Untitled Sermon (13)

Genesis 25-26

Week 3-- Joseph’s Father

Genesis 25 and 26

INTRODUCTION

Jacob epitomizes modern man. Strong willed, ambitious, self-reliant, resourceful, and shrewd. He used every trick in the book to get what he wanted. Success was everything. It was prophesied to be the case but he always tried to gain success by his own strength, rather than relying on the Lord.

Jacob had a genuine desire for spiritual things but usually resorted to carnal things to get there. His faith desired his father’s blessing, but his fear secured it by trickery.Jacob couldn’t wait for God to bring it about so he stole it by trickery.

Genesis 25:24–34 ESV

24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 26:34-35 “34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.”

4 Ways They Tried to Overrule God

Isaac, a weak man who preferred the son willing to serve his own needs to the selection of God, ended up blessing Jacob for all the wrong reasons.

Esau got what he deserved. Any man so disrespectful of his birthright that he would sell it for a bowl of stew doesn’t deserve the honor of his family.

Jacob forced his own evacuation from the family. By taking matters into his own hands, he caused irreparable damage to his relationships. Esau was ready to kill him, and Jacob was forced to flee to his uncle Laban’s.

Jacob and his mother Rebekah never saw each other again. Had they not schemed together, they no doubt would have had many more years in each other’s presence.

The Bible records four crises that the Lord brought into Jacob’s life to teach him how to rely on God.

The Crisis at Bethel

Genesis 28:10–22 ESV

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 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 lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 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 have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 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.” 18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Jacob was alone in the desert after stealing what belonged to his brother.

He has a revelation from God.

He woke up and realized how important the message was so he immediately tried to use the revelation to his own advantage.

He tried to trick God into signing a contract with him, so that he could get what he wanted.

“Okay, I’ll do this for you, Lord, if you’ll do something for me.” “God, if you do what I want, I’ll give you a tithe.”

Jacob seems to never remember this vow. Jacob was more interested in his flocks and herds and material possessions than with selling out his life for God. The next years of Jacob’s life deals with his prosperity, not with the Bethel experience.

The Crisis at Peniel

At the age of 100 (middle age), after dealing with someone as cunning as he was, he left Laban and took the 450 mile trip back home.

On the way God sent an angel

Genesis 32:1–12 ESV

1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ” 6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.” 9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 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, the mothers with the children. 12 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 reminds God of his promises.

He was scared of Esau so he called on God’s help.

He spread out his servants and gave them gifts for his brother.

He event sent his family ahead leaving himself alone.

Same old schemer trying to pacify his brother’s anger.

The Lord deals with Jacob

While he was alone, without the support system he had created.

A meeting between Jacob and the Lord.

The Lord administered divine discipline, sending a man to wrestle with Jacob to try and break down his confidence in himself.

Genesis 32:25 “25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.”

– Jacob was made lame- not able to stand in own strength

He was no longer able to wrestle with God so he clings to him. (26)

The Lord wanted Jacob to hang onto God all along, to quit trying to accomplish things himself in the energy of the flesh. The Lord broke him.

Jacob went from trickster to a man working out his relationship with God.

God changed his name– Israel (28)

Israel= he contends with God

The Results of Jacob’s crisis

He had a new character.

No longer a trickster. Man working out his relationship with God.

God broke him of his self-will.

God was now in charge of his life.

The Lord broke Jacob’s strength.

He would limp for the rest of his life as a reminder.

The Crisis at Succoth

Jacob and Esau made peace when the met.

They decided to settle down next to each other in Seir.

Genesis 33:14 “14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.””

Jacob instead moved his family to Succoth– He lied again.

Jacob just couldn’t seem to change, and it caused major problems. Jacob’s daughter was raped, and his sons went to slaughter all the men in the town because of the shame brought upon their sister. Mass murder occurred because Jacob had’t obeyed God and moved back home near his brother, Esau.

The Crisis at Bethel

When Jacob was an old man, the Lord commanded him to move to Bethel, and Jacob finally obeyed.

It was at Bethel that Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and a short time alter, Rachel died too.

A few years later when asked his age by Pharaoh, Jacob would reply– Genesis 47:9.– A sad commentary on life.– God won only after much fighting for many years.

Genesis 47:9 “9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.””

CONCLUSION

God will not spare present pain if it means eternal profit. God is more concerned with a our spiritual growth than our temporal comfort, so He allows bad things to help us grow. God perseveres with us, even when we have given up on ourselves and on God. What the Lord starts, He finishes. Jacob was an unlovely person, but God loved him anyway. He just doesn’t give up on us. God’s priority for our lives does not include a Jacob-like experience. God’s will for our lives is to obey Him, not run away so that He can come after us.

Jacob’s son, Joseph, learned those lessons. When he was called by God to obey, he obeyed willingly. The difference between his life and that of his father is stunning– and particularly insightful. It pays to serve the Lord.