Genesis 27:1-45 - Broken people can’t stop God’s sovreingty.

If you were to take a boat from Newfoundland about 400 miles out into the North Atlantic sea, and swim about 13,000 feet down, you will find a big boat.

That ship sailed it’s maiden voyage 4/10/1912.

Before the departure, there were some reporters talking with Captain Edward John Smith, expressing their concerns with the largest ship in the world leaving port.

Edward Smith was reported to have saying, “I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that. Not even God Himself could sink this ship.

This is a very audacious thought.

Four days after leaving port, the Titanic would strike an iceburg at 11:40PM and lay on the bottom of the ocean by 2:30AM.

There are some things we must know about God.

He is infinite and eternal.

He has no beginning and He has no end.

He is infinitely good.

There is nothing evil about Him.

He has created all things and provides for all things.

He Is sovereign.

Meaning not only can God work in His creation to accomplish His will, but He will do all He pleases to accomplish His perfect will for creation.

Big Idea: Broken people can’t stop God’s sovereignty.

Context

Similar to Abraham/Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah is barren. He prayed to the Lord and she conceived

Genesis 25:22–23 “22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “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.””

God informed her that the older (Esau) shall serve the younger (Jacob).

God had sovereignly chose Jacob to carry the promise forward to further establish His plan of redemption.

God is continuing His promise to Abraham that was passed to Isaac. Now it’s moving to the next generation.

Isaac is becoming a blind, old man and wants to bless Esau, his firstborn—but this is not in line with what the Lord had told Rebekah (25:23).

Stand to read

Genesis 27:1–17 ESV

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.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 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.” 5 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, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” 14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

Happy Mother’s Day!

Isaac is old, and he has become blind—He wants to bless Esau

Not in a traditional way.

Normally blessings would come with all the family around.

This blessing is planned in secret to be carried out in secret.

Isaac knows Rebekah would object because God told her that the older would serve the younger.

Isaac is ignoring God’s promise regarding Jacob.

Rebekah overhears and decides to take God’s plan into her own hands.

She forms this deceptive plan with Jacob.

She cooked the food and had Jacob put together this costume out of Esau’s clothes and goats fur.

Jacob was not a hairy man and Esau had some fuzz.

Jacob went in and Isaac investigated: How did you come back so quickly?

He told Isaac that he was Esau and that the Lord had given him success in hunting.

Isaac asked him to come near to validate that he was Esau.

Genesis 27:22–29 ESV

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 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. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 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 is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

Jacob deceives his dad and obtains the blessing that Isaac meant for his brother.

Jacob is the absolute worst.

In spite of Isaac’s intent to bless Esau and in spite of Jacob’s sinful deceit, God chose to work through Jacob to secure His plan and purpose.

Through this schemer, God was going to bring about His plan of sending a Savior to redeem our sinfulness.

Nothing Jacob did deserves praise.

He’s a liar, a fake, and opportunist.

Yet God chose Jacob to receive the blessing despite His actions here.

God is extending the blessing of Christ through Jacob.

God worked through the lineage of this severely broken man to fulfill His promise.

Church,

Our sin cannot stop God’s sovereign plan

God is in total control over everything He has created.

There are times where we feel like the Lord has taken His hands off and is aloof, but this is so far from the truth.

God is in control over all creation, human history, to accomplish His purpose of receiving glory in the world.

We question, “If God is sovereign, why do bad things happen/why do people like Jacob get blessed?”

God will receive all the more glory when He restores everything than if He had just created all things.

We live in a broken world, filled with broken people, but our God remains sovereign over it all to accomplish His good plan.

God’s sovereignty should serve as a comfort to us, who do not have our lives together.

If we were actually honest, we don’t have everything under control.

We must rely on God’s mercy and control for every element of our lives.

God’s plan was to carry the promise He made to Abraham and pass it to Isaac, then to Jacob, despite Jacob being unworthy.

Transition

After Isaac finished blessing Jacob, he had just left the room and like a sitcom, Esau walks in.

Isaac says, “Who are you?”

Isaac “trembled violently” and Esau cried out with an exceedingly bitter cry.”

Genesis 27:35–38 ESV

35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 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 has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

Can’t Isaac just bless Esau also?

Not in the way he has blessed Jacob.

Through Jacob would come the Savior of the world.

Isaac gave Esau a general blessing.

There is nothing in Esau’s blessing that points to Christ.

Esau plans to kill his brother, but momma Rebekah hears about it.

Genesis 27:42–45 ESV

42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. 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. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— 45 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 you both in one day?”

Sin comes with consequences

Isaac would die, never seeing the promise of God continued through his lineage.

Rebekah would never see her favorite son, Jacob, again.

Esau would never experience the blessing of God.

Jacob would never experience life with his family again.

There is so much brokenness in this event.

Isaac wants to betray God’s plan for Jacob

Rebekah betrays Isaac/Esau

Jacob betrays Isaac/Esau

Esau wants to kill Jacob.

Transition

Perhaps your life looks similar to this.

When it rains it pours, and you can’t quite keep your head above water.

You don’t understand why things are happening and why God is allowing them to happen.

We experience the broken world because of our sin.

Jacob was crafty and deceptive

We are all like Jacob.

We have all been wilful enemies of God in our sin.

Regardless of how you’ve sinned, you are just as guilty as Rebekah, Isaac, and Rebekah.

We are broken.

I’m always amazed by people who can restore stuff from broken junk and make it beautiful.

There is an art in Japan called (kint-sun-gi)

Picture

They take a valuable pottery with gold.

The goal is to make it more exquisite, distinguishable, and valuable, than before it was broken.

Rather than trying to hide the damage, kintsugi highlights the repair. The imperfections are what make it beautiful and valuable.

God sovereignly chose Jacob to illuminate the reality that He alone will get all the glory for restoring the brokenness of humanity.

God never chose a rockstar to lead up to the coming of Jesus.

The Bible is full of stumbling morons who God chose to pour out His love and affections onto to realize His plan of redemption.

Gospel presentation

God has been working out His plan of restoration since Genesis 3.

Fast-forward, and a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be the promised Savior of the World.

God sent His Son Jesus, to be the promise fulfilled.

Jesus would live perfectly according to God’s law and be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

When Jesus died on the cross, God put all our sins onto Him.

Like Jacob, we took Jesus’s blessing and Jesus took our curse.

Like Jacob, we were enemies of God, guilty, and deserved the worst.

But when we put our trust in Jesus for salvation, we are given the blessing of God and forgiven of all our sins!

Notice, this isn’t because you’re awesome but because God has worked out His sovereign plan to save us from our sins

Jesus can take your brokenness and put it back together with His blood.

What shows is not your brokenness, but the beauty of God’s restoration in your life.

Church,

God receives the glory in fixing our brokenness.

Some of you wonder if God truly loves you.

I struggle a lot with receiving God’s grace because I know that I’m like Jacob and don’t deserve it.

The gospel gives us this massive picture of God’s sovereign love and grace toward sinners because He doesn’t save us because we deserve it.

He saves us because of His glory alone.

He brings us into a right relationship with Him through faith in Jesus.

God pours out His affections on those who are in Christ.

Today that can be your story.

Sure, you’re life can be in shambles right now.

You’ve tried to fix yourself and everything you’ve tried, you’ve failed.

The Lord has offered us the blessing of knowing Him and being known by Him.

All you have to do is take a step toward Jesus in faith.

We all have a next step to take.

Take the Next Step

Receive God’s sovereign grace.

You were brought here today by God’s sovereignty.

The Lord has used everything in your life to bring you to this moment.

To hear the Word proclaimed.

To hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To give you hope in Him alone.

Will you trust in Jesus to save you?

Ask the Lord to fix your brokenness

Even Christians need to live lives that turn to Christ and away from sin.

We seek the abundant life in Christ, this means that we have to turn away from things that keep us from God’s sovereign plan for our lives.

We rely on the Holy Spirit to put us back together.

Invite someone out of brokenness into God’s sovereign plan.

Invitation to receive, repent, and respond.