Twin Struggle Series

Twin Struggle

Text: Gen. 25:19-26

Introduction

1. Read Genesis 25:19-26

2. Illustration: Three men waiting in the room for expectant fathers waited for word on the arrival of their infants.

Some while later a nurse comes in and announces to one of the men that his wife had just given birth to twins.

’that’s amazing he said - I play for the Minnesota Twins’ !

About twenty minutes later another nurse comes in and announces to the second gentleman that his wife had given birth to triplets. ’WOW’ - he stated, ’I work for the 3M company’ !Upon hearing that the third man fell off his chair and fainted - after those who were present were able to revive him, they all inquired as to why he had fainted. He said ’ I work for the 7-UP company !

3. Our text today is a story about two twins: Esau and Jacob. However, it is also a story about the blessings of God because they were a part of the promise God made to Abraham.

4. What this story shows us is:

Proposition: God’s promises never change.

Transition: This story shows us that...

I. Receiving God’s Blessing Requires Grace (19-21)

A. Isaac Entreated the LORD

1. This story starts out with Isaac, the son of Abraham.

a. Isaac was the miraculous son of promise.

b. His mother Sarah had been barren, but God intervened and she conceived Isaac.

c. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars.

2. However, in order for God’s promise to be ultimately fulfilled, the promise had to continue, and just as with his father Abraham, there was a problem.

a. Just as in the case of his parents, Rebekah was barren.

b. Unlike his parents, though, who tried to fix the problem themselves through the flesh, Isaac trusted God to fix the problem.

3. Verse 21 says, "And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived."

a. The word "entreat" means "to make an earnest prayer or request, to beseech, implore."—Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

b. He didn’t just pray some wimpy prayer and them wonder why God didn’t answer, but in his desperation he cried out to God to intervened just as He had done for Isaac’s parents.

c. Just as Jesus prayed in desperation until His sweat became as drops of blood in the Garden on the night he was betrayed, we must be willing to sacrifice at the altar.

d. We’ve got to get desperate before God and cry out to Him.

e. If we want the blessing, we have to be willing to pay the price.

4. Yet, what we must see in this text is that it took divine intervention for the promise to come to pass.

a. Isaac and Rebekah did everything right.

b. Isaac was the son of promise.

c. Rebekah was from the right family, and was hand picked by God himself to be Isaac’s wife.

d. Yet she was still barren.

e. It took divine intervention for the promise to come to pass.

B. Blessings and Grace

1. Illustration: Phillip Yancey describes grace in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace. He writes, “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much an infinite God can possibly love.”

2. I think some Christians make the same mistake that Abraham and Sarah did.

a. They think if they say the right formula it will bring them the blessings of God.

b. They think if they say the right Bible verses it will bring the blessings of God.

c. They think that if they travel to the church where the latest revival is taking place that they can bring back the blessings of God.

3. It doesn’t matter what you do, where you go, or what books you read, it is still going to take the grace of God to receive the blessings of God.

4. We make the mistake of thinking that if we follow the right formula we can make God give us His blessing.

a. We can’t force God to bless us, it takes the grace of God.

b. God doesn’t owe us anything, it takes the grace of God.

5. However, the good news is that God wants to bless us. He wants to bestow his blessings upon us.