Welcome to Ocean Water. We hope you feel refreshed by the living water of Jesus Christ as we help people receive drinking water from the ocean for free. Thanks for joining us for this weekend's message, and if you enjoy it, please share it with a friend. Hi, I'm Ryan with Ocean Water. I'm here today in San Clemente, California where I live. I don't know about you, but I'm really ready for the summer to actually start, for it to be sunny, for the waves to be good and the water to be warm.
We'll have to wait for that. Welcome to this week's Beach Talk. Now we've started four different Bible reading groups that we'd love to have you be a part of. Really exciting time, new groups, new leaders, new disciples, new churches. This is really the hub of how we do everything at Ocean Water, so we'd really like you to participate in that. If you'd like to do that, just message us. We'll get the material to you.
So today we're in Genesis chapter 27. It says, One day when Isaac is old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and he said, My son, yes, Father Esau replied, I'm now an old man. Isaac said, I don't know when I'm going to die, so I want you to take your bow and your quiver full of arrows and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
Prepare my favorite dish and bring it here for me, and then I'll pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die. But Rebecca, his mom, overheard what Isaac had said to his first son. So when Isaac left to hunt for the wild game, she said to her younger son, Jacob, listen, I overheard your father say to Esau, bring me some wild game and prepare a delicious meal. Then I'll bless you in the Lord's presence before I die.
Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats, and I'll use them to prepare your father's favorite dish. And take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. But look, Jacob replied to his mother, Rebecca, my brother Esau is a hairy man and his skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He'll think that I'm trying to trick him, and then of course he'll curse me and I won't get the blessing.
But his mother replied, then let the curse fall on me, my son. Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me. So Jacob went out, he got the young goats for his mom. Rebecca took them, prepared a delicious meal just the way that he liked. Then she took Esau's favorite clothes, her older son, which were in the house, and gave them to her younger son. Jacob, she covered his arms, the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats.
Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread. So Jacob took the food to his father. My father, he said, yes, my son. Isaac answered, who are you, Esau or Jacob? Jacob replied, it's Esau, your firstborn son. I've done as you told me. Here's the wild game. Now sit up and eat so you can give me your blessing. Now Isaac asked, how do you find it so quickly, my son? He said, the Lord your God put it in my path.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, come closer so that I can touch you and make sure you're really Esau. So Jacob went closer to his father and Jacob touched him. The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's, Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy just like his brother Esau. So Jacob prepared to bless Jacob. He said, but are you really my son Esau? Yes, I am. And Isaac said, now my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it. And then I'll give you my blessing.
So Jacob took the food to his father and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come a little closer and kiss me, my son. So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced. And he blessed him. And he said, ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed.
From the dew of heaven and the riches of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvest of green and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed. All who bless you will be blessed. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and almost before Jacob had left, Esau returned from his hunt.
Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing. But Isaac asked him, who are you? And Esau replied, it's your son, your firstborn son, Esau. Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, then who just served me wild game? I've already eaten it and I blessed him just before you came. And yes, the blessing must stand.
When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a loud and bitter cry, oh, my father, what about me? Bless me too, he begged. But Isaac said, your brother was here and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing. Esau exclaimed, no wonder his name is Jacob, for he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn and now he's stolen my blessing. There's a lot in this story. Let me give you a little background.
Now, Isaac's pretty much become bed-fast and he's been blinded as the result of age. He feels like death is approaching. Isn't it interesting, the death doesn't come to Jacob until many, many years after this. He'd spent 20 years in here and he came back and Isaac was still alive. Now, I think that death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person.
I think that when the body can no longer really function in its God-given manner and purpose, when the body can really no longer express and you're confined to a bed almost blind for all practical purposes, you feel really helpless, having to be waited on, and for the spirit just to remain in the body is a hard thing. It's a hard thing for a person to just be lying there. It's a hard thing for a person to have to take care of themselves when they can't.
And many times in cases like this, as far as the person is concerned, it's much better to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5, that's how people feel. And to just have your spirit linger on in the body, why does the spirit do that? Why doesn't God just release the spirit sooner from the body? Well, I don't know. These are things that are in the hands of God. It really isn't mind to question the ways of God. As long as you have some breath, you have a purpose.
But here's a man that loved God. Here's a man that was a servant of God. And yet we find his body incapacitated and yet his life continuing for many, many years to come in this state of kind of semi-invalidism. And the feeling that he's going to die, he calls his son Esau to go out and get some venison to fix it up and spice it up the way that he liked it, bring it to him that he might eat and give him a blessing. He's being proactive. Now earlier Esau had cared nothing about his birthright.
He wasn't interested in spiritual things. He wasn't interested in the promises of God, the fulfillment of the promises of God. He could care less about his birthright. He gave it up for a bowl of soup. And he really isn't interested in the blessing that went with the birthright. The blessing came upon the eldest son. Now he had that position, but he forfeited it. He was still desiring of a blessing from his father, which leads us to this story.
Now indeed it was the purposes of God that Jacob should receive the birthright. And it was also the providence of God, the choice of God, that Jacob received the blessing. It's an interesting thing, before they were born, when they were striving and fighting with each other. Actually inside of their mother's womb she couldn't figure out all of the activity. She prayed to God and God said, there are two nations striving in your womb.
They're diverse from each other and before they were ever born God said, the elder shall serve the younger. This was God's declared will before they were born. That Jacob, in the sovereign purposes of God, rather than the deservings of man, God, knowing in advance their character, knowing in advance the Esau, wouldn't be interested in spiritual things and only wanted material things. Before he were born, God knew their attitudes. That's why Jacob was chosen over Esau.
God's design, God's election, God's will. This is something that's hard for us to understand. It's impossible for us to think as God thinks. I can't think with God's view of history. I just can't do it. God does. It's impossible for me to put in my mind what's in God's mind. To think as God thinks. And it's wrong for me to judge the way that God thinks and what God has designed and His will. Because when God thinks or looks at a situation,
He looks at it with His foreknowledge. Knowing already in advance what's going to be. We don't have that capacity. We don't know that. So when we say that God selects someone, we don't know what the outcome is going to be. Say you had someone who came in for a job interview and the resume looks really good and looks great. And you think, oh, they would just be the perfect fit. They're just the right person. And this is the employee that we need. And they turn out to not work out.
And you look back and you think, wow, I just made the wrong decision. If I had known what I knew six months after that decision, I wouldn't have made that decision. I would have never hired him. I wouldn't have made that unwise choice. Why do we do that? Well, because we operate with limited information. God operates with all the information. Because God is the only person who can see the past, the present, and the future. That's why He's God and that's why we're not.
We just make the best decisions based on what God has shown us. Now, if we had the capacity of foreknowledge, it would be unwise to pick someone that wasn't going to work out. And we wouldn't be able to do those types of things. So God asked foreknowledge and that's why He chose Jacob over Esau. So it's not God's fault when He makes selections. God always makes perfect selections. God always chooses just the right person. God always chooses just the right will.
And He makes His selection on foreknowledge. So God knew in advance what was going to happen here. And according with this knowledge that God had, He selected that the elder should serve the younger. And that through the younger one, His promise is for a nation and the world would be fulfilled. We don't always agree with who God chooses. Jacob became aware of this. Of course, his mother knew it before he was ever born because she had prayed. And God had said what was going on inside of her.
God had told her there are two nations inside of her. The older should serve the younger. So when Jacob came out, she knew that Jacob was the one that God had selected for the blessings and for God's purposes through that nation of people. The mother knew that from her. And knowing that, she favored Jacob. That's hard. God knew from the beginning the reason why Esau would reject her. Now notice that this whole deceptive scheme is coming from Rebekah. But she was putting Jacob up to it.
Now the thing is, was it God's will for Jacob to receive the blessing? Yes. Did Jacob and Rebekah know that it was God's will that Jacob received the blessing? Yes. But they made a mistake. And that is knowing what God intended, endeavored to help God fulfill his purpose. And they went into the deception, which is a ploy of theirs, to help God fulfill his will. That's where we go wrong.
Why is it that when we think that God can't accomplish his work without our help, why is it that we think that God is so dependent upon us to accomplish his purposes? God can accomplish his purposes apart from our help. God will accomplish his purposes apart from us if necessary. When God is willed and purpose shall come to pass, we can be the instruments through which it happens if we yield ourselves to him. He'll work through us.
If we fail to yield ourselves, God will still do his work, and yet have lost the reward and the benefit and the joy of being the instrument that he does it for. But the work of God is never dependent upon our deception or our scheming. We don't have to scheme and connive to get the work of God done. Does God have blessings for us? Yes. But how do you get them? By being patient. Well, what kinds of blessings? Food, water, clothes, housing. Most of us even have transportation.
Ninety percent of American products are cost by materialism. We want more than we have, and we don't appreciate what we do have. Or celebrityism. I want to be more famous. No, you don't. What a headache. You can't walk around as a normal person. I have friends that are in this category. It's really not that great. If you're not satisfied with the current level of popularity right now, getting more popularity and fame certainly won't help the situation. Or hedonism. We just want more pleasure.
We want more sex or alcohol or drugs. We just want to go from one high to the other. Life sometimes is very enjoyable, and sometimes it's just normal, and sometimes it's just work. Enough pleasure is never enough. The Bible teaches that we're supposed to be content. Contentment is the key to happiness. Our culture teaches us more material things, or more popularity, or more pleasure will make us happy. This is really shallow, bad advice.
Contentment, the Bible teaches, is water, food, clothing, and housing, and a purpose to serve other people here on earth. That is what makes this happen. How do we get God's blessings? Well, we want to make sure that we're patient, let God bring things to us, that's what they missed, and let go of ungodly expectations. So God is able to do his work independent. He's never dependent upon us. We're dependent on him, always.
So their mistake, or their fault here, was not a fault of believing God, nor was it a fault of not believing the purposes of God. They were both faithful, believing God, believing the purposes of God. Their mistake was thinking that God couldn't fulfill their purposes without their help. We might often say in our lives, I know what God wants to do, I just don't see how he can do it without me. So we try to get in there, and we work on things, scheme on things, we want to help God.
God doesn't need our help. God can move mountains, move eras. This ultimately just hurt Esau, and it hurt Rebekah, and it hurt Jacob. It hurt everyone in this story when they tried to help God. Now when Esau cried at the end of this story, he wasn't repenting. He was sad, not about that, not about God's will. He was sad because he wasn't going to get the money and the land. He was crying about the fact that there wasn't going to be any wealth for him.
Had he really repented, then God surely would have done something for him. God has said, a broken and a contrite spirit, he will never turn away in Psalms 51-17. No man who has truly repented, God will refuse them. In God's kingdom, the person who needs the wealth is the poor one, and the person who helps the poor is the wealthy one. It's the upside down kingdom. But his was not a repentance of tears or remorse. Don't feel sorry for him.
He was just weeping before God because he had missed out on the land and the money. Now you read the story here, and the tears were not tears of repentance. They were tears of anger. They were tears of bitterness. They were tears of a lost blessing that he wanted. But it didn't have anything to do with the spiritual side or the purposes of God. It had to do with the here and the now and the material. You know, the Bible says that we store up our treasures in heaven.
That is where our investments lie, in making disciples, in making churches, and serving the Lord. God looks at our heart and our intentions when he wants to give us his blessing. So we want to line up our heart and our intention with his will. Now later on Esau would actually plan to kill his brother. That's the ultimate level of bitterness when you're thinking about taking someone else's life. Hebrews warns us, don't let any root of bitterness into your life.
He became so hatred, hate-filled, and so full of bitterness that later on he would give birth to a whole nation. And they would constantly be at war back to this story. Because bitterness poisons relationships. Do everything you can to pray to God to get bitterness out of your life. The Edomites, of course, have passed off the scene. The last Edomite we know about is Herod. And there we ended the Edomite race. But of course God had preserved Israel to the present time.
He's finding comfort in that right now. He's really mad, he's really bitter, and he's just comforting himself by his intention to kill Esau. Now one of the things I love about Genesis is that the story mostly took place in the desert. There's something about looking up in the desert skies that brings almost the consciousness, like the nearness of how close we can feel to God with the knowledge of the vastness of the universe.
And there's somehow through the heavens, there's like a consciousness of the unapproachableness of God. And you can go experience that in the desert. His universe is so vast, looking up into the heavens gives us a true awareness at night in the desert, and a consciousness of our relationship to God. I'm so small when I look out into the universe and when I compare myself to all of the stars in the sky.
One of the smaller planets around, one of the smallest stars, is a small corner called the Milky Way Galaxy. That has a billion stars in it, but the Milky Way is just one of the galaxies, of the billions of galaxies out there. Think about that. The heavens make us aware of the glory of God and the power of God and the greatness of God.
Somehow the viewing of the heavens like being in the desert makes us feel distant from God, as though God is dwelling there in the heavens, and here am I, this little insignificant person down here. But God actually wants to live inside of a human heart. God actually wants to not live up in the sky and in the heavens, but inside of your soul.
That's why every week we end our time together with a simple prayer here at Ocean Water, that we would open up our hearts to God, walk with God, and follow him in our lives. We need God's help every day. Would you pray this simple prayer with me and say, God, thank you for this day, a day to follow you? I repent for my sins. I know I fall short. Help me to follow you today and this week. Help me to listen to you each day through your word. Help me to serve you by serving others.
I put my trust in you. I take control of my life. Give it to you in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, in the next 12 months, we'll be doing work in four different countries with four different languages. God always grows our perspective until it becomes global, just like his, because he's a global God. So we always want to pray and ask God to put on our hearts what we can do to help all those people. And we always want to do what God says.
You know, the more we have at Ocean Water, the more we can help. Opportunity is on a global level for us. Would you pray and ask God what you can do to help all those people? It's an honor to speak to you guys every week on the beach. I love you. Have a beautiful week.