Download The Day Sin Destroyed a Family

The Day Sin Destroyed a Family
 Observations and Lessons
Genesis 27 – October 30, 2011
Jeremiah 17:9
 Isaac’s Negligent
(Genesis 27:1-4)
Two things about grace:
1st – Grace: What it
.
Grace does not include the removal of all
from sin.
 Rebekah’s Inexcusable
(Genesis 27:5-10)
2nd – Grace: What it
.
Romans 8:1
Ephesians 2:4-5
Romans 4:5
 Jacob’s Hesitant
(Genesis 27:11-31)
My NEXT STEP for Today:
 Esau’s Shocking
(Genesis 27:32-41)
Hebrews 11:20
Hebrews 12:17
Esau had
repentance.
but not genuine
Concerning our sovereign God
God can accomplish His eternal plans through the
of mankind. He does this without relieving sinners of their
or being the
of their sin.

Pray for God’s wisdom as leadership considers Riverpark’s
vision.

Talk to someone about how today’s sermon points us to
Jesus.

Catch a child doing something right and compliment them.

Write your biggest “takeaway” from the sermon in a prayer
below.
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The Day Sin Destroyed a Family
Genesis 27 – October 30, 2011
Intro: God in His grace chose Isaac, Rebekah and Jacob. He chose them to be heirs of eternal
life. Two-thousand years later the Lord Jesus would pay for their sins on a cross. In some ways
these people are heroes of the faith. But in other ways they embarrass us. They were sinners just
like you and me. God doesn’t tell us what we want to hear about this family … He tells us what
need to hear … so we can see their sin … and our sin … and our need for a Savior – the Lord
Jesus Christ.
In our study today we will observe a family that will self-destruct. This entire family is in a bad
way spiritually. Much of the problem centers around mom and dad’s favoritism.
Genesis 25:28
Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Isaac is now advanced in years and thinks he will not live much longer. He does what all should
do as old age approaches. He put his estate in order. Isaac was about 137 years old. But he lived
to be 180 … 43 years after the events of this chapter. We will be vividly reminded of Jeremiah’s
words …
Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
We see the deceitfulness of sin in every person we look at today …
 Isaac’s Negligent SCHEME (Genesis 27:1-4)
Genesis 27:1-4
Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his
older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am."
27:2 Isaac said, "Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
27:3 "Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and
hunt game for me;
27:4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that
my soul may bless you before I die."
Planning to give the birthright to Esau is ignoring what the Lord told Rebekah. The oracle
was clear before Jacob and Esau were born.
Genesis 25:23
The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated
from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve
the younger."
The birthright was to go to Jacob
I find it fascinating that the Isaac who as a young man would lay himself on the altar on
Mount Moriah … was willing to die for the Lord … is scheming against the Lord. And
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Isaac will use this to get one of his favorite meals. Isaac loved the BBQ’s that Esau
hosted. Looks like his palate governed his heart!
When an inheritance was given …
You didn’t do it in secret
You gathered all your family … and you gave each son their appropriate inheritance.
Isaac is doing this on the sly. He doesn’t invite his wife and he doesn’t invite Jacob.
THIS WAS WRONG.
Isaac is at fault! But let me add … all participants this particular day are at fault!
 Isaac knew what the Lord told Rebekah
 Esau knew he had sold his birthright to Jacob
 Rebekah tried to achieve God’s blessing by deception
 Jacob joined in with the deception
Transition: Isaac begins with a sinful compromise … and Rebekah and Jacob will follow. We
see this in our next point
 Rebekah’s Inexcusable PLOY (Genesis 27:5-10)
Genesis 27:5
Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau …
Rebekah overheard
 She calls Jacob
 Tells him what she overheard …
 And sends him off to get two young goats.
She will cook them up in place of Esau’s wild game.
Rebekah must have been quite a cook to make a goat taste so good. To duplicate the taste of
the meat from wild game with goat’s meat could have landed her a place on the reality show
- TOP CHEF.
On the one hand what Rebekah is doing is in line with God’s design – that Jacob receive the
blessing and birthright. But how she goes about it is unacceptable!
She sent one son to undermine another son. She plotted to be sure that Esau would be left
out.
Genesis 27:10
"Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before
his death."
Rebekah’s reasoning
 God has not come through … so assisting God with a deceptive plan is deemed
acceptable … since God is AWOL
But think what MIGHT have happened if …
Rebekah had humbly gone to Isaac and reminded him of the promise to Jacob
If she had reminded Isaac that Esau had forfeited his blessing by selling his birthright
If she had brought to focus that Esau had married godless wives.
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MAYBE GOD WOULD HAVE USED THAT TO KEEP ISAAC FROM HIS SINS
Understand
God left Rebekah to herself. But He would still have the glory by bringing good out of evil!
God served His own purposes despite the sins of men.
Matthew Henry
{God did so} that we might have the satisfaction of knowing that, though there is so much
wickedness and deceit in the world, God governs it according to His will, to His own
praise.
Transition: It takes two to pull off this plan … and Jacob is apprehensive. We see this in what
follows …
 Jacob’s Hesitant COMPLICITY (Genesis 27:11-31)
Genesis 27:11-12
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a
smooth man.
27:12 “Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will
bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
Jacob wasn’t so sure that they could pull this off.
He feared their deception might fail.
Rebekah’s convincing argument
Genesis 27:13
But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get
them for me.”
That’s all it would take
Jacob is off … the deception is underway.
 He gets the goats …
 Rebekah cooks up a storm
 She pulls out Esau’s best garments …
 They smelled of Esau through and through …
I don’t imagine they used deodorant in those days because the smell was so
dominant on his clothes.
Reminds me of the story of two men who were working in a confined area.
One of them said to the other … I think the deodorant of one of us has quit
working. The other fellow answered,
It must be yours because I don’t use any!
Esau’s smell is unmistakable
Genesis 27:16-18
And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
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27:17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son
Jacob.
27:18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who
are you, my son?”
The deception turns to lies …
Three times Jacob lies
1st - He lies about his identity
“I am Esau”
Genesis 27:19
“ … I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and
eat of my game, that you may bless me.”
2nd – He lies about God
(27:20) How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?
Genesis 27:20
“… the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.”
3rd – He’s asks again …
Genesis 27:24
And {Isaac} said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
Think ahead in time to Peter’s 3 denials of the Lord Jesus. There are plenty of
embarrassing memories of failures of the best of men.
One sin leads to another
Jacob lies three times …
Isaac voices suspicion three times …
Genesis 27:27
So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments,
he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field
which the LORD has blessed;
The deception is perfectly staged … pulled off anticipating Isaac’s every
misgiving.
The birthright and blessing is finalized:
Genesis 27:28-29
Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
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27:29 May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your
brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who
curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”
Isaac’s blessing on Jacob
1. Was divinely inspired from the beginning
2. Was superintended by God’s providence despite the deception of Jacob
God had predestined that Jacob receive the blessing
3. Was permanent and unbreakable
Isaac felt that the words he uttered were beyond recall … that he was moved
by the Holy Spirit to say what he said.
Transition: There was no avoiding what followed as we meet …
 Esau’s Shocking DISCOVERY (Genesis 27:32-41)
Just as Jacob leaves … Esau arrives
Esau gets to cooking …
Brings his father the meal … and we read …
Genesis 27:32
Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn,
Esau.”
Genesis 27:33
Then Isaac trembled violently …
My friends, it is a good thing when the soul trembles at the discovery of its own wickedness.
Isaac trembled because he had been duped
But more than that …
He trembled because he recognized that he had tried to thwart the plan of God and failed!
God had accomplished what He had planned DESPITE the sin of Isaac, Rebekah and
Jacob!
Isaac is caught in his own sin …
Isaac gave in to the will of God though it contradicted his own expectations and
desire.
He perceived that it was God’s plan for Jacob to get the blessing … and then
submitted!
He moved to faith in just a few minutes for we read in Hebrews 11:20
Hebrews 11:20
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
But something else must be noted:
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The blessing was irrevocable!
It could not be changed!
Notice the phrase in verse 33
and he shall be blessed”
It was a blessing according to the plan and will of God
It could not be nullified
IT WAS ON THE PERSON GOD HAD IN MIND ALL ALONG – JACOB!
Esau goes ballistic!
27:34 … he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry …
When Esau discovered that God had taken him at his word, and had taken away from him
the place of spiritual primacy … he cried an exceedingly great cry
His cry reveals the shame of a blessing taken away.
But his tears could not change Isaac’s mind or alter the blessing.
Genesis 27:36
“…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 ...”
There was no turning back … Isaac says
Genesis 27:37
“… I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and
with grain and new wine I have sustained him …
 Esau was already guilty of forfeiting his birthright
 He was now seeking to obtain it when he knew it now belonged to Jacob
All four … Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau suffered for their sins
The greatest failure was that of Esau (turn to Hebrews 12:17)
Hebrews 12:17
For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was
rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
Observe
Esau had REMORSE but not genuine repentance
There is a difference between penitence and remorse.
He was sorry for what he had LOST, not sorry for what he had DONE in selling his
birthright.
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 Spiritual things were of no value to Esau.
He shows the depth of his depravity …
Genesis 27:41
So Esau bore a grudge against 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 near; then I
will kill my brother Jacob.”
The rest of the story
Rebekah gets word of the plot …
She tells Jacob to pack his bags …
Rebekah tells Jacob …
 Go to my family in Haran
 Go to my brother Laban
(When Jacob meets Laban … Jacob jumps from the frying pan into the fire!)
Jacob will meet his match in his father-in-law.
She asks Isaac to send Jacob away so he doesn’t marry a Canaanite
Notice these words from Rebekah to Jacob:
(27:44-45) “Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides”
A couple of very sad things come to light.
 Rebekah loved Jacob more than truth and more than God.
 Love placed on the wrong things is idolatry!
 She was a disappointed woman
 When she asks as the end of the story whether life is worth living … may find the
answer in her conduct …
My friends, everyone suffered consequences for their sin
The consequences for Rebekah were this:
When she sent Jacob away … she would never see him again!
She died before his return!
The consequences for Jacob were:
He would never see his mother again
His family life would be full of conflict
He would live in exile for about 20 years
And Isaac!?
Isaac had tampered with God’s sovereign-will and LOST!
God overruled him!
Concerning our sovereign God
God can accomplish His eternal plans through the SINS of mankind. He does this without
relieving sinners of their GUILT or being the AUTHOR of their sin
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I want us to take some time to learn some things about our Great God … and about ourselves.
 Observations and Lessons
A painful reality
Rebekah and Jacob did not gain anything that God would have given them had they trusted
Him.
They kept us from seeing how God would have worked … they got in God’s way but could
not change God’s plan
Matthew Henry
Men may fret at God’s counsels, but cannot change them
Had they trusted God they would have experienced something we will never know … they
kept God from doing what He would have done in a righteous and holy manner.
Nothing is righteous and holy in what Rebekah and Jacob did.
Favoritism completely tore this family a apart!
Sin in the home will always bring misery
Many years later … Jacob’s sons would kill a goat and tell their father that the goat’s blood
is the blood of his son Joseph.
Two things about grace:
1st – Grace: What it ISN’T
Grace does not include the removal of all CONSEQUENCES from sin
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Eve might bitterly regret her choice
Peter went out and wept bitterly … and those tears would not erase the memory of his
denial
All of us would do just about anything to blot out the memory of our sins. But that is
impossible
John MacArthur
If someone was guilty of vehicular homicide, killing a child because of carelessness, that
person would be arrested and serve time behind bars for a period of time.
When he returns to normal life that person has no power to bring back the child's life or
be reconciled to the parents. The offense against them was on an immeasurably deeper
level. The only way a relationship between the parents and the man who killed their
child could be restored or established would be for the parents to offer forgiveness. No
matter how much the man might want to do so, he could not produce reconciliation
from his side. Only the one offended can offer forgiveness and only forgiveness can
bring reconciliation.
Though greatly offended and sinned against, because of Gods rich mercy He offers
forgiveness and reconciliation to every repentant sinner.
F.B. Meyer
God Himself cannot undo the past. But He can and will forgive. He will not mention the
past; but {will}give us a fresh start. He will even “restore the years that the canker-
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worm has eaten.” He will give us new opportunities of showing how truly we repent the
decisions of the past. He will not even mention the thrice denial; but He will give us
three opportunities of saying how much we love Him, as He thrice bids us tend His
flock.”
Though the past cannot be changed or altered … it can be repaired
Jacob deceived his father … said that God had brought about the quick meal. He acted in
utter wickedness. His heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
BUT DON’T MISS THIS! THIS IS THE MAN THAT BECAME THE PRINCE OF GOD!
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If God could change Jacob the deceiver to Israel the prince of God … what may He
do for us?
Our only hope is to come to the cross where Jesus paid for our sins … see yourself as a
sinner in need of a Savior, and place your faith in that Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He will forgive your sins. And in doing so you will discover something quite wonderful
about grace.
2nd – Grace: What it IS
Grace is the gift of salvation that results in complete forgiveness of sins.
Romans 8:1
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Grace is all of God and never of human merit!
Grace is a gift of God … that comes to us through Jesus Christ
Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved)
Romans 4:5
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is credited as righteousness