How to Choose God When Sin Is What You Want

What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce cover podcast. I'm Bryce and today I'm here to tell you flat out if you're listening in the car. I don't care if it's early in the morning. I don't care if it's late at night. I don't care if you're with a girlfriend, with a boyfriend, if you're with your family. Don't take the bait. Don't take the bait. That's what we're going to be talking about. If you have your Bibles, we are going to be in Genesis 25 today. And we were actually talking about our boys Jacob and Esau. We're going to start in verse 19 to kind of like set the scene here. And then we're actually going to get into what we're talking about. It says these are the generations of Isaac Abraham sons, Abraham fathered Isaac. And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the era man of Padon, Aram, the sister of Leban, the era man to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. Isn't it interesting that the same problem that Abraham had, right? Abraham's wife Sarah was barren. Rebecca is barren. Isaac and he prays and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebecca's wife conceived. Now, now I just think that this is a fun little side note, right? We know that Abraham doubted God slept with Hegar. God goes silent for 13 years was still kept his promise. Isaac, Isaac's wife was barren just like Abraham's wife. But he saw the mistakes of his father probably heard the mistakes of his father, right? From his father said, Hey, don't make my mistakes. And Isaac's thinking to myself, OK, I am the covenant promise. The covenant promise is coming through me from Abraham. And now my seed is going to do that. My wife is barren. God's going to pull through, right? So one of the beauties about getting to look at the mistakes of the Bible, other people around you. So you don't put people down because of their mistakes. But people's revelation and their mistakes should be your foundation so that you don't make the same mistakes they did. Like Isaac isn't going, oh, shoot, Rebecca is barren to crap. I got to go, you know, sleep with Hegar or whatever. You know, that's not the case. He goes, no, this covenant promise was from was for Abraham through me. That means more succumbed. God is all powerful. He's going to make it happen, right? The children, now this is important. The Lord granted his prayer and Rebecca can see verse way to the children struggled together within her. And she said, if it is thus, why is this happening to me? So she got twins in there. She got twins. And Jesus, the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb and two people's from within you. She'll be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other. The older, shall serve, shall serve the younger. Why is this important? The way inheritance and birthright works is that the oldest son receives the larger inheritance, right? So in this instance, you have Jacob and Esau. Esau is born first, Jacob is second. So technically speaking by the rankings of seniority, Esau is going to get two-thirds of Isaac's financial inheritance, Jacob would get one-third. Esau would be responsible not only for two-thirds of that inheritance. He would also be responsible for the family responsibilities. Once Isaac passes away, he's going to be the headhunter for the family. Furthermore, technically speaking because he is the first born son, the first to come out of the womb, technically he would be the one that inherits a spiritual covenant from God, from the seniority rankings. But you and I both know that it comes from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And we're going to get into that the verse we for when her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The verse came out red, all his body, like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. Another small detail, why the heck are people so old when they have kids in the Bible? Just that is something that stands out to me as a reader. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Okay, now we're going to get into the nitty gritty. Right now, Esau technically is the inheritor of both the spiritual and the physical blessing right now, according to seniority, but the Lord actually spoke to Isaac and Rebecca saying, "No, actually, it's going to be the younger son who's going to be the head of this." And he's going to start, so God already knew what was going to happen, right? This is how we know the scripture. True, God works all things together for the good for those who are in Christ Jesus. We're about to see one of the shistiest business deals in all of human history right now in the Bible. And it's going to show us that God does work all things together for the good. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew for I am exhausted." Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now." So he said, "Hey, man, I'm tired. I really need some food." He said, "Give me your spiritual and physical inheritance and I'll give you a bowl of soup." And Esau doubled down. He said, "Bro, I'm about to die of what use is the birthright." And Jacob doubled down and said, "Swear to me now. This is literally the shistiest business deal of all time." Esau comes home and he is like, "I'm hungry. I've had a long day in the field. I've been working hard. Can I get some food?" You make food and Jacob's like, "No, I need everything that is promised to you for some soup, bro." And I read that story and I'm like, "Dude, he sold out. This guy was desperate. Exhausted, tired, lost everything, physical inheritance, responsibilities with the family, financial blessing all for a freaking bowl of soup." And it's easy for you and I to sit here like laugh at a guy like Esau. When in reality, 21st century selling out for a bowl of soup looks like having sex with your girlfriend or your boyfriend outside of marriage by putting the spiritual inheritance that we receive as Christians on the line for the sake of some temporary physical pleasure. You see, the soup in the 21st century is greed, pride, lust, selfishness, wrath. All of these things are the soup today. It's also like one thing to just laugh at. He's like, "Oh, that dude is such an idiot. He sold out all this physical and spiritual inheritance for a bowl of soup." And it's like, "Yeah." And you're selling out Jesus for sex. You're selling out Jesus to watch porn for two hours. You're selling out Jesus to go get drunk on the weekends in college because that's what everybody else does. Like you have zero right. You and I have zero right to laugh at Esau in the face. If behind closed doors, we're doing the same thing Esau did in a different context. Like you and I have zero right to laugh at him. And like that's the beauty about like what Peter writes in 1st Peter. He says like, "Our inheritance as Christians is unpairshable. It's unwavering." Meaning it's not something that can fade. It's not temporary. It's eternal. And actually the Bible actually tells us that when we do things in vain versus when we do things for the glory of God, those jewels and those things straw, wood, hay, jewels, gold, silver is all going to be put to the fire. And all the stuff we've done in vain is going to perish in the fire. But all the stuff that we've done for the Lord is this beautiful crown jewel that we lay at his feet because it's all for him. Our inheritance with Jesus like Jesus is the price. And the crazy thing about spiritual inheritance with Jesus is we don't have to wait to die to begin to experience the inheritance that Christ has for us. Life begins the moment you start following Jesus. Now the beauty is is that when you cross the finish line of eternity, there is more at store there. Eternal glory with the with the Lord. You're in heaven. You're in His presence. The streets are gold. It's going to be amazing. And I know people talk about like, "Oh, I can't wait to get a jacuzzi in heaven and an extra thing." And this isn't that. But like Jesus is the prize. So many people want the benefits of Jesus rather than the king himself. And that is a big reason why so many people are like, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, but like I'm like I'm going to have sex with my girlfriend or boyfriend." And it's like, "No." Actually, no. If we love God, we're going to obey his commandments. And you know what I think is such an interesting point here in Genesis 25? Is it says, "Esa was exhausted." An incredible signifier of you falling into temptation is when your willpower is at its lowest. When you wake up in the morning, your willpower is going to be its strongest. The first moment you wake up, your willpower is the strongest. As time goes on, your willpower gets weaker. Why is it that people sin at night time? Two things. You're physically exhausted. Your willpower is the lowest. And people think that for some reason, the lack of light in the sky is going to hide their mistakes. People do things in the dark, right? And so we can't be selling out. Everything Jesus has in store for us. For what? Porn? Money? Bigger bank account? What does a prophet of man Jesus says if he gains a whole world in four-fifths his soul? You see, we are so earthly-minded. We are so focused on now today. What is on earth? What God has promised? Like, literally Jesus says, "Don't put your treasures where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal." But our delight is in him. Put our treasures in heaven. And our physical things are bad thing. No, they're not inherently bad. But sometimes you can look at someone's outward life and kind of take an educated hypothesis on where their treasures are actually at. And it doesn't have to be physical things. Look at your life right now. I want you to think of the number one sin struggle in your life that you feel like you can't say no to. I want you to think of the one bowl of soup that have Satan presented you with this bowl of soup. You just think you can't resist it. You have to say yes to it. There's no amount of your willpower, your strength that can say no to it. And the Bible would actually say, "No, you can." The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation is overtaking you that's not common a man. What's happening to Esau is not different than what's happening in the 21st century. The root is the same. It's so funny because like I remember, you know, growing up and TLC had the My Strange Addiction Show and there was someone who had a sexual relationship with their car. And I remember looking at that going like that's absolutely bananas. 21st century, we have people having sexual relations with AI robots. We think that's crazy. And now we don't think the car thing is that crazy because things have developed. But the root is the same in both of those scenarios. If you think Satan can't create a new sin struggle. He can't create. He came to steal, kill and destroy. He perverts what is good. He perverts something like love and says, yeah, love is an unconditional. It's actually a transactional thing you do with a significant other. And actually you need to test drive a car in order to know if you want to drive it or not. You need to have sex outside of marriage also. Some of it's like, no, no, no. Satan's going to pervert everything that is actually good. Hey, quick break. I want to talk about victory by covenant eyes and I want to be real with you for a minute. If you're struggling with corn, most people will tell you the answer is more willpower. Try harder. Be more disciplined. But that is not actually how change happens. Real freedom does not come from white knuckling it alone. It comes from bringing the struggle into the light. Scripture already told us this. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Carry each other's burdens. Accountability is not some modern self-help idea. It is God's design. And that is exactly what victory is built on. Yes, there is content filtering and that matters, but the heart of it is accountability. Connecting you with trusted people who encourage you, walk with you and help you build habits that actually last. Plus, community support, so you are never doing this alone. And it is all built on a Christian worldview, which means the goal is not just behavior change, the goal is becoming who God made you to be. Freedom is rarely immediate, but it belongs to the people who refuse to give up. So if you are ready for that next step, start your journey today with victory by covenant eyes. Go to covenant eyes.com and use code Bryce 30 to get a free 30 day trial and start living in freedom today. Again, that is covenant eyes.com code Bryce 30. If that sin struggle in your life is lust, if that sin struggle in your life is money, if that sin struggle in your life is pride, if that sin struggle in your life is sports, people pleasing, whatever it may be, like your eyedizing things, whatever it may be. And you think you can't say no to it? First Corinthians in 13 says no, actually you can. No temptation is overtaking us.com to man, God is faithful and just and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond measure, but will always provide a way of escape through the strength of the Spirit of God. You can reject the soup. You can change the course of history on like Esau. You don't have to make the same mistake Esau did. You can change the mistakes for your life. You don't have to make the same mistakes that your parents did. But that would be like me looking at you right now and saying, hey, my parents were alcoholics. So I got to be an alcoholic too. And I would look at you and say, actually, that's not the case. People grow up in alcoholic families and they don't become alcoholics. They never touch alcohol. Sometimes people grow up in alcoholic families and they get drunk and they end up like their parents do. But if that's your situation, you don't have to end up like that. Another situation could be, oh, well, my parents cheated on each other all my life. So I'm going to be a cheater. That's so stupid. Like you don't have to be like them. You don't have to sell out. You see what I'm saying? Like you do not have to accept the soup. And according to the book of Galatians, through Christ, we're no longer slaves, but we are heirs, we're sons. We receive an inheritance with Christ. But Christ isn't just in the business of like getting you a ticket and, you know, heaven and like that's it. Like Christ is in the business of like being in your life, being a part of your life, blessing you and inviting you into more than you think is what's best for your life. And time and time again, we're selling out for temporary desires of the world. Those flesh, if sin would have satisfied you, it would have only taken one one night stand. We call sex outside of marriage, hook up culture a one night stand. But if it really was a one night stand, it would have only taken one time. If porn would have satisfied the whole in your heart, it would have taken one porn video. If alcohol would have satisfied it, it would have taken one glass of wine, one beer. The drugs would have satisfied it would have taken one joint, one at a roll, but it's obviously not the case. And so if those things are still not satisfying you and you're still opting out of what God has in store, like do you see how crazy that sounds? It's like the God of the universe who's created everything who knows the details about me that I don't even know about myself, who knows what's best for my life. I'm going to push aside what he thinks for a joint or sexual relations or an increase in money because money is going to solve my problem. Like when we say it like that, it sounds crazy. But I get it. Sometimes you get in your head and you think that's what's best for your life. And I'm here until you don't take the bait. Trust Jesus and look, that's something that we're going to learn all of our lives. But that is not a scapegoat or an excuse to go back and abuse his grace and think you know what's best for your life. Trust, trust God, bro. He knows what's best for you. He's not being a cosmic buzzkill. He's not stealing your personality. He's giving it back to you. He's restoring to you what's actually what's best for you. God's not robbing you of happiness. He's giving you eternal joy and satisfaction. And God's not stealing your purpose. Purpose comes from him. We need to listen to him. Let me pray for you. Jesus, thank you for today, God. Thank you that the victory is one in you. Lord, we just ask that we have ultimate strength and reliance on you, God. Would you just be a God that we are continually learning to trust, God? Give us peace. Let your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path in the Lord. Let us not sell out. We want you. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for who you are. And Jesus name.