The Word of the Lord to you and me, Genesis 33, beginning in verse 1. And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, Who are these with you? And Jacob said, The children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the servants drew near and they and their children and bowed down. Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last, Joseph and Rachel drew near and they bowed down. Esau said, what do you mean by all this company that I met? And Jacob answered, to find favor in the sight of my Lord. But Esau said, I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. And Jacob said, No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. Thus he urged him, and he took it. Then Esau said, Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you. But Jacob said to him, My Lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. And if they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my Lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me, and at the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord and see her. So Esau said, Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me. But he said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to seer, but Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan Aram, and he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. And there he erected an altar and called it El Elohe Israel. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. Let's now pray again for its blessing. Our Father in heaven, we ask now that you would please bless this text of scripture as we open it and expound it. I pray that you would give wisdom to the preacher and pray that you give each of us ears to hear that we might hear the voice of our great prophet and savior. Lord Jesus, Lord, speak for your servants. Listen, we pray. Oh, God, work this truth into our hearts and help us, Lord, to live in light of your glorious grace and show grace to others. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. This passage, brothers and sisters, is a reminder of how the grace of our Lord Jesus changes us. How the grace of God works in our hearts and enables us to grow and develop and mature in the way that we speak to others, the way that we treat one another, in the way that we are generous towards one another, and, interestingly, in the way that we refuse the things that people offer us. Wisdom, in other words, and how to live this present. evil age. So, as we look at this passage, we see really two individuals in the forefront. We see Jacob, of course, but we also see Esau, and both of them have radically changed since we first met them in chapter 25. Both of them have grown greatly. On one hand, we have Esau who has grown as a man. He has clearly changed here from the rather violent, sort of aggressive figure that we met. earlier, and now we find him to be quite civil, quite, in many ways, kind of charming, actually, in this passage. Not in any way the beastly man that he was. But again, there's no suggestion here that he's a man of faith. There's no suggestion that he is a believer, just a man who's grown and his sort of outward civility. But the other aspect of change we see here is Jacob. And Jacob is radically different than we first met him. First, he was this swaggering sort of young man who wanted what he wanted and was able to get it, but he really couldn't enjoy it. He wanted the birthright, he wanted the blessing, and he did obtain them. God wanted him to have them, but he did not enjoy them. for a very long time. And now he's a man who not swaggers but limps. Walks with a busted hip as a reminder of God's humbling of this man and the grace that he's shown to him as well. So we find in this man a man humbled by God's grace. Now in his humility he is gracious to his brother Esau. He's generous with him in the way he treats him, in the way he speaks to him, in the way he gives to him. But he's also wise in his dealings with his brother Esau. And so that's what we're going to see tonight. God's grace motivates believers to be generous in how we give to others and wise in what we accept from others. But in a little more simple terms, to just be carefree, in a sense, and to be careful in our lives. God's grace makes us carefree, but also careful. Let's look at the first point. God's grace motivates believers to be generous in how we give. First of all, I want you to take in the grace that God has shown to Jacob. Verses 1-3. Jacob, it says in verse 1, divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. And then he orders them. And notice how he orders them. He orders them in terms of servants first, then their children. So think of this as one long line. In each section, servants, then Leah, then Rachel. Sort of a parade, if you will. Think of this great parade walking through the wilderness there. In each one of these sections, you have accompanying the servants and their children this drove of livestock. All these cattle and donkeys and sheep and so forth. And then Leah with her children and all the livestock that accompanies them. And then of course Rachel and Joseph last of all with this great flock, if you will, of livestock. Now many people see this as evidence that Jacob is this craven coward. And I have read it this way many years. I've read this as a man who's putting all of his favorites in front so they can get killed first. And he's this guy who's cravenly cowering behind them. But I want you to look carefully at this text. My own views of this have changed. And I'll point out in conjunction with my own views in this particular text, my own conviction that we need to read the Bible charitably. We're reading here about our brother in heaven. And if there's no explicit evidence that we should read this as sinful or unseemly, then we ought to, in a sense, read it charitably, as much as we can. There's much to critique in Jacob's life. I'm not sure this is the best place to do it. So a lot of people see him as a craven coward, putting his favorites first so they can get annihilated. But I want you to notice one detail that's major. He himself went on before them. So the text tells us that he's standing in front of his servants and their children. He goes before them. And they all in procession proceed to greet Esau one after another. Now, you might say that if he's guilty of favoritism here, that's actually possible. that he's putting his favorites last. In other words, he's putting his least favorite first, which would be the servants, his second least favorite, Leah, and their children, and his favorites, Rachel, and their children last. But there is another way to read this, and I think this is a more charitable and just as likely, in the sense that he orders them, in a sense, from the oldest to the youngest. He puts the oldest children first. Notice that he's very eager for Esau to meet his children. He puts the oldest first, the youngest last. And at this point, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah would all have been around the age of 14 and a little younger, 14 being the oldest. And then Joseph would have been one of the youngest, probably around six years old. So he would have been the last to meet Esau. So you might read this very charitably and say that he simply wanted to put the oldest children first. Or you might read it and say, well, he's putting his favorites last. I'm not sure it makes a huge bit of difference. We know he was a man guilty of favoritism. There's no doubt about that. I'm just saying there's different possible interpretations here. I want you to note here that it says that Jacob went ahead of them. That's significant. He doesn't seem to be afraid of Esau any longer. What it seems to be going on now is that he is simply showing honor to his brother. And I think there's a good reason to read it that way. He's not terrified any longer. He's bowing himself seven times. This is an ancient custom. If you were to greet a dignitary in that day in the ancient Near East, you would have bowed seven times. That was a custom in that area. He over and over refers to Esau as, my Lord. And so there's a very real sense in which he is going out of his way, bending over backwards to show honor to Esau, to respect him. Very wise. The day before, before the wrestling match with our Lord, it says he was greatly afraid and distressed. But something happened, I think, that changed Jacob's perspective. Why is it that now he can somewhat confidently stand in front and meet his brother? Well, remember what happened. Yahweh wrestling in the form of the angel of the Lord, wrestling with Jacob until daybreak. Jacob now won't let go. He won't relent. He won't stop fighting. He won't stop struggling. Hence his name, Israel. He struggled with God and prevailed. And finally, our Lord touched his hip, wrenched his hip, somewhat crippling him, and yet he still won't let go. He is a broken man physically, and yet he won't let go until he gets the blessing. Again, his victory and his surrender at the same time. And the Lord blesses him. He blesses him. And he reminds him that the promise that he was given as a young man, that his brother would not prevail over him, would not rule over him. The older will serve the younger. And so here God is reminding Jacob the prophecy still stands. He is still the man with the blessing. He is the man with the birthright. And Esau won't prevail over him. God is with him, in other words. So he may walk away limping, but he is absolutely the stronger. And he will absolutely walk away alive. I think that meeting with the Lord emboldened Jacob. And I think it changed his perspective from sheer terror to one of gratitude. Everything in this passage speaks of a man who is grateful. He doesn't deserve what he's got. God has been gracious and has changed him. So brothers and sisters, there's a whole variety of ways this passage is read. And I know the commentators disagree in certain points. But they all recognize there's this element running through this passage of Jacob's great gratitude. He talks about the graciousness for which God has given him. I think that is the way to understand this passage. So he's changed profoundly by the angel of the Lord's words and his blessings. He has the blessing. He doesn't have anything of want anymore. He has everything he needs with Yahweh. And now he meets Esau in those terms. Verse 4, here we finally have the meeting. He lifts up his eyes. So it's really picturesque if you kind of imagine it. He lifts up his eyes. He probably sees the dust clouds forming on the horizon and all these 400... Soldiers walking to him and his family. It would have been an awesome thing to see. But unlike the day before when Jacob thought that he would be there to shoot an arrow in his heart, far from it. God has already gone before him. He's gone ahead of him. He's fought his battles for him. He didn't need all that preparation. God just changed the heart of Esau on his own. Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept." This really is one of the most beautiful scenes in the Bible, isn't it? These two brothers, estranged for 20 years, now they've been reconciled. and just kind of pour out emotion in the tears that they weep and the physical embrace and the kisses. They are just overwhelmed with this peace that God has brought to them both. Now it's interesting the way Jacob will speak of Esau, speak of him as if he's meeting God face to face. We'll come back to that in a moment. But really Esau here is almost an embodiment of God. It's surprising. Jacob in many ways deserved Esau's anger. He didn't treat him the best. Though he didn't do everything wrong, he didn't do everything right either. And so, in many ways, he had reason to feel that he had offended his brother. He had offended his brother. And yet, surprisingly, he shows him grace. He shows him forgiveness. Unconditional forgiveness. And they are reconciled. Not because of anything Jacob has done. Jacob hasn't done anything to deserve Esau's favor. Esau simply shows favor freely. Graciously. Again, this is work of the Spirit in his life, no doubt. But here, Esau, though he is likely unaware of it, he is a living embodiment of God's grace. It kind of reminds you of the prodigal son. The prodigal son went away and he squandered his father's wealth on all manner of wickedness. And he sat eating pig's food and thought to himself, I'll just go back and I'll go before my father and I'll just get down and grovel and beg for a place in his house. I'll be a servant in his house. And so here comes the prodigal son rehearsing in his mind the words that he's going to say to his father. And what does he meet? He meets a father who runs and humiliates himself. running like a child to embrace his son. This is a picture here. Jacob has been shown this sort of grace that he doesn't deserve whatsoever. And so this is a reminder that God is gracious to us in the same extraordinary ways. He reconciled himself to us, we who have sinned. Even if we had just sinned once against this holy God of ours, God has reconciled himself to us freely. not based on anything we've done, but because of His Son and His perfect righteousness on our behalf and His wonderful atoning sacrifice on our behalf. And our Father has reconciled Himself to us in Christ. It's extraordinary grace. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve it. It's surprising. Our sins deserve what? Hell. We shouldn't gloss over that. We shouldn't forget this truth, that our sins, our sin deserves hell, burning forever in God's infinite wrath. And yet he has so graciously reconciled himself to us in Jesus, tenderly. David understood this. David understood the grace of God. Remember how he treated Mephibosheth. David had been graciously forgiven of his sins. He knew, understood the grace of God. And he said, what can I do to show favor to the house of Saul, his enemy? See, he was gracious to even his enemy's household. He reconciles us not only to himself, but also to our enemies. God is kind in a sense to bring peace with even those who hate us. The Proverbs speak of this. Proverbs 16, verse 7. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. See, they're a reminder that God is gracious to give us earthly peace, earthly relationships. And let's be honest, I mean, the fact that we have friends that love us, we have families that are kind to us, is really God's good work in our life. We don't deserve that. We've sinned against them as well. We've experienced a friendship that's broken and been reconciled. It's a sweet thing. It's a gift of God. And so here we see God's extraordinary grace. But we also see something of His ordinary grace. Look at verses 5 through 7. Esau asks when he sees this parade of people, he says, who are these with you? It's interesting, if you read the words of Jacob and Esau, they just pour out charm and civility. And this is Esau's way of saying, why don't you introduce me, Jacob, to these people? It's not like he doesn't know these are his family members. It's a polite way of saying, introduce me to them. So who are these with you? And then Jacob says, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. He uses this word Hanan here. It's a word that really is the word that we would use for the word grace. The unmerited favor. I don't deserve these people. This is God's kindness. I came here with a staff in my hand and God's given me these beautiful wives, these children, these servants, this whole retinue of livestock. These are all gifts of God. He's graciously given your servant. In a way, he's saying, I don't deserve any of this. This is all God's kindness to me, undeserved. That's what he's saying. And then they all come in order and bow. It's very, very striking. The servants, their children, Leah, her children, Joseph and Rachel, they all come and bow before Esau, just as God's people should bow before God. He's almost a stand-in. their uncle Esau for God. So again, God's grace to us in ordinary ways. God's given us food. Children, He's given us food. He's given us clothes to wear. He's given us homes to live in. He's given us cars to drive. He's given us ways to occupy our time in fruitful ways. Jobs and callings. He's given us families. Praise the Lord. He's given us friends. Praise the Lord. He's given us spouses. He's given us Just many reasons to enjoy this present age. Just think about food for a minute. He could have given us, you know, some sort of tasteless gruel. That could be our food to eat. And He's given us all the varieties of good things to eat in this world. God's been incredibly, incredibly, abundantly gracious with us. How should that change the way we live? Undeserved favor. We deserve hell. But we get His unmerited kindness and goodness. How should that change? Children, how should that change the way we live towards one another? Well, that's what we see here. Jacob's generosity to his brother. Verses 8 and 9, look with me. He says, what do you mean by all this company that I met? Jacob says, to find favor in the sight of my Lord. Esau, I have enough, my brother. And he did. He's a rich man. He's a ruler over Edom. He's a ruler over this great territory. He's the king, if you will. He's the prince. I have enough. I have enough. Notice that Jacob later says, I have enough. Both of them have enough. So, why all the giving of gifts? Why does Jacob want to be so generous? I want you to note here, this is interesting. Esau keeps calling Jacob, my brother. My brother. But what does Jacob keep calling his brother? My Lord. So, in one sense, you realize this isn't sort of Jacob being sort of brotherly affection. I'm not sure that's really there as much as in Esau. So what is it? Why does he want to be so generous and give so much to his brother? Well, it's not to bribe Esau either. It's certainly not to gain his favor because we see here in the text that he's already gained his favor. He's already basically acknowledged that he's been accepted. He's been forgiven by Esau. Esau has nothing but charity towards him. And so we understand now that he wants to give, for a different reason, these gifts to his brother. And he tells him, verse 10, "'Have enough, my brother,' says Esau." Well, he says, "'Well, I want to give it to you, for I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.'" Like God, Esau could have been wrathful and vengeant, and destructive. He could have annihilated Jacob and his family easily, just as the angel of the Lord could have annihilated Jacob when they wrestled. And yet he doesn't. Surprisingly, he shows him kindness. It's like I'm seeing in you, Esau, the face of God. And so, in a sense, you might say that Jacob is giving his gift to Esau out of gratitude to God. He's grateful to God for what he's been given, the grace. He doesn't need anything from Esau. He doesn't need anything. Esau is not going to do any harm to him. He's not in any need, no want. Please, he says, please accept my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough. Some of the commentators, for some reason, keep clinging to this idea that here Jacob is trying to buy off his brother. The text doesn't support that at all. The text clearly states, God has been gracious to me, I want to give. And really that is it. That is the idea that grace makes us generous. Grace makes us want to go above and beyond and give to people, not because they deserve it. People are rude to us. People are jerks to us. Do they deserve our kindness? No. And we don't deserve the kindness of others because we've been the same way. And so yet, how do we live and how do we work together? How do we interact with one another? To be generous. To be gracious to one another. Why? Because we deserve it? No, because God's been good to us. Generosity can be very selfish, by the way. Generosity can be selfish. Think of a parent. can be generous to their children. Why? To buy their affections. A young man may be generous to a young lady to win her heart. Very altruistic, right? A young man trying to win a wife. A great philanthropist may ultimately give his riches because he feels some void in his heart, not because he's so very gracious. You see, generosity can be selfish. But apart from God's grace, human beings are incapable of unselfish giving. Gracious, true gracious, graciously giving. So here it's a passage that reminds us that our generosity is a reflection of the riches that we enjoy in Christ. While we were away, I was privileged to sit under one of my favorite preachers. a gentleman in Greensboro, and he gave an offhand comment about the book of Ephesians. And he said, Ephesians can be broken into two parts. He says it's chapters 1-3 is our wealth in Christ, and then chapters 4-6 are our walk with Christ. Very wonderful way to summarize the book of Ephesians. Our wealth and our walk in Christ. And And the first half of Ephesians, Paul goes out of his way to show how rich we are in Christ. The riches that we have in Him. And if you turn there with me and just look at the language there of the riches that we have in Christ. This is getting to the heart of where Jacob is and where his mind is. That he has been given so much through his relationship by faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 7. Listen to what Paul says. Children, listen to what Paul says about how rich you are in Christ. He says, in Him, that's Jesus, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to what? The riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known what? The mystery of His will. according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ. Notice verse 11, in Him, in Jesus, we have obtained, what? An inheritance, this great treasure trove from our Father. We have an inheritance in Christ. And he says, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things, according to the counsel of His will. Paul goes on, he can't stop. Verse 15, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you." And listen, "...what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe." I could go on. Look at chapter 2, verse 4. But God being what? Rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which He loved us. You could go on again. Chapter 3, verse 7. This gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I'm the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And so you get the picture everywhere. Paul, you are rich in Him. You have riches in wisdom. You have riches in His mercy. You have riches in His grace that He supplies constantly through the Spirit's work. Rich, rich, rich beyond your wildest understanding. And what does this do? What should this do in our lives? Well, Paul tells us that because we're rich in Him, We ought to be rich towards one another. Look with me at 2 Corinthians. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 6. He says, "...accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace." What's he talking about? If you go back to verse 1 and following, he's talking about generosity towards the saints. Giving of yourself, giving of your material goods, your time, your love, an overflow of your... of your lives to other people. He said he calls this kind of generosity an act of grace. An act of grace. He uses that phrase twice. And why should we do that? Look at this, verse 8. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love is also genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor. so that you, by His poverty, might become rich." Paul says our generosity comes from the fact that we have a Christ who became poor that we would become rich, and now we are so incredibly rich in His grace. All we can do is give. We have an overflow, a never-ending abundance to give. And so this is the theology behind this passage, brothers and sisters. Are you united to Christ by faith alone? If you are, then you are rich beyond your wildest dreams. Do you believe that? Do you believe that you are rich in Him? Sometimes we do. Most of the times we do. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we... I feel like we have to hoard our lives. We have to sort of protect our lives. We sort of have to hold back because if we do, then we will run dry or run empty. Forgiveness. Sometimes we're not generous with our forgiveness. Sometimes we hold grudges or we're cold towards someone who's offended us. But that's not really living in this kind of grace. It's not living in this kind of a gospel-centered understanding. Our money. Sometimes we're stingy with our money. We think that if we just give a little, if we give the tithe this month, we might go broke. We can't make ends meet. But God is faithful. He's never let us down. Our time. This is a big one for our culture. Our time. We are sometimes hoarders of our time because we are so stretched thin with our busyness of our lives. We're so overwhelmed with all the things that we've signed up for that we don't have any margin in our lives for anything or anybody. And so we're hoarders of our time, our energy, our possessions. Are there aspects of your life that you find yourself hoarding away? I remember there's a television show, I don't know if it's on anymore, called Hoarders. These people that, it's not really funny, it's sad, but these people that fill their house with useless things that they think somehow that will add to their lives. People that have stacks of newspapers for decades stacked in their homes or magazines that... Why in the world would you ever keep these things? Why there's some... Strange, unhealthy, imbalanced need to keep them. Somehow it makes their life full. It's a really gross picture. It's really absurd. But it's a picture of idolatry. It's these things that we hoard because we think they add to our lives. As if our lives depended on these things. But you see, our life doesn't come from these things. Our life comes from Christ. There's nothing else that we need. And I think Jacob understood that. So our generosity towards others is ultimately an act of worship unto God. Go back to Matthew 25. Jesus said this himself, that when we give generously to others of our time, our energies, our love, our forgiveness, that we're really doing good to Him. And this is particularly when we do good to believers. But look at Matthew 25. Verse 31, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And you almost get a little glimpse of that with Esau and his hosts. One day we'll see the great King, not with 400 soldiers, but with this multitude of angels in glory, sitting in regal authority on His throne. And He will judge all of us. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as shepherds separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left, and then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 4, listen to this. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to see me." And then they all ask, well, how, Lord? How did we do all this to you? By doing unto the least of these, he says. So our Lord reminds us that we do good, especially to the household of faith, that we're doing good unto Him. And then Luke 6 reminds us that God will bless us. Look at Luke 6 with me. Luke 6, verse 38. Our Lord says, "...give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." we put into your lap, for with the measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." It's a great promise. When we're generous towards others, God is a very careful judge. He's very particular about how He observes how we give, and He's noting how we give. He's noting what we hoard and hold back. He's taking evaluation of how we have areas of our lives we can't feel we can really give. When we're called upon, But He says, give and it will be given back to you. And so we see here, grace changes us to make us generous. Let's look briefly now at the second part. God's grace motivates us also to be wise in what we accept. To be wise in what we accept. Verse 12 through 20. And this takes a little different turn now because now Esau has just said, yes, I'll accept your gifts, I'll accept your blessing, Jacob. Sure, fine, I'll take it. I don't need it, but I'll take it. Verse 12, now Esau has a request of Jacob and this is where it gets really awkward. He says, let us journey on our way and I will go ahead of you. So what's happening? Esau is saying, Jacob, I want you to come back to Edom with me. Come back to Seir with me and come stay with me. Perhaps for a while, maybe longer. So it's very kind, very generous. You have to recognize this is sincere, I think. Esau wants just to spend time with his brother. But Jacob, this is awkward because I think Jacob knew he couldn't go. Why would Jacob be hesitant to go with his brother Esau to Seir? Why couldn't he accept this gracious offer? Well, I would argue, brothers and sisters, that the reason he couldn't accept this gift is the same reason that he graciously gave to his brother. It's the idea of God's grace. Because Jacob has everything he needs in his God, in Yahweh. And he doesn't need anything from Esau. He doesn't need anything. And in fact, if he took this offer, he puts himself in a very compromised situation. How so? Consider a couple of things. God promised that Jacob would rule over Esau. But now Esau wants him to go into his land, his territory, which is ruled over by Esau of Hagan, essentially. And so he would now put himself under the authority of a man who despises his God and his covenant and his gospel. If he did that, he is now subjugating himself to Esau. He cannot go to Seir. He's been called where? to Canaan, to the Promised Land. He has to go there. So God has promised him that you will inherit this land, not Edom, this land, and I have called you to come back there. And that is where you will rule over your brother from Canaan, from the Promised Land. Secondly, this is another reason why Jacob could not go, because he made a vow to God. So God made a promise to Jacob, and Jacob made a promise to God. I'm going to come back to Bethel, and I'm going to offer sacrifice to you. I'm going to offer a tenth of what I have to you there. And he did that all the way back in chapter 28, verses 18 through 22, where he said, I'm coming back here to Bethel, which is where he met the angels for the first time. And so here, Jacob likely discerns that this invitation from Esau is a snare. If I accept this, and believe me, there's pressure because they have been separated 20 years. And now all his brother wants to do is spend time with him. He has to say no. It's awkward, but he has to say no. He can't go. And he also understood the stakes because he's probably going to be tempted to Esau's idols and very, very well possible could become corrupted by Esau's ungodliness and unbelief. And so here God, because God has been so gracious and blessed Jacob, Jacob cannot dream of entering into partnership with this person who despises his God even as much as he loves his brother. Now, Jacob's answer to Esau, we need to deal with this. Verse 13 and 14, he says, So this is his excuse, if you will, for why he can't go with Esau. And again, there are all kinds of commentators' opinions about what's going on here. Is Jacob just flat-out lying to him? Is Jacob sincere and just sort of naive that he would actually go back to Seir someday? Jacob never goes to Seir. He never goes to, as far as the Bible says, he never goes to visit Esau and his land. Is it a sincere intention? We just simply don't know. We don't know. All we know is that Jacob can't go here. He knows it would be extremely unwise to go, and indeed sinful. I think we could say it would be sinful for him to go to Edom with his brother. But what we see is very obvious. He doesn't want to offend his brother. He doesn't want to give offense to Esau. And so he tells him, look, my children, my livestock, they're all gonna die because we can't go at your pace. We can't walk at your pace. You guys are hunters and gatherers and warriors and we're just a bunch of simple shepherds. Can't go at your pace. It's a great lesson for us. I think. Supply that to today. We can't walk at the pace of this world. The pace of this world will run you ragged. It will destroy you. We need to lessen our pace a little bit. We need to walk a little slower pace, the pace that God's given us to walk. And we need to go in the direction He's called us to go. The world would have us to go to hell. And to distract our lives with endless variety of distractions and diversions. And God says, let's slow down the pace a little bit. And that's what Jacob's saying. Let's slow down the pace a little bit. You guys go on. We've got our own path that we're going to take. And so I'm very sympathetic here to Jacob. I don't see in here this extremely wicked liar. I see a man who's really caught in an awkward spot and he says what he needs to say. And is it perfect? No, it's certainly not perfect. But I don't really hold it too much against him. He understands what David would later say in Psalm 1, that he says, look, the righteous man does not stand in the seat of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. He understands he cannot go with Esau. He understands what Paul would later say, that we must not be unequally yoked, unequally partnered with light, light with darkness. So Jacob is wise and discerning in not going. See, God's grace makes us recognize we don't need the things in this world. We don't need to run at its pace. We don't need to go in his direction. We've got our own path. We'll close this here, if you'll look with me here, verses 16 through 20. There's all kinds of twists and turns here because you see Jacob, he does one thing well and then he takes another step, goes one step forward and takes another step back. And sadly in this life we don't always keep the priorities we should and he makes a misstep here. Look at verse 16. Where does it say that he goes? Well, it says, verse 16, So Esau returned, he went on his way to Seir, but Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. Where did Jacob vow to go? He vowed to go to Bethel. Go back and read chapter 28. He said, I'm going to Bethel. I'm going to offer my sacrifice there. He doesn't go to Bethel. He spent several years between now and then when he comes to finally Bethel. And this is going to be a serious mistake. We're going to see next time that this is one of the worst mistakes that Jacob makes. He goes to Succoth instead of going to Bethel, which literally is the house of God. What does the text tell us? He's all focused on building his house. He's building a little house for his livestock. So it's the exact opposite of what he should be doing. His priorities have gone off track. And it's a great warning to us because none of us have all of our stuff together. None of us have all of our priorities on point either. We all need this warning to be vigilant and be careful and wise in how and where we commit ourselves. Here he goes somewhere other than where he should be. He takes a disastrous detour. It's kind of like out of the frying pan into the fire. Verse 18, notice it says that he came safely to the city of Shechem. The word safely there is the word Shalom. He came in peace to the city of Shechem. Now that's significant because he said in chapter 28, if you turn back there, look with me here. He said... So then Jacob made a vow, here's his vow, saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace, that's the word shalom, then the Lord will be my God and this stone which I've set up for a pillar shall be God's house and to all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you. Well now look at the text tells us. He comes in peace. God's kept his end of the bargain. But he doesn't go where he's supposed to go. He doesn't go to his father's house. Where does he go? He goes to this crossroads, this very lucrative crossroads, a place where the city of Shechem is a place that was like a crossroads where there's all sorts of trade, very lucrative financially. And it appears that's why Jacob went there. And so here he is thinking, I think, in a worldly sense. It's tainting his decisions. And he purchases land from the son of Hamor, literally the son of the ass, very vividly speaking. He buys this property from the Shechemites. And this is really a warning. It's basically a warning that we need to find in Christ our everything, not to be sidetracked. He is our life. Be wise in what this world offers you and be wise in how we accept its gifts. So, brothers and sisters, this is a reminder that God's grace is so great a blessing, we don't need the world, we don't need its approval, we can be satisfied in Him. And sometimes we need to come to a place where Christ is really all that we have. And sometimes God brings us to that point where Christ is all we have, and then we realize He is all we need. But sadly, it often takes us God teaching us that He is all we have. And that's what God is going to do in the life of Jacob next time. And I'll close this with this one passage, which I think really sums up this scripture from Ephesians chapter 5. Paul in Ephesians 5, I think, sums up the theology here. Ephesians 5, 1, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness must not be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Instead, expose them, for it is shameful to take part, or shameful even to speak of these things that they do in secret. And then he says in verse 15, Look very carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And we'll stop there. God would have us to walk in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Walk towards unbelievers in wisdom and in generosity as well. And this is all because of what Christ has done for us. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we want to walk in love. We want to walk with a full and generous heart towards one another. Towards even those who offend us and even indeed our enemies. We pray, fill our hearts and minds with the conviction of our great riches in Christ. And the inheritance that we possess in Him. And we pray, Father, that you would cause us to not need anything from anyone. That we would not accept the bait that Satan hangs before our faces. That we would not bite the hook. That we would not walk in the pace of this world in this present age. That we would be wise and understand that in Christ we have an all-sufficient Savior and God. And therefore what we do is we simply give what we can of our abundance to all who call upon us. And we are wise in what we accept. Help us to be wise in this present evil age. We pray that you'd be wise as... People who care for households, help us be wise as those who care for your church. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to redeem the time, making most... the best use of the time that you've given us, for the days are evil. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.