As The Blessing Turns Pt. 2

How does God excercise His sovereign control over His people? This is a question the scripture answers in any number of ways. In Gen. 27 we find that God excersises His control and ensures that His blessing falls to Jacob through the actions of Jacob's immediate family. Moreover, this passage shows us that God will use the evil designs and desires of people to accomplish His purpose. Lastly, Gen. 27 emphasizes our need for a savior. It shows us that even if we were to have direct contact with God and have Him tell us exactly what to do that we'd still find a way to rebel against Him and act out our own foolish and disobedient desires.

The first part of this message we found that that God worked through Isaac who was determined to disobey His clearly expressed will. He also worked through Rebekah who like her mother-in-law Sarah took matters into her own hands and devised an ungodly scheme to secure God's promise. In this message we'll discover that God works through Jacob's self-centered deception and that He works despite Esau's selfish despair.

Jacob deceived. He blatantly and purposely lied to his father. God allowed his deception to work.
So he went in to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" 19 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." 20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the Lord your God granted me success." 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not." 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."

But God providentially allowed Isaac to grow blind however so that Jacob would be able to deceive him. Not only that Isaac’s other senses also deceived him.

Jacob was acting in character. He was continuing a pattern of getting what he wanted through shrewdness and deception. He tread on very dangerous ground by implicating the Lord in his deception. Jacob’s deception would be a pattern that would dominate his life for years to come. At this point Jacob’s desire for the blessing is motivated by his own selfish desires. Jacob doesn’t see how his deception will affect his father and brother.

Why do you want God’s blessing? If God gave you the desires of your heart tonight what would you do with them? Are you still living in a pattern of deception?

Esau despaired. He became frustrated, angry and vengeful because he could not get something that was never his. Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." 33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed." 34 When 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, O my father!" 35 And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing." 36 Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

God had providentially determined that Esau would not lead Abraham’s family nor inherit the family mission.

Esau has a revised view of history. First of all he willingly sold his birthright because he thought it was of no use to him. Secondly, the birthright and blessing weren’t his in that he didn’t have an automatic right to then.
Beyond that Esau has no concept of God’s grace. He actually thinks that the things of God are his to use as he pleases. This may be because as a man of the field he was used to getting what he wanted by his own wits, hard work, perseverance and skill.
Esau had a skewed, backwards and normal view of God. Like many he genuinely believed that God owed him something. In his case he believed he was owed the birthright and blessing because he came out of the womb first. And even though he had rejected his birthright and turn his back on the will and ways of God he still wanted the God’s blessing.

Do we believe that God somehow owes us something? Is it because He allowed us to go through a painful childhood? Or perhaps we’ve had to endure some trauma? Maybe we think that having believed the gospel and gotten on God’s side He’s obligated to smooth the way of our lives for us.
Do we believe that God has allowed people or circumstances to steal the life that we deserve? Or like Esau have we made our own decisions that haven’t worked out and now we’re blaming God for it?

Filter those thoughts through the reality of the gospel. The gospel is God’s good news that everyone who believes in the person and work of Jesus Christ will be rescued from God’s fierce, settled, passionate, fair and certain anger and punishment.

How did this happen? It happened because God allowed evil men, to commit the most evil act in human history so that through the brutal death of His one and only Son salvation was secured for all of God’s people.

Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed' — 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,28  to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place Acts 4:25-28

Think about this for a moment. Jesus Christ was not like Isaac who disobeyed God and tried to rebel against His clear purpose. He was not like Rebekah who devised a plan to do wrong and got someone else to join her. He was not like Jacob who blatantly deceived his father. And he was not like Esau who was ungodly and selfish and despaired at God’s plan. And he was not like us who have disobeyed and rebelled against God in so many ways.

And yet He gave himself up to evil, wicked men who were intent on slaughtering Him in the most inhuman and brutal way they knew how. But more than that He was willing to be slaughtered on the cross so that He could face God’s fierce, settled, passionate, fair, certain anger and punishment for us.

That’s the essence of grace. God owes us nothing but judgment for our rebellion and yet He hurled that judgment on His Son so that we could enjoy the full measure of Abraham’s blessing.

God had already determined to give Jacob the blessing of Abraham and decided that the way he would obtain it was through his own wicked devices.
God also predetermined that Jesus Christ would be born, live and then die at the hands of evil men in order to give you a salvation that you do not deserve at all.

To Him Who Loves Us...
Pastor Lance