Failure
Notes
Transcript
5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”
7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Prayer
Introduction
Do you ever feel like a failure? Like you just can’t do anything right. Maybe it is a fleeting feeling regarding a specific skill you’re trying to learn, or maybe it is more of a long-term thing where you just don’t feel like you are succeeding in life like you want to. I have good news, you are not the first person to fail! In fact, the book of Genesis is full of failure. One of the recurrent themes of the book of Genesis is how often people fail to live up to the standard that they should. So, this morning, we are going to take a survey of the failures of the patriarchs.
Scripture
We will be looking at various passages this morning, but I want to start with one of Abraham’s early and well-known failures. The passage we will read together is . If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition of how precious a gift it is. says,
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
“Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.”
Sermon
So, who are the Patriarchs? Patriarch can refer to various people in the Bible, sometimes even including Moses and David, but generally speaking, Patriarchs refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and sometimes is expanded to include the sons of Jacob who are the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. So, what were the failures of the Patriarchs? There were many, so let’s consider some of them.
We will start with Abraham. We have been talking about Abraham a lot the last few weeks, and with good reason. Abraham is a testament of faith and obedience, but Abraham was not perfect. We must not forget that Abraham was likely an idolater when God called him out of Ur. And even after God calls Abraham, he stumbles along the way.
In the passage we read together, we see one such stumble. Basically, what happens is that Abraham is afraid for his life. He fears that the Egyptians will see how beautiful Sarah is and will kill him and take her for themselves. So, instead of trusting in the promises of God, Abraham takes matters into his own hands and hatches a plan with Sarah where they will tell everyone that she is merely his sister.
Instead of trusting God to protect him, Abraham put his wife on the chopping block to save his own skin. You would hope that Abraham would have learned his lesson. That Abraham, the man of faith, would never do such a thing again, but if you know the story, you know that is not the case.
Many years later, Abraham does the same thing again, but this time, it is even more outlandish. We know that in , God promises that Abraham will have a son by Sarah. Remember that she laughs at the idea, but God says that she will have a son by about that time next year. After that conversation with God. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, after Abraham has seen God do some incredible things, Abraham in does the exact same thing, this time with Abimelech – telling him that Sarah is merely his sister. God intervened and protected the lineage of the promised Seed, but still, Abraham should know better, by this point.
I want to quickly look at . It says,
6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
“But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.”
This verse is tying up the Abraham story. Sarah has died, and Abraham has remarried, and apparently taken some concubines for himself as well. All that to say, Abraham was far from a perfect man before and after God called him. But let’s stop beating up on Abraham for his failures. Let’s target Isaac for a minute.
Ironically, Isaac is not all that prominent of a person in Genesis, I mean, he is important – the son of promise and all that – but in comparison to others, not much is said about him. But Isaac, like his father is not sinless. In fact, he follows in his father’s footsteps almost exactly in . God has sworn to Isaac the same blessings that God has sworn to Abraham, so Isaac should be trusting God to protect and provide, but instead tells people that his wife, Rebekah, is his sister to save his own skin. Again, God protected the lineage of the promised One, but Isaac had no business lying and treating his wife that way.
Let us also not forget the strong preferential treatment that Isaac showed towards Esau. You probably remember that Rebekah had twin sons – Jacob and Esau. tells us,
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
We see that Isaac had his share of failure, and so do his twin sons.
Jacob and Esau. Talk about sibling rivalry run amok! Where do we even start with these two? I guess we can start with Jacob’s name which means “One who takes by the heel, or one who cheats or supplanter”. He certainly lived up to that name. We will focus more on Jacob because he is the actual patriarch, but Esau was not a holy man either. Esau despised his birthright, selling it to Jacob for some stew. Esau wanted to murder his brother, granted Jacob had done wrong by him. Oh, and Esau had multiple wives.
But Jacob, he really lives up to his name! At the instigation of his mother, he pretends to be Esau by dressing in goat hair and wearing Esau’s clothes so that he can get Isaac’s blessing. The whole scenario is just a mess of lies. Isaac sent Esau out to hunt for wild game and make him a stew. Then Isaac was going to bless Esau. But, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother heard about it and told Jacob to pretend to be Esau. She made up the stew that Isaac loved, and Jacob goes in, smelling like Esau and feeling like Esau. Taking advantage of his father’s disability and blindness.
Isaac is no fool, the hunt didn’t seem to take very long, it really is amazing that Esau could be back so soon! But Jacob has an answer for that too. Let’s look at
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”
“Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”
Jacob implicates God in his lie. He lies about who he is, and about God. Yikes.
His ruse works, and Jacob receives the blessing. This is why Esau wanted to kill him, by the way, so Jacob flees to Haran where they have some family ties. Those ties were iffy though. Laban – Jacob’s uncle, his mother’s brother – took Jacob in. Jacob wished to marry Rachel, Laban’s younger daughter, so they made an agreement where Jacob would work for Laban for seven years and then could marry her. Seven years passed and they have the wedding, but Laban pulled a bait and switch. Jacob found himself married to Leah, the older daughter of Laban. So, naturally it only made sense to work another seven years to also marry Rachel. Obviously, we see that polygamy is rather common, but it goes against the created order. Sin has twisted marriage and relationships. Did I mention that Jacob ends up with a number of concubines also?
Jacob ends up sneaking away from Laban, and his wife brings false idols with them. Idolatry is part of this whole sinful dynamic. In , Jacob says this,
3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
“Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
They are idolaters and put them away to worship God. They didn’t destroy the idols, they just hid them. There’s a sermon there… How often do we just hide our idols when we come to church, instead of actually destroying them - A few days later we dig them right back up. But that’s it’s own sermon. Jacob failed to live righteously, like his father and grandfather, and the sinfulness flows into the next generation as well.
Jacob, because of his multiple wives and concubines, ended up with 12 sons. The 12 tribes of Israel come from these 12 sons. We aren’t given great details on each individual son, but we are given enough detail to realize that they also failed to walk with God rightly.
Take for example the way they treated their brother Joseph by wanting to kill him but selling him into slavery instead. Or we can use as an example the story of Dinah. The cliff-notes version is that Dinah a sister to the 12 sons of Jacob, was taken by a neighboring prince and added to his harem, basically. So, to make amends, the king made an agreement with Jacob that all of the men of the city would be circumcised, then they could all intermarry.
We are told in that the sons of Jacob dealt deceitfully in the matter. On the third day after all the men were circumcised and were sore, two of the sons, Levi and Simeon attacked the city, killed all the men and plundered the city.
We can also look at the story of Judah and Tamar in – a very sinful situation and relationship – through whom Jesus was a descendent. Or if you want to take the time to read the blessings that Jacob gives his sons, those are telling. Jacob knew the wildness and wickedness that made its home in the hearts of some of his sons. The story of all the patriarchs is scarred and marked with sin and failure.
Why did we take the time to look at all these many failures? What is the benefit? Is it simply so that we feel better about our own failures? Maybe we aren’t so bad after all, if the Patriarchs did all these things! No, that’s not the reason, nor is it entirely true.
The reason I wanted to examine all of these failures was so that we could see how great of a savior Christ is. The Israelites – especially the Pharisees put a great emphasis on being connected to the patriarchs – of knowing what tribe they were from, but their genealogy could not put them in right standing with God. That is exactly what our Scripture reading from this morning tells us. says this:
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
It isn’t being connected to the patriarchs by birth that saves, but being connected to Christ by faith that saves. Indeed, in this way, Jesus serves as the greater Patriarch who establishes a kingdom full of people and is a blessing to all the nations.
A second reason we looked at all these failures is so that we could more clearly see the grace of God at work in their lives. These were not perfect men. They did not deserve the blessings God had poured out on them. It is all of grace – God’s unmerited, unearned favor. They deserved to be cut off from the blessings of God over and over again, yet God, in his mercy and grace used sinful people to accomplish His will. That should come as a huge encouragement to us. But we would also be wise not to presume upon God’s grace.
A third reason we took the time to look at the failures of the patriarchs is because in their failures, we can see the victory of God. Each of their failures was an attack by Satan, the evil one to undo the promises of God. Trying to destroy the line through which the promised Seed – Christ – would come. So we can look back at these failures and recognize that God is not thwarted by man’s failures or Satan’s schemes. And so, that gives us hope and reliance in the future that God will continue to be victorious since He has already defeated the power of sin and death in the death and resurrection of Christ.
Conclusion
In a moment we are going to transition into a time of worship through response. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of God, they respond either in rebellion or in worship. When we sing our song of response, we I will be on the front row, worshipping with you. If you need someone to talk to or pray with or answer questions, I’d be delighted to do that, just come up and talk to me. I will also stick around after service if you’d like to talk then. The front is also opened if you’d like to pray up here. I have just a couple more words before we respond in worship.
If you are here and you are not trusting in Christ. Maybe you’re trusting in someone else’s faith, much like the Pharisees did. Or maybe you feel like you’re too much of a failure for God to forgive you. The reality is that you are too much of a failure to earn God’s forgiveness. No one can earn God’s forgiveness. That is why grace is needed. Jesus purchased the forgiveness and restoration for all who will place their trust in Him. You can’t be good enough, but Christ is good enough. And Christ will cleanse you and make you whole and acceptable if you will turn from your sin and trust Christ.
Believers, do you see yourselves in the Patriarchs? Stumbling, unfaithful, unworthy sinners. That is who the Patriarchs are, and that is who we are outside of our union with Christ. Where we are being unfaithful to our calling, let us repent of that. We have been called and set apart for something greater that the idolatry of the land. Let us worship Christ who has redeemed us – let us worship by repenting, and by praising Jesus for His victory over our sin and deserved death.
Let’s pray.