Wrestling with God: Finding Your True Home in Christ

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:10:12] Black Creek please stand with us in as we bring praise to the Lord Man, how exciting is it to be together to give praise to our God who is worthy of all of our worship and all of our lives.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:13:49] We're so glad that you are here with us to join in our worship today.
[00:13:55] If you are a member of Back Creek, we'd love to have you use the Church Center app to check in so we have a record of your attendance.
[00:14:01] if you're not using the app or if you're a guest with us we'd love to have you look to the inside of your row there's a white folder there and if you would give us whatever contact information
[00:14:10] you feel comfortable providing whether that is a an email address a physical address or a phone number we want to be able to reach out to you and connect with you further and find out if there are
[00:14:19] ways that we can be of service to you so if you would please do that for us I promise we won't spam you but we do want to connect with you um also there's a lot going on in the life of our
[00:14:31] church that i want to make you aware of uh this evening uh for youth group for youth night it is chilling after church and so from 8 p.m to 9 30 p.m our students are welcome to stay after to
[00:14:47] play games and have fun together also on saturday coffee and jesus rocky river coffee so make plans to be a part of that. If you are a student, also want to, for our students, acknowledge that we
[00:15:04] have spring retreat coming up. So, all right. You want to do this? I'm good. From March 6th through 8th is our high school spring retreat. And then March 20th through 22nd is our middle school
[00:15:22] retreat. So make sure to register for those and to plan to go on those middle schoolers and high schoolers. Also, we are so blessed to have the Back Creek Church Preschool.
[00:15:36] It is a ministry of our church. It's been a source of outreach for us for a long time. Some of you came to Back Creek Church through our preschool. Some of you actually attended the preschool as
[00:15:50] children because it's been around that long. And I just want to let you know that preschool registration is ongoing and so you can find the information for that on the back of your bulletin or you can reach out to Ruthie Grant but be praying for our preschool pray for our director
[00:16:07] Ruthie pray for the staff pray for the the kids and the families that are blessed through our preschool and if you know anyone who has a preschooler you can certainly recommend our preschool to them because it is a special place I want to invite Kelly Nunu our kids ministry
[00:16:25] lead to come up and make some announcements regarding kids ministry good morning i love the

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:16:34] preschool if you have any questions about the preschool i'll tell you about it all day long um both my kids went through there and then i already had one go through the youth so um
[00:16:42] it is almost easter we're thinking about easter we're gonna do our easter egg hunt a little differently this year we're going to come worship together on palm sunday our kids are going to lead us with their palm branches and then we're going to stay after church and have lunch together and
[00:16:58] then have a quick Easter egg hunt in the Grove because it doesn't rain on Sunday it's definitely gonna be outside right it only rains on Saturday so so please go ahead and make plans for Palm Sunday we'll have our lunch and Easter egg hunt
[00:17:14] and also go ahead and start thinking about VBS where you want to plug in would you like to lead crafts would you like to give kids snacks would you like to run around on the stage and act a little silly I have room for all of that
[00:17:28] and anything in between so go ahead and start thinking about Easter start thinking about summer and how you want to plug in with Back Creek Kids thank you Kelly we get to we get to worship the

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:17:49] Lord our God to be in his presence and it's the Lord who calls us into his worship Psalm 22 verses 22 and 23 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters in the midst of the congregation I
[00:18:03] will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him. All you offspring of Israel. Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:18:18] Lord our God, it is our most eager desire this morning to glorify you, to stand in awe of who you are and of what you have done, to bask in the hope, the life-changing, transforming hope of the
[00:18:37] gospel, of what it has done for us to know that God the Son has come into our world as one of us to redeem us fully from our sins, to reconcile us to God, and to give us eternal life and eternal
[00:18:51] joy through his life and death and resurrection. Lord, I pray that as we seek to see you, to know you more, to be transformed by you, that you, according to the promises of your word,
[00:19:09] would meet us here and do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Lord, meet us as we seek to sing your word and pray your word, to hear and to receive your word read and preached. And Lord,
[00:19:20] to receive your word as we partake of the sacrament, that you would use your word powerfully in our lives so that we might become more like Jesus.
[00:19:31] And Lord, I pray today that you would minister the gospel to those who are in our midst today who are hurting, who are struggling or suffering, who are being assaulted with sorrow, with temptation, with burden, with care.
[00:19:49] Lord may the gospel be a balm to their souls and Lord to those of us who are feeling good about ourselves Lord I pray that you would use the gospel today to humble us before you
[00:20:04] to recognize that all that we are and all that we have is from you and that because of that you deserve all praise and honor and glory in our joy as in our sorrow Lord all of your people
[00:20:17] today I pray that you would enrapture us with your love. And Lord, I pray for those in the room today who do not yet know you and ask that today would be the day of your favor in their lives, that today would be the day of
[00:20:32] salvation, that today you would reach into a heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh, a heart that is receptive to the gospel, a heart that responds to your grace, and that Lord, even today, you would
[00:20:43] raise the dead. We love you, Lord. We know that you are all powerful and that you can do all things.
[00:20:53] And so we look to you in this time to empower us to worship you as we ought. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together and worship the Lord in song.

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:21:43] Glory to the Lord on high God who wanders beyond our galaxy You are holy The Lord declares your majesty You are holy Remember we'll celebrate our galaxy You are holy The Lord declares your majesty
[00:23:15] You are whole, there's your majesty You are whole, God of wonders beyond our galaxy You are whole, there's your majesty You are whole, all of God's people said, amen.

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:30:16] Let's confess together our faith in this God in three persons and the one who has given us the hope of the gospel using the Apostles' Creed.
[00:30:33] Christians, what do you believe?
[00:30:37] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
[00:30:52] was crucified, dead, and buried.
[00:30:55] He descended into hell.
[00:30:57] The third day He arose again from the dead.
[00:30:59] He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:31:06] From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:31:10] I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[00:31:21] Amen.
[00:31:23] We now have the privilege of having a young woman become a communicant member of our church covenant child to communicant member we believe that god has given to his church two signs and seals of his covenant of grace
[00:31:53] first is baptism and it's the sign of initiation the discipleship process the the great commission is to the church, go make disciples of all nations. How? Baptizing them. The beginning of the discipleship process is baptism. So when someone makes profession of faith, when someone
[00:32:20] says, I believe that Jesus is the eternal son of God who lived and died and rose again to save sinners, that person is baptized. And when a child is born into the community of God's family
[00:32:36] to believing parents, that child is baptized because baptism is the beginning of the discipleship process. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, even to the end of the
[00:32:56] age and so it's our hope as we apply the sign of God's covenant to the children of our congregation that the Lord would be at work in their lives through word and prayer and sacrament through
[00:33:09] the training and admonition of parents and church that that child would come at a young age to know Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord and would stand before this faith family and say I don't agree
[00:33:25] with a set of propositions. I'm not giving intellectual assent to all the things that I have been taught, but I know Jesus Christ. He is God. He is my Savior, and He is my Lord. He is at
[00:33:39] work in my life, and I am redeemed. And so they make a public profession of faith in Jesus. And so I want to invite Leighton Weeks to come to make her public profession of faith. We have a
[00:34:05] communicants class for children who are ready to make their public profession of faith. We do that periodically, and so as you feel that your child is ready to make public profession of faith, I would encourage you to speak to me, one of our elders, to Kelly Nunu, our kids ministry lead,
[00:34:20] so that we can make sure that your child has the opportunity to go through communicants class.
[00:34:24] Leighton has done that. She's already met with our elders and has already made these affirmations.
[00:34:31] As a matter of fact, the elders have already voted to receive you, Leighton, into membership in our church.
[00:34:36] And we're so excited and so happy about that.
[00:34:39] But this is your opportunity now, today, to publicly profess your faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:34:46] To say to the church and to the world that Jesus Christ is your Savior and that He is Lord of all.
[00:34:53] And so these seven questions that you're already very familiar with, I'm going to ask once again.
[00:34:58] And I'd ask you to respond with, I do.
[00:35:02] Leighton, do you confess that you are a sinner in the sight of God, that you deserve his punishment, and that you are unable to save yourself, and that you are without hope of salvation except for God's love and mercy?
[00:35:13] Do you?
[00:35:14] Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of sinners?
[00:35:22] And do you receive and trust in him alone for your salvation?
[00:35:26] Do you?
[00:35:28] Do you accept the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, as the written word of God and that it is the only perfect rule of faith and how to live, do you? Do you promise to trust in the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit so that you can
[00:35:44] live all of life as a Christian following the example set by Jesus Christ, do you? Do you promise to exercise faithful stewardship of God's resources entrusted to you for the furtherance of God's kingdom and purposes, do you? Do you accept that the doctrines and principles of
[00:36:04] the standards of the associate reformed presbyterian church are founded upon the scriptures do you and lastly in loving obedience do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of this church promising to seek the peace purity and prosperity of this congregation as long as
[00:36:21] you are a member of it do you amen now layton i mentioned just a few minutes ago that the sign of initiation the sign of the beginning of your discipleship process was your baptism when you
[00:36:35] were a baby. And today you get to come to the Lord's table. Baptism is once for all. The Lord's table is perpetual. And I want you to remember, yes, this day in your public profession of faith,
[00:36:49] and you're coming to the table for the first time, but every single time hereafter, when you come to the table, you are saying once again to the church and to the world that Jesus Christ is your Savior
[00:37:00] and that he is Lord.
[00:37:02] Can I pray for you?
[00:37:04] Lord, I thank you so much for Leighton.
[00:37:06] I thank you for the work that you have done in her life.
[00:37:08] I thank you from raising her from spiritual death to spiritual life, from darkness to light.
[00:37:14] And Lord, I pray that you would be more faithful as we know you will be to your promises.
[00:37:21] That Lord, you will bless and keep this young woman.
[00:37:24] That she would become a mighty woman of God and she would love you and serve you all the days of her life.
[00:37:30] Lord, make this day a touchstone for her, the day in which she went public with her faith, the day that she first came to the table.
[00:37:37] And Lord, bless it to her, we ask, that she might lifelong walk with you.
[00:37:43] And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
[00:37:45] Amen.
[00:37:57] In your bulletin, it says that Mike Weller will be praying, but he's ill, so please pray for him.
[00:38:01] And I want to invite Chad Bryant to come and lead us in a prayer of intercession.

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:38:11] Let's pray together.
[00:38:16] Mighty and merciful God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are the one true and living God who is completely loving, gracious, and patient and overflows with goodness and truth.
[00:38:29] Father, we pray for our church, us.
[00:38:32] We start with our physical needs.
[00:38:35] Please restore the sick, sustain those battling cancer, comfort the grieving, prepare and protect those expecting babies, give rest to new parents, provide for those in financial distress, and be close to our homebound members.
[00:38:50] we also pray for our spiritual needs we pray for deep connection for those not connected transform their hearts extend your irresistible call and adopt them into your family for those already among your people grant us a growing and deepening connection with you and one another
[00:39:09] father we pray for vbs upcoming in july guide the preparation raise up an army of team members and bring to VBS all those looking for the hope found in your son, Jesus.
[00:39:26] Father, we not only pray for our church, but also our community and our city.
[00:39:30] As early voting begins, we are reminded to pray for our civil leaders.
[00:39:35] Raise up a slate of candidates who seek you and your wisdom, that desire to serve first those they represent, that exhibit humility and integrity, that exercise to the fullest the responsibilities you instituted, and nothing more.
[00:39:51] and we pray for our world. Father, first for local missions, we pray for Harrisburg Food Pantry and Room at the Inn. Sustain the leaders and volunteers who are meeting the physical needs of people in our community, providing food to eat and a warm place to sleep. We pray for Josh
[00:40:11] and Libby and their ministry abroad. Grant them rest, renewal, a sweet time with family and friends and a sense of what's next during their furlough. Father, we also pray for our denomination and in particular the camp joy ministries guide the leaders as they plan and prepare for the summer
[00:40:30] fill all the counselor positions early meet and exceed all the funding needs that as many campers as possible may experience an uncommon community and the love and hope of your son father we thank you for your many blessings we thank you that 2025 ended with a financial surplus that new faces
[00:40:53] continue to come and stick, that new officers heeded your call, that the steady and consistent preaching and teaching of the gospel continues through your faithful people. Thank you for the offering collected this week. Please help us to steward it for the work of your kingdom.
[00:41:13] Father, we come to you with these petitions and our gratitude in the name above all names, Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated. If you're a child, second grade and younger,

[00:44:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:44:52] You're welcome to stay with us for the message, but if you and your parents agree, then you can be dismissed right over here through this door for kids worship. You guys will come back as we're
[00:45:02] responding to God's word in song. We are moving through the portion of Genesis, the first book of the Bible that is the story of Isaac and his son Jacob. And so we're going to be in Genesis 27,
[00:45:34] starting in 27, and we're going to move Genesis 27 46. So just the last verse into 28 verse 9. So 27 46 to 28 9. Exile. Exile means a forced absence from your home. And exile is a consistent theme
[00:45:59] throughout the story of God's people. Sometimes exile is a consequence of sin, right? Of rebellion against God. So we see that with Adam and Eve, right? God makes human beings. He makes them in his image. He makes them in paradise. They have perfect relationship with each other. They have
[00:46:18] perfect relationship with God. Everything is perfect, literally perfect. And God gives them everything. He just says, I need you to trust me about one thing. Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if you do, then you're going to give up all of this, including
[00:46:39] life itself. And Adam and Eve, of course, as we know, chose to go their own way, to rebel against God. They sinned, and we with them, and since they did, we do. And as a result, they experienced
[00:46:57] exile. They were cast out of paradise. They could no longer go back into the Garden of Eden.
[00:47:07] We see this also with God's people, Israel and Judah, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of Israel, of God's people. We see that their idolatry, their worshiping of false gods, and their injustice, the way that they treated particularly the poor in their community, led to
[00:47:26] God's judgment. And in God's judgment, he sent them into exile, the northern kingdom to Assyria and the southern kingdom to Babylon. So sometimes exile is the consequence of sin. More often in scripture, exile is a call to faith. It can be a consequence of sin, but more often it's a call to
[00:47:45] faith. We see that with Abraham. God comes to this one guy. He's hanging out under a tree and God says, I want you to leave your home and go to a place. I'm not going to tell you, but I will lead
[00:47:55] you there and I'm going to give you that place. I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make you a great name. And so Abraham is exiled as a call to believe in God's promise. We see it with Joseph
[00:48:08] who is Jacob's son, that he is sold into slavery by his brothers. He finds himself as an exile in Egypt. He works his way up to second in command under Pharaoh and he's able as a result to save many lives as he is called to believe that God meant for good what his brothers
[00:48:32] meant for evil the next generation of Israelites comes from Joseph and his family but they're in Egypt and the new pharaoh doesn't know him and so he enslaves his people and for 400 years the people
[00:48:49] of Israel are enslaved in exile in Egypt until the Lord liberates them, but all the time they're called to faith. We see David exiled while he is running away from King Saul, and it's a call to
[00:49:02] faith because he has to believe that the God who anointed him king will make sure that it happens.
[00:49:09] The New Testament explicitly calls those of us who have faith in Jesus to live in this world as exiles. We are in this world. It's not debatable. We're here. But we are not of this
[00:49:25] world. We are citizens of the kingdom of God, first and foremost, of what C.S. Lewis called the far country. Jacob's exile in our scripture is both a consequence of sin and a call to faith.
[00:49:47] It's a consequence of sin in that the reason Jacob experiences exile is that he stole his brother's blessing.
[00:49:55] He deceived his father.
[00:49:56] He harmed his family.
[00:49:58] And the fallout of all of this sin on Jacob's part is he got to go.
[00:50:04] He has to leave.
[00:50:06] But it's also a call to faith.
[00:50:09] Because even though now the blessing is going to come through much more hurt and hardship, Jacob can have expectations even in exile that God will bless him it's helpful to us that Jacob's exile is both a consequence of sin and a call to faith because we experience both kinds of exiles
[00:50:32] in our life we all know what it feels like when our sin catches up to us and we are forced to say well well well if it isn't the consequences of my own actions and this kind of exile can be small
[00:50:50] or it can be devastating but either way it can make us feel far from God who is our ultimate home we also know what it's like to live as those who belong to Jesus in a world that rejects
[00:51:10] Jesus. We are strangers. We are foreigners. We are exiles. We're going to experience both kinds of exiles so we can learn from this text about how to navigate them as Jacob begins his exile in this short passage. So look with me at Genesis 27, 46 through 28, 9. And if you're able,
[00:51:32] please stand in honor of God's word. Then Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land,
[00:51:55] what good will my life be to me? Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel,
[00:52:09] your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you
[00:52:26] that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham. Thus Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, to the
[00:52:39] brother of Rebecca, Jacob's and Esau's mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take his wife from there. And as he blessed him, he directed him, you must
[00:52:51] not take a wife from the Canaanite women. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father,
[00:53:04] Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
[00:53:15] The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
[00:53:18] Let's go to the Lord and ask him to bless our time together in his word.
[00:53:23] Oh Lord, our God, we thank you that your word is trustworthy, that it is true.
[00:53:27] We thank you that it honestly tells us the story of our forefathers in the faith.
[00:53:33] And Lord, I pray that you would now help us.
[00:53:37] Lord, we need you to open your word to us and to allow it to change us.
[00:53:45] So Lord, please move in us, Holy Spirit.
[00:53:49] Take this word and apply it to our lives so that we might become more like Christ.
[00:53:53] And we pray these things in expectation that you will do just this.
[00:53:58] And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
[00:54:01] You may be seated.
[00:54:01] one of the privileges that I have as a pastor is I sometimes get to officiate weddings and one of the requirements that I have if I'm going to officiate your wedding is that I get to walk
[00:54:18] the two who are engaged through premarital counseling and one of the crucial things that we do in premarital counseling is to talk about expectations why because expectations are unavoidable. Human beings have expectations. Expectations are something that everyone has
[00:54:44] at all times about virtually everything. And expectations are dangerous. If expectations are unrealistic or if they are unexpressed, they have potential to do real damage. So we try to take some time before the marriage starts to set some expectations. How are you going to treat one
[00:55:11] another? How are you going to handle money together? How are we going to do the division of labor in the home? What is the expectation for our dating relationship once we both have jobs or
[00:55:23] once we both have kids or when we're in our 60s and so on? Now those expectations are going to have to be revised regularly over time but this is a healthy way to start your relationship
[00:55:38] how long however long you've been married it's not too late to have a conversation about expectations honestly a lot of the the frustrations and the underlying things that you may not be able to articulate right now about your spouse and your relationship with your spouse is because you
[00:55:55] haven't actually expressed the expectations that you have or heard them express theirs have a fun time after church today. Expectations are important for marriage, for life. And I want to suggest that from this text, we can learn to cultivate some things that will help us
[00:56:24] when we are experiencing exile. See, if you don't establish expectations with your spouse, you're going to find yourself in exile in your marriage, right?
[00:56:36] And to regularly have to come home again through repentance.
[00:56:40] When we are experiencing exile, and exile can obviously be an occasion for wrestling with God, I want us to see and to embrace three expectations for exiles.
[00:56:54] We all experience exile as a consequence of sin, as a call to faith.
[00:56:57] and i just want to us to cultivate three expectations for us when we are experiencing exile now we're experiencing exile periodically as a consequence of sin and we're experiencing exile always as a call to faith as those who live in the world as followers of jesus in a world that
[00:57:14] rejects him but three expectations for exiles the first is this it's not going to be easy it's not going to be easy the initial reality of jacob's exile is rough his dad says some really
[00:57:32] nice words here but his dad is angry with him and his brother is so angry with him that he is actively plotting that the day his father dies and the period of grieving is over that he's going to
[00:57:45] murder his brother and he has to leave there's no choice in this exile the consequences of jacob's sin has led to this moment, and his exile is not going to be easy. He's about to have to travel
[00:57:59] 500 miles in the wilderness to get to where he is going, and he's going to have to do it on foot.
[00:58:08] It makes me think of I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more. Now, the text has been trying to tell us that Jacob is not a tough guy. He's actually kind of a soft guy. It'd be one
[00:58:26] thing for the great hairy hunter and outdoorsman Esau to have to travel 500 miles in the wilderness.
[00:58:34] Instead, it turns out to be the guy who likes to be at home with mama. This is not going to be easy.
[00:58:44] And the Lord is going to use this exile for Jacob's good in that way, by not allowing it to be easy. When we think about our expectations for our lives, I think most of us expect life to
[00:59:03] have an easy button. We expect it to just be easy. It's weird because when has that ever been our experience? Not usually. But we expect life to be easy. We expect family to be easy and work to be
[00:59:21] easy and church to be easy and relationships to be easy and that's a false expectation it's a false expectation because sin is present in all of those places wreaking havoc and sending us into what feels like exile and not only is sin present in all of those places sin is present in
[00:59:42] us. Our own sin is the primary obstacle to easy, and always will be. Like Jacob, we need hard.
[00:59:58] We need to be humbled. We need to be brought to repentance, and humiliation and repentance, that's not easy either, but it is a coming home. Because of sin, we need to set the expectation that exile will be a reality in our lives and that it will not be easy but also not only because of
[01:00:26] sin but also because of salvation we are exiles and that's not easy either we cannot belong to christ and be ambassadors of his kingdom and be entirely comfortable in this world we're going to regularly experience discomfort, discouragement, disillusion. Jesus says, with no equivocation,
[01:00:54] with no qualification, in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. It's not going to be easy, but our exile in this world because of salvation is a call to faith to trust not that we can somehow make our exile easy but that christ will bring
[01:01:28] us home the whole new testament the whole new testament prepares god's people to suffer in our elders meetings we're working through a book about paul david trip called lead and the last chapter that we read about was about suffering and honestly for three straight pages
[01:01:54] it is exclusively little passages from the new testament giving us all the places where scripture tells us not only are we going to suffer but how to suffer the reality is as ambassadors for christ
[01:02:07] those who belong to him in this world it ain't gonna be easy so we need to set the expectation that whether as a result of our sin that is going to lead to the necessity of confession
[01:02:24] and repentance and humbling it's not going to be easy.
[01:02:28] Or as a result of salvation where we have to live in this world as exiles it's not going to be easy.
[01:02:35] The second expectation that we need to cultivate for exiles is this. We can't control our way out of it.
[01:02:43] It's not going to be easy and we can't control our way out of it.
[01:02:48] Esau is experiencing his own exile.
[01:02:51] He gets to stay at home.
[01:02:53] He doesn't have to leave.
[01:02:54] He doesn't have to go 500 miles away.
[01:02:56] He's definitely the victim in this text of Jacob's scheme.
[01:03:02] But Esau is also the victim of his own choices.
[01:03:08] He's already married two women outside of his faith.
[01:03:12] Now, as we said, when we saw the passage where Esau married those women, and we saw that he was wrong at two levels, right?
[01:03:19] He was wrong for marrying more than one person because God's vision for marriage from the very beginning is this.
[01:03:25] Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, singular, and the two shall become one flesh.
[01:03:34] That's Genesis chapter 2.
[01:03:38] That's God's vision for marriage.
[01:03:39] It's not supposed to be a man plus a wife plus a wife.
[01:03:42] We see things in the Old Testament that are reported to us like polygamy but are not endorsed.
[01:03:48] They're not God's vision.
[01:03:49] It's not God's will for marriage to be anything other than one man and one woman for life.
[01:03:55] One flesh.
[01:03:57] So he's already messed up on that count.
[01:03:59] He also married outside of the faith.
[01:04:01] He married Canaanite women.
[01:04:03] He married Hittite women.
[01:04:04] Women who worshipped false gods.
[01:04:08] And so Esau has made a mess by his own choices.
[01:04:11] And he's in his own kind of exile with his parents, particularly his mother.
[01:04:16] It's caused all kinds of conflict in his family to the degree that his mother says she hates her life because of these Hittite women. Esau has already lost the birthright that he sold to Jacob for a bowl of soup. He's already lost the blessing that his brother
[01:04:38] deceived his father out of. Things are tense at home because he made terrible choices for marriage and even though he's the victim here, he feels like he is losing his parents' favor. So what does Esau do in exile? He tries to control it. He tries to manipulate outcomes. He tries to
[01:05:04] liberate himself from exile instead of humbling himself before God. He says, you know what will fix this? A third wife. Bro, it's never the answer, man. So he says, okay, well, my mother doesn't like the Hittite women. She loathes her life because of the Hittite women. I'll add a
[01:05:33] third wife. And I'll do it from our family. I'll do it from the company of God's people. But even then, even then, he doesn't go to the line of promise. He doesn't go to the covenant line of
[01:05:46] Isaac. He goes to Ishmael. It's marginally better because it's not a Canaanite, but it's still not the faith of Abraham. And also, also, here we have Esau just using a person, using a woman to try to
[01:06:04] gain favor with his mom, to fix his problems, to control his scenario, and to come home from exile.
[01:06:12] And it's not going to work. When we find ourselves in exile, our instinct is to control our way out of the hard. Like Esau, we might try to work our way out and do things that will please the people
[01:06:27] that will make us feel like we're coming home from exile. We might try to excuse or blame shift our way out. We might try to act like exile is what we wanted anyway, and just withdraw from God.
[01:06:42] We might try to negotiate with God and try to control our way out with him. Lord, if you'll do this, then I'll do this. When it comes to exile as a consequence of sin, the only way out is not
[01:06:58] seizing control. It's surrendering control. When it comes to exile as a consequence of sin, we try really hard to seize control but we have to yield control we have to surrender control and how do we do that we do that by confessing and repentance by acknowledging that we have sinned
[01:07:23] before a holy god and to be reconciled to him through christ exile as a call to faith is also surrendering control to God in all of life. Say, Lord, I realize that I cannot control
[01:07:42] my scenario. I cannot make myself be what I ought to be. I can't control the people in my life or the outcomes, and so I entrust all of them to you. For exiles, we should expect that it ain't
[01:07:59] going to be easy and we can't control our way out but here's the good news that we see the last expectation that we need to cultivate in ourselves as exiles god always keeps his promises exile is
[01:08:18] not going to be easy you can't control your way out but but god always keeps his promises look with me at verses 3 and 4 of chapter 28. Isaac speaking to Jacob, God Almighty bless you and
[01:08:36] make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you that you may take possession of the land
[01:08:48] of your sojournings that god gave to abraham here again isaac extends the blessing to jacob jacob who is a schemer jacob who is a deceiver jacob who tried to take things into his own hands
[01:09:05] jacob who now has to go into exile because he messed everything up still isaac articulates not his own blessing but the blessing of god almighty that he gave to abraham and to isaac and yes now to Jacob and these promises are true and God was faithful to them in Jacob's line did
[01:09:26] God become Jacob's God and the God to his offspring yes he did did he give him the blessing of Abraham where he was going to bless him and make him into a great nation and bless all the nations of the
[01:09:40] earth through him did he yes he did did he fulfill the blessing that he would give the promised land to jacob's descendants yes he did all of these things in their temporal fulfillment became true
[01:09:57] because god always keeps his promises even in exile but y'all there's an application for us here that in the midst of it's not easy and we can't control our way out that if we will recognize
[01:10:12] that god always keeps his promises that we will find hope in the midst of the most important exile and it's simply this y'all not only are we exiles in little ways because of the consequences of our
[01:10:27] sins we are born exiles into this world as the ultimate consequence of our sin we are born physically alive but spiritually dead we are born into this world under the condemnation of our god because he is a just judge and must punish evil,
[01:10:46] we are born into his justice.
[01:10:49] Every single one of us is born not as a citizen of the kingdom of God, but as an exile.
[01:10:56] Now, we were created for the kingdom of God because we were made in the very image of God to reflect his worth and his glory in his world.
[01:11:03] But because of sin, we are separated from that relationship and we are in exile.
[01:11:10] And the ultimate fulfillment of these promises is not that Jacob himself became a great nation, the Israelite nation, the nation that is named for the name that God is going to give him.
[01:11:22] It's not that they received a plot of land in the Middle East.
[01:11:28] The ultimate fulfillment of these promises, the blessing of Abraham, is that from Jacob's line came the Savior, the Redeemer of humanity who would come to rescue those who were in exile and to bring us home to God.
[01:11:48] The fulfillment of these promises is Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who without subtracting any of His deity became fully human so that He could do for us what we failed to do for ourselves,
[01:12:03] for exiles what we could not do for ourselves.
[01:12:06] And He did so by living the life that we failed to live, a life of perfect obedience to the Father.
[01:12:12] By dying the death that we deserve, receiving God's justice and condemnation that our sins had earned, and on the third day rising again from the dead in victory over sin and Satan and death forever for all who would receive and
[01:12:27] rest in him alone. If today you are enduring exile, if you don't know God, if you don't know what it feels like to have your sins forgiven, to be received by the almighty God of the universe
[01:12:45] and enveloped in his love.
[01:12:48] And he calls you today.
[01:12:50] Do not let this day, this moment escape.
[01:12:53] The Bible says today is the day of God's favor.
[01:12:55] Today is the day of salvation.
[01:12:57] I would encourage you that you, as in exile, right now, you can't control your way out.
[01:13:02] I know it's not easy, but you can come home.
[01:13:06] And the only way to do that is to stop relying on yourself and receive and rest in Jesus Christ.
[01:13:12] ask him to save you and he will the bible tells us that all who call in the name of the lord will be saved and listen if today you're already an exile who belongs to jesus that you
[01:13:29] live as an ambassador and citizen of the kingdom of god in this world you need the gospel too just as much as someone who does not yet know god you need to again come to the word of the gospel
[01:13:46] and to the table that proclaims it.
[01:13:49] To say that, yes, I was once an exile and I was brought home by Christ and now I live as an exile in this world.
[01:13:58] And you know what I need for that?
[01:14:00] I need faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:14:03] And so I come both professing and proclaiming my faith and also come to this table to have my faith nourished and strengthened by the gospel.
[01:14:15] because this table is a memorial.
[01:14:21] Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.
[01:14:25] Remember that all the promises of God are yes and amen in my person, in my life, in my death, in my resurrection, in my intercession, in my one day return.
[01:14:39] All the promises of God are yes and amen in me.
[01:14:45] Remember that my body was broken, that my blood was shed so that you might experience the forgiveness of sins, so that you might experience adoption into God's family, so that you might experience eternal life
[01:15:01] and eternal joy with me.
[01:15:05] Remember, this table's a memorial, but it's not just a memorial.
[01:15:12] This table is also a message.
[01:15:15] The Apostle Paul tells us that as often as we eat and drink this bread and cup, that we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
[01:15:25] And when we come to this table, we are proclaiming, God is proclaiming to us the gospel.
[01:15:30] We're proclaiming it to ourselves and we're proclaiming it to the world that we are in need of the body and blood of Christ for our salvation, for coming home from exile.
[01:15:39] And we're in need of the body and blood of Christ to live as exiles.
[01:15:45] Not only is this a memorial and a message, But it's also a means of grace.
[01:15:51] Paul also tells us that this cup that we bless is a participation in the blood of Christ.
[01:15:58] This bread that we break is a participation in the body of Christ.
[01:16:04] That those who partake of this meal in faith spiritually partake of Christ's sacrifice for our sins.
[01:16:15] This is what we need, brothers and sisters.
[01:16:16] And so this table is for you.
[01:16:19] now if you're here today and you don't yet know God you haven't publicly professed your faith as we saw Layton do earlier then we would ask you to please just allow these elements to pass you by
[01:16:33] and we do that because the Bible warns strongly that those who partake of this meal apart from faith in Jesus Christ or in open rebellion against God they eat and drink condemnation on themselves and our desire for you is not condemnation
[01:16:46] our desire for you is salvation and so we would ask you not to partake of this supper but that you would today take the Savior, receive and rest in Jesus Christ alone.
[01:16:58] If you belong to Christ, this supper is for you.
[01:17:03] Let's go to the Lord together and ask for his blessing on our time together at the table.
[01:17:08] Lord Jesus, we thank you that you bring exiles home and that you teach us to live as exiles, as those who belong to you in a world that rejects you.
[01:17:24] Lord, for this we need you.
[01:17:27] So meet us here and feed us here, we pray.
[01:17:30] Take these common elements that are going to remain common elements as we partake of them, bread and the fruit of the vine, Lord, and commit them to a holy purpose.
[01:17:40] Allow us, by your grace, to partake in faith.
[01:17:45] And let the blessings of the new covenant flow through them to us, to strengthen us, to nourish us.
[01:17:54] Help us to receive Christ and all his benefits.
[01:18:00] We love you, Lord.
[01:18:02] And that's our deep desire now.
[01:18:03] to be with you we pray these things in jesus name amen we often say that this table is not a presbyterian table it's not bat creek church's table this is the lord's table so if you belong to christ and you've made that publicly known then you're welcome to partake
[01:18:24] on the night that he was betrayed our lord jesus took bread and when he had given thanks as we've just done in his name he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and he said this is my body
[01:18:35] given for you do this in remembrance of me in the same manner after the supper the lord jesus took and he said this cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for many for the remission of sins
[01:22:46] do this in remembrance of me the apostle paul tells us that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the lord's death until he comes oh lord our god we thank you and praise
[01:26:57] you for the ways that you have met us here through word, prayer, and sacrament. Simple and beautiful means that you have ordained to communicate to your people all the benefits of Christ. I pray, Lord, that you would now take this hour in which we have sung your praise and petitioned you in
[01:27:30] prayer and heard your word read and preached and partaken of christ in the sacrament and lord use it to do your will in our lives and our families and your church and i pray these things in jesus

[01:27:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:27:50] name amen stand together responding to word and sacrament and song thank you so much for gathering

[01:32:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:32:53] with us for worship today if you know the precious love of jesus then you go out into the world with God's blessings. So lift up your heads and your hands and your hearts and receive now
[01:33:02] the benediction of the Lord our God.
[01:33:04] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more. And all God's people said Amen.