A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Want to be blessed in your daily walk? Simply put, obey God. Here's Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: Don't pursue the flesh and think that God's going to bless it. This happens sometimes. You know, I've just noticed over the years, even in relationships, people come and they come for prayer and hey, could you pray for me, my girlfriend, you know? All right, how can I how can I pray for you guys? Well, you know, we just we need prayer. We're just really struggling. Really, what are you struggling with? We're just struggling. Okay. All right. Yeah, we're just not really getting Why? And you start to get Oh, yeah, okay. You know, here's what here let me just break it down for you.

You You're living in sin and then you're saying, God, bless our relationship. I'm thinking that You know what I really need to pray? I need to pray Here's what I feel like the Lord wants me to pray. He wants me to pray that you would be obedient to his word. Because that's what brings blessing. Not Not disobeying his word and saying, God, bless it.

Guest (Male): Glad you could join us on this beautiful October day. We are about to continue our verse-by-verse journey through Genesis on a daily walk with John Randall. You think your family is dysfunctional? Well, as the old saying goes, you ain't seen nothing yet. Isaac's family was dysfunctional in so many ways. There was a lack of trust in leadership, and it would lead to broken relationships. Let's see what we can learn from it so we don't go down a similar path in our daily walk. With Genesis 27 and 28 in view, here is Pastor John.

John Randall: Isaac continued to persevere and the Lord continued to bless, but now Isaac's story changes. Years have passed. He's now 137 years old as you move to the next chapter. His brother, you remember, Ishmael died at 137 years old. So maybe in Isaac's mind, he's thinking, I'm probably pretty close to to kicking the bucket myself. And so he starts thinking about things. In addition to that, we're going to find out that he was blind. He couldn't see any longer. And although Isaac was once building an altar, he was consecrating his life to God, you find that in his older years he grew more carnal.

And he started operating his life after the flesh. There were these subtle compromises that Isaac began to make toward the end of his life that gave way to a harvest of division in his home. You think if you were that close to the tape, you'd be pouring it on, not backing off. You think you you'd be making sure that, hey, I'm getting closer to heaven. I'm definitely not going to mess around with stuff. So But But no. No, he starts getting carnal. Listen, I want to tell you something. The enemy doesn't care when he trips you up, whether you're 65 or you're 75 or you're 25 or you're 15.

He doesn't care. If you're at the end of your race and you're about to cross the finish line, he'll take you out there. He doesn't care. Guys, we have to be aware, sober-minded. This is for keeps. This is for real. And older men, listen, we need to be. And even older men, you need to be examples to the younger men. You need to stay the course, not wander off, not get carnal, not start looking at stuff that you shouldn't be looking at and wandering off the path and thinking, well, I'm older now. I'm more mature.

No, no, don't be a fool. Don't be a fool. Stay the course. You've run well. Don't stop. You want to finish well. A lot of people started out well in the Bible. They didn't finish well. We want to finish well. We want to run well. We want to finish well, guys. That's what we want to do. Amen. And so here you find Isaac. Oh, he's making some bad decisions. Look at chapter 27 verse 1. Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see that he called Esau, his older son.

He said, my son. And he answered, here I am. And he said, behold, I am old and I don't know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow. Go out to the field. Hunt game for me and make for me savory food such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat that my soul may bless you before I die. Isaac felt that his life was about to come to an end and so he decided it was time to pass on the patriarchal blessing to his eldest son Esau and tells him to go hunting, bring him some food back, make me lunch, and then I'll bless you with this blessing.

This blessing, this patriarchal blessing that he was preparing to pass on not only included the property as it were that belonged to the family. It also meant that he'd be the recipient that the recipient of this blessing would be granted the right to stand in direct line to the eventual coming Messiah. Therefore, this blessing was not to be taken lightly. The decision wasn't left up to the previous patriarch to decide. The Lord was the one who decided who the blessing went to. And if you go back when when both these boys were born, when Esau and Jacob were first born, Isaac and Rebecca were given a divine birth announcement that Esau would eventually be subservient to Jacob.

You remember he said, the older is going to serve the younger. Before they were born, God told him, I know I know the normal order is that it's the opposite, but with me, listen, the younger is the one that's going to get the blessing. And there was probably not many days that went by where Rebecca didn't remind Isaac of that, just so you know. You know who's getting the blessing, right? I know. I mean, she's constantly telling him this. And all also remember that Isaac was well aware of the fact that Esau didn't care about spiritual things, already got rid of his birthright.

He also had a mixed marriage, as we said, the pagan women. So he knows all of this. Here's what I want you to understand. Even though Isaac knows all of these things, he knows what God says, he knows what God's command is, he does the opposite of what God said. Why? Because he was governed by the flesh. He was governed by his flesh. Isaac was performing a spiritual activity, but not in accordance with the revealed will of God. That's a dangerous thing, folks. This isn't the only time by the way you see that mistake in the Bible when something that was supposed to be done and it was done differently.

Let me give an example. How about in transferring the ark, transporting the ark? David, you remember when he's bringing it through? Used a Philistine technique. I mean, we're removing the ark. I mean, come on, we got a cart. Remember how that went? It went horrible, especially for a guy named Uzzah. When the when the oxen started to stumble, Uzzah put out his hand to stabilize the ark and he died. I mean, he was gone immediately. David was like, whoa, step back. And then he did it the right way, but not the first time. How about in delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage?

You remember Moses, what he did first? Took matters into his own hands literally, tried to You recall? Tried to Well, actually succeeded. He killed one of the taskmasters and tried to bury him, not very well apparently because they was found out. And then he fled to the desert. How about in the Garden of Gethsemane where Peter, trying to do a spiritual thing, takes out his sword to defend Jesus and ended up cutting off the ear of the high priest. The reason for Isaac's actions again, I believe, it's worth noting what caused the problem. First of all, he played favorites with his sons early on.

In addition to that, the flesh took over and he thought that a spiritual blessing could be imparted in the energy of the flesh. It's interesting because repeatedly in this section you will see Isaac operating in the realm of his senses alone. Six times there is a reference to meat. Seven times there's a reference to eating. 20 times there is a mention of a fleshly desire alone. Whenever we allow the flesh to get involved, that's that's when problems happen. You know, you can walk in the spirit or you can walk in the flesh. You can walk after the dictates of your own fleshly nature or or we can be governed by that and dominated by that or we can walk in the spirit.

Trying to do spiritual things in a carnal way, but it never produces any lasting fruits, anything beneficial. What you find as you continue is that Isaac's failed his failed leadership in his home led to his family following his example. Isaac's disobedience to the will of God led to his wife's Rebecca's lack of trust. Notice in verse 5. Now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So Rebecca spoke to Jacob, her son. Notice Notice his son, her son. Do you see the division?

There's division in this home. It's like God says, you know what? I'm going to give you I'm going to let you in and see what's going on in this household. I mean, I'm just I'm going to let you see what's really going on inside of this home. Indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying, bring me game and make me savory food that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. Remember, he's 40 years old.

His mom is telling him what to do and he's doing it. He's doing it. Go now to the flock and bring bring for me two choice kids of the goats and I will make savory food for them for your father such as he loves. Then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it and he may bless you before his death. Rebecca, she's the one that received that word from the Lord that the the older was going to serve the younger, but she doesn't think that Isaac's going to follow through with it, so she's going to help God out.

And so she steps in and and she's going to manipulate the situation. Her husband doesn't need to know about it. She'll take care of it. Just don't tell him. He doesn't understand anyway. He 's blind. We'll work this out. You know, she starts working the system. Something this bothered me. I read this. Here's what I realized. Something wasn't right with with Rebecca and Isaac. I don't know. Maybe it stem back to when they were with Abimelech and he had her lie for several years. I don't know. Something wasn't right. In In In the the twilight of their marriage, things were not good when they should have been growing and flourishing towards the end.

So she quickly moves into action. She gives instructions to Jacob. Rebecca knew the promise, but she felt that unless she stepped in and did something that God's plans would be overturned. And at this moment, we find that she wasn't trusting God. We can't be too hard on her because we can do the exact same thing in our own lives. We know what God's promised. We We say it. We sing it. I believe you for it, God. But the need my help. I'm just going to help step in here and help you because I don't think you I don't think it's going And so we we try to intervene instead of letting God work.

Listen, God could have made Esau's errand to find, you know, some savory food impossible. Could have driven every deer away. Never a dad I was out there all night. I couldn't find one. I mean, God But they didn't give God time to do it. And so what you find is she steps in. And then she ended up justifying it saying maybe, you know, trying to manipulate. Isn't Isn't it interesting how how she said, you know, the older the older will serve the younger, so this must be okay. You can easily justify it. You know, I'm going to do something again in a carnal method because you know, I can somehow find scripture to justify what I 'm doing.

That is also a dangerous thing, to come up with some proof text to justify something for which there is no justification. Use a scripture to validate and your flesh and the activity of it. That's a dangerous thing. It's sad because Rebecca would eventually pay the price for this deception because following this plan of deception, Jacob would be forced to flee and she would never see her son again. Rebecca didn't consider listen, the long-term effects of the immediate solution or satisfaction of bringing this to pass. She didn't think it through. And so often when the flesh is involved and you you start pursuing the flesh, here's what we don't do.

We don't think about the long-term effect. We We don't think about We don't look down the road because the flesh wants immediate gratification right now, right now. You don't need to wait for it. You don't need to wait. Just go ahead. Nobody cares. Everybody does this. Don't worry about it. And then you And then afterwards you back it up and you And that was such a a foolish mistake. That was so foolish. Why did I do that? Because the flesh promises satisfaction, but then it brings guilt and shame and everything else. And the devil's right there to condemn you.

There was a price to pay, but the plan was now set in motion. And notice Jacob's concerns. And Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, look, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man and I am a smooth-skinned man. I mean, that's the first problem we got going on here, right? Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing. I just want to say that Jacob wasn't bummed about lying to his dad. He was bummed about maybe getting caught.

It wasn't like, okay, I can go I can do this, but but what if let's just say what if he what if I'm found out? I don't have a problem lying. I mean, this guy would become This guy was a first-rate liar. I mean, Jacob was good at lying. And so he was concerned. His mother said, let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go get them for me. I mean, nobody is reasoning in their right mind here. And so he went and he got them and he brought them to his mother and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.

And Rebecca took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins This This always gets me. She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. That's talking about Esau. He was so hairy. Goat skin on his hands? Aw, that's a lot. And then she gave savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. And now Jacob, knowing that he's physically different than his brother in so many ways, attempts to pull off the plan, dresses up like his brother, has hair like his brother, wears the clothes of his brother, brings the food that his dad desired.

And notice the deception as it unfolds. It says here, so he went to his father and said, my father. Maybe change his voice. My father. Maybe try to be like Esau. I don't know, but it didn't work because he said, here I am. Who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done just as you told me. Please arise, sit, and eat of my game that your soul may bless me. But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you found it so quickly, my son? Notice Notice how quick Jacob is on his feet.

He says, because the Lord your God brought it to me. Oh, oh, okay. Okay. Isaac said to Jacob, please come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. So he's suspecting it. He's blind, but he can still hear and he can still touch. He says, come here. Let me Let me feel you. And so he makes his way in and here's the tests. Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, and he felt him. The voice is Jacob's voice, but there was no there's no But the hands No, that was definitely That's definitely Esau's hands.

Those are hairy hands. That is my son. He realized. And then he didn't recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him. And then he said, are you really my son Esau? And he said, I am. He said, bring it near to me and I will eat of my son's game that my soul may bless you. So he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank. And then his father Isaac said to him, come near now and I kiss you, my son.

Well, Jacob comes in and it says here, and he came near and kissed him and smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said, surely the smell of my son is like the smell of the field which the Lord has blessed. This guy smelled and he was hairy, but this he knew, this is how I 'm going to trick my dad. And he came in with that strong Esau cologne. And there he came. His dad knew. And then he pronounced the blessing. But it's interesting that one lie You notice that one lie led to another lie which led to another lie, one lie upon another.

And we find that that's always how it is. When you compromise, you you can't stop. You have to continue. So then it says, notice this blessing, folks. And he came near and he kissed him. And then it says, notice which the Lord has blessed you. Therefore, may God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, plenty of grain and wine that people serve you, that nations bow down to you, be master over your brethren, let your mother's sons bow down to you, and curse be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you.

The blessing that Isaac gave to Jacob was a powerful one because it bestowed upon him this unlimited power and prosperity, lordship over his brethren and divine protection. And right after this, it says, now it happened. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father, that Esau, his brother, came in from hunting. He also had made savory food and brought it to his father and he said, let my father arise and eat of his son's game that your soul may bless me. And his father Isaac said, who are you?

He said, I'm your son, your firstborn Esau. And then Isaac trembled exceedingly, said, who? Where is the one who hunted the game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came and I have blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed. Jacob left quickly the presence of his father. And right after that, Esau comes in and he brings the exact same thing and Isaac realizes, oh no, what am I going to do now? I've just blessed him. Look at what it says in verse 34. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and he said, father, bless me, me also, oh my father.

And he said, your brother came with deceit and he's taken away your blessing. Esau said, is he not rightly named Jacob? He has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright and now look, he's taken away my blessing. And he said, have you not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said, Esau, indeed I have made him your master and all his brethren. I've given to him as servants with grain and wine. I have sustained him. What shall I now do for you, my son? And he said to his father, have you only one blessing, my father?

Bless me also, oh my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. I want you to know that Esau's bitter cry and weeping was not of repentance, but of anger. This man lived a carnal life. He lived after the flesh. He lived after the flesh, but he still wanted the blessing of God. Oh God, bless my life. Oh God, bless my life. Yeah, I'm going to live for sin and yeah, I'm going to live after the flesh and yeah, I'm going to pursue carnal things, but I want the blessing of God on my life.

No, you don't. No, you don't. You deceived yourself. How many people today pursue, live after the things of the flesh and yet they still want God to bless? Oh God, bless the God doesn't bless the flesh. He doesn't bless it. And so we do carnal things. We pursue this and oh, the favor of God's upon me. Well, it's like Samson, so deceived, so deceived. The spirit of God is upon me. I'm stronger than any other man. I have no problem. And yet he pursued the flesh and he pursued the flesh and he pursued the flesh and he pursued the flesh and he got his head shaved and his eyes poked out and then he ground in a mill like an ox.

Why? Because he kept on pursuing it still and God was so gracious. Even in those moments when he put himself in a bad situation, God was so gracious that he allowed him to have strength. Even though he And even after that, even after God delivered him and pulled him out, he went right back to it. And God was still gracious and God was still merciful and God was still using him and until he came to the point where the long suffering of God ran out and he suffered the consequences of the decisions that he made.

Here's what we learn from this. Don't pursue the flesh and think that God's going to bless it. This happens sometimes. You know, I just noticed over the years, even in relationships, people come and they come for prayer and hey, could you pray for me, my girlfriend, you know? All right, how can I how can I pray for you guys? Well, you know, we just we need prayer. We just really struggling. Really, what are you struggling with? We're just struggling. Okay. All right. Yeah, we're just not really getting Why? And you start to get Oh, yeah, okay.

You know, here's what here Let me just break it down for you. You You're living in sin and then you're saying, God, bless our relationship. I'm thinking that You know what I really need to pray? I need to pray. Here's what I feel like the Lord wants me to pray. He wants me to pray that you would be obedient to his word. Because that's what brings blessing. Not Not disobeying his word and saying, God, bless it. In the business world, Lord, bless our business. Lord, bless our business. Bless our business. I mean, we read people off, but bless our business.

Hey, we don't do everything above board, but we got we want We got a fish on our card or we got this or that and we've got a scripture. Here's my scripture verse. I tell all my clients after I take their money, you know, wait Wait a second. Don't ask God to bless the work of the flesh. He doesn't honor it. You remember when Abraham We read it early on. Abraham said, oh God, that Ishmael might live before you. God said, no, no. We're not doing it that way. He despised his birthright and he cried out, but it wasn't a cry of repentance.

And so finally notice it says, then Isaac, his father, answered and said to him, behold, your dwelling shall be with the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above you. By your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother and it shall come to pass when you have become restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck. I'm sure that sounded good to Esau because it says in verse 41, Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, the days of my mourning for my father are at hand and then I will kill my brother Jacob.

And the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebecca and so she sent Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran and stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you've done to him. And then I will send you send and bring you from there. Why should I be grieved also of both of you in one day?

And Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because the daughters of Heth, these are the wives of Esau. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth like these who are the daughters of the land, what good is my life to me? Here we see that Jacob had to flee. He had to leave all that he had done, everything they were The whole entire family was in the flesh. Let's just say that. They were all doing things the wrong way. And so Jacob was forced to leave and he ran for his life.

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall on a daily walk. He's got more to share, so don't rush away. We're going through the Bible right now and currently studying Genesis. If you missed a portion of today's look at Genesis or we'd just like to hear it again, visit adailywalk.org or oneplace.com. Check out the Calvary Salt Lake City church app. It's a great way to listen to John when you're on the go. Have you had a chance to check out Pastor John's 8-minute daily devotional? It's a great way to start the day. You can watch them at adailywalk.org or we can even start texting them to you.

Just text the word adailywalk to 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828. Those are released Monday through Friday at 7:00 a.m. Pacific. We're really excited about this month's offer, a book from Pastor Charles Stanley titled How to Listen to God. His voice waits to be heard. In this helpful book, Charles Stanley shows you how to distinguish God's voice from all the other voices around you and how to respond in joyful obedience. Get a copy today for the cost of $12 at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org. Think of it this way. When you support adailywalk, you're helping people listen to God through his word and it's having a tremendous impact.

So thank you for helping us remain a biblical voice on stations like this one all across the country. Again, make a donation online safely and securely at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. In our time remaining, let's peek into Genesis chapter 28. Just really quickly, in in chapter 28 then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan Aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Verse 3, may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may be an assembly of peoples, give you the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger which God gave to Abraham. So Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan Aram, then Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca the mother of Jacob and Esau. We find that the family it was dysfunctional in so many ways. There was a lack of trust. There was a lack of leadership.

And because of that, you saw all the relationships break down. And yet here is Isaac really at towards the end of his life. He would live years more, but he finally says to Jacob, listen, it's almost like he he he gets it now. He comes back around. He had messed up. He knew that he had done it wrong and he says, all right, I I acknowledge it. I'm going to give you the blessings that that he should have given him to begin with. And Jacob now will start this journey. We move from Abraham to Isaac and now we move on to Jacob and Jacob's going to have his own journey.

And listen, God is going to break him. God is going to humble him. He's going to bring him to the end of himself so that he might eventually become Israel, a man governed by God.

Guest (Male): Next time on adailywalk, we'll go through Genesis 28 in much greater detail and spotlight Jacob's vows. See you back here tomorrow. This programming is brought to you by Calvary Salt Lake City and made possible through the support of our listeners.