TD Jakes - The Choice That Breaks The Curse
The preacher declares that even though Jacob's flawed nature lingers in us, the stronger Israel within can rise up to bless others; using the story of Levi (cursed by Jacob for cruelty but redeemed when the Levites chose the Lord's side at the golden calf), he proclaims that one right choice aligns us with God, and ultimately Jesus took every generational curse on the cross, setting us completely free—so we no longer have to live under the limitations of our painful past.
Jacob Is Dying, But Israel Rises
Where the men at? Holler at your boy. You hear that? Do it again, holler at your boy. That is Jacob down in there. I told you. I told you. Jacob was dying, but Israel sat up in the bed and strengthened himself.
The fact, men, the fact that I have a Jacob does not mean that I do not have an Israel that can bless you. Sisters, just because you discovered my Jacob, do not think for one minute that I do not have an Israel that is stronger than Jacob that can rise up over top of the Jacob, because after all, Jacob is dying. I said Jacob is dying, I said Jacob is dying, I said Jacob is dying. He is not dead yet, but Jacob is dying, and Israel will always strengthen himself.
Anyway, Levi and Simeon and Dan and Gad and Naphtali, they all gathered around the bed to get their father’s blessing. Judah came too, Issachar was there to get the blessing from their father, and the father began to sit up in the bed and strengthen himself.
Jacob Curses Levi and Simeon
And when Levi and Simeon come to the bed, instead of him blessing them, he cursed them. Jacob cursed them; he cursed them because he was angry at them, and he brings up their past and he says, now you come for a blessing, but I am going to curse you. Cursed art thou, Simeon and Levi, because of your anger and because of your wrath and because of your cruelty. I curse you.
Let me give you the backstory. The reason the old man cursed them is because Simeon and Levi had found out that the men of Shechem had raped their sister Dinah and they decided, we are going to retaliate and get even. They did not ask their father, they did not tell their father, but they took matters into their own hands.
They were angry men and they had good reason to be angry. Whenever a man is angry, he has good reason to be angry; he did not just get angry. There are no such things as kids that just are angry—that boy is mad about something. You cannot correct the behavior until you find the cause.
They were angry because their sister Dinah had been raped by the men of Shechem. She had no business going over there in the first place, but that is another message. I will preach that on Mother’s Day.
The Cruel Retaliation at Shechem
And so they decided, this is what they did. They told the men of Shechem, since you have had our daughter, we are going to take you into the family, but in order to be a legitimate part of the family and get our blessing, you have to be circumcised. So all of the men of Shechem circumcised themselves so they could be accepted in the family.
And Levi and Simeon waited until after they had shed the blood of circumcision and they were swollen and hurting and could not move, and then they swooped down on them and killed every last one of them.
And when Jacob heard about it he was angry with them; he was angry with his sons because they were cruel and because they were mean and because they were con-artists and tricksters. He was angry with his sons because they took matters into their own hands and caused blood to be shed. He was angry with his sons because they were like him.
Could it be possible that there are men in this room who are angry with your son because that boy is too much like you? You see, Jacob had mellowed now; he was not the trickster he was when he was young. He had gotten wiser and more mature, and then he has kids and he has to fight a young version of himself.
Generational Patterns and Curses
Is it not funny how we forget the stupid things we did? When we are raising our children we sit on our high horses of judgment and say, “Boy, that was stupid, how could you do that?”—only because you have amnesia, Jacob. You have forgotten the many stupid things you did and do.
He cursed Levi for being too much like him, because generally whatever is wrong runs in the family. Oh, it is going to be a quiet Father’s Day today; there is no dancing going on in here today. You all look like you are sitting on pincushions.
Levi had lived with the curse of his father. That curse stayed on his sons and on his sons’ sons, because when you have a curse it affects the next generation; generational curses pass down.
Jacob, who had cursed him, cursed him for being like him—for being like his grandmother Rebecca, who was slick, and his great-great uncle Laban, who was a trickster and a con-artist. This propensity had run through the family and now the old man is fighting the boy for being like the family.
Redemption for the Cursed Levites
And the curse was on him for years until we come to our text. And what is amazing, in this damnable situation where Moses has gone up on the mountaintop to pray, and all of the children of Israel have stripped out of their clothes and they are dancing naked around the calf in the worst situation in the history of the inauguration of the nation of Israel, became an opportunity for redemption.
Everybody is naked and out of breath. I will explain it later. And Pastor Moses has come back to the church and the whole congregation is... “What had happened was.”
And Moses is angry; he is angry, he is angry. Moses himself is a part of the Levites. Moses was angry, angry with himself as a part of the tribe of Levi. Moses is angry because what he is kin to has gone out of control. The hardest thing to correct is the enemy that you are kin to.
And so Moses says, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” And you would have thought that Judah would have jumped up because Judah means praise. You would have thought that Judah went to jumping, saying, “Hallelujah, glory to God, I am on the Lord’s side.”
You would have thought that Benjamin, because out of Benjamin would come all the kings of Israel, would come in with a crown on his head and say, “I am on the Lord’s side.” But of all the people to say something, here come the Levites.
One Choice Changes Everything
The ones who had lived with the curse of their father on their lives all of their lives jumped up and with one choice said, “I am.”
I know I am not much, I know I have done some dumb things, I know I have made some horrible mistakes in my life, I know that you all do not really like me because of the crazy things I did, but in spite of what you say about me, I made this decision. Just as I am without one plea, here I am; I am coming to the Lord.
I know, I know I did some things; I could not pass a drug test, I could not pass an alcohol test. I have got some spots on my background, some mess-ups on my resume. I did something that has shut down something; it is hard for me to get a job, they will not give me a place to stay in, but in spite of all of that, I am.
I wonder if there is anybody on the Lord’s side with blotches on your record and mistakes in your past but you said, “I am.”
Shake hands with three people and tell them, “I am on the Lord’s side.” I may not be much but I am on the Lord’s side, I made some mistakes but I am on the Lord’s side, I wish I could take it away but I am on the Lord’s side, I have been lied on but I am on the Lord’s side, I have been guilty sometime but I am on the Lord’s side, I have been cursed but I am on the Lord’s side, I have been bruised but I am on the Lord’s side.
Praise from the Broken
That is who I want to hear praise the Lord. I do not mean no harm, but I do not want to hear you goody two-shoes people praise the Lord; I do not know you, I cannot relate to you, and sometimes I do not even like you.
I want to hear somebody praise the Lord who knows you are not worthy, who knows you have been through hell, who knows that the odds were against you, who knows that if it had not been for the Lord that was on your side you would have been swallowed up. That is who I want to hear praise the Lord.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I did some dumb things but I made the right choice. I made some bad mistakes but I made the right choice. You cute folk do not have to praise Him, but I have made too many mistakes, I had too many curses not to praise the Lord.
I am going to show you one more thing. I want to show you what happened to your curse. If you will make the right choice, I am going to show you what happened to your curse.
Jesus Took the Curse on the Cross
I am going to show you why you do not have to be a statistic even though you were molested; I am going to show you why you do not have to be a statistic even though you have never met your father; I am going to show you why you do not have to have a bad end just because your father left you and your mother.
There was a curse on your life; there is no denying that. The odds were stacked against you; there is no denying that. You did not have the advantage that your neighbors did; there is no denying that.
You cried yourself to sleep a million nights wishing you had what you did not have; there is no denying that. You had to go to school by yourself, you had to clap when you made your own touchdown, you felt funny when the other kids’ daddies celebrated them; there is no denying that.
You got married trying to be something that you did not see; there is no denying that. You are trying to be a husband but you never lived with one; there is no denying that. You are old enough to have a baby but not man enough to be a father, and you are trying to feel your way; there is no denying that.
That if Satan had his way, your end would be terrible; you would never succeed because there was a curse on your life. But 2,000 years ago, on an old rugged cross, there was a man from Galilee who walked the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem and He healed the sick and He raised the dead, but that was not what He came to do.
He came to take the curse that was on your life, and the Bible said that He took every curse that was against us, and when He was nailed to the tree your curse was nailed to that tree. Somebody shout in this house.
Isaiah said, and I am almost finished, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him.” Do you know what that means? He took a beating so you can go to bed. He took a beating so you would not have to worry about it. He took a beating so He could reverse the curse.
You Are Free Now
The Bible says every curse was nailed to the tree, and on the cross the book said cursed is he that hangs on the tree. He was cursed so you would not have to be; He was killed so you would not be; He was bruised so that you would be liberated; He was beaten so that you could break the curse.
And if you carry your curse now, it is your fault. He took the sting out of your death, the victory out of your grave, and everything that you should have been as a result of how you were raised was nailed to the cross with Jesus so that you can be free. And if you are paying that bill it is just because you want to; you do not have to pay for it because Jesus.
So the next time the devil wakes you up at two o’clock in the morning and tells you what you cannot be and tells you what you cannot have and tells you what you cannot do, and reminds you of painful moments and memories and incidents in your life, and he tells you, “You will always be less than and you will always be limited;” and the next time the enemy makes you feel bad when you are walking through the mall and you see a boy with his daddy; and the next time the enemy makes you feel bad because you had to get somebody to walk you down the aisle; and the next time the enemy tries to make you feel bad because you think you did not get what other people got—you throw the Word right up in his face and tell him, “He whom the Son has set free is free indeed.”
A Message on Juneteenth
And I asked the Lord, what would You have me preach? He said, preach to the children who are carrying a needless curse. Tell my young sons and daughters that I took the blows for your freedom, so that the rest of your life does not have to look like the past of your life.
Tell my daughters that I will walk you down the aisle and I will open doors for you and I will make a way for you and I will take you on the college campus and I will give you favor with God and with men. And tell my children that, “If I be for you, I am more than the world against you.”
Quickly, without hesitation, everyone stand on your feet. This Juneteenth thing has always kind of tripped me out because I am not from Texas. The reason it is hard for me to celebrate it is because it frustrates me that for all of that time, in all of those fields, with all of those rapes and all of that abuse, that the slaves in Texas were free and did not know it.
And when I think about Juneteenth, it is hard for me to celebrate it because I see too many people in my life who are free and they do not know it. And that is why I got out of bed this morning to tell you: You is free now, you is free now, you is free now.
Going to school, you is free now. Go ahead and get married, you is free now. Go ahead and open up your business, you is free now. Go ahead and live your life, you is free now. Go ahead and laugh again and smile again and get your joy back, you is free now. Whatever your father did or did not do, it has no consequence—you is free now. If you stay picking cotton it is because you want to—you is free now.