Genesis 33. Let's go ahead and read the chapter.
It's not too terribly long. Jacob lifted up his eyes and
looked and behold Esau came and with him four hundred men and
he divided the children unto Leah and unto Rachel and unto
the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and
their children foremost, and Leah and her children after,
and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he passed over before them
and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near
to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him and
embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And they
wept. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw the women and the children and said, who are those with
thee? And he said, the children which God hath graciously given
thy servant. Then the handmaidens came near,
they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah
also with her children came near and bowed themselves. And after
came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And
he said, what meanest thee by all this drove which I met? You
remember that Jacob had sent out servants in advance with
gifts. And he said, what meaneth all
this? And Jacob answered him, these
are to find grace in the sight of my Lord. And Esau said, I
have enough, my brother. Keep that thou hast unto thyself. And Jacob said, nay, I pray thee,
if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present
at my hand. For therefore have I seen thy
face as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased
with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing
that is brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with
me. and because I have enough. And
he urged him, and he took it. And he said, let us take our
journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. And he said unto
him, my lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the
flocks and herds with young are with me, and if men should overdrive
them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee,
pass over before his servant, and I will lead on softly. according
as the cattle that goeth before me, and the children be able
to endure, until I come unto my Lord, unto Seir. And Esau said, let me now leave
with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, what
needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight
of my Lord. So Esau returned that day on
his way unto Seir, and Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built
him an house and made booths for his cattle. Therefore, the
name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from
Padan Aram, pitched his tent before the city, and he bought
a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent. And at the
hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred
pieces of money, he erected there an altar and called it, At Lilo
he is real. Now Jacob, in the previous chapter,
has had a sleepless night. He was up all night. But it was
a good sleepless night. He wrestled with the Lord all
night until the breaking of the day. And the Lord said to him,
let me go. And he said, I can't let you
go until you bless me. He was bold to, bold to, to beg,
bold to ask, bold to in his need. And that, that seems very bold,
doesn't it? To say the Lord, I will not let you go. I'm not
gonna let you go. But what Jacob represents there
is the sinner with nothing to lose. Have you ever encountered
a sinner? Have you ever been a sinner with
nothing to lose? I love that poem. All to the
gracious king approach whose scepter mercy gives. Perhaps
he will receive my touch and then the sinner lives. I can
but perish if I go. I am resolved to try. For if
I stay away, I know I shall forever die. All God can do is kill you
for hanging on, but you're going to perish anyway. So I'm hanging
on. That's what Jacob said. I'm not
letting go. And all night he wrestled with the Lord. That's
the way the Lord deals with us. Is it hard for you to kick against
the goads? And then he puts us in the dust
and shines his light upon us and says, I've chosen you. like
he dealt with Saul. So he had done business with
the Son of God and now he's ready to face his brother Esau. We
can face anybody or anything once we've taken care of the
business that we have to do with our Lord. And one thing that's
especially interesting about this passage and about the writings
in the scripture, the dealings between Jacob and Esau, We know
something that we don't know in very many situations. As we
read in the Bible concerning Jacob and Esau, we know that
God loves one of them and that he hates the other. I don't know
that for certain about anyone that's living in this world today,
and neither do you. We have good hope, don't we,
for others, for some, for many, that the Lord has bestowed his
love upon them. There are signs, there's evidences
of it, but we don't know for sure, do we? We just don't know. We might have said that Esau
was one. He was certainly blessed. He
had much, didn't he? He had abundance. He said, I
have abundance. I have much. I don't need anything
from you. Well, the Lord loves him. Or Judas, one of the twelve,
one of the inner circle. The Lord loves him. No, he's
a devil from the beginning. We don't know that for certain,
but we do know in this case. And it makes their lives and
their words and their actions very interesting. Very, very
interesting. We know this as we read this
chapter, Malachi 1.1. Turn over there with me. to Malachi
chapter 1, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 1 and
verse 1. Malachi 1, 1, the burden of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi. God's word to his people by his
prophet Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet you say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord? Wherein hast thou loved us? That's the nation of Israel objecting
and saying, you haven't loved the nation of Israel. Esau was
an Israelite, you haven't loved us. And he wasn't talking to
physical Israel when he said, have not I loved you? I have
loved you, saith the Lord. Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob. I love Jacob. That's the wonder of wonders,
isn't it? The unregenerate sinner complains, well, you didn't love
Esau. You don't love him. But the enlightened sinner rejoices
in this word from God. I love Jacob. I love Jacob. I love my people. I love my chosen.
I love my elect. And I hated Esau and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Or as Edom saith, and that's the nation that was formed through
Esau, the Edomites. You remember that the Lord told
Jacob and Esau's mother that two nations are in thy womb.
And the Edomites were one of them through Esau. And they've
said, we're impoverished. And we know why, because Esau
sold the birthright. That's why Esau and that people
were impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate
places. We're going to make a name for ourselves. We're going to
be somebody someday, you know. I'm sure they sang that song.
We're going to build it back. We're going to make something
of ourselves. But the problem is the Lord hates you. That's
the problem. The problem is not that you don't
have anything. The problem is the Lord hates
you. That's why. You don't have anything. And
remember, now this is spiritual teaching here. They said, we're
gonna build it back. We're gonna be the Lord has laid
us waste, but we don't need him. We'll build back what he destroyed. We will return and build the
desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall build, but I'll throw it down. You need the Lord on
your side is what you need. All things work together for
good. to those that love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. If God be for us, who can be
against us? But if God's against you, you can build all you want
to. God said, I'll throw it down.
I'll throw it down. And they shall call them the
border of wickedness. Why? Because they're godless.
They'd be calling us the border of wickedness if we didn't have
Christ. without the grace of God, we're all out of the same
lump. The people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. How'd you like to be called that?
And your eyes shall see and you shall say, when the Lord does
what he does, he'll be, he'll be the reaction. The Lord will
be magnified from the border of Israel, whom he loves. Remember he changed Jacob's name
to what? Israel. from the border of Egypt. He cursed the Edomites, Esau
have I hated. But Israel, the Lord will be
magnified. Now let's look at verse one back in our text, Genesis
chapter 33. And Jacob lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him 400 men, just
like it was reported by the scouts. And he divided the children unto
Leah and unto Rachel and unto the two Handmaids, here comes
Jacob's sworn enemy now. You can imagine how he felt. We know how he felt the night
before, because he told the Lord, I'm greatly distressed and afraid. Now this morning, I'm sure he
feels a little bit better, having met the Lord and done business
with the Lord, but not sure what the Lord will do, what will happen,
what will be his brother's temperament, and actions. His sworn enemy,
a brother who, when Jacob last saw him, vowed to kill him. In
Genesis chapter 27, Esau said, I'm gonna grieve for my father,
and when I'm done, I'm gonna kill Jacob. That's what I'm gonna
do. But a lot has happened since then. It's been 20 years, and
the Lord has dealt with them both, and worked, and arranged,
and caused, every detail of their lives. He's ordained and brought
to pass up until this point. And it's much different than
what was purposed in the beginning. Verse two, and he put the handmaids
and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after,
and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. I'm not sure why he did that.
It was suggested in at least one commentary that I read that
he put the ones that he cared the least for in front of the
ones he cared for the most. And it almost kind of sounds
like that, doesn't it? But the truth is, if Esau is bent on
murder, there are not any of them getting out of it. You reckon? So I doubt very seriously if
that's what that is. And he passed over before them
and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near
to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him. Now,
he passed over before them. Whatever the order that he put
to me, I don't know why he did that the way that he did it,
but I know this, he passed over before them, all of them. He
said, Esau's gonna have to get through me to get to them. That's
the way the Lord's loved ones do things. Once the Lord has
shed his light upon them and have brought in their hearts
and they know the truth, they know the Lord. That's the way
they do things. Unless the Lord leaves us to
our flesh, that's the way we'll do things. And Esau ran to meet
him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and
wept. The Lord said, if you delight
yourself in me, I'll make all your enemies to be at peace with
you. He makes good on that promise, doesn't he? Knowing what we know
about what God said about Jacob and Esau before they were ever
born, this is a heartbreaking scene. It's a sad, it's one that
we're not altogether strangers to in our own experience. We
don't know, as I said, we don't know anybody's heart, but we
know, we don't know ultimately what will happen, but we can
see When somebody hates God, it's not hard to tell, is it?
It's not hard to tell. And sometimes and often, those
that we love very dearly hate God. But Jacob comes and he bows
himself seven times to the earth as he meets his brother Esau. And I thought about this, all
of the preference that the Lord had showed Jacob all of his life. He had given him the birthright.
He had caused his mother to conspire and arrange things so that the
elder, sure enough, would serve the younger, as he promised.
And that the blessing would go to the younger, contrary to the
natural order of things. In all of his life, Jacob had
been blessed by God. And in his relationship with
his father-in-law, Laban, Jacob said to his wife, he said, the
Lord's taken your father's cattle and given them to me. But none
of the preference that the Lord had showed him had caused him
to be puffed up and proud and say, look what a great man I
am. His humility is evident all through this chapter. I just
wanted to find grace in your sight. That's why I did that.
He bowed himself to the earth and he said, the Lord's blessed
me. Take, take what I give you, the Lord's blessed me. He comes
bowing, Esau never bows in this chapter. Then verse five, Esau
lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said,
who are those with thee? And he said, and here again,
you hear the language of Jacob. These are the children which
God has graciously given your servant. God's been gracious
to your servant. And this seems like a good time
to notice his language again, especially throughout this chapter.
Esau never mentions the Lord, and Jacob several times in the
chapter mentions what the Lord has done for me. And he raised
up an altar under the Lord at the end. That name of that altar
that was hard to pronounce, it means the almighty God of Israel. I'm gonna raise up an altar and
call it the almighty God of Israel. And all through the language
of it, in verse 15, it says, Esau said, let me now leave with
thee some of the folk. Verse 15, let me leave with thee
some of the folk that are with me. And he said, that's Jacob
in the last part. Esau's saying let me send some
people with you because you know you want to enter in with a with
a great entourage and I can help you with that I got I got plenty
and Jacob said I don't need it let me find grace in the side
of my lord humble humble and all through it take I pray thee
verse 11 the blessing that is brought to thee because God hath
dealt graciously with me you don't hear Esau talking like
that. There's no language like that.
He says, never anything about the Lord or never anything with
any humility in it. And then look at verse six. Then
the handmaidens came near they and their children and they bowed
themselves. And Leah also with her children came near and bowed
themselves. And after came Joseph near and
Rachel and they bowed themselves. And he said, what meanest thou
by all this drove, which I met? And he said, these are to find
grace. in the sight of my Lord. The believer, by God's grace,
is always a peacemaker. We want peace, don't we? Even
with our enemies. Peace. Now we know the flesh
is not that way. We're full of war in our hearts,
in our flesh, in our old sinful hearts. But the believer that
new nature the Lord said blessed are the peacemakers the peacemakers
and of course that means spiritually of course that means those who
spread the gospel of peace that's a spiritual peacemaker the ones
who speak the peace which the Lord Jesus made by the blood
of his cross that's a true in the in the truest sense in the
ultimate sense of being a peacemaker right there but it's true naturally
too we just like peace The flesh isn't satisfied with peace. The
wicked are like the troubled sea, always casting up mire,
never settled. But, God's people aren't that
way. The new creature's not that way.
The new man's not that way. Paul said in Romans 12, 18, if
it be possible, as much as life in you, if it's possible, sometimes
it's not possible, but if it's possible, as long as it's, as
much as life in you, in other words, as much as it depends
on you for your part, as far as you're concerned, live peaceably
with all men. I wanna do that, don't you? I
really do. Don't I can't stand turmoil. I'll run from it as
far as I can. I Just can't stand it And I know
that's grace. I know it is cuz it wasn't always
that way. I was looking for a fight when
I was younger Verse 9 and Esau said I have enough my brother
Keep that thou hast unto thyself. I Now you've probably heard before,
I'm sure, those of you who've heard the gospel for a while,
Jacob goes on to say in verse 11, I have enough. They both
said those words, I have enough. And you've probably heard at
one time or another that those two words, enough and enough,
are not the same word in the original Hebrew, and they're
not. And we're gonna talk about that
in a minute. Esau, says I have enough and Jacob said I have
enough. But that's not all they said. Let's notice first of all
the way they said they have what they have, the way they got it.
Why they have what they have. And then we'll talk about what
enough is in a minute. Esau just simply says I have
enough. And notice the context in which
he said it. He said what was all that stuff that you sent?
before you, my way." Those gifts and things. And Jacob said, it
was to find grace in your son. It was just a gift from me to
you. And Esau said, I have enough. I don't need anything from you. We know what the world means
when they say that. You know why? Because I still
got the world down in here. I know what the world means.
when they say we have enough. Because first of all, the world
doesn't ever have enough. If somebody that doesn't know
God says I have enough, I've got all I need, they're lying.
And there's another reason why they're saying it than the truth.
Now that's from the word of God. The reprobate never has enough.
He lying when he says that. But why would Esau lie about
that? There's never enough to satisfy the flesh. But they say
this as a boast, as if to say, I don't need any help from you.
I've done well for myself. It's pride. Am I calling it like
it is? Do you know yourself well enough
to know that's right? We don't ever have enough to
make not this flesh. No. But we'll say that in pride. and turn to Luke chapter 12.
You know where we're going, don't you? This is all of us by nature
now. Luke chapter 12, verse 15. And he said unto them, the Lord's
teaching some folks. He said, take heed now and beware
of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Now this
is Greek, the original here, and the original language in
Genesis is Hebrew. But what Esau said is, I have
abundance. I looked that word up. It means
abundance. And the Lord here uses the same
word in a different language. He said, abundance doesn't have
anything to do with success or blessing in this life. That's
not what your life consists of. And then he spoke a parable unto
them in verse 16 saying, the ground of a certain rich man
brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself
saying, now this is every rich man without the Lord. That's
why the Lord said the plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing
seems like a very wholesome thing to do, doesn't it? But when the
wicked has plowed, here's what he says. look what I've got,
look what I've done, look what I've made, look what I've worked
hard for and gained and earned. That's why from the very start
it's wicked because he does it with wicked intention from the
beginning. The sinner has nothing but wicked intention, wicked
motive. It's not the act itself, it's
the heart that's sinful. And so the act is sinful because
of the heart with which it's done. The plowing of the wicked
is sin. His land brought forth plenty. Well, there's nothing wrong with
that. There is when the wicked does it. Because God said there
is. And he thought within himself
saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
And no, there's a lot of I will in here, isn't there? I will.
pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow
all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, so thou
hast much goods laid up for many here. He not talking to God,
he talking to himself. He is his own God. Take thine
ease, eat, drink, and be merry. I have enough. It ain't enough. Because it's never enough, is
it? But he's going around telling everybody, look, boy, I had to
tear my barn down to build a big one. Look what I've got. I've
got enough. I have abundance. Look what I did. But God said
unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee. And then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? And so is he. that layeth up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. So is everyone
that knows not the Lord, that loves not the Lord, that serves
not, believes not on the Lord. But look at how Jacob, back to
chapter 33, it's a whole lot different the way Jacob's talking
here. Verse 11. Take, I pray thee, my blessing
that is brought to thee, Because God hath dealt graciously with
me, and because I have enough. Where'd you get what you have,
Jacob? God gave it to me. God's dealt graciously with me.
You see the difference? It's pretty clear, isn't it?
Look what the Lord has done for me. That's different language
now than the rich man that we just read about in Luke chapter
12. Look what the Lord take, here take some of it. The man
in Luke 12, that didn't seem to be an option for him. I've
got too much to go in my barn, I'll give it to somebody. No,
he never considered that, did he? Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated, not because of a generous heart or lack thereof,
but because he loves and hates. There are two different kinds
of hearts. And it is true that these two words, enough, have
different meanings in the original Hebrew. Esau said, I have much
abundance. That's what that word means,
I have much abundance. It's clear what he's saying.
I don't need anything from you, I've got all I need. And Jacob
said this, that word enough means this, I have all. I have the
whole, W-H-O-L-E. I've got everything. It's from
a root word that means complete, perfect. It means perfect. What did Esau mean by I have
enough? Enough what? What does this world
mean by that? Enough to sustain me? Enough
to satisfy me? enough to eat enough to wear
the Lord said take no thought for those things but seek first
the kingdom of God and these things will be added to you enough
not just for survival I'm sure Esau meant I'm not just getting
by I've got enough to enjoy everything a man could wish for the rest
of my life I don't need anything more he was boasting that do
you have enough I had to ask myself that here. Do I have enough? Well, like Jacob said clearly,
the believer has all. The believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ has all. Paul said, all things are yours. And he wasn't exaggerating. All
things are yours. We have all things in a twofold
sense. having him is to have all. We
have him. We have Christ. The prodigal
son, the day that he left, he said, I want my inheritance.
I want everything that's coming to me now. I don't want to wait
till you die. I want my, I want, I want everything
that's, that's mine. I want it now. And I'm going
to go while I'm young and I can enjoy it. I'm going to go make
my own way. And I'm sure it was a massive
inheritance, don't you imagine? This man was clearly, he had
servants and he was clearly a very wealthy man. He represents God,
so I'd say he was real wealthy, wouldn't you say? And I'm sure
the day that the prodigal son left, he could have said, I have
enough. I've got enough. But the day
he came home, He didn't have a penny to his name, but that
day he could say, I have everything. You know why? Because he had
the Father's love. And probably for the first time
in his life he knew it. He had the love of the Father
who is everything. You see the difference? We have
everything because we have Him. With the Father's loving embrace
came the promise of never lacking anything ever again. Any good
thing that He could ever need or desire was His because He
had the Father. And this is our situation. We
have the loving Heavenly Father who knows how to give good things. He not only has all good things
to give, but He knows how to give them. David said, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He said, I won't lack anything,
not because of things that I have, but because of someone that I
have. You see what I'm saying, what
the scripture teaches here? The Lord's my shepherd, I shall
not want. We have him, we have everything.
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Am I going
to be afraid of Esau? The Lord is my light. I have
everything. I have everything. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Why? Thou art with me. Thou art with me. Having the
Lord Jesus Christ We have everything and nothing shall separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And
so we can truly say, I have everything, I have all, I have the whole,
I have completion, I have perfection. What did Paul say? You are complete
in Him, in Him. And then the second part of that
is this, we have all because of what He did for us. We have
all in the matter of our sin problem before God. Christ said
before he gave up the ghost on the cross, as he hung on Calvary's
cross, having bled out and died for my sins, he said before he
gave up the ghost, it is complete. It is perfect. And I have that
too. I have him who is all and I have
His redemption, His worth, His sacrifice, His perfect work,
His righteousness, His sin offering to the Father is my sin offering
to the Father. I have all. I have the whole. I am complete. I am perfect.
What we need is Him And we have him and what we need, he supplied,
he provided, he paid. What we owed, I owed a debt I
could not pay. And he paid a debt he did not
owe. God says I require perfect obedience
to my law. I require an offering valuable
enough to pay for your massive, yea, infinite sin debt. And I, this sinner that stands
before you tonight, am able to look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and say, I have enough. I have enough. And if you do
not have the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what else you
have. or who else? You do not have enough. Matthew
1626 our Lord asked this question, what is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? What will you give God
as a ransom for your soul? What will be acceptable to God?
The whole world? You've had to tear down your
barns and build bigger ones? You have abundance? Will you
give that to God? Oh, I won the lottery. All right, got a check, you know.
That's wonderful. What will you give God as a ransom
for your soul? One of the prophets asked this,
shall I give my own children? Burn them on the altar? The fruit
of my body for the sins of my soul, it's not enough. God's
preacher says you're a sinner before God. You've got to do
business with the holy God that you've sinned against. You've
got to pay for your sins somehow. You've got to make reconciliation.
You've got to make atonement. There's got to be atonement made.
There's got to be retribution. You've sinned against the infinite
God. And the unregenerate sinner says, I have enough. I have my good works. I haven't
submitted to God's righteousness, but I've gone about and established
my own. I don't need God's. I've established my own righteousness.
I've got my good works. I've got my church membership.
I've got my heritage, like Paul said. I've got my decision that
I made. years ago. It's not enough. It's
not enough. And here's the thing about it.
If you don't have everything, you don't have enough. It's all
or nothing, isn't it? John said in 1 John 5, 12, He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And Jacob Blessed by God all
of his life. It didn't mean that he had an
easy life. By any means does it. We've seen some of the things
that he went through. By the sweat of your face, you'll
eat bread. And we do. But blessed of God
every step of the way. God's bountiful blessings just
bestowed upon him in spite of him. In spite of the fact that
he is a supplanter, a cheat, a worm, God blessed him. Why? Jacob have I loved. And having the love of the Father,
he was able to honestly say to Esau from his heart, I have everything. I'm that prodigal, and I could
say the same thing. I don't have anything really
in this world not to be ungrateful for God's blessing. But what
I mean to say is this, as far as this world is concerned, I'm
not worth much. You see what I mean? I'm not
worth much. And never will be. Don't want
to be. Don't care. But here's what I
have. Jacob have I loved. Here's what
I have. I have the father running to
meet me and embrace me and kiss me. And say, my son was lost
and he's found. Come home, kill the fatted calf,
servant. Come on in the house. The father's
love, Jacob, have I loved. I have everything. How about
you? I'll spell it out quick.