobedience.
And partial obedience is still disobedience.
But here, this story, chapter 33, we see the
struggle of a two -natured person. Israel and
Jacob, his flesh, the scheming, the favoritism,
the flattery, the deception, the fear, all of
this stuff, this partial disobedience as he's
learning to live with this new nature and master
his old nature through the power of the Spirit,
and then you have his faith. Prayer, going out
front instead of hiding behind, confessing grace,
God did this over and over, worshiping God as
Israel and not Jacob. You go, what's the point?
The point is, is this is us. Every single one
of us. Massive spiritual moments don't erase
our old nature overnight. So don't let the devil
condemn you. Again, this isn't licensed to sin
and oh, I can do whatever I want. No, not at
all. But when you mess up, don't let the devil
condemn you because God knows you're wrestling
with the two natures. God knew that. That's why
he gave us the word. That's why he gave us Paul
the Apostle who wrote Romans and said, hey, why
do I do the things I don't want to do and why
do I don't do the things I want to do? And oh
my goodness, oh my goodness, I discovered a law.
There's two of me in here. Well, when's that
gonna change? When I'm dead. So in the meantime,
there's two of me in here, right? We all have
a default mode when it comes to dealing with
our flesh, right? For Jacob, the default mode,
the old nature was scheming. For Abraham and
Isaac, it was lying under pressure, right? Things
got tough for them. Oh, she's my sister. Moses,
strong action in the flesh. I'm going to be the
man of God. Boom, kill that Egyptian. God's like,
I didn't tell you to do that. David, women, lust.
It's when we're drifting from God, when we're
not clinging to him the way we should be. When
he's not filling everything within us, the void
that is left, the devil's going to try and fill
it with whatever he can. Power, control, money,
sex, pleasure. And all of those things that are
part of our old nature, as soon as we stop clinging
to the Lord so desperately, and that's what we
can find ourselves doing when we think everything's
good, there's no struggles, there's no problem.
We don't cling desperately. And the devil's right
there to say, sweet, boom. I'm gonna fill in
that gap in your heart right now with that temptation,
that old thing you used to turn to. And now you're
gonna find yourself in a pressure situation and
instead of clinging to God like you've been learning,
you do the old thing again. I gotta go drink.
I've gotta go do whatever. Stay in the word.
The Bible says to be washed by the water of the
word, cleansed by it. When you're in the word,
when you're reading, God's spirit, he's speaking
right to you. How do I cling to Jesus? He's not
here. Keep his words in your hand, in your mind,
in your heart. Cling. Don't mistake God's present
protection for permission. Your compromises will
affect you and your family. Stop justifying partial
obedience. An altar in Shechem is still wrong
if God wants you in Bethel. Now, I did read this
quote, and I love this quote. I don't know who
said it, but it says, God loves you just the
way you are, but he loves you too much to leave
you that way. I love that. I love that. See,
every moment of our life is another opportunity
that God's going to use to mold us and to shape
us, to bring us in that process of sanctification.
And so as you stand in the security of your salvation
and there's no condemnation, still work. Identify
the areas of your life where you're trying to
be both Jacob and Israel. Identify them. You
know. Nobody else might know. But God knows and
you know. And right now, as I said that, that
thing that popped in your mind, that's what God's
talking to you about. And God is saying, you
need to stop. You need to stop trying to do both.
Which partial obedience in your life might become
a larger obedience if you don't deal with it?
What partial obedience might turn into a huge
negative effect on your family if you don't deal
with it? You have to listen to what the Lord
is saying. Is there an Esau in your life that
you know you need to reconcile with as God is
working peace into your life and you have this
relationship, you're like, I need to make it
right, but no. Is there a thing that you're to
do or to not do? Or is there a place you're supposed
to go or not go? And you're kind of like, well,
I'm in Sukkoth. I'm getting there, Lord. My challenge
to you today is to stop playing both sides and
do whatever it is God is telling you to do today.
Don't let the sun go down today until you've
done what it is that God has been telling you
to do or to stop doing or whatever. God loves
you so much. God's given you the power to overcome.
The Holy Spirit lives within you if you're his
child. And yet we settle so often for what is
less than best for whatever reason. We got the
two natures, yes. There's no condemnation, yes,
hallelujah. But that doesn't mean we don't take
the steps to say, I gotta guard myself. So that
I choose yes more than I choose no. Amen? Let's
pray. Father, we love you. God, we're so grateful
for you. We're nothing without you. We have no
hope without you. And yet, God, I know that there's
maybe some in this room this morning or watching
online or those that may be watching this later
in the future, God. That are wrestling with that
very thing. I have two natures. I'm saved. I
believe in God. I love him. And yet I still find
myself taking steps according to my old nature.
And Lord, the devil is beating them up with the,
you can't possibly be saved if you keep doing
that. And back and forth, Lord. And I pray, God,
today, as they hear your word, that they would
understand. That if they have put their faith
in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, trusted
in his death on the cross, that they believe
he rose again from the dead, seated now at the
right hand of the Father, Lord, that as they've
put their faith and their belief in that, they
are saved. They are forgiven. They have received
the mercy of God. They have received the grace
of God. And that, Lord, today, As that truth
penetrates their heart, they will be able to
walk in the victory you've given them. Rebuking
the condemnation of the devil. The Lord at the
same time. Lord, we're not called to just let
our flesh run amok. That God, we need to be able
to identify those areas so that we don't compromise.
And God, that might mean confessing with a brother
or sister. That might mean telling somebody we
care about, hey, I have this area of compromise
in my life. Please help me overcome. That Lord,
through prayer and the body being the body and
us ministering to one another and supporting
one another the way we're supposed to, God, that
we would find the victory that you have for us.
But Lord, our goal wouldn't be sinless perfection
here on earth, Lord, because you're very clear
that that's not going to happen. But that doesn't
mean we give up. That doesn't mean we don't try.
That doesn't mean we quit. Quite the opposite,
Lord, that because of what you've done for us,
God, we want to honor you. And yes, God, we want
to be rewarded in heaven when we stand before
you. Lord, I believe your word when it says we're
going to throw our crowns at your feet anyways.
But God, for some of us, the reality of consequences
might be the very thing that dissuades us. And
Lord, may we learn from people like Jacob. May
we learn from your word, these stories you've
included for us, God, that we would learn the
lessons they learned and apply the right responses.
God, I pray your spirit falls upon this place.
Lord, that your spirit even now fills every single
person hearing this message, Lord, from your
word. That they would know and recognize the
power of the spirit that dwells within them.
And that, God, you would empower them. That you
would sanctify them. That you would cause their
lives to glorify your holy name. That we would
walk in humility. That we would walk in dependence.
That we would cling to you, God, and let the
peace that you bring into our lives cause us
to seek peace in others' lives, Lord. To seek
reconciliation with those that we're estranged
with, Lord. To share with them what you've shared
with us, God. We love you. We thank you, Lord.
May your name be lifted high in all things. It's
in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.