Sermon Nuggets Mon Sept 3 The Stolen Blessing
Verses :Gen 27
We had an interesting dilemma occur in the politics of India when I was there. There was a modern day Robin Hood, a criminal and his band of merry men who would give food and material goods to the poor, while robbing the rich. As a result in the woods and forests around the area people would protect him from arrest from the government officials. While I was in Bangalore he kidnapped a very popular movie star which started rioting in the streets. The people were faced with a dilemma. Shall we turn him in for kidnapping our movie star, or not because he provides us with goods? Because he does some good, shall we go ahead and let him continue to do evil?
We are all faced sooner or later not so much always as what is right or what is wrong, but what is the lesser of two evils. Does the ends justify the means? I know of evangelists who knowingly tell false stories in their sermons in order to convince people they need salvation. Since pe00ople get saved is it okay for him to tell false stories?
I know many Christians and churches that will be dishonest with people in order to raise and get money for various projects they think are important for the advancement of ministry. Some pastors will manipulate and misrepresent their beliefs in order to get a church call. I am sorry to say I know of some of our own conference denominational leaders who purposely mislead in order to be in positions of political power.
I wonder if they don’t take Jacob and Rebekah as their examples instead of Jesus Christ. I wonder if we aren’t more tempted to do good things in bad ways because it seems to work instead of the way God wants us to follow him.
When you study Romans 3 sometime make a close examination of verses 7-8. In those verses Paul condemns those who say, "Let us do evil, that good may come." He is saying that doing wrong does not make things right.
That is the setting for our story today from the Bible as we look at the interplay of deceit among Isaac’s family and the passing on of the blessing. We will look at the problems.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Sept 4 Our Will
Gen 27: 1-7 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.
The Problem with Seeking to accomplish Our wills
Let me remind you of three important incidents from Isaac’s life as we now begin to look at the life of Jacob. First, God's intent was that the older son, Esau, would serve the younger son, Jacob. Genesis 25:22-23
Secondly, Isaac loved Esau because of the venison he prepared, because he was a man’s man, because he was an outdoorsman and Isaac favored and loved Esau more than his twin brother Jacob. Likewise, Rebekah, the mother, loved Jacob, who became sort of a Mommies boy growing up. Favoritism breeds discontent in every family. But don’t be manipulated parents because every kid believes another is treated better than he or she is. That is part of human nature.
Thirdly, Esau despised his birthright and because of hunger sold it to Jacob. Jacob took advantage of Esau in order to gain the benefits of the birthright. Under God's plan, the birthright would be Jacob's. But Jacob went about getting it the wrong way.
Now recognizing those key elements we know that Isaac knew what God’s will was. Rebecah knew what God’s will was. God revealed the heart of Esau when he willingly gave up spiritual thing for a bowl of stew.
Isaac is old when this occurs. He is probably 137 years, the same age at which his half-brother Ishmael died. Here he is taking to bed, complaining of his coming death and willfully determining to pass the blessing to Esau his favorite son, in spite of Gods’ earlier announcement that it should go to Jacob. Isaac was conniving to keep secret from his wife and youngest that he would go against God’s will in order to accomplish Gods’ blessing by doing it his own way.
Normally the blessing would have been given before the entire family because it was, in reality, an oral will which legally determined the distribution of goods and responsibilities. In spiritual homes there were also prophecies given in certain incidences.
Normally the birthright belonged to the eldest son. This entitled him to a double share of the property in addition to the privilege of assuming the father’s position of headship in the family. For the descendants of Abraham it determined the one through whom the covenant blessings would be given. But here, Isaac and Esau wanted to do this official blessing without the presence of Rebekah and Jacob because what they were seeking to do was wanting God to bless their wills rather than obey God’s will.
Isaac wanted God to bless what he wanted, not to obey what God wanted with his eldest. Does that every happen to you? Do you pray asking God to bless your marriage without first seeking a godly spouse? Do you ask that God take care of your possessions without seeking if what you have is honoring to the Lord and being faithful steward of what He has allowed you to have? Some people pray more about getting a deer or a fish than seeking to win a neighbor or loved one to Jesus Christ. Some will ask prayer for their sports team to win and be faithful in attendance, but do very little to help in the church to assist in local ministry or seek to advance God’s Kingdom in missions? Do you want God to bless your will and wants, instead of obey his will and wants?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Sept 5 Our Ways
Gen 27: 11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied.
25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”
Seeking to Accomplish God’s will by Our ways
Esau knew that what his father was requesting was taken from him many years ago when he for a bowl of portage sold his birthright. Esau thought he could pull a quick one over on his brother and receive God’s blessing also. He went to get the wild game and cook the delicious meal and sneak one past his brother whom he didn’t like much anyway.
The final and compelling evidence of Esau’s disqualification for spiritual headship is his marriage to two Canaanite wives:And when Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Genesis 26:34). That was totally disdaining spiritual purity, Esau did not hesitate to intermarry with the Canaanites. God’s purposes for His people could never be achieved through such a person.
Have you noticed how no one in the household trusted anyone else? Isaac did not trust his wife, nor did she trust her husband. Jacob knew that his father would not trust him. Neither of the two sons trusted the other. And Rebekah is listening and watching through the keyhole as Isaac and Esau have a conversation. Rebekah is correct in clinging to the promise of God. Isaac was willfully rejecting that promise in favor of Esau, but she failed to trust God to bring the blessing to Jacob in his own time and His own way. So they were clearly illustration of doing God’s work in Man’s way instead of Gods’ way.
Rebekah could easily have met the job requirements for a position with the CIA. She served as a counter-spy in the service of her son. She posed as the faithful, loving wife, but under all of this she sought to further Jacob’s interests going against her own husband. Rebekah, not Jacob, was the true mastermind behind the mission of outwitting Isaac and obtaining his blessing for Jacob. The text tells us that she “was listening.”
When you stop to think about it, the plan was an incredible one. How could Jacob whose whole personality, disposition and physical appearance so different from Esau manage to convince his father that he was his older brother?
Jacob can be praised for at least valuing spiritual things more than his brother, But when you see how he operated I am disappointed. Now you might think he was only submitting to his mother’s scheme. But he was no child. He adds to the scheme by lying and dragging the name of God into the deception.
People will often do things and not do things on whether it works more than whether it is right. Too many Christians are of the mistaken belief that if it works then it must be of God. That is a lie. “If it works God must honor it.” Not if it isn’t right. Not if it is inconsistent with the Bible. Because some churches are full of people doesn’t not necessarily mean they are in God’s will.
Notice how the sin progressed the more they got involved. First, he clothed himself in the skin of a goat. Then they stole the robes of Esau. Jacob lied with his lips and betrayed his father with a kiss just like Judas.
Perhaps Jacob never intended this lie to become as big as it did, but nevertheless, it grew bigger and bigger with every statement he made. It began with the words “I am Esau your first-born” (verse 19). From this, lie began to be piled upon lie: “I have done as you told me” (verse 19); “eat of my game” (verse 19). In response to Isaac’s penetrating question, “Are you really my son Esau?,” Jacob replied, “I am” (verse 24). However, the lie that concerns me most is found in verse 20:And Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.”
Jacob invokes the name of God in his own deceit. That happens a lot. People will sound holy, all the while doing wrong. God never allows for unholy ways to further His own holy purposes. Jacob excused his sin by claiming that God was his partner. That is certainly using the name of God in vain.
We frequently say, “The Lord led me to …” when often it is something we have always wanted to do and we have finally worked up the courage (or the folly) to go ahead with it. “The Lord told me to …” “The Lord has blessed us by …” Be careful with such statements. They may be evidence of the same kind of thinking that caused Jacob to tell his father God had prospered him by giving him a goat rather than wild game. With what pious words we seek to conceal our sin!
Too often we think God needs our help to get His will done. He uses us to be sure, but how often do believers get ahead of God. We go places he hasn’t led us and make decisions we are sure are right without prayer. We have seen far to many churches apply church growth principles instead of dependence upon the power that comes from above.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Sept 6 – Results of Waywardness
Gen 27: 30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above.
40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
This is such a sad story as the results of seeking blessings turns into a broken and dysfunctional family. They each went their own way instead of the way of the Lord. They each sought to go a different route than how God would have go. But hindsight is better than foresight.
The first thing Rebekah should have done was to speak honestly and forthrightly to her husband about his contemplated sin. Under God he was suppose to bless Jacob, but instead wanted that birthright blessing to go to his eldest and favorite. Submission to authority never includes silence toward evil. We are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), even to those in authority over us (cf. Acts 16:35-40). Having fulfilled her responsibility to warn her husband of the consequences of the evil he had planned, Rebekah should have been content to leave the disposition of the matter to God, Who is all-powerful and all-wise. But her actions betrayed her lack of faith in the sovereignty of God.
If God is God, then let Him act on His own behalf, particularly in those times when we are unable to act in a way that is consistent with His Word.
The good that Rebekah tired to do was not accomplished. The blessing did go to Jacob which God would have arranged anyway, but the price was 20 years of unexpected exile for Jacob. Rebekah loved Jacob deeply, perhaps more than Isaac. She sought his success even with deception and deceit. But the consequence of her actions cost her separation from her son, which appears to have lasted for the rest of her life. So far as we can detect, once Jacob left for Haran he never saw his mother again. Rebekah underestimated the consequences of this sin, for she thought that Jacob would only need to be gone for a short time—until the death of Isaac. But Isaac lived for a good forty years more until he died.
Jacob faced the inevitable results of sin also. He experienced an alienation from his father. He now had a brother who despised him and who looked for the day when he could put him to death (verse 41).
One Sunday School teacher asked her class if there were any commandment in the Bible as to how to get along with your brothers and sister. One boy thought and answered, “I know..Thou shalt not kill.” Well that is exactly what Esau proposed to do in his mind. He was so embittered and Jacob suffered the threat of his life.
And worst of all, everything he had gained in a material way he was unable to enjoy because he had to leave it behind to flee for his life. Sin does not pay!
If you are not trusting in God and are trying to do your own will instead of Gods or even God willing your own way, learn that the plotting of sin never work out and the paths of disobedience always has consequences and broken relationships with God and others.
But do you also remember what happened in actuality with Jacob and Esau in later years. The blessing that Jacob stole said that he as to be lord over his brother and that the sons of his mother were to bow to him. Yet before Esau called Jacob his lord, Jacob thus saluted him in chp 32 and before Esau ever bowed to Jacob, Jacob bowed low before Esau Gen 33.
The of the conspiracy of Isaac and Esau are seen sooner. Isaac had sought to give all to his favorite son. Instead, he gave all to Jacob at Esau’s expense. Isaac set his heart on that which was contrary to the revealed will of God, and because of this his world came crashing down upon him when God’s purposes prevailed. Esau despised spiritual things and thus sold his destiny for a dinner. Then he attempted to get it back by renouncing his solemn oath and conspiring with his father to dishonestly regain what he had lost through his own profanity. Esau learned that there comes a point of no return in every man’s life when regret cannot bring a reversal of past decisions.
Indeed, all who have rejected Christ as Savior will live in eternal regret and remorse, but this will not overturn the consequences of living with their decision to live in independence from God .
Esau is taken by bitterness, Isaac by disappointment, Rebekah by loneliness, and Jacob as an exile. All because they want to do man’s will man’s way instead of God’s will God’s Way.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Sept 7 God’s Way
Verses- Heb 12: 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
Remembering God’s Way
After seeing mans way of trying to accomplish God’s work and promises, we have the opportunity to see the whole story as presented in the Scriptures. God redeems. God forgives. God keeps his promises. Even when mankind by his efforts fail and face consequences, God continues with his larger plan and program. Don’t lose sight of the redemption that will happen. God takes what is and carries out his will bringing about reconciliation to himself and eventually to one another.
God’s grace is evidenced in man’s sinfulness. The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the LORD, it will stand (Proverbs 19:21).
This is not to say that God makes man sin in order to achieve His purposes. Nor is it even to imply that God regards disobedience any less sinful because He turns evil into good. The sins of each party in this chapter are not glossed over or excused. No one has passed the responsibility for their actions on to God. No one can place the burden of guilt on God because of His decree. Sin is due to man’s depravity.
Sin always produces separation. It separates men from men, and men from God. Although he received the blessing, it did not make things right. Jacob had to flee for his life, and he ended up being deceived by his father-in-law. It wasn't until Jacob finally humbled himself before his brother that things were made right.
God had only two to pick from -Esau and Jacob, and which one would you pick? The one who was careless about Gods’ grace because he was too wrapped up in hunting and fishing, sports, and entertainment, or one who wanted the birthright so badly he would deceive, misrepresents, manipulate, and lie to get it?
Like so much of Scripture this true story is also a prophetic story that involves us all, not just Esau and Jacob. Heb 12:15-17 uses these brothers as an illustration of the salvation by grace giving by God. Although God is exceedingly gracious and is forever tempering justice with mercy there are nevertheless choice in life that cannot be undone and consequences of sin that are thereafter unavoidable. If you reject the grace of God in Christ now, who knows that you will ever again experience a spiritual melting heart and have an opportunity to turn to Him? If you reject the revealed Word of God and do what you know to be wrong, you may never have a chance again to make it right.
Tears mean nothing. Esau wept, but his tears were of frustrated selfishness and not repentance. For repentance is turning from sin to do what God desires, stop doing man’s will and mans way, but the will of God becomes the will of man and the ways of God become in obedience and faith the ways of man, therein his true blessing both in the end and in the means. God desires to show Himself faithful.
The point is Gods’ sovereign will is done in spite of our and any other persons’ opposition to it, or even misguided will or ways or wisdom. God accomplishes his will in spite of the workings of sinful people
Margie Haack writes in World Magazine of her story. Her husband’s grandmother died and his grandfather remarried later in life. The woman moved into his home sold her house, gave her money to her children. But when Grandfather died his wife quickly sold the house and had an auction to sell all the things including his stuff that should have gone to his children and grandchildren. It was at the auction that Margie and her husband bid to get some Red Wing Pottery, stoneware of the last century. It was an appreciation piece given to customer who traded at his great grandfather small town store. Now they were rare collectibles. And these were promised as an inheritance to them. But as they bid on their items an antique dealer with more money kept the price higher than they could afford and with deep hurt feelings they didn’t get any of the items which was their inheritance.
1 Peter 1:4 says, There is an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for us. No one can steal it. No one can trick us out of it. It is glorious All the pottery and all the material goods of Jacob or Esau are paltry, but the promise represents a greater inheritance from God that points to a family of God comprised now of Jew and Gentile, Black and white, rich and poor, and all the tongues of the earth. It was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and it is offered to you and to me to receive by faith. That is God’s will that is Gods’ way. That is grace even that overcomes all our sin.
Is your name written down to receive this inheritance from above? We’ve seen the problems of men doing things mans’ way. Now go God’s way and see how He works in your life and in he world.
Pastor Dale
