Getting the Basics Right
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What You Meant for Evil, God Meant for Good
Transcript
It's good to see you all this morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Genesis chapter 50. I don't know if you know this, that is the last chapter in the book of Genesis. So starting next week, we will begin back in the book of Genesis because we felt there was a few things we missed. No, I'm just messing with y'all. We will be moving on to other things.
I think it's been good for us to walk through Genesis and I'm glad we're going to be wrapping it up. When my wife and I first got married, we rented a little house in Clinton, South Carolina. I don't know if you're from Clinton. You have to pronounce it Clinton, but I'm not from Clinton, so I will say it correctly. We rented a house in Clinton, South Carolina and we lived on a road called Teakwood Drive, I think. I know it was Teakwood.
And the lady who we were renting the house from had a man that would come by. It was an older gentleman who would come by and help do some work around the house. And he was there repairing something and he had whittled a, I believe it was a dog. I don't exactly remember what it was, but it was a small little figure. And he handed it to me and he was saying, I whittled this. And I was like, man, that's, this is neat.
Like, this is a cool whittled thing. And he started telling me it was made out of teakwood. And he said, now teakwood is one of the strongest woods that exists. And I was like, cool. And I'm holding it. And so when he told me it was really strong wood, all I did was just kind of test that.
And I snapped it in half. And so I broke it and then just stuck it back together real quick. And just stood there like that. Now I'm having a hard time paying attention to the conversation because I'm having to think through, this is terrible. I've made a huge mistake. When someone hands you something they've whittled, you don't break it.
This is like a, you know, feels like a social norm has just been broken, you know. So I'm sitting there holding it. And he's just going on and on about how strong teakwood is, how they use it to build ships, how, you know, it's practically indestructible. I think he was saying stuff like if Superman fought a teakwood tree, the teakwood tree would win. He didn't. But it just seemed like he went for a really long time about how strong teakwood was.
And then when he finished, I said, well, that is really cool. I'm sorry I broke this. And I just handed it back to him in two pieces. You know, I had the option of like pretending he had offended me and throwing it on the ground or just like fumbling the hand off. But I think it was just I just had to own it.
So I just was like, this is broken. And he was like, oh. And I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm apparently an idiot and should not have done what I did. And so I just, you know, he took it well. So that in general is how the book of Genesis starts.
That's how the Bible starts. That's the way it feels. God in chapters one and two creates this beautiful world. And it repeatedly says, it's good. It's good. It's good.
It's good. It's very good. And in chapter three, he makes the, in chapter one and two, he makes the pinnacle of his creation, humanity. And he hands it over to humanity, puts them in a garden. And in chapter three, they walk over and go, yeah, we broke it. We, I don't know.
We were here for, it seems like 45 seconds. And now all the stuff you made is going to be terrible. That's really the way it feels. We start off the book of Genesis and they, it feels like immediately rebel against God. They decide that their wisdom is greater than his. They decide that they cherish something more than him.
So that when it comes down to, do we want to obey or disobey? They, they so lower the value of God that they choose something else and they rebel. And when they do, sin enters the world and everything gets messed up. If we'll remember at the beginning of Genesis, when we were reading this, everything was good. Everything was beautiful. They were in a garden.
The world was going to respond well to them. They were going to have a good relationship with creation. They were going to have a good relationship with each other. Genesis two says they were naked and not ashamed. We have a hard time being naked by ourselves and not ashamed. They were naked together.
This was just the thing that was going to happen. They weren't going to feel shame. They weren't going to feel guilt. And as soon as they sin, they noticed they're naked. They feel shame. They hide, they cover themselves.
And from that point on, everything is broken. And it turns very badly, very quickly. We, and the question that we have from the, from the onset of Genesis is what is God going to do? How is God going to respond? What is he going to do with sin? What is he going to do with this creation now that is marvelous in?
What is he going to do with sinners? How does he remain holy? How does he remain good? How does he, how does he respond? Is he just going to start over? Is he just going to destroy humanity and let animals have a messed up planet?
Is he just, what's he going to do? That's the kind of the question we have is how's, how's he going to respond to sin? How's he going to respond to sinners? What's he going to do? We see in Noah, the Noah story, we see that it says Noah was righteous. The New Testament is later going to tell us that that was through faith, that he inherited righteousness through faith.
But Noah was righteous and so God kills everybody on earth who had gotten extremely evil extremely quickly. Like we jumped some generations to get to Noah, but it says the world just spiraled. We suddenly have murder, hatred. As we read through Genesis, it's like a highlight reel of human sin and debauchery, incest, lust, sexual assault. It, I mean, I felt like multiple times as we were walking through the book of Genesis, we would just have to be like, turn to Genesis chapter 30. It's bad again.
Y'all are used to being sad, right? Because that's what we're going to talk more about. Like that's kind of what Genesis has been. And so he, he kills all of humanity and you go, okay, here's our answer. He's going to get rid of all the bad people, but we'll have the righteous people. He's reset it.
Noah gets off the boat, immediately gets drunk, gets naked. His son sees it, doesn't honor his father, ends up getting cursed. And then God actually says, basically when they're walking off the boat, I'm not going to kill everybody again, even though they're still evil. And you want to be like, wait, wait, wait, I thought you kept the good guy. He's like, yeah, even our good guys are the worst. It seems like the book of Genesis goes out of its way to highlight how terrible the heroes are.
We're like, we got Abraham. Okay. Like the first thing we see Abraham do is walk into a city and he pauses. He's walking in with his wife and she's like, oh, this is a nice city. He's like, yeah, hold up. We get in there.
I'm going to need you to tell them you're my sister. She's like, why? And he's like, because you're cute and I'm a coward. So say you're my sister. And then I will actually just help you marry people when we get in here. That goes terribly.
God helps them. And then the next time they go to another city, Abraham's like, you remember my bad plan from before? And she's like, yeah. And he's like, all right, round two. It moves from Abraham to Isaac. And we think, okay, well, maybe Isaac will have some sense.
No, does some of the same things. It moves from Isaac to Jacob. And Jacob starts off the first half of his story. He just seems like a scoundrel. He does some things okay. But it's like the book of Genesis is going out of its way to highlight these people are sinful.
Even this legacy, this line, this promise of maybe this will work out. That's one of the things we see in the garden is as soon as it goes bad, God steps in and basically says, I promise sin won't win. The serpent had come in, had lied to Eve, had deceived her. Adam had willfully gone along with it, passively at first and willfully afterwards. And God comes in, he curses them, tells them what's going to happen, how the world's going to be messed up now. He kicks them out of the garden.
And he says, though, there's going to be one who comes. Eventually, the serpent won't win, sin won't win. We read through Genesis. It looks like sin's winning. Because every time it steps in, everything gets marred, everything gets broken. Every time someone whittles a beautiful dog, sin snaps it in half.
It's the way it feels. And we can try to glue it back together, we can try to piece it back together, but it's not going to be the same. And that's what we've been walking through. When we get to Genesis 50, we've seen some of the promises fulfilled. We've seen this family line continue. We've seen all the world be blessed.
That's one of the things he told Abraham. I'll make you into a great nation, and through you I'll bless all the world. We've seen a little bit of that. His nation's getting bigger. The 12 tribes are beginning to grow. And through Joseph, the world, the local world there, is blessed.
And you might would say, well, that's the finalized version of this. You read on, and we're going to see that that's not the finalized version, but it is a small picture. But in Genesis chapter 50, we're going to get the answer we've been asking. The answer to the question we've been asking. What is God going to do with sin? How is he going to fix this problem?
Is he going to have to get rid of sinners to do it? And he gives an answer for the book of Genesis that ultimately we'll find is an answer for the entire Bible and for the entire world. For his answer to sin. So we're going to read that in Genesis, and that's where we'll finish out. As Genesis finishes out, kind of letting us see how this works and what God is going to do. So let's pray.
God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how good you are to us. And we pray that we would see the beauty in the reality of how you respond to sin and to sinners. As we finish up the book of Genesis. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.
Genesis 49 ends with the death of Jacob. Chapter 50, verse 1. Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
Forty days were required for it. For that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. Okay, so you would... That rivals, this is almost how long you would weep and mourn for a pharaoh. So Jacob gets a lot of respect and honor because his son is second in command over Egypt.
And so they mourn for him for seventy days. And we're going to see that this mourning continues. It says, When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh saying, My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan. There shall you bury me. Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father.
Then I will return. And Pharaoh answered, Go up and bury your father as he made you swear. So Joseph went up to bury his father. And with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, So the elders of the household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers and his father's household, only their children and their flocks and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites saw the mourning of the threshing floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians. Therefore, the place was named Abel-Misraim. It is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them.
For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. So they go, they travel, and they bury Jacob in the cave that they bought from Ephron the Hittite. They say this every time it's mentioned because they want to make it really clear why they own the land, where it is, who has it. And they mourn for him with a great mourning.
And this is one of the things that culturally I think we have lost. That we don't know how to mourn well. That we try to kind of move on quickly from mourning and we feel like we ought to be past things that honestly we cannot move quickly past. And so a lot of times people will feel like they're still in mourning but everybody else has moved on. But this actually was 70 days where the whole nation mourned.
And then even when they got there they did another 7 days of it. That there is time for and seasons for us to just be sad. And that's okay. And that's what they do. And they greatly honor Jacob. And I'm sorry I've been losing my voice all week.
So I will preach as long as the Lord lets me. And then we may just end in the middle of this sermon. We'll have to see. I'm just kidding. I'll jump to the end. We're going to talk about Jesus.
Surprise. Alright. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead. They said it may be that Joseph will hate us. And pay us back for the evil that we did to him. Okay so this moment in the lives of Joseph's brothers triggers for them their guilt.
Everything had been going fine. They'd been there for 17 years. Things seemed okay. Their dad dies. And suddenly they're like uh huh. I don't know who brought it up.
But at some point in the brother meeting that Joseph wasn't in. And I'm guessing Benjamin wasn't in. They were like hey. Think back. Remember that time. That we threw Joseph in a pit.
Told our dad he was dead. And then decided not to murder him. I think that was the highlight of this. But we did sell him into slavery into Egypt. And then do you remember how we were all shocked when he's in charge of Egypt now? Because that's not how usually the route to being in charge of Egypt doesn't usually go foreign slave to second in command.
Yeah. So you think he's still mad about that? They get together and they're basically like. It feels like maybe he was just being nice to us because dad was here. Because he remembered how upset dad was when we killed him technically. Maybe he thought dad would be upset with him if he killed all of us.
But now that dad's not here. Maybe. Do you think maybe he's going to do that? But don't worry guys. They have a plan. So verse 16.
They sent a message to Joseph saying. Your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph. Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin. Because they did evil to you. And now.
Please forgive the transgressions of the servants of God. Of the God of your father. All right. Before dad died. He told us. To tell you.
To forgive us. We don't know why he didn't tell you. I think it's because he thought it would mean more. Coming from him to us to you. Than just from him to you. And he totally said this.
This is real. Benjamin knows about it. But I wouldn't ask Benjamin about it. Because he'd be his feelings would be hurt if it was brought up. Even if this was just because you know he's sad. So just just know dad said this.
And for you to go ahead and forgive us. And also. Will you will you go ahead and forgive us? Yours truly. Your 12 brothers. Check.
Yes or no. Waiting patiently in Goshen. Like I don't. This. This is the note they send. Says this.
Joseph. Wept. When they spoke to him. He just. He just cries. And he says.
His brothers also came. So this is the messengers brought this. And he just. He just weeps. Because of the brokenness still in this relationship. And his.
Brothers also came to him. And fell down before him. And said. Behold. We are your servants. But Joseph said to them.
Do not fear. For am I in the place of God? He's basically saying. Like. I. I don't get to judge y'all.
It is not my job. To judge. And to condemn. And to decide what your fate is. It is not my job. To.
To weigh your hearts. To know whether you're repentant. It is not my job. I got. It's not. Not my role.
Don't fear. I don't. I don't get to do that. I don't get to bring the hammer down on you. It's not my position. It's a very humble spot.
For the second in command of Egypt. Who absolutely could do what he wanted to. With his brothers. And who had absolutely been wrong. He just says. That's not.
It's not my role. As for you. You meant evil against me. But God meant it for good. To bring it about. That many people should be kept alive.
As they are. Today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them. And spoke kindly to them.
Verse 22. So Joseph remained in Egypt. He and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children. Of the third generation.
The children also of Machir. The son of Manasseh. Were counted as Joseph's own. And Joseph said to his brothers. I'm about to die. But God will visit you.
And bring you up out of the land. Out of this land. Into the land that he swore to Abraham. And Isaac. And Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel.
Swear saying. God will surely visit you. And you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died. Being 110 years old. They embalmed him.
And he was put in a coffin. In Egypt. That is the end of the book of Genesis. It will move on from there. 400 years. And we will have the Exodus.
That would walk through. We're not going into that book next. But that is what would happen. If you read this. In the order it comes in the text. So Joseph dies.
And he ends by making them promise. Making basically the nation of Israel promise. When y'all leave. You're taking me with you. And he believes in the promises. That have been made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And he says. My bones will be here. I need y'all to grab those. And tow them on out. Which had to be fun at the Exodus. When they were like.
Alright we're leaving. Also. There was a guy who was super in charge here. About 400 years ago. He's buried in one of these really fancy crypts. We're going to need you to go get that for us.
Because we have to take him with us. And guess what? The Egyptians said. Sure. Because at that point. God had put Egypt in a headlock.
And been doing what he wanted to with him. They do take his bones with him when they leave. So. Go back though. Because this is the answer given in Genesis. The key kind of climactic point here.
Was in verse 20. We'll have it on the screen as well. Says this. As for you. You meant evil against me. But God meant it for good.
To bring it about that many people should be kept alive. As they are today. That's the answer in Genesis. Jesus. Now. Just understanding how to read your Bible.
That is a thing. That Joseph says. It's not. Prophetic word. Word of the Lord. There are certain places in the prophets.
Where it says. Thus says the Lord. And we take that as something God says. When you're reading these stories. You just have to understand. This is a thing Joseph says.
And so. You have to then look and see. It's actually the way the book of Genesis runs. It's kind of this point. As the summation of what's going on. We're also.
Joseph is a trusted source. To speak on behalf of God. And. The rest of the Bible carries this out. So you cannot always go to a place.
Where someone just says a thing in the Bible. And go boom. Let's build some amazing theology off of this. But you can here. Because it's carried out and displayed. This is what God does.
So. What you meant for evil. God meant for good. That word meant means a lot here. Joseph's brothers meant. To harm Joseph.
They meant to destroy him. They meant to get rid of him. They meant to make some sweet cash. Off of him. And to never see him again. They meant evil.
They purposed it. They willed it. That was their desire. And then he says. But God.
Meant. Purposed it. Willed it. Desired it. For. Good.
We would be inclined. To think. That when everything. Turned to evil. And when everything. Gets bad.
And when everything. Is broken. Our question is. How is God. Going to respond. As if he's having to wait.
To see what happens. And then make a plan. But that is not what that says. What they meant. That the exact moment. That human actors.
Who are free. And choosing evil. When they were exactly. That moment. Were at work. To do harm.
God was in that moment. Through their evil. Flipping it. And meaning it. Purposing it. Willing it.
For good. Are they responsible. For what they did. Yes. Is God bigger. And more capable.
Than them. Yes. And did he control it. And work it out. For something good. Yes.
Did he respond. Nope. He was in it. At the beginning. Psalm 105. Says this as well.
It says. When he summoned. A famine. On the land. And broke. All supply of bread.
Meaning that God. Brought about a calamity. He. Had sent a man. Ahead of them. Joseph.
Who was sold. As a slave. All right. Was the selling. Joseph. As a slave.
Evil. Yes. Should they have done that. No. Was God. At work.
In that. To bring something. About. That he had planned. To bring about. Good.
That was actually. Better. Than what would have happened. Otherwise. Yes. How does that work?
God is amazing. And humans are evil. But God's. Amazingness. And goodness. Outweighs that.
Outshines that. And he works in the middle of this. What it doesn't say was. When a famine. Came on the land. God looked around.
And said. Oh. I need to do something. Egypt's in trouble. Hebrew slave. I talked to the Hebrews.
I used to talk to this guy's daddy. Found one. I'll talk to him. Now let me figure out. How to get him. Into the palace.
It's not what he did. It's not what he did. Potiphar's wife. Lies about Joseph. Gets him arrested. She accuses him.
Sexual assault. She is believed. Joseph is not. He gets arrested. Should she have done that. No.
Was it evil. Yes. But the next line. In the scriptures was. But God was with him.
And that God was working in this. The whole time. To eventually. Elevate him to the palace. So that Joseph could say.
Hey. Y'all took your best shot. And you meant it for evil. And God in the midst of that. Meant it for good. And he saved a bunch of lives.
Through it. And it's not my job. To bring. Be judgment on y'all. It's my job. To do what God wants me to.
And we're okay. Now. The immediate response to that. As we think through that. Is. I.
I want to go. Time out. Time out. Time out. Time out. Time out.
Time out. Time out. Time out. Part of me is much more okay. With God hanging back. People do some evil stuff.
Like we. Shatter the glass. And then God goes. Right. Pause. Shattered glass.
I'm going to make a mosaic. It's going to be beautiful. Like he takes what's already broken. And he fixes it. And he makes something nice out of it. Part of me is a little bit more okay with that.
But as soon as you say. No. No. No. When you were swinging the hammer. To shatter the glass.
God was also with you. Swinging the hammer. Because he had this plan. For this beautiful mosaic. As soon as they're like. Lined up together.
And you're meaning something. And he's meaning something. In the same act. And the act is evil. I suddenly have some questions. Pause.
Hold on. Does God sin? Biblical. Biblical answer. No. Does God cause people to sin?
Biblical answer. No. He doesn't cause or tempt people to sin. He's not. In the midst of sin. Does he mean and purpose.
And will it for something else? Yes. Yes. And those are some fine lines. The other question I have is. Hold on a second.
How can God will. In something evil. And in something broken. How can he will sin? Like doesn't. I thought God's will was always good things.
Like when we pray. May your will be done. Aren't we praying. May good things happen. Not. May evil things happen.
That'll ultimately be better. That's not really. Is that what we're. Like what is going on there? C.S. Lewis helped me a little bit.
With this conceptually. And I'm going to give you the. My paraphrased version of that. That you can have two wills. At the same time. One being.
Kind of a generic will. One being your greater will. The way he explains this is. If you have children. And they have a room. It is your will.
That that room be clean. But you may at some point. Look at your children and say. I am no longer cleaning your room. You are in charge of cleaning your room. And he said.
The moment. That it is dark. And you walk in the room. And you step on a Lego. He didn't say Lego. He said something else.
But Lego is a better example. Because it's excruciatingly painful. The moment you step on a Lego. That was both inside. And outside of your will. It was outside of your will.
In that you will the room to be clean. You desire for the room to be clean. But it was inside your will. As your greater will. Had actually allowed that to happen. Because you are no longer.
Stepping in. You have willed it. That your children would clean the room. Now. You can't push that super far. Into theological things.
But it gives us an example. Of how you can have two wills. One greater than the other. That you can have. At one moment. Your desire.
Is not. That your children would grow up in a house. Where their room was always clean. Your desire is that your children. Would grow up. So that they could have their own house one day.
And keep it clean. Or. Step on all the Legos they want. You don't care at that point. But you want them to get out of your house.
And so you got to take some steps. That's what he's saying. That you can have two wills. So it is God's will that we not sin. But it's also his will.
That we be moral agents. That have some choice. And so he. Allows sin. And he allows evil. And some of us want to go.
Okay well that's where it stops. But no. God does something more beautiful on top of that. Even in the midst of our evil and sin. He's walking right along. And just turn it into something good.
So at first. This sounds not comforting at all. When you are facing evil. Because you want God to be on your team. And somehow. Responding with you to the evil that's going on.
You want him to be sympathetic. But the problem is. Now as soon as you say this. You go wait wait wait wait wait. He's somehow ordained. He's somehow worked in this calamity.
The reality is. The human actors are still. Culpable for what they did. And will be held accountable for it. But the beauty is now.
That we know. That has not left God's control. And that he will work things towards good. And towards an ultimate more beautiful will. And all the fine details of that. The Bible doesn't give us.
But what we understand is that God is good. And so you immediately then. Now the question becomes. Okay well maybe he's not good. Because if you've heard this. This people have posed this.
As kind of a thing for a long time. They'll say. Either God is in control. Or he's good. But he can't be both.
And the reason he can't be both. Is because there's a lot of evil. Terrible wicked things that happen. So either he's in control. And he works in all these terrible things. But then he's not good.
Because he lets terrible things happen. Or he's good. He's just not in control. He's just hurting right alongside of us. He's just weeping with us. But he has no control over.
He can't stop evil. The answer is. He is in control. And he is good. And he has something better. That he's actually bigger than that conceptual framework.
He's big enough to be in control. Big enough to be good. And big enough to have a beautiful reason. For all the evil that we face. Even when we can't see it. And the reason we know that.
The linchpin for that. Is the cross. That he does love us. And that his plan is bigger. Because none of us would have come up with the cross. We can come up with a system.
Where God's big. And in control. But then he'd have to make everything nice. That's our system. Or God's loving. He's really nice.
But he's not in control. But he's with us. And he cares about us. When bad things happen. He's in your corner. He's with you.
But no. God is in control. And he is big. And so now we have a huge problem. And none of us would have come up with the cross. But that's his answer.
That what we meant for evil. He means for good. Acts 2 says almost that. Just lays this out. It shows us this picture. This is Peter preaching the very first sermon.
It says this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up. Loosing the pains of death. Because it was not possible for him to be held by it. This is not a main point of this sermon.
But I love the back half of that verse. Y'all can kill him if you want. But death cannot hold him. It's not possible. So he rose back up.
Because it was not possible for him to be held by death. When Jesus died, death suddenly became very overwhelmed. And was like, I just... Nah. It's a bit too much. And so, again, not a main point.
Look back at the first part. It says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan. Plan. Meaning, we're going to do this. Definite. Meaning, only going to do this.
Not doing something else. Those are pretty simple words. They've been over-explained to you now. And foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge means knowledge you had beforehand. God being the one who was working out this definite plan that he had a plan for beforehand.
You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Now, immediately, my brain can't hold that. They're lawless. Out of control. This is complete and utter chaos. Yes?
Yes. They are actively defying God. Yes? Yes. It is humans killing God. That is not inside of his will.
This is not his desire for people. That we would rebel against him. That we would hate him. John says that we hated the light. That God, Jesus shows up as the light, but the darkness does not love the light. The darkness hates the light.
You know how you feel when you are asleep and someone comes in and turns the light on. That is how humanity responds to Jesus. We hate it. It is, it does not sit well with us. You remember how to lay in your bed and try to not want to like assault your mom for doing that or whatever. That was the response of humanity to Jesus.
Jesus showed up and he just walked around shining in everybody's faces and we're sinful and sick. And we said, quit. Go home. So much so that eventually we got together, we plotted and we killed him. Lawlessly hatred, murder. Definitive foreknowledge of God.
His plan all along. Are they culpable for what they did? Yes. Should they repent? Was that sin? Yes.
Was God going to let sin win? No. God had no desire to destroy the whole world and just eliminate what he had done. He had the desire to step into the world and through evil means to bring about something so much more beautiful and so much better that could have never happened had this not happened. That it's at that exact moment that Jesus is redeeming and working on our behalf. That he is most gloriously displayed.
And that God's plan is most beautifully shown. And so what happened in the Joseph story? He goes to the palace. All of a sudden we have a guy who can interpret dreams. He goes through. He saves this whole place.
His brothers show up. And if you've been reading it, you're like, oh, oh, oh. This were the dreams he had when he was a kid. See, his brother's bowing to him. And you're like, oh, God knew the whole time? We in movies, one of the things that we can kind of contrive is we can contrive a character, a person who would do a lot of good things for an evil purpose.
You watch a movie and there's one of the good guys. And then finally at the end, you find out they're the bad guy. And if they've done it really well, you're shocked and hurt and mad. Because he's like, I trusted you. I thought you were the good guy. And then you see, oh, that's why they were generous.
Oh, that's why they were being a good friend. They weren't being a good friend. It just seemed like it. Like that's, you walk back through the story. And God's a level up above that because he's actually able to, in the free actions of other humans, bring about his sovereign will. How does that work?
I don't know. But it's beautiful and encouraging and hope-filled that in the middle of this mess where people are harming us, because they are. In the middle of the sin, in the middle of the worst brokenness we ever face, God in his sovereignty is walking it towards something that is so much more beautiful, so much more glorious, so much more hope-filled. Than we could have ever imagined. And sin won't win. That's the gospel.
That's the story that's told to us in Genesis where we get this little peek at it in the story of Joseph. And ultimately that's the story that unfolds in Christ. It's the same thing the disciples pray in Acts 4. They say, they quote an Old Testament passage. They say, why did the Gentiles rage? Meaning, internally have hatred.
And the people's plot in vain. That means not just like this emotional response, but mentally they were at work to cause harm. It says, the kings of the earth set themselves against the rulers, were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. And they say, for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Basically everybody.
Everybody who could have been involved was involved. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. In the midst of human depravity and sin, God was at work for something more beautiful. That we are sinners and we will be held accountable and culpable for the things that we do. But God has not handed over the course of events and the course of human history to humans.
So he said, okay, there's going to be sin, there's going to be brokenness, there's going to be murder, and there's going to be hatred. And I'm going to step into the timeline and I'm going to take it all on myself. Sin and hatred, rebellion, murder, brokenness, all of it. I'm going to take it, I'm going to die for it, and I'm going to bring hope in it. And I'm going to turn everything they mean for evil, I'm going to mean it for good. And that's what he does on the cross.
That's what Romans 8, 28 says. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. All things. And immediately we want to say, even this? The answer is yes.
If you belong to Christ, then he will turn it good. And good isn't even the word better. Better than it could have ever been. And this is beyond human reckoning. All we can think is, can he fix the problem? And his answer is, I'm going to do more than that.
Is he just a first responder? No. He's more sovereign and more in control than that. Should they have done what they did? No. Was it sin?
Yes. Was that in God's will? No. But his ultimate will and his purpose will override that and bring about something good and glorious. And that brings hope to us in our brokenness. If we embrace that, we're embracing Christ.
Who did not just respond to sin, but before the world began, chose those in him whom he would save. Because he knew that sin was coming and he predetermined to pay for it. He predetermined to have it met out on him in the cross. So at the moment of man's most self-glorification, God gets the most glory. That when we've rallied together to crucify God, he ultimately turns it on its head. He means good for it.
In our utter brokenness and despair, he brings about unending hope. When death seems like it wins, resurrection walks out of the grave. That Jesus, the author of life, could not be held by death. When hatred looks like it is at its peak, God is displaying his most gracious love. That in all the things that look the most chaotic, God's definitive plan was at work. That when everything seemed to be broken beyond repair, God was creating and building something so much more beautiful than could have ever been.
This is the hope of the gospel and this is the reality of the life for a Christian. That when things seem out of control because of sin, they are not. That our hope is held sure because Jesus Christ has proven to us that all that was meant for evil, he will mean for good and he will bring about something good. And that he can be trusted. We want to say, well does that mean he doesn't love us? Jesus Christ loves us so much that he joins us.
That he takes the brunt of it on himself. I would be inclined to say that it would mean God is not loving were it not for the cross. But he loved us so much he gave his own life and he gave his own son that we might know that we are loved. That he joins us in the middle of this. He chooses in his wisdom not to just keep us from it or to keep it from us. He chooses in his wisdom to work what was meant for evil, for him to mean it for good, and for him to prove to us that he can do this and that he does love us in the cross.
And that is our hope. That is the answer in Genesis and that is the hope given to us in the gospel. That he does love us because he joins us and he takes the brunt of this on himself. That in our rejection of God he was adopting us. That in our pride he was displaying overwhelming humility. The very last book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
There is a hobbit named Sam and the hobbit is just like a half a person with furry feet. I mean like a whole person but like half size. So not just like a little legs down. That would be weird. Has arms and a face and stuff. There is a hobbit named Sam.
In the first book they are all together on this journey and then the team gets broken up. The way the team gets broken up is Gandalf who is a wizard dies fighting a big fire monster thing. It is kind of a sad ending to the book. But good for Gandalf. He was defending his team. Then they break up and Sam and Frodo who is another hobbit go off.
They have to get rid of this ring. Throw in a fire. To stop evil. Everything is getting worse. Everything is broken. Everything is terrible.
And they eventually do it. They stop evil. They come back. And Sam sees Gandalf. And he is excited. Because the last time he saw Gandalf, Gandalf was dead.
So Sam says to him, this is the quote from the book, he says, I thought you were dead. But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? So he sees the risen Gandalf and he says, I thought you were dead. Of course, I thought it was over for me. Does this mean everything that's sad?
Now that everything's gone good again. Now that everything's, all the curse has been broken. The evil has been broken. Does that mean that everything sad is going to become untrue? And Tim Keller, who's a pastor in New York and who loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy, quotes this in one of his books. And he says, the answer of Christianity to that question is yes.
Everything sad is going to come untrue. And it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost. He says, embracing the doctrine that Jesus Christ joined us in humanity and died for us on the cross. He says, this doctrine, embracing this idea, brings a profound consolation in the face of suffering. The doctrine of the resurrection can instill in us with a powerful hope, can instill us with a powerful hope. It promises that we will get the life we most long for, but it will be an infinitely more glorious world than if there had never been the need for bravery, endurance, sacrifice, and salvation.
That when sin entered the world and when sin entered your story, because Jesus also entered the world and also entered our story, he becomes more glorious, more beautiful, and the hope of what he does for us through the cross becomes infinitely more precious and is held secure in the sovereign hand of God, who is not in response to sin doing anything, but who is, by his definite plan, bringing about a most glorious good for his glorious name. The band's going to come back up. We are going to, as a church family, take communion, which is where we celebrate, where we remember that Jesus Christ took on human form, joined us in our weakness, and died in our place. That his body was broken, that his blood was shed, that the most heinous of things happened to our Savior, and that he, like Joseph, says to us, do not fear.
What you meant for evil, in all your sin, in all your rebellion, and what you meant for evil, in murdering and crucifying me, God, I, meant for good. To bring about that many might be saved, as they are at this day. That Jesus, through the cross, brings redemption, so that God does not just destroy sin and sinners, but he joins us, becomes our sin, and gives us hope. And that all along the way, he's taking what others mean for evil, and it is evil, but he's not letting that win the day. That he's meaning it for good, and that he'll bring about something more glorious than could have ever been.
And in the moments of our weakness and brokenness, and when we stand staring face to face with our own evil, and staring face to face with the evil of others, lean into the cross. Trust in Jesus. That evil should not have happened. It was not his desire that we would face all this sin, but he will not let it win. He has a greater will that rises above it, that he might redeem sinners, and that he might bring life and hope. And that he's going to do something more glorious in it.
He loves us so much that he died for us. We can walk with him through anything. That's the answer in Genesis. That's the answer in the gospel. And that's the hope for our souls, our weary souls right now, as we stare into the face of evil. That we get to repent of our own sin, and that he says, do not fear, and he offers grace and forgiveness to us, and that we get to face the sin of others with hope that he is in control, and that he brings about good.
Bow your heads as we begin to pray. I want us to consider the cross prior to taking communion, that we might remember that Jesus suffered for us, that he has joined us, and that he has a definite plan to bring about good, so that we can trust him when everything seems most lawless, and most chaotic, when evil seems like it's winning. So God, we pray that right now, that you would nourish our souls, that you would offer your strength, in place of our weakness, that we would offer your hope, in place of our fear, and that we might trust, your good, sovereign control, and that we might feel, the warmth of your love, shining from the cross, in the face of your son. May we walk away from our sin, may we be quick to repent, knowing at what cost, our forgiveness comes.
And may we take communion, remembering, your glory, and the unending hope, and steadfast love, given to us, in the glorious person, and work of Jesus. Amen.
Blessing
Transcript
It's good to see y'all this morning. Grab your Bibles and go to Genesis chapter 48. We're on chapter 48 and 49 today. There are 50 chapters in Genesis. We have been walking through the book of Genesis. I believe this is our 30th week in Genesis.
Next week will be our 31st and then we will be done. When I was learning, studying, looking into church planting and, you know, you go to conferences, you hear people. One of the things they tell you is to not do really long sermon series. You keep it short. You keep it punchy. You keep people interested.
And we were like, what if we just read the Bible and talked about how good Jesus was? And that's been our plan. And so that's what we're going to do today. We're picking back up in chapter 48. I think we've done pretty well if we did 50 chapters in about 30 weeks. I think we were moving, but we're trying to learn our Bibles and grow together.
And so I've been studying through this. I, when I was growing up, my dad used to every morning, he would go out on our front porch and he would chain smoke. And he would smoke a pack or two in the morning, depending on how much time he had. And he would drink a two liter Diet Mountain Dew. And I don't know if he drank the whole thing, but that's what he did. He walked out with a two liter Diet Mountain Dew and packs of cigarettes.
And he would smoke and pace and talk on the phone and drink Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew. So I grew up doing what he did, drinking non-refrigerated Diet Mountain Dew. I would just, I was like three or four, would be pouring it into a big thing and just drink Diet Mountain Dew all the time. But he would pay us $2 per solo cup of cigarette butts. So you could go out around our front porch and if you'd fill up a solo cup with cigarette butts, he would pay you $2 for that.
Now I know when I tell stories to our church family, there are some people here who, you grew up a little bit fancier maybe. And I know that sometimes you judge me when I tell stories like this. And I just wanted to begin by saying, I forgive you. And I also know the rest of our church family. And remember how your dad used to chain smoke on the front porch? Well, I used to make money off of it.
My dad paid us and it actually worked out pretty well because when we were in like elementary school, you know, you'd want something. And he would say, well, you know how to make money. And he had two ways that were always there for us was picking up cigarette butts or picking up rocks in the backyard in a big bucket. Cigarette butts was usually easier. So that's what we went with.
And so we would fill up solo cups with cigarette butts. We would earn money. And then what I would do with that when I was in elementary school is we had a magazine. We have these Lego catalogs. And I would flip through and pick in a catalog what we wanted. I would show it to my mom.
I would hand her money. She would pick up a phone that had a cord that attached it to our wall. She would pick it up. She would call them. She would, during business hours, on a work day, she would call them, tell them what we wanted, tell them the number, tell them her credit card over the phone. And then she would hang up the phone and she would say, okay, it'll be here in 7 to 14 business days.
And I'd be like, sweet. And I'd be like, kind of here. And she'd say, no, business days. And I'd be like, what on earth? What are these extra days added in here? This isn't 7 to 14 days.
If I ran the Lego company, every day would be business day. You know what I'm saying? But so the first seven days were hard on an eight-year-old. It was difficult to wait seven days. The next seven business days were excruciating. Because it could show up any day.
And it wouldn't. And so you had waited all this time. You had picked up countless cigarette butts. You had worked, enslaved, waited for this. And then it would come. It would finally come.
And it would be the most amazing thing that ever happened. You would be on this, like, Lego high. I would go up. We had a room that we had all these Legos built in. And you would build your Lego stuff. And it would be so exciting.
And then eventually that would kind of fade. And you'd have to do this whole process again where you'd work really hard. And then you'd just kind of hope and wait. And eventually my younger brother came into our Lego room and destroyed everything. And that was the end of Legos for us. He just ruined everything.
And that actually was a good picture of what life would feel like for me. It'd work really hard. Hoping and longing for something. Looking forward to something. And then, you know, someone would come along and ruin it. Sometimes it was me.
Sometimes it was just circumstances. But something eventually would make it kind of fade or not last or be terrible. Or you'd move on to something else. And for most of us, that's what life looks like. We work and we hope and we dream for something. And we're kind of always kind of setting our sights on something in the future.
And if I could just get to that, then I'll be okay. If I could just get past this, then I'll be okay. One of the things that we wouldn't necessarily put these words to it. But we are searching for blessing or blessedness. Now, like I said, you wouldn't put those words to it. You wouldn't say, I'm just waiting for my blessedness.
But that's in some ways what we're doing is we're hoping to be in the good life. To have the good stuff. To have it work out the way we want to. Now, we would define that differently. But that's what we're longing for.
And what we're going to look at in this chapter is Jacob is actually going to bless his grandsons and his sons. He's going to say, here's what God's going to do. And he's going to call blessing on them. And the truth is we're going to see that they hope for these blessings. And some of them last and some of them don't. We would argue some are better or worse than the others.
And the truth is this, unless God blesses us, we are not blessed. Unless he does it for us, our work will only be striving, chasing after the wind. We will only be trying to accomplish something we cannot accomplish. And so we need God to bless us. And the question is, what is his blessing? How do we get it?
And how do we keep it? So we're going to look at this story and then we're going to ask that question. And we're going to try to see where true blessedness is. So let's pray and then we'll read this together. God, you are a God who blesses. And who gives and who is generous and who cares and who loves.
And we pray, Lord, that as we study this word, we would see your blessing. And we would know your blessing. And we would place our hope in the right blessing. In Jesus' name, amen. Chapter 48. It's on page 24 if you have one of the Blue Bibles.
It starts this way. It says, After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. Now, we covered a handful of chapters last week. And what the after this is, is that all of Joseph's family moved to Egypt. He put them in Goshen. He's taking care of them.
They've been there for about 17 years. Which Jacob calls Joseph to him. And I'm going to give you the paraphrased Chet version. And Jacob says, Look here, boy. When I die, don't bury me here. You carry me back to Canaan.
And you bury me where I'm supposed to be buried in the promised land. You hear me? And Joseph says, Yes, sir. And so that's where we pick up. After this, sometime after, Jacob made Joseph promise that. Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill.
So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh, that's the oldest, and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, Your son Joseph has come to you. And then Israel, that's the other name for Jacob, summoned his strength and sat up in his bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. And I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.
So he says, I was blessed. God blessed me. And now in a second, we're going to see that he's going to bless his grandsons and his sons. And there's this idea that God has poured this out on them. But Jacob has only looked at it from a distance.
He hasn't actually attained it. He just knows this is happening. God's promised this. And we're waiting for it. And now your two sons, this is verse five, who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. As for me, when I came from Paddan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath. That is Bethlehem. So he says, your two sons will be my sons.
Now, he's old. He's the daddy. He's the patriarch. He's to do what he wants. He says, those boys that are yours. Nope.
Mine. Ephraim and Manasseh are now my sons. And they are, there'll be tribes of Israel listed when they, when they move into the promised land. And from now on, when Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons whom God has given me here. And he said, bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.
Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near and he kissed them and he embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face and behold, God has let me see your offspring also. Then Joseph removed them from his knees and bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both Ephraim and his right hand toward Israel's left and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israel's right hand and brought them near him. So Jacob's going to bless them.
And Joseph does something intentional here. And it's kind of a written in a little bit of a confusing way, but Joseph has his sons and he's walking them towards Jacob, his father. And he puts Ephraim on his right hand so that he would be on Jacob's left hand. And he takes Manasseh, who's the oldest, and puts him in his left hand so that he would be on Jacob's right hand. Because he's going to bless them. And the assumption that Joseph's making is that Jacob is going to lay his hands on them to bless him.
And he wants his oldest boy to get a right-handed blessing. It's his dominant hand. I don't know if y'all knew that. There's a right-handed, left-hand blessing. One's more powerful. That's what he's doing.
That's his hope. So he brings him up. That way to his father. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands. For Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, So he okie-dokied him.
When he got him up there, Jacob goes like this. Which, what? Why would he do that? Joseph had to be like, what on earth just happened here? So it says this.
The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked. The God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day. The angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Bless the boys. And in them let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. And let them grow in a multitude in the midst of the earth.
I want to point something out here. The blessing does not come from Jacob. It comes from God. Jacob is not blessing them. He is asking God to bless them. So in some ways, Jacob is joining in this blessing.
He is giving this blessing verbally. But the blessing comes from God. You are not blessed unless God blesses you. You can have all the money in the world. You can have all the things that we would say would be great. The Ecclesiastes says that sometimes God lets people have stuff, but not the ability.
He does not bless them with the ability to enjoy it. And that there are other people who have hardly anything. And he blesses them with the ability to enjoy it. And they're happier and better off. You're not blessed unless God blesses you. And that's what's happening here.
He's calling on God to bless these boys. He swapped his hands. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the hand of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.
He interrupts the blessing to swap his daddy's hands. But his father refused and said, I know, my son. I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he. And his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.
So he blessed them that day. So Jacob says, No, no, no, no, no, no. I did this on purpose. I know which one's which. Ephraim is now the older brother. Ephraim is now the greater one.
He will be named before his brother. He will be blessed beyond him. He did it on purpose. And that's such a Jacob-y thing to do. If you remember his story with his brother Esau. Jacob is like, Nope, younger brother.
They're awesome. Here we go. So he blesses them that way. I want to show you all something. I want to take a pause for just a second. That's not fully in line with what we're talking about today.
But I want us to see this together as a church family. They took this so seriously. That both Joseph and Jacob believed. And it actually functions this way. That this blessing mattered. And that the right and left hand mattered.
They see a weight in the words that they use to ask God to be at work. In the words that they use to call on God's blessing. And I think we ought to learn from that. Especially as we walk in church family together. And community groups as people who are filled by the spirit of God. And someone comes to our group.
And starts talking about decisions they're making in their lives. And we just respond. With some neat American opinions. And for some of our church family. Neat South American opinions. And we don't weigh out.
And consider. That we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. That we ought to listen to him. That we ought to speak in a way. That is weighty. And understand the power of our words.
To bless. And to move. And to have some authority. The Bible says that when two or more are gathered in my name. And they agree on something. I'm in their midst.
It's sealed. Like he. We sometimes in our groups. Just huddle up. And give each other some opinions and stuff. And we don't.
We don't consider the weight of our words. I was having a conversation with someone this past week. And I went to say something. And I felt like maybe the Holy Spirit was telling me not to. So I just had to sit.
I was like. Hold on. They were like. You okay? And I was like. I don't know.
I'm trying to listen. I said. Hold on. Be quiet. No. I didn't say that.
But anyway. I just sat and was like. Lord. Am I not supposed to say this? Is this not okay? Because I was just going to give him an opinion.
But I thought maybe it was a little bit weightier than that. And I needed to listen. And there's something to that. We ought to understand the authority given to us as church family. As we walk with the spirit of the Lord. And that's what Jacob does here.
And that's what Joseph understands here. And I think we ought to grow in that. Take a second. Pray. Ask the Lord for help. I think our groups ought to get better at asking the Lord questions.
And sitting and listening together. To see if there's unity in the spirit. So that we don't just pop off with our own little thing. But we actually ask the Lord. Is there something you want to say to us? Is there something you want to do here?
Is there some clarity that we can have here for this person in this situation? Rather than just trusting everybody's little opinion. But asking the Lord to help. And realizing the weight that's in our words. Alright? I will descend from my soapbox.
Back to the pulpit. Alright. Here we go. So he blessed them that day saying. This is verse 20. By you Israel will pronounce blessings.
Saying God make you as Ephraim in Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph. Behold I am about to die. But God will be with you.
And will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to you. Rather than to your brothers. One mountain slope. That I took from the hand of the Amorites. With my sword and with my bow.
We don't know what story that is. We don't know what mountain slope that is. But cool. He gets an extra mountain slope. Alright. Chapter 49.
Then Jacob called his sons and said. Gather yourselves together. That I may tell you. What shall happen to you in the days to come. So he calls and says.
I'm going to prophesy over you. At the end of this it says. So he blessed them with blessings. So they understood. He's ending his life. He's going to bless us.
He's going to speak truth and reality to us. As he is empowered. As one who follows the Lord. As the kind of connection to God on earth at this point. As this lineage is played out in the book of Genesis. Where we were told there's going to be a promised seed.
Who's going to come. Who's going to bless the nations. And we're still trying to follow that. He's got 12 sons. We're trying to see. They're actually now being made into a great nation.
But we still have to kind of ask the question of who's. Who's the one who's going to come and fix everything. We see that in a small way fulfilled in Joseph. That Joseph was sent. In Genesis he's sent. He actually blesses the nations.
Because God put him in a place to suffer on behalf of others. So that there might be life given to others. That's what we see. And that's actually a small picture of the full blessing. That's going to come through Jesus. So we're still kind of waiting to see what's happening here.
They know there's still some stuff to be spread around. And some blessing to be proclaimed. And somebody who might actually be like. I know you're the continued line. You're the. So that's what we're looking at.
Now if you are. If you are. Jacob's sons. This is a moment of anticipation. This is a moment of trepidation. This is a moment where this matters greatly.
We're going to read some of this and go. Okay. But in some ways they're coming to see. What's my life going to be like. What's. What's my blessing going to be like.
It matters greatly. This is why Esau. When the blessing was stolen from him. Ripped his. His clothes and wept. Because it matters what happens here.
And this blessing will last. Okay. Assemble. And listen. Oh sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel your father.
Now. It was assumed. Last time. That he was going to lay hands on their heads. So I am assuming that happens here as well.
The text does not say. He's going to say his son's name. He's going to give a blessing. He's going to say another son's name. But I'm assuming.
Maybe they lined up. And he just was. Putting his hands on their head. And blessing them. Reuben. Reuben.
You are my firstborn. My might. And the first fruits of my strength. Preeminent in dignity. And preeminent in power. Unstable as water.
You shall not have preeminence. Because you went up to your father's bed. Then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Reuben. Slept with one of Jacob's.
Wives. Not his mom. But one of Jacob's wives. So when Jacob goes to blessing. It starts off really nice. And then it takes a turn you guys.
And now if you're the other brothers in this room. The tone of the room just changed. Because you were like. Oh no. I didn't know. I didn't know that could happen.
I thought maybe you could get like a lesser blessing. I didn't know it could. Oh man. I didn't know. So. You might at this point.
Be running through your head. What did I do? And the truth is. Reuben is. Is receiving some judgment. For his actions.
For his sin. For his wickedness. For his lack of repentance of it. There's no. It just says earlier in. In Genesis.
That Jacob heard about it. We didn't hear. He didn't do anything. Caught up to Reuben here. That's it. That's Reuben's blessing.
You were. You're going to be great. Now. You are not. And that plays out in the tribe of Reuben. In the 12 tribes of Israel.
As they move into the promised land. Simeon and Levi are brothers. So these are the next two. Weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their counsel. Oh my glory.
Be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men. And in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger. For it is fierce. And their wrath.
For it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob. And scatter them in Israel. Simeon and Levi are the guys who tricked Shechem. That entire city. Into getting circumcised.
So that they could go in and kill everyone. After they had defiled their sister Dinah. Jacob did not seem real pleased with it then. And now he says. Wasn't. Wasn't.
Holy. Wasn't appropriate. Was wrathful. You are cruel. And may my soul not dwell with you. And he says.
I'll scatter you in Israel. And actually when they move into the promised land. Simeon is in the middle of Judah. Judah surrounds Simeon. Simeon's not really allowed to do much. And the Levites are completely spread out all over the place.
Because they serve as the priest. Now it's an interesting thing. The Levites here. Get cursed. For their wrath and anger. And then later get blessed.
For zealous. Appropriate violence. So it's not just that all violence is bad. But the intentions of our heart. And the call of God on it matters. And so they later get blessed for it.
Even though they're still scattered. There's some redemption in it. But he just says. Y'all's was. Hateful. And wicked.
Your wrath is evil. Alright now. Judah. He moves on. Now if you're Judah.
We've read about Judah you guys. Remember Judah and Tamar. Tamar. Judah. Sold his brother into slavery. He was the one who kind of.
Came up with that idea. He did not do. What he was supposed to do. With his daughter-in-law Tamar. He was hanging out with the Canaanites. He did a lot of.
Of bad things. If. If. If I was Judah. When he said Judah. I'd have said.
Like you know. For a second. Like can you run away from a blessing. Would that make it worse. He could probably still reach you. It would.
He would make it worse. So you just got to go take. What you're going to get. Judah comes up. Judah. Your brothers.
Shall praise you. Your hand. Shall be on the neck. Of your enemies. Your father's son. Shall bow down.
Before you. Judah. Is a lion's cub. From the prey. My son. You have gone up.
He stooped down. He couched. As a lion. And as a lioness. Who dares. Rouse him.
The scepter. That's a. What a king holds. Shall not depart. From Judah. Nor the ruler's staff.
From between his feet. Until tribute. Comes to him. And to him. Shall be the obedience. Of the peoples.
Binding. His foal. To the vine. And his donkey's. Cult. To the choice vine.
He has washed. His garments. And wine. And his vesture. In the blood of grapes. His eyes.
Are darker than wine. And his teeth. Whiter. Than milk. That's it. That's what he says to Judah.
It didn't turn. It didn't start off nice. And then go. Like he did to Reuben. I bet Judah was like. He said Zebulun.
And Judah was like. That's just. Beautiful. He just says. You're going to. Be praised by your brothers.
They're going to bow down to you. Everybody's going to bow down to you. There's going to be obedience to you. You're going to be. A king. Like he.
He pours all this on Judah. And we're going to come back to this. Because it matters greatly. What just happened there. But we're going to read the rest of the blessings.
And give them to the brothers. But Judah gets a beautiful one. Zebulun. Shall dwell at the shore of the sea. He shall become a haven for ships. And his border shall be at Sidon.
So that has mostly to do with where Zebulun. Eventually the tribe is going to be. And he moves on. Issachar is a strong donkey. Crouching between the sheep folds. He saw that a resting place was good.
And that the land was pleasant. So he bowed his shoulder to bear. And became a servant at forced labor. So he says Issachar is a strong donkey. But then he basically just says.
He wants good stuff. So he works really hard. And eventually that's kind of his undoing. That's what he puts on Issachar. Dan shall judge his people. As one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent in the way. A viper by the path. That bites the horse's heels. So that his rider falls backwards. I wait for your salvation oh Lord. So he says Dan will be a judge.
But then he kind of says that Dan will be a bit tricky. And harm people. And we don't know if that's bad people or good people. But he just kind of says. And then he ends by saying. I wait for your salvation oh Lord.
Basically if the Lord doesn't show up and help. This is going to all be a mess. But he moves on from Dan to Gad. He says raiders shall raid Gad. But he shall raid at their heels.
So this is a blessing. And I'm not trying to take away from the blessing here. But it's also a dad joke. Because Gad sounds like the Hebrew word for raiders. So his whole blessing is a big pun.
It would be like if his name was Raid. So he said Raiders will raid raid. But Raid will raid Raiders back. Like it's a tongue twister thing. And then he just moves on to Asher. So it's a real blessing.
But it just shows you the potency of dad jokes. Sorry. It doesn't. Asher's food shall be rich. And he shall yield royal delicacies. And he moves on to Naphtali.
Now if you're Asher. I think I'd just be like sweet. Could have been better. Could have been a lot worse though. Asher. You're going to eat well.
I'll take it. Cakes and stuff. I got it. I'm down. So he says.
Your food should be rich. And you'll eat royal delicacies. Naphtali. Naphtali. Naphtali. Naphtali.
Naphtali. Is a doe let loose. Is a doe let loose. That bears beautiful fawns. That bears beautiful fawns. A doe would have been understood as sleek.
And healthy. And healthy. And beautiful. And he says that bears beautiful fawns. Would be. It's going to be fruitful.
Going to be blessed. Going to grow. Then he just moves on to Joseph. Now. Naphtali's blessing is a good one. I have two brothers.
I don't have eleven. And maybe they treated this with a whole lot of respect. And they didn't do what I think might would have happened. But he called Naphtali a doe. A pregnant doe. And I just feel like if you had eleven brothers.
Who've been called lions and vipers and strong donkeys. They might give you a hard time about that. I mean when they saw Naphtali. They might just be like doe. A deer. A female deer.
Like they might have just rubbed it in a little bit. Maybe not. Probably wouldn't have known that song. But. Anyway. Naphtali gets that blessing.
Joseph. So this would be to Joseph. He's already blessed. Ephraim and Manasseh. This would go to Joseph. This would go to his two sons.
Joseph. Is a fruitful bough. A fruitful bough by a spring. His branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him. Shot at him.
Harassed him severely. Yet his bow remained unmoved. His arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob. From there is the shepherd. The stone of Israel. By the God of your father who will help you.
By the almighty who will bless you. With the blessings of heaven above. And the blessings of the deep that crouches beneath. Blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of your father are mighty. Beyond the blessings of my parents.
Up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph. And on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. And what happened here is very interesting. The two brothers who get the longest and the best blessings are Joseph and Judah. And Joseph's blessing is not really very specific.
It's poetic. It's beautiful. But it's not really specific. And a lot of it seems to be highlighting Joseph's personal life. Actually what happened in his life. That he was set apart from his brothers.
That he was greatly attacked. But the Lord had blessed him. And he just calls on all these blessings to be on Joseph. That Joseph would be blessed. Heavens above. Crouching in the deep.
All the blessings of fertility. All the blessings. Like he just asks for all that and blesses him with that. But there's nothing really all that specific. And the truth is the blessing given to Ephraim and Manasseh is good. And the way that things play out with them in the history of Israel is good.
But it does not compare to Judah. And so we'll look at that in a second as we finish up this chapter. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. This is his youngest son. In the morning devouring the prey. And at the evening dividing the spoil.
He just says they will be ferocious. He doesn't say good or bad or whatever. He just says Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning devouring the prey. And as of the evening dividing the spoil. And I really hope one day Benjamin went to Naphtali.
And said hey. Me and some of our other brothers are planning on getting tattoos. Judah was going to get a lion. I was going to get a wolf. Issachar is going to get like a swole donkey. Dan is going to get a viper.
Did you want to come and get like a pregnant deer? Like maybe on your belly or like your lower back or something? No? Sure? Okay. I just want to give you the option.
We drew up some little designs for you. 28. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them. Blessing each with a blessing suitable to them. So we would not categorize Reuben's and Simeon and Levi's as a blessing.
But that's what it was. He was calling forth what was appropriate for them. That's interesting. Because what was appropriate for Reuben and Simeon and Levi seemed different than what was appropriate for Judah. Although we've seen Judah make a lot of mistakes and not handle things well. He did seem to be repentant when he came back and when he worked everything out with Joseph in the last text that we looked at last week.
But he does not seem to have anything fall on him for the other things that he had done that were evil. Then he commanded them and said to them, verse 29, I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah. To the east of Mamre. In the land of Canaan.
Which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite. To possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.
When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. And my hope for myself and for you is that we get a similar story where we're trusting and hoping in the Lord. Speaking about his goodness. Speaking about his promises. Proclaiming that he will continue to work in the coming days. And then we draw our feet up, breathe our last, and we're done.
We are faithful to the end. Okay. All of these blessings play out in some form. And all of these blessings eventually stop. Except for Judah's. Here's what happened with Judah's blessing.
Judah's blessing that there would be a king. That the scepter would not leave from him. The ruler's staff from in between his feet. This blessing ultimately goes to David. Judah is the great, great, great granddad of David the king. And God, when David is king, says, I'm going to make a covenant with you, an everlasting covenant.
And that goes from Judah to David to Jesus. And what happened here is that when Jacob went to bless Judah, all he could see was Jesus. And when he went to bless Judah, all he could see was Jesus. All he could see was this king who would reign eternally. All he could see was this lion who would conquer his enemies. All he could see was the beauty carried out in Christ.
And ultimately, here's the truth. If your blessing is not carried out in Christ, it will not last. As we look at this, we might would say, honestly, if I was going to lay out my life here, I'm with Naphtali. I just want to have some beautiful fawns. That's what I think blessedness is. Healthy kids, healthy family.
Some of you are like, I think I'm in on that Asher blessing. Cakes and stuff. Like, I just want that. Like, if I could just eat. Like, if you looked at the portion of my budget that went to eating out. We don't eat out nice, but we eat out a lot.
Like, I just like being able to talk about you guys. Like, I... Some of us would say that's kind of where I line up. Some of us look and go, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to be like Benjamin. I just want to be tough and mean.
I want to be feared. I want to be powerful. Some of you are looking at the Issachar blessing and say, I just want to work hard and enjoy good comfort. Is that too much to ask? To work hard and be comfortable? And the reality is, some of those things, you'll get some nice stuff out of them.
They won't last unless they're carried out in Jesus. Unless you're blessed in Christ, you are not blessed. If you are blessed in Christ, you are forever blessed. So let's look at this blessing that goes to Christ. Look back at Judah. Judah, your brothers shall praise you.
That word praise is used a couple of times mockingly for humans. Every other time in Scripture, it is used for God. May all the people praise Him. This is a praise that is owing only to God. So he says, Judah, you will be praised.
And he's talking about Christ, that all of the praises of men will fall to Judah. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Think of the enemies of Christ. Sin and death and hell. And think of how fearful they are to us.
Think of Satan, the ultimate enemy, and how fearful he is. And that Jesus gets to walk in and grab him by the back of the neck. Turn his head where he wants it. When I was growing up, my dad, every once in a while, he would grab you by the back of the neck. And it was ultimate like, it's like in that Batman movie where Bane puts his hand on that guy's shoulder and says, Do you feel in charge? Is that kind of move?
Did you just put your hand on the back of the neck of your enemies and they would just be like, I do not, I do not feel in charge. And that's Christ to our ultimate enemies. That He is so glorious and so powerful that He just walks over and He grabs them and says, Okay, your time's done. And this is what Jacob is seeing as he proclaims this over him. He says, Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub.
From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched as a lion and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him? You go to the zoo and you see lions. They're fun to watch because there's a giant cavern in between you and them.
If there wasn't, you wouldn't just be like, Oh, that lion's not dangerous. It's laying down. It's like, bro, they can hop right up. That's what he's saying. He's saying, you can rest at ease because nobody goes and wakes up a lion. Nobody's messing with them.
They're fearful. And the reality is, as the Bible plays out, we are told that Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. In Revelation, it says, Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy to open the scrolls and he's worthy to receive praise. And then John, who's seeing all this, says, I looked and I saw a lamb who was slain. That Jesus Christ is a lion who became a lamb on our behalf and then is seated as the lion of the tribe of Judah forever, having slain his enemies and having been slain for our sin. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until the tribute comes to him.
To him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Earlier it said, Your brothers will bow down to you. That would be the nation of Israel. Now it says, To him belong the obedience of the peoples, meaning all nations everywhere, that Jesus will rule as a king eternally. The scepter will never depart from his hand. You ever feel like things are out of control?
Do you know there's a ruler's staff sitting in between the feet of Jesus? And it is not going to move. You ever feel like you're drowning? Do you know that there's a king who sits on a throne who rules over this world and over our lives and it will not be taken from his hand? Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. That means very little to us.
That is actually a very silly thing to do. If you were parking your donkey, you would tie it to something so it would not run off. You do not tie it to a grapevine. It will eat your grapes. That is what it is saying. Nobody ties a donkey to a grapevine unless everything is a grapevine and they are unendingly wealthy.
Do you know what's so beautiful and exciting? This is a better picture of this same passage for us. You know what the streets are paved with in heaven? Gold. Do you know why? Because gold isn't that beautiful and important anymore.
And it's everywhere. Jesus is glorious and important in heaven. You can tie your donkey to the choice vine and you can drive your Ram 1500 across some gold. It's unending wealth in Christ that he is beyond glorious. That he is beyond wealthy. That he holds everything in his hands.
Do you see what he holds in his hands? He holds his enemies. He holds a ruling staff. And he holds unending wealth. And then it says this. He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
Taken at face value. That means that wine is so prevalent they use it to do the washing. But as we see this played out in scripture there are other places where wine is used very poetically and very picturesque of what else Jesus is going to do. So I think it does point to his wealth. I also think it points to his death where he takes a cup and he says this is my body. This is my blood poured out for you.
The blood of the new covenant. That you might have an eternal salvation and an eternal hope. That he is covered in blood. But the other two times that the Bible is going to talk about Jesus Christ being coated in the wine. Coated in the pressing of grapes. It's going to be Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19 where he treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God.
That Jesus Christ is coated in the blood of his enemies. That's graphic and true. That Jesus Christ will conquer all of his enemies and will reign and stand supreme and that he will walk through the wrath of God. He does that for us on the cross. And he does that for us in judgment. So if he's seeing Jesus and he sees him and his clothes have been washed in wine.
That's the blood of the covenant. That's the blood of his enemies. And only Jesus can do that. His eyes are darker than wine. His teeth whiter than milk. That Jesus is beautiful and glorious above all else.
That he is to be beheld and be captivated in his glory. Jacob could have had a lot of mean things to say about Judah but when he puts his hand on his head all he can see is Christ. And because all he can see is Christ Judah's blessing lasts and is carried out in Christ and is an eternal blessing. Charles Spurgeon I read this quote this week and he's talking about Jesus. He says Jesus is the most magnanimous of captains which means generous and forgiving. There never was his like among the choicest of princes.
He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden he carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious generous kind and tender yes lavish and super abundant in love you will always find it in him. That when Jacob went to bless Judah all he could see was Christ and Christ in all of his glory and the hope for us is that we would not be blessed in our hard work and that we would not be blessed in earthly possessions but that we would be blessed in Christ through faith in Jesus and his work on the cross.
This is actually what is true for Christians who have been filled with the spirit that we are blessed in Christ. Ephesians 1 says this Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We constantly are running around asking the Lord to bless us with the blessing of Issachar or the blessing of Asher or the blessing of one of these smaller blessings. Can I just have the blessing of Benjamin? If you just give me that blessing I'd be happy and in reality we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. If you are in Christ your blessing is carried out in him and you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and they cannot be taken away because they are held there by Jesus.
When Christ when God looks at us he sees Christ and therefore we are blessed. And if you are not in Christ and you have not placed your faith in Jesus I don't care how much money you have I don't care how healthy you are I don't care how stunningly handsome you are you are not blessed. I don't care if you have the richest delicacies you are not blessed. So I want you if you are a Christian today I want you to hear me for just a second. If you have placed your faith in Jesus his spirit dwells in you I don't care what's going on in your life I want you to know something. If Jacob laid his hands on your head and blessed you you would be blessed in Christ.
If you are not a Christian I want you to know that this is offered to you through Christ and his work that he can bless you in him. I want to read for you what Jacob could say to you that is true for you to be blessed in Christ. I want you to hear this if you are in Christ this is reality for you. That Jacob could put his hand on you and say something along these lines. Through the sufficiency that is in Christ may you be blessed. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Father may you be blessed.
You are forgiven. Your sins are no more. They are buried at the bottom of the ocean. They are as far away as the east is from the west. There is no condemnation for you. You receive grace upon grace.
You have been made new. You have a new identity. You are no longer who you were. You are now who Christ says you are. You have been cleansed, washed in pure water, bright and clean. You are without blemish or spot, wrinkle or stain, altogether lovely and pure.
All the sins that have been committed against you are no more. You bear their Mark no longer. You are holy and blameless and above reproach. You are saved. You have been rescued. The Lord will defend you and keep you.
His blood has paid your debt and ransomed you. You have been delivered from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of His beloved Son. You are loved and cherished and adored. You have been adopted into the household of God. You are His cherished possession. You have an eternal Father who will not leave you or forsake you.
You have an eternal family that cannot be taken from you. You belong to Christ. You cannot be snatched out of His hand. He will keep you. He will keep you and bring you to Himself. You will make it.
You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We don't know what all of those are but we know what some of those are. That we are forgiven and that we are free and that we are ransomed and that we are adopted and that we are loved. And that cannot be taken away from you because it is carried out in Christ. It is not carried out by you. You do not have to be strong enough.
You do not have to be smart enough. You do not have to be moral enough. You do not have to keep it together. Christ keeps it together on your behalf. Our hope is in Him. 1 Peter 1.24 says, All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers and the flower falls. But the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. The band is going to come back up and I want you to know that. I want us to remember that. The gospel has been proclaimed and if you have placed your faith in Jesus it stands forever.
You will not be taken away. You will not be destroyed. Your blessing will not be removed. That because Jesus Christ earns it and keeps it and it is carried out in Him then we have it in Him eternally. That our hope is in Christ and in Christ alone. Not your ability.
Not your wisdom. Everything else fails. Everything else fades. But what's carried out in Christ is forever. In just a moment Bianca will begin to play and we'll have a minute to just sit and to think and to pray and then we'll take communion together. And communion is where we remember that Jesus' body was broken and His blood was shed for us and that our hope is in Him.
Do not come to this table today trying to gain your own blessing outside of Christ. Leave that in your chair. Don't come here hoping for a smaller blessing or just longing for something simple and missing out on the beauty of every spiritual blessing carried out in Christ. Don't come weary and exhausted because you've been trying to strive to earn something. Leave that there and come to the one who's earned it for us. Who keeps it for us.
Who our hope is in. Don't come timidly. Come boldly. Do not think small of His mercy as if it is not big enough for you. Do not think small of His grip as if He somehow might drop the scepter or might lose His hand on you. Do not think for one second that His hand has relinquished from the back of His enemy as if they might can run free and do whatever they want.
He is glorious and beautiful. He is beyond all reckoning and our hope is in Him so that we might trust in Him and Him alone and that we might walk forward and be in Him set free to be small and to be weak and to be ugly and to be messy and to be free. To be confident. To be hope filled. Because when the Father looks at us all He sees is Christ. if you are not in Christ I want you to know the blessing you are chasing after is too small. It is silly.
It will fail. It will fade. And you will be exhausted. Place your faith in Jesus. Receive all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Have it carried out by Him.
Place your hope in Him and be free. Let's pray. God help us not to think small of you but to know that when you look at us you see Christ. That we are wealthy beyond all reckoning. That we are healthy and hope filled beyond all reckoning. That in you all our blessing is carried out.
They do not all come here. Some of them are only viewed from afar but they are held tight in heavenly places. Some of us are sick and will remain so. Some of us are poor and will remain so. Some of us will not get what we have longed for here but what you hold for us is better and we will wait patiently. Because we are blessed because our blessing is carried out in Christ not us.
It is carried out by the one who died. It is carried out by the one who holds our hope and our eternity and our very souls in his hand and who has not relinquished the ruling scepter. May our hope be forever in you. Lord you are beautiful and glorious. All sufficient. And your blessing and your love and your blood is enough.
Thank you Lord that through the cross we receive the blessing of Judah that we get to be ushered in to the blessing carried out by you. Give us faith to trust in your sufficiency. In Jesus name. Amen. When you feel ready take communion and then we will sing together as a church family.
Joseph and His Brothers
Transcript
It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and go to Genesis chapter 42. If you grab one of our blue Bibles, that'll be on page 21. We've been walking through the book of Genesis.
We are now in the section on Joseph, and so we are talking specifically about Joseph. We've been following along with his story. We have, today we're going to kind of finish this story up. So usually it says a number and then like a colon and then a few other Numbers. And that's chapters 42 through 47. So today we've got a lot of work to do, but we won't read all of it.
Some of it will be summarized. I would encourage you to read all of it. But we are going to be kind of finishing up, in large part, the Joseph story. And then next week we will look at Jacob blessing his sons. And then the following week we will kind of end Genesis, see the kind of the summary idea of Genesis and how that's not just the summary idea of Genesis, but in some ways it summarizes the entire Bible. And then we will close Genesis, not to open it again for quite a while.
And thankful for the time we've spent in it and thankful to be talking about something else. So we've been walking through it. I think it's been really good, but we are walking in Joseph and his story right now. And we're going to see that Joseph's, a lot of his storyline, a lot of what we've seen God at work in is kind of coming to a head. It's kind of coming to the intense part of his story is going to kind of play out today. And so we're going to get to look at that together.
So let's pray and then we'll start reading. God, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you through how you have revealed yourself. That your word and what we have is that we might see you and know you. To know what you're like and to know how you respond and how you act and what you desire from us and for us. And so we pray that we would grow in that today.
That through your Holy Spirit we would see more clearly who you are and what you're doing and what you have done. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So if you look at chapter 42, we're actually going to read the two verses right before that. 41, 56 and 57. So it says, So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians.
For the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain because the famine was severe over all the earth. And so we start off with Joseph in this position of leadership, in this position of power. But that's not how his story began. That's not how it played out. He has, he's Jacob's son.
He was the second youngest. He was the firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. And he has a one younger brother named Benjamin and he has 10 older brothers. And so because he was the firstborn of Jacob's favorite wife, he was treated differently. He was given a magnificent set of clothes. And it's a big deal.
If you read throughout the Bible, it'll say things like, and then they gave them gold and a change of clothes. And we, we take for granted having a lot of clothes, but they didn't. They had the same clothes and they would wash them and they would clean them. They wear them all the time. And so he gets nicer clothes than the rest of his brothers. And he then has these dreams that his brothers are going to bow down to him.
And he announces them to his brothers and his brothers dislike him. They're not happy with him. And so his 10 older brothers, at some point he goes out to, to see them in the field and they decide, let's kill him. So his 10 older brothers grab him. He's 17 years old. They throw him in a pit because the oldest brother, Reuben says, let's not kill him.
And his plan was just put him in the pit. And Reuben was thinking, I'll come save him later. Reuben's looking for an opportunity to do that. He doesn't get that opportunity because another one of the older brothers, Judah says, let's not kill him and have his blood on our hands. Let's sell him as a slave and have cash on our hands.
And so that's Judah's plan is let's make some money out of this. Let's not just get guilt, but let's get money. And so they pull Joseph out of the pit. They sell him into slavery. And so he is taken down to Egypt. They take his coat of many colors.
They kill a goat. They pour blood on it. They take it to his dad and they say, isn't this Joseph's? Can you identify this coat? His dad says, surely he's been torn to pieces by some wild animal. That was their plan.
Then we follow Joseph. He goes to be a slave in Egypt and he is an excellent slave. He has a good attitude. God's with him. He works hard. He's diligent.
He becomes second in charge over this entire household. And this is going well for him as well as being a slave can go as well as his life. Who's gone from the pit to slavery has been turned upside down as well as it can go. But his master's wife lays eyes on him and then begins to attempt to seduce him. She begins to pursue him. And Joseph spurns her advances.
He does not have he doesn't want to have anything to do with that. He tells her explicitly no. He listens to her daily. Try this. And he says no. And eventually she just had enough.
She grabs him and he just dips out of his clothes and feats don't fail me now takes off. And so she takes his clothes and she tells her husband she lays up next to him and says, this is Joseph's and he tried to assault me. He tried to rape me. And so her husband is captain of the guard takes him right then and throws him in jail. So he goes from most beloved son to pit to slavery and now to prison.
And in prison he could be angry. He could be bitter. He's not. He works hard. He the Lord is still with him. The Lord blesses him.
He becomes second in charge of the prison. And so as as high a ranking position as a prisoner can have, he has it. He cares for the people well underneath under him. And there comes a time when there's the cup bearer and the baker from the king are both in prison and they both have basically nightmares, really vivid dreams that stress them out. He sees them in the morning. They're in prison.
And he sees them and says, why do y'all look sad? Notices their facial expression and cares about them. They tell him his dreams. He interprets them because he's already had dreams and seen that his brothers are going to bow down to him. He interprets these dreams. He says to one of them, you will be lifted up back to your place.
And he says to the other one, you will be lifted up and hanged. And he tells the one who's going back to his position, just don't forget me. And that guy says, I sure won't. And then promptly does. Until several years later, the pharaoh has a dream and he says, oh, you remember when I was in prison? There's a little Hebrew guy who can interpret dreams.
Let's go get him. So they go get him. And in a day, he goes from prisoner to second in charge of Egypt, from prison to palace overnight. And that's where we pick up with him now. Second in charge over Egypt. He was able to interpret the dream that there was going to be five years of plenty, seven years of plenty, seven years of plenty.
Seven years of famine. And they're now into the famine. And so everybody's coming to Egypt because they were able to prepare. And because Joseph led well, they were able to prepare. Everybody's coming to Egypt. And now we're going to see where the story gets interesting.
Chapter 42, as if it hadn't been interesting so far. When Jacob learned, so that's his daddy, that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, why do you look at one another? And he said, behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die. So 10 of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother. So that's his younger brother, the youngest one of the family. And Joseph's only full brother. All the other ones are half brothers with his brothers. For he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus, the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came for the famine in the was in the land of Canaan.
I love how this starts. Jacob says a really good dad phrase. Why are you all sitting around looking at each other? Don't just sit and stare at your brother's face like y'all somehow going to, that ain't going to accomplish anything. Get up and go to Egypt and get us some food. Don't just sit here.
Go get us some food. But he doesn't send Benjamin. He sends his 10 older sons. These are the 10 sons who threw Joseph into the pit. So Joseph is now about to get to stare face to face with those who harmed him.
And Joseph is no longer in the pit. Joseph is the one they have to come get food from. Joseph is in a position of absolute power in Egypt. So let's see what happens. Now, Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land.
And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them. But he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. Where do you come from? He said. They said, from the land of Canaan to buy food.
And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. And they said to him, no, my Lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man.
We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. Okay, so he sees them and he recognizes them. Now, this makes sense because he gets some context. First of all, they showed up. They were older, so they would have already looked a little similar.
He said he was 17. At this point, he's 32. So he's made a big jump from 17 to 32. You can look considerably different. But his brothers were all older than him.
They're just that same distance, and I can't do math quick. So that amount of older. And he sees them all together, though. He gets some context. So maybe if it was just one, it might have been harder to recognize.
But when all 10 of them walk in, he's like, oh, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, Reuben. I know these people. They don't recognize him, but also he is now in a position of authority in Egypt. He has an Egyptian name. He is speaking Egyptian. And there's a good chance he no longer looked like a Hebrew.
They would have changed his hairstyle. He would look Egyptian, most likely. So they walk in. He recognizes them. They don't recognize him. They all bow to the ground, and I bet a cold chill shot through Joseph because he was like, oh, the dream.
Oh, I knew it. So they all bow down, and he recognizes them, but he speaks roughly to them. And you want, we'll see in a second why. There's 10 brothers. Joseph has 11 brothers. And so he doesn't make himself known.
He speaks roughly to them. He calls them spies. And he said to them, no, this is verse 12. It is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see. A weird phrase for us. It just means you've come to spy out how defenseless we are.
And they said, we, your servants, are 12 brothers, the son of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more. But Joseph said to them, surprise! No, he didn't. But Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you are spies.
By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you and let him bring your brother while you, the rest of you, remain confined. That your words may be tested whether there is truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh. Surely you are spies. And he put them all together in custody for three days.
So he immediately just, they're arrested. And he says, I want to see your younger brother. Because in Joseph's reckoning, it seems logical that he's thinking through, okay, I was favorited. I was treated differently among my brothers and they hated me for it. And when I was removed from the picture, there is a really good chance that my father began to dote on Benjamin above and beyond anything he ever did with me. And if my brothers were willing to sell me into slavery or kill me, then there's a good chance, potentially, they've killed Benjamin.
He wants to see Benjamin. He doesn't show up with the ten. He wants to see him. They say he's alive. They say his dad's alive. He says, all right, I want to see him.
Also, he is displaying his absolute authority over them. These are ten men that he just, throw them in jail. Now, this is the moment that some of us have been dreaming of in our own lives. To stand face to face with those who have harmed us. With those who have done more in our lives to destroy our lives than anybody else. That his brothers were able to just take him and in a moment, from being a 17-year-old with a lot of life in front of him, were able to just snatch that away from him and send him off to be enslaved in Egypt.
They derailed his life. As much as anybody can derail a life, they did it. And now he's in a position of power. And this is what some of you rehearse in your mind. Ooh, one day. One day they'll see.
One day I'll get to show them. One day I'm going to show up to my high school reunion. One day she's going to come crawling back to me. One day I'll be in the position. I'll have the job. They'll see that this will work out.
And then I'll be able to tell that guy, I'm going to open my own business. I'm going to put them out like this. We rehearse this in our minds. And so if Joseph had been doing that, now it is. Here it is. Laid out in front of him, teed up.
One day I'll be in a position. One day God will let that dream come true. You will bow down to me. And I will have absolute authority. He could have been holding on to this vision that God had given him as a tool for striking his brothers down. He arrests them.
And let's see how this story continues. It says, So he swaps it. A minute ago it was one of y'all can leave. Nine of you have to stay. Now it's nine of you can leave.
One of you has to stay. And we'll verify that this is true. It says, And they did so. Then they said to one another. So they said, Okay, we'll do that.
Then they said to one another. In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother. In that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us. And we did not listen. This is why this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them.
Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. They did not know that Joseph understood them. For there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept.
So he hears his brothers begin to speak to each other in Hebrew. And what they say is, No, we deserve this. It's caught up to us. The guilt of our brother has found us out. Meaning that they understood and carried for this amount of time this guilt towards their brother. This sin that they had committed.
And they look at each other and go, No, it's caught up to us. And it's this idea of like God ordained karma. That they've done this and eventually it will catch them and that God will make it catch them. And they said, Because we listened to the distress of his soul and didn't listen to it. We heard it, but we didn't listen. And you can imagine Joseph standing there looking at his brothers and hearing them speak in Hebrew to one another about him and how they were wrong and how they were guilty for what they had done.
And remembering the moment when they were pulling him out of the pit and he had been pleading, calling out them each by name. Naphtali, don't do this. Naphtali, do you hear me? Gad, don't do this. Reuben, is Reuben there? Don't do this.
Reuben, you can lead them. You can change this. Judah, Judah, is it you? Can you? Just crying out to him and being pulled out and seeing enslavers that they're now going to sell him to and actually searching the face of his brothers and seeing which ones would make eye contact and look cold towards him. And which of them wouldn't even look at him and which of them has he pleaded with them?
Don't do this. And his soul was in distress and they didn't listen. And here's him speaking about it and it says he weeps. Now we don't know at this point. Why? Is he weeping because he's angry?
Is he weeping because he remembers the hurt of that moment? Is he weeping because he longs for his brothers and he's glad to see that they at least feel guilt? Is he weeping because it's just all the emotions tied up in seeing them and seeing that they've carried this with them? Because this is part of what we want when we want to exact revenge on somebody is we want them to see what they've done wrong. We want them to know it prior to bringing the hammer down. They did not know that Joseph understood them for there was an interpreter between them.
And then he turned away from them and wept and he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to replace every man's money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed.
So he not only gives them the grain they paid for, he gives them their money back and he gives them provisions on top of it. They just load them down. He sends them off. At this point, we're like, what is he doing? Is he just being kind to them? Is this part of his plan?
What's happening? Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. And he said to his brothers, my money has been put back here in the mouth of my sack. At this, their hearts failed them. And they turned trembling to one another saying, what is this that God has done to us?
So they're leaving thinking, let's go get Benjamin and we'll come back. And then on the way, they realize, wait, wait, my money's here. Meaning the Egyptians are going to think we stole. How did this happen? How did we get in a situation where now he thought we were spies and now we've proven dishonest? It says their hearts failed them and they think God did it.
God is orchestrating this to harm us. They go home. They find out that everybody's money. This is the rest of the chapter. I'm just going to explain it. They find out everybody's money is back in their sack.
And they stress out about it. And they tell their father, Jacob, we have to go back with Benjamin. Because we've got to get Simeon set free. And Jacob says, no. Now he loves Benjamin.
It's possible he doesn't fully trust his other sons. We don't know. But he just says, no, like I can't give up Benjamin. Reuben, the oldest, actually looks at him and says, kill both of my sons if I don't bring Benjamin back. And Jacob says, no, if anything happens to Benjamin, my gray hairs will go down to Sheol in sorrow. He just says, it'll kill me.
If he dies, I'll die. So move to chapter 43. Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, go again and buy us a little food. But Judah said to him, the man solemnly warned us, saying, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.
That again, I love Jacob in the story. It feels like a very fatherly thing to do, to be like, no, we ain't doing that again. I ain't ever having that. Maybe this is just how my house worked. And then they go on. They run out of food.
He comes back and says, go back there and get me some food again. And they're like, what? Well, you don't remember? You don't remember the conversation we had? And so that's what Judah says. He says, the man told us, you're not going to see me.
You're not seeing my face. This is verse three. Unless your brother is with us. If you will send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy food. But if you won't send him, we will not go down.
For the man said to us, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. And Israel said, why do you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? And they, he says, why on earth would you have told him that Benjamin exists? Why has that even come up? Go buy grain, hand them money, come back with grain. Why is this difficult?
Why are you showing up and telling them your life story? What, what on earth? Have you ever even been to a store before? Y'all are 10 grown men. What are y'all doing? That's kind of what he's saying.
And they're like, he asked us a bunch of questions. That's their answer. He said, do you have a father? How old is he? Is he still alive? That he asked, do you have a younger brother?
How are we supposed to know as soon as we said we had a younger brother, he was going to say, well, I want to see him. We thought it was weird. And then it turned out bad for us. So turn, turn, I'm sorry. If you have a blue Bible, turn the page. If not, just keep following along.
We're 43 still. So he says, Judah tells his father, hang it on my head. If Benjamin doesn't come back, I'll be held responsible and I'll bear the guilt forever. Now, a couple of things have happened since last time. Last time, it was Reuben, who Jacob does not have the best relationship with because Reuben actually slept with one of Jacob's wives. We're going to see that show up more and when he blesses him, which the word bless sounds nice.
It's not much of a blessing. Reuben says, hang it on my sons, not on me, which is an interesting thing for him to say. And maybe he thought that was weightier, but he says, you can kill my sons. Judah says, hang it on me. And the other thing is now they don't have any grain. So they're out of food.
So he says, let the guilt fall to me if Benjamin doesn't come back. And if we had not delayed, we'd have already gone and come back twice. So verse 11, their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, then do this. Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man and a little balm and a little honey and gum and myrrh and pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks.
Perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise. Go again to the man. May God almighty grant you mercy before the man. And may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
So he says, we got to have food. Take the food that we do have, the nice things that we do have, some of the, at least some of the stuff that we have. They need grain, but at least some of the stuff that we have. They need a staple crop and none of that was growing. So they said, take some of this as a gift and may God bless you in it.
So the men took this present and they took double the money with them and Benjamin and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready for the men are to dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house. And they said, it is because of the money which was replaced in the sacks the first time that he's brought us in so that he might assault us and fall upon us and make us servants and seize our donkeys.
So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house and said, oh, my Lord, we came down the first time to buy food. And when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and there was each man's money in the mouth of a sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks. So the steward, it says he replied, peace to you.
Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in the sacks for you. I received your money. And then he brought Simeon out to them. So, OK, so what happens is they show up. They think, OK, we got Benjamin.
We'll show him Benjamin. We'll get Simeon. We'll buy some grain. We'll pay them back if they want us to pay them back. And we'll get out of here. They show up and a guy comes over and says, the Lord of the place, which whatever his Egyptian name was, Zeph, Hefoph, Muflef, Muflef.
From last week, he wants you to come to his home. And so they're like, uh, so they show up at the house and they're like, this isn't this can't this isn't good. Right. Like, why does he want us to go to his house? They're standing there talking. They're like, it's got to be the money.
He wants to get us in his house. Then he's going to attack us. They're going to enslave us and keep our donkeys. And so they said, let's go tell him. So they walk up to the door.
They don't go inside. And they're like, we brought the money back. You guys don't even we don't need to go in there. We have all the money. And the guy says, I had your money last time. Which means a couple of really cool things about Joseph.
One, he just paid for their grain. He gave them their grain back and blessed them by giving them their money back. He wasn't going to charge them. They're his brothers. He does that. He also didn't just be like, well, I'm the I'm in charge of this.
So here's some free grain. He paid for it. So he pays for it. The guy who's handling it gets the money and he sends their money back. And they say, just come on in. And then it says, Simeon was brought out to them.
So Simeon comes out. I'm sure he's excited because it's been the amount of time it took them to completely run out of grain and decide we're all going to starve to death. Simeon's been there a while. I assume he was really happy. But part of me thinks he walked out like this.
And they were like, yeah, your dad didn't want to send Benjamin. He was like, yeah, OK, that makes sense. It's good to see y'all. Thanks for coming back. Nice to see you, too, Benjamin. Took your sweet time.
So it says they brought Simeon out to them. Then he brought Simeon out to them, 24. And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and given them water, and they had washed their feet. And when he had given their donkeys fodder, they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that he should eat bread there. So they're taken care of.
They're tending to their donkeys. They're letting them wash their feet. They're hanging out. And all of a sudden, they hear that Joseph's coming. And so they pile up all the little pistachio nuts and, you know, 10 men trying to make something look real nice. We don't know how nice it looked, but not that nice.
And they piled it up. And they were like, yeah, put some gum and some balm there. That'll be sweet. And then we'll be like, here's our present. It's good to see you. And so they pile it up.
So then when he comes home, they could give him his present. When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. He inquired about their welfare and said, is your father well? The old man of whom you spoke, is he still alive? They said, your servant, our father is well, and he is still alive. And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother, Benjamin, his mother's son. And he said, is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? And then he said, God, be gracious to you, my son. Then Joseph hurried out for his compassion, grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. So that had to be weird for them.
He says, is this your brother? May God be gracious to you, son. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen somebody start to cry and try to stop it. But their face looked weird. I don't cry very often, but when I am going to cry, I try to stop it and it does not go well. I've done this before.
I start getting like the yips. I'll be like, like, I just, I can't. My face starts doing like this. I remember my brother on his wedding day, he would like look around people and then he would turn and go like he was just trying to tighten his face and do a little knot. So I'm assuming he looks at me and says, is this your brother?
May God bless you. And just took off. They were like, this man's on something. I don't know what, what this is. And also, if you go weep somewhere, that takes a little bit. I don't know how long it takes you to weep.
A couple minutes. I don't know. I don't know how long, you know, he goes and weeps. He then it says he washes his face and he comes back. He looked different. You don't weep and just bounce back from that.
So when he walked back, they were like, something's going on here. I'm sure when he took off, they thought, oh, this is the time they jump out and get us. You know, he confirmed that he was here and now we're trapped. He comes back. He's wept and cleaned his face. So then verse 31, then he washed his face and came out and controlling himself.
He said, serve the food. They served him by himself and them by themselves and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews. But that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table.
And Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were married with him. That means they got tipsy. All right. Picture this for a second. The Egyptians know that Joseph is Hebrew.
So they're not going to eat with him. He eats by himself. So the Egyptians eat by themselves. Joseph eats by himself at multiple tables at this place. This is apparently pretty extravagant set up. And all of his brothers get to eat by themselves and they sit in birth order.
And Joseph has all this food brought out. First of all, these men are starving. They came to the place where they thought, if we don't go, everyone dies. So is it okay if we risk Benjamin because he's going to die here or there? Like, can we go? Everybody's going to die if we don't.
So they go. They're starving. All this food is brought out because Egypt is doing well because God ordained that it would be through Joseph and the planning that was going into this. And then, this is my favorite part, he piles up food for all of them that they're amazed. And he gives Benjamin five times as much. Which, if you've ever eaten and you're thinking, like, I think your piece of chicken is bigger than my piece of chicken.
Like, KFC did it to you on purpose. Like, you know, you open yours up and you're like, all right, I'll eat this. And then you see somebody else, they ordered the same thing. But it's like, no, that chicken was healthier. It worked out. I don't know why they gave me the sad chicken.
I think we accidentally got our boxes swapped. Like, you ever had that? Five times as much. It'd be like, if you sat down, I don't know what they had, like Egyptian chicken. And so, like, this guy's got a chicken leg. And then they just keep piling stuff.
Like, you got a piece of cake, they give him a cake. They give you a drumstick, they give him a whole chicken. Five times as much. So they're piling this up and they're like, did they think we sat in reverse order? Obviously, I look older than him, right? Like, Ruben's on the other end going, why are they, what is happening here?
And you know, they probably look at him like, everybody's got to just eat what they were given and be respectful. But I wonder if they were like, Benjamin, can I have some of that? And Benjamin was like, I don't want to be rude. I think I'm going to have to eat this whole cake. You know, I haven't eaten in like a year. I think I'm going to have to just eat this whole chicken.
I don't want to offend anybody. I hate to end up in prison. All right, so they do that. Chapter 44. Then he commanded the steward of his house, fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry.
Put each man's money in the mouth of his sack and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest with his money for the grain. And he did as Joseph told him. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now, Joseph said to his servant, up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, say to them, why have you repaid evil for good?
Is it not from this that my Lord drinks and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this. So he gave him his cup that they're going to accuse. They're going to say he practices divination with. Now, we don't know if that was just the accusation, if it was made to seem even more powerful, if he actually did practice divination, he lived in Egypt and had taken on some Egyptian practices. You're not supposed to practice divination.
But we don't know. But that's part of the story. So it's a way to kind of fortune tell or whatever. When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. And they said to him, why does my Lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.
Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. And how then could we steal silver or gold from your Lord's house? Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die. And we also will be my Lord's servants. And he said, let it be as you say, who is he who is found with it shall be my servant and the rest of you shall be innocent. So he goes.
And can you imagine the integrity they have that they just say, no, no, no, no. We didn't take anything. And if you find it, kill that one and we'll all be slaves. They just were like, we didn't do this. And he says, fine, but we'll, we'll be a little more fair about it. We'll just make him a slave, whoever it's found with.
Then each man quickly, this is verse 11, 44, 11. Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground and each man opened his sack and he searched beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes and every man loaded his donkey and they returned to the city. They didn't just say, well, Benjamin, sorry, buddy. They all said, oh no, it can't be Benjamin.
They tear their clothes and they just get back on their donkeys and they all go back. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground and Joseph said to them, what deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination? And Judah, and this was all through a translator. So he would have said really aggressive things.
They looked at him and they looked at the translator and the translator would say it. And then he would look at him and aggressively say things again. They would look at the translator like that and then say, oh, that sounded worse than the first one. And so they would listen to it. Practice divination. Verse 16.
And Judah said, what shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found. But he said, far be it from me that I should do so.
That's Joseph responding. Only the man in whose cup and whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father. Do you see what's happened? Joseph. Took the same 10 brothers.
Put him in a situation where they can sell Benjamin into slavery and walk away. They can get rid of Benjamin. He can be a slave in Egypt and they can walk away. So Joseph just says, no, he'll stay and be a slave. Y'all are free to go. Then Judah went up to him and said, oh, my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's ears and let not your anger burn against your servant.
For you are like Pharaoh himself. My Lord asked his servant saying, have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, we have a father, an old man and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead and he alone is left of his mother's children and his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.
And we said to my Lord, the boy cannot leave his father. For if he should leave his father, his father would die. Then you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again. When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of the Lord. And when our father said, go again and buy us a little food, we said we can't go down unless our youngest brother goes with us. And then we will go down for we cannot see the man's face unless our younger brother is with us.
Then your servant, my father said to us, you know that my wife bore me two sons, one left me. And I said, surely he's been torn to pieces and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to shield. He says, now, therefore, as soon as I came to your servant, my father and the boy is not with me. As soon as I come to your servant, my father, the boy is not with me. Then as his life is bound up in the boy's life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die.
And your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to shield. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, if I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life. Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my Lord and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father. Joseph tees it up for the older brothers to be able to walk away and leave Benjamin there to have him be a slave in Egypt.
And Judah comes and says, I can't, I can't go back. I can't go back without Benjamin. I'll take his place. I'll be a slave in Egypt. Benjamin's got to go home. I'll be a slave in Egypt.
Benjamin's got to go home. I'll take his place. I've already made a pledge. I'm not doing it. I'm not going back. I'm not going back again and telling my father that his son is dead.
I've seen that once. I don't want to see it again. I'm not doing it. Chapter 45. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him.
And he cried, make everyone go out from me. So he yelled this in Egyptian. His brothers don't understand. He just yells, get out of here. And all the Egyptians leave. So no one stayed with him.
And when Joseph made himself known to his brothers and he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed at his presence. Judah says what he should have said so many years ago. He swaps places with Benjamin.
Judah fights for Benjamin's life. He fights for what is right. He does what he should have done. He's the one earlier who was saying we're guilty. And they all agreed. And then Judah, all the brothers walked back broken hearted.
And Judah just says, you can't. We can't lose Benjamin. And when he says it, Joseph just can't control it. And so he yells, get out of here. Everybody runs out but the Hebrews and the Hebrews are looking at him. And then in Hebrew, he says, I am Joseph.
And they didn't know what to do. He starts weeping. And he says, is my dad alive? They didn't answer. They just stare at him. So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please.
And they came near. And he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years. And there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Go, hurry up and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph. God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me.
Do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me. You and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. There I will provide for you. And there are yet five years of famine to come. So that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty.
He said, now your eyes see and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You speak in Hebrew. That is my mouth that speaks to you. Hurry up and bring my father down here. Verse 34. Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept.
And Benjamin wept upon his neck and he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After this his brothers talked with him. He has them in the palm of his hand to do them harm. And he just wants to hug them and welcome them and draw them near and care for them and provide for them. And he says, I'm your brother who you sold into slavery. And we would want to.
You would want to think that what would follow that sentence is I'm the one you sold into slavery. And now you'll pay. I'm the one that was in the pit and I've waited for this moment my entire life. But he says, I'm the one who you sold into slavery. Do not be distressed. God has worked in this to bring about provision for you.
You didn't send me. God sent me. And there's hope for you because of it. Now, what happens is they go get his father. His father comes back. They weep.
They hug. He settles them in the land of Goshen. He cares for them. His father actually gets to meet Pharaoh. They bless them. They put him in a nice land but not where the Egyptians are.
And then all of Egypt becomes extremely wealthy because they're the only people that have food for the next five years. And the nation of Israel is cared for, protected, and lives in Goshen. God even tells Jacob, don't be afraid. Go down there. I'm at work in this. Now, when we read stories in the Bible, so often we want to see what are we supposed to learn from them?
How are we supposed to act? What did they do wrong that we shouldn't do? What did they do right that we should do? We want to read this story and you could say, when you have the opportunity for revenge, don't take it. When you have the opportunity for revenge, don't. We could put you in the place of Joseph and we could talk through that.
But the problem is with this story is that we're not Joseph. We're his brothers. And Jesus is Joseph. We're the ones who did not want a king, did not want someone we had to bow down to, who actively opposed him. Jesus comes and proclaims a kingdom and humanity rises up against him to destroy him, to cast him out, to kill him. And then he rises, not from a prison, but from a tomb, not to an earthly palace, but to an eternal throne.
And one day everyone will stand before him and have that moment where he says what Peter said about Jesus in Acts chapter 2, which is, Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him both Lord and Christ. Everybody will have someday when they stand before Jesus and see the king who has absolute power over everything. And we'll be like the brothers that our hearts fail us because we know our sin and we know what we've done. But Jesus is better than Joseph. He says the same thing. Wasn't just your sin that sent me here.
It was the father who sent me here so that he might make provision for you. Wasn't just your sin that sent me here, but I came here to pay for sin so that you might have life, that you might have forgiveness, that you might have freedom, that that's the hope found in Jesus. That he is the one who dies, that he might welcome and love his brothers, that he wants to wrap his arms around us, welcome us. That when he looks at his brothers and they're standing back from him and he says, come near to me. It's me. It's me.
He weeps and he hugs them. And that's what Jesus does for us. That Jesus wants you to know your sin. He wants you to see it. He wants you to feel it. He wants you to know your guilt.
But not for condemnation. Not so that you might feel terrible. Not so that you might be crushed by it. But so that you might be free from it. Matt's going to come back up here. As we close out our time, I want you to see this.
He wants you to see your sin. Not for vindictiveness. This is one of the things that people go with the Bible, you know, it just says, it comes out and just says I'm a terrible person. It's like, yes. Yes, it does. It cosigns that you're terrible.
But for your redemption not to crush you. So that you might see it and then it might not weigh on you. That your guilt might not find you out. That he wants you to see your sin and he wants you to turn from it. Just like Judah and them. They changed how they were.
They wanted to turn from this. They knew that they had been guilty and they weren't going to repeat it. He wants you to turn from it and he wants you to come to him so that he can forgive you. So that you can find grace. And reconciliation. That he can welcome you.
Do you know that that's Jesus' response? That he can't control himself. But he overwhelmingly wants to wrap us up. Have us close. Draw us near. Forgive us.
Reconcile us. And he says the same thing. God sent me before you to prepare a place. He sent me before you for provision. Not for harm. For good.
Not for destruction. I'm the one whom you destroyed. But not so that you might be crushed by. But so that you might be saved. That's Jesus. And that's our hope.
That's the only hope we have. That we might see our sin. That we might repent of our sin. And that we might in Jesus find the one who paid for our sin. And who welcomes us back. And prepares a place for us.
That we might have life. And protection. And provision. The goal in this story is not just to be like Joseph. But to be the brothers.
Others who don't deserve anything but condemnation. And who receive everything because of the grace of someone else. Because someone else was willing to suffer. And someone else was willing to carry the penalty on themselves. That Joseph with joy can look at his brothers and say, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. God did this.
God put me in the pit. God sent me to prison. God elevated me out of slavery and out of prison to here. So that he might bless you. And that Jesus looks at us and says the same thing. So many of us think that we come to Jesus.
And he's like, Alright. Alright. It's about time you saw how terrible you are. Now go sit in the corner and think about it. And if you keep it together, then maybe. We feel like maybe he saves me.
But I'm kind of in the back of the group. And I'm not really as welcome as the other ones. Or maybe he saves me. But he's still holding this sin against me. Or maybe he would save me. Or he did save me.
But I've continued to sin. I've continued to be broken. And so now he's going to take it back. And that's not what he does. He says, No, I went to the cross for you. God sent me there that you might be welcomed.
And you might be loved. And you might be grabbed. And hugged. And wept over. And cared for. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus.
I want you to see your sin. And know how terrible it is. I want you to feel the guilt of it. But I want you to turn from it. And take it to Jesus. Who forgives the worst of sinners.
And brings hope in the darkest of places. And joyously welcomes those who've harmed him. In a moment, we are going to take communion together as a church family. Which is where we celebrate and remember that Jesus' body was broken for us. And that his blood was shed for us. And we take bread.
And we're going to dip it in juice. To remind ourselves of his body and his blood. And to remember what Jesus has done. And that we need the gospel. And that our hope is in him. And when you do that today, I want you to remember that, yes, our sin sent him to the cross.
But God sent him to the cross. So that we might be provided for. And that is his provision. His body and his blood shed for you. That you could be welcomed. That our hope is in him.
And our life is in him. If you are not a believer, we would encourage you to place your faith in Jesus. And then take communion. And if you are not a believer. And have not placed your faith in Jesus. We would ask you to not take communion.
Because that is something for believers. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your grace. That you save sinners. And that our hope is in you. The one who suffered and died in our place.
That we might be welcomed when we don't deserve it. And that you go to great lengths to orchestrate. Us seeing our sin. And being able to repent. And being able to be welcomed. And that you have prepared a place for us.
That you have gone ahead of us to bring about life. And may we place our faith in you. And find our hope in you. As you redeem and you reconcile broken situations. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.
From the Prison to the Palace
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are going to be in Genesis 40 and 41 today. So go ahead and grab a Bible, follow along with us.
If you don't have a Bible, there's a blue Bible on the road. It'll be on page 20. I love stories that are told in a way where everything comes full circle. Movies that do this well are really good. I remember Slumdog Millionaire, which is kind of a movie that celebrates Indian culture. It's told in a way where everything comes full circle.
The beginning starts where this guy, he's a contestant on the Indian version of who wants to be a millionaire. He's getting ready to answer the final question, the 20 million rupee dollar question. And they're like wondering, how does this guy who comes from like the lower parts of Mumbai, how has this guy gotten all this way? And they think that he's cheating. So they walk through all the questions with him to see how he answered these.
And the way the story is told is that each question is a point that points back to a different part of his life, a different memory, a different experience. And the story is told where it's all of it comes together at the end. It all points and converges to him being able to answer a question that's going to change his life forever. I love seeing this in stories that we get to watch, we get to read. I love seeing this when it happens in your own life. I got to see this recently.
I was in seminary. And in seminary, I started taking extra counseling classes. I started taking extra counseling coursework of the church I was a part of. I started shadowing different counseling pastors and learning. And at the time, I could not have told you why I wanted to take all this extra work. It wasn't a part of my degree program.
It wasn't something I was thinking I was going to be doing a whole lot of when I got into ministry. But there was something that drew me to it. As I think back now, I think part of that was that so much of my life has been connected to suffering, to loss, to death, to all different kinds of experiences. And I think part of it maybe was me wanting to have an answer, to me being able to want to walk people through the Bible and walk them through suffering. What I didn't realize is that stepping into my leadership here in this church, the two things that I would help oversee are teaching and counseling.
And I just love in my office now, I see this whole bookshelf, and there's a whole bunch of books that are a reflection of that, that everything has come full circle for me and how God is using me in our church. I love stories that come full circle, and I love this story of Joseph, because it's going to start coming full circle as we walk through the last parts of this story. We've been walking through the story of Joseph and seeing at the very beginning that he is gifted in dreams, that he's gifted in helping interpret dreams, that that's something that God has gifted him in, and when he uses it the first time that we see it, it does not end well for him. His brothers end up selling him into slavery, which leads to the situation we walked through last week, where he is falsely accused of rape, and now he is in prison.
He is in the pit, and he is suffering. But we're going to see his story start to come full circle with the giftings that God has given him. And as we see this come full circle, there's a question that still remains. Is he going to continue to be faithful to God? Is he going to, in the midst of everything that he has suffered, still going to trust God? We're going to see that answer today as we walk through his story, and we're going to see a picture of faithfulness, a faithfulness that we are all called to as God's people in spite of circumstance.
That in the mess and suffering of life that we face, God still calls us to faithfulness. That because God is sovereign, he still calls us to be faithful, trusting him with our lives, and ultimately trusting him with the reward. So we're going to see that as we walk through this. Let me pray, and then we'll jump into the story. God, I'm thankful that through the trials of life, we are not alone. That through suffering, you do not abandon us.
God, I pray you would help us see that faithfulness to you is better than anything else in this world. I pray that you would make that clear to us this morning as we walk through this story. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so, Joseph, as we walked through the end of last week, is in prison, but he's, like his other work, has been blessed in his work in the prison, so he's kind of become this honorary warden who's helping take care of the prison. So he's in prison, he's helping take care of the prisoners, of the prisoners, and then he gets two new prisoners, which is where we pick up today in Genesis 40, verse 1.
So it says, sometime after this. Now, that's a commentary note from Moses. We don't know how long he's been in prison, but if it's going to say sometime after this, it's probably been years. So he's years in prison, looking over the prisoners, sometime after this. The cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against the Lord, the king of Egypt. All right, so we've got two positions, two high-ranking positions in Pharaoh's government.
They're now in prison. We've got the cupbearer and the baker. All right, so the cupbearer in ancient Near East government was a very important position. If you were going to assassinate a king, you did it by poisoning. That was the way to get away with it. So they had cupbearers who would drink the wine, who would drink the drink to make sure it wasn't poison.
So they would take a bullet for them. So that was part of their job. Because they were such a trusted official, they had other responsibilities that were important as well. And then we have the chief baker, also a very important position in the kingdom. He makes the food, which also needs to not be poisoned. It also needs to taste good.
Because if it doesn't, it will end up like an episode of Chopped, and his head will be on the chopping block at the end. And that is where we are at. Both of them are in prison. Both of them have committed offense. We don't know what they did. It doesn't tell us.
Maybe Joseph came to them and said, hey, what did you do to get here? And they just said, unspoken. Like, we don't know. But they've committed offense. They're in prison. And it picks up in verse 2, when Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined.
The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them, and they continued for some time in custody. So again, Joseph is overseeing these guys. These guys are part of his watch. And it picks up in verse 5. And one night, they both dreamed, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined to prison, each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. All right, so they have some dreams that need some interpreting.
Now, we take a step back for a second. We talked about this a few weeks back. I just want to reiterate it. Dreams have value. All right, they have importance.
There's about three different categories we walked through a few weeks back of dreams. Some of them are just random and weird. Just what they are. Like, if in your dream, your dog becomes a person and starts talking to you about your favorite TV show and then turns back into a dog. That's weird. You don't have to read any more into it.
That's just our brain processing things. It's just odd. There's a second category of dreams that has value because it's the working out of different anxieties, fears, experiences, memories. This is what psychology likes to deal in. This is what Froy, one of the fathers of psychology, liked to help interpret, to figure out what our dreams are telling us. And that has value because that is part of what happens in dreams.
We are working through anxieties, fears, all of that. When I was a kid, I had a reoccurring nightmare of these. We were, I remember I was at my house and there was a party going on and then I look up and everyone's gone. And then all of a sudden, these demons start coming down the street to get me. And you may be thinking, wait, that seems a little more spiritual. It wasn't.
It wasn't spiritual because those demons were from the movie Ghost. Ghost. Because my parents thought it was a good idea at five years old to let me watch Ghost. And I don't know if you've ever seen Ghost. That is not an appropriate movie in any form or fashion for a five-year-old. But there are these little demons that are in the movie that would come up and take people to hell.
And it scared the mess out of me. And I had this reoccurring nightmare that those demons from the movie Ghost were coming to get me. So we have nightmares, dreams like that that are sorting out memories, sorting out fears. And there's a third category where dreams can be very spiritual. That God gives them to us and that He's speaking through them. And what we said a few weeks back is as Christians, whatever dreams we have that trouble us, we bring them into community.
We bring them into the church. We have the Holy Spirit as the church and we help sort them out together to see what's going on there. That's how we respond. That is not how they would respond. In their culture, they had specific people who were gifted in dream interpretation. And these men were troubled because they didn't think they had access to anybody like that in prison.
It picks up in verse 6. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, why are your faces downcast today? So he sees them and he sees that they're troubled and he could have just kept walking. He didn't have to ask. In the same way that if you're in the office and you see a co-worker who is obviously upset, whose eyes are, you can tell they've been crying, they're red, you could walk past them because you know if you ask them how they're doing, it may turn into a 20 or 30 minute conversation.
Or, you can be a Christian. You can respond in grace and ask them, hey, how are you doing? And that's what Joseph does. He sees that they're dismayed. He asks them how they are doing. Why are you troubled?
And in verse 8 it says, they said to him, we have had dreams and there's no one to interpret them. And Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God. Please, tell them to me. So Joseph has trusted God with this gift. With this gift of interpreting dreams and it has earned him suffering. He had a dream that his family one day would bow down to him, he shares it, he ends up in slavery.
He eventually ends up in prison. That his life has been suffering because of his dreams. So it would be understandable if they said that and he went, hmm, I wish you had somebody who could help. Like hard pass, like I don't want any part of this. It would be understandable because all of his experiences thus far of trusting the gift that God has given him has earned him suffering. But that's not what he does.
He has faith. Throughout all the suffering, throughout all the mess, he still trusts God with the gift that he has been giving. He still has a healthy relationship with God. So he asks them. He offers help. And it picks up in verse 9.
So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, there was a vine before me. And on the vine, there were three branches. So in dreams and in the Bible, Numbers are significant. So this three sticks out. It has significance. And as soon as it budded, it blossoms, as soon as it budded, it blossoms, its blossoms shot forth and the clusters ripened into grapes.
So this is a dream that he can understand. This is wine, grapes language for a cupbearer. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. All right, so that was his dream. Now Joseph jumps in with the interpretation.
Then Joseph said to him, this is his interpretation. The three branches are three days. In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office. And you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer. So he had to have, I'd like to think, a huge sigh of relief at this point.
He's been troubled, which means he's been trying to sort out what this dream is. What does three mean? It's going to be cut into three pieces. It's going to be pressed out like wine. There's all kinds of fears and in that moment, Joseph steps in and helps relieve him. No, no, no.
You will be restored. You are going to be restored to where you were. But this is what Joseph adds. He says, only remember me when it is well with you and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh and so get me out of this house for I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and here also I've done nothing that they should put me in the pit. So he makes a plea.
He understands that this is one of the high-ranking officials that serves under Pharaoh. He says, remember me. When you are restored, please remember me because my whole life I've been snatched out of my own land, sold into slavery. I'm in this prison, in this pit for doing nothing wrong. And how many of us feel that? How many of us, that's your story?
That so much of your life has been trying to honor God, has been doing the right thing and you've been passed over. Whether it was a job promotion, you get passed over. Whether it was a sale, whether it was an opportunity, you did what was right and those who were faithless pursued and cheated and did all kinds of things to get ahead of you and you are left behind. We can feel how Joseph feels in the pit, hoping to be remembered, hoping that faithfulness might actually be rewarded. So this is Joseph.
He makes the plea. And while the cupbearer is getting good news, the baker hears it and he's like, oh, how about me? He says, when the chief baker saw the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, I also had a dream. There were three cake baskets on my head. And the utmost basket, there were all sorts of baked food. There was all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.
And Joseph answered and said, this is his interpretation. The three baskets are three days. He's got some good news. And in three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head. Seemingly good news. From you.
And hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you. And that's his interpretation. The chief baker was so excited. He's like, man, the cupbearer got good news. I've got to get in on this action.
Tell me, dreamer, what you got? I have number three. That's good news, right? I've got three baskets on my head. And I've baked goods. And there's birds eating it.
And they're flying. Am I going to fly up out of here? How is this going to end for me? Tell me, dreamer, what do you have for me? Now, Joseph is good at a lot of things. He helped build a business empire.
He's obviously a good warden. He's taking care of the prison. He is gifted in dream interpretation. He is not good at giving bad news. Because he says it just like you did the cupbearer. In three days, your head will be lifted up.
And it's like, oh, yes. No, no, no. Lift it up from your head. You will be hung. This ends badly for you. And he gives the bad news and it goes down exactly how he interpreted.
On the third day, verse 20, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him. So it goes down like he said it would and another disappointment happens for Joseph.
Hoping that maybe he might be remembered. That his faithfulness here might pay off. How many days you think he was waiting for someone to come through the prison to come and get him? How many days was he hoping to maybe see the cupbearer maybe see someone that the cupbearer would send hoping that he might be lifted up out of the pit? And at what point did he finally just say I don't know if someone is coming. This is my life.
I am used. I am discarded. I am forgotten. Flip over to chapter 41. After two whole years. He has been in prison for years and two more years of waiting.
That just shows that our timing is not God's timing. It is not God's timing at all. After two whole years Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile and behold there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump and they fed in the reed grass. And behold seven other cows ugly and thin came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile and the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows and Pharaoh awoke. Alright so by dream that's a nightmare.
That's fairly terrifying. My dreams don't ever get that graphic. My typical nightmares are I show up on a Sunday and I don't think I'm preaching and somebody says hey you're preaching today and I'm like no I'm not preaching. And it's like no you are and my reoccurring nightmare is I show up and I am unprepared and I have to preach. That is my naked in the office dream that happens regularly and that pales in comparison to the horrors of what he just saw. I don't know if you heard that.
There were seven fat cows eating, drinking, just being cows and seven thin mangy looking cows came up and ate them. Cows don't eat. The only thing they eat is grass and corn. That's terrifying to see these thin cows attack these fat cows and there's blood and it's horrifying and it's a nightmare and Pharaoh awakes and he somehow gets back to sleep. And in verse 5 he has a second dream that says he fell asleep and dreamed a second time and behold seven ears of grain plump and good were growing on one stalk. So again Numbers are significant the seven matters here. and behold after them sprouted seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind and the thin ears swallowed up the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears and Pharaoh awoke and behold it was a dream.
So in the morning his spirit was troubled and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Some of you all felt this. You have nightmares night terrors things that disturb you and when that happens the appropriate response is you need to find somebody. You need to sort it out. You need to figure out what happened and that is what happens with Pharaoh.
He has this nightmare these back to back dreams and they're significant and he needs help. So he reaches out to his magicians he reaches out to his wise men and there's no one who can help him until finally somebody remembers. Verse 9 it says Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in the custody of the house of the captain of the guard we dreamed on the same night he and I each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us a servant of the captain of the guard.
When we told him he interpreted our dreams to us giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us so it came about. I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged. Two years later finally the cupbearer remembers. He tells what happened to Pharaoh how he interpreted the dream correctly and we're starting to see that everything in Joseph's life is starting to converge that all that God has prepared him for is for this moment that dreams for the majority of his life have been his downfall have been his suffering but now they're actually going to be his redemption.
That God is orchestrating it all for this moment and Joseph through it all has not given up on hope has not given up on faith in God that he has been given this gift for a reason. In verse 14 it says then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph and they quickly brought him out of the pit and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes he came in before Pharaoh. So after years in prison Joseph he's got nasty prison garments he's got to be cleaned up. He goes and he changes out his clothes he gets shaved he gets cleaned up he's being brought before Pharaoh and when he's being brought before Pharaoh he gets it.
He has got one shot at this. He's seen what happens to people in the kingdom that do not please Pharaoh. He has one shot one opportunity to seize everything he ever wanted. Will he capture it? Or will he let it slip? You're welcome to everyone under 40 who listen to hip hop.
Verse 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph I've had a dream and there's no one who can interpret it. I've heard it said of you when you hear a dream you can interpret it. Joseph answered Pharaoh It is not in me God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Joseph hear this he is standing before one of the most powerful men in the world. He is a slave a prisoner I mean there's a lot on the line here and Joseph looks at a man who is worshipped like a God amongst his people and says no you're mistaken no it is God my God that is going to give the favorable news. He looks at this king and he doesn't waver.
He still wholeheartedly believes in God trusts in him but through all the suffering his hope is still secure in him. He stares down this powerful man declares who is actually going to give the news here. So then Pharaoh recounts the dream he tells it again we're not going to read it. Joseph gives the interpretation skip down to verse 25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh the dreams of Pharaoh are one God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years the dreams are one the seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.
It is as I told Pharaoh God has shown Pharaoh what he's about to do there will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt but after them there will arise seven years of famine and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt the famine will consume the land and plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow for it will be very severe and the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means this thing is fixed by God and God will shortly bring it about.
Temptation, Suffering, and the Greater Will of God
Transcript
Good morning. Y'all, that was some worship. That was good. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in Genesis 39 today.
We are in the Joseph narrative. We're in the back stretch, the home stretch of Genesis. And we are following the story of Joseph. We're going to be on page 19 in our Blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. We want you to have a Bible that you can read at home, but it will be on page 19.
All right, so we've been in Joseph for the past couple of weeks. We started off the Joseph story, and we're introduced to Joseph. He's one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Joseph, he was the favorite. He was loved by his father so much so that he gets this technicolor, this rainbow coat that probably would have looked really tacky to us, but back in the ancient Near East, probably would have killed it. He gets this coat, kind of shows that he is the favorite, and then God starts giving him dreams.
And these dreams are prophetic, and he's explaining them to his brothers and his dad that these dreams are one day they're all going to bow down to him. And that doesn't go well for him. His brothers get jealous. They beat him up, throw him in a pit, plan to kill him, but his brother Judah steps in and says, no, let's sell him into slavery. We can make some money off this. So Joseph went away, and while he was away last week, we walked through Genesis 38, which is the story of Judah, that God, out of all the brothers, chooses the most broken one, the most messed up one, to bring about his line.
That's ultimately what we see, is that Jesus comes through the line of Judah, and now we're back to Joseph. And we're following Joseph down to rock bottom. His story builds you up, or breaks you down to build you up later. It's a classic rags to riches story. One of the earliest ones I remember, as far as rags to riches stories goes, was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I remember in middle school being assigned to read it, and I was like, man, that book is that thick.
So I did what every other kid did back in middle school. I went to Books A Million, and I got the Cliff Notes. And I read the Cliff Notes. And y'all, the Cliff Notes is a good story. Like, it's a really good story. It only needs to be that long.
But it's like a classic rags to riches. Pip is this little orphan, and he gets some good luck. He gets a benefactor. He rises through the ranks of English society. And he lives happily ever after. He gets the girl of his dreams.
We love stories like that. If you were like me, and you didn't like to read stories like that, but you'd like to watch all of the movie. I got to watch all of The Pursuit of Happiness. And that's another classic rags to riches story. It's a true story. Will Smith, he plays this guy that in the 80s lost everything.
Him and his son had to live homeless on the street as he was doing an internship at a brokerage. And it's like 90 minutes of Will Smith getting his teeth kicked in. And five minutes of he made it. Yay. And it just kind of breaks you down and builds you up. Joseph is a little bit better.
We get some more chapters with some more length of how he's going to rise. But today we're going to follow him to rock bottom. So we're in Genesis 39. And in this story today specifically, we're going to see that he undergoes sexual temptation. And I want to spend some time in this today because we're in an overly sexualized culture. And the Bible has some stuff to say about it.
So we're going to spend some time in that. When we take a step back from it, we're going to see that all the suffering, all the trials that Joseph is undergoing is part of a bigger plan that is in play. So let me pray. And then we will jump into the text. God, thank you so much that you've given us your word, that we get to open it every Sunday. Be exposed to the gospel.
Be exposed to you. God, I pray that you would speak to us in this story. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.
Verse 1. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. So let me pause for a moment. I want to point out something the text clearly highlights. Joseph is about to, he's in suffering, he's about to suffer.
He is in a whole bunch of mess, and it makes it clear the Lord is with him. The Lord does not abandon his people, no matter the situation. So whatever mess that you may be in life, God is with us, for those of us who have trusted in Christ. He is with Joseph. Verse 3. It picks up.
His master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he had made him overseer in his house over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So he left all he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food that he ate.
All right, so Potiphar is the one that purchases him ultimately. Potiphar is an officer of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the king. He's the ruler of Egypt. And he's not just an officer. He's a captain of the guard.
So he is a high-ranking official in the Egyptian government. So we're already starting to see here that God has a plan for Joseph. He doesn't get sold to just anyone. He gets sold to this high-ranking official. And he starts to make Potiphar rich. And Potiphar realizes this.
He's like, your God is making us successful. And every bit of success that Joseph had rolls over into Potiphar. Potiphar becomes so successful that he hands over the keys to his business empire to Joseph. So that the only thing he has to worry about is his next meal. And y'all, that is crazy successful. Because you asked me, hey, man, how are things going?
How's real estate? How's the church? And I said, man, deals are going well. These sermons preach themselves. Let me tell you what I'm concerned about. Breakfast.
Duck donuts in the morning. Cafe strudel for brunch. I don't know. Like, real Mexico for lunch. I mean, Libby's. I mean, dinner.
I got options for days. And I don't really, I mean, if I start rolling into that, you'd be like, okay, this is weird. You must have some success. The only thing that you worry about is your next meal. And that's Potiphar. He is growing successful.
He's handed it all over to Joseph. Everything is going well until it's not. Verse 6. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time, his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house.
And he has put everything he has in my charge. He is not greater in the house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her. So Joseph, Joseph is starting to make lemonade out of this situation.
Things are starting to go well. And then his handsome form catches the eye of Potiphar's wife. And it's about to get messy. There's a couple layers to how messy the situation is. The first deals with sexual temptation. Potiphar's wife repeatedly solicits herself, repeatedly offers herself.
It is direct at the start. She says, lie with me. And we get messages like that all the time in our culture, that sexual temptation can be direct. That it shows up on the internet. You are only a click away from being solicited into sexual immorality, into a whole world of broken sinfulness and sexual temptation that leads to sexual sin. We're a click away.
And with smartphones, there are apps for days. There are like 8 billion dating apps that are designed to invite you into this casual hookup culture where sex has been so detached from the way that God created it that it was deeply spiritual, meant for a husband and a wife, for the procreation of children, for the enjoyment of one another and intimacy. It's been so detached from that that there's all kinds of tech companies that are trying to profit off of it. I mean, Facebook. Facebook used to be like, oh man, look at his family. Look at that guy I went to high school with.
What a beautiful family. Look at his kids. Man, it's great. So like old flings soliciting you, like sending messages in your inbox, porn bots reaching out to you. There's no safe space anywhere on the internet. And it's gotten so casual that it's not uncommon to hear stories, even in office environments where someone is just asking, soliciting themselves for casual sex.
It is direct. We see it all over our culture. Over and over again, we see direct messages. And when it's not direct, it's subtle. It's subtle temptation. That's what Joseph also got.
It says, and she spoke to Joseph day after day and he would not listen to her. To lie beside her or to be with her. So she makes the appeal, lie with me. And then she says, no, just lie beside me. Just come join the bed. Lie beside me.
It's subtle. It lures you in. It's just coffee. It's just lunch. It's just text messaging. It's just messaging back and forth.
Lie beside me. We will justify ourselves that it's just coffee, that it's just a drink, that it's just a meal. It's just messages. Yeah, there's some sexual jokes that got thrown in. It's not that big of a deal. It lures you in like a frog on a slow boil.
The old wives tale, for those of you that like cooking frogs, was that if you want to cook a frog, you don't just throw it in boiling water. That you put it in a normal pot of water and you slowly turn up the heat. And it won't do that. The frog will just stay in and it slowly turns up the heat until finally it doesn't realize that it's been boiled. And that is us. As coffee rolls over into someone's place, as lunch turns into more intimate meetings, as messages turn more intimate, it lures you in slowly.
Slowly, until you have slowly boiled over from sexual temptation into sexual sin. The reality is that no one is immune to it in this culture. It is all over the place. That's why we need to take the Proverbs seriously. The Proverbs has a lot to say on this. There's one passage I love in 721-22 that says, Whether direct or subtle, sexual temptation lures us into impurity, into sexual immorality, into adultery.
And what that can ultimately do is for those of us who say we love Jesus, it lures you down a road that you may never return from. And if you reject Jesus all together on that road, that ultimately leads you to death in hell. Like an ox to the slaughter. That is what Joseph was facing day in, day out. But that's not the only layer that makes this messy.
You see, the second layer that makes this worse is that Joseph is a slave. There is an imbalance. There is a power imbalance here. She is a free woman and she's not just any free woman. She's the free woman wife of a powerful official. And Joseph doesn't have certain rights.
This is so picturesque of what we discovered a couple of years ago that was at the heart of the Me Too movement. That a couple of years ago, our nation's eyes were open to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories that came out that showed the brokenness of this world and how it has been for thousands of years. That there are those in power and authority who objectify, who harass, who assault. And some of you have seen this and some of you have been through this. And I am sorry. I'm sorry that we live in a broken world where this is the reality.
I'm sorry for some of you that we're not able to escape this. But we're stuck in this. Let me say very clearly. God is judge. And that one day Jesus will sit on the throne. And every single wrong will be answered for.
You can take that to the bank. The Bible gives us the picture that Jesus is a judge who will judge all of these wrongs. But the Bible also gives us people that we can empathize with. Joseph being one of them. Joseph knows what it's like every day to go to work thinking, I'd just like to do my job and being harassed over and over and over again. Wondering if you say the wrong thing, what is that going to do to your standing?
Wondering who you can talk to. Wondering if anyone is going to believe you. Feeling powerless. Let me also say clearly, if that is you, if you are currently in that situation, we want you to come and talk to us as pastors. Because you do not need to be in that. We want to be able to help you out of that situation.
This is the situation of many. This is the situation of Joseph. So how does he respond to the sexual temptation? How does he respond to this abuse of power? He responds by declaring truth. He has three points of truth.
He says that this would be an abuse of trust with Potiphar. He says he has put everything in my charge. He's like, I'm not going to abuse the trust that I have. He's given me everything. I'm not going there. Then he says, you are his wife.
He makes the point, this would be an offense against Potiphar. I'm not going to sin against him. And then he makes a third point. He says, how am I going to sin against God? He says, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He ultimately sees what is true about the Bible, that all sins ultimately and primarily are a sin against God, and he's not going to do it.
He responds with truth. He speaks truth into the situation. And I want to expand this category for us. I actually want to take a moment to step away from the story and as a pastor talk to you guys because every season I see different people in our church that are wrestling with this, that are fighting sexual temptation. So I want to expand Joseph's categories that he gives of truth, and I want to give five ways that we can battle sexual temptation, that it might not roll over into sexual sin.
And the first one being, cultivate a deep love for Jesus. Cultivate a deep love for Jesus. If we are so in love with God, if we are worshiping Him, if we are delighting in Him and enjoying Him, if we are doing that well, seeking Him in worship, in word, in prayer, if we're doing that, when sexual temptation comes, we'll see it for what it is, that it's gross, that it leads to death, that it does not satisfy. That's why we say over and over again in our church that we believe that Jesus is better than everything else is because we want to believe that, even in the midst of temptation, that we might see that He is better.
That is your primary way. If you're enjoying God, you can absolutely take sexual temptation and push it to the side. But there are going to be seasons where we are not doing that well. Let me give you a second way to fight this. The second way is to memorize and quote Scripture. Memorize and quote Scripture.
Psalm 119.11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's the hope, that we might know God's word, that we might hide it deeply in our hearts, that we might be able to use it to combat sexual sin in all temptation. That's what Jesus does when He's being tempted in the wilderness by Satan. He quotes the Old Testament, fires back, uses the Bible as a weapon. That's what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 6 when he says, put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. He gets to the sword of the Spirit, which is imagery for God's word.
That you might use it as a weapon, that you might use it as a weapon to defend yourself against evil. Store up the word in your heart. Have some fighter verses memorized that you might be able to repeat them in a moment's notice. Third, pray for an escape. Pray for an escape. 1 Corinthians 10.13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. That's been taken out of context. And people will say, God doesn't give you any more than you can handle. Sometimes He does. So that's not what the passage is getting at.
What He's saying is, is that when you are being tempted, if you pray, God will give an escape. That needs to be our heart. That we would pray, as Jesus prays, lead me not into temptation. That we might not engage in sin. That we might find an escape. 4.
Invite church family in. Invite church family in. We are not meant to walk in this alone. The reality is, is in an over-sexualized culture, where all of us have faced this, and all of us have fallen in some form or fashion. You are not alone. If you have stuff hidden, the Bible calls you to bring it to the light.
As 1 John 1, 5-10 teaches, that we might walk in the light together. That brings true fellowship with the body, and also helps expose light to darkness. There are times, there are seasons in my life, where I'm asking the people in my life, whether it's Chet in the office, or the guys in my group, hey, this is what's going on. Can you pray about this? Can you also ask me about this in three weeks? We are not meant to walk in this alone.
Invite church family in. Fifth, fear God. Fear of God is important in battling sexual temptation. Now that is not popular in our culture. It is not popular to uphold the fear of God, to uphold the wrath of God, but it is vital in your fight against sexual temptation. That's what Joseph ultimately does.
He says, I'm not going to sin against God. That's what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5, when he's teaching specifically on this. He says, If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, throw it away from you, for it's better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, then your whole body be thrown into hell. And the reason why that's important is because in seasons where you're not cultivating a deep love for Jesus, when you're not remembering his word to use it, when you're not praying well, when you're not inviting people in, you know what will help? Fear of God. Because flames are hot.
It is deeply helpful for me in those seasons to remember that eternal flames are hot, and I don't want any part of that. I want Jesus. So we are called to use fear of God as a means to battle this. And then Joseph gives us a bonus one in how he responds. Verse 11. But one day, when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying, Lie with me.
But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. So Joseph's working, gets in a situation where he is alone. It says she caught him by his garment. That isn't just, oh, she grabbed his garment. The idea in the Hebrew is that she grabbed and seized his garment, and she pulled him in and said, Lie with me. Now there's no amount of declaring truth in this moment.
It's going to help. She's got him by his outer garments. They would have had outer robes with a sash, and then there have been inner garments that have been more like long underwear, like a long gown. She has his outer garments in hand. And he does one of the more biblical responses to sexual temptation. He books it.
He flees. He runs from the situation, so much so that she's got his garment. He like wiggles his way out, just has the inner garment on, and books it, and leaves with his garment left in her hand. That's what Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians 6, 18, when he says, Flee sexual immorality. When everything else fails, when all defenses have been exhausted, run. That's the biblical picture.
Run. If you are single, if you are not in a covenant marriage, and you are dating someone, and you put yourself in a compromising situation, run. If you're on the couch, if you're in the car, get out. Flee. That's the command. Run from sexual temptation.
When the culture is wooing you, and saying, Explore your sexuality. Explore sexual freedom. I want to plead with you. There are millions of people who have gone down that road, and have never come back. Run. Flee.
When your phone is tempting, and you are scrolling, drop it. Run. Flee. Whatever situation you are in, or you are feeling this, the last line of defense is to run. Get out. Flee.
We have got to start taking sexual temptation, and sexual sin seriously, because it will kill us. I have a son who's two. We do fires in the backyard. We have this fire pit, and my daughter, she knows when the fire is going, and she's kind of a timid person in general. She stays far enough back, but my son is like a bug, led to a bug zapper. I mean, he just, he sees the flames, and it's not like he just runs into it.
He just slowly, you know, gets closer and closer, and I've got to pull him out. I've got to yell at him, because he doesn't realize, that if he gets close enough, it will mar him. It will kill him. And that is the same with us. If we are not careful, we will get lured in, and we will not survive. And we need to treat it with the seriousness that the Bible treats it, and respond like Joseph.
Joseph responds righteously, but as we're going to see next, his righteous response leads to more suffering. Verse 13. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household, and said, see, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice, and as soon as he heard that, I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled, and got out of the house. Now she has made up a rape allegation.
And what's worse is, is she's got evidence. This false allegation, she's got his garment. And this is a big deal. It's a big deal, period. It's a big deal for him, because Joseph is a slave. He does not have certain rights.
She is a free woman, and she's accusing him. And in his culture, he can be put to death for this. And she adds to it. It wasn't just the attempted rape. It was, he's making a mockery of our family, and a shame on our culture. That's a big deal.
And there's a little bit of a racist tinge there. This Hebrew, who is going to make a mockery of us. All of the goodwill that Joseph has stored up is about to be exhausted as soon as Potiphar gets home. Verse 16. Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home.
And she told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, This is the way your servant treated me. His anger was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison.
So Potiphar hears this, and justifiably, he gets angry. But he doesn't kill him. He throws him into the king's prison. And I want us to imagine how Joseph would have felt. I mean, he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He worked his tail off for years to work his way up in this household, only to do the right thing and end up suffering regardless.
Sometimes suffering is so unfair. Sometimes you do the right thing and you still suffer. Sometimes we suffer because of our own mistakes. But there are situations when you respond the way you're supposed to and you still suffer the consequences. I love movies that do this. I love stories that bring out this feeling because there's a feeling in all of us when we see unjust suffering that just makes us mad, that makes us upset.
I love stories that do this. There are two movies that we watched all the time growing up, my stepdad and I. We watched them when they come on TNT. My mom would literally get out of the chair and leave because we watched them so many times she was tired of seeing them. We watched Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Two Stephen King novels made into awesome powerhouse movies.
Both capture the same thing. The Green Mile is about a man that, it's about prison guards that are on death row. They're supervising death row. There's a new prisoner that comes in. He's accused of killing two little girls in a pretty horrific manner. And he's big and he's scary at first, but the more they get to know him, they see that he's softer.
And then they start to see there's actually something miraculous about him, something angelic almost. He starts performing these miracles and they slowly begin to realize there's no way he committed these murders. And towards the end of the movie, you realize there's somebody else on death row that's actually guilty who did commit the murders. But there's no way to prove it and he still goes to the electric chair. And there's this scene when all the prison guards are in tears and they're angry and they're upset that he is going to be put to death. And what's great about stories like that is they bring you in to the same feeling that you're upset, that you are mad, that it's not right that he would suffer for something he did not do.
I love that because it brings out what's written into us as being made in the image of God. There's a part of us that hates to see unjust suffering. But God operates within that fallen story and he uses suffering for greater purposes, which is what is ultimately going to happen here with Joseph. Verse 21, But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge all of the prisoners who were in prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.
The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. So the chapter ends with a foretaste of where this story is going. But for now, we're at rock bottom in the prison. He is suffering. And as Americans, this is difficult for us.
We don't have a really strong theology of suffering. We don't grasp why God would use situations like this. But God makes it clear he is with him. This is not purpose. He is behind him. He shows him steadfast love.
But he does the same thing he did with Potiphar. God is with him. He blesses his work. He actually basically becomes a little bit of the sub kind of warden of the prison. That God is with him. He's not going to abandon him.
His suffering is aimed at a bigger purpose in this story. And we're going to walk through that in the coming weeks. But this is how our God works. God works within the broken story to bring about suffering for greater purposes. And suffering often is the way that God accomplishes his greater purposes. And God knows that that's not fair.
That is why he came. That is why Jesus came. That is why God took on flesh and entered the story himself. And when he took on flesh and he entered into our story he took on human suffering. He experienced suffering. He experienced temptation.
That's what Hebrews 4 is getting at when it says for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. We have a God who can sympathize. Who knows what Joseph went through. Who knows what we went through. Who subjected himself to temptation in the wilderness from the devil himself. This is what C.S.
Lewis has to say about this. He says we never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means. The only complete realist. You have moments in your walk where you are so tired of fighting sin and you are so weary. Jesus gets it.
He's the only complete realist and what he is getting at what C.S. Lewis is picturing for us is that he's the only one. All of us have fallen in temptation at some point. Jesus is the only one who's gone through the full extent of temptation and did not sin. He is the only complete realist. He knows what it's like to be Joseph day in, day out being tempted and he also knows what it's like to respond like Joseph to persevere in righteousness only to suffer in the end.
The greater purpose of Joseph leads to the greater purpose of Jesus and that was Christ going to the cross to suffer for all of us that have fallen. For all of us that did not respond like Joseph that have fallen to temptation. So that by faith in believing in his death and resurrection we might actually experience what it looks like to have the God the universe in us inside us the Holy Spirit helping us fight that we might not fall to temptation anymore. All of Joseph's story eventually leads to Christ on the cross for us. And that is good news for everyone in this room that did not run like Joseph.
For all of us that gave in to temptation for all of us that were swept up by lust. For all of us that have fallen and sometimes over and over and over again. For everyone in this room who has felt the crushing weight of shame and guilt the hope is that Jesus came that he might die for us that we might get his perfect standing and he might take our shame and our guilt that he might cover us those that have fallen. That is the hope of the gospel and the response for us is to run to Jesus to repent and run from sin and be made new. And we're going to celebrate as the band comes up.
Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat
Transcript
It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Chet. I am one of the pastors of Mill City Church. If this is your first time with us, we're glad you're here. We gather together on Sundays. We have groups that meet throughout the week.
We gather on Sundays. We sing to Jesus and about Jesus. And then we open the Bible and we read it and study it together. If you'll grab a Bible and go to Genesis chapter 37. We've been walking through the book of Genesis. If you have one of these blue Bibles, it'll be on page 18.
If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you when you leave. That's our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible. We've been walking through this story. We've been following this family. And we are now going to begin looking at the life of Joseph.
We're going to be following his story for the next little while as Genesis kind of rounds its way out. So we are in the home stretch. We have turned. We've touched third base and we are headed home. We're going to be able to finish this book up within the next year or two. And the next several weeks we'll be finishing up and studying through Joseph.
I, when I was in 10th grade. Oh, sorry. First of all, let me say I'm glad. But I'm always excited when the elementary students are in here. It's good to see you all this morning. I love having the elementary students in here.
I learn things. Like today, I learned that your soul is located right here. Which makes so much sense as to how I feel after I've eaten. Like I've just fed my soul. And so it's good to see you all this morning. When I was in 10th grade, I was playing quarterback for our JV football team.
And I was not a very good quarterback because I was what my driver's ed instructor called impetuous. And for those of you who aren't familiar with that word, it means when you need to make a decision quickly, you just go for it, which is a problem when you're at yellow lights or when you're throwing a pass into double coverage. So I threw a lot of interceptions. And we were only a few games in. I went to, I faked a handoff. I was rolling out this way.
Somebody grabbed my right shoulder. My left foot got out in front of me and buckled like that. Oh, I actually just did there because it's got problems. And my kneecap shot out of place, which it does. Well, it started around then. And I would have one knee injury every football season for the next six years.
And I learned a lot of things. I was introduced to LCLs and PCLs and ACLs and meniscus and sublexed patellas. I dislocated my kneecap a lot. And if you've never done that, if you've never dislocated like your left kneecap, just imagine what it would feel like to dislocate your right kneecap and then pretend it was over here and you'll have a good idea of what that feels like. And so I did that a lot. And what I was really introduced to was having plans for the way things were going to work out and then having that just knocked out from under you.
That ended my quarterbacking career. I didn't go pro. You know, I just never, it just knocked it out. And I did this every football season. I would get injured again. And so the progress I had made and the way things were working would just get reset.
And I would just have my plans, my future just wiped out from under me. And that was kind of how it began. And this happens in life consistently and on a much greater scale. That we will have plans for our future and just have them snatched away. We'll have plans for our future and how things are going to look and just have our legs knocked out from under us. We'll lose a job.
Somebody will have been drinking and will drive left of center. We will have a parent leave or a spouse leave. We will have plans. We'll have a vision for what future is going to look like and just have it derailed. And that's what happens in this story. That's what happens in the life of Joseph.
And so we're going to ask that question today is what do we do in those times when we just get kind of stuck where we had a plan, we had a future, we had an idea of what things were going to look like and that just gets taken away from us and now we're just kind of stuck in a holding pattern. And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning. So I'm going to pray and then we'll start reading this text together. God, we come here today from all different places. There are some people who have had a joyous, life-giving week. And there are some people who have had the life beat out of them this week.
There are some who feel much the way Joseph is going to feel like the future was snatched away, like they're stuck in kind of a holding pattern. And we just ask for your help as we study this and we ask for your Holy Spirit to minister to us, to comfort us, to teach us that we might grow to look more like you and that we might grow in our love for Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen. Chapter 37, verse 1. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan.
These are the generations of Jacob. Now whenever it says that, it means we're kind of starting a new chapter, a new set of stories. And it says, Joseph being 17 years old. So let's pause for a second and let's remember who Joseph is. At this point, now we left off in chapter 35. For the few of you that maybe remembered that and you're going, wait a second, did we just skip some stuff?
I'm going to read back and find out what we skipped. I'll tell you real quick. We left off in chapter 35. They move towards Bethel. God protects them. Then they live in Bethel for a little while.
They move from Bethel. Rachel dies in childbirth. Rachel is one of Jacob's four wives. You really should only have one. He has four. She's his favorite.
If you have multiple wives in the Bible, you're not supposed to have a favorite. So he's messed this up in multiple ways. But he has multiple wives. He has a favorite. She passes in giving birth to what she names, her son, who she names Ben-Oni, which means son of my strength or son of my sorrow. And his dad changes his name to Benjamin, which means son of my right hand.
And he's honoring his wife and acknowledging that he's lost a part of himself. That is Joseph's little brother. So his favorite wife has two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, who are the second to last and last of his children. And so he's got 10 older sons from his other wives. He's got these two sons. That's who Joseph is.
He's second youngest and first son of Rachel. Joseph, being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. All right.
So Bilhah and Zilpah had four sons, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And when it says he was a boy with them, it does not mean that they were all, they were friends and all the same age. It means he was their boy. He was their small boy. He was their lad. He was their runner.
So they were teaching him how to tend the flock. And he was running back and forth and having to do all the things they said and working for them. And he brings a bad report. He goes and tells his father that they're not doing right. Now we don't know what they were doing.
It just says he brought a bad report. He tells them that either they're sinning or they're not treating him well. I remember when we were little, I have an older brother and a younger brother. And my older brother kept demanding that me and my younger brother do things. He would send us to do things. He would send us on errands.
We were his small boys because he was older than us. And my mom and dad fussed at him and told him to stop doing this. And then one day we were down playing in the woods. We had a little camp and we said our, I can still remember vividly, he was like three or four at this point, him dragging a two liter Mountain Dew down to us from our house. It was almost as big as he was but we had sent him to get us a drink so he brought a two liter Mountain Dew which is a brilliant choice on the part of a four year old. My parents fussed at us and said, y'all have got to quit telling Vince, making him run all your errands and do all this stuff for you.
And my older brother looks at him and says, Mama, you gotta fuss at Chet. Don't fuss at me, you gotta fuss at Chet because every single time I tell Chet to do something he turns right around and tells Vince to do it. But there's this dynamic here where these four have this small boy Joseph and Joseph goes to his father and he gives a bad report and we don't know, we don't know, there's two kind of ways to give a bad report. There's a way that you tell on someone that is for your own benefit. You're telling on them just to make yourself look good, just to puff yourself up. I remember going to my dad one time and I was doing a service for the family because every time my older brother did something wrong, I would let my parents know.
They needed to know these things. They needed to stay on top of his behavior and his actions. And so I went to tell on him one time and I remember my dad looking at me and going, he just looked disgusted. He just stood there looking at me for a while and I was like, this is not the right response. Maybe I was thinking, yeah, that's right, we should be disgusted at Logan's behavior. I don't know.
He just, but I could tell it was like aimed at me and it was just like, okay. And then he said, you're just a little snitch, aren't you? Just a little rat fink, which y'all should use in real life from now on. Rat fink is an amazing term to call people. And he called me a rat fink and he said, you're just a little tattletale. He said, look, I don't want to hear it anymore.
It's you and your brother against me. It's not me and you against your brother. That'd be messed up. I'm not on your team. Quit, quit narking on your brother all the time. And I just remember thinking, but the whole reason he was doing that was because the only reason I was telling on him was to make myself look good.
It wasn't that I was actually genuinely worried about my brother and his character and his life and his health. I just wanted him to get in trouble because it made me look good and I enjoyed watching him be in trouble. There's also a genuine, heartfelt what they're doing is wrong and giving a bad report. We don't know which one he did. Best guess though is that he did this in integrity, in honesty, just because as you watch this play out, his brothers aren't very good people and he seems to genuinely handle things well. So as best we can watch, they don't seem to have a lot of integrity.
Joseph seems to, so it seems as if he's given a genuine report of they're not doing some things right and he's not a rat fink, if you will. He does tell on them. It says this, it says he brings a bad report which is a good way to make your brothers not like you, whether they're wrong or not. That's a really good way to make them not like you. So they're already reading into this.
They would be frustrated with him. Now Israel, that's his daddy, loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, which is a problem. That's the same thing that Jacob, who's also Israel, that's the same thing his dad did. It caused him a lot of problems. He's turned right around and done the same thing. Because he was the son of his old age.
And he made him a robe of many colors. We don't, that robe, that thing could be a robe of many colors. It could be a robe that was like sparkly or shiny. It could be a robe that had long sleeves. We don't really know. The only other place this is used in the Old Testament is to describe an outfit that a princess is wearing.
So what we do know is that Joseph looked fabulous. He was shiny and colorful and sparkly in his princess outfit. It was amazing. I'm sure his brothers envied him and mocked him because that's how brothers would work. And so he gets this fancy outfit. His dad shows great honor to him, privilege to him.
And in some ways it's treating him the way he ought to treat the firstborn son. And he's messing up the birth order from Reuben down to Joseph. But Joseph is the firstborn of Rachel. So there's this weird favoritism that's plaguing this family. And it says, but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Some of you who have siblings know what that is like.
You go through these stages where it's like your siblings cannot talk nicely to you, cannot speak nicely to you. You come in and you're like, hey, what's going on? They're like, shut up, get out of here, Steve. Like, whatever. Like, you just have this kind of, this animosity that grows and this happens. And I want you to know this.
Parents, you have a role to play in how your children get along with one another. Seems as if Israel is further fueling this the same way his dad did, but you have a role to play. There's a family in our church family that has a get-along shirt that they make their two children wear at once so that they'll get along. My dad used to make us hug. You have, after we had fought, you have a role to play in trying to help them get along, and he's not, and it's further dividing, and they cannot even speak to him without being cruel to him. So Joseph, this is verse 5, now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf. So he says, we were binding grain, my sheaf stood up, looking good, and all y'all's little sheaves that y'all put together just came right around and bowed down to mine. What y'all think about that dream? His brothers said to him, are you indeed to reign over us, or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow ourselves to the ground before you? And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. All right, we've got to talk a second about dreams.
Immediately, they understood when he tells them this dream, they understood that this ought to be understood in a prophetic way. That there's meaning behind it and so they're saying, oh, are you prophesying to us? Are you telling us that your dream tells the future and that we're going to bow to you? And that's why his dad fusses at him and says, oh, me and your mama are going to bow to you. They were the sun and the moon and your brothers are going to bow to you. Really?
So they understood it to be prophetic. Now, let's talk about dreams for just a second. There's kind of three ways to think about dreams. There's a group in here probably that just believes dreams are just dreams. They don't mean anything. They're your brain keeping itself occupied while you're asleep.
Like if you dream that you had to build a golf cart with your old PE teacher, probably just a dream. You're not waking up thinking, oh, wow, in the future I'm going to have to build a golf cart with my, like it just seems like it's a dream. Like dreams are just dreams. They're just random things. Some people would say, well, no, dreams tell you a lot about yourself. You can study them for psychology.
You can study them to know more about yourself. Like I have a dream periodically where I get up to preach and I, for some reason, have folded my notes into a tiny little thing and then I'm immediately trying to unfold them up here and I can't get them unfolded. The truth is that's exactly what I did the first time I ever preached. I had written all my notes on a yellow sheet of memo pad, had it wadded up in my pocket and got up and it was one of those lecterns with the microphone right here and then just like sweatingly unfolded it while I was sitting here and I don't do that anymore. Crisp, clean sheets of paper.
But I have that dream. I have dreams sometimes where I can't read the Bible or y'all keep moving so like I'll find it, I'll get ready, I'll look up and I'm facing the wrong way. There's that middle zone. I think it means I'm stressed out when I have that dream. Sometimes you have dreams where you're having to give a presentation at work and suddenly, you know, my wife periodically have dreams where her teeth fall out and that kind of stuff. It's just like I have dreams where my contacts are as big as dinner plates.
I can't put them in my eye. Now some of you who study this are going, oh no, I've just learned seven things about you. We can talk later. And then there's other people who are going, no, dreams are prophetic. They're from God. They're dreams that will tell you things that you need to know, reality that's around, things that are coming.
And the answer to this, yeah, okay, some dreams are just dreams. You wake up, you're like, that was weird. You move on with your day. Or, you know, you wake up and you're like, that was weird. I'll be mad at my husband for the rest of the day. Whatever, however you choose to do that.
Then there's the middle zone of like, yeah, maybe it does tell you about something you've been thinking about, something you've been worried about, something you're stressed about. I wouldn't put too much weight there trying to figure out all the secrets of your soul from dreams, but okay. And then yeah, biblically, some dreams are prophetic. We're going to see that throughout the story of Joseph. We're going to get to see that more. The New Testament carries that out.
There are prophetic dreams in the New Testament. When Peter stands up and preaches at Pentecost, he says, your young men, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. It's this prophecy about coming true through the Holy Spirit. That happens. So what do we do?
In general, you don't want to place too much weight on dreams. You want to place some weight. There's room for them to be prophetic, for them to be from the Holy Spirit. But the New Testament also gives warning. It says that people can be puffed up by visions. They can be led astray by dreams.
So we don't want to give them all the weight in the world. We would share them in community under the weight of Scripture. We would discuss them. You could let other people in on them. You can keep them to yourself and just wait and see what happens. Wouldn't make all my life decisions off of dreams.
And we can do what Jacob does here and keep it in mind. Try to pay attention to it. Ask the Lord about it. Talk about it in community. Let Scripture bear weight on it. Make sure you don't run off after them.
Maybe you feel like you need to pray for somebody. Trust that. Walk with people in it. But we don't place too much weight on them. If you want to talk more about that would be interested too. We will talk more about it as well in upcoming sermons.
That's all we can give it right now. He has dreams. They understood him to be prophetic. He understood him to be prophetic. And so they move forward in the story. His father keeps this in mind.
Pick up 12. Now his brothers went to pasture their flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send them to you. And he said to him, Here am I. So he said to him, Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word.
So he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem. All right, let's pause for just a second. He's no longer their small boy. He's not with them anymore. We don't know if that just means sometimes he did this, sometimes he didn't. When they travel off, maybe he just stays closer to home.
He is 17, which means he's in between being an adult and being a boy. They would not count you in a census as prepared for war until you were 20. And so there is some room here, especially for those of you who are in that 15, 16, 17, 18 range. There are some times where it's perfectly fine to be in your parents' household, to be leaning into them for wisdom, to be asking them for help, to be living under that roof. And there are other times where you need to be capable, like he is, to be doing some work. His dad's sending him three or four days away on his own to go find out about his brothers and to give a report.
If you're 16, 17 years old, can you be at home by yourself for three or four days? Are you incapable of doing that? Are you capable of doing that? There's time to be willing to grow and to carry some weight and also to be understanding that I'm still able to lean into my parents and walking that out and trying to work towards health. And that's where he is. So he's sent out on his own 60 or so miles away to find his brothers.
Verse 15, And a man found him wandering in the fields and the man asked him, What are you seeking? And he said, I'm seeking my brothers. He said to him, Tell me, please, where have they been pasturing? Where they are pasturing the flock? And the man said to him, They have gone away for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
That's another 20 miles. That's another day or so journey. So Joseph's just walking around fields like this. They walk over a hill. Somebody sees him and says, What are you looking for? He says, My brothers and our stuff, do you know where they went?
And they said, Yeah, I heard them say they were going on to Dothan. And then he heads on to Dothan. He doesn't head home and say, I didn't find them. He finishes the job and he heads on to Dothan. They saw him from afar. Before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
Okay, so his brothers see him headed towards him. Now, if you know someone and you're familiar with them, a lot of times you can recognize them from a distance. You can tell how they walk. You can kind of tell, Okay, this is this person. I know this person. I don't know this person.
If that person that you know is wearing a splendid rhinestone coat that they wear all the time, you can tell them from a distance easier. And he's wearing his splendid coat. They see him and they go, Okay, here's colorful. Joseph headed our way and they decide, When he gets here, let's kill him. They said to one another, Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of these pits.
Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams. So his brothers hated him. Then they hated him more. Then they hated him even more. Then they see him and they decide, Let's kill him.
Some of you have been betrayed, harmed by family. And it is some of the most harmful thing that can happen. And his brothers, his ten older brothers decide, Let's kill him. And they go about this the way that we go about things. They slowly let it grow and fester in their souls so that eventually it seems like a really good idea to do something absolutely evil and wicked. Some of you right now, if we said, Would you ever do this?
Would you ever do this? You'd say, No. But the truth is, you've already planted the seed and you're already letting it grow. An oak tree doesn't seem like it would come from an acorn, but if you plant it in the ground and it has the right circumstances, it can grow. And some of us right now are fostering bitterness, are fostering lust, are fostering hatred. We're watering it and we're letting it grow and eventually it leads to really heinous action so that we do things we never would have thought we would have done.
And that's what his brothers decide, Let's just kill him. And then, and then we'll see about his little special dreams. When he's dead, we'll see who bows down to him. Verse 21, But when Reuben, that's the oldest brother, the firstborn, he'd had some weight in the family, heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life. And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him. And he said this, that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.
So Reuben tries to protect him. Now, he's not in the strongest position. He's the firstborn, but he can't just tell him, No, we're not going to do that. Y'all are wrong. I think he probably fears they might turn on him. If they'll kill Joseph, who's Jacob's favorite, they might just kill Reuben as well.
So he just says, No, don't kill him. Just throw him in the pit, in the wilderness. Kind of saying, We'll just let him starve and die, but that way we won't have his blood on our hands. But Reuben's plan was to go get him out. So when Joseph came to his brothers, verse 23, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit.
The pit was empty. There was no water in it. He finally sees his brothers. He's been on this trip for days. He's probably like, Oh, here we go. Good.
He may even have some things he was supposed to bring him. We know he was supposed to find out how it was going and give a report. He shows up to his brothers, probably felt like something's a little off here. His brothers gather around him. They rip his robe off of him and they throw him in a pit. Now, he had 10 older brothers.
This probably was a bit of a struggle, but not exceedingly difficult. We can guess that maybe Ruben wasn't really hands-on here, so maybe nine. I don't know if you've ever fought nine people. Unless your name is Jackie Chan, you lost. That's usually how that goes. Because, you know, they don't do the one-at-a-time thing like they do in movies.
And so he is thrown in a pit fairly easily, and I think probably very confused, very hurt. He's the youngest. He's not actually seeking this relationship to be bad. He probably is hurt over how this has all gone down anyway. And now he sees his brothers and they harm him. And they throw him in this pit.
And it's a man-made pit. It would have been used as like a cistern. He can't get out of it. It's probably steep-walled. Kind of like a well. They threw him in a well.
That's kind of how that works. So he fell in at the pit. All right. And then, 25, then they sat down to eat. So they don't even care.
They're not worried about him. And they just throw him in there. And they sit down and start eating. And looking up, they see, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing gum and balm and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, he's one of the older ones, what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him. For he is our brother, our own flesh. So he says, it's probably bad if we kill him. Let's just sell him and make some money off of this deal. His brothers listened to him. Then the Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.
They took Joseph to Egypt. So Joseph had been in Hebron. He'd headed to Shechem, then to Dothan. These guys are coming around from Gilead down to Egypt. They sell him. He heads all the way down over here to Egypt.
He's now very far from where he started. It says, when Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, the boy is gone and I, where shall I go? So what he's saying is I'm going to have to pay life for life on this that we lost our brother, that this is under my leadership as the firstborn. He tears his clothes and he says, what have y'all done and where shall I go? Doesn't seem like he's super worried about Joseph. He doesn't say, where did he go?
He says, where shall I go? Then they took Joseph's robe, this is verse 31, and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood and they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, this we have found. Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not. And he identified it and said, it is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without a doubt torn to pieces.
In this countryside, they would have had lions, they would have had bears. It was not out of the question that someone would be attacked and killed. And his sons do the same thing to him that he did to his father. They slaughter a goat in order to trick their father away from his favorite son. It's the same thing Jacob did when he pretended to be Esau. And it's the same thing they do to Jacob here.
And Jacob and his family are living out patterns. So he sees it and he says, yes, this is my son and they've, he's obviously been killed by a wild animal. Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, no, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning. He just says, I'm going to be sad until I die. Thus, his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. Now, if you've ever been watching a show and something terrible happens and then it just ends and you're like, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no. And then you wait till, okay, I can't wait till the next episode and the next episode picks up and tells you nothing about what just happened in the last episode. That's what happens here. Next week, we're just going to read about Judah and Tamar. The text intentionally says, meanwhile, he's a slave and then just moves on to something else.
It's a Old Testament cliffhanger that we don't know what's going to happen with Joseph. We're just kind of stuck here. And the truth is, Joseph is just kind of stuck. His life was going well. He has 11 brothers. He's the favorite.
They have regular coats. He has a magnificent coat. His dad loves him more than his brothers. Now, we don't know how he handled that. We don't know if he was gracious with it, but he also has these dreams that he, maybe in his youth and naïveness, naivety, tells them what his dream is. And maybe he was bragging a little bit.
We don't know, but he has these dreams from God that say, they're going to bow down to me. He's going to have this position of power. He's going to, in the future, things are going to go really well for him, not only as his brothers, but his dad and his mom. Like, he goes and tells them these dreams. Like, what do y'all think this means? I think it means it's going to be awesome in the future.
He goes, he's working hard. He goes and sees his brothers and immediately thrown into a pit. They save his life, barely, sold into slavery, and everything that was going to happen in his future is taken away. As best he can tell, his whole future, his whole plans, his whole idea of how things were going to work, the way he had marked it out, the way he had mapped it out is just gone. And he's just stuck. I love the word meanwhile there.
Meanwhile, while everything else is going on, he's a slave. And I think sometimes we feel like that. Like, that's how our life works. Like, you, while everybody else was having a good time, while everybody else was advancing at work, while everybody else was having things go well for them, meanwhile, I lost my job. Meanwhile, my family fell apart. Meanwhile, my health deteriorated.
For some of you who are older, maybe you felt this very distinctly when you went to high school reunions, that sometimes you felt like you were showing up and you had the meanwhile story. Oh, you became a doctor. Well, meanwhile, I gained 30 pounds. And, you know, I'm really kind of between things right now. You just feel this on you and that's where he is. He feels, he's stuck.
And we don't get any extra part of the story here. And so what do you do in those moments? What do you do when you're stuck? What did he do? Well, we'll find out later that one of the things he does is he trusts the dreams that he had. He trusts what God had already told him.
He understood that those were prophetic and he trusts them. He believes in them. He would hold on to those, lean back into those, know that this is something that God had said so that regardless of how the situation seemed to be working right now, he could lean back into that. And some of you were like, neat. That sounds nice. I have had zero special dreams.
I've had some weird ones, but none that I'm like, when I get sad, I'll think about that dream and feel good again. That's not how they work. And you're going, I don't have anything special from God that he's told me that I can hold on to in the middle of this crisis, in the middle of this pain. And I would tell you that you're wrong, you have something better. Hebrews chapter one says this, and we'll have it on the screen. It says, long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
That means that God specifically spoke to people to give a message that this dream is prophetic, that he speaks in a way to declare what his will was, what he was doing, what he was about, what was going to happen. And then it says, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed to the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. That through Jesus, he has spoken definitively and clearly that he loves us, that he's good, that he's the heir of all things, that he's the creator of the world and that there's hope fully and forever in Jesus, that he has spoken through Christ to us, that you have something better than a dream, you have the person and work of Jesus who has gone before us and who our hope is in forever. There was a story written in the middle of the 1800s called The Princess and the Goblin.
There's this princess, her name's Irene. She lives in a castle. She dresses very similarly to Joseph. It doesn't say that, but I'm just helping you picture it here. She lives in a castle. She's kind of by herself and she doesn't know, but there's a goblin kingdom that's near her castle and they've decided that they're going to try to rule again.
She's very lonely. She's wandering around the castle. She enters into this room and she finds her great-great-grandmother who is actually a fairy, as some great-great-grandmothers are. And she starts to talk with her and she gets to building this relationship with her great-great-grandmother. She goes and visits her often. And one of the things that happens is there's some bad things that happen.
Eventually, her great-great-grandmother gives her a ring and it's a magic ring and it has a thread on it that only Irene can see. It's a very thin thread and the grandmother says, if you ever are in danger, put this under your pillow and then grab the thread and follow the thread and it'll lead you to safety and it'll lead you to me. There's this time that comes where the goblins attack the castle. She puts the ring under her pillow. She grabs it and she starts following the thread. And as she heads out of the castle, she comes around and she sees that the thread leads her directly into the goblin's lair.
She just keeps following the thread in her fear and then finally the thread winds and it turns into a giant pile of rocks. She's terrified and heartbroken. This is awful. And she tries to follow the thread back to get out of the cave, but that's not how the thread works. It only goes forward. So after being sad for a while and being confused for a while, she decides, well, I might as well just follow the thread.
That's my best option. So she starts digging the rocks out. She's soon bleeding, soon crying as she tries to get these rocks out. Her fingers are hurt and as she digs them out, she finds hidden in the rocks was a prison and she finds her best friend, Kurti, who was trapped by the goblins. And Kurti's like, how on earth did you know I was here? She said, I'm just following the thread and now I see why it brought me here.
And she says, let's keep following the thread and Kurti says, no, we got to get out. That thread doesn't lead the right way and she says, all I can do is follow the thread. And she follows it and she follows it and she follows it and sometimes it leads to places that seem like there would be utter despair and destruction there, but she follows the thread and eventually she makes it to her great-great-grandmother and she makes it to safety and the thread was trustworthy because her great-great-grandmother was trustworthy. Pastor Tim Keller was writing about that story and he says this, he says, if you asked a seven-year-old, I'd like you to write me an essay on what it's like to fall in love and get married.
He says, when you read the essay, you'll say it isn't very close to the reality. We've got some parts right, but in general, doesn't really understand the process. He says, a seven-year-old can't really imagine what love and marriage will be like and he says, when you start to follow Jesus, you're at least that far away. You're at least that far away from understanding what this is going to look like. You have no idea how far you'll have to go. Jesus just says, follow me and sometimes you'll be following him and you'll be asking, why on earth are you bringing me here?
That's Joseph's story. God has a plan. God's made a promise, but it doesn't look like it's going to work out, but God is sovereign over all of it. Joseph's brothers haven't overpowered God. They haven't outwitted him. And for us, as we follow Jesus, a lot of times we just have a thread and all we can do is go forward.
It only goes that way. And sometimes we're going to hit places that we think, why on earth am I here? How on earth are you going to bring good out of this? But we have good and beautiful promises that are sealed. All the promises of God find their yes in Jesus. And they're sealed in him that he will take all things and turn them to good.
That he will make our suffering matter. That he'll bring glory out of it. That he brings hope in darkness and that we can trust and follow him. And we're not to turn back. We're just to hold on. We're to hold on to the fact that we know that Jesus has gone before us.
That he's suffered more than we have. That he's loved more than we have. That he's been tempted more than we have. And that he's walked it out in faithfulness and we can trust him. And that's our hope. So in those moments of just being stuck, trust that he's good.
That he knows what he's doing. And that you can follow him forward even though it doesn't look like it'll work out. Because he's gone before us. The band's going to come back up. We're going to take communion. If you're a follower of Jesus, one of the ways that we remind ourselves that he is good, that he has gone before us, that our hope is in him, that his promises come true, is that we remember his death in our place, on our behalf.
And so we'll take bread and we'll dip it in the cup to remind us of his body that was broken for us and his blood that was shed for us and to remind us that he has gone before us and our hope is in him. So we'll take a moment if you need to confess and repent of sin, if you need to go to Jesus with your anxiety and your fear and then we'll take communion together. If you are not a Christian, we would ask that you do not take communion because it is something that is for Christians. And in a moment after you've taken communion, we'll stand, we'll sing together one final song. So let's pray.
God, we thank you that you're good and that you go before us and that our hope is in you. We love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Defiling of Dinah
Transcript
Well, it's good to see y'all this morning. My name is Chet. I am one of the pastors. Logan, do you mind cutting the light on? I'm one of the pastors here. Last week we got to celebrate Easter together, and so we gathered, as many Christians around the globe did.
We gathered, we sang, we praised, we worshipped, and we delighted in the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross. He was dead, he was buried, and he rose again to forgive us of our sins and to save us to himself. And as we did that, as we got together, as we celebrated, as we ate, as we had an Easter egg hunt, as we did a lot of fun and had a lot of fun, and across the world in Sri Lanka, there was a tragic attack that killed 253, as of the last count, people who were in hotels and people who had gathered in churches to celebrate the same gospel that we gathered to celebrate. And that is the reality of the world that we live in, that there is beauty and joy and delight, and there's pain and tragedy and suffering, and we can swap from one to the other in the blink of an eye.
And the story that we're going to be in Genesis looking at today is one of those stories of great tragedy and horrific sin. And if you'll grab your Bibles and go to Genesis chapter 34, we've been following through this story. If you don't have a Bible, there's a blue Bible near you, it'll be on page 17. And if you don't own a Bible, feel free to take this one with you, that would be our gift to you. We'd love for you to have a Bible, we'd love for you to read it. We've been following through this story where God made the world good.
He made it beautiful. He made it delightful. And then humanity sinned, and we brought into the world wickedness and pain and death. And then the question throughout Genesis is how is God going to respond to this problem? And that's the question we've had to continually ask as we've watched real people in real stories in real life have horrific things happen is how does God respond? And that's what we're looking at today.
In a story about rape and revenge, fear, hatred, murder, we're asking the same question, which is how do they respond? And more importantly, how does God respond? Now as we go through this, there may be some of you who, this is very close to home. In your past, you have had situations of abuse, that you have been abused or harmed, that you have abused and harmed others, or those near you whom you love have been harmed greatly. And this will drag up a lot of painful memories and a lot of emotion. My encouragement to you this morning would be, even in the moments when you feel like you want to just get up and leave, you just need to get out of the room, my encouragement would be to stay as we study this together, that we might see Christ and His answer, which is a good response to this, and it is sufficient and complete.
So my encouragement would be to stay, to continue to press in, to ask the Lord for help. Now I know that for some of you, I just made it really hard to go to the bathroom. And so there's still room, normal Sunday, if you need to get up, if you need to go out of the auditorium, you're welcome to, and nobody's going to be looking at you thinking, obviously this means something particular about you, but I did want to give that word of encouragement to those who don't want to hear this. So we're going to pray for God's grace. So I would encourage you to just a moment, pray for yourself, that you might hear this well, regardless of where you sit in the room, whether this is close to home or foreign to you.
Just ask the Lord for grace, and then I'll pray, and we'll read this text together. Lord, we need your help. Lord, we have been sinned against, and we have sinned against others. We have been harmed, and we have inflicted harm. So we ask for your Holy Spirit to work as we study your word today, that we might, as we look at this family and their story, and your response, we might see Christ, know him, and that we might respond appropriately.
In light of your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Chapter 34. Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. Okay, so Dinah, her name actually, it's similar to her brother's name, Dan. It means judge or avenge or justice. And that's going to be really interesting, because that's kind of what we're going to be asking in this text, is where is justice?
What ought to happen? How does this respond? But it says that she went out to see the women of the land. Now if you'll remember, Jacob had fled from his brother Esau because he had stolen from him. He then gets married, has a bunch of children. He has 11 sons at this point.
He's going to have one more. He has one daughter, Dinah. She's probably in her teenage years. He's 16 or up, somewhere around in there, 16 to 20. And they come back. He was supposed to kind of go back to Bethel, where God had said originally, I'm going to bring you back here, and then you'll worship me.
And when he said, go back to your homeland, it's kind of implied. Go back to Bethel, but he doesn't. He goes to Shechem. He lives near a city. Now the Bible does not tell us that cities are evil, but the Canaanite cities are.
The Canaanite people in this land have a very bad culture, and the Bible is not like us. And we say, well, all cultures are equal, and there's, you know, everybody just what they believe. The Bible doesn't do that. The Bible steps in, and because it's written over all culture, can say, that's good, that's bad, this one's okay, that's not. This part of your culture needs to go. This part needs to flourish.
And so it does that with these Canaanite cities. They're not good cities. And they settled near one, and so Dinah goes to see the people of the city. Now, Jacob has a tribe. They're set up in tents. They're kind of a roaming band, but they bought a little bit of land.
They have some tents. They have herds. They're not a huge group of people. If you'll remember, Abraham had a ton of people. He had 300 fighting men. Jacob doesn't.
He's got 12 sons. He's got some servants, but it's not a huge crowd. They're big, but not huge. They're a little tribe. They're next to a city, and that's kind of the setting for this. And it says she goes out to see the women of the land.
So she heads into the city. She wants to get to know some people. We don't really know why, what she's doing. We just know that she does this. And it says, And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land. Okay, so they're near the city Shechem.
This guy's name is Shechem. He's the prince. His dad's the king, tribal leader. He's over the city. It says, When he saw her, he seized her, and lay with her, and humiliated her. When he saw her, he seized her, and lay with her, and humiliated her.
From his position of power, he sees something that he wants, and he forcefully takes it. Now, we don't know how forcefully, but he did use his authority, and he did use his power, and he does rape Dinah. Now, the truth is, you should be able to go anywhere, and be inside any circumstance, and never have someone sexually assault you. The reality is that that is how God designed his world, but the reality that we live in, is that that is not how it works, any longer due to sin. And that we can get into positions, where we are unsafe, and we can get into positions, where we really should be safe, and still be drastically, horribly, wickedly harmed.
And what happens to Dinah, is horrific. And it's the type of thing, that happens in life, where from this moment forward, life is not the same. Not to say that she can't heal, and not to say that she can't mend, and not to say that there can't be good in life for her, but this is the type of thing that happens in life, where from now on, it affects your future. And so, there are instances in life, where things happen, horrific accidents, terrible sin, wicked actions, and then as we move forward, the question is, how do we best move forward, but there's no way to really, just perfectly fix, and go back to, what we would have considered normal.
We're going to have to find a new normal. And for, this story is not far from us. In the United States, one in four females, will be sexually assaulted in their life. That's the, the statistic we have currently, one in six males. One in six females, in the United States, will be forcibly raped. Most of them, will be raped by someone, that they know, are acquainted with.
And that's, what we're looking at here. And if this, is true for you, I want to say, I'm so sorry, and that should not have happened. It is horrific. It is evil. And God does have a response. This is true, for far too many of us.
We live with this reality. And the question is, how do we move forward? And what do we do? And we're, we're going to get to see in this story, how they respond. It's not going to perfectly tell us, what to do. We're going to have to look to Jesus, for that.
But we'll get to see, how they respond. And it says, and his soul, this is verse three, was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman, and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, get me this girl, for my wife. And far too often, this is what happens. This is the confusing mess, that comes out of this, is that he forcibly takes, what he wants.
And he's in a culture, where maybe this was relatively normal. He's the prince of the land. He's able to just kind of claim, what he wants. And then he speaks nicely to her. And this happens. It says his soul is drawn to her.
He's genuinely conflicted. He, he inside of himself, thinks he loves her, but he doesn't even know what love is. And he doesn't know how to act. And he chooses to do something, so wicked and horrible. And then he's just really kind. And we have that situation, where females are going, I know he does this.
I know he Acts this way. I know he hurts me. But then he talks nicely to me, and he says he loves me. That's what's happening here. And he goes to Shek, goes to Father Hamel, and says, get this girl for my wife. Now they would have at this point, at least, if not earlier, I would assume earlier, because she would have looked different.
They would have known at this point, she is not of our people. She does not live in this city. She's a part of this tribe, that is outside our gates. And so there is some amount, of cultural tension, that is happening here. They're not all under the same law. They're not all under the same rule.
They are in separate zones. She says, go, get her for me as a wife. Now Jacob heard, that he had defiled, he being Shechem, had defiled his daughter, Dinah. Now that word defiled, is very interesting. It means, to make unclean, to make dirty, to stain. And the reality is, that our culture, at one moment, will tell you, that sex is just sex, and it's just physical, and it's just an appetite.
And therefore, it ought to be free, and it ought to be shared, and it ought to be, we shouldn't look down on it. But as soon as we move, into the realm, of sexual assault, we are all willing, and immediately understand, that that isn't true. That it's not just physical. That there is, a reality, to spiritual ramifications, that take place, and when someone, forcibly takes this, when they claim something, that is not theirs, when they take something, from you, that is private, and should never, be taken. There is great harm, and it says, that she has been defiled. She's dirty.
And for so many, victims of assault, this is a reality, that they face, that they feel this, in themselves. Yet they're dirty. It says, when he heard this, but his sons, were with his livestock, in the field, so Jacob, held his peace, until they came. Jacob doesn't respond. We're going to see, that this isn't just, self-control. He doesn't respond, this whole time.
We don't, know why. At the end, we're going to see, that there's some fear, and some self-preservation here. And for those of people, who have struggled with, assault, and maybe finally told someone, this is one of the most painful things, that can happen, is that they just, don't really respond. Or at best, they just kind of want to cover it up, or they just want to move on. That's what Jacob, leans towards. He doesn't lead.
He does not pursue, justice. And we'll see, the consequences of that, in a second. So it says, Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob, to speak with him. The sons of Jacob, had come in from the field, as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant, and very angry, because what he had done, is an outrageous thing in Israel, by lying with Jacob's daughter. Because he had done, an outrageous thing in Israel, by lying with Jacob's daughter. For such a thing, must not be done.
We don't care, what Shechem's culture is like, this ought not to happen. It doesn't matter, if he's used to it, it doesn't matter, if he's okay with it, it's not co-signed, by the scriptures. It ought not to happen. It is outrageous, and they are angry, and indignant, and they are correct. There are certain things, that you ought to be angry over. They can mourn, that would be a correct response.
They can be angry, that is a correct response. Those are responses, that God has to sin. Do not believe the lie, that all anger is sinful. Now, what we do with it, can be. And what they do with it, ultimately seems like it is. But to be angry, and to respond violently, in ourselves, is acceptable, and godly.
But what we do with it matters. So it says that Hamor went out. Now, Hamor's the king of this city. We're going to hear him speak, we're going to hear Shechem speak. It is fair to assume, they would have ridden out, with some form of guard. We also find out later, as we go, that Dinah is not with them.
She's still in their house. So either way, they ride out in a position of power. They ride out to a, probably smaller group, than them. Most likely, with some force. And, in some ways, at least to the people of Israel, it feels as if, Dinah is still held hostage. So here's what they say.
But Hamor spoke to them, The soul of my son Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him, to be his wife. Make marriages with us, give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourself. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell, and trade in it, and get property. Shechem also said to her father, so he's there, and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say, to me, I will give.
Ask for as great a bride price, and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman, to be my wife. Okay, so they ride out to Jacob. Jacob is older, he's got a hip injury, he's holding his peace, but ultimately find out he's fearful. There are 11 indignant brothers, older, not all of them, but several of them, a good bit older than Dinah, who care greatly about this outrageous thing that happened. Hamor rides out as a king, with his son, the prince, and probably, it does not say, it's fair to assume, some force, but at least no Dinah, and they just say, Hey, my son really likes your daughter.
Let's have some marriages. Let him marry her. We'll pay you as much as you want. We're rich. We can't ask for as much as you'd like. We'll pay you.
They don't say, here's what we've done. We're sorry. This is a bad situation. They just ride in. They act as if this should be fine. The sons of Jacob, this is verse 13, answered Shechem and his father.
So you'll notice, Jacob does not respond. His sons do. And in the absence of godly household leadership, you will get other leadership. Somebody will step up. Jacob ought to be leading this situation. He does not.
He commits a sin of omission. We think that sins are things that we do, but often we can sin by not doing the things we ought to do. So the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. So because of what he did, they're going to retaliate. They lie to him. It said to them, we cannot do this thing to give you our sister, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.
Only on this condition will we agree with you, that you will become as we are, by every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone. So basically what they say is, the Mark of our tribe, the Mark of our people is circumcision, and so we can't intermarry with y'all because you're uncircumcised. But, if you'll get circumcised, then we have a deal. We'll intermarry.
You can have Dinah, we'll just become one big group of people. This is not exactly, but it is similar to, when someone is dating someone who is a non-Christian, and they are a Christian, and they say, well I can't marry you. We've seen this in our church family. I can't marry you unless you become a Christian. And then the guy's like, oh, yeah, I love Jesus. And the girl's like, great, that sounds great.
That's what's going to happen. They say, you have to have this Mark, you have to have this sign, and this has to be true for us to be able to be married, otherwise it's a deal breaker. And, their words pleased Hamor, and Hamor's son Shechem. That's verse 18. And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now, he was the most honored of his father's house.
That matters in just a second. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city, and spoke to the men of their city, saying, these men are at peace with us. Let them dwell in the land and trade in it. It seems as if when they rode out, there was a bit of attention on, are we about to have to go into conflict with these people? Is there going to be war? Because it's a party's riding out to another tribe that's outside of us, and something has happened here that they may not appreciate.
So they ride out, they come back and say, we're at peace. The land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us, and to become one people. When every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock, their property, and all their beasts be ours?
Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us. Okay. One of the things I learned from my dad, who's managed business stuff, and who's done sales, one of the things he talks about is, when you're going to give somebody difficult information, he talks about you do it in the sandwich method. So a sandwich has a nice soft piece of bread, and has the main part of the sandwich. You don't call it a bread sandwich, it's called a ham and cheese sandwich, the part in the middle, and it has a nice soft piece of bread. That's exactly what they do.
This is when you're having to correct somebody. You bring them in, and you say, I want to let you know you've done such a great job, really appreciate how hard you work. And it's true, you don't make stuff up, and then you say, but we're going to have to work on the fact that you keep showing up late to work, because I want you here the full time you're supposed to be doing your great job. So let's punch in on time. But I really appreciate you, and I know you're going to fix this, and it's going to be great.
That's a sandwich. Soft. Main part. Soft. These guys roll in and say, we're at peace. They can live in the land.
This will be great. We'll give our sons. We'll intermarry. It's going to be wonderful. Everybody's going to have to be circumcised, but won't we own everything? And it matters that this is the most honored son, and this is the king of the city, because it says this, and all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised.
All who went out of the gate of his city. So every male that lives, going out of the gate means they would be able to work outside the city, but they would come in and close the gates at night. They were under the protection of Hamor. They lived in this city. On the third day, when they were sore, it's not an easy operation, specifically for people who don't have good anesthetic, painkiller, ways to keep things clean. They had sharp utensils, but it's not an easy operation.
Three days later, they are sore in a place that makes it hard to do much of anything. If sore. Two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. So they say, we can't do this unless y'all all get circumcised.
They know everybody got circumcised. They wait. Just so y'all know, every time a new servant entered into this household, it was policy that all of the new servants would have to be circumcised. They understood how this worked, how it felt, and when you were most vulnerable. They wait. They know.
Day three. They've been doing this. They understand. Simeon and Levi take swords, just two of them. They walk in the city and they kill every male that breathes. They kill Hamor.
They kill Shechem. There was a moment when Shechem most likely laid up in his bed, sees a shadow fall across his doorway, sees the silhouette of a sword, sees a man walk into his room and for just a second, maybe two men, they probably both went, just a second realizes what's about to happen, can't move, can't respond and is cut down. And his blood pours out because he defiled their sister and they kill everyone. Now I understand, I've been made to understand as I share stories from my family and my childhood that I grew up in a home that maybe was different from other people's homes. When I was in about middle school, my dad taught us about a thing called equalizers.
He said, if you're going to fight somebody and you're going to win, fight them behind the gym, fight them in a bathroom, fight them wherever. You don't want to get in trouble, just fight them. If you're going to lose, don't fight them where they say, don't fight them in the bathroom, don't fight them behind the gym because no one will break this up. They will beat the fool out of you. You're going to need an equalizer. And he gave us some options.
Hard lunch trays are an equalizer. Throwing sand in someone's face is an equalizer. Waiting until they're sitting down and you're standing up, starting the fight before they realize it has begun. It's a good equalizer. It is an effective way to win a fight is to punch someone while they're still talking or while they're taking a test. Ask my brother Logan about that.
This is one of the best equalizers in the history of humankind. They set the odds in their favor and they slay everyone. And there's part of us that loves this. There's part of me that loves this. This is Braveheart, Gladiator, Patriot, and like seven Denzel Washington movies. There's part of us that so greatly desires that when someone harms someone and when someone wrecks someone that somebody else picks up a sword.
But that's an incomplete answer. verse 26. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys and whatever was in the city and in the field and all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses they captured and plundered. So the men of the city had said, if we get circumcised then we'll get to own everything they own and it was actually the exact reverse.
If we get circumcised they'll soon own everything we own. So they go in, they take everything, they plunder. Now, there are places in the Old Testament where God specifically says and directs his people to do similar things. This is not one of those places. This was done by the will of Simeon and Levi not the will of God. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi you have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
My Numbers are few and if they gather themselves against me and attack me I shall be destroyed both I and my household. But they said should he treat our sister like a prostitute which is an indictment against both Jacob and Shechem. Should he treat our sister like a prostitute? Should he just take what he wants and then as long as he pays us enough we're okay? And the question here as Jacob wants to have a very non-response a very muted response a very let's just make everything easy let's just make sure we're safe let's not cause trouble in the household. And as his sons in violent anger Jacob's working out of fear his sons working out of anger and wrath they go exact revenge.
But the question is where is justice? How ought this to have been handled? And how does God respond? Chapter 35 God said to Jacob Arise and go up to Bethel and dwell there and dwell there make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him that's all these new families all these new women and children put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments then let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.
And to all who were with him that's all these new families all these new women and children put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments then let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob all their foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their ears
And Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem and as they journeyed a terror from God fell upon the cities and they that were around them and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob and Jacob came to Luz that is in Bethel that is Bethel which is in the land of Canaan he and all the people who were with him there he built an altar and called the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he had fled from his brother and Deborah
Rebecca's nurse died and was buried under the oak below Bethel so he called its name Alan Bakuth God appeared to Jacob again when he had come from Padamaram and blessed him and God said to him your name is Jacob no longer shall your name be called Jacob but Israel shall be your name so he called his name Israel and God said to him I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings
Shall come from your own body the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and I will give the land to your offspring after you then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him in a pillar of stone he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it so Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel God does not show up in the middle
Of this situation he shows up after it seems as if a lot of it has been resolved although he does protect them as they travel so that what Jacob said was true which is they are going to find out what we did and all the rest of these people who are semi-related to them are going to come crush us God protects them and takes them to Bethel but then God says he renews his covenant with Jacob he renews this promise that had been made to Abraham and to Isaac
And to Jacob multiple times he renews it with Jacob and he says I am going to do this and it feels as if God's answer is insufficient it is incomplete that in this story we want him to show up we want him to bring clarity we want him to tell us who was right who was wrong how it should have been handled but God's answer to this is going to be absolutely complete and 100% sufficient and it is made here when he re-promises I am going to send the king his answer to this
Is found in Jesus and nowhere else everything else will be a limited earthly response carried out by sinful humans and so God gives a full and complete answer and it is made by way of promise here and it is made by way of fulfillment for us and it is through Jesus and I want to tell you the full and complete answer so we are going to spend the rest of our time Jesus has two tools with which he responds to this type of sin and wickedness really all types of sin and wickedness
But we ask it so often in these heinous moments first Jesus picks up the cross second Jesus picks up the sword first Jesus picks up the cross then he picks up the sword that is the answer that the Bible gives us for just a moment let us talk about the cross Jesus comes and lives a perfect sinless life loving teaching us how to love treating people even people who don't like
Christianity like Jesus he is so kind he is so loving all they want to do is pull off the deity part they just don't want him to be God but otherwise we can keep him he is nice he comes graciously lovingly and then he is brutally murdered the first thing he does is he picks up the cross in Isaiah 58 there is a prophecy about this and I want you to see that the first thing Jesus does
When he reveals himself to us when God becomes a human he meets Dinah and all the Dinah's that would come after her Isaiah 58 says he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne
Our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed Dinah had someone in a position of power take her strip her humiliate her
And harm her and the first thing we see Jesus doing is coming and having people in positions of power take him strip him humiliate him and harm him that if Dinah were in one of our community groups and this week she were to share maybe for the first time or maybe just the most recent time this thing that has happened and through tears she would talk through what had taken place
That if Jesus Christ were in her group he could through tear stained eyes look directly at her and say me too that where Dinah is voiceless here we are told in this same chapter Isaiah 58 that like a sheep led to the slaughter he opened not his mouth that Jesus Christ was stripped brutally beaten humiliated and died that he is a man of sorrows who joins us in our sorrow
That throughout the Old Testament we read that God is close to those who mourn he is close to the broken hearted and the question is how close and the answer is he becomes one that close he does not sit far off enthroned and separate that he joins us in our pain but he does not just join Dinah as comforting as that is he redeems Dinah
Isaiah a few chapters later in Isaiah 61 it says I will greatly rejoice in the Lord Isaiah 61 is the chapter that Jesus reads in Luke 4 when he says he proclaims the day of the Lord's coming the year of the Lord's coming he says this has been fulfilled in your hearing this is how it ends it says I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall exult in my God
For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation he has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels if you're in here and a minute ago when we talked about Dinah being defiled you felt shame creep up your back crawl up your face and you felt dirty all over again
I want you to know that in Christ he does not just join you he clothes you that he was stripped so that you can be clothed in righteousness that you can be like a bride or a groom on their wedding day as dressed up and as beautiful as we can get as much as he can cover you and make you shine that's what he does to us in the cross that he not only dies for our guilt but he dies
For our shame and he takes it away that you have been cleansed that you have been washed that you have been made new that he meets Dinah but he doesn't just meet Dinah he also meets Jacob and Shechem if you look back at Isaiah 58 it says he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our
Iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed that is good news to those who have suffered abuse and that is good news to abusers that Jesus Christ took the punishment that you deserve and when you feel like you're going to be found out and someone ought to punish you the truth is that that is real you ought to be punished but the hope
In Christ is that he was punished for you that by his stripes you are healed and so for all the Shechem's in the room and all the Jacob's in the room and all the parts of us that are Shechem and Jacob where we've harmed and hurt and sinned that we get to run to the cross and we get to trust in Jesus who bears our iniquity and sheds his blood that there was a moment
In human history when Shechem's blood spilled out onto the dirt and onto the clay and there was a moment in human history when Jesus did the same for all those who would trust in him he bears iniquity the first thing Jesus does is he picks up the cross he takes wrath in our place that's what 1 Thessalonians 1 says we are waiting for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead
Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come when we talk about being saved and people say what does he save us from he saves us from our sin he saves us from the wrath that our sin is owed see Jesus first picks up the cross we stand between these two moments in history but the next time we see him he'll be holding
A sword he picks up the cross he suffers once and then he picks up the sword this is actually what he says to the Sanhedrin as I was reading through this this past week as we led up to the crucifixion Jesus before the Sanhedrin they're asking him all these questions and he has an answer they're accusing him of all these things and he has an answer and finally the high priest
Says I adjure you by the living God are you the Christ the son of God he says by God swear by God and answer this question and Jesus says you said it which isn't super cryptic it means bingo you guessed it you called it and then Jesus says this you have said so but I tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the
Clouds of heaven he says this to a group of religious leaders and they did not think it was cryptic we read it and we're like oh they rip their clothes and freak out because he just quoted Daniel 7 he looked at them and said in this moment you are seated above me and in this moment you're going to crucify me and right now I'm picking up the cross
But the next time you see me I'll crack the sky open and I'll be holding a sword that's what he said because this is what Daniel 7 says behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man he's telling him right where he's quoting from he came to the ancient of days that's the father and was presented before him and to him was given
Dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed he said you guessed it I am the one who rules and reigns for all eternity and they rip
Their clothes and say what more do we need he's claimed to be God and the truth is if he were making that up sure he blasphemed the problem is he wasn't he picks up the cross once and then he returns with a sword and the next time the Sanhedrin saw him
It's when he's cracking open the sky the next time they saw him he was standing next to the ancient of days as a ruling reigning king through all eternity 2 Timothy 4 1 tells us that he will judge the world I watched in parts with my son yesterday I watched Aquaman and he goes and it's all this mess
And all this chaos and all this brokenness and there's this moment at the end of the movie and this isn't going to ruin anything for you because you knew it was going to happen there's this moment in the end of the movie he busts through the ground he's riding on the top of this giant sea creature
He's wearing his shiny gold Aquaman wetsuit thing he's holding his shiny gold trident and there's this moment where all of his enemies suddenly realize this person that looks so humble and pathetic is now the king and he's the right king and he's
The real king because he can talk to the animals and all of a sudden all their little sharks just turn on them and it is awesome as awesome as Aquaman can be and it pales in comparison to the moment that Jesus Christ
As Revelation 19 says stands before the sky the sky rolls back he's on a horse he's got a sword he's got a robe covered in blood you see Jesus in history is covered in blood
Twice once it's his the next time it's his enemies once it's his and the next time it's the unrepentant it says he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath
Of God that he actually grabs people together like grape clusters and stomps them that his sword kills everyone there's this moment in the book of Revelation where
They're seeing into the future and it says that all those great and those small those rich and those poor those kings and those
Homeless it says they all who were unrepentant it says that they yell to the mountains and the rocks and the buildings and they
Say fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb you see he was a lamb who was slain and then he returns with wrath his day of vengeance the great day of
Their wrath has come and who can stand second the Thessalonians one Paul's writing to the church and he says he's talking to them about
Their suffering and he says God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who
Are afflicted as well when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who
Do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will suffer the punishment of eternal
Destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified
In his saints and to be marveled at among those who have believed there are some in our culture who would tell you that
Our God is like Jacob and he just wants to love and he just wants to make everything nice and he just wants to
Calm everything down and when we begin to believe that and tragedy strikes that God is too weak to handle it and where there
Is no leadership and where there is no justice there will be blood there will be violence there will be vengeance that if God
Does not take up sword and so what do we do how do we respond there is a short answer that is a short
Lived answer and it is found in Romans 12 and Romans 13 Romans 12 he says beloved do not avenge yourselves leave it to
The wrath of God the truth is in Jesus taking up the sword he meets Simeon and Levi and they are free to put
It down because it does in Romans 13 he says that God has entrusted the sword to the governing officials that there is a
System of justice that we are allowed to pursue people can go to jail ought to but when that fails and it often does
Vengeance repayment belongs to the Lord and as we sit between these two moments I want to read something for you it is a well
Known passage in John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should
Not perish but have eternal life that's the cross for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world that's
The cross but in order that the world might be saved through him that's the cross whoever believes in him is condemned that's the
Cross but whoever does not believe is condemned already that's the sword because he has not believed in the name of the only son
Of God that's the cross and the king whoever believes in the son has eternal life that's the cross whoever does not obey the
Son shall not see life but the wrath of God remains on him that's the sword Romans says Paul's writing and he's talking to them about their sin
And how they judge me I want the sword I want repayment when I sin I just want you to be calm about it I didn't
Really mean it and Paul says you who judge do you not practice these same things and then he says do you not know
That God's grace and kindness are meant to lead you to repentance that the cross is to show you how much he loves you
That you might for with your unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath here is the beautiful
Glorious good news of the gospel every single sin will be paid for there is not a sin that has been committed against you
There is not a crime that has been committed there is not a single person who has gotten away scot free there is not
Someone who was tried and not convicted and got to live out the rest of their days in peace that will not pay for
Their sin blood will be shed either on the cross or on the sword your sin will be paid for either on the cross
Or on the sword and we stand in the middle this is why John the Baptist comes and the Pharisees come to him he
Says who told you to flee from the wrath that is to come and that is the correct response to flee from the wrath
That is to come so for those parts of us that are Dinah and for those of us who are Dinah go to the
Cross where Jesus meets you and becomes you and clothes you and gives you his righteousness and washes you clean and makes you new
Go to the cross and for all the parts of us and all the times that we have been shechem and we harmed and
We hurt go to the cross where you can have your sin paid for the right blood shed for it because blood will be
Shed and for those of us who are Simeon and Levi and all the parts of us that has fury and rage towards the
Lack of justice and the God forgives you and he mends your heart and wait patiently for the day that he picks up the
Sword that belongs to him not to you there's hope in the cross but one day that hope will be gone the sky will
Rip open the king will return and every sin will be paid for the ones you think are hidden the ones you think no
One knows about there will be blood and it will either be his or it will be ours and those are the only two
Choices and if you have not placed your faith in Jesus run to him and ask him to forgive you and ask him to
Heal you and beg him to have his blood shed for your sin and this day that is a day of wrath becomes a
Day God on him on the cross that I'm forgiven and free not because I'm good not because I'm holy not because I'm worthy
But because I'm hiding behind Jesus and his blood covers me my sin will be paid for we can trust that all sin will
Be paid for Matt is going to come back up and we are going to sit for a moment he's going to sing a
Song far off as we sit in this moment waiting for those who have harmed us and hurt us to pay sitting in pain
And suffering that we feel like we can't shake trusting in the cross he's just going to sing and we're just going to sit
Feel free to sing with him pray trust rest focus on the words whatever we need to do my hope is that all around the
Room we would be running to the cross trusting in the sacrifice that was made on our behalf the hope that is given to
Us in our pain and God's supreme justice to either redeem sinners like us and to forgive them or to repay them and for
Many of us right now that's the choice you get to make and I would encourage you to flee the wrath that is to
Come and to run to the cross where your sin can be paid for where blood can be spilled and where you can be
Made new and be forgiven let's pray that we ask that in this moment your Holy Spirit would work that you would help us
To trust you and your supreme and glorious justice and for those of us who are so overwhelmed by anger that we would be able
To put the sword down and trust that you wield it properly and for those of us who feel dirty may we know that
We have been clothed in Christ if we just come to you that you will make us new you'll make us holy and blameless
And above reproach and Lord for those in this room and for those of us who have sin may you remind us to hide
Behind the cross again that your wrath has been poured out our guilt is gone there is no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus praise be to his glorious grace and for those who have not trusted in you we ask Lord that they would only
Know you in the cross and would never face your sword in Jesus name Amen
Easter
Transcript
Good morning. Happy Easter. Happy Resurrection Sunday. The tomb is open and his body is gone. We get to celebrate and live in that reality. We got to open with some scripture readings that talk about the different accounts of when Jesus was alive, when he came alive, when he was resurrected.
Today we get to look at 1 Peter 1, verses 3-5, which highlights the reality that we live in because of that event. So you can go ahead and flip there. It's going to be on page 588 in your blue Bibles that are around you. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. That is our gift to you. We want you to be able to have a Bible that you can read.
But we're going to be in 1 Peter today. Friday, some of us got to join our sister church, Midtown Downtown, to be a part of a Good Friday service, celebrating that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And then there's this little bit of a cliffhanger between Friday and Sunday. Hope hanging in the balance. What's going to happen next? And like all good stories, it reels us in, anticipating what's going to happen next.
Think back to other stories that do this in Frozen, which I have two little ones at home and one on the way. Frozen is going to be a staple in our household. We watch Frozen at the very end when Anna is like frozen into a block of ice. And there's this moment where you're waiting to see what's going to happen next. Is this it? Is she going to come back?
It's the moment in Harry Potter and the final one where Hagrid is holding Harry Potter's limp body. And you're wondering what is going to happen as it reels you in. It's in the dark night rises when Batman takes the bat helicopter, the bomb out of the city over the ocean and then explodes. And you're wondering what's going to happen. Any genre of story, it does this. It's like a sleepless in Seattle where, is he going to sleep?
Is he, you know, cliffhangers and rom-coms. It's like whatever your brand of story, we love cliffhangers. And I think the reason why we love to be drawn in like that is because we are made in the image of a God who is a master storyteller. That the whole story of the universe, of the world, starts in Genesis. And it's one big story that we live in, that we are a part of. That in Genesis, God creates the world and everything in it from nothing.
And he calls it good. And then he creates in the world a garden called Eden. This is the original OGE heaven. This is the place where he puts Adam and Eve. And it's good. And his relationship with Adam and Eve and humanity is good.
And everything's going well. And then in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sin against God. Satan comes into the garden in the form of a serpent. And causes them to question God's word. And they believe the word of Satan over God. And they sin against God.
Rebelling against Him. And that brings sin into the world. It fractures every aspect of creation, including humanity. And then God comes down. He pronounces what's going to happen now that humanity is broken. Now that they have brought sin into the world.
And he makes a declaration in Genesis 3. He says, one day, he talks to Eve. One day down the line, a seed of Eve. One descendant will come from you. And when he comes, Satan will strike his heel. But ultimately, he will crush the head of the serpent.
And that is the declaration that one day Jesus is going to come. And the rest of the Old Testament is this anticipation. This build up. This tension that's building in the story. As we see the brokenness of humanity on display. We've been in Genesis for like the last nine months.
And there's so much sin and brokenness. And the rest of the Old Testament is just like that. And throughout all the brokenness, there are these declarations. These prophecies that are pointing forward to a Messiah that is going to come. And then in the New Testament, Jesus comes. He comes and he starts to live a life of goodness, of righteousness, of perfection.
And then we got to celebrate last week on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, that Jesus comes into the city. And he comes in the city to die. And on Good Friday, we celebrate that he died in our place on the cross for our sins. And there's this cliffhanger, this tension that's building to see what's going to happen next. We have to join the disciples and the early followers of Jesus, waiting to see what's going to happen. And on Sunday, Jesus rises.
He conquers death. He steps out of the tomb. And nothing is ever going to be the same. History is going to be changed. And 1 Peter 1, these few verses that we're going to be in today highlight that reality that we get to live in. What the resurrection changes for us.
So we're going to be in 1 Peter and we're going to see one clear thing as we walk through it. That what Jesus accomplished for us in the gospel is good news. And it is guaranteed by God. That what Jesus accomplished for us in the gospel is good news. And it's guaranteed by God. So if you are a Christian, as we go through this, this morning, this is the hope we get to celebrate.
The reality that we live in. And if you're not a Christian, we're very glad you're here this morning. But I want to make one thing very clear. We believe this story. We believe this good news. And our hope is that you would believe this too.
Let me pray and then we'll jump in. God, thank you so much that the tomb is empty. That we get to live in the reality of the resurrection. God, I pray that you would open our eyes to see how good that news is. And that it is guaranteed because of what you did. In Jesus' name, amen.
Alright, so 1 Peter, the first few verses. The intro, he says, hi, I'm Peter. I'm writing to you. Alright, grace and peace. And then he jumps in. Verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's got an exclamation point at the end. He is amped. He is excited. He has good news that he's getting ready to celebrate. He wants to stop and praise God.
And I love what verse 3 does. Because he gets really excited. And it reels you in a little bit. Because it makes you want to ask, well, why, Peter? Why are you so excited? Why are you praising God?
It would be like if I came in from a long day at work. And I walk through the door. And my wife sees me. Which, this doesn't normally happen. But if I dropped my bags and just went, woo!
And just got really excited. She'd be thrown off. And she'd say, okay, that's nice. Why? Why did you come in and startle everyone? Why are you so excited?
My daughter does this. She'll come in and she'll come into the room where I'm working. She'll go, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. And she'll be tugging at me. And I look at her and I say, please, don't bother me. Get out of the room.
I need to work. Close the door on the way out. No. Most of the time. Most of the time I'm like, what is it, baby girl? And she's like, daddy, I love you.
I'm like, oh, girl. She's three. She's got curly hair. She's cute. Also, sometimes she's got something else to say after that that she really wants. But it reels me in.
When someone gets excited, you want to know why. And that's what Peter is doing here. He is reeling us in as he's praising God. So why, Peter? Why are you praising God? And he gets into it.
He says, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Whoa. Okay. That's a lot. And that's just three verses. So what we're going to do is we're going to unpack that because he just said a whole bunch and we're going to see why this is such good news.
So he starts off in that first verse. We'll take it chunk by chunk. He says, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in that, we see the statement. We see the cause. We see the why behind all of it.
It's at the center. It's the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the why. That is the cause behind the hope that Peter is so joyously celebrating because the resurrection changes everything. We celebrated the cross on Good Friday that he covered our sins, but the full work is not complete until he walks out of the tomb. When Jesus rises on Easter Sunday, he makes a way for all of us to partake in the promises of the gospel, the good news.
And it is good news, but we really can't understand how good this news is until we understand and appreciate what it is that Jesus saves us from, what he rescues us from. And to understand that, you've got to go back to the beginning of the verse when he says, according to his great mercy, we need to ask why we need mercy in the first place. And when we do that, we get to see why we need mercy, and that's the bad news part of this story. But until we understand that, we can appreciate how good the good news is. There are two reasons we need, two overarching reasons that we need mercy, and there are reasons of what happened at the fall when Adam and Eve sinned against God.
We need mercy because our relationship with God was broken at the garden. That we lost God. And a second overarching reason is that we lost a place with Him. We lost Eden. We lost heaven. And for those two reasons, we need mercy.
So I want to walk through really quickly some reasons why our relationship is fractured with God and some reasons why we need mercy. The first reason we need mercy is because we were dead in sin. That outside of the hope of the resurrection, that is all of us in that state, dead in sin. Ephesians 2.1 says that you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. That is spiritual deadness, which means we lack the capacity to love God. We lack the capacity to truly love and serve others.
We are spiritually dead. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they brought the spiritual deadness into the world and they pass it on to everyone who came after them. We have spiritual deadness and the problem is that we don't think it's that big of a deal. We underplay how big of a deal that is. We think it's just kind of a flesh wound. One of my earliest memories, one of the earliest comedies I ever got to see, silly comedies, was Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
And I vividly remember the first scene that I just belly laughed at. And it's the scene where King Arthur goes and fights the knight who's standing in his way. And they draw swords and they start clanking swords. And then King Arthur finds an area and he cuts his arm off. And as a seven-year-old, like it's kind of gruesome to watch. But it's obviously silly because he starts bleeding and he's like, no, I'm good.
And he's like, no, you must concede. You must concede. He's like, no. And they keep fighting and they clank swords again. And then he cuts his other arm off and he is armless, bleeding. And he goes, it's just a flesh wound.
It's just a flesh wound. And then it gets more and more absurd as he cuts his leg off. And then he cuts his other leg off. And the guy still wants to fight him. He wants to bite him. And it's actually a pretty absurd picture.
Of us as well. Because we think sin's not a big deal. It is mortal. We have been mortally wounded. It is a very big deal. We are spiritually dead.
We need to treat it with a seriousness to understand our state outside of the hope of the resurrection. We are spiritually dead. The second reason we need mercy is because we are hopeless outside of it. There was no hope in the world until Jesus walked out of the tomb. Hopeless. Hopeless.
Hopeless. Like in any story that you've seen. Hopeless like the end of the last Avengers movie in Infinity Wars when Thanos retires from his genocide. And everyone is just kind of waiting and watching. What in the world is going to happen? I mean this is an utterly hopeless scene.
What is going to happen next? If you like sports. Hopeless like last year when the Cavs went on to take the Warriors on. I know some of y'all are big LeBron fans. He is great. The Warriors were way better.
They had the best backcourt in NBA history. That matchup was absolutely hopeless. We have seen stories of hopelessness. Examples of hopelessness. And none of them even come close to describing our state outside of the hope of the resurrection. And the reason that we are so hopeless is that we have no shot at saving ourselves.
Ephesians 2.8 says, For it's by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of your own doing. Not a result of works. We have no shot. There's no amount of good works. Good living.
Righteous deeds. There is nothing that you can do to fix our state. We are hopeless outside of the hope of the resurrection. I mean the Bible describes this outside of Christ as enemies. Foolish. Lost.
And it keeps going. That we are hopeless. We are dead. And the third reason we need mercy is because we are guilty. That we are guilty of sin. And the book of Romans in the New Testament says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The Romans 6 says for the wages of sin. What we earn because of our sin is death. Colossians in the New Testament says we have stored up this record of debt that stands against us with its legal demands. Which is death. We stand guilty outside of the hope of the resurrection. And the reason it uses that legal courtroom language is to make us understand we have sinned against a holy and perfect God.
And because of that we are guilty. So we're dead in sin. We're hopeless. We're guilty. I'll give you one more. We are in darkness.
That outside of the resurrection the world is left in darkness. Ephesians says that we are darkened in our minds. That we are children of darkness. If you keep reading 1 Peter you're going to see that we are called out of darkness. That Jesus teaches that humanity dwells in darkness. It is the kind of darkness if you've ever been in a room that you're not familiar with and you cannot find the light.
There's this feeling of fear and angst. And that is what humanity is left in. We are left outside of the hope of the resurrection in a room looking for a light that does not exist. Left in darkness. Now you might be wondering man you just said a whole bunch of bad stuff.
It's Easter. This is supposed to be joyous. And you're kind of saying all this with a smile. It's kind of throwing us off a little bit. The reason why we can say look at all of this that we need a mercy for and we can say it as Christians with a smile. It's because there's an English theologian.
He said it this way. He said it's always darkest before the dawn. It's always darkest before the dawn. You may have heard that in pop culture. It goes back to an English theologian. And the point that he is getting at is it is always darkest before the dawn.
And the world was in darkness and hopelessness before Jesus walks out of the tomb. But on that Easter morning dawn breaks through. Hope and light and love and God's glory come bursting through in a big way when Jesus walks out of the tomb. He makes a way for us. And we get to celebrate that as Christians. We get to celebrate as we read these stories this morning.
When the women show up to the tomb and they see that the tomb is empty. We get a glimmer of hope entering the world. When you read on and you read that Mary Magdalene is frantically searching for Jesus. That she can't find him. And she finds someone she thinks is the gardener and says, Who has taken my Savior? And it's Jesus.
And he says, Mary. And when she hears his name, we get another glimmer of hope and light that has entered the world. We see the disciples who look at the resurrected and risen Savior. And he declares them, peace be with you. We get to see that hope has come. That because of the resurrection, we have a hope in Christ.
So once you understand why we need mercy, it makes the goodness of how good the gospel is. It makes it so good and real. To what he has accomplished for us. So he says, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So now that we understand why we need mercy, we get to see what Peter is getting at.
He says, you need to be born again. Made alive. What he is drawing on is the language that Jesus uses in John 3. When Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says, you're a great teacher. And Jesus says, all right. And he starts to teach him.
And he says, unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. And then in Nicodemus, he's kind of left struggling. He's like, he tries to figure out the physiological impossibilities of someone going up to their mother's womb again and being born. And he starts trying to flesh that out and it's not working. And Jesus cuts to the middle of that and says, no, no, no. You need to be spiritually reborn.
You need life. You're dead in sin. You need to be spiritually reborn. That is what Peter is getting at. That is what we get to celebrate as Christians. That when you believe in Jesus, he makes you alive.
He brings us to life. So what do you need to do to be born again? Faith. Faith, and as we see in this passage and others, faith that God gives us and causes us to be born again. God is the active one bringing us to life. So what are you going to be born again to?
You get to be born again to a living hope. To a living hope right now. That once you believe in Jesus and you are made alive, you get to partake in a living hope. And that is a restored relationship with God now and for eternity. That you get a living hope right now that you get to partake in. And one of the ways I love seeing folks in our church grab hold of this living hope, and live in this living hope, is in our community groups.
Our community groups are just smaller groups of our church family that journey through life together. That eat meals together. And they walk through good seasons and bad, but applying the gospel in all of it. And I love our community groups because I get to see people grab hold of this living hope. In a few different ways I get to see this. I get to see people that realize that once you are made new, once you believe in Jesus, you are no longer a slave to sin.
That that's why you needed mercy. You're no longer a slave to sin, but you are made free and you belong to Christ. When people in groups, when I start to fully realize this, that I no longer have to obey the flesh. I no longer have to obey sin and the sinful nature that I have. I have freedom because of the resurrection. Another way I get to see this is when people realize they have access to God.
They can, when they start to realize that you can talk to the Creator God. The God who is over all things. You have access to Him in prayer and He listens. The God of the universe listens and desires us to come to Him in prayer. I see it when people find access to God in His Word and they grow closer and find nearness to Him in growing and knowing more of who He is. And I get to see it another way.
We call this gospel fluency. When people in groups start to realize that the gospel, this good news that we're celebrating this morning, applies to every aspect of life. To being a father and a mother. To being a son and a daughter. To being a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, an employer. That it all, the gospel applies to all of it.
And this living hope starts to take over. And we start to, as the Bible says, conform to the image of Christ. That means we're growing to be more like Him. That's the living hope that we get to take hold in. That's what we get to draw from. That's the hope of the resurrection that gives us a living hope.
We get a restored relationship with God, which was lost in Eden. A second big way that we get to see this is not just that we get a restored relationship with God. God is that we get heaven back. And the way that Peter describes this is we get an inheritance. He says, according to His great mercy, He's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you.
Y'all, that means we get eternity back. The resurrection gives us the opportunity to partake in this undefiled, imperishable inheritance. That we get, as the Bible describes it, heaven. We get heaven again. But I think there's two reasons that we, us in our culture, that we actually don't buy into this.
I think there's two reasons that we don't buy into the idea of heaven. I think the first one is that we think life right now is really good. And that this is the best possible life that you can have. There's so many things that have been written, so many things that have been said about living your best life right now. That this is the best possible existence. And there's a theological term for believing that earth is better than heaven.
Stupid. It is a dumb idea. This life right now, there are good things that we can enjoy. We as Christians have been given good things. I love my wife. I love my kids.
I love a good steak. I love music. These are good gifts that God has given me. But as a Christian, we understand that those things point to the giver. And ultimately, they are a shadow. They are a glimpse of the much better things that await in this inheritance that God has given us in heaven.
That this life right now is not the best possible existence. There is one that awaits us. I think that's the first reason why we don't buy into this. I think there's another reason. I think we have very poor pictures of heaven. We got some bad pictures of what heaven looks like.
Do you think of commercials and movies and TV shows would describe what heaven is like? It's usually this disembodied experience floating in the clouds with wings. And it's boring. It's absolutely, utterly boring. Usually it's pitted against in some movies. Like everything is fun on earth.
And then there's heaven. It's a bad picture. And we need to update our pictures to understand how good this inheritance is. How good heaven is. C.S. Lewis is the author of the Chronicles of Narnia.
He's also written. He's a Christian philosopher that has written a bunch of things. He had a letter once that he wrote describing what heaven was like. And I want to walk through this quote because he does it so poetically. And it's helpful for us to see. He says, The symbols under which heaven is presented to us are a dinner party, a wedding, a city, and a concert.
Those are the pictures that we get in heaven. Not this disembodied experience of just nothingness. No, it is. We get some vivid pictures in the Bible that show us. We get a dinner party. And I want you to think of the best dinner party that you've ever been to.
Not the kind of dinner party where everyone just kind of just mailed it in. And someone brought Little Caesars. And someone brought leftovers. Which happens. It happens sometimes in our groups. We're tired.
But when we really own it. I want you to think of a dinner party where everyone owned their aspect of the meal. They really creatively took time to craft a meal. And then you show up. And it's not just boxed wine. Like someone brought some $18 bottles of wine for people to enjoy.
It's not just Natty Light. It's craft beer. And it's friends. And it's people that you enjoy. And you get to enjoy this meal together. Those dinner parties pale in comparison to the dinner party that is described.
The inheritance in heaven. That we get life together in a way that is completely indescribable now. But we get to fully realize later. He calls it a wedding. Because the New Testament gives pictures of heaven being a wedding. I know that some of you just thought.
Oh, I don't like weddings. weddings. Listen. The reason you don't like weddings is because you haven't been to a good one. I'm not talking about weddings that, you know, the ceremony drags out for two hours. And the guy who preaches does it for like, you know, an hour and some change. And they've got like 18 ways to commemorate their love.
Which I'm not against. Like sand ceremonies are cool. But when you combine it with like 10 different things. Everyone's like, I'm hungry. Let's do this thing.
Seal it. Let's go. And then you get the reception. And it's bland food. And it's just dull. And the host isn't.
I mean, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a ceremony that is succinct. And good. And beautiful. And in celebration of the gospel. And love.
And then you get to the ceremony. Or you get to the reception. And the reception is killer. The food is great. The meat is never dry. One of the things I love at weddings is when someone goes all out and gets endless shrimp cocktail.
I'm not talking about like a martini glass with five. I'm talking about you have. There's like a whole setup. You can go and get endless amounts of shrimp cocktail. And you got to strategize how not to get judged as you go back and forth, back and forth. I'm talking about food that is great.
Cake that is not dry. Music that is great. Whether it's a band or a killer DJ. The hosts are great. The speeches are wonderful. It's a celebration of love.
Those are like the white whale of weddings that show up once every five to ten years. And they are exciting. And they are good. And they pale in comparison to what the Bible calls the final wedding feast. That one day Jesus is going to come back to the earth. He's going to make all things new.
And in heaven there's going to be reunification with Jesus and the church. It's going to be a final wedding feast. And it is going to be a celebration unlike any other that lasts for eternity. We need to update our pictures. He calls it a city. And that city picture comes from the end of the Bible.
One of the final pictures we get of heaven is not heaven in the air. It's heaven coming down to earth. And they call it the New Jerusalem, the city of God. Where God is at the center. And He is giving lights and glory. And His glory is spreading all over the city.
And we get to partake in it. It's a city that is unlike any city here on earth. There's no more hurt. There's no more pain. There's no more suffering. There's no more struggle.
There's eternal rest in God who sits at the center of the city. And even more, we get a picture attached to that. That we won't just have these broken bodies. That we will have a future resurrection. Because Jesus first rose, we get a resurrection. That we get to be with new, eternal, glorified bodies in the city of God.
And if you suffer with any type of chronic pain, any type of sickness, any type of illness. If you've watched family or friends that have died of cancer. That hope is beautiful. That is the hope that we wait for. That one day in the city of God, we will have fully resurrected new and glorified bodies. And the last picture that C.S.
Lewis gives is a concert. That it is going to be a concert. Months ago, I got to go see Mumford & Sons. Which is kind of a British folk band. It's one of my favorite bands. And this is the second time I got to see them.
And I have this ranking of shows, of live shows and concerts in my head. And that one jumped out of top. It was awesome. It was great music. It was well done. There were 10,000 people singing and celebrating.
There was this buzz. There was this feeling. If you're a Christian, you've been in a situation where you've worshipped. And you felt that feeling of God working in you. All the concerts, all the worship that you could ever have here on earth. Pale in comparison to when in heaven we get to worship God.
Eternally. Forever. We need our pictures updated. Because heaven and its inheritance is so much better. He closes out the quote. He says, Think of yourself just as a seed patiently waiting in the earth.
Waiting to come up a flower in the gardener's good time. Up into the real world. The real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, look back upon from there, will be only a drowsy half waking. We are here in the land of dreams. And the picture for us now is that we are underneath the surface.
We are in the soil. And for those of us that are Christians, those of us that believe in the power of the resurrection, we are waiting. But there are others that have not trusted in this hope. And they think this is the best life. This is the best possible experience that you could ever have. And C.S.
Lewis says, It's a drowsy half waking. Because we are longing for the day when we rise. When we come through the surface and we get to experience God forever and eternity. And he says, When you look back on your former life, it will be a drowsy half waking. We get an inheritance. And the reason we get it is because Jesus walked out of the grave.
He conquered death. The resurrection won the war with sin. It seals the victory. And in every victory, there are spoils of victory. And God earned those spoils. And he shares them with his people.
And we get to partake in that spoil. And part of that is the inheritance. That is longly awaiting us. The resurrection gives us a living hope, a restored relationship with God right now. It gives us the hope of eternity and an inheritance with him. And then we see that it is guaranteed by God.
He closes out and he says, Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. When you trust in Jesus and the hope of the resurrection, God guarantees all the benefits. He secures them. That no one is going to rob them from you. You can live in the peace that your inheritance is secure. And one of the, when you think about secure places, one of the most, really the pinnacle examples of security is Fort Knox.
People say, Man, this place is guarded up like Fort Knox. And what they mean is, is that it's the most guarded place in the world because Fort Knox is this secure facility where no one can get in or out. And it's guarded by this military base, the most powerful military fighting force in the world. And that security pales in comparison to how God guards our inheritance. The God who created all things and holds them in his hand says, I've got your inheritance. It's guarded.
So how does that work? Let me explain how that works. God teaches that it's through faith. The faith that God gives us and the mercy that causes us to be made new, that faith secures it. And you might think, but wait a second, what about the seasons where I'm struggling? What about the seasons where I'm in doubt?
What about the seasons where I'm struggling with sin, where I seem to be running away? Are you saying that it's on me to sustain it? It's on me? No. No, because the picture is that God gives us faith. He makes us new.
He is the active one. And this is how he seals it. In Ephesians 1, he says, In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, hear this, we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. That when you believe in Jesus, you are made new, and God comes to dwell in you, and he guards that inheritance. He secures it. The resurrection opens our eyes to the hope that we have in Christ.
God sets up inside of us and lives and reigns and guards this inheritance and will never, ever let his people go. We will carry home. The resurrection guarantees that hope. That what Jesus accomplished for us in the gospel is good news. And it is guaranteed by God. What an amazing thing that we get to celebrate this Easter morning.
All of it. That we were once dead in sin. That we were once hopeless. That we were once in darkness. And then God brings us to life through faith. And he restores what was broken in Eden, what was broken in the fall.
We get God again. We get this living hope. That he secures for us an inheritance. We get heaven again. And he guarantees it. He says, I am going to carry you home.
This is going to happen. That's the power of the resurrection. When Jesus walks out of the tomb, all of this, becomes available to us. And we as Christians, we get to celebrate that hope today. We get to worship. We get to sing.
We get to be glad. Because that hope was won for us that first Easter morning 2,000 years ago. But here's the deal. Some of you have not believed this. For some of you, this is not the hope that you have experienced. And the reality is, is that you are wandering hopeless in the dark.
And I would say that God has brought you here this morning that you might hear this. You can have this. Through faith, you can have this living hope in all of the riches that come with it. That you can have this inheritance that's so beautifully displayed in the gospel. that right now, you are underneath the surface. You are living a half-waking, poor version of what is to come. And our hope is, is that God would open your eyes and you would see that there's a better life.
And that life is found in Christ. And our hope this morning is that you would believe. That you would trust in Jesus. That means believing that He lived the perfect life that you could never live. that He died the death on the cross that we deserve to die because we are guilty of sin. And that when He walked out of the tomb, He made a way for you to have a new life in Christ. The 2 Corinthians says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old is gone and the new has come. And we want that for you. We want you to be made new. That's believing and that's repenting of sin. That's turning from sin and turning to Jesus. That's the hope we want for you.
We want you to respond like the disciples who dropped the life they had and followed Jesus. No more life on your terms, but life on God's. We want this living hope. We want this inheritance for you. And our hope today is that you would respond. That you would believe.
And that you would see the hope that we celebrate. That Jesus accomplished for us. What He accomplishes in the Gospel is good news. Good news that we get to celebrate for eternity because it is guaranteed by God. A band is going to come up and the first way that we're going to celebrate this this morning is we're going to come to the Lord's table. We're going to take communion.
We celebrate communion because on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took the bread and He broke it. And He said, this is my body that was broken for you. And He took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood that was shed for you. That often as you eat and drink this, you proclaim my death until I return. And as Christians living on this side of the resurrection, we hang on that last part until He returns.
Palm Sunday and the Kingdom of God
Transcript
Good morning. Happy Palm Sunday. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are going to take a break from Genesis to prepare for this week. Today is Palm Sunday, as Matt said, as we've been celebrating this morning, which is the week, the day that Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem on the week that he was crucified.
So we're going to walk through this in Luke 19, which is on page 512 in your Blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, please take one of those home. That is our gift to you, but we'll be on page 512 in the Blue Bibles, Luke 19. This week is called Holy Week or Passion Week because this is when the global church collectively, with the exception of Eastern Orthodoxy, but the rest of the global church pauses to celebrate the week of Easter. The week that we celebrate Jesus' climactic work, everything that has gone into his coming, we celebrate this week. That on Palm Sunday, Jesus enters into the city as we will walk through in the text today.
And then on Thursday, the church celebrates something called Maundy Thursday, which is when we celebrate the Lord's Supper that was practiced, was first instituted on that day, also foot washing. So in groups this week, we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper and take communion. I know some of you just freaked out. We're not going to do foot washing. We're not going to do that. It has its place.
It has its meaning, but we're just not going to do it in our groups this week. So if you're scared of feet, rest easy. But we are going to take the Lord's Supper in groups this week. And then on Friday, we're going to celebrate Good Friday. And we'd love to do that here, but this space gets rented out every year. So we're going to join Midtown Fellowship downtown to celebrate Good Friday with them.
And then on Sunday, we'll celebrate the resurrection here on Easter Sunday. So go ahead and go to Luke. We'll get to that in a moment. Have you ever been so, you put so much hope in something. You so looked forward to something, and it didn't work out, and you were crushed. Like your hopes, you were left sad and dismayed.
Like I got to see this vividly on display a few weeks ago. If you aren't on Facebook and we're not friends or haven't had this conversation with you yet, I have some exciting news we're expecting. My wife is 17 weeks pregnant, and it was a surprise. But we are very excited about this blessing. This pregnancy in particular has been very, very difficult for her. All of the first trimesters of her pregnancies have been terrible.
She's been sick in all of them. But this one, this one was especially bad. She was sick multiple times a day throughout the first trimester. And there was one food that really got her through, one food that she didn't see again when she ate it, and that was Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A was a godsend to our family that got us through the first trimester. Unfortunately, in Lexington, we live in West Lexington, so we live right near Lexington High School on the back end towards Gilbert.
Unfortunately, the Chick-fil-A in the middle of Lexington, up until a few weeks ago, had been closed down for renovations. So that means that she wanted something that she could eat that she wouldn't be sick again. She had to travel all the way to the other side of Lexington, to where the one is over at Saluda Point, the one by River Bluff. She had to travel that far just to get something that she wouldn't see again. And she was very agitated by this. She was so upset that she wrote Chick-fil-A, a strongly worded email, telling them, you need to build a Chick-fil-A on our side of town.
You will make money. This is foolish. Please, please, please build a Chick-fil-A over here. And then a couple weeks ago, she saw on Facebook. Someone had taken a picture of a sign from a green field across from Lexington High School and said, the sign said, Chick-fil-A coming soon. And she was so excited.
A lot of people were. This went viral for the people that live on this side of Lexington. She got so excited that finally her hopes, her prayers had been answered. She got the kids loaded up in the car. She ran an errand. And then she went over to the field to see the sign in all of its glory.
And it was not there. It was April 1st. It was a mean, cruel April Fool's joke. And she had gotten her hopes up so much and just crushed. I called her. I was like, are you okay?
And she's like, I'm not okay. She was very, very angry. We do this. We put hope in things. Small things like this. But throughout our lives, we put hope in things.
Maybe you really hoped to get in a specific college, a specific grad school. And you were waiting for the letter to come. And you were waiting for the big package to arrive. And all of a sudden, the small letter came. And you didn't get in. Maybe it was a job that you were putting hope in, that you interviewed for, that you thought you were going to get, or a promotion that you thought that you were going to land and you got passed over.
Maybe it was a boy or a girl, someone that you were hoping that you might have a chance with. And then finally, you put yourself out there. And they rejected you and your hopes were crushed. And we do this. We do this every four years at election cycle. Some candidate stands up, makes a bunch of promises.
People get their hopes up. And they never live up to it. We do this because we are people made in the image of God, which means we bear his image. And we are people created with longing and hope. To hope in God. And what we do is, is we hope and long in other things.
We find replacements for that. And when they don't work out, we're crushed. We're going to see this on display today as we walk through this story. We're going to see this with the disciples as they are so hopeful and the people as they're so hopeful as Jesus enters into the city. So we're going to be in Luke 19.
Let me pray. And then we'll drive in. God, thank you so much that we get to celebrate this time every year that you came and the work that you did for us. God, I pray that you would help us see this story for what it is and what it points to for us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so before we jump into the text, I want to do a little bit of background.
We haven't, we've been in Genesis, so I want to do some background of how we got to this story. But also, it's important to understand the cultural expectations that the people have when Jesus entered into the city. So for three years leading up to this, Jesus has been ministering to the whole nation of Israel. He is a celebrity. Everybody knows who Jesus is. He has his disciples.
He has crowds and followers that follow him. Everyone, he's a celebrity. He can't go anywhere without crowds coming out. He's healed hundreds. He's raised the dead. He's fed thousands with just five loaves and two fish.
He's done all these great miracles. And everyone knows who he is. There's this big expectation. And as he's doing his work, there are some promises from the Old Testament that people are looking at and saying, I think this might be the one. There are messianic promises, promises that point to the Messiah. Messiah.
And the Messiah in the Old Testament was someone who was going to come and save the people. A hero. Even a king who would come and rescue the people. And the people are looking at Jesus and his work. And they're looking at these Old Testament promises. And they're thinking, this I think is the one.
These promises were vivid. They believed in them. They hoped in them. So much so that in the decades leading up to Jesus, there were other people that claimed to be the Messiah that they put hope in. These false messiahs would come up. They would have disciples just like Jesus would.
They'd have crowds. They'd teach people. But their goal was to overthrow the Roman government. You see, in their context, the Roman government controlled the land of Israel. And the people of God hated this. They hated it.
I mean, we've spent some time in Genesis. We've seen all that went into the promise of them getting the promised land. And to see that this was controlled, this land that was promised to their ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to see this promised land controlled by a pagan nation like the Romans, they hated it. And these messiahs would raise up and they would get the people excited and they would attempt to overthrow the Roman government. And then they would fail. And they would end up on crosses, which is the punishment for a rebel, an insurrectionist, someone who is treasonous.
And there's this longing that a messiah is going to come. But they're looking at Jesus and Jesus feels different. He's reforming all these miracles. He's doing things like Elijah the prophet, like Elisha, like Moses did in the Old Testament. He seems to be the one that is going to come and free the people. So when Jesus shows up to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, here's a little bit of what they were expecting.
That he would ride into the city triumphantly. He would come down and he would start to perform signs and miracles like he's done throughout the land. And then he would start to overthrow the Roman government. He would take Jerusalem. And then almost like Braveheart, village by village, they'd start to take the whole land of Israel, town by town, village by village, from south of Jerusalem to the north in Galilee. Jesus, the hope was, he would take the land back.
He would kick the Romans out. And it wasn't just that he was going to get the land back. The hope, if you look at the promises of the Old Testament, if this was going to be global, that Jesus was going to take over the whole world, which to them was the whole Roman Empire that spread across the globe, and that Jesus would rule and reign from Jerusalem over all of the world. All of this hope and expectation was built in to this Palm Sunday 2,000 years ago. It is the reason, as we're going to look at this, that he was so celebrated like a king on Sunday. And it's part of the reason why he was crucified like a rebel on a Friday.
They wanted Jesus to be someone he was not. They had a hope for redemption that was not his plan. But ultimately, God is going to use all of this to bring about his rescue plan. So that is all the expectation that was built in to Palm Sunday. Let's jump into verse 28.
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples. All right, so Jesus has been teaching in village to village, getting closer to the city. And now he's right before the city. Geographically, here's Jerusalem. Here's the Mount of Olives.
On the other side is Bethphage and Bethany. So he's getting closer. The people in the city are starting to get excited. They're starting to get stirred up at his arrival. So Jesus is going to prepare for his arrival.
He says, go ahead. And he sends his disciples. And this is what he says. He says, he sent two of his disciples, verse 30, saying, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied up, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it?
You shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. So he says, go to the village and bring me a colt, a colt that no one has ridden. Now we know a colt is either a baby horse or it's a baby young donkey. And we know from the context of the other gospels that what he is referring to is a young donkey. He says, go, bring me this young donkey.
And as Isaac alluded to in his reading, why wouldn't you choose a horse? If you were going to be a king that rides into a city, they were thinking he was going to come in and overthrow the Romans. Why wouldn't you choose a horse? Like a king who is on top of the hill looking down into the city, rears the horse up, rides in. That's a power play. That would really demonstrate military force.
But he doesn't. No, he chooses a humble donkey, which is so picturesque of Jesus' entire life. He came into this world humble as a babe and a stable. His whole ministry has been one of humility and that is how he is going to end this. So, he tells him to choose a humble donkey. What we're going to see as we work through this is that as he's doing these things, he's also fulfilling prophecies in the Old Testament.
He fulfills Zechariah 9.9 that says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he. Humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the full of a donkey. So, he fulfills this.
He tells them to go. And it goes down exactly how he predicted. Verse 33. And it says, And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus.
And throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. So, it goes down like he said it would. They bring the young donkey. They throw their cloaks on it. This is a sign of submission. They're submitting to Jesus.
They're saying, We are following you into the city. We've got your back. And then it begins. Verse 36. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. And he was drawing near.
Already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. All right. So, I really want us to picture this scene together. Years ago, I got to go on a Maymester to Israel. I got to do like three weeks there, going throughout the land, doing some studies.
And I got to spend five days in Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, it's important to understand the geography of what this would look like. So, I got a picture. This is Jerusalem. This is taken from the city. That is the Mount of Olives that sits behind Jerusalem.
So, it was a little bit bigger back in the day. That mountain has been slowly starting to erode. But you see how it sits above the city. All right. So, second picture. I took this picture from top of the Mount of Olives.
And it's looking down into the city. You see that golden dome. That is called the Dome of the Rock. That is the third holiest site in Islam. When the Islamic expansion happened and they took Jerusalem, they built that mosque right on top of where the temple used to be. So, I want you to look at that and picture a much bigger temple would have been sitting there.
The entrance to the temple would have been there. And this is why this is important. Jesus is sitting on top of the Mount of Olives. The people are at the base of this valley. They're right before the temple. And they are celebrating His coming.
They're celebrating His entry. And Jesus is looking down into the temple. That's important because to the people, He's getting ready to... He's riding directly into the temple. We know He goes into the temple. And that's where He turns over tables.
But they're seeing this. And there's this expectation that Jesus is coming into the city. He's coming into the temple. This is the place of religious power. This is the place where He's going to set up His throne. Where He's going to rule.
Where He's going to reign from. They were expecting this military victory to come in. They are missing it. They're missing it because they're not seeing it. It is symbolic. He's looking down in the temple.
The place where sacrifices are offered day and night for the sins of the people. He is going to be the final sacrifice that fulfills that entire system. There's this entire expectation. But there's this disconnect. They see Him triumphant like a king. But they fail to see what's really happening here.
But they're celebrating Him like a king. One of the things we learn from the other Gospels while we call it Palm Sunday. Is they break off palm branches. And they set them before Jesus. And palm branches are a national Jewish symbol. It's picturesque of when David would come into the city on a military victory.
And they'd have palm branches. This is all a picture of He is coming into the city. He's going to overthrow the Romans. They shout, Hosanna! Hosanna! Which is a joyous celebration.
A joyous exclamation. We know from the Messianic Psalms what Hosanna means literally is save us. Save us now. They are joyously declaring, This is the king. Come into the city and save us. This fulfills Psalm 118 that says, Save us, we pray, O Lord.
O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. That is the picture that is happening here as the Savior King rides into the city. They just can't see the other part of the prophecies. The Messianic Prophesis pointed to a Savior King, but it also pointed to one who would suffer.
That suffering was the path to kingship. But all they can see is king. All they can see is save us. They can't see the full picture. They have their minds set, hear this, on an earthly kingdom. That's what their hope is.
It's an earthly kingdom. And on Palm Sunday, they have rightfully declared, Jesus is the king of the Jews. The disciples, the people, are excited. But then we get a foretaste of what's to come. Verse 39, And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.
So the Pharisees are part of the religious leadership that helps rule the country. They are priests that help rule the country along with another group that makes up a council called the Sanhedrin. It's a council of religious leaders. And the Pharisees represent a big portion of the Sanhedrin. They're the ones that keep the country in order. They're the religious leaders.
And it's long before this, they'd already began to plot to kill Jesus. When Jesus comes on the scene and starts teaching and starts performing his miracles, it's not how they expected. It's not how they wanted. They do not like him. They are looking for an opportunity to kill him. And they just got a picture.
They just got something they can cling to as people are shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna. As they are declaring his kingship, they're finding some ammunition. And they look at him. And I want you to feel the venom and the arrogance of what they say to him. They say, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. Don't just silence the worship, the praise that is due to you because you are the God of the universe.
Don't just silence that praise. You need to correct your disciples. They are wrong. They need to be corrected. It's ridiculous. Part of me, when I look at this, I'm like, Jesus could easily just rightfully and justifiably so just do a Thanos snap in a minute and then the Pharisees just evaporate off screen.
Like that, that, he'd be justified in doing so. But he doesn't. This is how he responds. He says, Yeah, the disciples, these people, they could be silent. But if they're silent, the very rocks will sing my praises.
And what he just said was, is that, yes, the people could stop. But creation, that praises the Creator, will still praise me. He just said, I'm going to get my praise because I am God. And you had to know, the Pharisees' jaws just hit the floor. Because what he just said to them was crazy. I mean, see it a little bit from their perspective.
He just said something. Crazy. He just said he was God. I mean, if Matt came up here and led worship, and he started playing, and all of a sudden, he started belting out words. All the songs we sing to Jesus, he started, he like rudely pasted his name on the PowerPoint, and tried to get us to all sing praises to Matt. We would yank him off stage.
He's a big guy. It would take three of us. But we'd get him off. Because that's crazy. It would be crazy to say that if you're not God. But Jesus is God.
And he's fulfilling Psalm 66, 4 that says, All the earth worships you and sings praises to you. They sing praises to your name. And this is why when people say that Jesus doesn't believe that he's God, doesn't say that he's God, it's like you aren't reading the same Bible. Over and over, he's making declarations that he is God. C.S. Lewis says he's either a liar, a lunatic, crazy, or he sings he's God.
You can't say he's just a good teacher. He is saying he is God. And it is that truth that makes the rest of this week so baffling. That Jesus is God. If he wanted to, he could take the city in a moment. He could overturn the entire establishment.
But he doesn't. No, he does. He goes into the city. And he teaches his disciples. He teaches the crowds. As the wolves start to close in on him.
And then on Thursday night, they come from, like cowards in the night, they arrest Jesus and drag him before the Sanhedrin, before this religious council. And he lets them. The God of the universe lets them. And they drag him before this council. And they need a charge to bring him before, to bring him before Pontius Pilate, to have him executed. And you know what charge they charge Jesus with?
Blasphemy. Using, defaming the name of the Lord. Let that irony sink in. They charge the God of the universe with blasphemy. And Jesus doesn't defend himself. They let him take him before Pontius Pilate.
They bring him before Pontius Pilate. He's the Roman governor at the time. He's the one that can really carry out this execution. They can kind of wash their hands and give them to him. And they tell him about this charge of blasphemy. But Pontius Pilate doesn't care.
That's a religious matter. It's a religious dispute. The Roman government doesn't believe in your God. We don't care what you are saying. So they need to say something else.
And they take what was so celebrated on Sunday. His kingship. And they come to Pontius Pilate and they say, He says that he's the king. He's trying to undermine the rule of Caesar. Are you going to let this play? And what's happening here is a political play.
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, needs the religious leaders, needs the Sanhedrin to keep the people in check. We know from history his governorship is being questioned at this point. That he can't keep this nation under control. So when they make this claim, he's got a really tough decision to make. And while all of this is happening, you have to wonder, where are all the people that so celebrated his kingship on Sunday? Where are the people that shouted, Hosanna!
Hosanna! Who brought palm branches out? Where are the disciples who have abandoned him? All but one. And the one who's there, we don't see anywhere where he's offering a defense. Where are they?
As Jesus is left before this kangaroo court, this disgrace of justice. And Pontius Pilate gives in. As the Pharisees change the city's chant of Hosanna! Hosanna! To crucify him! Crucify him!
And they take Jesus, and I want you to see some of the pictures here of how they mock his kingship. They take a crown of thorns, of long desert thorns, they force it on his head to mock him. The king of the universe to mock him. They take a purple robe, which is a robe of royalty, and they put it on his back that has been torn to bits, and they rip it off to cause further pain, and they put it on him to mock him. They bow down, and they mock his kingship as he suffers the most brutal punishment that the Roman government could ever devise. And they get up the hill, and they nail him to a cross, and they put a sign above his head that says, King of the Jews.
They mock the king of the universe, and like a lamb being silently led to the slaughter, as Isaiah says, he is silent. He offers no defense. And on the cross, the Savior King aspect of who he is starts to fully come into play. That on the cross, the debt of sin that the whole world accumulates, that each of us rack up, all of that is paid for by Jesus. For those of us that have trusted in him, our sin is paid for on the cross. We start to see this Savior King.
That in that moment, sinners have the opportunity to be washed clean. Those of us who are dirty in sin, Jesus, through faith, presents us as righteous and clean before God. That the full cup of God's wrath that is being poured out on Jesus in this moment, for those of us who have trusted in him, that wrath that was meant for us because of our sin gets poured out on him. He takes our place. And then this prophecy that we started in Genesis, that one day a seed would come from Eve, Jesus, and the serpent Satan would strike his heel, but ultimately Jesus would crush his head. That's happening right now.
His heel is being crushed. He is suffering for us on the cross. But right now, Jesus is crushing the head of Satan. He is crushing the work of evil and hindering the work of Satan, our Savior King on display on the cross. suffering is the path to this eternal kingdom as it comes to fruition with his death. And in the aftermath of all of this, in the aftermath of his death, Jesus' followers are crushed. Their hopes were so much tied up in Jesus.
They are dismayed. They are mourning. And you've got to ask the question, why? Why are they so dismayed? Why are they in mourning? And that is because they had a misplaced hope.
Their hope was in Jesus and his kingdom and a temporary earthly kingdom. They failed to hear what Jesus was teaching those three years, that this was bigger than that. They heard the prophecies that spoke about him as king, but they ignored the parts that said suffering was the path. And like all the false messiahs who came before Jesus, seeking to establish an earthly kingdom, they don't. They die. And the people are crushed because of it.
They are left in mourning. And here's the deal. They were right to celebrate Jesus as king. Those shouts of Hosanna, those palm branches were worthy of Jesus. They were correct. They just failed to realize that suffering was the path to an eternal kingdom, not a temporary one.
And in their staggering, in their hopelessness, Easter comes. Jesus rises and he does the one thing that all the other false messiahs failed to do before him. He conquers death and he comes back. And when he does that, he opens their eyes to the bigger kingdom that was always in plan. The eternal kingdom that was always going to come, much bigger than this temporary hope that they had so hoped in. we are just like the disciples because so much of us has so much hope in a temporary kingdom. You know how I know this is true?
Is that we can sing on Sunday Hosanna like we just did. And we can celebrate Jesus as king. We can amen all of it. and then on a Friday in the middle of the week when life hits us we are left hopeless. When the things, when the temporary things, the temporary kingdom that we hope in, that we place stock in, when that crumbles, when that fails, we are left hopeless because we are not trusting in the eternal kingdom that Jesus actually bled and died for. So the question that we are left with are left with is what kingdom are we putting hope in?
Because the reality is there's two kingdoms in this world. There's the kingdom of eternity, the kingdom of God expanding across the globe into eternity and there's this temporary kingdom of this world, of this present age. Which kingdom are we hoping in? Are we building in? Are we longing for? That's the question we're left with.
And if we're honest, some of us see Jesus as king, but really it's on our terms. It's for our kingdoms. It's for the hopes that we put in in this life. I want to walk through a few different ways I think that we do this. And as I do this, I want you to ask yourself, if I don't get blessed in these ways, am I okay? If I don't get blessings here from Jesus, am I really honestly okay?
And the first one is your wallet. is money. I mean, we as Christians, we know that we're not supposed to worship money. We'll say absolutely, no, I don't worship money. But what about the things that money gets us? What about the comforts of this world? Are you really okay if you don't get the things that you've been longing for?
Maybe it's the big truck, maybe it's the second house, maybe it's fill in the blank of what comforts are for you. Am I really okay if I make it to the end of this life and I don't have those comforts? Maybe for you it's status. I feel this myself. I don't like to think of myself as a status person. But I do real estate and I drive a really lame car.
I drive a Prius. And there are times, it's to save money. It's economical and I'm not driving the Prius I can drive my wife's awesome minivan. And I'll go and do some of these showings and I like to think of myself if someone doesn't care about status and certainly doesn't care about cars. I grew up in a family that sold them for a living. But there are moments, y'all, when I get before a client and I have this Prius and they've got a really nice truck and I go, you know what, it'd be really nice to have the status of having a bigger truck.
It'd be fun to drive but it'd be really nice to have that kind of respect. Fill in the blank for you of what money gets you. Are you really okay at the end of the day if you never actually get that level of status? Maybe for you it's not riches but it's not comfort, it's not status but it's security. It's like, am I really going to be okay if I never actually have enough savings? If I never have enough retirement?
Not saying that any of that's wrong but at the end of the day, are you going to be okay if Jesus doesn't blesses this? Because if you are not, you are asking Jesus to bless a temporary kingdom and not putting hope in the eternal kingdom of God. Maybe for you it's not necessarily money, maybe it's work. Like I said in the beginning, some of us put so much identity and hope in a job, in a promotion. When you don't get it, when we get passed over, are you really okay? If you never get your career to the place that you want it to be, are you going to be okay?
Are you going to be left hopeless and crushed? If you never get the validation from an employer, if you never get the validation from clients, are you going to be okay at the end of the day? Is the kingdom of God enough? Are you hoping that Jesus blesses a temporary kingdom? Maybe it's not work, maybe it's relationships. We do this with spouses. that we are doing okay if our spouse is operating in this way, if they are meeting these needs, if they are talking to us like this.
Everything's okay, but when it doesn't happen, we get frustrated. We get entitled. We get angry and we get upset. Are we hoping that Jesus blesses that temporary kingdom? Maybe you're not married, maybe you're thinking about finding someone to marry. Is it possible that you are frustrated, angry, bitter with God because you have not found the quote unquote one?
We do this in relationships, we do this with our own kids. Children are so easy to elevate than the tiny little kings that we worship. that education becomes so important, that how they're raised becomes so important, that following all the correct methods becomes so important. And if this doesn't happen in the way that we hope it is going to play out, we are crushed. We do this with their sports and with their activities that eventually they start doing sports and activities and the schedule that was once centered on on Sundays and community groups and mission and the kingdom of God gets replaced with a whole bunch of other stuff.
And we buy into the kingdom of this world and we sell it to our own kids. We do this with our children, we do this, I'll give you one more, we do this just with standing. Another way of saying standing is power. Two of the disciples did this with Jesus. James and John, there's a story where they come to Jesus and they say, when you set up your kingdom, and when they mean kingdom, they think the temporary kingdom that's going to happen in Jerusalem, when you set up your kingdom, can we set your left and your right? And what they're saying is, can we have positions of power?
And maybe for you that's winning. That life isn't good if I'm not winning. If I'm not being successful. That so much hope is bound up in success that when I'm not having success, what's the point? If I don't have the kind of influence that I need, what is the point of all of this? I could keep going through a long list of things, but ultimately I want you to ask yourself, if you are 75 years old and you don't have blank, fill in the blank for you, are you going to be okay?
Is Jesus really enough? If you don't have that, are you going to be crushed? Are you going to be hopeless like the disciples were when they put so much hope in a temporary kingdom of this world? We kill ourselves for a kingdom that never brings contentment. We serve false kings and idols that were never meant to bring comfort or joy. Church family, we were designed for so much more.
We are just like the disciples. And today for us who are in that spot, that is good news because when Jesus rises on Easter, it changes everything. He opens their eyes to the actual kingdom, the beauty of the kingdom that He had been so, He had been teaching them, He had been calling them to. And you know what I love about Resurrection Sunday? In the Gospel of John, the first words that Jesus says to His disciples, the disciples who abandoned Him, who denied Him, He doesn't come to them and scold them. And the first thing He says to them is, peace be with you.
That is the hope of the Gospel. Yes, we trust in idols. We trust in a temporary kingdom. We fall short. But the good news of the Gospel is that we live this side of the resurrection.
That means we live on this side of hope. That our hope is bound up in the eternal kingdom of God, which is so much better than the temporary kingdom of this world. And we have a so much better King. A King who conquered death, who rode into the city, who became our sacrifice, and on Easter Sunday conquered death with the resurrection so that we could experience the eternal kingdom of God forever. That's the good news of the Gospel, and that's the good news that we get to celebrate as we take the Lord's Supper. The band is going to come up, and we're going to take the Lord's Supper right now.
We're going to take communion and be reminded of what we get to celebrate this week in our groups that on this Thursday, years ago, we celebrate that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He looked at His disciples, and He took the bread, and He broke it. He said, this is my body that was broken for you. This is going to happen. I'm going to be crushed for you. He took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood that is going to be shed for you, that as often as you gather, as often as you meet, take this bread, take this wine, and remember my death until I return.
We get to celebrate the good news of the Gospel that Jesus came on a good Friday and died in our place. And as we do that collectively as a church, may we reflect on the tiny kingdoms that we put hope in, coming repentant to the table, repenting of sin, joyously celebrating that we're part of an eternal kingdom. And if you have not trusted in Jesus, our hope for you this week is that you would be confronted by Him. That this Gospel that we so celebrate would become so real to you, that you would see your need of Him. Our hope is that you wouldn't take part in this, but you would take part in the risen Christ.
Let me pray. God, I am thankful that 2,000 years ago you didn't leave us in sin. You came and you bled and you died for us and we get to take that promise right now. God, I pray that you would help those of us who have trusted completely in you repent of believing that temporary kingdoms bring hope when they don't. They bring hopelessness.
Wrestling with God
Transcript
It's good to see y'all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you're new and I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, hopefully I'll get to soon. It's good to see y'all. Grab a Bible.
Go to Genesis chapter 32. It'll be on page 16 if you grab one of these blue Bibles. If you don't own a Bible, steal this one. It's our gift to you. Take it home. Read it often.
We want you to have a Bible. We have been walking through the book of Genesis and following along with this family, seeing how God has worked through human history and how he specifically has chosen this family that he is going to, he says, through them he's going to make a people. He's going to give them a place. He's going to bless them and he's going to bless the world. And we've been following along with Jacob. Now, Jacob was a twin.
His mama, Rebecca, was pregnant and she was pregnant with two children. It's the first children she had had. Pregnancy is tough. This one was tougher. It was hard. The children inside of her fought one another.
They didn't get along from before they were born. Esau is born first. Jacob comes out second. Jacob comes out holding on to Esau's foot. He was a very close second. And he comes out holding on to Esau's foot.
And this matters a lot. The names they give their children are basically hairy and foot grabber. They name them the way they look. Esau's big, kind of hairy. Jacob comes out second. He's holding on to his foot.
And the word they use, Jacob, means sneaky or tricky or deceiver. And it kind of follows him the rest of his life. That's what they name their children. And it matters that he came out second because in some ways in this patriarchal society, it's like they were children of a king. So here's what that means.
If you have a family in a monarchy and there's a king and a queen, their firstborn son will get to be king. You ever seen the line, King? It was the firstborn son saying, I can't wait to be king. Singing that song, that's who gets to be king. And the secondborn son gets to be the king's brother. That's it.
You get to see him. You get to see his crown. Maybe he'll take it off, let you look at it. Maybe he'll let you polish it up for him, wear it at night, give it back to him. I don't know. But you don't get to be king.
And that's kind of how this worked. Esau's firstborn, so he gets the birthright. He gets the blessing. He gets the patriarchy. And Jacob coming out, holding on to his foot, close, silver medal, gets to be Esau's brother. That's it.
And so Jacob spends his life fighting with, wrestling with Esau over this. He eventually tricks him. He takes advantage of him. Esau wasn't real tricked because he knew what he was doing. But he sells his birthright for some soup.
And then Jacob dresses up like Esau, actually puts on a little Esau outfit, and tricks his father, who was going blind, into receiving the blessing. Now, this is a big deal. He got the birthright through the soup transaction, which was taking advantage. But then he just lies and tricks his father and his brother, and he steals a blessing. Now, the blessing is priceless. It's not something that he can give back.
It's not something that he could exchange something else for. He steals something priceless. Now, think about this for a second. If you had twin brothers today, one of them doing okay for himself, well-liked in the family, and the other one, not so much. But this one, because they're twins, he just kind of steals his brother's identity.
He goes and closes out his 401k, closes out his bank account, goes and takes his car, because he looks like him, and he knows how to do the signature. He sells his car. And he suddenly puts his brother in a bind. All of a sudden, his checks are bouncing. His things are getting repoed. He's getting in trouble.
And he realizes that his brother has just tricked him. He's just pretended to be him and stolen everything he has. That still pales in comparison to what Jacob did, because Jacob took something priceless. I don't care if he, the illustration I gave, I don't care if he took $100,000. That can get, you can get that back. You can't get this blessing back.
And so when he does this, Esau, who is big and hairy and lives outside and hunts, he's like Chewbacca, has the crossbow and everything, decides, I'm just going to kill Jacob. And so Jacob, who has torn this family apart, basically he and his mom have to come up with a reason for him to leave, and they dress it up as best they can. They do bless him and send him out, but he leaves with a stick. Give him a walking stick. And they say, hit the bricks. Or, didn't have bricks hit the dirt.
I don't know. Head to the woods. And he leaves. He leaves, sent to go find a wife. He ends up finding four. And he lives in Haran, marries these wives, and then at some point God comes to him and says, it's time to go back home.
God, actually the blessing works. God says, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you the blessing that was in Abraham and Isaac. It's going to come to you. You're going to have a people. You're going to have a place.
You're going to be blessed. And now it's time to go back. He'd gone 500 miles away. Now it's time to come back. And that's where we pick up. Genesis 32.
I'm going to pray. Today's text is just great. And we're going to study it together. And it's going to be good. All right.
God, we pray that you would help us speak to us this morning. And you'd help us to listen. We love you. And we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Jacob went on his way.
He's been sent back home. And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim, which means two camps. His camp, God's camp. So he's traveling.
You take a whole group of people. You'll set up camp. He comes in. He sees angels. And he thinks, oh, we're in God's camp. And then it basically seems like they just kind of stopped there.
It says, Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Sire, the country of Edom, instructing them. Thus you shall say to my Lord Esau. Thus says your servant Jacob. I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkey, flocks, male servants and female servants. I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight.
You see, Jacob understands something. When God tells Jacob it's time to go back, Jacob understands that going back to the land of promise where God intends to bless him, he has to go through Esau. He doesn't just get to roll back in there, set up his camp and hope for the best. He knows that when God's sending him back, God's sending him back to and through Esau. Now, last he saw Esau, Esau was planning on killing him. And there's got to be a great amount of fear.
And in some ways, Esau personifies, he in human form represents to Jacob all the shystery, tricky, sneaky, sinful mess that Jacob's ever done. He's the person in his life that just shows Jacob's sinfulness, his brokenness, his wickedness. And Jacob knows that he's got to go through Esau to get to the promise. So he sends messengers to Esau. Now, if you'll just if you'll try to sympathize with Jacob for a second. If you knew that in order for your life to move forward and to be good and for you to follow what you were supposed to, you were going to have to face the people that you had wronged, the people that you had harmed.
If you knew that you were going to have to stand face to face with your sin and the consequences of your sin. Can you imagine the knot that would be tied in your stomach? The truth is, the reality is, is the Bible says that all of us will stand face to face with the weight of our sin. Jacob has to do it with Esau, but all of us will. Maybe you spread yours out. Jacob concentrated his.
He focused it primarily on Esau. Maybe you spread yours out. Maybe yours travels across high schools and Job sites and cities, but it's spread out. But one day you will stand face to face in judgment with your sin. And that's what he's facing. He's got to go through this.
He's got to recognize his sin. He's got to stand face to face with what he's done. And that's what he does. He sends messengers to Esau. And he says, I've sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight, knowing I can't just sneak past you. I can't just try to live here without you just haunting my dreams and suddenly being able to show up.
I know I've got to talk to you. I know I've got to address this. All right. Six. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you. And there are 400 men with him.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two camps, thinking if Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. So he says, go tell him I'm coming back. Call him my Lord. Tell him I'm his servant. He sees his guys coming back.
They're moving a little bit too quickly for comfort. They show up. They say, all right, we told him what you said. Esau is on his way and he's bringing 400 men. Now, they can't be that far behind these people. And Jacob's not just I mean, he's greatly afraid and distressed because this sounds like a war party.
He thinks he was going to kill me by himself. Now he's going to kill everybody. He's bringing all his men with him. This is terrible. And his first plan is just let's just separate and then half of us can try to get away. Then it says this.
And Jacob said, oh, God of my father, Abraham and God of my father, Isaac, a Lord who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that he has shown to your servant. For with only my staff, I crossed this Jordan and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him that he may come and attack me and the mothers with their children. But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Jacob prays. We've seen him converse with God very little. He's been we've watched this guy's whole life and his relationship to God has been tumultuous and and sparse. But he prays in this moment. He prays. And so this is good for Jacob.
And you guys, it's a pretty good prayer. I was praying with my four year old about a week ago. He prayed and then I prayed and we got done. He said, Daddy, was my prayer good? I was like, yeah, buddy, it was a good prayer. And he said, it was better than your prayer.
Not wanting to bring competition into the prayer atmosphere. I said, well, maybe we tied, you know, and he went, OK, well, let's pray again. He does not want to tie. There are rankings in prayer, just so you know, there are good and bad prayers. Jesus says the Pharisees pray this pompous prayer that puffs themselves up. The truth is any prayer that's a genuine prayer is a good prayer if it's humble and genuine.
But this one's actually pretty good because what he says is, God, here's who you are. And then he says, I'm doing what you told me to. You're the God who told me to leave and to come here and that you're going to do me good. And then he says, I'm not worthy. Here's who I am. I'm not worthy of the least of the things you've given me.
That's beautiful to hear rolling off the tongue of Jacob because so far he has seemed kind of cocky, kind of sneaky, kind of. And he hears a little bit of humility. He says, I'm not worthy of all that you've done for me. And then he says, here's the situation. I'm afraid and I think Esau is going to kill everybody, not just me, but the mothers and their children. And then he says, but you promised to do me good.
That's a good prayer. God, here's who you are. Here's what you've promised. Here's who I am. Here's what you've promised. So he prays.
Then it says this. So he stayed there that night. So he comes. This is the Lord's camp. The angels he sees kind of shows that he's in the presence of God. So he's like, all right, we're going to stay here.
There's two camps here. I'm going to send them on. This is kind of encouraging that God's people, you know, God's angels are here. So I'm going to send them on to get this news. They come back and he just stays there in that camp that night. And from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau.
200 Female goats and 20 male goats. 200 ewes and 20 rams. 30 milking camels and their calves. 40 cows and 10 bulls. 20 female donkeys. 10 male donkeys.
And then he handed over to his servant every drove by itself. And he said to his servants, pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove. He instructed the first. When Esau, my brother, meets you and ask you to whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?
Then you shall say they belong to your servant, Jacob. They are a present sent to my Lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us. He likewise instruct the second and the third and all who follow the droves. You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him. And you shall say, moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.
For he thought I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me. And afterward, I shall see him face to face. Perhaps he will accept me. So the present passed on ahead of him and he himself stayed that night in the camp. Okay. He splits his camps up.
Then he prays. Then he comes up with this present idea. And this present idea doesn't sound like that bad of an idea. He's going to give Esau gifts. This is going to slow Esau down. Maybe let's give him a little bit of time to think.
And while he's thinking, let's give him some presents. That's what he's doing. It doesn't tell us whether it's a good idea or a bad idea. It doesn't tell us that this was in humility. This isn't in restitution. This is, it says, maybe it'll appease him.
And then he says, after that, I'll see him face to face. And what we see held together so clearly here in Jacob is half of this is obedience. Half of this is faith. He's praying. We've never seen that. He's going to go see Esau face to face.
He's going to go face what God's given him. And half of this is old Jacob. Making a little schemey plan. Coming up with a cool idea. If I could just do this. Maybe it'll work out.
And the reason I love that when I notice that in the text. Isn't that us? That's our church family, y'all. You're walking in life. I'm trying to follow Jesus. I'm going to do this thing.
I'm doing what he told me to. Something happens. And then boom. Half and half. Talk to you one day. I've just been praying.
I've just been trusting the Lord. Prayer hands. Hallelujah. Emoji. Whatever. The next day.
All right. Well, I may have an ounce of weed on me. I'm really stressed out. Okay. I've been praying. I've been trusting.
I'm following the Lord. I'm doing what I'm supposed to. You know what? I called her up and I cussed her and her mama out. Okay. Half and half.
Half repentance. Half following. Half praying. Half running back to what we used to chase after. Half running to what we used to make us feel good. Half running.
Blowing off steam. Whatever. That's Jacob. So he's growing. He's coming along. He's back and forth.
Let's see what happens. The same night. He arose and took his two wives. All right. He can't sleep. Like he just is.
He's antsy. He gets up. He takes his two wives. His two female servants. His 11 children. And crossed the ford of the Yabak.
So he said he was at the Jordan. Now he's at like the Yabak part of this. And it's a ford. Which means it's a shallow part. You can walk across. And so he takes his wives and children across.
He's getting them to the other side. He's trying to get them to a safer position. Maybe. Maybe he's just thinking. All right.
We got to just keep pressing forward. We don't exactly know where he's kind of lining them up in relation to where Esau is. He's got children at varying ages. He's taking them across. Some kids are being held. Some are maybe you're holding their hands.
Some of the older kids are maybe holding kids. He's got 11 kids. He gets them across. And Jacob was left alone. So he comes back across.
Maybe he's checking. Making sure everything. Everybody got across. He's by himself. We don't know what he's going to do. If he's going to pray.
And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Okay. What? That's written in the text intending to be a surprise. Like it's as surprising to us as it was to Jacob. He's getting his family across.
He hadn't slept. He hadn't eaten. He's stressed out. He comes back. And now in the dark at night, there's a man who wrestles with him until the breaking of day. We don't know at what point they started wrestling.
We just know they wrestle until the breaking of day. Now that word wrestle means dirtied. They rolled around in the dirt. This was a fight. Which, I mean, if you're in the woods in the dark at night and a man comes and lays his hands on you, that's a fight. I mean, let's be real.
Adrenaline is pumping up past your ears like you are. And they're fighting. Now, at this point, Jacob's in his 60s. Now, he would have been a healthy 60. He was tough. He was out in the world.
He was working. So you saw him. When he said he was 65, you'd have been like, 65? That's what he looked like. We don't know if he was sitting. And all of a sudden, he heard, and he turned just in time for somebody to tackle him.
We don't know if somebody walked up on him. And he was like, hey, who are you? Are you one of the what's going on? And then they just grabbed him. But we know at some point they're on the ground.
Like, not like a pretty fight. You ever seen like a good, like a movie in a good fight? And they're like kicking and punching. And it looks nice. This does not look nice. This is a wrestling, dirty, somebody's got somebody's head smushing them into the ground kind of fight.
Fingers in the face like this. The kind when you break middle schoolers apart, they're sweating and red. That's this kind of fight. If you watch UFC, it's the boring part of the fight. Where there's like tangled up. And people are like, what is this?
It's like man sport. They're wearing underwear and hugging each other. This is weird. Yeah, but in a minute, they're going to catch their breath and go back to punching. That's what they're doing. Until the breaking of day.
Who is Jacob fighting? We do not know. Jacob does not know. He's trying to win. It's going to slowly kind of reveal this to us. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob.
Okay. Nobody's winning. Both tired. Both sweating. Both dirty. Rolling around.
Fighting. He touched. He touched. His hip socket. And Jacob's hip. Was put out.
Of joint. As he wrestled with him. Okay. The word touched. Means. Touched.
Touched. That's what it means. It means touch. There are like one or two places in the Bible where it is translated strike. But they're trying to read into the context there.
But the word means touch. This is like he's fighting. And the person he's fighting does the Kung Fu Panda Wushu finger hold thing. Skadoosh. And his hip. Pops out of joint.
Now. This is just a poll question. Because it took me. I had to look some stuff up. Anybody here. Ever dislocated their shoulder.
Or know someone who dislocates their shoulder on a semi-regular basis. Anybody. This is legit. I want to see your hands. This is just for me. I want to see something.
Okay. Anybody ever dislocated their hip. Or know someone who dislocates their hip. Okay. A few people. It doesn't happen super often.
Oh just for the record. Next time someone asks you that shoulder dislocation thing. You can raise your hand. Matt Freeman does. He dislocates his shoulder periodically. But he doesn't dislocate his hip.
I've had to watch videos. I was trying to see what this looked like. If you dislocate your hip. Your foot kind of turns around like this. The only one I saw. Most of it was just like how to treat it.
And has a lot to do with being elderly. Mostly what it seemed like. But I saw a guy running. In baseball. And then he just fell over. And that was what his dislocated hip did.
And then he laid and held his leg. Like he was in excruciating pain. They're wrestling. It's a tie. So Jacob's doing okay.
And then all of a sudden. Pow! Hips out. Jacob has searing pain. And. Light bulb.
Okay. I was in God's camp. I saw angels. I'm now wrestling someone in the dark. I was doing okay. And then.
They just. Pinned. And my legs out. I think Jacob's got an idea. That this is not just a man. This is not.
Normal. Situation. And then he says this. Let me go. For the day. Has broken.
So the man knocks his hip. Out of socket. And then says. Let me go. The sun's coming up. That's.
That's weird. You guys. Sorry. I'm a woodland night wrestler. I don't wrestle during the day. It's not my thing.
What? What? Like if you. If you're telling stories to children. And you're like. The sun was coming up.
It's like. Okay. Are we telling a story about an ogre? Because I think they turned to stone. Is this Fiona? Is she going to turn into like a lady?
Like we don't know. What's happening here? Why? What is the sun coming up? Like I don't like. It gets hot.
You know. I like to wrestle in the cool. Jacob. Coming from a culture. Where this would have clicked in his brain. And just further added to what he.
Understood was going on. They understood. That God. Was holy. Meaning. Completely others.
Separate from us. And that if you saw him. You'll die. Like it. It will just. It will kill you.
You can't handle it. This is why. Peter. When he's on the boat with Jesus. And they catch all the fists. Peter falls down.
And says. I'm not worthy. This is why. Isaiah. When he's brought into the throne room of God. Says.
I'm not worthy. I come from an unclean people. This is why. When an angel. The Lord comes to Samson's parents. And talks to him.
And then he leaves. Samson. Samson's daddy. He looks at Samson's mama. And says. We're going to die.
And Samson's mama says. I think he would have killed us. If he was going to. I don't. I don't think we're going to. And then they don't.
But this is. This is what they understood. Like if I see God. This is why Moses. When he sees God. He actually.
Moses gets to see God. In his glory. And he glows. Glows. For the rest of his life. Glows.
Like. Daytime. Skin glow. So much so. That when he comes back. He doesn't know he's glowing.
He comes back. They see him. And everybody runs from him. And he has to be like. No. No.
It's okay. And they're like. No bro. It's not okay. He has to wear a veil. Because he glows.
So. Touches his hip. Hip shoots out a joint. I know I'm in God's camp. Now he says.
The sun's coming up. I need to go. You don't need to see me. It's basically what he's saying. And so. Any.
Smart. Person. Who's not Jacob. In this situation. Would have said. Let's see what Jacob does.
But Jacob said. I will not let you go. Unless you bless me. That's crazy. And it actually shows us. Not just something about Jacob.
But something about God. He says. I'm not letting you go. Unless you bless me. What Jacob's saying is. Kill me if you have to.
Let this destroy me. I need you to bless me. I can't go. One. Step. Further.
Without you. Blessing me. I can't face Esau. I can't stand up to my past. I can't be the man I was. Without you blessing me.
And he just holds on to him. As soon as he figures out who he is. He says. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. I will not let go of you.
Until you bless me. Now if God didn't like that. This would be the end of the story of Jacob. But God likes that. Because Jacob understands who God is. And who Jacob is.
God is the one who blesses. You see. Sometimes we get into the idea. That maybe I'll bless God. I'll serve him. I'll do something for him.
I owe him something. He wants some morality from me. He wants some good work from me. I can present it to him. And then he'll be pleased. He'll be happy.
He'll bless me. But that's not an exchange. It's that we have nothing. We roll in the dirt. Hold on to his foot. And say just bless me.
That's the right posture. And that's what Jacob does. He holds on to him. And he said to him. What is your name? Now he knows his name.
But watch this. And he said. Jacob. When he says my name is Jacob. He has to own up to who he has been his entire life. I'm a deceiver.
I'm scheming. I'm a tricker. There's a lot of weight and baggage that goes with that name. He feels it every day. Then he said.
Your name shall no longer be called Jacob. But Israel. For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob said. Please tell me your name. But he said.
Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him. Now blessings are verbal. We don't know what he says. Doesn't tell us. Because he was blessed.
Puts his hand on him. Blesses him. So Jacob called the place Peniel. Saying. For I have seen God face to face. And yet my life has been delivered.
The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel. Limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh. That is on the hip socket. Because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip. And the sinew of the thigh.
Jacob is blessed. He gets up. He is limping. And the sun rises. And the sun rises. On a limping.
Broken. Blessed. Jacob. On a limping. Broken. Blessed.
Israel. He has been given a new name. Now I am willing to bet. When his family saw him. He looked terrible. But there was like a glow about him.
He was different. He looked like. He had been really stressed out. Stayed up all night. And gotten beat up. But like in a good way.
And if you have ever seen somebody coming out of mourning. And coming out of pain. You might know what I am talking about. That is what he is doing. The sun rises on him. Chapter 33.
And Jacob lifted up his eyes. And looked. And behold. Esau was coming. And 400 men with him. You ever seen those old western movies.
Where you like look. And it is one person. And then they start talking among themselves. And they are like. Who is that? And they look back.
And it is just all these people on a ridge. It is kind of. Esau. 400 men. Coming towards him. So he divided the children among Leah.
And Rachel. And the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front. Then Leah with her children. And Rachel and Joseph. Last of all.
He himself went on before them. Bowing himself to the ground seven times. Until he came near to his brother. Bowing himself seven times is absolute submission. I am your servant. He is actually reversing what the blessing was.
The blessing was that. Jacob's brothers would bow down to him. And he comes and bows down to his brother. In humility and in repentance comes to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him.
And embraced him. And fell on his neck. And kissed him. And they wept. So Jacob.
Bowing. Getting up. Bowing. Getting up. When he gets close enough to run. Esau takes off running.
And Jacob thinks. Okay. He is not going to shoot me with a bow. He is going to do this with his bare hands. And he gets closer. And the face isn't angry.
He is happy. Sad. They hug. They cry. They weep. They kiss.
And they reconcile. And that is beautiful. It is beautiful on Esau's part. That he forgives his brother. And it is beautiful on Jacob's part. That he repents.
And he goes to him. And he faces what God sent him to face. And when Esau lifted up his eyes. And saw the women and the children. He said. Who are these with you?
And Jacob said. The children whom God has graciously given to your servant. The rest of this. Is he and Esau talking. And discussing where they are going. And how to get there.
And Esau keeps trying to offer to do extra stuff. And Jacob is just like. No. Just let us move slowly. We are good. And then Jacob kind of settles in a different place.
And so. If you look at 18. And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem. Which is in the land of Canaan. And on his way from Paddan Aram. And he camped before the city.
And from the sons of Hamor. Shechem's father. He bought for a hundred pieces of money. The piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. There he erected an altar. And called it El Elohe Israel.
Which means God. The God of Israel. Jacob reconciles with his brother. Moves back into the promised land. Owns some land. Sets his tent up.
Builds an altar. And says God is the God of Israel. I'm new. I'm changed. I'm not Jacob. I'm Israel.
Jacob was the old man. Israel is the new man. And he limped his way there. With a smile on his face. And some peace that he had never understood. And he got to live in the land.
Because he knew Esau knew where he was. And he got to live there peacefully. Not worrying about it. Now. There's a bit of this story. That is a little bit embarrassing for us.
That if. As Christians. As we look at this story. There's a little bit that's like. Wait. God.
Came to the ground. And wrestled Jacob. Like. Part of it just feels like. Wow. What?
It feels degrading. Like. Like if it just said. Heaven opened up. And he was shining. And Jacob went blind.
Or his face melted off. Or it looked like the scene from. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Or something like that. Like. Yeah.
That's what God does. But it's like. No. God sneaks up on him. In the dark. And fights him.
And there's a little bit. That like. That feels humiliating. That feels small. That feels. The truth is.
How beautiful is that? That God. Creator of the universe. Holds everything in his hand. Comes to Jacob. And does what Jacob needed.
He says. You've wrestled with God. And with man. And you've prevailed. You see. The truth is.
God did for Jacob. What Jacob needed. Jacob hadn't stopped fighting. His whole life. Had been wrestling. It said that they wrestled.
And when. When God saw. That he did not prevail. Over Jacob. Then he.
Breaks him. Now think about that. God's been wrestling. With Jacob. His whole life. Fighting with Jacob.
His whole life. And Jacob. Has not quit. So God. Breaks him. And in that moment.
God says. You have prevailed. That it was at the moment. When God defeats Jacob. That Jacob. Wins.
Because. God. Was wrestling Jacob. On Jacob's path. Now. Jacob doesn't get to live.
In the promised land. Without facing Esau. And he doesn't get. To get the blessing. Without being broken. And the truth is.
As small as this seems. And as humble as it seems. For God. To have done this. Jesus. Blows this out of the water.
That our God. So much more. Will God. Join us. And wrestle with us. So much more.
Will God. Humble himself. To fight with somebody. In the dirt. So much more.
He'll be born. As a human. Not just look like one. And he'll die. That's what Philippians says. I have it on the screen.
Behind me. It says. Being found. In human form. He humbled himself. By becoming obedient.
To the point of death. Even. Death. On a cross. Some of you may be saying. I wish God would do that for me.
He is doing that. He is wrestling with you. He is fighting with you. And he has done. So much more.
Than show up. And push your head. Into the dirt. He showed up. And he was the one. Who was beaten.
He was the one. Who was broken. And he was buried. That you might have life. And he rose. Again.
And I want you. To see something. So clearly here. You don't get. The promised land. Without having to face.
All the sin. And all the brokenness. And all the things. You've ever done wrong. Jacob didn't get to live there. Free.
And happy. Without Esau. Lurking in the back of his mind. Forever. Until he went and faced Esau. You don't get.
The blessing. That you so desperately need. Until God takes you. And breaks you. Over your sin. And your wickedness.
And your brokenness. Until he does to you. And shows you. What you've been doing to everybody. Your whole life. And you don't get the resurrection.
Until you get the cross. But so many of us. Even us in here. In our church family. In our community groups. Are trying to bypass.
Brokenness. And just get. Blessing. And joy. And what we're trying to do. Is Jacob.
Before God grabbed him. And stuck him in the dirt. We're trying to do a little bit of both. There are some of you. Who every time. It's time to confess.
Every time God tries to make you face. Your Esau. You just back out. Every time. He goes to break you. You let go.
You don't cling. You don't say. Okay. Break me. But bless me.
You just back up. Because you don't want it. You don't want the pain. You don't want the confession. You want to try to live. In the land of promise.
But Esau. Is lurking in the background. Some of you do not feel free. Because you have not confessed. Some of you have your sin. Hanging in the background.
And let me tell you something. It will not remain hidden. By God's grace. It will tackle you in the dark. And you will face it here. Because if God in his grace.
Does not do that. You will face it at the end of the line. And you will stand. And be held accountable. For your sin. Before a holy God.
And that is not the time to do it. That is to be a reunion. With the God who broke you. And blessed you. So that joyous tears.
Fall down your face. And you wrap your arms. Around the sin. That would have condemned you. That now has saved you. Because Jesus paid for it.
Second Corinthians 7. 10 says. For godly grief. Produces repentance. That leads to salvation. Without regret.
Whereas worldly grief. Produces death. I pray that God. Pierces your heart. Through the Holy Spirit. That you grieve.
Your sin. So that. You may have salvation. Without regret. You ever seen somebody. Confessing sin.
And talking about their past sin. With such freedom. That you couldn't understand it. I'm not talking about bragging about it. Because there's something about. Bragging about past sin.
That still stinks. That still reeks of this shame. And this guilt. And this pride. It's like. I'm trying to glory in my shame.
So that I can feel okay about it. I'm talking about someone. Who can just own the fact. That they used to do this. I used to be Jacob. But the reason I can tell you.
Yeah it used to be Jacob. But now I'm Israel. I've been set free from it. Have you seen that? How beautiful it is. That.
Is godly grief. That reproduced salvation. Without regret. But worldly grief. Just produces death. Psalm 51.
17. Says the sacrifices of God. Are a broken spirit. And a broken and contrite heart. Oh God. You will not despise.
One of the things. The scripture tells us. Is that God will turn mourning. Into joy. And will turn joy. Into mourning.
That if we try to just skip past. Into just. I'm going to live my best life now. Eventually that. Ends. In.
Brokenness. And mourning. And pain. But if we. Live here. In mourning.
And brokenness. And own our sin. And go to God. We limp. But we're blessed.
I pray that we would not have. A single person in here. Who struts around with swagger. But that we'd have. A whole bunch of people. Who limp.
But the sun shining on us. I served with a recovery program. At Midtown. One of the things we used to do. Is we would have. Everybody when they first started.
They would write down the names. That marked them. The things that if you. They described themselves. They would write down worthless. They would write down.
Unloved. They would write down. Sinful. And broken. And evil. They would write down.
Abused. They would write down. Abuser. And then we'd walk through. Recovery. We'd point them to Jesus.
We'd talk about what he's done for us. In the cross. And at the end. We'd say. What's your new name? They'd write down.
Loved. Worthy. And not because they're worthy. But because Jesus has made them worthy. That they'd write down. Cherished.
They'd write down. Forgiven. They'd write down. Free. Free. Don't leave here.
Carrying the name Jacob. And don't want God. Right when he goes to break you. Don't take off running. Don't let go. Cling to him.
And say. You can break me. But you've got to bless me. I'll face Esau. I'll stand up to what I've done. And who I've been.
But you've got to bless me. And you've got to work. And I'll go through the cross. I'll die to my sins. So that I can rise again.
And be made new. And that's what. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says. Therefore. If anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold the new has come. We have no desire. Whatsoever. To help you be a slightly better person. Zero desire.
We want you to be a new person. We want you to be born again in Christ. Have zero desire to help you. Cuss less. And drink less. And be a little bit nicer.
And cheat on your taxes. Just a little bit less. And be half and half Jacob. Zero desire. That's the truth is. Sometimes we'll have people who say.
I've believed in Christ. I've placed my faith in Jesus. But if there hadn't been any brokenness. If there hasn't been any weeping. If you hadn't cried so much. That you thought you couldn't breathe.
If there hasn't been you face to face with your sin. If there hasn't been any moment where you realize. If I don't have Jesus. If he doesn't step in. I'm broken and busted. If all you've tried to do is sneak around Esau.
To live in the promised land. If all you've tried to do is run on over to Easter. Without Good Friday. To resurrection without cross. If you've never walked through this. Do not leave here without running to God.
And saying break me. Bianca's going to come back up. And here's what we're going to do. My prayer. Is that the Holy Spirit would work right now. That some of you know right now.
You've been running from this. And that every time he started to put a little pressure on you. To confess. Every time he started pressing on you. To repent. To actually change.
To not just try to mix it together. And be a little bit better. And kind of keep some of your old stuff. But every time he's actually pressed into you. And said. Now.
Every time you've been hanging out with your community group. And you're going around. And people are confessing. And it gets to you. And you have that moment. Where you think.
You feel almost like you're going to throw up. And some of you were like. No I was going to throw up. You were almost confessed. And then you just let go. He came to the point of almost breaking you.
And then you just ran. Don't. Be broken. Limp. Confess that you're a sinner. Own your sin.
And then let the sun rise. And be made new. That's the hope today. We're about to take communion. In a minute. They're going to sing.
We want you to wrestle with God. We want you to go before him and ask. Where do I need to confess? What have I hidden? What am I allowing to lurk around? Why am I not free?
And trust that he can break you. And his Holy Spirit can set you free. And you can have freedom and hope. Don't run from this. Some of you have been running for a long time. You've been wrestling for a long time.
You've been doing everything you possibly can. To keep God from taking something away from you. Or from fixing your soul. You're trying to be a little bit better. And you need to be made new. So bow your heads and let's pray.
God we pray that you would grant repentance. To those who ask it. And that you would grant brokenness. And mourning. That you would empower it through your Holy Spirit. That there might be those right now.
That would cling to you. And ask for your salvation. Ask for your forgiveness. Ask for the hope that only comes through you. Ask for the resurrection that only comes after the cross. That you might die for their sin.
That you might forgive them. That you might be broken for them. And they might see truly how much you love them. And the great lengths at which you are willing to go to redeem them. We pray that your Holy Spirit would move. And that people would respond.
And that anybody here today who is feeling that right now. Would not let go. They are feeling the pain of what it will take to confess. What it will mean to face what they have done. And who they have been. And to tell others.
And to be open about it. And they are feeling the pain and the fear over that. And we pray Lord that you would not let them go. And you would let them cling to you. That they might actually repent. And they might find freedom.
That they do not understand. Hope that is unparalleled. They would not be half and half. They would be wholly new. In a moment we are going to take communion. If you are a Christian.
I encourage you to confess. To repent. And then to take communion. Reminding yourself that Jesus was broken for you. His blood was shed for you. If you are not a Christian for the first time.
You need to place your faith in Him. You need to go to Him and say. I will not save myself. I am not letting go. Unless you bless me. Unless you save me.
Unless you redeem me. Unless you let me walk away from my past. We would encourage you to do that. And then take communion for the first time. And if you are not a Christian. Aren't ready yet to place your faith in Jesus.
We would just encourage you to sit. And respectfully decline communion. Is for those who have trusted in Christ. And His sacrifice. We pray that all around the room Lord. That your spirit is working.
That we might confess. That we might repent. And that we might be made new. And enjoy the beauty. And the life in you. That was purchased for us.
Because Christ is willing to humble Himself. Even unto death. And He rose again. That we might be free. Amen.
Leaving Laban
Transcript
I'm one of the pastors here, and if you're perceptive and this isn't your first time hanging out with us, you may have noticed that there was a drum kit on the stage today. I want to take a second to just kind of use that as an opportunity to tell you a little bit about some philosophy of ministry stuff for us. One is, I appreciated that. I also really like the box, and I think that even when we have cajons, we should make them sit in there, because that would be fun. Especially Isaac, who is quite loud on a cajon. This being the first time we've had a drum kit on Sundays, the reason was not that we hated drums, and the reason we have it now is not that we necessarily love drums.
It's that we never had anybody who could play drums, and our philosophy of ministry is when we gather as a church, we do what our church can do. That it's us. That we don't want to pay somebody to come in and play music, although I've heard that other churches do that. We don't pay anybody to do any of this stuff up here musically wise, because we just want, it's our church gathering together to worship and to make much of Jesus. And so if you play the oboe and can throw down on it, come talk to Matt. If you're killer on the spoons, we'll do whatever we can do to worship the Lord together and make a joyful noise, and so if everybody in our band left for some reason, hopefully to go be missionaries in Menya, then we'll just have somebody read some Psalms and somebody else hum behind them, and it'll be great, and we'll go back to that until we get some more musicians.
And so that's just kind of how we do stuff. So not sold on one thing or the other as much as we're sold on the idea that we gather and worship together and we do what our church family can do. Grab your Bibles, go to Genesis chapter 30. Um, we've been walking along through the book of Genesis and we're in chapter 30 and what we've been seeing is we've gone through this. We're seeing the beginning of the world as God created the world, and then we've watched as God has worked his will, where he has brought about his desires for the world in the midst of brokenness and sin and pain. So he created the world good and humanity rebelled, and then God immediately steps in and promises that he's going to fix this.
And so we've been following with Abraham and Isaac and now Jacob as God has stepped in and said, I'm going to accomplish my will. I'm going to bless the world through you. I'm going to give you a people and a place. I'm going to make you, uh, my people. And so we've been following that story. And what we're going to see today as we read this, this aspect of the story is part of the story is we're going to get to see a clear picture of the distinction between, um, the gods of Laban, which is Jacob's father-in-law and the God of Jacob, the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And we're going to get to see kind of the contrast between Laban's gods and Jacob's God. And we're going to get to see that Laban's gods, um, are weak and frail, uh, enable, incapable, uh, of defending themselves, bringing about change. And that the God of Jacob is very big and very powerful and rules over everything. And so the hope today is that we would grow, that we would expand our thinking about God, our view of God. Um, there's a story in the gospels and, uh, there's, it's found in Mark four, as well as other places in the synoptics where Jesus is with his disciples and they're on a boat and Jesus is asleep and a big storm comes along.
Now, some of the disciples weren't used to being on boats necessarily, but a handful of them were, were fishermen and we're used to being out on boats and the storm comes in it. I mean, it, the boat's rocking and a rolling it's, it's up and down and there's this major issues and they're trying to do everything they possibly can to defend it. Uh, themselves to try to fix the situation, to handle the situation. And they can't, they finally go to Jesus. Who's asleep in the bottom of the boat. And they say, master, don't you care that we're going to drown?
So Jesus wakes up, he comes up out of the bottom of the boat and he stands up on the deck and he says, peace, be still. And the waves that had been rocking in the wind that had been blowing suddenly just stops. And the text tells us that the disciples were terrified. They were actually, the word it uses is they were more afraid. When Jesus told the ocean to stop than they were of drowning. They were like, nah, let's go back to drowning.
I can't handle this. Like, I don't, I don't know how to handle somebody who can just tell the ocean to stop. And it does it. They're terrified. And he says, oh, you of little faith. You see, when they went and woke Jesus up, they didn't wake him up because they thought he could come calm the storm.
They woke him up because they needed somebody else to bail water. They wanted somebody else to hold a rope. And Jesus walks up and handles the whole situation. And so the reason I tell you that is it matters how we approach God and how we view God. And so they had underestimated him. He was a little smaller than they had reckoned.
He was, he was a little weaker than they, than they thought. They thought he was a little weaker than he was. And that's why he says, oh, you of little faith. If they had known who they were approaching, they would have approached it differently. So we just sang.
And when you sing, you're singing to the best picture you have of God, the best image of who he is and his character and what he's like. When we pray, we're doing the same thing. The best, our best understanding, but the best human understanding falls short of God's glory, falls short of his massiveness, of his power. The best we can wrap our minds around is still short of who he truly is. But it does matter to us in our anxiety levels.
And it does matter to us in our prayers that we pray and in our approach to him. And in the way we live our life, that we know him truly and rightly and worship him fully. Does that make sense? So our hope today is to make God a little bit bigger. To, as we see these gods contrasted against one another, try to find places where we line up more with Laban, where our thinking about God and our approach to God is just a little bit smaller than it needs to be. And try to move ourselves to lining up more with worshiping the true God of Jacob in his massiveness and in his sovereignty.
So that's our hope, that God would be a little less domesticated after we leave here today. It'd be a little bit bigger, a little bit scarier, and there'd be a lot of joy found in that. Let's pray. God, we ask for your help as we read this passage, that we might see you clearly, truly, fully. And that wherever we have made you smaller, wherever we have in our minds treat you as tame, we pray that you'd break through that in a glorious, helpful, fearful way. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right. So we are in Genesis 30. We're going to start in verse 25. So Jacob and his wives just had 12 children. Eleven boys mentioned one girl, and later they're going to have another son. It'll be the 12 tribes of Jacob.
And so it says, verse 25, as soon as Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, send me away that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you that I may go for, you know, the service that I have given you. Jacob is in a very inferior position to Laban. He's married Laban's daughters. He has served Laban. He has served.
Basically, we find out this is about the end of the 14 years. He served seven years for Rachel and then he married Leah because Laban tricked him. So he served another seven years for Rachel. And so he's been there at least the 14 years. Uh, and he comes and says, let me go and let me take my wife and children with me, which in our culture, that, that would be a formality in their culture. It's not Laban had a lot of power and would have the potential ability to just say, no, you may leave, but the wife, your wives and children stay with me.
Um, and so he just says, let me go. But Laban said to him, if I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you name your wages and I will give it. So Laban says, I've learned about divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Now divination is a practice that's been practiced since ancient times on up till now, which is used to try to find, uh, truth about reality by seeking, uh, to divine, to find a sign, to hear from spirits, to hear from gods what's going on. And so the way they would practice this, you could practice it with tea leaves, with sticks, with water, with dirt, uh, with the guts of animals.
Um, tarot cards is a form of this. It's, it's that. And so he says, I've learned by divination that it's your God. It's the Lord has blessed me because of you. Now, uh, there's three options in the Bible and just in the world when it comes to practicing things like divination, fortune telling, these kinds of occult pagan type practices. Option one is that it's just some people doing some stuff and it's just earthly, no spiritual aspects whatsoever.
Um, so if you went and saw a fortune teller, they're just, you know, doing the things fortune tellers to do where they'll, you know, like you go see a psychic and they stand up on stage and they say, I'm hearing a, I'm getting a letter. Um, a, no, it's B. Is it C? I'm seeing a color. It's purple or it's red. And someone says, I, I, oh, red.
And you go, oh yeah. And they just, they're kind of shotgunning and they're just good at this and they kind of work out something and there's no spiritual aspect going on. It's just kind of a trick. That's one option. The second option is that it's demonic, uh, that there's actual evil spirits at work there that, um, to God rules over the world. He created a spiritual beings.
The, the ones that worship him and stayed with him are angels. And they all point us to the Lord. They don't accept worship. They don't point away from him. There are places in the Bible where they'll show up. Somebody will try to worship them.
They'll be like, nope, stand up. We worship God together. You don't worship me. Then there are, uh, evil spirits that rebelled against God and they accept worship and they point to themselves or away from God. And so the second option is that it is demonic. It's evil.
Um, so that these evil spirits, these other gods pointed and said, yes, we are able by our godly powers to tell you that that God is doing really good things. That's what they said. Not we've blessed you, not anything else, just his God's blessed you. And we're able to tell the third option. And this happens very rarely in the Bible is that God just busts through a cult things to tell people what he wants to tell them, um, that he will interrupt people's plans and just kind of do what he wants. Um, this is forbidden later in the law.
This is not something they should practice. And it is a practice, uh, that Laban is practicing, not that Jacob is Deuteronomy 18, nine says this. When you come into the land that the Lord, your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. If you get a letter from Hogwarts, throw it away.
And because of these abominations, the Lord, your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord, your God for these nations, which you are about to dispossess. Listen to fortune tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord, your God has not allowed you to do this. The Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him.
You shall listen. Ultimately that's fulfilled in Jesus, but that's also fulfilled in the prophetic offices that happened throughout the old Testament where someone spoke on behalf of God. And so we look to God's word and we look to Christ and we look to nowhere else. But that's what he says. So he's practicing divination and he says, they've told me that I'm blessed because of you.
And so he wants him to stay. That's what's going on in the story. So Jacob said to him, you yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me for you had little before I came and it has increased abundantly. And the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?
So Jacob has just served and he's made Laban rich. Jacob's doing well while he is in Laban's household. But if he were to leave, he has nothing. He just went and asked, can I keep my wife and my wives and children? But he has nothing to take with him.
He's not gained any wealth of his own. He's made Laban very rich. So he says, he says, I want to earn for my own household. So he said, what shall I give you? Laban says, okay, I'll give you something. I'll give you a portion.
I'll do something. And Jacob says, you shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it. Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats. And they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later when you come to look into my wages with you.
Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs that is found with me shall be counted stolen. So here's Jacob's pitch. Here's his plan. He says a normal shepherd's wages, if they were going to get paid wages, would be about 20% of all the new goats and sheep born. They get about 20%. So every time there was 10 born, they'd get two.
He says, no, we're not going to do that. We're not going to do normal kind of shepherd wages. What we're going to do is we'll go. Let me go today and I will take all the spotted speckled out of the goats and all the black out of the sheep. And I'll just have regular goats and regular sheep because most goats are just a solid color and most sheep are white. Most goats are solid brown, solid black.
He says, so I'll just have a flock, solid white, solid brown. And then from then on, my wages will be everything that is born that is black among the sheep, spotted speckled, mottled among the goats. That's his pitch. Laban says, good. Let it be as you have said. The reason Laban says good, exclamation Mark, is that this was a great deal for Laban.
Why? Because 20% is way higher than what happens with the birds of black sheep and spotted speckled goats. That percentage of the population is very low. That's why you can refer to somebody as the black sheep of the family. It means that they stand out and they're the only one. But if you had a whole bunch of sheep, you'd have one black sheep that would stand out and there's not a lot of them.
If it was 50-50, that phrase wouldn't work. Tracking? Okay, so he makes a bad business deal. And if any of you have done sales, you know that if you get to the end and you make an offer or you offer a price and the person across from you says yes and goes to shake your hand, you feel bad inside. Because you immediately think, oh, I'm paying too much. Or, oh, I could have gotten more.
They would have said yes to it. The way they said yes, I could have gotten another $1,000 out of this person. Like you just feel that. Like when you go to offer on a car, if you're talking to a car salesman, you say, I'll give you 12. And they go, deal. You go, ah, 10.
I'll give you 10. I've got to go home. I'm sick. I can't do a deal with you today. But that's what he says.
Good deal. Let's go. That's what happens. And so he says, but that day, this is verse 35, Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons, in the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock. Laban says, deal, but then he makes sure it's not a trick.
So Jacob said, let me go through and do this. And Laban says, deal. And then he goes through and does it. And he moves them all three days away. So he's thinking, Jacob's got something up his sleeve, so I'm going to make sure this doesn't work out for him.
I'm taking this deal, and I'm getting those far away from you. Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plain trees, and he peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks, and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks towards the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban.
He put his own droves apart, that's going to come back later, and did not put them with Laban's flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks and the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks. But for the feebler of the flock, he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants, male servants, camels and donkeys. Okay.
So Jacob takes sticks and he makes them striped, speckled, mottled. And then he shows the sticks strategically to the animals while they breed. And boom, genetics. Science, you guys. This is Jacob's plan. Jacob did have something up his sleeve.
He had a way that he thought he could manipulate this. And it says it worked. And so if we just stopped here, you'd be like, this is super weird and I don't think the Bible knows things about science. It goes further and God's going to step in and say, no, no, no, no, no. I did this. And we're going to see that God blessed Jacob's hard work and his weird plan.
That's what happened. Jacob had a plan. He went for it. God blesses it. That's ultimately what I do want you to see, that God steps in in the middle of this story and Jacob works really, really hard. He's going to talk more about it later.
He works really hard. And God in the midst of that blesses it. He blesses his hard work and he multiplies it and he makes it work out in his favor. And so I want you to know that as you work in life, a lot of times we're waiting for God to bless us and we're wanting God to bless us. And we're like, I just wish God would work and he would do something. And I really wish I would just meet somebody.
And I really wish I could just get a job that would work well. And I wish I could get it. And sometimes you know what he does? He miraculously blesses your years of hard work. And it is miraculous. But it wasn't you sitting around doing nothing.
We've done this in our church. Matt and I have seen this early on where we had prayed and worked really hard. We came up with a sticks plan. We're going to do this. It's going to be amazing. And then it turns out that was stupid.
But God did some really good stuff. And we've seen that. And that's what he did here. That God works in the everyday. And so do you know that? Do you know that God works in the midst of everyday stuff?
That he's at work? That he sees you? And that he's blessing and working even when you can't tell what's going on? Chapter 31. Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, Jacob has taken away, taken all that was our father's.
And from what was our father's, he has gained all his wealth. And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you. Okay, so earlier, Jacob was making Laban rich. They work out this deal that is way in Laban's favor, and Jacob becomes rich. And he actually outgrows Laban.
So that Laban's sons and Laban are mad at Jacob. They're frustrated. It's not a good relationship anymore. So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was. And he said to them, I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.
You know that I have served your father with all my strength. Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said the spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted. And if he said the stripes shall be your wages, then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
Okay, so we find out a little more in this story that Jacob's plan was working so much that Laban came and said, Okay, okay, we're changing this. This is, I don't know what's going on here. But I'll take the striped ones. You can have the spotted ones. And as soon as he would say that, all of them would start giving birth to spotted ones. And then he would change it again.
Did I say, I said it wrong. I meant, I meant, I'll get the spotted. You take the stripe and immediately we'd go back. And Jacob's saying that God has blessed me. And this is after Jacob's already seen a vision that he's about to tell him about a dream he had. Where he knows that it was God that was at work in this the whole time.
He says, thus, God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the breeding season of the flock, which runs from about August to April. And we don't know exactly when he had this dream. I lifted up my eyes, which seems like it would be the most recent one. And saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and modeled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob.
And I said, here I am. And he said, lift up your eyes and see all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and modeled. For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. And I am the God at Bethel where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your kindred.
Okay, remember earlier when I said that him splitting up the flocks would show up later? This is where it shows up. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on in this dream. Because he's like, I saw a dream. And it seems like it's special. It means something that all the goats that are breeding are spot, speckled, and modeled.
He's like, I saw them. And then he says, do you see them? And I was like, yeah, I see them. And then he was like, okay. And it took me a minute to figure out what was going on here. But here's the thing.
Jacob had Laban's flocks. All brown goats. All white sheep. Every time they had a spotted, speckled, modeled baby, he just took it away and put it in his flock. So that whenever these were breeding, it was only white sheep breeding with white sheep and brown goats breeding with brown goats.
And then God shows him in a vision and everything that's breeding is modeled, speckled, speckled, spotted. It's so hard to say those three in a row over and over again. And what God is saying is, I tweaked the genetics. I made all the males over here work as if they were over here. I made them all function as if they were. That's what he's saying.
He's showing him that I'm the one who's been at work here to make this happen. And that's why when he goes and tells them, he doesn't say, I came up with this great plan. He says, you saw what God did. God was the one who blessed me the whole time. God took control of it. God did it.
So after he sees this, he realizes that it was God that was blessing him. And maybe he did this whole thing, stepping out in faith, hoping that God would work. Maybe he just sees now that God did work. So he says, then God told him to leave. Go back. Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house?
Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and he indeed devoured our money. All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, do whatever God has said to you to do. Okay, the reason he brings him out and talks to him is that he's trying to find out, are y'all going to try to stay with your dad or are you going to go with me? Which head of household?
Which patriarch? Where are you headed? He's trying to find out. And they say, oh, we're going with you. Their answer is not, we love you. Their answer is, you own all the stuff.
He's like, okay. Fine. Saddle up. So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained and livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Laban had gone to shear his sheep.
It's one of the busiest times for sheep herders. And Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob tricked Laban, the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. And he fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. Okay. Jacob flees Laban because he is afraid of him.
Jacob does not feel like he's in a position of power. He does not feel like he is able to just do what he wants. He gets his wives in secret and says, are y'all going to go if I go? And they say, yeah. And he says, all right, let's go. And he does it all as a trick when they're about three days away because he knows that Laban will not handle this well.
He's in more of a position of power than he was. Last time he went and asked for permission. This time he just says, we're leaving, we're taking our stuff. But he knows that Laban isn't to be dealt with. It wouldn't go well if he tried to do it straight up and he's trying to get away from him. This is an escape.
Also, let's pause for just a second. I want to point something out. But as we think through in our approach to God, are we viewing him correctly? Jacob leaves because God blesses him. And then God says, pick up your stuff and move. That's why he's leaving.
God says, time to go back. So the God of Jacob sits, rules and reigns over Jacob. That when he tells Jacob to act, when he tells Jacob to do something, Jacob has to do it. It says, Rachel went and stole her father's household gods. Now, these things could be as big as a person, if not bigger. We find out later they're pretty small.
She bags them up, throws them on her camel and hits the road. And here's what's very interesting. Jacob leaves because his God tells him to. Laban's gods leave because Rachel tells them to. Jacob goes where his God says. Laban's gods go wherever anybody that's around them says.
They have no power. They have no authority. So here's my question. As we relate to God, as you walk with the Lord, as you read the scriptures, does he tell you what to do or do you tell him what to do? Does he correct you or do you correct him? Does he set the pace in the course of life or do you set the pace in the course of how he'll interact in your life?
I want to be really clear with you and be as helpful as I possibly can. If you say that you worship Jesus, but you can tell him, stay put. Don't cross this line. You're welcome over here in this zone. This is none of your business. And he stays put.
That's not Jesus. If when you read the Bible, when you worship, if he fully, perfectly cosigns all of your political opinions. If when you're wanting to do something, Jesus just stands back there going, you got this girl. And he never corrects. And he never, he never leads you to repentance. If you have said, I've walked with Jesus, but you can't point and say, this is where he's changed me.
This is where he's grown me. This is where he wrestled my wallet out of my hand. This is where he wrestled this thing, this thing that I love away from me with weeping and gnashing of teeth for my own good. This is where he stepped in and told me this relationship wasn't okay. This is where he ruled and reigned over me sovereignly. If you don't have that, go ahead and carve you a little idol and stick it in your pocket.
You name it, whatever you want. Do you sit in authority over God? Or do you worship the God of Jacob that sits in authority over you? That's an important question to ask. Does he set the pace for your life? Does he tell you where to go?
Does he tell you what to do? When you hit passages in the Bible that you don't like, do you bend to be in line with what he says? Or do you try to bend the Bible to be in line with what you like? And let me tell you something. If you are going to be faithful in reading your Bible, you're going to hit passages you don't like. If I was talking to somebody who was unmarried, if you were talking to somebody who was unmarried, and they were telling you, this is what I want in a wife.
This is what I want in a husband. They were just saying stuff. I worked with a lady at Sears. She had a list of 50 things she wanted in a husband. And it was, I mean, it was extensive, 50 things. And they were minute things.
Like, I think Harry Chess was on there. Like, she had some things. She really, she was looking for this. But if you were sitting there trying, if they were talking to you about what they wanted, and they said, well, I want a wife like this. And I want her to want to watch scary movies with me. And I want her to, you just kind of, you go along with that.
Yeah, dream big, bro. Go for it. Yeah, they love sports. I'm sure they do. Yeah, they play paintball with you. Yeah, you want that.
Now, if I said that, you know what I want in a wife? You know my dream wife? And I started talking to you. It'd be about 30 seconds in. You'd be like, bro, aren't you married? What is your real wife like?
Is she like that? No, she's not like that at all. This is unhealthy, what you're doing. Like, we would step right in. And so there are some people who go, well, my God. And it's like, oh, okay.
My God would never. What says he does here? Which one are you worshiping? If it's not this one, we can close it. We can quit talking. Like, God can do whatever you want it to.
Carve it up. Give it a funny hat. It'll be cute. If you are worshiping a real God, he will not come in and cosign all of American culture. And he will not come in and join your political party. And if you are worshiping a God that never upsets you, frustrates you, wrestles something out of your hand or changes your opinion, you are not worshiping the God of Jacob revealed to us in Christ.
But I wish you would. Because all that stuff you love that he'll wrestle away from you is detrimental to your soul. And he's really, really good. Let's keep going. So this is going to get more humorous and scary.
So it should be good. So they head out. Verse 22. When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. It is fair to assume they are armed. This is a doesn't know what's going on.
Grabs all the men in this camp and heads out. Specifically his kinsmen. The reason that matters is there are times when you would take all the males when you were going to do something that you thought you would need all the males for. And there are other times when you would take just your kinsmen because you were going to do stuff that required more loyalty. He takes just his kinsmen. We don't know his plans, but they're not probably not great.
But God came to Laban, the Aramean, in a dream by night and said to him, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. So God cuts him off and he says, you can go catch up with him. Do not harm him. Do not try to sway him from what he is doing. You be very careful. So this does mean that his intentions weren't all good.
God actually has to come to him and say, you better slow your roll. And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, what have you done that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs with tambourine and lyre? Maybe he was going to do that.
That'd be nice. The text doesn't read like that's necessarily what he was going to do. It's just he says it. If you'd have told me, we'd have had a party. Okay, well, I didn't think that's how you acted over the past 20 years. I've known you, but all right.
And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. It is in my power to do you harm. There we go. That sounds more like it. But the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.
He clarifies it's your God, not mine. But he told me not to harm you. Jacob answered and said to Laban, because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. So he's in front of everybody, the kinsmen are there, and he just says, I think I thought you wouldn't let me go. That you wouldn't send me off by myself. And then he says this.
Oh, he says, sorry, I skipped something. And verse 30, and it matters to the story that we don't skip this. And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my God? So he says, you're going back to your God, to your father's house.
Why did you steal my God? Jacob answered and said to Laban, because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. Anyone with whom you find your God shall not live in the presence of our kinsmen. Point out what I have taken that is yours and take it. Now, Jacob did not know Rachel had stolen them. Rachel is Jacob's favorite wife.
You're not supposed to have more than one wife. If you do have more than one wife, you're not supposed to have a favorite. That's how the Old Testament treats that. But Rachel was his favorite. Jacob probably would not have said that. The text includes that because Jacob probably would not have said that if he had known she said them.
But he says, we find it, we'll kill that person. Now, you know Rachel at this point, her heart's about to beat out of her chest. I didn't think they were going to get caught. I didn't think that was going to happen. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants.
Those are the other wives of Jacob. But he did not find them. So he goes to only those in the head of the household looking for who has stolen these that they might be punished. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. Now, Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but he did not find them.
He's digging through everything. This was not just like peeping around. He's pulling out bags. He's digging. He thinks they're hidden somewhere. He digs through all of these tents while they all just stand around.
This is taking quite a while. Felt all about the tent, but did not find them. And she said to her father, let not my Lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me. So he searched, but did not find the household gods. In this culture, you would be unclean. You would be removed kind of from society and doing some different things during menstruation.
And that's what she says. She says, I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me. I would get up. But the way of women is upon me.
Now, from what I understand, I've never menstruated. What I understand is that it's not the most pleasant thing ever. But one perk here. He doesn't kill her. So there's one little bonus there.
She, we don't know if she's lying or not. But this is told in such a way, the way the story unfolds is it's meant to build tension. And then at this last moment, we're to see how inept Laban's gods are. That they had to be protected by her lying about menstruating. That she's sitting on top of them and hiding them from Laban to protect herself. And so that's what happens.
That's the way it's told. To highlight their weakness and inability. And then it says this. So he searched but did not find the household gods. Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban.
Jacob said to Laban, what is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? For you have felt through all my goods. What have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between us two. These 20 years I've been with you.
Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried. And I have not eaten the rams of your flock. What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it. Whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
There I was. By day the heat consumed me. And the cold by night my sleep fled from my eyes. These 20 years I've been in your house. I've served you 14 years for your two daughters. And six years for your flock.
And you have changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side. Surely now you would have sent me away empty handed. God saw my affliction in the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night. All right.
The second thing I want us to consider as we think about the viewing God rightly. One of the primary reasons that it matters. That you understand how big and cosmic and glorious and powerful God is. Is that if you walk around with a tame. You worship an easy going tame God. That's nice.
Until you realize how vulnerable you are. But that's fine as long as everything is working well in life. But the truth is we are vulnerable. We do things to try to protect this. We wear seat belts and helmets. We lock our doors.
We have people monitor our credit cards. We try to defend and protect ourselves as much as we possibly can. But within a moment. Somebody not paying attention while they ride down the road. Getting a diagnosis. In a moment from a phone call.
Our weakness and our out of control. Our inability to control our world. Is so present. And in our faces. And the truth is in that moment. When you're standing.
Facing death. Facing destruction. Facing pain. If God. The God of Jacob. Revealed to us in Christ.
Rules and reigns over you. Then you are in his sovereign hands. And you can stand behind him. But if you have a small. Weak. Frail God.
You have to be the one on the hook. You have to be strong. You have to be smart. You have to defend them. So we see in the story.
That Rachel has to be clever. That Rachel has to come up with a good idea. She has to hide him in the right spot. And so what happens is. You'll be walking through life. And all of a sudden.
The bottom will fall out. The wheels will fall off. And we will be standing there. And the question is. Is your God big enough to handle it? Is he capable of you resting in him?
Can you hide under the shelter of his wings? Can you stand in his shadow? Can you know that in the midst of chaos. And pain. That he is not out of control. That he has not.
His hand has not left the steering wheel. Or. Is that the moment. That you have to be big enough. Strong enough. Powerful enough.
To withstand it. Smart enough. Some of us are wracked with anxiety. And fear. Because we are doing everything we possibly can. To rule.
And to reign. In a seat that is too big for us. It's like when my son puts my boots on. And tries to run. He can't. He looks cute for a second.
We wouldn't let him leave the house like that. And so many of us are trying to sit in God's chair. And be bigger. And stronger. And smarter. And tell him where to go.
And what he is allowed to mess with. Because we don't want to give up control. And that's fine. Until it's very very obvious. That you are out of control. And then it would be really nice.
That you had a God way bigger than you. 42. 43. 43. Then Laban answered and said to Jacob.
The daughters are my daughters. The children are my children. The flocks are my flocks. And all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these daughters.
Or for their children whom they have born. Come now. Let us make a covenant. You and I. And let it be a witness between you and me. So Jacob took a stone.
And set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen. Gather stones. And they took stones. And made a heap. And they ate there by the heap.
And they ate there by the heap. Laban called it. Jigar Sahadutha. But Jacob called it Galid. Jacob said. This heap is a witness.
Between you and me. Therefore he named it Galid. Which means heap. And Mizpah. Which means witness. For he said.
The Lord watch between you and me. When we are out of one another's sights. If you oppress my daughters. Or if you take wives besides my daughters. Although no one is there. No with us.
See. God is a witness between you and me. Then Laban said to Jacob. See this heap and pillar. Which I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness.
And the pillar is a witness. That I will not pass over this heap to you. And you will not pass over this heap. This heap and this pillar to me. To do harm. The God of Abraham.
And the God of Nahor. The God of their father. Judge between us. So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country. And called his kinsmen to eat bread.
They ate bread. And spent the night in the hill country. Early in the morning Laban arose. And kissed his grandchildren. And his daughters. And blessed them.
Then Laban departed and returned home. So they make this covenant. That he makes a covenant with Laban. That Laban would not have otherwise been willing to make. Except for the fact that God had broken through boundaries. And told him what to do.
So they make this covenant. And then they say that God will stand between us. And the truth for us. Is that in Christ. That is our reality. That if you have placed your faith in Jesus.
That he stands between us. And the world. That he stands between us. And everything that would cause us harm. And Matthew 16. He says this.
We have it on the screen. He says. I have said these things to you. That in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. But take heart.
I have overcome the world. So. He. He's looking at his disciples. Prior to going to the cross. And he is saying.
You're going to have trouble. You're going to have pain. You're going to have tribulation. But I have overcome the world. That I rule and reign over it. That I have conquered.
That I will conquer death. That I will conquer sin. That I will conquer hell. And that everything that could chase us down. That could catch us. That could do us harm.
He stands in between us. And it. Are you vulnerable? Yes. Can your legs get. Swept out from under you in an instant?
Yes. But our God is big enough. That in that moment. You don't have to be powerful. You don't have to be strong. You don't have to be the smartest.
The most capable. That you get to rest. Knowing that he rules. And reigns. Over it. You get to swell your eyes shut.
With weeping. Knowing that there's a God. Who has not lost control. And who has a deep and abiding love. For you in Christ. And if you are not a Christian.
If you have not placed your faith in Jesus. The real Jesus. That rules and reigns. That sets the pace. That dictates. What's real and good.
You will have to surrender. You will have to get out of the chair. That is too big for you. You will have to submit. To his leadership. His direction.
But it's so freeing. And so good. To have a God. Who stands between us. And our sin. Stands between us.
And the rest of the world. As it would seek to destroy us. That we have hope. Not that everything will. Ultimately work out well here. But that it will never be lost.
From his control. And that we can trust him fully. With all of it. They're going to. Play this next song. And during it.
We're going to take communion. And I would encourage you. To take a moment. If it's been a while. Since the God. Of Jacob.
Has led you to repentance. If it's been a while. Since he's pointed out. Where you need to grow. And change. If it's been a while.
Since you've sat with him. And you've. You've been broken. Over your own sin. I would encourage you. To ask him.
Where have I stopped. Listening to you. Where have I actively. Tried to draw a line. And say you can't cross this. What are the places.
In my heart. That I'm trying to keep from you. And I would. I would encourage you. To take a moment. And just ask him.
Where do I need to repent? Who is it. That I need to reconcile with. That I need to go talk to. Right now. That I've just been.
Holding bitterness against. Because I'm unwilling. To let you mess. With that part of my life. What is it. You've been telling me.
I'm supposed to do. But I've been holding. So tightly to something else. That I won't give it up. And I would invite you. To surrender.
To a real God. Who watches you. Who knows you. And who leads us. Into grace. And repentance.
And life. Through his sovereign will. After you've done that. If you've spent some time. Praying through that. I would encourage you.
If you are a believer. That you would take communion. Where we remember. That it is not in our power. And not in our might. That we are saved.
But it's through Jesus' body. That was broken. And his blood. That was shed. You might take communion. Reminding yourself.
Of the goodness of the gospel. And the fact that you hide. In his shadow. Let's pray. God we pray. That your spirit would move.
And that you would lead us. To repentance. And that anywhere. That we have fought against you. And anywhere. That we are defending.
Our own sovereignty. That we might repent. That we might worship you fully. And truly. Resting in you. And trusting in you.
To stand between us. And all that would do us harm. In Jesus name. Amen.
Suffering Well
Transcript
It's good to see y'all this morning. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 29 and Genesis chapter 30 today. We've been walking through the book of Genesis and we've been following the story of Jacob. We're going to pick right up where we left off and here's what we're going to see today. Jacob is, in some ways, he's on the run. They dressed it up as nicely as they could, but he stole his brother Esau's birthright.
He tricked his, he stole his blessing. He stole his birthright and his blessing, although Esau signed off on the birthright thing very foolishly. And then he tricked his father and he tricked his brother Esau and he dressed up like his brother Esau and he stole the blessing from Isaac whose eyesight had failed him. And so he was able to, by smelling like his brother and by putting on goat's skin hair, be as hairy as his brother, which again, extremely hairy. And so he was able to do that. And he, they found out that Esau said, I'm going to kill him.
As soon as my dad passes away, then I'm going to kill Jacob. And so Rebecca finds out that is their mother. And she says, Hey, you've got to go. You've got to get out of here. And they come up with this idea and it kind of fits with what's going on. But they say, Jacob needs a wife and he doesn't need to marry a Hittite.
So they bless him and he hits the road. Now they dress it up a little bit with the blessing and the send off, but he doesn't really take anything with him. He's on his own. And in some ways he's leaving behind him, busted up family. And he's headed off to go find a wife. As we read this story today, we're going to see the wheels fall off of Jacob's life.
And in so many ways, what, what's going to look like it's going to turn out really well is just going to hit a wall and fall apart. And so as we read through this, we're going to see how they respond. And I want us to ask a question. I want us to look at this and try to see how are we meant to respond in the midst of suffering? How are we supposed to walk out life in pain and suffering and difficulty? And I will tell you that America, that we as Americans are poorly equipped to handle suffering.
We're poorly equipped to handle pain and difficulty. We, our founding fathers started us off with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And by and large, we've bought into that. Well, the goal in life is happiness, that the point in life is happiness. And whether or not you think about that all the time, it's an undercurrent in how we walk through life that I'm supposed to be happy. This is why we say things like, well, we know God wants me to be happy.
Therefore, and then we'll immediately follow that up with, I can kind of do whatever I want because his, his primary goal is my happiness. And we've bought into this idea and that kind of runs underneath everything. And the truth is this, if your goal in life is happiness, we are poorly equipped to handle suffering because every time suffering and happiness step into the ring, it's a no contest. Suffering destroys happiness. Pain destroys happiness. When suffering and happiness face off, suffering is undefeated.
And so what happens in the midst of our suffering, our happiness flees, and we suddenly have the question of how, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to move forward? Tim Keller, who's a pastor and an author, in his book, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, he says this, he says, in a secular view, suffering is never seen as a meaningful part of life, but only as an interruption. If you think about that, most of us, we've bought into that idea that suffering is an interruption in the midst of our good life. Suffering, difficulty, pain are causing us to have what we're going for be not achievable.
It's taking happiness away. It's an interruption. It's messing us up. It's removing from us what the point of life is. He says, with that understanding, there are only two things to do when pain and suffering occur. The first one is to manage and lessen the pain.
Then he says, this is why professionals now primarily talk about stress management. This is why we have high medication rates. This is why we have the primary goal is to just manage and lessen the suffering. He says, the second way, the first one is to manage it. The second way, the second way to handle suffering in this framework is to look for the cause of the pain and eliminate it, to fix it, find the problem and fix it. And I'm an American and that sounds smart.
You're in the middle of suffering. Make it manageable. And if it's fixable, fix it. The problem with that is there are some seasons of suffering, there are some types of pain that are not manageable and that are not fixable. And that biblically, we're invited into some things that there are times where we have to choose between obedience and suffering, disobedience and pursuit of happiness. There are going to be seasons in life where you get to choose obedience and difficulty, obedience and pain or disobedience and pursuit of happiness.
And we are ill-equipped to think that this is good, to think that obedience paired with suffering and obedience paired with pain is a good and loving thing for God to give us. As Americans, we're ill-equipped for that. We honestly need something, a purpose in life beyond the pursuit of happiness, something that's a little bit more resilient because happiness is too weak. The truth is you will face inevitable suffering and inevitable pain. There will be seasons in life where you are meant to walk in obedience in the midst of pain and in the midst of suffering and not to try to abort what is going on and not to try to just escape and not to just look to something to fix the problem and not just try to find a way to manage it and lessen it and get past it, but you're supposed to find a way to walk in it.
So we're going to read this story today and we're going to watch Jacob and his family respond the way we want to. Manage it, lessen it, fix it, find something to satisfy, find something to get past, and it's not going to work. And then we're going to finish our time looking to see if there's something better, if the Bible holds out something to us better, bigger, more meaningful, if it gives us a better answer to suffering. So let's pray and then we'll start reading. God, we have a heavy task at hand, and in so many ways we're trying to look at your word and swim against the current of our culture, and in so many ways we are going to translate this poorly as we filter it through the way we want to think about the world.
And we ask that your Holy Spirit would enliven us to see your word, to respond well to it. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Starts off happy. So that'll be good.
Then Jacob went on his journey, chapter 29, verse 1, and came to the land of the people of the east. So his journey is to go find a wife. They specifically told him, go find your uncle Laban, marry one of his daughters. Culturally, that's not uncommon or weird. Culturally for us, that's terrible advice. So don't go find your uncle and marry one of his daughters.
But for them, this is fine. Let's keep moving. He's looking for his cousin. As he looked, he saw a well in a field and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it. For out of that well, the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large.
And when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in the place over the mouth of the well. So Jacob said to them, he shows up, he's some shepherds. He says, my brothers, where do you come from? And they said, we are from Haran. That's where he's supposed to go find his uncle. He said to them, do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?
That's his uncle. They said, we know him. He said to them, is it well with him? How's he doing? They said, it is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.
Okay. Prime, marriable, lady. He's, he's made it to the right place, about 500 miles from where he was. It took a month or more. It seems as if he just walked. That's what I said.
They, they dressed it up like they were blessing him and sending him out. But last time they went to get a wife, there was 10 camels and a bunch of people and a bunch of clothes. And there was like a big caravan. And they were like, go find a wife. Boy, bye. Like that was it.
They just sent him out. He, he walks off, you know, he took his nice rock pillow and went and took a nap. And that's, that's where he is. So he shows up, but it's worked out. He's in the right place. She's coming towards him.
And so he says, he said, behold, it is still high day. It's not time for the livestock to be gathered together, water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep. So, he gets the information he needs from them. They say, that's your cousin.
He says, well, y'all need to go on somewhere. It's basically, he's trying to get a little bit of alone time. He wants to talk to her. He wants to have this, not have an audience. And they say, no, no, no, we got to wait for all the shepherds to get here and move that big rock. So, while he was still speaking with them, this is verse nine, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess.
Now, as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, we find out later that she's pretty, his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. He got pretty girl strength. And a lot of the guys in the room understand what that is. I once carried a two, it was a two man Job, but I carried it upstairs by myself because I thought my now wife was pretty. And she doesn't realize this, but she married me and I won. Halfway up the stairs, I almost fell.
And I was like, you better not. That's what happens. He sees her and he walks over and he's like, let me pick this stone up. Oh, flex a little bit. I got this. Oh, what?
A bunch of men have to do it. Watch this. And then he waters her sheep. He's trying to make a good impression. And then it says this, it gets weird. And I love that.
I think he kind of did this out of order and it was probably fun. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. First of all, it's not a romantic kiss. This is a normal greeting. It wasn't like, he was like, do you like that? Watch this.
It wasn't like that. Normal warm greeting. Uh, they still do this. They still practice this, uh, uh, overseas. Ben Johnson, who went to Lebanon for about 10 years. Uh, they practice it there.
It said it took him a while to get used to it. But then one of the first times he came home, he had just gotten off of a long flight. He had to run by his home church to do something real quick. He saw the facilities guy. And without thinking, he grabbed him and kissed him on the cheek. He said, the guy about threw him across the hall.
So what are you doing boy? And so, uh, normal here, normal Middle East, not normal in our culture, but that's a normal thing for him to do. So he kisses her. It's a warm greeting after serving. And then it says he wept aloud. Now they're a little bit more emotionally involved.
They respond more emotionally than Westerners do, but it's still kind of weird for him to just start crying. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, that he was Rebecca's son. And she ran and told her father. So he goes to, he goes to kiss her. And it's like, he's overwhelmed with how well this has worked and how he's come to the right place and met the right person. He just starts weeping out loud, which had to be weird for her.
And she's like staring at him. And he's like, no, I'm your cousin. It's cool. I was came from so far away, but bro's going to kill me. Like she runs and tells her, her dad. And it says, Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son.
He ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him. And brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. We don't know what all these things are, but he told him all the things.
So how, how much he included. I have the birthright. I was the younger son and all that stuff. We don't really know, but he at least tells him enough to know. I am Rebecca's son. So he stayed with him a month.
So it's been a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? So Jacob's just been living there and working. Tell me what shall your wages be? So he's saying you should earn something.
You should be able to begin to grow your own personal wealth. It shouldn't just be, you are treated like my servant. You're one of my kinsmen. Now, Laban had two daughters. So, this is the marriable group. This is what he was sent to do.
The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. There is some question as to what it means by Leah's eyes were weak. This isn't a super common phrase. Some argue that it's a compliment.
It's saying that her eyes were tender. They were distinct from others. They were like a beautiful look. And so there, if that was the way you took it, it would be saying, Leah had pretty eyes, but Rachel was pretty from head to toe. That's what it would be saying. Most commentators and most people believe that it is saying something negative about Leah, because what it says about Rachel after but is something really nice.
So it thinks it's saying she needed glasses. She squinted a lot. Her eyes didn't line up correctly. She had some kind of eye malformation or difficulty or sickness that made him really watery or puffy or something. So it's saying Leah was older, but Rachel.
That's kind of the tone of the text. Leah, but Rachel. And for those of you who grew up with siblings, maybe you feel a distinct pain when that's phrased that way. Because there's something about having siblings that make you consistently just compared to one another. And it's hard for parents to not have some amount of this one, but this one in different categories. And I know, I'm sure that was really tough for my brothers growing up.
They're not here. I can say what I want. But that's what's happening. And so it says, Leah, but Rachel. And so it says, Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel.
And Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him, but a few days because of the love he had for her. Now that is one of the nicest things that has been written in the book of Genesis. This has been a rough book. That was sweet, y'all.
He said, it seems like just a few days because of the love he had for her. He said, I'll serve you seven years. Now it was normal for someone who was going to marry to pay a bride price for the bride, to offer something to the parents of the bride, because you're removing them, removing the bride from their household. And so he offers seven years of labor. He says, seven years. My energy, my effort.
You're not paying me anything. I get some room and board, and I want to marry Rachel. And Laban says, yes. If this were an American story, if this were a Disney movie, we're getting real close to the end. They're about to ride off. It's going to say, happily ever after.
The sort of bird or teapot is going to sing something at us. This is real life. It's not a Disney story. And this is not going to work out well. Verse 21. Then Jacob.
Oh, because it's been seven years. It seemed like just a few days. It's been seven years. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her, for my time is completed. Bruh. Maybe word that differently next time.
Not a super gracious way. Say the thing about how it didn't feel long, because you love her so much. Like, you know, lead with that. But he says, give me my wife. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast.
But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah, to be her servant. That's going to come up later. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. Okay, so there's a big feast. It's fair to assume there's alcohol.
It does not lean hard into that. It's not saying that Jacob was blind, drunk, or anything, but it's fair to assume there's some alcohol. When it gets dark, depending on the time of year, depending on the moon, it's dark. She would have been veiled. And also, given the way Jacob worded his, let me have my wife, I don't think he was super talkative. when she was brought into the tent. So what happens, is at some point, Laban worked out this plan, I think, assuming, seven years gave him plenty of time to marry Leah off, and then not so much.
Nobody seems very interested in marrying Leah. I think if he had some actual other offers, he might have done something different. He comes up with the idea to get a bride price for Leah, and to marry her off. You could argue that he was trying to be kind to Leah. I think, as we see Laban's character play out, not so much. He's trying to be kind to himself.
And he's setting his daughters up for some difficulty. And in some ways, Jacob's met his match. So he swaps Leah out. He had to tell Rachel, nope, Leah, veil up, you're on deck, let's go. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me?
Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Now, if we'll just think about being Leah for a second. Seems like nobody wants to marry you. Jacob shows up. He does not choose you.
He chooses Rachel. And by the way the text is written, that seems common. Leah, but Rachel. Then, you have one night with him where he would have been, in some ways, passionate, in some ways, loving. And you know, she has to be nervous and anxious about what's going to happen in the morning. And what happens, I'm assuming the look on her face was never forgotten.
The look on his face was never forgotten by her. When he saw that it was her, and the first thing he did was run out of the tent to go talk to Laban. And I assume that the pain there, and the pain for Rachel, who, as best we can guess, probably appreciated. Jacob probably loved him, and we're never told, but we know that he loved her, and a lot of times, when someone loves you, that's a very attractive quality. Would have been looking forward to getting married, and wasn't able to, and this is a mess. Laban said, this is verse 26, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn.
Ooh. If you know Jacob's story, that's a sick burn. He says, oh, maybe where you're from, the younger gets to be treated like the firstborn. But we're 500 miles from your mama's house, and that's not what we do here. So he swapped Leah out.
He says, complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also, in return for serving me another seven years. That's part of the reason why he views them as property, this one, the other one. And he's not super loving towards his daughters, gracious or setting them up for anything good. So there would have been a week where they would have kind of been a honeymoon week. He says, finish your week, and then you can have Rachel. Jacob did so, and he completed her week.
Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant, Bilhah, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. What could have been beautiful is now set up to be a train wreck. What could have been joy filled, and the truth is, that's so often how life works. We think we're on the right track, we think everything's going well, we think we've done what we needed to do to be headed in the right direction, and then in a night, over the course of a few weeks, this fell apart, and now he's married to sisters.
He loves one, he doesn't love the other, and there's no way at this point it's set up to be difficult and painful and hurtful for everybody, and that's the way we feel. So many of us can look back and go, it was all going well until, that's when it fell apart, and that's when the pain happened, and that's where everything came in that got messed up, and from that moment, so many of us have been trying to manage and to fix. If I could just get past it, if I could just get to this, if I could just have this happen, if this would just go away, if this could just be like this, and we're going to see that's what they do for the rest of the story. Verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
Much of the rest of this story is going to deal with child birth, and we're going to see some joy and some pain and hurtfulness mixed in here, and what we see in this very first sentence is that God is in charge of conception, and that's going to be pulled through the rest of this story, that God rules and reigns sovereignly over conception. This is why we ought to take life from conception very seriously, and this is why it can be so painful for those who struggle with infertility, and those who have struggled with poor choices here, and abortion, and those who have conceived a child, but not been able to carry the child full term, and have lost babies. This is painful. So I would just ask that as we continue to read through this, that you would stay, that you would listen, that you would see the pain here, and that hopefully we can reach some redemption on the other side.
But this is painful. And Leah conceived and bore a son and called his name Reuben. For she said, Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me. She conceived again and bore a son and said, Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also, and she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have borne him three sons. Therefore his name was called Levi.
And as she conceived again and bore a son, she said, This time I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing. There's a few short verses, but it drags out over the course of at least about five years. Maybe longer. What we see is that she kept saying, she has the first one and she says, Now my husband will love me.
But then she has another one, several years later, and says basically the same thing. Because the first one didn't fix it, so she says, Now. Now God's seen I'm hated this one. And she has a third son years later and says, Now. Finally she reaches the fourth one and she says, This time I'm just going to praise the Lord. And it seems as if she's reached a little bit of a place of peace, a little bit of understanding that this idea that if I can just have this, this will fix it, this will solve the problem.
She's looking ahead every time she has a child and says, This will be it. She's looking to some sort of circumstantial fix to the pain that she is in. And a lot of times when we talk as church family, we'll say, You're going through a season of difficulty. And sometimes what we don't mean by season is summer, spring, fall. We mean this. She's walking through six years, five years, ten years.
And every time she gets pregnant, this hope swells in her heart. This time. This time he'll care about me. He's certainly sleeping with her. This time he'll love me. This time he'll be attached to me.
This time he'll care about me. And it doesn't work. Never happens. Chapter 30, verse 1. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, Give me children or I shall die.
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and he said, Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? She looks, She has Jacob's love, but she doesn't have any children and that meant a lot culturally. It still does. There's a lot of hope and life wrapped up in that. But she, there it meant that you were honored, that you were blessed, and she has no children.
She says, Give me children or I'm going to die. You see, she has his love, but she wants children. Leah has children, but she wants his love and everybody's looking for a circumstantial fix. They're looking to something and saying, If I could just have this, then I'd be okay. Then I'd be at peace.
Then my heart would settle. She's looking and saying, If I don't have this, I'm going to die. I have to have this to live. I have to have this to be okay. It's not worth living if I don't. And how often do we do that?
My whole life is hanging on this. I've just got to have this. And if I can't, I don't know what the point is. And if I can't, I don't know how to move forward. Verse 3. Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah.
Go into her so that she may give birth on my behalf that even I may have children through her. So she's looking for a circumstantial fix. This is not coming from a place of faith. This is not coming from a place of hope. It's just that I need children. I've got to have them.
She goes through this process which was common culturally. There's a lot to the Bible just tells us happens without telling us how to think about it and how to approach it. And a lot of times, especially in Genesis, we're just going to hear some stories. The Bible's going to keep moving. There are places later in Scripture where we see this is not a good idea. This is not the way to go about this.
Not to have multiple wives. Not to approach it this way. But she does this. It's common. So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife.
And Jacob went into her and Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son. Do y'all see that? She said, he's also heard my voice. That's pointing back to Reuben where she said, God heard me. And she says, yeah, God also heard me.
Which means that Jacob knows that these names meant something. It was common that all the names of these children were saying, Jacob will love me now. And it still didn't work for Leah. Each child she named was a cry for help and he doesn't even care. And then Rachel says, ha ha ha, he heard me too. You're not the only person who can pray.
Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, with mighty wrestlings, I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali. This is a terrible home to live in. She named her child Wrestle because she's fighting with her sister. The amount of unrest, venom, pain here is overwhelming.
And some of you can picture this so clearly because you know what it's like to live in a house like this. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son and Leah said, good fortune, has come. She called his name Gav. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son and Leah said, happy am I for women have called me happy. So she called his name Asher.
So at this point, Leah seems that she's no longer just pointing back and saying, these children will give me love. These children will draw Jacob to me. She's just saying, I just want children. They make me happy. They're where life is and she's putting her hope in them. In the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben, that's the oldest, went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother, Leah.
I'm not sure how many botanists and horticulturalists we have in the room. I think many of you were like, wait, I've only heard about mandrakes in Harry Potter. Are they real? They are. They look similar to the little things they pull out. They're all twisted up and rudy and they're all little people and they've been treated to have special powers since forever.
I think too much of them. They're kind of a hallucinogen and they can kill you. The Bible is not advocating the way they think about this but they understood mandrakes. They call them love apples. So they understood when they found this and it was a rare find that this was some sort of fertility drug, some sort of aphrodisiac and so it was much appreciated especially in the middle of the fight that these two sisters are having.
Then Rachel said to Leah, please give me some of your son's mandrakes. But she said to her, is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? I can't imagine living in this house. Her response is, you took my husband, which I'm assuming that Rachel would feel like, no, you took my husband. She says, you want my mandrakes also?
You want my super special fertility? I'm going to help you have babies? But she said to her, is it a small matter that you've taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. So he spent most of his time with Rachel.
She says, you can have him for the night. Give me the mandrakes. She believes that's going to help her in her infertility. When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, you must come into me for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. So he lay with her that night.
This is healthy. Jacob is not leading his family, is not setting them up for any amount of joy. He got pushed into this by Laban who deceived him, who tricked him. And then Jacob at this point is just, it seems, one of the ladies in our teaching team said that it seems like his goal is happy wife, happy life. Like he's just this kind of, whatever they say, he's not trusting in, hoping in the Lord. He's not trying to lead here.
He's just doing whatever they say. He's mostly silent. I think he's just trying to manage the circumstances that he's in. Later, we see later in Genesis when he meets the Pharaoh, he says that his days were few and evil. He's not joyous. He's not trusting.
He's not walking with the Lord. He just is here. He's kind of dead inside. That's what it seems like. So he lay with her that night, verse 17, and God listened to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
And Leah said, God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. So she called his name Issachar. Now that statement she says there, God has given me my wages because I gave him my servant to my husband. The Bible is not saying that's a good theology. It's just saying that's what she said. Also, the theology defined here is that mandrakes don't help you with conception.
God does. And again, for those who struggle with infertility, that truth that God is sovereign over that can bring more pain than to just think it was random. It can be more hurtful than to just think there's, you know, it is what it is. But that's the truth that's found here. And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good endowment.
Now my husband will honor me because I have born him six sons. She hasn't fully moved off of the idea that children are going to make her husband love her, appreciate her, honor her. She's still clinging to this, longing for this, and it has been years. And in some ways, who can blame her? But nobody's joyous, nobody's hope-filled, and everybody's looking for something else to fix the situation.
Verse 21, After she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah, then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. It's helpful to note that when Rebecca could not conceive, we were told that Isaac prayed for her. It doesn't seem like Jacob's praying. It seems like it's just intentionally kind of saying, listen to Rachel, listen to Leah. Jacob is just there playing no real part in any of this, except for the conception part when they pass him back and forth from 10 to 10. Bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach.
And she called his name Joseph, saying, may the Lord add to me another son. That's one of the saddest lines in this to me. Rachel has been hurting and pleading and wanting to have a child. She has a son. He's born. She says, God's taken away my reproach.
And you're like, yes, praise him. Yes, trust him. Yes, see that he's good. And what she says is, may I have another. Her heart, even in the moment of naming this child, has not settled. She is not satisfied.
There is no joy. There is no hope. And that's the way it works. When we hang everything on our circumstances, we will not find satisfaction. It will always be short-lived. And the truth is, as you read this story out, and we'll see it in chapter 35, she has another son, and she dies in childbirth.
The thing that she thought would give her life and purpose and meaning ultimately is what kills her. We're going to stop there. Nobody here does anything for us other than model for us over, in short verses, but over a long period of time, how we so often walk through life. If I can just have this, then I'll be satisfied. If I can just make it here, then I'll be okay. Nobody's happy.
Everybody's chasing it. We have to have something more resilient than happiness because we are going to walk through pain and suffering and hurt, sickness. Should the Bible give us any help here? First thing I want to show you is that what just happened here, and then when she does have her next son, Benjamin, is that the twelve tribes of Israel were born. God's promise that He made early on that I'm going to make you into a great nation, that in the midst of this pain and in the midst of this difficulty, He is accomplishing that. In the midst of two wives and two extra wives, He is accomplishing His promise.
In the midst of what is brokenness and sin, God is working towards His glory, towards His accomplishment of His promise, towards ultimately everyone's good in the midst of. He's working actually through it. It has not derailed His plans. That this is ultimately the tribes that will be the nation of Israel. And this is where God shows us how He works in and through suffering. And ultimately as Christians, we know and hold that to be true.
That Jesus Christ suffers. That He's the suffering servant. That He's a man of sorrows. That He's acquainted with grief. That God does not sit far away from our pain. He does not sit far away from our suffering.
It is not just an interruption, but He uses it and works through it for redemption and for good and for His glory and for His purposes. That if we are Christians, if we are people of the cross, we cannot just believe that suffering and pain and difficulty are an interruption to our otherwise meant to be happy lives because that is a false understanding of who God is and what He does and how He works in suffering and what His ultimate purpose is in the world. It is not our temporal happiness. It is His eternal glory. And the beauty of the gospel and the beauty of the scriptures and the beauty of this story is that when we are caught up in His eternal glory, we will have unending satisfaction and unending joy.
And when we aim at temporal happiness, we will never get it. We will have glimpses of it. We will have moments of it. We will have tastes of it. We will get to what we think we see other people having and enjoying it. But what ultimately happens is what happened with Leah and Rachel.
Well, Rachel is looking at Leah and saying, see, she has got the happiness. And Leah is looking at Rachel and saying, see, she has got the happiness. And the truth is we will spend our time looking into the dirt at temporal things that will not satisfy, that will not fill us up, that will not fix the problem. And ultimately, we will die and we will have missed the point, which is that God works for His glory and in that, we get joy and we get good. It's what Romans 8 says. We're going to pull it up on the screen.
I want to read that to you quickly. It says, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him, that we might be swept up in His glory, that we might be brought in to His glory and it says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. The sufferings of this time are not worth comparing to the glory. Do you know what defeats suffering? God's glory.
Happiness can't do it. Your temporal, circumstantial satisfaction will not satisfy, will not fix the problem, but if we get swept up in God's glory, in His story, in His purpose, if we get brought into what He is accomplishing in the world, if we lean into His eternal purpose and His glory, then we are equipped and we are prepared for all of the temporal suffering that we will face because it's not worth comparing to the glory that is to come. That what we face here on a daily basis and that what we walk through for seasons of life, for decades, when we get the diagnosis back and we are staring down the barrel of pain and torment and torture and death, if our goal is happiness, we are not prepared. When we get the news that our spouse has cheated on us that they are leaving, we are not prepared.
If we get the news, if we find out that our parents have passed, if we pull through an intersection and are hit by a truck and we stand and weep over the graves of our children, we are not prepared unless we know that there is a God who joined us in our suffering and in the midst of suffering brings about purpose and sweeps us up into His glory and gives us an eternity filled with hope and gives us something bigger to lean into and something stronger to hold on to. 2 Corinthians 4, Paul's talking about the suffering that they're facing as they try to proclaim the gospel and he says, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us into Your presence. That life lived for God's glory gives us hope beyond our suffering and purpose in our suffering. And this is the hope beyond our suffering.
That this will not last. This is not eternal. This will not win. And if you are in Christ, you will rise. That the God who raised Christ from the dead will raise us from the dead and this death that works in our bodies will be conquered and we will stand in glory forever. He keeps going.
He says, for it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. He's actually saying that they, the apostles, are suffering so that more people might know Christ and ultimately be brought into His glory. so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. He says, we are not crushed even though our outer self is wasting away.
Some of us are in situations where we feel like we are wasting away. We are decaying. We are being crushed. We are being destroyed. And He says, even though that's happening, God's Spirit works in us and He enlivens us daily and He gives us hope and He gives us meaning beyond this. He gives us a way to work through it and ultimately He gives us purpose in it because He is preparing in our sufferings.
He is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory. That there will not be a tear shed. That there will not be a drop of blood that hits the ground. That there will not be a moment of anguish for a Christian that does not roll into God's divine purpose that you might be able to handle how wonderful it is to be in His presence. That it is through our suffering we are prepared to enter into the glory that He has. That we are brought into and swept up into His better purposes that we might be able to handle it through His suffering.
Because Jesus walked through suffering to bring us into glory and we follow Him in suffering so that we might enter in as well. As we, verse 18, look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. Meaning they'll pass. But the things that are unseen are eternal.
He's saying that the way that we are able to stand in this is that we fix our eyes beyond our circumstances. And this is so difficult to do. Paul at the beginning of this chapter says that they're afflicted, they're perplexed, they're persecuted, they carry around death in their bodies, that they're struck down. But we have to remind ourselves of the glory and the good that is to come. We have to look towards what is eternal and where our hope is found that we might rest in Him. I'm going to pray and we're going to sing more songs at the end than we normally do that we might walk our minds towards the Lord, that we might fix our eyes on Him, that we might see Him in His glory and be brought along with Him.
And then during this next song we will take communion that those of us in the room who have placed our faith in Jesus might sit for a moment, talk with the Lord about where we have trusted other things, talk to the Lord where we have been looking towards our circumstances to solve our problems and help set our minds on what is eternal, on where our hope is and where God's glory is that we might be brought along into a bigger purpose that creates in us a resiliency in the midst of suffering and pain. That you would come and take communion where we celebrate that Jesus' body was broken and His blood was shed, that it was His suffering where God twisted and bent the course of history towards His glory and His fame and His name that He had been working towards that as the pinnacle of history and that we as Christians are prepared to walk through what we're walking through. I don't know what you're going through right now and I don't know what you're going to face in the days to come and I don't know what you're trying to live down in your past but I know that God does and I know that it is not wasted because God works in suffering that we might know Him and that we might be prepared to be in His presence. We don't know why we suffer the way we do and we don't know why you suffer in one way and someone else in another way but we know that God is good and that He loves us and that He has a purpose in suffering and therefore we can trust Him and we can walk through the darkest of days with a hope that will not die.
We will weep. We will doubt. We will hurt. We will have moments when we feel we cannot move forward. Paul says that they were crushed beyond what they could bear and then we will lean into an eternal God who has an eternal glory and trust that it's for His name and for His good and that in that we will be brought into what matters. We fix our eyes on what's eternal.
So sit, pray, lean into the Lord, try to fix your eyes on Him. If you've been looking towards something to say, if I could just have this then I'll be okay. If I could just have this then I'll be satisfied. Repent and trust in the Lord and then we'll take communion. Let's pray.
God, we thank You for Your grace. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You that our suffering has meaning and purpose and hope. That it is not an interruption, that it does not mean that the good plan for our life has fallen apart but that You work in suffering, that You work through suffering for Your glory and for our good and that we can look beyond our suffering because our hope is fixed in a resurrected Christ and that we can have purpose in our suffering because You are preparing for us a glory that is not worth comparing. Look what we're going through now. We pray that we would point to You well in our suffering as we weep as we're broken and as we trust.
In Jesus' name. as they do nothing. Let's keep it.
The Presence of God
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We have been walking through the story of Genesis. We've been following the patriarchs the past few weeks and months. We've been Abraham, and then we followed Isaac.
We are now shifting more into Jacob being the patriarch. I want to recap a little bit of what we talked about last week in the story, because that bleeds into the story today. Last week we were in Genesis 27, and it is the moment that Isaac has come to give his blessing, the promise that he had been given from God, that he would bless one of his sons, and he chose his favorite, Esau. That was his plan. His plan was to give the blessing to Esau. While Esau goes on a hunting trip to prepare food for his dad, his wife catches wind of it.
Rebecca hears of this plan. Her favorite is Jacob. She wants him to be the son of promise. So they devise a plan where she cooks some food, where she dresses him up to smell like Isaac. Isaac at this point is old. He is blind.
He is nearing death. He is a little bit easier to deceive. So Jacob shows up in his brother's clothes to smell like him. He has goat skin wrapped around his hands and his neck to feel like Esau, because Esau is furry. And then he comes and he deceives his father. He dishonors his father.
He lies to him. He even blasphemes the name of the Lord, and he actually steals the promise. That through it all, God works through this mess of a situation, this mess of a family, to bring the promise because God chose Jacob to carry this promise. And when Esau finds out about this, he is very upset. He is distraught. And in his grief, it quickly turns to anger.
In verse 41 of chapter 27, it says, Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for my father are approaching. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. Jacob. So he is angry.
And this is going to cause Jacob to go on the run and to leave this family. So we're going to be in Genesis 27, and we're going to finish up through Genesis 28, which is on page 13 of your blue Bibles. I encourage you to grab a Bible today. There's not going to be a lot of text on the screen. We're going to walk through this story as this family is divided, as Jacob goes out on his own. So go ahead and flip there.
There are moments in epic stories where a hero enters the scene and changes everything. Where someone arrives and it changes the momentum, it changes the swagger, it changes the confidence of the whole story. You can think back to the two towers and the Lord of the Rings. At the Battle of Helm's Deep, this big battle is happening. They are losing the battle. And then Gandalf enters the scene.
On the top of the hill, shining like white lightning, he is ready to bring his army in. It changes the whole momentum of the battle. It changes the swagger of the army. They end up winning the battle. You can look at the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In the last part, in the last battle, Aslan enters the scene, and it changes everything.
You can do this with Star Wars. You can look at the multiple times that Luke Skywalker shows up, and it changes the scene. You can do this when Bobby Boucher enters in at halftime of the Bourbon Bowl, and he inspires a comeback. The Mud Dogs win the Bourbon Bowl and the Waterboy. You can do this with a lot of stories. When someone comes in and they change everything, they change the momentum, and they change the confidence, and it brings, and it changes the story completely.
And we see that today in this story. We're going to see Jacob out on his own, and God is going to teach him something about the importance of his presence. That God's presence matters. This is going to teach Jacob a profound lesson, but it's also going to teach the church as we read this. So let me pray, and then we're going to dive in to the story.
God, I thank you that you didn't stand in the heavens, that you came, and that changed everything. God, I pray that today, as we walk through this story, that you would help us see your good news in it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we're going to be in the end of 27 in verse 41.
Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for my father are approaching. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. But the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah. Now there's two aspects of this that I found remarkable.
First, Esau. He's just foolish, and this is the last story we get of his foolishness. It just shows up again. I kind of feel like, you know, remember the guy in high school or middle school that always picks fights? And the whole day they'd be talking up the fight, like I'm going to jump this kid, I'm going to stop this kid. And they're talking loudly to themselves.
They're telling anybody who will listen. And then at the end of the day, the principal calls them into the office and says, Hey, I heard you're going to fight a kid. And he's shocked. Like how? How did that happen? It's like, bro, because you told everybody.
Everyone in the school knows. As I imagine a little bit of what Esau's doing. He's cleaning his deer. He's in the camp and he's just loud. He's like, When daddy's gone, I'm going to kill him. That's part of what I find remarkable.
Also, Rebekah. How stealthy is she? She picks up on everything. Nothing is lost on her. She caught wind that Isaac was going to give the blessing to Esau and she intervened. And somehow she's got ears everywhere and she picks up on this.
And she realizes this is not good for Jacob. And so she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise. Flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran and stay with him for a while until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there.
Why should I be bereft of both of you in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me? So she tells Jacob, Son, you got to go. I love you, but you got to go. Your brother, Esau's like Katniss with the bow, but he's built like Sasquatch.
And Jacob, she's like, Jacob, you're real skilled with the knife. I've seen you cut potatoes in the tent, but that's not going to help you. Your brother will destroy you. You have got to go. And also, you got to leave here. You got to go to my family in the land of Haran.
You got to go to Laban and find a wife because you can't marry the women of this land. And she goes to Isaac and she's like, If he marries a Canaanite, if he marries a Hittite like his brother, I'm going to lose my mind. He has got to find a good woman, and it's not here. He needs to go. So Isaac hears this, and it says, Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him.
You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise. Go to Badam-Aran, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. So he says, Don't, don't marry a Canaanite woman. Please, like, do not follow in the same footsteps of your brother. Marry someone.
Go to the land of Padam-Aran, which I know sounds like a planet in Star Wars. It's a real place, and it's 500 miles from where they are. So this is a big journey for Jacob, and Isaac knows this, and he gives him a blessing. And as we talked about last week, blessings hold weight in the Bible. He says, God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham.
Thus Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padam-Aran, to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. So Isaac reiterates this promise that he had gotten, that his father Abraham had gotten. And I want to just refresh us on the importance of this promise. That he promises him a place. You will get this land. This place is yours.
And he promises him a people. That you have the blessing of a great nation being made through you. The blessing of place in people is significant. And we're going to see how that shows up a little bit later. But I also want to take note of something.
That his son dishonored him. His son lied to him. His son took advantage of him. He blasphemed the name of the Lord. He used God's name for dishonorable practices. But he ultimately trusts in the sovereignty of God in the situation.
He trusts that God chose Jacob. And he has faith. It's a little bit of a redemptive moment for Isaac. He trusts God. And he gives him a blessing. So he sends him out.
Jacob is on the road. And then Esau catches wind of all of this. In verse 6 it says, Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padam Aram to take a wife from there. And that as he blessed him, he directed him, You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padam Aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaoth.
Now, we get kind of one last picture of Esau and his foolishness. He catches wind that it didn't please his parents to marry a Canaanite woman. So he thinks, have you ever been in a situation where you mess up in your family, like really mess up and your solution is, you know what I should do? I should marry my cousin on the estranged side of my family, like the one where his dad and my dad are not friends, like that's a good idea. That's kind of his plan here. He goes to, this is the Ishmael, alright, this is the Ishmael that his grandmother threw out of the family to die and to be on their own.
He thinks, that's a good idea. I'll marry his daughter and I will get in my parents' good graces again. And you kind of feel a little bit bad for Esau. He's just trying to please his dad, but he's foolish. He's not wise. And it's evident that God has chosen Jacob to carry this promise that Esau is a fool and that he is not going to inherit this promise and that his attempt to get back in his parents' good graces will not work.
So then the story really shifts completely to Jacob. And Jacob is on the run and it says, Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, which is another place for this land of Padamuram. He went toward Haran and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place to sleep. So I want to take a moment to kind of feel where Jacob is at.
This is the first time that Jacob is on his own. And in this culture, you stay with your family. It was identity. It was future. It was value. It was the way you were provided for.
It was security. So Jacob is on his own and there's a lot of uncertainty here. Also, I feel like Jacob, he says he's a man of the tent, that he's not really used to being out on his own. I kind of feel like it's the picture of, you know, they used to take animals that were born in captivity and release them in the wild because they thought that was a good idea to lease them back to the wild and they put trackers on them and they go out in the wild and after like a week, they see the animal hadn't moved and they go out and they see that it didn't make it because it's just not wise to release someone who's something born in captivity into the wild.
I feel like Jacob is like this. He's a man of the tent. He's not used to being out on his own. There's all kinds of uncertainty all over this situation as he is journeying out. In the midst of his uncertainty, in the midst of all of it, he's very tired. We know he's tired because he takes a stone as a pillow to sleep and stones aren't comfortable.
So he is uncertain. There's all kinds of, probably some fear in the midst of all of this and he is tired and God comes to him in a dream. Verse 12, And he dreamed and behold, there was a ladder set up on earth and the top of it reached to heaven. Now, pause. This is common in the Bible. God speaks through dreams.
We are not going to talk about it a lot today. We're going to save that for when we get to Joseph because I know that some of you probably got really excited about talking about dreams and that you want to go to community group this week and you want to hijack the discussion and talk about how dreams are and how God speaks to us in dreams. I want you to save that for when we get to Joseph. God does speak through dreams. He communicates truth and he communicates promises. Also, sometimes a dream is just a dream.
If you dream about winning the lottery, it doesn't mean you go out and buy lottery tickets. Alright? We'll get more of that when we get to Joseph but right here, it's important to know he is communicating truth and promises to Jacob and he comes to him in a dream and Jacob sees a ladder. He sees a ladder. Now, it's debated in the Hebrew whether it's ladder or a staircase. You may see in some of your Bibles it'll say ladder and it'll have a footnote that says also it could be a staircase and there's a lot of debate that happens over this.
Honestly, I don't really care about the debate. I don't think that is as important as what the method is. The picture of what's happening here is that heaven and earth are connected. That a ladder connects heaven and we're going to stick with the language of ladder here because this is what our Bibles say. That heaven and earth are connected. This is a very big and grand picture.
It says, And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it on this ladder. And behold, the Lord stood above it all and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac. I want us to picture this and what this would look like. There's this grand ladder. I mean, sometimes we use ladders to change these lights up here. I don't.
I watch people that do it because it's very tall up there and if you fall, it's not good. And it's high. And this pales in comparison to what it actually would be like. This is a ladder that reaches the heavens. It is massive. It is grand.
It is big. This connection is happening and there are angels ascending and descending on it. Which I know, some of us have a hallmark version of what angels look like, that they're very cute. They are not cute. They are terrifying. If you read about them in the Bible, they bring some of the glory of God with them.
They are terrifying creatures. This picture is grand. It is big. And it's starting to get even more fearful because the Lord, the God Almighty, stands above the ladder. So this ladder is in the sky.
There's angels descending and ascending upon it. And the God of the universe, the God that created everything out of nothing, that holds the universe in the palm of his hand, he stands at the top of it. And this picture just got even more fearful because the last time that Jacob spoke of the Lord, it was not good. He blasphemed the name of the Lord. He also has not had this type of relationship with God, not like his father Isaac. So this is his first encounter with the God of the universe.
And any time that anyone encounters the glory of the Lord in the Bible, it is a fearful picture. And the last we see of him talking about him is a very blasphemous episode. It feels like a little bit, there are times going up when I would get in trouble and my stepdad, who's a bigger guy, would stand before me and I was tiny. And he looked huge. And when he spoke, he spoke deep and it sounded so much louder when I was in trouble. I know many of you have had this experience with parents.
Multiply that by a thousand. And this is the picture that we get here. It is fearful. And then the Lord speaks. What is he going to say? Based on what his last episode was with what happened with Jacob, what is he going to say to him?
And this is what the Lord declares. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. He's going to give a place. This land. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth. And then we see the promise of people.
You get a place and you get a people. And you shall spread across, spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And then you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So the Lord starts out by reassuring him that you get this blessing. The blessing of Abraham, the blessing of Isaac, this is yours. And we see a glimpse of a common theme that we get throughout Genesis that this is God's grace.
Jacob deserves wrath. He blasphemes the name of the Lord. He deceives, dishonors his father. He deserves wrath. But God gives him a blessing.
He gives him grace. And this picture of grace is much bigger than just Jacob. It's going to bless all the families of the earth. So he gives this blessing and then he says, Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you. And it's at this point that we see what the imagery of the ladder is.
How this comes into full view. The picture of the ladder is a picture of God's presence with Jacob. The ladder connects heaven and earth and God doesn't just stand above it all managing from a distance. God is imminent. He is with Jacob. He's telling, I'm going to be with you.
My presence will be with you wherever you go. I am intimately involved. I have got your back. And that is a powerful picture for Jacob that wherever he goes, the presence of the Lord will be with him. He will not be alone. And he gets this dream, this powerful picture and then Jacob wakes up and he responds in verse 16.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven. So we see two things in this story. We see that Jacob gets this powerful dream and then we see his response. That he just encountered God.
God steps into his story. Everything is about to change. And it's the first thing we see about his responses is that he's fearful. Because it is a fearful picture anytime that someone is in, that we are in sin and anytime you see in the Bible that someone is sinful and they're in the presence of God, it's a fearful picture because God's glory is so great it causes us to shudder. It's a fearful picture for him. It's also a reminder that he's going to be with him so it's a little bit of a warning.
I'm with you wherever you go. I'm going to see everything. I see all of your sin. I see all of your hidden faults. We see this develop later in the Bible that God sees every aspect of our life even the inner hidden thoughts. That's part of what's being said here but here's the bigger picture of what's happening.
His presence to Jacob is a comfort. It is a comfort to know that the Lord is with you that his presence is with you. The idea of presence in the Hebrew is the idea literally before the face of God. That you would be in the presence of God that he would be with you that you would literally be before his face and that would be a comfort to know that God is with you. There are moments when my son he's been walking for about six months and sometimes he'll wander off a little bit and he'll get mixed up with some people that he doesn't quite recognize and when he can't find me and he can't find my wife he starts to get a little bit scared and he starts to breathe heavy his tears start to come down his face and in those moments I'll call out to him and he hears my voice and it's a comfort but what really comforts him is when he can see my face.
Stolen Blessing
Transcript
Good morning. That sounds like a daylight savings time. Welcome right there. Oh, there we go. Encore. My name is Spencer.
I'm one of the pastors here with Mill City. We've been walking through Genesis, through the story of the patriarchs. We're in Genesis 27 today, which is on page 12 in your blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, please take that home. That's our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible that you can read.
There won't be a ton of text on the screen this morning, so I'd encourage you to follow along as we walk through this story. We've been walking through Abraham into Isaac, and the next patriarch is Jacob. We're kind of shifting from Isaac into the story of Jacob with this story today. One of the best television series, I would argue, of all time is Breaking Bad. It is, I mean, you can probably put some other ones up there good, but I think Breaking Bad, by and large, is one of the best. It's one of the best written shows.
It's one of the best directed shows. The acting in it is phenomenal. The story line, it's a phenomenal story about a character named Walter White. And Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher. And he gets cancer, and he doesn't have the money to pay his bills. So if you're in New Mexico and you're looking to make some money, him being a chemistry teacher, he decides to start making meth.
And you feel a little bit sorry for him, a little bit sympathetic at first, because he's dying and he needs help. But he quickly kind of morphs into an antihero. It becomes less about him making money to survive and more about power. And he becomes more and more corrupt as the story goes. By the end of it, he's killed people, he's done terrible things, and by the end of it, you're not pulling for anymore. You want what is coming to him.
You want justice to be done. He's a frustrating character and a pretty great story. And I feel like Jacob is similar, minus the meth and some of the drama that comes with that. He's just a frustrating character. He comes in, born as a twin of Esau. He comes in grabbing the heel of Esau.
And his name is Jacob. It's a play on words that he, on the phrase deceiver, that he's going to be deceptive. It's prophetic. Looking forward to his story. A couple weeks ago, we got to see what that looked like when he cheated, when he stole his brother's birthright of Rabola Stew. We start to see that he's schemey, that he's a deceiver.
And the more we get to know him, the more frustrating he is. I would say he's probably one of the most unlikable people in the Bible. And that he really is a deceiver, like his name. And there are moments in the coming weeks, as we walk through his story, we're going to see moments of faith where he's trusting the promise. But there's a lot of mess in the middle of it.
Especially here at the beginning of his story. So as we look at this story today, it's going to be frustrating. As we look at this family today, it's going to be frustrating. But if we take a step back from this story, we'll see that actually our frustrations can be turned into worship. This story is actually good news for us. We're going to see why that is and how God uses people like Jacob.
And ultimately, we'll see how we are blessed because of this. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to jump in. God, thank you so much for the good news of the gospel that we get to celebrate every time we open your word. I pray this morning that you would meet us here, that you would teach us more of your character and your goodness and your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we're going to look at the last part of 26 that sets up Genesis 27.
Genesis 26, 34 says, Alright, so that's an important transition into Genesis 27. Esau, as we've established a couple weeks ago, he's foolish. He Acts foolishly. He doesn't follow in the same footsteps as his father and go and marry someone from his clan, someone from his family, and wait for that wife. No, he marries someone of the land. The Hittites did not value God like his family did.
And it makes life bitter for this family. And that's what Esau does. He's foolish. He jumps into things. And he didn't just jump into one. He jumps into two.
He marries wives seemingly back to back here. Bringing bitterness into this family. Because he wasn't patient. Because he was foolish. And then it sets up into verse 1. We're going to see that in spite of all of this, in spite of the bitterness that he brings into this family, Isaac is prepared to bless him.
So verse 1. When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, My son. And he answered, Here I am. He said, Behold, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.
So Isaac is old. He's nearing death. He's blind. So he knows it's time to give this blessing. And he summons, he gets Esau, and he gets him to do one of the things that he loves about him. Y'all, one of the reasons that he favors him over his other son.
He says, Grab your bow, grab your quiver, go and bring to me the delicious game that you make for me. It's one of the reasons that he loves one son over the other. And we also see some similarities there, that Isaac has a weakness for food, and so did Esau, that he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. That both of them have this weakness for food, and this situation starts to get even more broken. But he says, Bring this to me, that I may bless you.
Now we are a little bit far removed from the weight of what a blessing is, and what it's supposed to be. In our culture, at its most base form, the blessing or the word bless, you might have heard this when you were younger, or maybe last week. Your grandma, or maybe an aunt, said, You know, bless your heart. Bless you. And you reply, Oh, thanks grandma. That's nice of you.
And what you did not realize is, that was a backhanded insult. That wasn't actually meant. She was saying, You're an idiot. That's the base form of blessing that we have. The most common form of blessing that we have, is probably a blessing that you have before a meal. Alright?
That you would sit down, you would figure out if it's going to be before the salad, or after the salad, or before the entree gets there, or whatever. You would decide to have a blessing on the food, and then you'd eat. And that's good. That elevates kind of what blessing is. But it's even more so than that.
In the church for centuries, and even today as we practice this a little bit, Christians bless one another with words. We do this every Sunday. At the end of our gathering, someone stands up here, and they give what we call a benediction. Some of you may have heard me say that before, and you've laughed. I may have even said a blessing for the road, because that's what it is. We give a blessing, and we're practicing what the New Testament does.
At the end of the New Testament letters, there are benedictions that are blessings for those churches. That you would give a good word, that's a deeply spiritual way of asking God's blessing on another. And that's even a closer form to what we see here, but that doesn't even capture all of what's happening in this blessing. Because this blessing is not just deeply spiritual, it's prophetic. He's pronouncing something that what he is saying is, he is blessing a blessing that's going to change the future for these two sons. That one of them is going to carry this promise.
That one of them is going to carry this blessing, and everything that comes with it, the other is not. One of them is going to find favor with the Lord, and the other is not. So this is a deeply spiritual and prophetic blessing. And we as Christians, we just need to grow in our understanding of what a blessing is, and what it means. Even what the weight of words are supposed to be, for those of us who are filled with the Holy Spirit. James 3 talks about this.
It talks about the importance of words. It talks about the tongue, and the words that we say. It says the tongue is a small member. It can be like a tiny rudder of a ship. It's a tiny rudder that guides a whole ship through waters. It's a constructive picture of how words can build up.
And he says it's also going to be like a spark that sets a forest on fire. That it can burn everything around you. It can cause destruction. That words matter. And when he gets to blessings and curses, in James 3 and verse 9, he says, With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
So Christians, we need to grow in this. We need to grow in understanding that words matter. They have weight. That they can build up, and they also can tear down. That our words, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can be deeply spiritual. But also, as we see in this passage, it is prophetic.
And he gets ready to pronounce this blessing. And Rebekah catches wind of it. Picks up in verse 5. It says, Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau.
Bring me game, and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord, before I die. She says, Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock, and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare for them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies. So Rebekah, she catches wind of what's happening here, and she jumps into action.
So I want to take a step back and look at this, because this situation is even more broken. Rebekah, while she was pregnant with Jacob and Esau, she was given a prophecy by God. In Genesis 25, this is what he says. God says, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger.
So she was given this prophecy, so she knows that God has spoken, that Jacob is the one that's going to carry the promise. So all she has to do is trust God's word. She simply can just trust God, because he's going to make this happen. Jacob is the one that's going to carry the promise. She doesn't have to force this promise, like her mother-in-law Sarah, who did it with Ishmael. No, she simply can trust God that he's going to do this, but she doesn't.
She starts to jump into a scheme. And when you look at this from another angle, you see this is even more of a broken situation. It is very reasonable, and commentators agree on this, it's very reasonable to assume that when Rebekah received this prophecy, that she went and told Isaac. Isaac's the patriarch. He's the leader of their clan. They love each other.
This is something she would have brought to him. And if he knew this, that means that for decades, he has favored Esau. He hasn't believed this promise. In fact, there are times he's actively opposing it. So you have one who's trying to force the promise.
You have the other one who's opposing it. This is a broken situation, and we see the division that devised this family because of this favoritism. This is a broken family. And y'all, this is the broken family that God chose to bring about his plan of redemption. So Rebekah hears this.
She goes and gets Jacob, and she starts giving orders. Go and get two young goats, which is oddly specific in the text that Isaac loves two young goats. But I did learn that younger meat actually does taste better. Over a year ago, I accidentally shot what I thought was a doe and ended up being a young buck. And I felt bad because in hunting, you don't do that. You don't shoot young bucks.
That's wrong. But the meat was tasty. I did learn a thing. I'm not into young, like veal. I'm not into some of the other things. But apparently, younger meat does taste better.
And Isaac knows this. He wants two young goats. He likes that. She's like, all right, go and get the two young goats. And she makes the meal, which means she's taking matters into her own hands. She's giving orders.
And she knows that food is the way to get to her husband. So it picks up in verse 11. It says, But Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. His mother said to him, Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go and bring them to me.
So Jacob states the obvious. Dad may be blind, but he's not stupid. If he feels me, he'll know it's not, that I'm not Esau. Esau is hairy like Chewbacca. So he's going to feel like Chewbacca.
And if he catches wind of this, he knows the importance of words and curses. That if a curse comes down on him, this has effects for generations. It has eternal ramifications. And she says something profound. She says, Let the curse be on me. I'll take it.
Go and do what I'm telling you to do. So it picks up. Verse 14 says, So he went and took them, talking about the young goats, and brought them to his mother. And his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau, her son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands, and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. So she makes this food. She goes and gets Esau's clothes, because those are going to carry his scent. He's a man of the field, so he smells differently than Jacob. Then she takes the skin of the young goats.
The goats that she just slaughtered. Alright, so this is nasty. And she puts it on his hands, and on the smooth part of his neck, which again, how hairy is Esau, that his neck and his hands are like goat skin. I don't know if you've ever peted a goat, it's like a dog. He doesn't have hair, he has a layer of fur. And they put this deception suit on, with his clothes, and with his goats in.
He gets the deception suit on, he takes the food. And then we get to see how, even further broken this story gets. Verse 18, So he went in to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn.
I have done as you told me. Now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me. So he lies to his father. And that is a very big deal in this culture. This is a shame and honor culture. There's two very important aspects of this culture.
And one of the most important things that you would do in this culture, is that you would honor your parents. It was a great shame to show dishonor to your parents, and to think that you would take advantage of your father's blindness, by lying to him. That's outrageous. That's gross in this culture. You would never do that. That's dishonoring.
And this lie gets even more wicked. Verse 20, But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you found it so quickly, my son? So again, he's not stupid. And this hunt would have taken some time. All of a sudden he shows up. Jacob says, He answered, Because the Lord your God granted me success.
And this is no longer just a lie. This is just morphed into blasphemy. He has blasphemed the name of the Lord. We kind of have a little bit of a low view of blasphemy. Our kind of categories for it is you would use God or Jesus' name in a curse word. But blasphemy is so much bigger than that.
It's dishonoring the name of the Lord. It's taking it in vain. It's dishonoring and robbing God's name of its glory. And he uses that to deceive his father. To lie to his father. He uses the integrity of God's name for dishonor and evil.
Similar to, I don't know if you've ever seen businesses that have a Jesus fish on their sign. And some of those businesses are known for dishonorable practices and ripping people off. That's blasphemy. Using the name of God for evil purposes. And that is what he does here. He didn't just lie to his father.
He blasphemes the name of the Lord. God has stricken down people in the Bible for much less. And he is justified in doing so. So he blasphemes the name of the Lord. And he lies to him. And this story continues to come off the tracks.
21 Says, He's starting to get outmaneuvered here. Because he did not anticipate that his son might stoop to this level. To put on this deception suit of goat skin. And he feels them. And he starts to become convinced. But in verse 24 he says, Just one more time.
He said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am. Just one more time. Are you really Esau? Is it you son? Yeah, that's me then.
Then he said, Bring it near to me. That I may eat of my son's game. And bless you. So he brought it near to him. And he ate. And he brought him wine.
And he drank. So he brings the food. A weakness for him. He brings in some wine. That's going to further loosen him up. Lower his inhibitions.
And then the blessing comes. Verse 26. Then his father Isaac said to him, Come near and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments. And blessed him and said, See the smell of my son as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you of the dew of heaven. And of the fatness of the earth. And plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you. And nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers.
May your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. And blessed be everyone who blesses you. So he kisses him. He's further convincing. But he smells Esau's clothes.
And he is convinced. And he gives this blessing. And remember, this blessing is prophetic. This is God speaking through Isaac. What he means for Esau, God ultimately uses the brokenness of this situation to mean for Jacob. His prophecy is coming true.
And he says, May God give you the dew. Which to us, it's like, oh, that's how you start this grand blessing. Cool. Dew is actually a sign of prosperity. It's a little bit far removed from us. And in an arid culture, they didn't have a lot of rain.
So dew is how the fields were watered. He's saying, May you be prosperous. And he continues that by saying, May you abound in grain and wine. That's more language of prosperity. Then he says, May nations bow down to you.
And that is a continuation of the promise. That he's the one who's going to have the great nation. He says, May you Lord over your brothers. Meaning he's going to be the leader. And Esau is going to submit under his leadership. He says, Blessings for those who bless you.
And curses for those who curse you. And the deception is complete. Jacob gets the promise. And when you look at how much deceit. How much sin is all over this. How broken is the situation.
How messed up is this family. How frustrating is it that Jacob, the deceiver. He's the one that gets the promise. Through all of this sin. And the moment that this happens. Jacob sets out.
And then Esau steps in. It says, As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob. When Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father. Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game.
That you may bless me. His father Isaac said to him, Who are you? He answered, I'm your son. Your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled very violently.
And said, Who was it then that hunted game? And brought it to me? And I ate it all before you came. And I have blessed him. Yes. And he shall be blessed.
We've established that Esau is a fool. But man, part of me just really, I feel sorry for him. He listens to his dad. He goes out. He hunts. He brings in the food.
And then they realize that someone is coming in and robbed this blessing. We're going to see in a moment. It doesn't take long to connect the dots. They know exactly who did this. His father starts to connect the dots. And it says he shakes violently.
He trembles as he figures out what just happened. Now, some have looked at this and thought, Why couldn't he just revoke the blessing? Why couldn't he just say, All right, bring Jacob back in here. You're cursed. You're blessed. Game over.
There's two possible reasons for that. First, on the one hand, it doesn't really seem like blessings like this could be revoked. That once this was said, it was finished. And that makes sense because he says, he pronounces and says, Anyone who curses you, let them be cursed. So you can't exactly go back at this point and correct this and pronounce a curse on Jacob.
The second reason is that it is very reasonable that Isaac knew about this prophecy. That Rebecca told him years ago that he knew about this. And for decades, he has been fighting this. For decades, he's been showing favor to the son who he loves. The son that he favors. The son who brings some game.
The boy that he most favors. And in this moment, finally, he concedes. He reasons it out and he says, Yes, he shall be blessed. Jacob gets the blessing. And through years of deception and years of division and years of favoritism and years of brokenness in this family, it's complete. God's promise comes true.
And Esau is broken. Verse 34, it says, As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, oh, my father. In the depths of his grief, he's begging. Can I just get a blessing? Can I get something? It says in verse 35, But he said, Your brother came deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing.
Esau said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright and behold, now he's taken away my blessing. Then he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? I mean, he just wants something. This cheat of your son has taken everything from me.
Can you just give me something? Just a tiny blessing. Anything. And Isaac answered him and said to Esau, Behold, I've made him Lord over you and all the brothers I've given to him for servants and with grain and wine sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father?
Bless me, even me also, oh, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. When Isaac makes the point, I've given him the blessing. I've given him all that. What possibly could I do for you? And Esau is broken and he weeps at what he has just lost.
And he just begs, Can I get something? And in his grief, Isaac answers. He says, Then Isaac, his father, answered him and said to him, Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be. And away from the dew of the heaven on high. By the sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck.
So he does get a tiny blessing. He doesn't get the promise of the blessing of prosperity, of carrying the line and having this great nation. He doesn't get any of that. But there is a proclamation that one day this yoke will be broken. And yoke is a, if you've ever seen a classic picture of an oxen with a wooden yoke on its neck, its tail in the field. Yoke is a sign of serving under someone.
And this is a prophecy that one day the descendants of Esau, this is the Edomites in the Old Testament. One day they will break free. They will be their own nation away from the Israelites. So Esau gets this tiny blessing. And next week we're going to see what comes out of this, the reaction to all of this. But when you look at this story, what a mess.
It is covered with sin and brokenness. This family is broken. This story is broken. And y'all, this is the family that God has chosen to bring about the Savior of the world, Jesus. They're not likable. There's no heroes here.
It's a bunch of Walter Whites gunning for power. It's absolutely broken. And at the end of this, you may be thinking, man, didn't you say this was going to be hope-filled? Didn't you say that this was going to be worshipful, that we could find joy in this? Because the reason why this is a hope-filled story for us as Christians is because this shows that God uses the worst of us to bring about His plan of redemption. That God uses our brokenness and uses it for His redemption.
Because there's part of me that reads this story and goes, man, what a messed up family. I can't believe that Jacob gets this. I can't believe he's the one that carries the promise. He's the one that the line of Jesus is going to come through. And I look in the mirror, and it's like, man, of course God does this. I'm Jacob.
At my worst fully exposed, I'm Jacob. And so are some of you. And some of you are Esau. And some of you are Rebecca. And some of you are Isaac. We are just like this family.
The difference for those of us who have trusted in the finished work of Jesus for us is that we have Christ. That Jacob chose to clothe himself in this deception suit. That in Christ we don't have to do that. We don't have to fake it. We come to Jesus just as we are. And we don't clothe ourselves in deception.
We clothe ourselves in the righteousness of Christ. That when we trust in him, all our sin is nailed to the cross. And Jesus' goodness, his perfection, his holiness, all of that, we're clothed in it. We don't have to fake it. We don't have to deceive God as if we possibly could. That Jacob, he chose to enter his father's tent in the presence of his father through deception and blasphemy.
And we get to enter the tent, the presence of God, boldly because of the finished work. In spite of our sin, in spite of our brokenness, because we trusted in Jesus, we have access to the Father. In part in this life through prayer and worship and seeking him. And fully in the next life. That Jacob, he receives this irrevocable blessing through deception. And y'all, as Christians, we come to Jesus in spite of our sin.
When we trust in him, not putting on a facade, but fully give ourselves to him. We have an irrevocable blessing that we have trusted in. Romans 11.29 says, For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. And all over the rest of the New Testament, it says over and over again, No one can snatch you out of the hand of God. That he will carry us home. That we share in an irrevocable blessing because of what Jesus has done for us.
This story is good news for us because God will use us in spite of our sin and shortcomings. Some of us have paths of brokenness. Some of us are wrestling with some pretty difficult battles with sin. And in the midst of all of this, you can begin to wonder, How could God possibly use me? How could he possibly use me? We talked about this multiply series.
We spent five weeks in the very beginning of the year talking about how we're going to make disciples. We're going to multiply disciples. We're going to change this city. We're going to do this. And we got excited. And some of you may have been thinking, Yeah, that's great.
I would just like right now to stop looking at porn. I would just like right now to stop hurting myself. To stop hating myself. I'd like to just stop struggling with this sin. How could I possibly be used by God to change this city? Christians, that's because this is exactly what God does.
We see it all over this story. We see it all over the rest of the Bible that God uses the broken to accomplish his purposes. And I feel this as a pastor. There are moments in the midst of temptation where I'm feeling it, where I'm fighting it. And the enemy comes in. Satan comes in and whispers, Oh, you're going to get exposed.
You're going to fail. It's all going to fall apart. Your story is going to come off the tracks. You're going to take this. Your family is going to be embarrassed. This church is going to be embarrassed.
You're going to defame the name of God. And this lie comes in and whispers over and over again. And I get to fire back with the gospel. We get to fire back with the gospel. No. No, no, no.
I know how this story ends. I know that your story ends in the flames. And my story ends secure in Jesus. That one day I will stand before him. That my identity is so wrapped up in Christ. That I get to beat my chest.
The Galatians 2.20 which says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God that loves me and gave himself up for me. That is my identity. I rest in that.
Satan doesn't get to win. That my identity is so firmly in the gospel. When anything comes in and says, You don't have redemptive qualities. You can't be used. I get to fire back and say, That's the point of the gospel. That God uses those who are broken to bring about his purposes.
That God uses the broken to change lives. That he takes the brokenness and redeems us by his blood. That he makes beauty out of the ashes of our sin. That's the hope of the gospel. That's what we see in this story. Yes, this family is the worst.
But so is that. So are we.
Generation Faith, Generational Sin
Transcript
Morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in Genesis 26. We are continuing our journey through Genesis following this storyline of this family. We are following Isaac still.
And we're in Genesis 26, which will be on page 12 in a blue Bible near you. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. We want you to have a Bible that you can read at home. I would encourage you. There's not going to be a lot of Scripture on the screen. We are going to be walking through this story.
So please do grab a Bible. We'll walk through this together. Growing up, my stepdad had some quirks. They were quite humorous. My brother and I used to watch movies in our living room. And we wanted to be kind of like a theater.
So we would turn off the lights, watch the movie. And my stepdad would get home and he would see that we're watching a movie in the dark. And the first thing that would come out of his mouth was losers sit in the dark. That's just what, every time he'd come through the door, losers sit in the dark. And he'd come on and he'd turn on one light. That was one of his quirks.
Because in our family, you just didn't watch movies in the dark. It was just a thing. Like you had to have at least one light on. And it drove me crazy that this is one of his quirks. Fast forward. Anna and I, we got married.
We got an apartment. She gets a movie. We're watching it. Getting ready to watch it. She starts turning out the lights. I started getting fidgety.
I'm like, baby, let's put one light on. And she's like, no, this is a completely normal thing. Like, turn off the lights. We're going to watch the movie. I said, no, just, I mean, I get it. Like all the lights, we can turn off at one.
We'll just keep one light on. And she was like, why? And it came out. Because losers sit in the dark. She looked at me. What did you just say?
And I had to explain the history. That in my family, we all have one light on when we watch movies. It's just a thing. And to this day, we do not watch movies in the dark. We always have one light on. It's just this quirk that I picked up from my stepdad.
This happens. Like we pick up things from our parents. We pick up behaviors. We inherit things from our parents. We inherit both things that like are the kind of inheritance of traits. Like there are things about our parents that we inherit that are in us.
And then we also inherit behaviors. Just being around, absorbing some of the behaviors, some of the patterns from our parents. And they just kind of become ours. And we're going to see that a little bit in this story today. That Isaac follows in the same footsteps of his father Abraham. Doing almost the exact same thing.
Because he, like us, inherits patterns that have been passed down to him. And we see this show up in three distinct ways. We see that Isaac inherits obedience. And we're going to see as we walk through this that he inherits sin. And then ultimately we're going to see that he inherits grace. And as we walk through the story and we see these three things that he inherits, I want us to do this a little bit reflectively.
Thinking about the things that we inherit from our parents. Some of the behaviors that show up in us. But also for those of us that have kids, what we pass down. Because it matters. So I'm going to pray.
And then we're going to jump in. And Father, thank you so much for your word. That it is accurate. That it is good. That it instructs us in righteousness. And shows us your gospel.
God, I pray this morning that you would open our hearts. That we would hear it and receive it. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so it starts off in verse 1. Now there was a famine in the land.
Besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. Alright, so that phrase, now there was a famine in the land. And it's supposed to take you back to Genesis 12. This is supposed to help you clue in to the story of Abraham. Because Moses uses the exact same phrase in Genesis 12. So it's cluing you in.
This story is a little bit like Abraham. And then as we continue to read this, we're going to see even more so how this shows up. How this is a repeating of history from Isaac and Abraham. It says, And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
Sojourn in this land. So now this is starting to sound even more like Abraham. It's starting to sound like Genesis 20. If you think back in the fall when we went through this story, Abraham took his family to the land of Gerar. God doesn't want them in Egypt. That's coming down the line at the end of Genesis.
But for now he wants them to settle in Gerar amongst the Philistines. And guess who the king is? Abimelech. Now, this could be the exact same Abimelech. There's a long gap between when Abraham was living amongst Abimelech in Genesis 20 and this time period. It's a huge gap.
So it's possible that Abimelech was very young at the time being a king. And now he's very, very old. It's also possible that this is the son of Abimelech who bears the same name. But regardless, they would have been very familiar with this family. This family has history in this land. And they would have remembered it when they came to settle amongst them.
So he says, verse 3, Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands. And I will establish the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. And then God continues. He says, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. And will give to your offspring all these lands.
And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So Isaac settled in Gerar. So he tells Isaac, trust me. Obey me like your father Abraham did. Like he trusted me in settling where I told him to.
Trust me. Obey my commands. Obey my statutes like your father Abraham. And you'll get this promise. This promised land. This blessing of a great nation.
That is for you. Just trust me. And what's important here is it says, So Isaac settled in Gerar. That Isaac, he trusts God. He listens to his word. He trusts him.
And he settles in the land. And that is huge. Isaac inherits obedience from his father Abraham. And this happens with us. We pick up patterns of behavior. We pick up patterns of good patterns.
Obedience from our parents that shows up in our lives. I think to my parents, one of the values they instilled in me was generosity. It's just something that they taught me at a young age. I have vivid memories of my mom. And we would be at church on Sunday. And she would be writing a check.
And she's explaining to me, this is what we do. We give to the church. And I remember the moments, not just giving with the church, but also there were situations growing up where there's someone that either worked for my stepdad or was a family member or someone we knew that they would cut checks, they would cover bills, they would help pay for things. That generosity was a rhythm. It was a natural thing for our household. And it's something that's shown up in my own life that I've been able to practice in our own family.
And sometimes that stuff is taught. Like I remember specifically my mom teaching me some of this stuff. But oftentimes a lot of this is caught. You absorb it over time. It becomes some of your behavior. And we see this as an intense example with Abraham and Isaac.
Because if you go back to Genesis 22, you look at the story of Abraham taking Isaac to the Mount of Moriah to sacrifice his son. Isaac was front and center for that. He got to see how Abraham was obedient to what God had called him to, so much so that he was in the center of it. But that Abraham ultimately trusted that the blessing was going to come through Isaac, that God was going to make this blessing happen. He just had to trust God. And he got to see this, that he trusted God, and there was blessing that came out of it.
And he got to inherit this obedience, and it was passed down from Abraham. And ultimately this is passed down to the nation of Israel. This love for God, that the heart of the Old Testament law is love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, that you would be wholly devoted in love to God, and in your devotion and love to God, that might show up in your kids. That you might teach that to your children, that they also might love God wholeheartedly, with their whole self. Proverbs 22, 6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
And that's the hope, is that you would train up a child, which sometimes is intentional teaching. Sometimes it's opening up the Bible, it's showing how to pray, it's intentional moments of training, but a lot of times, it's just stuff that is caught. It's them seeing your love for God, so much so, that it shows up in their own lives, that they might never depart from it. And this is something, that we have been trying to focus on as a church. That we've realized, we have a lot of families here, and as a gospel-centered family, we want to help families do this, and we've made some shifts. Like Kid City, I don't know if you have seen this, have gotten to see this, they've been crushing it lately.
We've made some shifts over the past year, and it's been awesome. My daughter came home a month ago, and she was learning about Romans 6, 23, and she was learning about, for the wages of sin is death, and she's explaining to me, the connections of sin and death, and I was blown away. I was so thankful. And we want to continue to press into that, but we also want to see this happen, outside of Kid City, because you, parents, have the most opportunity for impact, with your kids. You do. You have the most opportunity for influence.
My mentor, for over a decade now, he's a pastor in Houston. He used to be a youth pastor, and I interned under him. When he first showed up at the church, that I was interning at, this kid got busted, this high school kid got busted at a party. And his parents came to the church, and said, where were you? Well, my kid got busted at a party. You guys are failing.
And he said, okay. He realized, this is kind of the culture of this church. It's really the culture of down south. You take your kids to school, that's where they get their education. You take your kids to sports team, that's where they get their athletics. You take your kids to the church, that's where they get their spiritual growth.
That was kind of the mindset. So he got all the parents together, in one room. And he had one small jar, and one giant jar. And he had a bucket of ping pong balls. And he said, he took out a ball, and he said, this ball represents one hour of influence, that I get with your kids every week. Sometimes it's one, he put it in the small jar.
Sometimes it's two, he put another one. Sometimes it's three. For some of your kids, I might even get four hours, with your kids a week. And he took the bucket to the big jar, and he dumped it in. He said, this is the amount of time, that you get with your kids. 30, 40, 50, 60 plus hours a week.
And he said, tell me, who has the most opportunity for impact? Who has the most opportunity, for influence with your kids? It's you. And that is how God has designed this. That we might influence our kids, we might train them to love the Lord, with their whole self, that they might never depart from it. And some of that is intentional, it's going to be, in the future, we're going to be making shifts, to make sure that we're encouraging, time in the word at home, and time in prayer.
And we want to encourage, some of those intentional moments, but a lot of times, it's just going to be caught. It's going to be caught, and it's going to show up in your lives. We were talking about this, in our teaching team this week. And Bianca, who serves in music, and she also serves on our teaching team, and helping write sermons. And she said that she remembers, that her mom, not necessarily her teaching her, how to read the Bible, how to study the Bible. But what she does remember, is she would come home, or she would come downstairs, every morning, and she'd see her mom, with her Bible, reading.
And that has had a lasting impact, on her, to where she values, the word of God, like her mother does. I think of a friend, one of my friends from seminary, he had a daughter, and we didn't have kids yet, so I was just learning, and observing. And they had this culture, of forgiveness, and repentance, in their household. That when him and his wife, would mess up, and they would sin against their daughter, they would go to her, and say, will you forgive me? I'm so sorry. And they had this, this rhythm of repentance, and forgiveness, and love, that I hadn't seen before.
I was like, man, that is awesome, that one day, that's all she's going to know, is a culture, of repentance, and forgiveness, and love, and not one of pride. that she might never depart from that. This shows up, in the everyday moments, of crisis, and chaos. Your kids will remember, our children will remember, how we respond. Will we go to the things, of this world? Or will we go, to the Lord in prayer, seeking his wisdom, and his care, and his provision? Now some of you, may be thinking, that's great, for those of people, that grew up, in a Christian household.
That was not mine. We picked up, all kinds of different patterns, but not that. So how in the world, am I supposed to, if God gives me children, or if I have children, how in the world, am I supposed to, to teach them this kind of stuff? That sounds great. How? Well, you have a, gospel centered family, that you're surrounded with.
We are figuring this out together. Ask. Learn. Ask how some, we have older parents here. Ask how, they have done it. Because we are figuring this out together.
And you might be thinking, some of you are like, wow, this is really good. You've spent quite a bit of time, in the first six verses, talking about, how to raise kids. I don't have kids, and I don't think I'm ever going to have kids. How does this apply to me? You are a part, of a gospel centered family. We get to do this together.
We need you. You get to join in with us. You get to help raise our kids, that they might love the Lord, and never depart from it. That's a beautiful thing, that you get to be invited into, in community groups, not just in Kid City. That you get to help raise our kids. So ask, how you can help.
And parents, receive it. Ask how they can, how you can pitch in. How you can help. Maybe it's babysitting, where parents can go on a date night, at least once a month. Maybe it's, intentional, moments of conversation, that you get to share the gospel, with kids in your group. Be a third wheel parent.
We are asking you to join in, that we might partner together, that we might be a village, that raises gospel centered families, that kids might depart from, might not never depart, from the love of God. This is what we are moving towards, this is what we want to embody, as we obey the scriptures, and as we love our families. And we all have opportunities, to pass on this obedience, this love of Jesus. But at times, this gets difficult. And one of the reasons, this gets difficult, is because we, inherit sin. We inherit a sinful nature, and this shows up front and center, starting off in verse 6.
He says, So Isaac settled in Gerar. Alright, so they're settled. Verse 7. When the men of this place, asked him about his wife, he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, my wife, thinking, lest the men of this place, should kill me because of Rebekah, because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window, and saw Isaac laughing, with Rebekah, his wife.
So Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, she is my sister? Isaac said to him, Because I thought lest I die, because of her. Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people, might have easily lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us. So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, Whoever touches this man, or his wife, shall surely be put to death.
Now, doesn't that sound familiar? This is Abraham Abimelech, the remix. I mean, this is happening in almost the exact same fashion. And Isaac doesn't have the weird kind of half-truth, this is my half-sister kind of thing. This is a straight-up lie. He fears man.
After God just gave him this promise again, he said, This is the promise. You are going to have this blessing. You are going to have these lands. You are going to have all these things. And he goes, Well, my wife is a stunner. She is good-looking.
They might kill me. He fears man. And out of that fear, he lies. And it wasn't a small lie. This thing carried on for a while. It says in verse 8, that a long time had passed before Abimelech started to figure this out.
So Abimelech, he sees them, and they are laughing. Now, this isn't just laughter. This is flirtatious laughter. That's what the Hebrew is getting at in this text. They're flirting. So he sees them, and they're all starry-eyed, and laughing, and cutting up, and they maybe got a little bit physical.
And Abimelech's like, Wait a second. Y'all, this is not brother-sister love. You guys are married, and I like to think that everything just clicked. That he just, that this is OG Abimelech from back in the day, or this is his son. Regardless, it just clicks. This is what this family does.
They show up. They pass their wives off as their sister. What have you done? Which, by the way, is such a weird thing to be known for. It's like, What? You could have gotten us all killed again.
He operates out of fear. He doesn't trust God. He fears man, and eventually this scheme gets exposed. And it's because we inherit sinful patterns. Not just by absorbing them through observing bad behavior. We inherit this.
There's a philosopher named John Locke. He's one of the most influential philosophers on America. He's a British philosopher from the 17th century, but he influenced much of the founding fathers in our Constitution. Stuff like property rights, taxation without representation. That's all him. And one of the things he also, one of his philosophies was something called blank slate theory.
Blank slate theory was the idea that every child is born morally neutral. So they come into this world with a blank slate. And it's up to us, as families or as society, to shape virtue in children. They come in morally neutral, and if you could raise them in a moral vacuum, they would never have any type of evil. We could educate them to be good citizens, to be good, virtuous people. And that's one of the reasons why academics put such a high value on education to fix morality.
You may have picked up on this, that the way you solve racism is education. The way that you solve systematic injustice is education, which has not worked in any society ever, because education is not the problem. Children do not come in with a blank slate. There is one fatal flaw in this theory. It's children. Have you ever seen a two-year-old?
Have you ever? My daughter is so sweet. She's also a little schemer. She's schemey. And she, like, at a very young age, would scheme and would lie. And I didn't teach her that.
I don't spend most of the time with her during the day. That's my wife. But my wife isn't schemey. It took everything she could to throw me a surprise birthday party last year. She's just, she's not. And I didn't teach her.
No one else has taught her. It's natural. It's something that she inherited from me, because when I was a kid, I was very schemey. She inherits this naturally from me. Isaac, he certainly probably picked up some fear of man patterns from Abraham. But he wasn't even alive when Abraham and Abimelech were doing this dance in Genesis 20.
He never got to see this front and center. We inherit generational sin. Romans 5 teaches, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned. That's the formation for the basis of original sin. That from Adam, sin spreads to all of humanity. That we inherit this sinful nature, it is passed down all the way back to Adam.
In 1 Peter 1.18 it says, Knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. That we naturally inherit sinful patterns from our forefathers. Sinful, futile ways. The Old Testament law teaches that we inherit sin from the second, third, and fourth generation. It's passed down. Now psychologists look at this, formation of behavior, and they kind of fall in between two camps.
On the one side you've got nature, and the far end of nature versus nurture, you have, basically when conception happens, genetics are formed, and therefore it's all decided from there. That's the far end of the nature side of the bait. Once your genetics form, that's who you are. On the other end of the extreme, is nurture. The idea that education, that how you are raised, is what forms you and shapes behavior. This is where clean slate theory has some of its merits in this argument.
That it would be education that would form you. That you would, through experiences, through upbringing, this is kind of what forms you. Most people fall between the two of these and see that both of them have value. That what you, there's something about you, inherit to you, that helps form your behavior. Also, there are things that shape you, and mold you. And as Christians, we look at this and go, yep, that makes sense.
You inherit a sinful nature, that matters. You also inherit, patterns of obedience and disobedience, that form and shape you. Let me give you a few examples. Take alcoholism or addiction. People look and they say, how is it that a father, or a son, and his father, and his grandfather, and his great grandfather, that all of them, are alcoholics? That all of them struggle, with addiction.
How is that? On the nature side, there are people who will say, well, it's genetics. That has to be what shapes you. And they've done a ton of studies. They haven't isolated the one gene, that causes this. They may have found some factors, into this.
But we as Christians, can look at this and go, yeah, that makes sense, that you would inherit, the sinful nature, that sin causes physical changes. The reason we know that, is because sin causes death. That yes, on this level, down to your very traits, you would be corrupt. It also makes sense, that the only way, you ever saw your father, deal with stress, or with burdens, is with a bottle. If the only time, you watched your parents celebrate, was them, stumbling through the door, killed over a toilet. If you saw, if this is who, you come from, and this is what you see, it makes sense, that's generational sin.
This happens in, in anger. People look at families, and go, there tends to be, a pattern between, all the people in this family, that are angry, especially some of the men, cousins, dads, brothers, they're all angry, and violent. It's like they have, an extra Y chromosome. There's something going on here, that they're just, angry, and violent. Every time, they face, opposition, they use their fists. Yes, you inherit a sinful nature.
Also, if the only time, you ever see your family, deal with opposition, is with their fists, are getting violent, or getting verbally abusive, those are the only patterns, you would ever know. This happens with any, I'll give you one more, this happens with anxiety. People look at families, and go, how is it, that anxiety, plagues this family so bad, that mothers, and sisters, that even brothers, uncles, there's just, it's so stressful, in this house. And it was the same, for their parents. There's all these, burdens and stress, and it was just so tense. Well, there's something going on there.
There's a fallenness, that is inherited, that shows up. Also, if you never actually, get to see, families that go to the Lord, in prayer, that fight, that trust, fight to trust the promises of God, to make through. Both of those matter. When you have inherited sin, and you have observable, bad patterns, of response, of behavior, and you put them together, that is generational sin. This is what we inherit. We inherit, we inherit generational sin.
And when you think about that, when you think about all of the fallenness, all of the brokenness, that you have inherited, is all the way down, to the core of who you are, that feels a little bit depressing. But when you also think, that you, this is what you are passing on, to your kids, that feels even more depressing. But the good news of the gospel, is that's not the only thing, that we get to inherit. That we also get to inherit, grace. And that shows up, in the rest of the story. Verse 12.
And Isaac sowed in the land, and reaped in the same year, a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more, until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks, and herds, and many servants. So the Philistines envied him. So just off the heels, of him running this lie, running this scheme, God blesses Isaac.
He gives him a harvest, that's a hundredfold, which in an arid culture, is an absurd amount of crops. He gives him animals, he builds this family, they get blessing, upon blessing, upon blessing, and the Philistines, start to get envious. And it continues. Now the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth, all the wells, that his father's servants, had dug in the days of Abraham, his father. And Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us, for you are much mightier than we. So the hospitality starts to end.
They're like, you guys have gotten way too big, y'all need to get out of Gerard, go to the valley, and then from this point forward, the rest of the story, which we don't have time to watch, walk through, they just start filling up wells with dirt. Which you might think, oh that's petty. That's like you kicking down your neighbor's mailbox. I guess, it's more than petty. That's almost an act of war. Because in an arid culture, where water is life, it's how you feed your animals, it's how you feed your family, water sustains you, you start filling up wells, you start ending opportunities to live, to prosper, to grow.
And they go, the rest of the story, from place, to place, to place, to place, digging wells, taking care of the wells that Abraham dug. And they get filled up, and filled up, and filled up. And Isaac is starting to feel this, as they have to go from place to place, not ever having peace. And there had to be some part of them that wondered, oh, is this blessing going to end? What's happening here? And then God comes to him in verse 23, and makes it clear.
From there he went to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham, your father, fear not. For I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring, for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well. That in the midst of this uncertainty, God makes it abundantly clear. This blessing is yours. This blessing is yours.
You are going to be taken care of. You are still inheriting the promise. You still are going to have a nation that is as numerous as the stars in the sky. I am going to take care of you. It doesn't matter how he acted before Bimelech. It doesn't matter the schemes and the lives that he lived in.
He gets grace. Continued grace. And the story ends with, we don't have time to look at this, but in your community group this week, you can look at it. The story ends with Bimelech and his posse showing up, and it's like, is this going to be a war? Are they going to fight? And they end up striking a deal.
In the most politically schemey fashion, you can look at Bimelech and laugh at how he just lashed through his teeth. They strike a deal. And peace is made. And Isaac's family is sustained. They are sustained. They are preserved with this promise.
And because Isaac was preserved, the bloodline eventually gets to Jesus. And therefore, we get grace. Grace is unmerited favor, unearned favor, which I like. That lacks a little spice and flavor. It seems a little bit overly technical. They say it like that.
Someone came up with an acronym, I don't know who, for grace. It's God's riches at Christ's expense, which I love. That in Christ, not by any good works of our own, we get the riches of God. That in Christ, we get brought into the same blessing that Isaac had. We get brought into the same fellowship that he had with God. That, y'all, we get access to the God who created everything.
We can come to him in prayer. We get fellowship in part in this life, more fully realized in the next. We get fellowship with God. We get the perfect love of Christ. That's one of the most amazing God's riches of God, that we get the eternal love of Jesus. That no matter what, for those of us who are in Christ, God's love captures us, it seals us, it never lets us go.
We get to experience his goodness, and his joy, and his hope, and his love. That one day, one of the riches we get, is we get to dwell with God, in the city of God, which Psalm 50 calls, the perfection of beauty. The perfection of beauty. We get to dwell in a land like that with God. We get excited about shiplap, and some farm tables. We don't even know beauty.
That we get to dwell with God, in the new Jerusalem. That he will be in the center. That we get to gaze upon his goodness, and his glory fully. We get riches upon riches. We get the perfect record of Christ, that stands for us. We don't have our own sin, it's replaced by the righteousness of Jesus.
You could go on, and on, and on, and fill your days, with writing out, the blessings of God. We wouldn't even come close, to scratching the surface, because those are just the ones, that we have written down in the scriptures. And they're not the ones, that through faith in Jesus, that we will get to fully realize, one day, we get God's riches, at Christ's expense. That the God of the universe, stepped into our timeline, humbling himself. He went to the cross, having his blood poured out, suffering for our sin, and having the full cup of wrath, poured out on him, so that he can make a way, for us to have life, and experience those riches.
That is the kind of grace, that we inherit, through faith in Jesus. We are just like Isaac, in one minute, scheming and lying, and the next minute, experiencing the goodness, and the glory of God, not by our own merit, but by God's. So for those of us, who are in Christ, for those of you, that grew up, in a Christian family, that got to hear this, I want you to think, through this for a moment. That you got to observe, the gospel. You got to be in a house, that filled the house, with the word of God, with prayer. You got to see this, over and over again.
And you know what, that didn't turn into? That didn't turn into legalism. That didn't turn into, false belief. By grace, you believed. You inherited grace. For those of you, that didn't grow up, in a Christian household, you inherited grace.
Because somebody, shared the gospel with you, and you believed. And someone shared the gospel, with that person, and before that person, before that person, you inherited grace. We all, through Christ, believing in Him, get to inherit this blessing, get to inherit grace. So parents, as we parent, may your homes, may our homes, be so infused, with the grace of our God, that in our obedience, that we hope to pass down, we can ultimately point that back, to the goodness of our God, working through us. That it's not, anything of ourselves, it is the goodness of the God, goodness of our God, and the gospel, working through us, that they might see, the Lord of grace.
That in your sin, and in our sin, and our fallenness, our kids may see repentance, they may see forgiveness, they may see us point back, to the gospel. May we be so, saturated with grace, that we would display this, the next generation of this church, might never depart from it.
The Deceitfulness of the Flesh
Transcript
Well, all right, how we doing this morning? Whew! I forgot. I quit asking that. Good morning! My name's Chet.
I'm one of the pastors here. We are in the book of Genesis. We will be in Genesis chapter 25 this morning. We've been following along with this whole book, and we've been following along this story of God's beginning into redemption. So He makes the world.
It's beautiful. It's good. He makes humans. We're awesome for like half a page. And then we rebel. We fall into sin.
And the big question and the tension in the story of Genesis is, what is God going to do with sinful humanity? And is sin going to wreck His good plans? And is sin going to destroy His good design? And so we see that He picks up with His family. He picks Abraham. And we've been following this story through Abraham.
And now we move to Isaac last week. We kind of saw the story shift from Abraham and Sarah to Isaac and Rebecca. And today we'll see some new people enter this story. When we read stories, we've been trained to look for main characters. We've been trained to look for the hero. That's one of the things that happens.
When you start watching a movie, you start looking and saying, okay, who am I going to relate to? Who am I going to follow? Who am I going to root for? If you've ever watched a movie that doesn't do a good job of kind of giving you a hero and a villain and some tension, it's not a very good movie. It may be artsy, but it's not a very good movie. And there are some movies that it holds out.
I remember watching Frozen for the first time. And it takes a while. At one point I was going, who's the villain in this movie? I don't think it's the sister that just went crazy and built an ice castle and a monster. It may be her. She may storm back down the mountain and attack everybody.
But I don't think it's her. I think she's one of the main characters that's on the good side. But you're watching kind of waiting to see, like, who's the bad guy? When I watched the second Guardians of the Galaxy, I was like halfway in that movie. And I was like, what am I watching? Like, who's the bad guy?
What's going to happen? And that's kind of what happens. We read these stories and we start going, okay, who's the hero? Who's the bad guy? Who am I rooting for? Who am I?
And this story is about people, real people who actually existed. And so we're going to get introduced to two brothers today. Jacob and Esau. So we're in Genesis chapter 25. And I hate to hurt your feelings. Neither one of them is the good guy.
There is a hero in this story, but it's not one of them. And so let's look at this. Let's read this together. And let's see how this story plays out in God's redemptive history as he walks with his family towards redeeming humanity and setting us free from the consequences of sin. And so let's pray and then we'll read this together. God, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this time that we get to gather to worship the God who saved us from sin because you loved us. And so we pray that that is what would happen, that we would worship. That we wouldn't just learn or we wouldn't just study or we wouldn't just get to see people that we care about, but that we would worship you. And we pray that you would help us do that as we read your word together. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
All right, so we're picking it up in verse 19. Now it says, These are the generations of Isaac. And in the book of Genesis, that means we've shifted the story. So it says, Abraham's son. This is generations of Abraham's son. It says that Abraham fathered Isaac.
And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Padam Aram, and the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife. And it says, And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. All right, now if you'll remember, God has promised this family that it is through Isaac that the promises are going to come true. He promised Abraham it's going to be through Isaac. Not Ishmael, who was Abraham's oldest son, and not Abraham's other sons that he eventually has that you can read about at the beginning of this chapter with his third wife. But it's going to be through Isaac that the promises are going to become true, that he's going to get the land, that he's going to be the great nation, that ultimately the promise made to Eve in the garden is going to come true, that through him he's going to bless the world.
And so he says it's through Isaac. Well, Isaac gets married to Rebekah, and Rebekah does not have children. She's barren. We actually find out later that she's barren for 20 years, that Isaac prays for 20 years. The text makes it seem like he prayed once, and God was like, I hear you. But he prays for 20 years that God would bless her with children, and God does.
Now one of the interesting things as we see this story is that Sarah is barren for a very long time, prior to having Isaac. And then Isaac and Rebekah. Rebekah is barren, unable to have children for a very long time. There's a lot of pain and tension there, and it shows that ultimately this blessing came through God, and not through the power of man, or what we would look to and say, the fruitfulness of man and the ability of humanity. And God one-ups himself in the New Testament when Mary, who is a virgin, gives birth to Jesus. And he continues the same pattern of miraculously answering prayers and allowing things to happen.
So it says, Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? That's not a great sentence. It's even worse in the original Hebrew. They tried to make it more of a sentence for English.
In Hebrew, it's, If thus, why me? Or, if thus, why? She says, The children struggled within her. So she's prayed and prayed and prayed. She finally finds out she's pregnant. She's excited.
They're excited. God's blessed. God's answered. And then it is a tumultuous, terrible pregnancy. Now, my wife has had, we've had two children, and I will tell you that even good pregnancies are terrible. It's not, it's not a picnic.
The curse that goes to Eve is real and active. And we have like medicine and doctors and the ability to check what's going on. She has nothing. She has two children inside of her. It says they struggled within her. Another way to translate that is they smashed each other.
There's, there's two children inside of her, and they don't like each other, and that makes it very uncomfortable, and very difficult. Like, at times in pregnancies, there's, you know, the mom will be like, oh, look, look, you can see a little hand, or you can see a foot, and you're like, yeah, and it's kind of cool and kind of creepy looking to see like a whole foot pushed up against. Well, with this pregnancy, there was like one of them smushing the other one's face repeatedly against the, it's, it's, it's bad. She doesn't know what's going on, but she goes to God and says, if thus, why? Like, what, if you were, if this is what pregnancy was going to be, why?
Why would you do this? Why me? Like, just send this promise to somebody else, if this is what this is going to be like. So it says that she goes to the Lord. So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, and this is, this is beautiful.
We don't know exactly how she went to inquire of the Lord, but we know that it is not important other than she was the one asking, and God's responding to her. It seems as if maybe she did this on her own. There's other places and other ways to inquire of the Lord, but she asked, he answers. He says, two nations are in your womb, and the two peoples from within you shall be divided, and one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Now, it is possible they had a clue that she was carrying multiple children. It's possible that even from this, she's still wondering like, okay, I'm actually having twins, or like, in the future, I'm going to have two children, but that's, she's kind of getting this as an answer.
Okay, there's two nations in my womb. Two people shall be divided. One will be stronger than the other. And then he says, and the older shall serve the younger. Now, that's unheard of. That's not a normal thing for this culture, that the older would serve the younger.
You see, the older one, it gets the birthright. The older one is the leader, is the head, will take on the family name, will become the patriarch, will lead everything, and the other ones will receive some inheritance, but the older one, the oldest son, always gets double the inheritance, and he carries on and leads the family. And this is still the truth there today in the Middle East, that the oldest son has a significant amount of weight. And so it says, the younger will serve, the older will serve the younger. Now, this is also very important for this family, specifically because God has promised that he's going to bless Abraham.
And then he says, I'm going to bless through Isaac, and I'm going to make you a great nation. I'm going to make you a great people. And so what she just got told was, there's two nations, meaning one child, one child is the child of promise. One child is the seed. One child is the nation. And the other child is not.
That's what's just told to her. And so then it continues. When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. So it was like, oh, okay, look, it was twins. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau, which is a play on words.
It's very close to the word hair. So he comes out red and hairy. You know how every once in a while people show you the baby, and you're like, yeah, that's a baby. Look at you with a baby. That's what happened here. It actually probably most likely signifies that this one came out looking very, very healthy.
It's possible that it was red hair, which would have been odd for this. And usually red haired people, and some people who are red haired may feel like this continued, are looked down upon in society. But it's also possible that it actually means he was red, like he was ruddy, which is the way they describe David later. It's a picture that goes along with he looked heroic, because that was kind of in that time frame. So it seems like, and as you read the text more, that he came out healthy, heroic, and hairy.
He comes out a little wild. And some of that we're getting from the way it describes his brother. It says, afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. Jacob means he grabs the heel. It feels a little bit, they named him like you would name puppies.
Like the way my brothers and I would be like, hey, this one's got like a circle on its eye, we'll call him patch. That one that keeps spinning in circles, we'll call it spaz. Almost like it was Isaac's Job to name them, and he completely forgot that he was supposed to have done this, like come up with names. And they're like, so what did you decide? And he's like, oh, yeah, Harry, foot grabber. Rebecca's like, you forgot you were supposed to name him, didn't you?
He's like, no, Harry's my great, great uncle's name. You don't know him. You've never met him. He's on my mom's side. Anyway, names mean things in this culture, and they intentionally are highlighting the significance of the birth here. But it says, he grabs the heel.
Now, that's a play on words. He grabs the heel. It can mean one of two things. It can mean, may God have your back. May he be the rear guard. So that no matter what happens, God protects and defends.
It also means trickster or deceiver. The interesting thing with Jacob's life is that both of those end up being true. That he is a deceiving trickster, and God has his back. God guards him and carries things out on his behalf. And it says, afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so that his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them.
So they'd been 20 years. So one comes out definitively red, definitively hairy. The other one comes out, would have been smooth, possibly smaller, it seems as if they're kind of highlighting the differences between them, even at birth. And then we get when the boys grew up. So it immediately jumps.
It says, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. And he came out seeming wild. So he's a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. So it's highlighting the differences here. It says Esau, as we'll see, it kind of shows him as wild. He's probably healthier.
He's out. He lives in the wild. He would go hunt. He would come back every once in a while. And then it says, Jacob's quiet. He's simple.
He's small. He's thoughtful. So Esau, you get this picture of he's kind of big, he's kind of burly. A little bit, if you picture, if you're familiar with the Marvel movies that have been going on for the past 10 years, if you picture Thor and Loki, it looks a little bit like that in my head. One's big, muscular, kind of outspoken, loud. The other one's a little bit thin, weasley, tinty.
He's indoorsy. He likes HGTV, a nice cup of tea, and a good book. And his brother's like, look at what I killed. He's like, neat. And it says, Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Now that sentence gives us a very messed up family picture.
Isaac loved Esau. Specifically, he loved that one. That's the one I like. And he loves him because he ate his game. He loves him because of what he benefits from him. It doesn't even say like he loved his personality, they hung out.
Like as best we can tell, Isaac was also kind of calmer, tent dwelling, pastoral, like he tended sheep. But he loves that Esau brings him something that doesn't taste like sheep, like he's eating lamb all the time. He brings him a deer and it's great. And he's like, hey, keep this up and I'll love you. And as we read the story further, we're not going to get into it all today, but it feels as if Isaac and, Esau and Jacob are trying to overcome the fact that the other parent does not love them. That they both feel put off balance by this.
So if you are a parent, this is not the best way to go. I actually realized recently, I've got two sons, one's four, one's one. The one-year-old, I'm not a very smiley person, but my one-year-old is. He is happy. Even when he's head to toe covered in eczema, he's just happy. And when I would come in to see him, he just will smile like, my dad's here.
And so I got in the habit, I walk in the room and I'll be like, hey buddy. Like I just smile, I'm excited to see him. His older brother is not smiley. He looks like me all the time. He's just kind of paying attention to stuff. Like even when he was little and you would do fun things in front of him, he would just stare at you.
And I'm like, I don't know. And then you would get done and he'd go, do it again. So it's like, oh, you enjoyed it. Make your face make that. Well, I realized I'll walk in the room and I'll see my boy Ellis and I'll be like, hey buddy, it's good to see you. And then I look at his brother and go, what are you doing?
And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. Like I've got to set the tone. And I can't let them set the tone. So I, when I became real intentional with this, I'll walk in the room. I'll say, hey to Ellis. And it tries to remind me to do the same to Archer.
And I look at Archer and I'll go, hey, how are you doing? And the first time I did it, he was like, hey. And so it is important that you don't do what Isaac and Rebecca did to their children. Now, we don't know why Rebecca loves Jacob. He was around the tent more. Easier to find.
And it's possible, very possible, that she's just leaning into the older shall serve, the younger. She's picking a winner. Either way, it's not a healthy situation and it doesn't play out well for their boys. Now we're getting another story. It says, once when Jacob was cooking. So now we're, we've moved on.
And again, it's highlighting this picture. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. So this picture, Esau, covered in sweat, been gone for, for days, hunting, shows back up, walks in the tent. He's like, uh, uh. And, uh, Jacob's over a pot. It's really coming together.
He's cooking. He's in his tent. He's like, close, close, close the, close the flap. You're letting in the air. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew for I am exhausted. All right.
So, uh, in, in reading up on this and some commentaries, one of the things that was pointed out, I don't read Hebrew, but other people do and I read what they wrote in English and it's helpful. Um, one of the things that's pointed out is in this conversation, everything that Jacob says is very short. It's very to the point. It goes along with him being quiet and kind of thoughtful. And as we'll find out, his quiet thoughtfulness is also scheminess. He's real blunt.
Uh, Esau's sentences are all over the place. And again, the text is highlighting for us what kind of man Jacob was. You can almost see him just being, you know, every one of his sentences is like a little arrow shot, just a little, little dagger right in the right place. And Esau's sentences are like a club that just like slap everything in the room. Like they're all over the place. His sentence is actually, let me get some of that red, red.
Like he, that red, red stuff is what some of the other translations will give. He's just like, Hey, I'm about to die. Let me get some of that red. Let me get a swallow of that red bread. Other translations say, let me gulp down. He's like, just give me the whole pot.
I'll just pour it on myself. It's going to be delicious. So he comes in, we're told he's exhausted. He's, he's like, I'm wore out to the floor out, brother. He says, let me get some of that red, red. And then it says, therefore, his name was called Edom.
Edom is red. So he said, let me get some of that Edom, Edom. And it says, therefore, his name was called Edom. Now, we're being told this story. Something significant is about to happen. And what happens marks Esau forever.
His two names, Harry and red. And here's what happens. He says, let me get some of that red stuff. And Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. What on earth? It's actually like, sell me birthright now.
Like it's just this, just this real, sell, sell birthright now. Now. So he comes in, he says, I'm about to starve. Can I have some of this soup that you're making? Some of this stew? And Jacob does not say, yes, brother.
I made plenty. He says, sell me your birthright. Now, it would seem as if Jacob, now who knows if they brought this up, if this happened often. It seems as if Jacob, at least has been thinking about this. It wasn't just out of nowhere. And he finds his opportunity.
His brother blunders into his tent. Seems exhausted. Seems at the end of his ability to kind of think well. He's hungry. He's tired. And instead of being gracious and generous, which is one of the things that we've seen throughout the book of Genesis, how people are gracious and generous and go out of their way for each other, he says, sell me your birthright.
Make it to where I'm the oldest brother now. Now, here's what's really interesting. And the birthright matters so much. And here's what's probably very painful for these two brothers. They're twins. Now, in our mind, twins are the same age.
In an Eastern mindset, in this time period, no, they're not. One is older, one is younger, and that matters a lot. There's a great Jewish thinker. His name's Jerry Seinfeld. And he, in one of his stand-up routines, is talking about the Olympics. And he says, it's really interesting in the Olympics, especially in the, like, the 100 yard, 100 meter, sorry, it's worldwide, meters, 100 meter dash.
He said, the winner, the first place and the second place, he says, it's a fraction of a, it's, like, he said, you sometimes have to rewind it and watch. And he said, and then what happens is, they stand on a podium, and you look at, the fastest man in the world. And half a step down, never heard of him, doesn't matter. And he was, fraction of a, Jacob comes out, holding on to the heel. He lost the last little bit of their struggle. He was smashed into the back part of the womb.
Esau said, I'm out of here. He was putting his foot in his face. Jacob grabbed it. He comes out, and it is Esau, the firstborn, the eldest, who will be the patriarch, who will get the birthright, who the promise will follow, as best as they understand in this mindset. And, Jacob, Esau's brother. Who at some point will get a gift, and get some stuff, but he won't have the name, and he'll move on.
And this, has plagued Jacob. He's still, grabbing at Esau's heel. Trying to, trying to, trying to, trip him up. Sell me your birthright, now. Esau said, I am about, to die, of what use, is a birthright, to me? Now, given his long, sentence structure, Esau is not about, to die.
I was playing football one time, I got really dehydrated, I went to tell the coach, I needed water. And I went to say water, and my tongue stuck, to the roof of my mouth. And I ran to my coach, and said, he said what? And I was like, pointing where the water was. Because it was, Esau's like, I'm gonna die, brother. He's like, he's pontificating, he's laying this out, he's not about to die.
Now, he's very exhausted, he is hungry. And he says, what use is a birthright? Basically, look, I'll die, it'll be yours anyway, so I might as well, get some soup, out of the deal, and not die. Jacob said, swear to me now. No, no, we're putting this in an oath, this is becoming legal, this is becoming real. There are other places, in history, where somebody sold their birthright.
This isn't unheard of, although it's crazy. It should be unheard of. Esau is acting very foolish. Jacob said, swear to me now, so he swore to him, and sold his birthright, to Jacob. Now, in their mindset, Jacob is now the oldest brother. The birthright is transferable.
Again, something we would be unfamiliar with. It's not, it's not a deal I could work out, with my brother Logan. Where it's like, hey, we're gonna, I want, I want to give you some soup. And now I'm three years older than you. It wouldn't work like that. But it does there.
So Jacob finally trips, says, brother. Then Jacob gave Esau bread, and lentil stew. And he ate, and drank, and rose, and went his way. He ate, drank, rose, went. It's over, very, very quickly. And then, the story tells us how to think.
This doesn't always happen in the book of Genesis. This doesn't always happen in the Bible. We want it to. We want, we want the Bible to tell us the story, and then tell us what we were supposed to get out of it. Don't we? Isn't it nice when it does that?
A lot of times it just tells you this big, long story about a lot of terrible things, and it's like, and then guess what happened? You're like, no, no, no, pause, pause, pause, pause. I need you to tell me who was the hero, and who was the bad guy, and what happened, and what was, what I'm supposed to take from that. And the main takeaway from this, although the text is clear, Jacob is not gracious to his brother, he is scheming. The main takeaway from this is this, thus, which means in this way, Esau despised his birthright. Now, I've got to explain a little bit about how the text uses despise, and how they understood it in that culture.
When we despise something, mostly we despise something, or we think about despising something as head on. Meaning that, we look at it, we hate it. We intentionally hate it. We're malicious towards it. That's how we think of despise. So if it's like, I despise that teacher, we mean, I very much dislike them.
They're the worst teacher ever. Now the text, the Bible, we'll use despise that way. It will talk about, it says that, when David's dancing one time, it says his wife looked at him, and despised him in her heart. Meaning that she looked head on at him, disliked what he was doing, had hatred towards him. The Bible uses it that way, but it also uses it as, back to. That we ignore.
That we turn our back on something. That we dishonor it. So that if, if it was used in that way for a teacher, and it said, he despised that teacher's wisdom. Which the Proverbs say it that way. It means, did not listen to, did not think about, did not care about, turned your back on. Now we don't usually use despise that way.
We think of despise as an active thing that you do. But the Bible tells us, no, you can do it actively, or you can do it passively. It's the same thing. That if you turn your back on God's wisdom, if you turn your back on God's blessing, it is as much as turning right to it, and hating it. And so what we understand here, is that Esau did not think, I hate my birthright, it's terrible, I don't want it. But Esau turned his back on it, and when he did, showed that he cared nothing for it.
Now, that's the point of that story. That it moves forward the promise made to Rebecca. But it also highlights for us Esau's foolishness. That's one of the things that the author of Hebrews says. He says, don't be godless like Esau. Don't be profane or unholy like Esau.
Esau, who traded his birthright for a single meal. So what the Hebrew author is saying is that, in this way that Esau was being godless, he wasn't understanding and appreciating what God had done, the position he was in. Not only to be the firstborn, but to be the firstborn to Isaac, the son of the promise. He's a grown man and doesn't understand these things, doesn't appreciate these things, doesn't care about these things. So much so that he would sell his birthright for soup.
Stew. Stew. Sorry. The text says stew, and we're very serious about the text here, and I can't say soup because stew is thicker. We had this discussion in teaching team because I kept actively saying soup. It is stew.
He just, he trades everything for something that he can see and smell and taste that's right in front of him. And you want to wring his neck. You want to jump in the text and smack him. You want to right at that moment when he says, I'm about to die. You want him to be like, really? No, you're not.
And how close are the other tents? Like, get some water. Get your head on your shoulders right. Walk to your dad's tent. Walk to your mom's tent. Now, who knows?
Rebecca, he might want to walk in there and she loves Jacob. She might have been like, sell Jacob your birthright now. We don't know. But at least give it a shot. God, you can't be that tired. But you can be that foolish.
And here's the thing. We do this. Like, as much as I want to be really mad at Esau, I see myself in Esau. You see, the way the Bible talks about despising the Lord and despising his commands means that there are moments in life where we just turn our back to them. We're not thinking, I hate that command or I hate the Lord because he wouldn't have said that. If you said, if Jacob said, don't you hate your birthright?
He'd be like, were you a fool? No, I don't. But he just, he comes on the other side of it and just gets him to turn away from it. He gets him to turn his back on it for something that he can have right now. And the truth is, that's all of sin for us. That in the moment that we sin, something smells sweeter. tastes better.
Feels like it will give us life more than the future promises of God. Now, are the future promises of God bigger and more glorious to be waited on? Yes. But in that moment, I just want some of that red stuff. See, God actually picks this up in Malachi. He talks to the people who are the priests that are in the temple and he says, you have despised me.
And they say, how? How have we despised you? And he immediately goes into, he says, it's by the way you're doing your sacrifices. It's by the way you're going about this that I've been lowered down. And see, honestly, I think if God were to look at us and say, you despise me, we'd be like, no, I don't. I'm here, I'm singing, I hang out with my group, I read my Bible a couple times a week.
I do like half the stuff in there. Mostly, try to. And then he would point to some specific thing and he'd say, here, you've turned your back and you hate me and you hate my word and you hate my promises. You're not doing it with your face towards it. You're not clenching your fists. Some of us are sometimes.
Most of the time, we're just enamored with something that smells and looks more beautiful and more tasty at the moment. I'll give you a few examples. All sin is an example of this. But I'll give you a few. I think money is one for us. Just culturally.
It's one that Jesus talks about a lot. That most of us would think, I handle my money, okay. I'm not trying to be crazy. But when we look at what the Bible tells us about money, about how we're supposed to think about eternity in light of how we spend our money now and how we're supposed to be generous now and how we're supposed to know that the kingdom is a treasure hidden in a field that we'd be willing to sell everything and give up everything for. The truth is, when we turn around with money and we think, well, it's mine and I can kind of do what I want and if I'm, you know, I don't really feel like I should have to give that much and I don't really feel like I should have to be that generous and I really like, I gotta enjoy these things that in some ways there could be, for us, for God, could look at our budget and say, you despise me.
And we'd say, how? I think another one is romance. We have so elevated romance and relationships and love in our culture that we have whole denominations that have just peeled out parts of the text because how could God say that you can't love this person or be with this person or have this relationship? And we do that all the time where it's like, well, and we say the same things he said. He says, I'm gonna die. What good is a birthright?
And we say, what's the point of following Jesus if I'm gonna be this lonely? What's the point of following Jesus if I have to go home and be sad? What's the point? And what we're saying is that's too far away. It's not glorious enough. It's not big enough.
It doesn't taste sweet enough and I just want some of this. I think another one is power, security, safety. See, we're told as Christians that we should align with the weak. We should go out of our way for those who are hurting and needy. But we don't want to.
We want to feel protected and we want to be the people in power and we want to be those and so maybe this happens in high school at a lunch table. You choose where you sit because as best you can, you want to be at the table where there's power and where you're protected and where you feel secure and where you feel good. Maybe it happens when somebody starts making fun of someone else and all you'd really have to do is say, hey man, I don't think that's a helpful way to talk about that person or I don't think that's good or not join in or point out something good but you just can't. You don't want to.
And in those moments, you just despise who Jesus is and what he was about. He wouldn't say that but he would. Maybe it happens in the break room because we don't really grow out of that stuff. Maybe it happens in how we vote, how we think about voting, how we talk to other people who hold different viewpoints than us because the real goal is power and the real goal is position and the real goal is to have as much as we can have and have other people who disagree with us not have anything. Okay. I don't know how you're doing this but I know that we are doing this.
That there's somewhere, somewhere that we look as foolish as Esau. that we've just turned our back on some glorious, beautiful promise that Jesus gives and we act like we hate him and we act like we hate his law and we act like it's not good and we act like it will harm us and we act like we'll be destroyed and we act like this thing that we've turned to will give us life, will revive us, will give us hope, will give us joy, will taste so sweet. And the problem is it says he ate, drank, got up, left and yeah, he didn't die but it doesn't seem like that soup was worth it. And here's the biggest problem with Esau. The text tells us Esau despised his birthright but later we're going to read that Esau thinks Jacob cheated him.
Now Jacob was not a good brother and did but Esau doesn't see himself in it at all. He just thinks he's a victim. He says he's cheated me. He can't see in this moment he can't see past the soup and later he still can't see what he's done and how he was the one who ultimately made the decision how it was in his hands to turn one way or the other and he made a terrible, terrible blunder. Now where's the hero?
Who are we supposed to be like? I mean I think we could try really hard and we could say well you could just read it and say don't be like Esau and that's a good thing that's Hebrew says that. I think we could try really hard and say well be like Jacob and just think about the future. And it's like okay. Jacob doesn't look like Christ at all. He doesn't look gracious he doesn't look loving he doesn't look and honestly it looks as if Jacob is thinking about the future but he's doing everything he can to have absolute control over it by any means necessary and in some way twist God's arm to put him in the right position.
The promise was already made that he would be. We don't know if he knows that. We don't know if Rebecca told anybody and in this family situation I'm not making any guesses because it's a mess. But it looks as if he's trying to manipulate things. So in some ways Esau is just rebellious and foolish and in some ways Jacob's real moral and religious and he's just trying to twist God and make God owe him.
Well we do get a hero in this story. It comes in Romans 9 and at first it doesn't really seem when you read it in Romans 9 very heroic. We'll have it on the screen. It's Paul's writing and he's talking about the nation of Israel. And he says that God chose Abraham out of nowhere and that God chose Isaac over Ishmael and then he says this and not only so not only did he choose Isaac it says but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger.
So Paul says prior to them coming out and being the people they turned into God says I'm choosing Jacob. And then Paul as he continues this argument he kind of gets to the point and he says this so then it being salvation it being God's grace it being how this works depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy. You see part of us wants there to be a hero if you'll just leave that up part of us wants there to be a hero because we want to be the hero. Like I I want to honestly I like Esau he comes out hairy and lives in the woods and it's like yeah sounds great then he shows up and he's like really hungry and can't see past his face he just wants to eat and I'm like I understand Esau I've felt that.
I've felt that. And then he just seems so foolish and some of you are like no Jacob Jacob he's thinking he's reading reading books and having deep thoughts he's into obscure other writer people and you'll see how much I connect with Jacob but some of you that's what you want that's what you want to see you want to have one of them be the hero you want to have somebody that you go that's who I'm supposed
To emulate that's who I'm supposed to be like I'm going to go I'm going to do this the problem is that we're all like Jacob Jacob and Esau twisted broken like Jacob and Esau we all fall into sin whether we're trying to be good and we're trying to manipulate God or whether we're just can't see past our nose and this is why this is so gracious
Because Jesus is the hero he's the one who shows up and saves sinners Jacob does not get better he doesn't it's not in the next couple chapters are we really going to fall in love with this guy but God has mercy you see what we want is for us to have human will or exertion what we want is to say I'm going to finally do this and for those of you
Who've really tried you understand that that eventually gives out for those of you who've said I'm going to be good now I'm really going to do this I'm going to have willpower for those of you who said alright willpower is over but right now I'm just going to exert myself I'm just going to do enough good things to have God owe me to be in his good grace and what it says is no you don't need that you need mercy
And Ephesians tells us that God is rich in mercy because of the great love that he has for us so that none of us are worth it none of us are worthy none of us are the hero and the real hero of the story has mercy that he dies in our place that he rises again conquering sin and death and hell and Satan all the things that would have destroyed us
And that he by his grace chooses to have mercy on some of us now Romans 10 if you flip the page is going to say that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved and there will be none who trust in him who will be put to shame Bianca is going to come back up here and here's what I want us to end on here's what I want us to understand you are not the hero and if you think you are
That sounds like bad news at first but for every person who does not feel like a hero to know that there is one that's glorious news you see that's why Jesus didn't get along with the Pharisees he was always arguing with them he was always saying hurtful things at one point he says he's at a meal he says really hurtful things to the Pharisees and one of the scribes says you hurt my feelings too
And it's almost as if he later should have thought I shouldn't have said anything because he just turns and is like I was trying to but let me say some specific scribe things because he's going after the people who think they're the hero the people who think they have it together the people who think they're good enough but every person who rolls up knowing I need a hero you see part of us always wants to be the person in the montage where it's like I need a hero and you're getting
Your crap together sorry your act together I'm going to be good enough I'm going to do it this time I'm going to read enough I'm going to be I'm not going to I'm not going to sleep with them anymore I'm not going to have this happen anymore I'm finally God I'm going to tell you I'm turning over a new leaf and I'm going to this time and I can't tell you how many times I've talked to people who are hanging out with our church and that's what they're saying to me
They're like this time I'm going to get it together and as much as I can graciously possibly say to them no you are not and if you were in here today thinking that this time you're getting it together let me graciously say to you no you are not and you will not and you are not the hero but there is a hero who has mercy and who leads us in triumph and all we have to do is go to him and ask for it there's a song my dad used to sing
To me when we were growing up at night and I sing it to my boys and it's softly and tenderly Jesus is calling and he says he's waiting at the portals of heaven and he says he's calling oh sinner come home and one of the lines in there is why would you linger and heed not his mercy mercy for you and for me you see there's a God who has mercy on sinners and all who call
On him will be saved and all who trust in his name will not be put to shame and there will be a day when they walk forward and are clothed in covered in smothered in mercy that we don't get what we deserve but we get forgiven for our sin and if you're here today and you have not trusted in Jesus for mercy that you are trying will and exertion you are trying to be the hero I want to ask you will you trust
In his mercy will you go to him and ask please God have mercy on me and so if you will I'd like to ask for everybody to start praying right now this is something we don't usually do but if you'll bow your heads and start praying and I just want to ask that if you are in here today and you have not trusted Jesus for his mercy that you would ask him that if you believe that he saves sinners and that you are a sinner that you would confess
Your sin and that you would ask not that he would make you the hero but that he would be the hero for you and that you might trust in his mercy and if you are in here today and you are in Christ I would ask that you once again remember that you were saved by mercy not your good works not your ability to keep it together that you are not the one that brings you to the finish line but Christ is and that you might confess sin and that you might remember
That you are clothed in smothered in mercy and forgiveness not human will or exertion and not good works that you will bring nothing to the table that displays to God that you deserve salvation but that you will bring your sin and receive mercy and if you have never brought Jesus your sin I ask that you would that you would run to the God who is abundant in mercy and grace and forgiveness
And know that every person who stands with the redeemed is redeemed out of sin into forgiveness into mercy into grace and stands there based off of Jesus' work not theirs and that you will be welcomed home in him Lord we ask that you would help us see our sin and that you would help us quickly come to the end of ourselves and know that we have despised you that we have hated
Your word that we wouldn't look at the few parts that we like and say we're doing well but that we would see all the parts that we have run from that we have disregarded and that we would know that we have been your enemies but that you save your enemies that at the right time you died for them and that in ourselves we cannot love you but that through you we can and we ask that your Holy Spirit would draw people to yourself this morning
That they might receive mercy and that they would leave here covered in it never to again try to atone for or fix their own sin in a moment band's gonna come back up here and continue to play and sing and we're gonna take communion which is us remembering that Jesus died that we might not receive what we deserved that he died that we might receive mercy and grace and abundant love and if you are in Christ or if today is the first time
That you've ever run to him and asked for mercy and he will save those who call on him and you will not be put to shame we'd ask for you to take communion for the first time and if you are not in Christ and have not yet received mercy and still think that you are the hero of the story we would ask that you do not take communion because you believe you do not need it but that all those who know they do and know they need a savior and know they need blood to cover them and know that they don't deserve it we pray that we ask that in a moment you would take communion
Joyously celebratorily knowing that you are covered in mercy because Jesus died in your place and he rose again that you might have be justified before God that you might be made right before God that you might be welcome before God we pray Lord that in this next moment that you would redeem that you would call and that all those who are redeemed would celebrate joyously in the mercy that you've offered the grace that you've given
And that we might make much of your name because you are the hero and we are the beneficiaries of your good promise that we like Jacob are tricksters we like Jacob are foolish we like Esau can't see past our nose but that you guard our back and that you bring us to the end in Jesus name Amen during this next song as they sing you're free to take communion when you feel ready
God Fulfills His Promises
Transcript
Good morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Genesis chapter 23. We'll be in Genesis chapter 23 and 24. My name is Chet. I am one of the pastors here.
Matt's going to stay up here and play music to make everything seem more dramatic and special. So we are walking through the book of Genesis. And we are today going to kind of close the book on Abraham and Sarah. We're going to end their lives. And, well, we're not. We're just going to read about it.
And we're going to see how the blessing and the promise shifts from them to Isaac and Rebecca. So, if you'll look, we're going to pick up in the beginning of chapter 23. I want to read this and then we'll kind of set the stage for what we're going to be doing today. But I think this helps us understand what we're looking at. Chapter 23, verse 1. Sarah lived 127 years.
These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died at Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Okay. So Abraham is about 10 years older than her.
So he is, at this point, about 137. She is 127. And we don't have a good mental grasp as to how old that is and what that looks like. Because if we picture someone who's 127 or 137, the best I could come up with is the guy who used to do the Tales from the Crypt stories. And it's not a good representation. Because what happens with the ages in the book of Genesis is God creates the world new, fresh, perfect.
And then humanity sins. And when we sin, death enters the world. But it seems as if it kind of takes a while for it to fully begin to decay humanity and infiltrate humanity. And so the ages in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, start off extremely high. 400, 500, 900 years. And then they work their way down to by the end of the book of Genesis, we're kind of where we are.
In 80 is a good, right age. It's almost like the humanity kind of drops off the healthiness, the vivaciousness. And then eventually it kind of settles out and we hit kind of a homeostasis. We kind of hit an even path. And so at 127, we would say, goodness. Like that, that is extremely old.
But he ends up living to 175. So he lives for 40 years after this. And so she was old. The Bible treats her that way, speaks of her that way. But she wasn't what 127 would be for us.
So, but here's what happens. She passes. And this is the only female in the Bible that we are given her age at passing. This is showing her great honor. That Sarah, the mother of Isaac, the mother of Israel, is honored here. And here's what we're going to look at.
We're going to read chapter 23 and 24. And I want you to jump to the end of chapter 24 so that we can understand what's going on here. Because they seem, in some ways, like two separate stories. But at the end of chapter 24, in verse 66, verse 67, it says, Then Isaac brought her, that's Rebekah. We'll read about her in a minute. Into the tent of Sarah, his mother.
And took Rebekah. And she became his wife. And he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. So the beginning of chapter 23 starts off with the death of Sarah.
And the end of chapter 24 kind of bookends with the death of Sarah. And how Isaac moved on. That Sarah's tent was still there. But Sarah didn't live there any longer. But it stood as this vacant.
Maybe Isaac lived in it. But it was still considered Sarah's tent. It stands as this vacancy. And this cloud of grief is over these two chapters. And the chapter 23 and the end of chapter 24 are about three years apart. So that this season of Isaac missing his mother.
And this season of the noticeable lack of Sarah is a long time. And so what we want to, as we study this chapter, the question we're going to ask and what we're going to try to learn from this is, How do we move forward in grief? When we have buried a loved one. When we have stood, prayed, wept by a graveside. When we go back and it feels like this is still Sarah's house. But Sarah's not here.
How do we move forward? How do we walk in that? And if you'll see, as this is in life, There are things that business kind of things that have to be taken care of. There are seasons of weeping. There are seasons of longing. There are seasons of good things as we look through these two chapters.
But that's the question we're asking, Is how do we learn from them and how to move forward in grief? So let's pray and then we'll read this together. God, we thank you for how good you are. And we pray that we would honor you as we study your word. And that we might worship Jesus this morning. As we see him revealed to us in your word.
And revealed to us through how you interacted with the first people that you called. To begin to fulfill this promise. In Jesus' name, amen. So in the book of Genesis, it starts off good. Humanity rebels and God comes in and he promises right at the beginning that Satan's not going to win. Sin's not going to win.
Death's not going to win. That there's going to be an offspring that comes from Eve. That's going to right this wrong. And then everything gets worse. And then there's a flood. And God resets it with Noah.
And then everything gets worse again. And then he goes to Abraham and he basically says, Come, I'm going to make you into a people. I'm going to give you a land. And eventually this promised offspring is going to come through you. And that promise would not be carried out through anyone other than Sarah. So Sarah is this promised mother to this promised offspring, to this promised blessing.
And so Sarah passes. It says, Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. So it's not just mourning, but he's also weeping. Meaning that mourning is a practice that you would do to honor the dead. But he actually weeps as well.
Meaning that he loved her. This hurt him. I don't think he was shaken by this as far as his faith. I don't think that he was crushed by this as far as how could God let this happen. She was older. That God had already provided the promise through her for Isaac.
But he was hurt. He was sad. It says, he went in to mourn for her and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, I am a sojourner and foreigner among you. Give me property among you for a burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight. The Hittites answered, Abraham, hear us, my Lord.
You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead. Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. The next part of this chapter, really most of this chapter, is given over to this transaction that takes place. So it says he rises up from his dead and he goes to the Hittites.
And it calls them repeatedly the people of the land. And his intro to them is, I am a sojourner and a foreigner among you. I have no land that is my own. He's nomadic. They travel around, but none of it really belongs to him. And he says, I need a place to bury my dead.
What he's asking for is a permanent place. Not a temporary place, but a permanent place to bury his dead. Now, it's interesting because you would usually bury your dead among their ancestors. This is actually a prime time for Abraham to just say, let's go home. Let's wrap it up.
Let's head back. Let's go bury her among our people. But he doesn't do that. He actually says she'll be the first buried among future people. Not the most recent buried among past people. He is leaning into the promise that God has given that they are the beginning of a nation.
And so he says that she needs a place that's a permanent place for her to be buried. And so she goes to the Hittites. And he says, I'm a foreigner among you, meaning they don't really have to sell him anything. He's coming humbly. He's also telling us how he understands himself. He's lived here for 60 years.
He still does not feel at home here. This is not his place. He is a nomad. And it calls the Hittites, the people of the land, the people of the land, the people of the land. Now, we're a pretty mobile society. One of the things we ask people when you first meet them is, oh, where are you from?
Because we just assume, not Colombia. And if they say, then we're like, oh, wow. Neat. What's that like? Like we just kind of assume a lot of times, and that's fine. It's not wrong to be from here, but it's just assumed that people travel around.
Now, for me, I don't know if y'all can tell this, I am white. And when I travel around in the U.S., most everything kind of feels at home to me. But there are certain people that come from minority groups or minority groups in the U.S. And maybe you understand a little more, can feel a little more what he's talking about here, what he feels. Because it's actually when you are the minority in a situation, you notice your minority status way more than the people of a majority status notice their majority status. Does that make sense?
So when I would hang out with only the African-American guys on my football team, I never noticed how white I was until those moments. And then it was like my whiteness felt like it was like I felt like I stood out. Because I wasn't catching all the references. I wasn't getting all the jokes. There were things they were saying and I was like, yeah, what? And so that's what he's saying is that he feels his I'm not of this people.
He feels it. And so he goes to the people of the land and he says, well, y'all sell me some land. And they say very graciously, no one will withhold from you a place to bury your death. But he doesn't want a borrowed tomb. He wants a purchased tomb. So what it says he does is he stands up and he bows down and he stands back up and he says.
Oh, and now I guess he sits back down because this is how business was done. And he says, please ask Ephraim, the son of Zohar, to sell me his cave that's at the back end of a field in Machpelah. Ephraim is there. So Ephraim says, I give you the cave. You can just have it. Abraham stands up.
He bows down. There's actually some interesting things in the Hebrew here where they consistently say, hear me, hear me, hear me. That's how they start things. Abraham doesn't start things that way until halfway through. He starts realizing this is how you're supposed to say it. So he'll start with his way and then he'll go and also hear me because he's trying to learn how you're supposed to do this.
It seems he's trying to incorporate what they're doing. But he stands back up, bows back down and says, thank you. I'll pay you for it. Now, we don't exactly know. So here's why it matters.
If he doesn't pay for it, it's borrowed. Eventually, after decomposition happens, after some number of some amount of time, some number of years, they can just take the cave back. They can move Sarah. They can use the cave for their own purposes. It won't be his. They would honor him by letting him use it, but it wouldn't be his forever.
And he wants something that's his forever. It's also possible Ephraim was just doing what they normally do, which is pretend to give it, but really have the intent of selling it. We don't really know, but that is still common today. I was asking Ben Johnson, who lived in Lebanon. I asked him, is that a thing they do? And he said, yes.
He said he actually, a couple of things he told me was, one, and he had to learn this, they will invite you to dinner, but they have to invite you three times for it to be real. So if you go visit someone, they'll say, oh, please stay for dinner. And you're supposed to say, no, no, no, I'm not hungry. I don't want to, or something, some nice response. Your house doesn't seem like I'd want to eat the food here, something like that. And then they say, please stay for dinner.
And then you say, no, no, no, no. And then they say, please stay for dinner. And on the third one, that means I'd really actually like for you to stay for dinner. Now, Ben is from Georgia, the Georgia in the U.S., not the Georgia over there. And so he did not know this. And so he would show up to someone's house and they would say, would you please stay for dinner?
And he'd go, all right, I will. And they were like, super, super rude guy. It just took me over there. I had no plans on him staying. He had to learn. He also said that they would still do the, oh, oh, don't worry.
I'll just give it to you for free. What happens is Abraham says, thank you for giving me this for free. And he says, but I'll pay you for it. And Ephraim responds, listen, what is a little field worth 400 shekels between me and you? And it says that Abraham listened to him and he weighs out the weight and he pays for it. So that Ephraim slides in there, oh, money between us, what's 400 shekels?
Like he just slides it in there like this isn't how this would work at a car dealership here. I'd like to buy this truck. I'll give you the truck. No, no, no. Let me pay for it. What's a truck worth $19,999 between us?
It was 0% financing for five years. Like we wouldn't do this, but he's been said they still do this in Lebanon that he actually left a restaurant one time, forgot to pay, came back and said, I forgot to pay. And they said, oh, I give it to you. It's free. And he said, no, no, no. I want to pay.
And he said, what's $15 between friends like us? So he was like, oh, okay, $15. Here you go. Which I, you know, when I, if I ever get to go visit, I'm just gonna be like, thanks. That's so nice. And just walk off.
I'm not gonna be there for that long, you know? So he buys the land. And then in verse 17, it says this. So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was in, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field throughout its whole area was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
Now that overdoes and overemphasizes where the field is, who it was sold from, where it was sold, who were the witnesses, who bought it, who's definitely bought. It's his. Which field? The field that used to belong to Ephron, son of Zohar in Machpelah. The field and all the trees and the cave is east of Mamre. Like it overdoes this.
And every time it brings it up, it does it again. And what is happening here is it is showing us that for the first time, Abraham and his descendants own a piece of the promised land. It's not a big piece of the promised land, but they own a piece of the promise. That Abraham, when Sarah died, did not say, let's go back. He said, let's go forward. Let's lean into the promise that God has made.
And let's see some of this begin to be fulfilled. And that's what happens. And so they bury Sarah. Now. Sorry, that was my now, but the first word is now. Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years.
And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had. So this isn't Isaac, although Isaac's 37 ish, 40 years old, right around now, he's not in charge of everything. The servant is. He brings him in and he says, put your hand under my thigh. That I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but you will go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son, Isaac.
Like the servant said to him, perhaps the woman will may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which he came from which you came? So Abraham's getting older and he's setting his affairs in order and we're seeing how he's leaning into the promises that God has given. So the first thing that he does is he acquires land to honor his wife, to bury his wife and to have a place for her forever in this land that God promised them. And now he's trying to work out getting a wife for Isaac. It's a little bit interesting that Isaac is not a part of this, but at the end of chapter 24, we find out that he needed to still be comforted at the loss of his mother.
And it's possible that Isaac was sad and wasn't handling things very well right now. It's possible. I'm reading that bit into the text. We know that he was still three years later. It was only after he marries Rebecca that it says that he's comforted. And he's the only guy that we have in the Bible that is not kind of immediately connected to the finding of his own wife.
So there are females whose dads kind of hand them over, but everywhere else we have a male, he's involved in some form or fashion. And Isaac is just hanging out and then gets a wife. Some of you think that's what will happen for you and best of luck to you. Sorry, that was mean. I shouldn't have said that. So we see, though, the servant has a very particular question.
It's a helpful question. He says, hold on. If she won't come, is Isaac to leave? That's an interesting question. It's a helpful question because he's saying, you know, I kind of understand the promises. I kind of understand the blessing.
Are we retreating on that to get Isaac a wife? If she won't come because it's far away, he says, does Isaac leave? We should all hold our breath for a second. And he says in verse 6, Abraham said to him, See to it that you do not take my son back there, the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kiddred and who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring, I will give this land. He will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine.
Only you must not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. There's been some research done on why he had to put his hand under his thigh. The general consensus is just it was very intimate and it meant a solemn oath. That Abraham makes him promise in that way that he wouldn't forget and that it was a very solemn oath. But he says if she won't come, you're not in trouble.
You can come back. You're just not allowed to take Isaac there. But we see what Abraham is doing is he's leaning into the promises that God already gave him. He says the God of heaven told me that I'm going to give you this land to your descendants forever. And so Abraham says, I'm getting old. I've got a piece of the land.
We're in the land. We're not leaving the land. But we're going to have to have descendants here. And Isaac isn't married, so we need to find Isaac a wife. And the Canaanites are not a part of that. As best Abraham can tell, the Canaanites are going to be pushed out later because God tells him that in chapter 13 that they're going to be in chapter 15 that his descendants are going to be slaves in Egypt, but they're going to come back and they're going to push out all the people that live in this region.
And Abraham says, no, you've got to go find a wife from our people. That's how the bloodline continues. That's how the promise continues. And that's how we have a people to possess this land. So Abraham's just leaning into what God already told him.
The servant took 10 of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. Now that was about 500 miles away. It's one of the reasons why he takes camels because they travel a little better. It would have taken 21 days to a month or so to get there. He takes 10 camels, which is to show us something.
Well, it shows us something. He actually took them. It wasn't just written in there to show us something, but it shows us something, which is that Abraham was wealthy because camels weren't that common. And to have 10 of them and a bunch of people to send with a bunch of choice gifts, he looked like Aladdin rolling up in the Disney movie to Agrabah. He had a lot going on with him when he went. So, and he made the camels, this is verse 11, he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
And he said, Oh Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, please let down your jar that I may drink. And who shall say, drink and I will water your camels. Let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant, Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.
So here's what he does. He shows up, he gets to the city, but it's a city. Now it says it's the city of Nahor, which means this is where the guy lives. We're not necessarily sure it was named after him. It's just like he made it to where he lives. And so he shows up where he used to live and where Abraham's descendants were.
Nahor was his Abraham's brother. And he just sits out by the well where all of the women of the city, the unmarried women of the city would come out in the evening to draw water. And he just prays, Lord, please be good to my master. And I'm going to go over and I'm going to ask one of the ladies to give me some water. And if she gives me some water and then she offers on her own to water my camels, let that be the one that's supposed to marry Isaac. Now I do periodically have people ask me, does the Bible give helpful dating advice?
It doesn't give a lot, but if you want some from this passage, get your dad to send one of his friends to a well at one of your family reunions and pick up one of your cousins for you. Now what he was doing, I'll give you a second to write that down. What he was doing was he was going to the place where the type of woman who would be marriable for Isaac was. And he was seeking the Lord's wisdom in it. So if you want to steal a little bit, take that part.
Seek to actually find someone who is genuinely godly and marriable and pray for the Lord's wisdom and help and do it in an honorable way. Before he had finished speaking, Behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor. So Abraham and Nahor are brothers. This is Abraham's grandniece. Great niece. Yeah, grandniece.
Abraham's brother came out with her water jar on her shoulder. The young woman was very attractive in appearance. A maiden, that means she's young, whom no man had known. That means she was never married, has never slept with anybody. She went down to the spring. The author's telling us that.
He wouldn't have been able to pick up all of that from just seeing her. What he saw, I guess, was that she was very attractive. Then the servant went to meet her, ran to meet her and said, Please give me a little water to drink from your jar. And she said, Drink, my Lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking.
So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water. And she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not. Okay. If we lived in this time frame, we would be so blown away right now. Camels can drink about 40 gallons of water if they're running on empty.
There were 10 camels, which means that it's up to possible that she drew 400 gallons of water. Which, if this is a 5-gallon bucket, that's 80 trips, y'all. That'd be like if I said, I'm moving into a new neighborhood, and I'm praying that the Lord would send someone, my neighbors, to come over and ask me when they see the moving truck if they can help me move. And this will be my new best friend in the neighborhood. And then I told you, they showed up. And you know what they said to me?
Back up. I'll get that piano by myself. And then they carried it up the stairs by themselves. We'd all go, all right, I know some things about this person now. Or you have a small piano. Or this person is humongous.
Like, that's what I learned. And what we just learned from her by her being, not her volunteering. It would be kind and nice for her to give him a drink. But for her volunteering, I'm going to water all your camels until they're done drinking. And she does it. He watched her for a long time.
And she diligently, over and above in generosity, served him and his men. We should be just like, oh, wow. Like, we just learned some things about Rebecca if you knew things about camels. So, he watches. Then it says, When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring, weighing a half shekel and two bracelets for her arms, weighing ten gold shekels, and said, Please tell me whose daughter you are.
Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? She said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. She added, We have plenty of both straw and fodder and room to spend the night. And the man bowed his head and worshipped the Lord and said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen. Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things.
In their mindset, most gods don't travel well. You have gods of locations. Abraham consistently says, the God, the God of heaven and the God of earth. Not the God of this land. Not the God of that land. Not the God of the river.
Not the God of this particular thing, grain and wine. No, he says the God of heaven and the God of earth. And he travels 500 miles and he prays, God, continue to be steadfast to my master. Not quite sure. I don't know how devout this guy was. We know that he's praying in his heart.
But I'm sure there's a little bit of like, are you here? It turns out he is. Abraham's description was good. Heaven and earth. All of it. And so Rebecca goes and it says, verse 29.
Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man to the spring. As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms and heard the words of Rebecca, her sister. Thus the man spoke to me. So she has a brother named Laban.
Laban runs out there when he sees the gold. Now, this would have been, I think, a bit if they were paying attention to how long she was gone, I think it took a little while to water the camels. So they're like, man, she's taking a long time. She rolls back up, blinged out with things that I don't know if they can afford or not, but she wasn't wearing them when she left. It's an odd trip to them. And then she says, I just watered a guy who has 10 camels.
And they said, 10 what now? And Laban looked at the rings and stuff and said, I'm going to meet this guy. And he just trots on outside. So he goes over and he says, come on in, come on in. Like, you know, they're welcoming him. They're being hospitable and generous.
But it's also like, who is this guy? What is happening here? So they bring him inside and they say, come, sit, eat. And he says, he actually kind of breaks protocol. He says, no, I'm not eating anything until I say all the stuff I have to say. And they say, say it.
And so he retells the entire story we just read. The chapter is basically written out in duplicate. He highlights some different things. He points out some different things. But he retells the whole story.
He says, my master Abraham called me into him and he told me to promise. Oh, first he starts off with who Abraham is. I'm his servant. I'm following him. And he is very wealthy. He says, he has camels and donkeys, gold and silver, maidservants, menservants.
God has blessed him richly. And he has a son whom Sarah bore to him in her old age. I think he's gassing Isaac up a little bit. He says, God's, he said, Abraham's going to leave everything to him. So he says, I'm here representing Abraham who's super blessed, very rich, who has one son.
And he highlights that Sarah bore him in his old age. And that's very helpful because Nahor is Bethuel's father. Which would mean that if Isaac was born about the same time as Bethuel, he would be saying to Sarah, to Rebecca, I know a guy who's as old as your dad. And given the age gaps here, that could be a big gap. So he's like, he was born when Sarah was really, really old.
So he's saying closer in age to you. He's just highlighting that out and he's saying, and God and Abraham's going to bless him with everything that he has. And Abraham made me swear to come here and find him a wife. So at this point, I'm sure the story was like, oh. And then it gets deeper because he says, and so I showed up and I prayed that the lady I asked to give me a drink of water would not only give me a drink, but would offer to water my camels. At that point, they were all like, oh, she's going to, oh, no, that just happened.
That's what I did. And then he says, he ends with this. He tells the whole story. And then he says. He tells him, before I'd finished speaking, she showed up. We did this.
She did this exactly. And then he goes to verse 49. Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me. And if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. He tells his whole story. He says, it seems as if God's at work here.
It seems as if this was planned. He tells him specifically. Abraham told me if she didn't come with me, I'm not in trouble. So he's like, this is on y'all. You don't have to feel bad for me. He lays this all out.
And he says, now tell me, are you going to show steadfast love to my master or not? Because I've got to go one way or the other. And I don't think he's necessarily meaning I've got to go home. I think he's also meaning I'm here to find someone who belongs here who's willing to go with me back. So if you don't want to marry him, although it seems like maybe you should, I'm just throwing that in there.
If you don't want to, I'm going to go somewhere else. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing has come from the Lord. We cannot speak to you bad or good. What they're saying there is it's not up to us. We're not going to do a pros and cons list if God's leading in this. Behold, Rebecca is before you.
Take her and go. Let her be the wife of your master's son as the Lord has spoken. When Abraham's servant heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. You see how much this guy loves the Lord. He's constantly praying to him. And every moment when he gets a chance, he's just thanking him.
And finally, it just works. It worked out. And he just lays down on the earth just before the Lord. And it says, the servant brought out jewelry of silver and gold and garments and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.
When they rose in the morning, he said to them, send me away to my master. Her brother and her mother said, let the young woman remain with us for a while, at least 10 days. After that, she may go. They basically just said, at least 10 days, maybe longer. She needs to stay for a little while. We can't like he just showed up that night.
She just fed your camels last night. We're not. She's not leaving right now. But he said to them, do not delay me since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, let us call the young woman and ask her.
They called Rebecca and said to her, will you go with this man? And she said, I will go. This also shows us some things about Rebecca here. First of all, they said, let's ask her. That doesn't always happen in this culture. You saw that her dad and brother got to pick whether or not she would marry him.
But now they're saying, hey, come here. Are you willing to do this? And she, like Sarah before her and like Mary after her, is willing to step out in faith where she feels like the Lord is moving. And so she says, I will go. So they sent away Rebecca, their sister and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men.
And they blessed Rebecca and said to her, our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands. And may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him. They bless her before she leaves. And we know that that blessing comes true because God's already promised to bless this family and to bless the seed of Isaac. And so they leave. And what we see in these two chapters are two beautiful pictures of this promise stepping forward.
That God says, I'm going to bless you with people to possess this land. And both of those step forward in that Abraham, in his waning moments, leans into what God has promised. Believes and trusts what God has promised. And it's taken us a while to get here for Abraham. I believe fully as he was going to sacrifice Isaac, he was trusting the Lord fully. And we see after that, he doesn't waver.
He knows this is what's happening. He says, you don't take Isaac back. He stays here. We're going to own this land. We're going to lean into this. And he trusts the promise.
Now, Isaac had returned from Be'er, Laha, Roy, and was dwelling in the Negev. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. He didn't have a wife and kids at this point. He had a lot of free time on his hands. So he's just getting to sit out there by himself and think.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. And Rebecca lifted up her eyes. And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. It's a sign of respect. And she said to the servant, who is that man walking in the field to meet us? And the servant said, it is my master.
So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother, and took Rebecca. And she became his wife. And he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
And so what we learn, Isaac was 40 when he married her. So this is about two to three years after his mother passed. He takes her into Sarah's tent. It was still Sarah's tent. And what we see is the transition of matriarchy from Sarah to Rebecca. And the story shifts from Abraham and Sarah to Isaac and Rebecca.
Because God's promise is going to continue. And we see this beautiful transition and handoff. In this time of grieving, in this time of sorrow, and in this time of pain, Abraham, and through his leadership, Isaac, lean into the promises that God had already laid out. They trust him that they can move forward. Rather than retreating, Hebrews 11 says that if they had been looking for an opportunity to return, they would have found one. They had been looking to go back home.
They could have found an opportunity. There was plenty before them. But they trusted and walked out in faith, even though they only saw the promises from afar. And so that's what we see. I want to tell you something beautiful that happens here as we carry this story out. First, Isaac and Rebecca have children, and the promise continues.
They give birth to Jacob, who's renamed Israel, who gives parentage to all the tribes of Israel, and out of them directly comes this entire people. We actually begin to see in Genesis some of the promises fulfilled, where they're going to be a blessing to the nations, and ultimately a blessing to all the nations through Christ. And Sarah's tomb becomes the first flag planted in the ground in the promised land that they all look to. Moses is the one who's writing this, and he's writing it to a people out of the Exodus, wandering in the wilderness, headed to the promised land. And do you know why he overemphasizes this field, why he overemphasizes this cave?
He's pointing out to the people of Israel as they read this, at the very first readers of this text, that we still own land that was never sold back. That there's a cave that houses the bones of our ancestors that was claimed by the death of Sarah. Chapter 25, verse 7 says that Abraham died, and he was buried there. We're told later that Isaac and Rebecca die, and they're buried there. That Leah dies, she's buried there. That Jacob dies, he dies in Egypt.
And he says, don't you bury me here. He says, cart me on back. I'm getting buried at the field. And he says, Ephron, son of Zohar, who Abraham bought from the Hittite. He lays it all out again. He says, you bury me there.
And the people of Israel had this tomb that they looked to for their hope and for the beginning of the fulfillment of the promises, that this people of this bloodline could look at that tomb forever. Remember, that by her death, Sarah moves the covenant forward and that through the suffering, we see that there was purpose. And church, we have a better tomb to look to. Not filled with the bones of ancestors, scandalously, outrageously empty. That there is a tomb that in the midst of our grief and in the midst of our cloudy, tear-filled eyes that we can gaze upon when we can't see an inch in front of our faces, we can look backwards to a tomb where the God of the universe walked out in a hope-filled resurrection to assure for us that the promises are forever ours, claimed by him through his suffering and his death, and that we know as Christians that there is purpose and hope in the midst of suffering.
That death does not win. That grief does not conquer. That as the people of Israel looked to this tomb as a stake in the ground, as the place where the flag was planted, that they knew that they could hold on to, that God would fulfill these promises, that their bloodline would continue, we of a new bloodline given to us through the blood of Christ have a better tomb to look to in the midst of heartache and pain. So that our faith can move forward when we can't see anything else. We can trust that he's good, that he loves us, that what has rocked us and changed the nature of our lives won't ultimately win, and won't ultimately conquer us.
Matt's going to come back up here. As we close out our time, I want to show you where 1 Peter talks about this. Peter talking about this says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. Meaning that we have a new bloodline through the blood of Christ, that we are in this lineage. Not just sons of Abraham through faith, but sons of God through the blood of Christ, through the adoption given to us through the atonement.
Born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. So that when we don't know what tomorrow will look like, and we don't know whether we'll be able to get out of bed, and we don't know if we'll be able to make it to work, and we don't know if we'll be able to utter a word without our face distorting and tears running down our face, we know what the ultimate tomorrow will look like. We know that we have an inheritance that is more beautiful than this promised land, that is more eternally secured, a tomb that is empty, that marks forever our hope, because Jesus rose from the grave will rise. And so we look to Him in hope and in longing, and we know that in the midst of everything, we can move forward.
That we can put one foot in front of the other, holding on to the fact that eventually grief doesn't win. We won't be swallowed up in death, but we'll be swallowed up in the victory of the resurrection of Christ. For those of us who have repented and placed our faith in Jesus, this is imperishably, undeniably, irrevocably true. And if you're in here this morning, and you are in the midst of a season of grief, I would encourage you to look at Jesus walking out of the tomb. to stare as best you can into that truth, so that you might be reminded that this won't win, that He's good and He loves you.
And if you're in here today and you don't know Christ, you do not know what I'm talking about. And you do not have this as a reality, but you can. If you'll run to Him and place your faith in Him and say, I want that and I need that, and I need you to change my heart, I need you to save my soul, He will because He saves us based off of His good work, not ours. And I would encourage you to do that today. In a minute, Matt's going to begin to sing. We can sing with him.
We're also going to take communion together as a church, which is where we take bread and the cup, and we remind ourselves of Jesus' broken body and His blood shed on our behalf, that we might have life and freedom and hope, that He conquered death for us so that we don't have to die in hopelessness, but that we get to be buried in hope of a resurrection and a life with Him. If you're a Christian, I would encourage you to spend some time praying, repenting where you need to repent, reminding yourself of His goodness, and then taking communion. And if you're not a believer, this is for believers, it's not for you, so we'd encourage you to pray and to sing and place your faith in Jesus if you never have. Let's pray.
God, we thank You for Your grace. Thank You for the hope that we have through the cross and the resurrection, that we are brothers and sisters in a new bloodline, that we are brothers and sisters of an empty tomb, and that our hope is forever secure because it's a living hope through the power of the resurrection of Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Transcript
Good morning. All right, so we just got done walking through a series on multiplier. We spent five weeks walking through the calling to make and to multiply disciples. And then we, before that, were our gift series. And we spent December walking through our gift series. But before that, we were doing Genesis.
We made it halfway through. And we are jumping back in. We're going to finish Genesis, this half of Genesis, over the rest of winter into spring. So we're going to be in Genesis 22 today. You can go ahead and open there. It's on page 10 of your blue Bibles.
It'll also be on the screen as we follow along. But before we jump in, I want to catch us up to where we have been in Genesis and follow a storyline that we've been following. So in Genesis 1 and 2, God creates the earth. It is cosmic. It is big. It reflects his glory as he intentionally crafts different parts of creation.
And then in Genesis 2, we focused in on the creation of Adam and Eve. The guy creates Adam and Eve. He creates humanity different than any other aspect of creation, that we bear his image and his likeness. And that we have the unique ability to have a relationship with God. So Adam and Eve have a perfect relationship with God.
It is beautiful and it is good. And then in Genesis 3, they are in the Garden of Eden. And Satan, in the form of a serpent, comes into the garden. Causes them to question God and his goodness and his word. And they listen to Satan. They don't listen to God.
And they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And in that moment, they sin. They rebel against God. And they bring sin and rebellion into this world. And it brings in death. And it affects every aspect of creation.
And when this happens, God comes down into the garden. And he makes a couple declarations. But one of the things that he says is that one day, Eve, you will have an offspring. And this offspring will come and she will come, or he will come and crush the head of the serpent. He will crush the head of Satan. And that is the declaration that Jesus one day is going to come.
That's the first declaring of the gospel that we have in the Bible. So we've been following this line that through Adam and Eve, the offspring is coming. And we see they populate the earth. Eventually, the earth gets so corrupted with sin, with violence, with hate, that God wants to start new. We followed the story of Noah, that God calls Noah. Noah builds an ark.
And his family is saved. And the line is preserved. And then we followed from Noah all the way to the character we've been following going into our gift series, which is Abraham. Abraham has a unique relationship with God. God comes to Abraham in his old age. Him and his wife Sarah do not have kids.
And he comes to Abraham and he says, I'm going to give you a son. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make a great nation through you. And from that point forward, Abraham and Sarah are waiting for God to give him this blessing, to give him this son. And there are times where it's going really well, where he's trusting God. When there's this beautiful covenant ceremony that he does, he puts Abraham in a dream.
And in the dream, the animals, they split an animal in two. And God walks through the center of it. And what is being declared in that ceremony is that this promise is going to happen. And if it doesn't happen, may God be like this animal who's been broken apart. Meaning this is going to happen. This promise is going to come true.
And then there are times where Abraham and Sarah, they try to force the promise. They don't trust God. They end up finding a surrogate, Hagar, to have a son who is Ishmael. We followed that story that Ishmael is a son. He loves Ishmael. But God says, this is not the promised son.
No, I'm coming to you, Abraham and Sarah. Y'all are going to have a son. His name is going to be Isaac. And then 25 years between God's promise to them and the birth of Isaac, Isaac finally shows up. Abraham's 100. Sarah's in her 90s.
And that is where we are today. Isaac's a little bit older. He's a young boy. And in this story today, which is one of the more, one of the biggest stories that we have in the Old Testament, we're going to walk through this story and we're going to see how God tests Abraham. We're going to see how God tests Abraham. Then we're going to see how Abraham responds.
He responds in faith and obedience, trusting God. Then we're going to see how God ultimately provides. And then as we back up, we're going to see what this story points forward to. So let me pray and then we'll walk through this story together. God, thank you so much that you love us, that we have a story that reminds us of your good news. God, I pray today that you would help us be present, that you would speak to us powerfully.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, speaking of verse 1 and 2. So this story just took a very serious turn. It starts out by telling us that he tells Abraham, he reminds us that Abraham is going to be tested here. And what is the test going to be? You are going to sacrifice your son.
This story starts out like a tragedy. It starts out like a tragedy and understand really what's going on here as we walk through it. There's two things that we need to understand. Firstly, we need to have a basis for what sacrifices are, as it shows up here in Genesis. Sacrifices were made with animals early on in Genesis to show the heinous nature of sin. That sin is rebellion against God and it's costly.
It costs blood. You don't sin against the God of the universe and commit cosmic treason and there's no punishment. So early on in Genesis, we see this practice of sacrificing animals to show this. And then later on throughout the rest of the Old Testament law and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, we see this system, this formalized system of sacrificing animals to show this. To show the grievous nature of what sin is and what it does to the people and how serious it is. And in this system later on, you see burnt offerings.
Burnt offerings are to show the total destructive nature of sin. That animal would be slaughtered and they would be burned up completely. That is what a burnt offering is. And God just called Abraham to do this to his son. And we look at this and there's a part of you that should say, What? Like this doesn't make sense.
I mean, this is explicitly forbidden in the rest of the Old Testament law because this is what the pagans would do. They're the ones that would sacrifice their kids. This doesn't make sense and it should catch us off guard. Because I feel like there's something inside of us that says, No, that's not right. There's a part of us, when we watch movies and films and we hear stories and there's certain thrillers and horror films where you know characters are going to start dying off. And then there's a sweet little seven-year-old girl.
There's a part of us, when we watch these films, we have this kind of social compact with Hollywood that says, You can take some of the characters out, but the girl lives. The innocent one lives. There's something inside of us that says, No, this isn't right. And this story begins with a setup that he is calling Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the promised son. So we get frustrated.
We start to think this isn't fair. But we're going to walk through this more and see what's happening here. The second thing that we need to understand is that God has always tested his people. From Old Testament to New Testament, God has always tested his people. Now, sometimes that word tested gets conflated with the word tempt. And they are two different things.
This is not tempting. James 1.13 says, Let no one say when he is being tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. God does not tempt. This is different. Tempting is luring you into sin and rebelling against God.
Testing is actually something that brings you closer to God. The Hebrew word for testing here means testing what someone is really like. Seeing what they are really made of through hardship and difficulty. And we see this all over the Bible. We see it in this story here. We see it in the book of Job.
The book of Job is another really challenging book where there's a man named Job, and he's prosperous, and he has a big family, he has lots of money, he has lots of land, he has great health. And then Satan comes along and says to God, you know, the only reason that job loves you and worships you is because of the things that you give. If you took it away, he would curse you. So God allows Satan to take away his health, his prosperity, and even some of his family. And ultimately, Job shows at the end of the book that he worships the Lord, he does not curse him. We see testing in the book of Job.
We see testing in how the nation of Israel comes out of Egypt. After the nation of Israel is brought out of Egypt by Moses, they sin against God in the wilderness, and they wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And this is what Deuteronomy says about this in chapter 8, verse 2. It says, And you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, hear this, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. God tests our hearts to see what is in, to see if we will follow him. We see this in the New Testament when the early church is being persecuted, and Peter is writing to a church that is being persecuted, that's going through trials, and he says this, he says, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while.
If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And the picture that is being played out here is that testing is like the purification of gold. When you purify gold, when you heat it up, impurities will rise to the surface. It shows what the gold is really made of. And it's an opportunity for you to clean the gold even further. And that's the picture of what testing gets to be, that when we are tested by God, it allows us to be closer to him, because it shows us our hidden faults.
It shows us where we don't believe the gospel, and it shows us where we need to repent and follow Jesus. Oftentimes what happens here is the thing that really gets us frustrated about testing, is we want to know specifically why. Why does this happen? Why does suffering happen? Why did this kind of period of testing happen for me? And a lot of times we don't get that answer.
We don't get the full picture. We get the theology here that we have to trust in the process, which is testing. But we don't always get the reasons, the specific reasons of why we're ultimately called to trust God, trust in the process, and trust that God is good, that he has good for us in the midst of testing. But every once in a while, I've seen this in my own life, every once in a while you might get a picture of why this happened, why periods of testing, periods of suffering happen. And in this story, we actually get the purposes of why this is going to become clear, why this is happening later.
So once you know, have a basis for what sacrifices are, once you have a basis for what testing is, we can walk through this story. He says, After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall tell you. He says, he calls out to Abraham. Abraham says, Here I am. And then he says, Take your son, your only son, and offer him as a burnt offering.
That word son is going to show up repeatedly here. Son, your only son. Now, both Abraham and God know this is not his only biological son. They both know this. This just comes off the heels of the story of Ishmael. What is being implied here is this is the promised son.
This is him. This is the one. And it's repeated 14 times in this passage. Son, son, son, only son. Your only son whom you love. It's meant to show us this is the promised son.
It's meant to remind us of everything that it took to get here. Think about this. It took them 25 years after years of being childless. 25 years for this promise to come to fruition. They have this promised son whom they love, and God has just called him to reduce the promise to ashes. This is a weighty calling that he is calling Abraham to, and this is how Abraham responds in verse 3.
He says, It says, Oftentimes when we read the Bible, we have an American way of reading passages, of reading the text. I don't think it's necessarily bad. It allows us, I think, to be empathetic. We read it. We're a feelings-based culture. You talk to any other cultures that look at us, they say, Well, Americans, we care a lot about our feelings.
And that can go crazy. That can go awry. I went through 90s self-help seminars and schooling. That can go a little bit crazy with emotions. But I think it allows us, since we're an empathetic culture, to put ourselves in other people's shoes, to be able to understand some of these stories and how they play out.
I think that's helpful. But what can happen is, is that we can start to make definitive statements about what they were thinking and what they were feeling when the text doesn't give us some of those pictures. Ultimately, we have to look at the text and what it is telling us. But sometimes, in the Bible, we get the behind-the-scenes picture. Sometimes we get to understand a little bit of what they were thinking. And we get that in this story, but it's not in this chapter.
You've got to flip to the New Testament. If you go to Hebrews 11, it says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Hear this. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. So in the mind of Abraham, as he's received this calling, in his mind he knows God is able to even raise Isaac back from the dead.
So he has plans to go through with this. He's going to trust the Lord. But in the back of his mind, he knows God is even able to raise this son from the dead because this son is the promised son. This is the one that he is going to bring this great nation through. It is him. So he is trusting the promises of God as he's being tested.
And we see this in how he responds. He says, Abraham gets up, that he packs his donkey, that he grabs some supplies, that he gets some help from two young men, then he gets his son, and they hit the road. And if you read that, right off the heels of what he was just called to, man, it just seems robotic. He just got told to sacrifice his son, and he packs up everything, and they hit the road. It's a little confusing. Two things.
Again, we don't get a window into his emotions. It is reasonable to think this is very difficult for him. He loves his sons. You can see in his relationship with Ishmael in the previous chapters, he loves his sons. This is a difficult and weighty calling. But ultimately, we look at what he is trusting in.
He believes the promise that Isaac is the promised son. He has faith that God will come through him this promise, even if it takes resurrection. So he's trusting God. Verse 4. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. And Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey.
I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. So after a three-day journey of coming to Moriah, they finally see the place from afar. He sees it. They're getting closer. He tells the two young men, he says, you guys stay behind. It's just going to be Isaac and I.
Now, y'all, it's been three days. Three days. Every day. Every night. One step closer to this happening. One step closer to where he's being called to bring the knife down on his son.
Now, while Abraham is clinging to the promise and he's trusting that God can even raise him for the dead, the weightiness of this obedience is growing closer. But he's still trusting the promise of God and he ends this conversation. It's telling how he says it. He says, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come back again to you. He's saying, we're coming back. Isaac and I were going to the mount, but we're coming back again.
Verse 6. It says, And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went, both of them together, and Isaac said to his father Abraham, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went, both of them, together. So Abraham, he gets the wood, he hands it to Isaac to carry, and Isaac starts to carry the wood, which tells us a little bit that Isaac, he's a young boy, but he's old enough and he's big enough to at least carry this wood. So he puts the wood on his back. They start to go towards the hill. And that shows us a little bit of what Isaac is doing here.
Isaac's being obedient. He's being obedient to his father as his father is trusting the Lord. And then Isaac, in the midst of this, he asks the obvious question. Dad, I see, I see the fire. I see the wood. You've brought a knife.
Where's the lamb? They didn't bring one with them. They didn't stop and buy one along the way. They haven't taken one. See, Isaac realizes that something's up. This isn't normal.
That something is out here. But he's going to trust his father as his father trusts God. Abraham looks at him. He says, God will provide. Abraham knows that God is going to provide. That he's even capable of raising the dead.
He just has to be prepared to go through with this. He has to be prepared to bring the knife down on his beloved boy. And the intensity is building even further. Abraham and Isaac, both being obedient to what they are called to. Abraham now has the knife and he now has the flame. And these are both visual representations of what is about to be called of him.
But he believes Isaac is ultimately going to be okay. But that still doesn't take away from the horror of this situation of what he's being called to. That in the midst of testing, Abraham is still trusting the promises of God. And then the scene finally arrives. Verse 9. When they came to the place of which God had told them, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
So they finally get to this place, this place of sacrifice. And I want you to picture this scene with me. Abraham at this point, he's well over 100. He starts to build the altar. And this is going to take some time. He's older.
He's building the altar. And piece by piece, as he's building this altar, there's a question that's still lingering in the back. Where is the lamb? And then he gets the wood. He takes the wood from Isaac. Isaac is watching this.
He grabs the wood. He starts to stack the wood. And the question still remains, where is the lamb? And he takes his son. Y'all, his son that he loves. And he starts to bind him.
He starts to tie him up. And Isaac doesn't struggle. Doesn't say that he ran off. He could have. He starts to tie him up. And he takes his son, this son he waited so long for, and he places him on the altar.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. So he reaches out the knife. He has the knife. He's getting ready to bring the knife down on his son. And it's at this point in this story that something screams within us, where is the lamb? Like, what is happening here?
How? Is this gone far enough? You see that he trusts you. What is happening? This does not seem fair. He has the knife, and he's ready to bring it down on his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. So in the midst of him holding the knife, an angel intervenes and intercedes and says, Abraham, stop. Don't touch him. You've proven yourself. It's clear that you fear the Lord.
Step away. It's over. And Abraham can take his son. He can unbind him. He can do what every father would want to do in that moment. He can hold him.
He can hug him. He can tell him everything is going to be okay, that he was always the promised son. He can tell them what this was. It was never in doubt. You were always going to be the promised son. And then he picks up his head, and he sees the ram.
He sees the ram in the thicket. God provides the lamb, and then he takes it, and this is the sacrifice that was going to be there all along. He takes this ram, and he slaughters it as a substitute in Isaac's place. And Abraham can say, I knew it. I knew that God was going to come through with his promises. And they call this place, The Lord Will Provide.
That this place, Moriah, will forever be remembered as the place that God intervened, that God made a substitute, that God kept his promise, and the line of Abraham was preserved. And the rest of this chapter is that working of this blessing, declaring this blessing that is going to be, and you get to the end of it, and it's over. The story's done. And there's this lingering question, I think, that we still have when we read this. What was the point? What was the point of this story?
I mean, I get it. I'll concede. God tests his people. But calling a father to sacrifice his son, that seems a little too far. Calling him to take his innocent son. I mean, Abraham's old.
Couldn't God see his heart? Couldn't he see the faith that was in it? Why put an old man through that kind of grief? Why put Isaac through that kind of terror? Why? What is the point?
Because ultimately, this story is pointing to something else. The location of this place, Moriah, is significant. Later on in 2 Chronicles 3, we learn that Moriah is the place where Solomon built the temple. This is Jerusalem. This is not an accident. God could have chosen any place.
He could have chosen any mountain, but he chooses this hill. Why? Because this story was going to play out centuries later. That years down the line, there was going to be a son. There is going to be a son whom the Father loved deeply. The kind of love that is eternal.
The kind of love that stretches back into eternity past that is unbroken and perfect and pure and good. And out of this love, he's going to send his son. And out of this love, the son is going to obey the will of the Father. And he's going to travel on the same path that Isaac and Abraham took. The son is going to obey and he's going to put wood on his back. He's going to carry the wood up the hill.
The same path that Abraham and Isaac took. And this wood is going to be a wooden cross. And he's going to carry the wooden cross to a place that they called Moriah, a place that we as Christians now look at and call Calvary. And after being beaten and mocked and spit upon and abandoned and tortured, he's going to take that cross as far as he can go. He's going to need help just to get it up the hill. And when he gets to the top, there's going to be no need to ask the question, where is the lamb?
Because Jesus knew all along, he was the lamb. He was the ram and the thicket. He is the substitute. And he gets to the top and they bind him to the cross on the altar. They raise him up. And as, what's different from Abraham and Isaac now is as the knife is coming down and the angel stops, that doesn't happen here.
The spear pierces his side. The blood and the water pour out like an offering. And unlike Abraham and Isaac where Isaac is unbound, he can tell him everything's going to be okay. God the Father who's perfectly been in relationship and in love with his son is going to turn his back on him. This story in Genesis 22 is ultimately looking forward to the cross. That God spared Isaac.
He does not spare Christ. Jesus is the better Isaac. The one who carried the wood up the hill. And Abraham was right. The lamb would be provided. Jesus is our ram whose blood was spilled to take away our sins.
And the feeling that you have when you read this that says this isn't right that an innocent one should die, that is correct. We deserve wrath. Jesus dies in our place. Why? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That's the hope of the gospel.
Why? Because you and me we need a sacrifice. We need someone to stand in our place because we have sinned and rebelled against the creator of God. We have trampled on his commands. We pursued flesh. We pursued the world.
We need a sacrifice. We are like hopeless sheep without a shepherd and Jesus comes from heaven and he seeks us and he claims us because the father loves you so much that he did not leave you here in sin but he sent Jesus to die for you so that he might carry you home. You are correct. It is not fair. We deserve wrath but Jesus obeyed the will of the father that he might become the ram that thicketh for us. He is the fulfillment of Genesis 22 and as Christians y'all we get to look at this story look at this picture of the gospel and respond in worship.
We get to respond in repentance.
Multiply or Bust
Transcript
Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles. Go to Mark chapter 4. We're in the fifth and final week of our Multiply series.
We'll be picking back up with Genesis next week. Genesis is a very long book, so we spent a good bit of time in it in the fall. We're going to spend a good bit of time in it in the spring, just studying through, going through that narrative and trying to learn what we can about God and how it displays to us Christ through what he did with creation and the patriarchs as he built the nation of Israel. But we, as we started this year, started off in a series called Multiply, where we were looking at the Great Commission and kind of understanding what we ought to be doing and how we ought to be spending our time.
And in some ways, as we began it, we said it's kind of like some New Year's resolutions for our church family, for us to kind of focus in on what matters most and say, here's what we want to be doing, here's how we ought to be spending our time. And so the first week we talked about the Great Commission, and that's kind of been the basis for this whole thing, that Jesus takes his disciples, and he, after his death and burial and resurrection, says, Go, make disciples. Go do with others what I've been doing with you. Proclaim to them the gospel that they might believe, and then baptize them. As they repented and had faith, baptize them.
And then he says, And teach them to obey everything I've commanded you. You should walk with them and train them and equip them. And as you're going to make disciples, the people that become disciples continue to help make disciples. And you guys, I hate to spoil the ending for you. They did that, and it made it all the way to us. That this train of discipleship, this equipping people and sharing the gospel and seeing people baptized is all the way to here, and we are to continue that.
And so, at first week, Spencer talked about what. Then we talked about why. Why would we do this? That people would actually believe that there is real hope in Christ, that there is a real eternity, there is a real weight to whether or not we believe, and that people will actually believe if we'll go, if we'll share. And so then we talked about how we can do that, and we said that we can share an invitation, that we can share our story, that we can share the gospel, just in a moment just tell somebody the basics of the story. And we said ultimately we'd share our lives with people and hope and pray and plead with them that they might know Christ and follow him.
And so then we talked last week about discipleship specifically, that we would commit to discipleship. And so we said that discipleship is a life of learning, that it's life on life, it's life in community, and it's life on mission. And now we're kind of finishing up the series today, and we're actually going to, as we end today, we're going to walk through this text, then we'll sing a few songs, and then I'll come back up and we'll talk about a few kind of prayers for the year for us. And that's how we'll finish our time this morning, is kind of talking through some of that. And so what would normally be our just, hey, we've got two or three announcements, is actually going to be short, short sermon number two.
It won't be that long, but it will be longer than announcements, because we're trying to end on here's where we're going, here's where we're headed. And so pick up in Mark 4, I'm going to pray, and we're going to start reading this text together. God, we pray that you would bless our time this morning, that it would be fruitful, that your word would make it to good soil. In Jesus' name, amen. So Mark 4, Jesus, we're going to look at the parable of the sower today, and so we're going to just pick up Mark 4, verse 1.
It says, again, he began to teach. So Jesus did this often, and he is the he there. He began to teach beside the sea, and a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. So they start getting so gathered around him that he climbs into a boat and uses that as a stage, and then he's yelling to all these people who have gathered around the edge of the sea, and he's sitting in a boat. And it says he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them, parables are stories, they're word pictures, they're metaphors, they're analogies, but they're not explained fully.
So they're just kind of, here's what it's like, and he tells the story, and then where a lot of hours would have, and the moral is, a parable just goes, here's the story. Mic drop, walk away. Like you don't necessarily know, you have to kind of figure out, okay, what does that mean, how does that work? And so that's what he'd been doing. He said, listen, behold, a sower went out to sow. Which if you're a sower, that's a good thing to do.
So a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path. Okay, so this isn't needle and thread sowing, this is casting seed sowing. So this guy's got a bag, he's got some seed, and he's casting seed, and we're going to hear what happens. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched.
And since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing, yielding 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold. And he said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. So this is the story that he tells, and you can pull the picture up, but they would have been able to picture this pretty well.
And the idea that he's saying that he's spreading grain means that grain is a cereal crop. You actually eat what you plant. So you either, when it grows up, you either eat or you replant. It's not like an apple tree where you get to eat the apple and plant the seed. This is, you're choosing. I'm going to eat this, I'm going to replant it.
So you usually would hold back some to eat, and you would store some to replant the next year. So he's casting this out. So every little seed can then grow up and become more seed. That's how it works. So that's the story he tells.
So he said, a guy goes out, he's sowing. Some of it falls on a path. It's real hard ground. People use that to walk. It just sits there. Birds see it, come eat it.
Some falls on rocky ground, and it starts to grow down, but realizes it can't go much further. So it starts to grow up. And immediately, that's the stuff you see first. It looks pretty. You're like, hey, it's growing. Then the sun pops up, it's like peekaboo, and kills it.
Because it has no way to get any kind of nutrients. It's not deep. Then some of it went among thorns, and the thorns just choke it out. So it begins to grow, but the thorns grow better, steal from it, choke it, kill it. Some lands on good soil, and it grows. And it bears fruit.
And it multiplies. Some 30-fold, some 60-fold, some 100-fold. And then he ends by saying, and if you understand that, understand that. So he's saying, who has ears to hear, let him hear. And then he's done. And his disciples, it says, verse 10, And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
So he ends with, if you understand that, understand that. And then his disciples get back with him. And he's like, man, I don't know what he's doing. He's like, whew, good teaching. And they're like, hey, Peter had a question. And Peter's like, yeah, we didn't understand that.
And so he, they just kind of asked him, what was that about? Why are you teaching in parables? What were you talking about? And he said to them, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those outside, everything is in parables.
So that they may indeed see, but not perceive. And may indeed hear, but not understand. Lest they should turn and be forgiven. And he said to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? And then he tells them, he says, the sower sows the word.
So he begins to explain the parable to him. So he looks at his disciples. He's gathered the crowd and he's taught in a parable and just says, if you can understand that, you understand it. And then he leaves. And his disciples said, we don't understand that. And he says, y'all get the secret.
You're going to get to know things that nobody else does. To you has been given the secret of the kingdom. And he explains it to him. He doesn't just say, well, you're out. Sorry. He says, no, no, y'all get to be in.
And he explains it. And this is what he says. He says, the sower sows the word. Okay. So the seed that's being cast out kind of aggressively, like, you know, you think you'd plant it or whatever.
This guy's just like slinging it. It's hitting rocks and paths and thorns. And he's just like, it's going to grow somewhere. It's going to be awesome. So he says, the sower sows the word.
And the word is the gospel, this good news of the kingdom. Mark's already used that. He said that Jesus, people gathered around his house and he preached the word. This idea that he's telling you what is good and true and important in life. And ultimately, we know that the word is the gospel, is the truth of who Jesus is and what he's done and the right way to understand scripture. So he says, the word is taught and these are the ones along the path where the word is sown.
Okay. So the word's taught and people respond. And so what we're looking at is four heart level responses to the gospel for heart level responses to the proclamation of the word. And when Jesus teaches this, I want you to see this. It is factual and final. These are four heart level responses to the gospel and everybody responds one of these four ways.
That's how Jesus teaches it. That as the word is sown, this is how people respond. And the reason I say it's factual and final is that from Jesus's eternal perspective, that's how it looks. From our perspective, it doesn't look factual and final. Because at times it seems like somebody would be in one category and then later there's a twist ending and they're in another category. And hopefully it's a good twist ending.
It's like, oh, wow, like it turns out it was nice. Not like an evil twist ending where everything falls apart at the end. You're like, this is terrible. But they do go both ways and we can't see exactly where we are in the story. Don't even know personally where we are in the story at times. We're supposed to walk out our salvation and fear and trembling and to continue to walk towards the Lord in life.
So as we talk through this today, we will talk through it as both. We'll talk through it as the way Jesus sees it and how these people end up. And then we'll talk through it as how we get to walk with people when it seems like they're in these zones. Does that make sense? Because there may be somebody who seems this way and then later is something else. But we can only go with what we can see.
All right. So he begins to explain. He says, these are the ones along the path where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. So Satan is the bird that swoops in, snatches the seed.
Matthew, he says, when they hear the gospel and don't understand it, the enemy comes or the devil comes. And so what we've got to see there is that there are some people who it just doesn't, it just bounces off of them. They don't understand it. It doesn't connect. It doesn't have any amount of growth whatsoever. And that we have a real enemy who does not want people to believe the gospel.
That Satan actively works to snatch away the good proclamation of the gospel. This was actually second Corinthians four, four says it this way. It says, in their case, the God of this world, that's, that's Satan. That's the devil. God's enemy has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. That the enemy, the enemy opposes the proclamation of the gospel.
And there are those who just simply won't believe. I, when I was working at Sears in Lynchburg, I was going, I would go to my coworkers and I would say, Hey, you know, I'm in seminary and I feel called to start a church. Um, I didn't just start there. They knew that. So it made a little more sense.
And then I would say, so I, at some point I want to tell you about Jesus. When can we do that? Um, and with most of my coworkers, first of all, this catches people off guard, but with most of my coworkers, they just went, um, I, I guess now because it was like a break time. I picked it up opportunity time. They weren't like talking to a customer and I wasn't like standing behind him. Like I waited till there was like a good moment and they would say that.
And then I would share the gospel with them, um, as best I could. In the moment, some of my coworkers were like, uh, lunch break. Like they would give you a time or they would say maybe later. And I would say, when later? And like, I had one coworker that I came to him and I said, Hey, you know, I'm, uh, in seminary. I'd love to tell you about Jesus at some point.
When can we do that? And he went, um, turn to look at me. He's doing training on a computer. That's what this was. Y'all can't see that, but he wasn't left-handed. It was this hand.
He looked at me and said, how about never? Yeah, let's do that. Never. And then he just turned back to his computer work. And that was when I shared the gospel with him was never. I was ended up how it, how it worked.
I didn't have another time that it worked out. He didn't want to hear it. There are some people that you have the chance to share the gospel with them and they just reject it or they don't want to hear it. And here's the thing. There are some people in this category. You're going to share it with them and it's just, it isn't going to sink in.
It's not going to make any sense. It's not going to click. There's some people who aren't going to let you or don't want to. Now, Jesus tells his disciples that you can shake the dust out of your clothes. You can shake the dust off your shoes. You can go to another town.
So there is room for us to say, I'm not going to continue to try to share the gospel with someone who doesn't want to hear it, who's against it. But there's also, we don't know. Paul would have been a terrible person to share the gospel with until Jesus knocked him off his horse and made him blind. And then he went around sharing the gospel with everybody. So we don't know exactly where they are.
So if it's your cousin or your neighbor, keep the relationship, be gracious to him. But maybe they're not ready. But also realize that you can't sit and make somebody be good soil if they're not and feel the freedom to say, I shared, I tried, I'm moving on to somebody who wants to hear. So those are the, those along the path, rocky ground. It says, and these are the ones sown on rocky ground. That's verse 16.
The ones who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a little while. Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. So there's a group of people who will immediately receive it with joy, which is how you want people to receive the gospel is this is the best news ever. Thank you. I'd love to follow Jesus now. And I know if you share the gospel enough and someone does this, it's at times can be surprising.
You're like, you're, you're all nervous. And you're like, I'm gonna tell you about Jesus. And they're like, yes, that sounds amazing. I want to follow Jesus. And you're like, okay, well, you don't have to be mad. Wait, what?
Yeah, that would be great. You should do that. Like you're almost caught off guard sometimes, but you're like, yes, let's do that. And so they immediately begin to follow Jesus. But as soon as some difficulty arises, some persecution, they're out.
Now, in other countries, this looks different than here. There are other nations where your spouse leaves you, your family disowns you, you're physically attacked. Yeah, you're no longer allowed to work. That doesn't happen here. Like you didn't go to work and say, hey, I'm following Jesus now. And they were like, leave Walmart and never come back.
They don't, they don't do that. You still get to be a greeter there. Like they don't, there's no persecution on that level. But there are times where somebody may be, maybe this is somebody you share the gospel with while you're at school and they go home for the summer and they come back and they're like, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing that anymore. Because they got around their friends and their friends made fun of them or said, really? Are you serious?
And it was the first bit of difficulty and the first bit of persecution and the first bit of somebody who wasn't, they weren't just hanging out with your group and being excited and they're just, I'm done. And this is maybe opposite. Somebody goes off to school and the first professor that says, this is stupid. They just quit. This is somebody who the first little bit of life change that has to come. They just, they call it.
And so they're excited. This is hurtful. This is sad, but they're excited. They're going to follow Jesus. And then you talk to them and they're like, yeah, I think I'm done with that. And you're like, really?
You're going to give Jesus up for this? But that's what happens. And in those moments we can correct and we can try to point them towards what's true, but we cannot love Jesus for them and you cannot make rocky ground to be good soil through any of your own effort. That's not how it works. As Jesus tells it, it's factual and it's finalized so that if someone's in that zone, they will not change. Now we don't always know who's in that zone, but we do have the freedom to say, Lord, I've tried and I'm going to spend my time with somebody who wants to hear the gospel and wants to grow.
Third, third zone, third type of soil. And the others are the ones sown among thorns. So the gospel goes among thorns and it says, these are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful. I think the majority of the church, those who would walk with the church are in these last two zones, in these last two bits of soil, that there are those who would walk with the church for a while. See, the other ones immediately fall away. These are slowly choked.
So they would say, I'm a believer. They would begin to walk. But over time, they'd prove, prove means over time, that eventually they'd prove unfruitful. It says that the desires of the world, that the cares of the world, the desires for other things and deceitfulness of riches. I want to talk briefly through those. The cares of the world, I think probably the best way to describe that, at least in our context, would just be busyness.
Oh man, I'd love to. Just got so much going on. I just, I mean, with, with work and the kids and avoiding y'all, like there's just, sorry, that's desire for other things. The cares of the world is this genuine, like, I want this, but I just, I don't have time. This is, I just, I don't know. I just can't kind of make it from here to there.
And, and so there are some people that would hang out with your group and they'll be around some and they'll be there ish. And then they'll be gone for a while. And, and I'm not saying a season. I know that there are seasons where there's sickness or there's seasons where there's Job loss or there's seasons where there's difficulty or there's seasons where you have a child and they're the worst. And then they're beautiful and wonderful, you guys. And we're glad they're in here this morning, but there are seasons, but I'm talking over time.
It proves if you've had a seven year long season of just too busy, that's not how it works. Then he says the deceitfulness of riches. And I love that he says it that way. He doesn't just say riches. He says the deceitfulness of riches. Y'all know riches are a trick.
That they're a trick. One of the things we talk about sometimes is that men are supposed to build and conquer and grow and develop. Not to say women aren't, but men are called to these things. And that one of the problems we have culturally is video games because video games short circuit that. They make you think you're building and developing and growing. I'm the general and I'm over an entire city.
No, you're not. You are in your mom's basement. And you haven't bathed in four days. Like when you level up on a video game, you level down in real life. I don't know how else to, I mean, some amount of riches does that to everybody. It short circuits the promises of God.
It steps in and it's just such a good, tasteful, easy alternative that it lies to us and we believe it. The promises of God that he gives us hope, that he gives us life, that he gives us fullness, that he gives us joy, that there are pleasures at his right hand forevermore, that we have a future. Man, doesn't money just pull all that closer? Smaller. It doesn't last. There's a song I grew up singing in church and it's, uh, because he lives.
And it would say, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because he lives, I know who holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives. But man, doesn't money just sneak in there and work? Because I'm rich, I can face tomorrow. Come on.
Because I'm rich, all fear is gone. I can commit crimes and won't even have to go to jail. Because I know, I hold the future and life is worth the living just because I'm rich. Money tricks us. It hops in, in place of Jesus so easily and it promises things that it cannot deliver. It's, it's deceitful.
But there's a whole group of people who would say they believe, who would say they've hoped in Jesus and they have been lied to and they are pursuing riches and it's going to choke the fruitfulness of the word. I was watching a movie called Ash Lad in the Hall of the Mountain King on Amazon. It was a free Amazon movie and it, it was made in Norway. And so it was dubbed over in English. It was a children's movie, which aren't great anyway, but to have their mouths not match made it a little bit also hard to watch. But it was doing like Swedish and I'm sorry, it wasn't made in Sweden, it was made in, it was doing, I don't remember where it was made, somewhere over there in the top part of Europe.
I looked it up and now I've forgotten. And it was doing myths that, that matched that area where it was made. And these guys were going through the woods, they're traveling on this, this quest to fight a goblin and they, they're very hungry and they find golden apples in the woods as you, as you do. And, uh, they were like, well, whoever left these golden apples wouldn't mind if we have one because of course not super generous left their golden apples there. So they start eating them.
Turns out they're delicious. Uh, and so they start eating more. And then the third brother, the youngest one just kind of catching up. So he shows up kind of towards the end of this. He tastes one. He, uh, follows them in and then he finds his older brothers and they're laughing hysterically because what's happened is these three ladies come out of the woods as often happens.
And these guys think that they're the most beautiful women they've ever seen. And they kind of drag them along and they take them and they say, we're going to get married. These guys are laughing hysterically and they go around and they're having so much fun and they sit at this feast. And so the youngest brother only had a little bit of an apple. He comes around, he's sitting with him. He's like, this just feels weird.
And then eventually he begins to be able to see clearly. Turns out the golden apples were a trick. And these beautiful young ladies are not beautiful young ladies. They are old, uh, scary witches and the food that they're eating at this feast is cockroaches and bugs and rotten things. And he sees it first and he has to do everything he can to grab his brothers and to escape. And that's what riches is for us.
Seems beautiful now. Tastes good now. Promises things it can never deliver. And at the end of the line, we're just eating cockroaches. It's just falling apart. It wasn't beautiful.
It was a trick. And that's what he says. That there's a whole group of people who we would see as Christians and say, believe, and you would watch them over time. And the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word so that they are unfruitful. He also says the desire for other things. And man, isn't that true?
I'm following Jesus until I can get a boyfriend. And you sit down with them and you say, you're heading in the wrong way. This is not helpful. This is not edifying. This is not life-giving. And they say, I don't know.
I prayed about it. I don't feel bad. We ain't got to pray about it. It's written down. Do you want to read it again? Like all you said was my heart's so far from Jesus.
I so much desire something else that I want it so much more that I don't feel bad. I can't, it can't even get to me at this point because I so desire this and I'm getting it so I feel great. The desires for other things. This is when people say, yeah, I just really have a hard time reading the Bible. Like, okay. But you know the entire recruiting class for your favorite sports team?
You've kept up with every mom blog on this half of the internet? Feels like you know how to read. Feels like you want other stuff. And that's what happens. And as we're walking with people like that, we get to correct them. We get to call them towards joy and hope.
But eventually, you cannot make someone be in good soil. And you have the freedom to say, I think you're wrong and I love you and I hope the Lord changes your heart. But I'm going to build with those who want to build and I'm going to walk with those who want to walk. And our group's going to move on mission with those who want to move on mission. And we can't sit because you're too busy or because you want other things. It's heartbreaking.
And the prayer is that Jesus would change them. But there are people in that category. It proves unfruitful. Verse 20. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30-fold and 60-fold and 100-fold.
He's saying there's a group of people that hear the gospel, that hear the word, and it sinks into their heart and they begin to grow. Now, it doesn't say they immediately receive it with joy. It says they accept it. Okay. I think you're right. Now, they can immediately receive it with joy.
I don't think that would be wrong if they did. But I also think that it doesn't mean they start off like a bottle rocket. They may be like having to wrestle it out and having to walk it out. But eventually, tribulation comes, persecution comes, and they keep going. The cares of the world, the desire for other things come, and they keep going. And this good soil, they grow and they produce more grain.
And grain, if we're going to push the analogy a little bit, like I said, is either eaten or replanted. We've been talking about discipleship. I think that fits well. They're either sharing the gospel or they're helping others grow. That's what happens. That's what he's saying.
It bears fruit. The gospel becomes more seed that goes out for other people or it becomes eaten and people grow and are healthy from it. But there's this idea that people would grow up in the faith and they would be mature and they would help others mature and they would help others meet Jesus. That there's good soil that later will be used again for health and life and joy in the gospel to spread. Some 30-fold, some 60-fold, some 100-fold. Now, when we're walking with people like this, again, we don't always know, but they're going to be around.
They're going to repent when corrected. That's one of the things we talk about all the time is that Christians repent. The reason we correct one another in sin is because Christians repent. And the reason we have to at some point say goodbye to people is because they are not living as Christians because they are refusing to repent. So you'll go to this person, you'll correct them, and they'll say, you're right.
Maybe, maybe they'll say, you're stupid, I hate you. And then they'll call you back the next day and say, no, you're right. The Holy Spirit's at work in me and I can't, I can't keep doing this. Maybe they walk off for a season, but they come back. But eventually there's a group of people that bear fruit.
And you think about the people in your life, if you've been following Jesus for a while, who have shown up at the right time to correct you, who have walked with you for a season to coach you, to teach you how to read the Bible, or who have walked with you and helped you through something, and they're bearing fruit. Some 30-fold, some 60-fold, some 100-fold. There was somebody who grabbed you at some point and told you, you need to believe in Jesus. And they're bearing fruit. And that our prayer is that we would be those people. That if you're looking at this and you're going, okay, I've got to be one of the four.
Just so you know, you're one of the four. And you get to pick. Go with the one that's lit up right now. It's just a suggestion. But if you've got to pick, and you're going to ask the Lord to help do something in you, go with bottom right.
You want to be good soil that you might produce, that you might grow. You pray that, Lord, I want to share the gospel with you and have them believe it. Have them grow. I want to help others walk and grow. I want to help people mature. That that's the hope.
And he says there's a group there. And isn't that beautiful that there is a group there? Jesus, before he told this parable, if you look at the very back end of Matthew 3, Jesus is with his disciples. His parents think he's going crazy, or his mama does. His mama and his brothers and sisters come because they need to talk to him because it's like, you were a carpenter and now you're doing some weird things. Like you recruited some fishermen and now you're just teaching people stuff and we need to talk.
And they say, your mama's here. And Jesus says, who's my mama? They're like, the lady outside that we were just talking about. And he says, those who follow the will of my father, those who do the will of my father are my mother, my sister, and my brother. And there's this idea when he goes into the parable and Mark then takes us into this parable of the soil that what displays a Christian is ultimately fruitfulness. And that if we were to say, no, I'm a Christian.
And we bear no fruit. We do not do the will of the father. We do not share the gospel. We do not disciple others. We we do not. We actually, if you looked at our life, if you looked at our bank account, if you looked at our time, we desire other things or the cares of the world have choked this out.
That we cannot claim Christ. Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey me. Now, here's the beautiful part of that. He doesn't say, if you obey me, I'll love you. He says, if you love me, you'll obey me. What happens is we can get to the end of this and we can go, OK, OK.
All right. I'm going to do it. I'm going to be the picture in the bottom right. I'm going to get it together. I'm going to quit letting the cares of the world. I'm going to quit letting the desires of other things.
I'm not going to hang out with my friends that tell me I'm stupid. And I'm going to do this. The problem is that's not how it works. And that's not even how Jesus says we ought to respond. All right.
So if you were paying attention at the beginning of this, Jesus said this was a secret. And then one of his disciples snarked and wrote it down and then they printed it and we got to all read it. Now, it would seem as if the person who did that did something Jesus did not want them to do. Jesus said, everybody else gets just to hear the parable. I'm going to tell you the secret. And there was one in the back going, watch this.
Wiki leaks. That may be really politically charged. I don't know enough to know if I just said something that threw everybody off. Spencer will tell me later. He'll be like, bro, I can't say that. But that's what they did.
Somebody wrote it down. But here's the thing. Jesus goes to the cross. And then Paul says, there's a beautiful mystery that just got revealed. And now it's for everybody. That Jesus goes and suffers and dies in our place.
And it is the revealing of God. He is the image of God. And the proclamation of the gospel now goes to everyone. So if you look back at how it began, Jesus says this. And we'll have it on the screen, but it's in your text as well. And he said to them, verse 11, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those outside, everything is in parables.
To us now, because of the gospel, has been given the secret. And Jesus is the secret. He's the mystery revealed. He dies on the cross so that we might have life in him. That's ultimately what happens. And here's what he says.
That they may indeed see, but not perceive. And may indeed hear, but not understand. Lest they should turn and be forgiven. He tells you the point of the parables. And he tells you how to respond to the parables. Turn and be forgiven.
He doesn't say turn and try harder. He doesn't say turn and work it out. He doesn't say turn and finally be good. He says turn and be forgiven. The appropriate and correct response to the gospel proclaimed and to understanding this parable today is to turn and say, Lord, forgive me. Help me.
I can't change my heart, but you can. I can't make myself good soil, but you can. I can't jump from being a path. I can't go from being rocky ground. I can't get rid of these thorns, but you can. And Jesus, I need you to help me.
So the response is not, I am now going to multiply. I'm now going to make disciples. I'm going to make grain. And I'm going to go sit and flex and try. No, the response is to run to Jesus and say, I need you to change my heart so that the desires of the world fade because I see how beautiful and glorious you are. I need to see you on the cross and have you so capture my soul.
And I need you to forgive me because I am so often tempted to believe that something else is more glorious than you. And I need you to work powerfully in me. And then we get to live, as Paul says, where he'll say, by God's grace, I worked harder than any of them. That we get to live out that it's Jesus's grace at work in us, that he works powerfully in us for us to be effective. And that's the hope. So the band's going to come back up.
We're going to sing a song. We're going to sing two songs, both of them dealing with this idea that we would give up everything else to know and love Jesus more. And in doing that, we are turning to him and we're saying, I want you above everything else and I want you to change me and I want you to matter more to me and I want to desire you above everything else so that it makes sense that I would spend my time for this, that I would spend my life for this. That it would be a joy and a delight as you work this out in my heart. And our prayer is that we would turn and ask for forgiveness and that his grace would work powerfully in us that we might bear fruit and multiply.
Let's pray. God, we thank you for your grace. And we know that as you see it, it's finalized and factual, but as we live it out, we're in the moment and we don't know. And God, we pray that we would make it to the end proving fruitful. But God, we can't change our hearts.
We can't make ourselves different through effort or work. You had to come and die so that we might be changed, so that the secret of you in us might be revealed. And so we ask that you would forgive us, that you would be in us, and that you would work this out powerfully in us for your glory. And that nobody here today would have the enemy snatch the gospel away from them. And nobody here today would face tribulation and run from you. And nobody here today would be tricked and lied to.
And at the end of days, realize they spent their life on something that mattered so little. And we ask that your grace would be prevalent and present, and that your spirit would be at work, that we might be fruitful by the power of your grace, for the glory of your name, and the good of our souls. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So we believe the stuff we've been saying in this series.
We believe that Jesus sent us, sent his church, and we believe that there are people in our city who do not know Jesus, and will spend an eternity in hell. That we are called to make disciples, and that we ought to, any amount of time and effort and money and energy given to the cause of Christ, and his gospel and his glorious name is worth it. We don't always carry that out. Well, we have seasons where we get confused, and we do things we ought not to do, and that's the beautiful hope. While we gather every week and remind ourselves that Jesus saves sinners, this isn't awesome club. And I'm sorry if you thought that.
Hang out for a week or two. You'll figure it out. Jesus saves sinners, but we do believe that by his grace that he works in us, and that he uses us, and he makes us effective. And so we have a handful of things that we're praying for. We've been talking about them throughout the series, but I wanted to remind us of them. We'll talk about them more throughout the year, but we've got a handful of things that we're praying for, and we're just asking the Lord to accomplish.
That we actually want to do this. We actually want to see this happen. But they're not just goals, because some of us get a goal, and we think, well, all right, if we have to be unhealthy, we're still going to accomplish that goal. And that's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about just making something happen in our own strength. We're asking the Lord to do it in his strength, in his power, and then it gets to last and gets to be beautiful, and it'll be great.
So here's the first one we're praying for. We said this a while back, and we said it a specific way, and we're kind of changing the language so that it makes a little more sense for us. But we said we want to have 100 everyday missionaries this year. Like we're just praying that 100 everyday missionaries. So we said 100 preachers or 100 sharers, but I don't like having to say sharer, and preacher might confuse people.
So this is language we use often, which is that you would be active in sharing your faith. You would be active, that you would look at the world, our world, our city, your neighborhood, your job, the way a missionary would, and you'd say, I'm using this job for the purpose of mission. I'm using this home for the purpose of mission, and I want to see people meet Jesus. And so we're praying that we'd have 100 everyday missionaries. We have 80 adult committed members here. We have about 119 adults hanging out with groups.
So we said, we know some of those people hanging out with groups aren't Christians, but we also, we're just praying this year we'd have people, 100 people that have shared their faith with somebody else that have, and so we're asking the Lord to do that. And so we want you to be praying that. I want you to write that on your prayer list. I want you to talk with your group about it. I want y'all to be praying about it, but we want to have 100 people that are doing this. The second thing we're praying for is that, every group would get around the pool, that every single group this year would get to see someone baptized.
Now, that may not happen. I don't know if y'all just heard the sermon that was just preached, but we can't control the soil. We do get to indiscriminately, psychotically throw, throw seed, but we can't control the soil. And so your group could be actively on mission this entire year and not see anybody meet Jesus. And that's okay. And by God's grace, that happens.
And by God's grace, maybe some people will meet Jesus next year. But this is the thing we're asking him to do. So we're going to ask him that he'd send us to receptive people and that they would believe the gospel and that they would stick. This means we are changing some things about how we do baptism. I mean, we're still going to completely dunk people because we think that's biblical. But what we've done in the past is we've had two kind of big baptism parties a year.
We get a big like portable hot tub thing and we build it right here and we get fried chicken and we have a big celebration. But what's happened is we have said, Hey, we've got baptism coming up and we've kind of even said like, Hey, we've got baptism coming up. So if you've got some people you need to share the gospel with, you should do that. So we are sharing the gospel people for an event. And that's not what it says. We're supposed to share the gospel with people.
They're supposed to believe and be baptized. And so we're going to start baptizing more often because we want to be sharing the gospel constantly. And so when someone believes and you say, Hey, we've got some inner group who's believed in Christ and we want to, to walk with them about what baptism is. We still want to be able to do videos, but we probably won't have as big of parties. We're still going to celebrate because baptism is awesome and we're going to make it a big deal, but we're going to do it more often. So it can't be as big a deal.
And the, the item, the tub can't probably be as big. So I don't know. We just got to get them completely wet. You guys, um, that's really the only goal. I've seen some pictures of missionaries where they got like somebody ducked down in a bucket. So we might get like a 55 gallon drum and just push their head down.
We may get like the first person we baptized was in a horse trough. We may get a horse trough and glue some wheels to that bad boy. I don't know, but we're going to try to celebrate baptism more often as we are effectively, consistently sharing our faith with people. And then when they believe we want to baptize them in response to faith and not have people, uh, consider faith in response to baptism. So our hope, our prayer is that every group this year gets to gather around a pool, gets to see somebody baptized.
It's pool sounds better. Bucket didn't sound as good or 55 gallon drum, but gets to gather around, see them baptized and celebrate together as a group. And we want you to be praying that as well. Uh, the third thing we're praying for is that everyone in groups is 100% committed to discipleship. Now we don't have a way to test this.
Uh, we're working on something where it's like the little diabetes thing where you test for blood or whatever. We're working on something, but we can't do it yet. So, uh, we don't have a way to test this, but we're asking the Lord to do it through his, through his power, through the grace, uh, at work in us and through his Holy spirit. And so our prayer is that by what we mean by that is that you would be devoted to helping the people in your group grow, that you would show up to your group knowing that it is not about you. And in knowing that, that you would grow. You see, we grow as we sacrifice.
We grow as we serve. We grow as we collectively learn. And so our prayer is that we would be devoted to that, that a life of learning, life on life, life in community, life on mission, and that we would grow. What we're praying ultimately with all of these things is that God would let our church be in good soil, that we would grow and prove fruitful. The final one, and this one gets me excited because it means a whole lot of things have to happen, is we're praying that within the next year to 18 months, every single one of our groups multiplies. What that means is we have to be training leaders.
We have to be sharing the gospel. We have to be willing to get uncomfortable and intentionally identify some new mission fields and some new areas that we're going to try to launch groups into. It means that Jesus has to be at work all over the place. And so we think it's a good thing to pray for, to ask him that our groups would be able to multiply, that we'd be able to equip leaders, that we'd be able to send people out to be missionaries in our city. And ultimately, here's one of the things we've found. Our community groups can basically handle being a group and loving and being church family and serving and working together with about the amount of people you can fit in a house around a table and a handful of couches.
It's 15. 15 to 20. After that, you don't realize you're doing this, but you start thinking, I can't invite my friends because this would freak them out. There's too many people here. And so what happens is we actually, one of the ways that we continue to grow is that we multiply and we open up more room for us to invite, for us to share the gospel, for us to see people have what we have. And the beautiful thing is if you've been in groups that have multiplied, right when you went to multiply, you thought, I can never live without these people.
They're the most amazing people ever. And the first week after y'all kind of went to your different areas to be on mission together with a new group of people, it was really sad and awkward. You're like, just the eight of us, this is the worst. And then a year later, you had people in your group that knew Jesus now, that'll spend eternity with him in his kingdom, praising him. And you're like, I can't live without this person. And it gets to happen over and over and over again.
And what Jesus actually says is, unless a grain of wheat dies, it can't reproduce. And so in order for us to see fruit and growth and discipleship and health and people meeting Jesus, we have to die a little bit. And ultimately we get to live. And Jesus empowers that by his grace. And so our prayer is that these would happen. Write them down.
I wouldn't get a tattoo because this is just for like this year we're praying this. But write them down. Let's be praying this together. Let's be asking Jesus to be at work by his grace, his Holy Spirit to empower us that we might prove fruitful. Because we really, really want to see some people know Christ and have their hearts changed with the hope that's in the gospel. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Our prayer is that we might do that. So let's pray for these for a moment and for that, and then we'll be sent out. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Jesus, all authority is yours, and you promise to go with us. By your grace, make us fruitful. Help us make disciples. Amen. Your son.