All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Genesis 27. Genesis 27. Last week we began this passage. It's concerning Isaac, the son of Abraham. the husband of Rebecca and the
daddy of Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau are twins. Esau
was born first. Esau, by God's word, being the
firstborn, is traditionally the one that will receive the blessing. the inheritance. God has determined that Esau
was not going to receive the blessing. The blessing is going
to go to the younger of the two. Almighty God who has the right
to do what he will with his own, all souls are his. And Almighty
God told Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mama, before these boys were
even born. He said to Rebekah, the two boys
that are in your womb are actually two nations. They're two types. of people. And the Lord said to Rebecca,
the elder who traditionally is going to receive the blessing
is going to serve the younger. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9 to explain exactly what Jehovah,
what the Lord said to Rebecca before her sons were even born. This is in Romans 9, and the
Lord said to her, and Paul interpreted it under the inspiration of God's
spirit, and this is what he said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. Rebecca knew, that's the word
of the Lord. Rebecca heard her husband Isaac
say to Esau, go and kill me some venison. Prepare me savory meat
as I love, and I'm going to bless you. Rebecca told her younger son
Jacob, I heard what your father said. He's purposed to bless your brother
Esau. God had revealed to her that
Jacob was going to get the blessing. She told Jacob, You go get me
two young goats, two young kids out of the flock and bring them
to me. I'm going to prepare savory meat that your father loves. And I want you to go before your
father and receive the blessing. And Jacob says he's going to
know the difference. My brother's a hairy man. I'm
a smooth man. So she put Esau's garment on
Jacob. Took the skins of the young goats
that she had killed and put those on the smooth of his neck, put
them on his hands, arms. She said, now you take this and
you go before your father to receive the blessing. Isaac,
the father, his eyes are dim. He can't see. And so now we're
going to pick up right here in Genesis chapter 27, that's what's
happened right up to this point right here. We're going to pick
up in verse 18, and Lord willing in this first service I want
to deal with Isaac having Jacob, the younger brother, come before
him. Now remember, everything that
we're going to be looking at this morning is a glorious picture
concerning how a true sinner, one of God's elect, one that
God has all everlastingly purposed to show mercy. In this illustration
right here, we're going to see how God Almighty truthfully,
honorably, blesses His people. And this is the only way that
any sinner is ever going to be blessed of God. Outside of this
illustration, what this illustrates, we're going to see the only way
that a sinner will ever be accepted of God. Now, here's what I want
to say. You let God be true. And every
man is a liar. Let's hear what God has to say. And by the grace of God, bow
to it. The scripture declares in verse
18, 19, and he, that is Jacob, having been told by his mother,
now you take what I've prepared, what I've put on you, and you
go before your daddy. And he came unto his father and
he said, my father, And he said, here I am. And Isaac says, who
art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father,
I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according as thou
badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat
of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. This is Jacob. Isaac, his daddy, whose eyes
are dim, says, who are you? And Jacob says, I'm Esau, the
one that you've purposed to bless. I am your firstborn. Now, now listen, humanly speaking. There's no way in the world that
we can justify what Jacob did. Jacob is a liar. Jacob is a conniver. Jacob is a huckster. And what
he's doing is he's standing before his daddy and he's telling him
I am my brother. I am my elder brother. I'm the
one that you've purposed to bless. Esau is the one that Isaac has
purposed to bless. Now listen, Esau is a picture,
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who has God purposed to bless? God Almighty has purposed to
bless His Son. His only begotten Son. The firstborn
among many brethren. That's who God is going to bless. This is my beloved Son whom I'm
well pleased. Now get this picture. Who is
God Almighty going to bless? He's going to bless his son. Who has Isaac, the daddy, purpose
to bless? He's going to bless Esau. Who's
going to get the blessing? Jacob. What I want to know is, where
is the honor in this? Where is the honor? Where's the
truth in this? Who is this one that's standing
before Isaac? He's the supplanter. He's the
liar. But here's what I want us all
to understand. Who are all of us? We're liars. Every one of us. There's not one in this congregation
this morning. There's not one that's outside
this building right here that's not a liar and a conniver and
a cheat. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. How? How? How am I going to be
blessed of God? How am I going to? Again, can we justify Jacob receiving
this blessing by his own tactics? No. No, sir. We're all Jacobs by birth. And
when Isaac asked Jacob who he was, Jacob gave the only answer
that Isaac was going to accept. Are you my firstborn? Who are you? I'm Esau. That's the only answer that Isaac's
going to accept. Why? Because Isaac, the daddy,
his purpose, I'm going to bless my firstborn. That's who I'm
going to bless. Jacob's standing there and he
said, I'm Esau. And I've done that which you bid me to do.
Arise, sit, eat my venison, that thy soul may bless me. Now get
a full impact of this. Now let's just let our minds,
as much as possible, go to the Day of Judgment. Let's go to
the Day of the Great White Throne Judgment. And imagine that we're standing
before Almighty God. And this is transpiring. That
one question right here, that Almighty God has purposed to
save, I mean to bless His Son. I'm going to bless His Son. Can
I find any part in that blessing? It's not going to be a lie that
day. There's not going to be any conniving that day. I understand
that this picture right here is setting forth a glorious picture
of how Jacob, a liar, is going to receive a blessing. But there
is a glorious picture of absolute truth. There's not going to be
any conniving in that day. Almighty God who is omniscient. He knows. He knows. His eyes
are not dim. Well, is there any way that I
can see any hope in this for me? Well, let's look. You remember Rebecca now has
told her son Jacob, the one that's the conniver, you go before your
daddy, you bring this to him. You get the blessing. Well, in
verse 20, Isaac said unto his son, how is it that thou hast
found it so quickly, my son? And he said, because the Lord
thy God brought it to me. Hm. Jacob continues to lie on top
of lie on top of lie. He's even brought in God's will
and God's purpose and God's providence into this lie. But let me ask
you this. Is Jacob not standing there according
to God's will? Did God Almighty not say to Rebekah,
the elder is going to serve the younger, Esau have I hated, Jacob
I love. He's standing there according
to the Lord's will. But I'm going to keep asking
this one question. Where is the honor in this? What Jacob is
doing is absolutely in himself a lie. We're going to constantly be
reminded what we are. We're going to constantly be
reminded that we are the Jacobs. Now you imagine the accuser of
the brethren. We're sitting here reading this
story right here. This precious scripture right here, not just
a story. This is God's Word. And Almighty God is setting forth
something right here. And we're looking at that, and
here's what we're thinking in our minds. Jacob's a liar. And
we're right. We're right. Anybody here doubt
Jacob's a liar? He's lying. Who are you? I'm
Esau. That's a lie? Can you imagine the accuser of
the brethren? Accusing us for what we really
are. I mean, you don't have to go
very far to realize. How about our old man? Our old
man. How about our conscience? How
about the world? I had a buddy of mine, when I graduated
from Northwestern, there in Natchitoches. I had a buddy of mine that I
ran around with, and just, you know, after the Lord was pleased
to reveal Christ to me, he called me one day, one night. We was
talking. This is a guy that I ran around
with, got in trouble with, and everything else. And he's asking
me, he said, well, tell me what you've been doing. I told him.
I told him what the Lord had done to me. He said, I know you. He said, Marvin, you're not kidding.
I know you. You and I didn't got into too
much together. You're not going to. I said, Len, I agree with you. Jacob in himself is a liar. But Almighty God has purposed
to show mercy The Scripture says in verse 21 to 23, And Isaac
said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may field thee,
my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went
near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him, and he said, The
voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy as his brother
Esau's hands. So he blessed him. Isaac is speaking with some apprehension. He's wondering if who he's speaking
to is really Esau. So he calls Jacob near to him. He said, let me touch you. Looking for evidence that the
one who stood before him was truly his firstborn. He said, you sound like Jacob.
He said, but your hands, those are the hands of Esau. And he
receives him. Oh, can we not but see the indescribable
mercy of what's about to be revealed here. The spiritual truth. Again, I'm going to remind you
that what is being set forth here is being done by a conniver,
by a cheat, by a liar, but the glorious picture that we're getting
ready to see is unbelievable. Mercy of God. Everything about
Jacob is untrue. His identity, the food, he said,
the Lord brought this to me. The Lord gave me, the Lord blessed
me. But then Isaac, the daddy, asked
Jacob a question that's truly going to arrest. It had to have
arrested Jacob's heart. And the picture that I'm about
to show here will arrest the heart of every believer. Look
at verse 24. And he, that is Isaac, asked
this question. Art thou my very son Esau? This is his daddy. Daddy's blind. And he asked this boy, now you
be truthful with me. Are you really Esau? And Jacob says, I am. Here we must pray the Holy Spirit's
blessing upon our understanding. Because that question right there
is the question that every regenerated vessel of God's mercy must consider. When Isaac asked Jacob, when
the daddy asked the younger of the sons, the question of his
true identity, Now you remember who he's talking to is the liar,
is the cheat, is the conniver. Don't ever forget that's who
we are. Don't you ever forget that's what we are. How is this
boy right here going to receive the blessing that Almighty God
purposed for him to receive? He's not going to get something
that Almighty God hasn't purposed. God is going to bless Jacob through
Jacob is going to come the Messiah. You think Jacob is slipping up
on God? You say, well, he's lying to his daddy. I know. But what's
being shown? It's being shown to us that we
are the liars. How is this boy going to be blessed?
How am I going to be blessed? That's what I want to know. That's
me. He's doing it by deception. I'm
not going to deceive God. How am I truly going to receive
a blessing from God? How? Like I said, I ain't slipping
up on him. He asked him, Are you my very
son Esau? Here is the question. The question
of all questions. Almighty God is going to bless
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you my very son? Are you the Lord Jesus? Now let me ask you, I told you
this last Sunday. That's a yes or no answer. That's a yes or no answer. Are
you the one that I've purposed to bless? Let me tell you what the result
is going to be if the answer is no. You're going to hell. All of a sudden this story becomes
very, very real. How can it be? Because I know,
as Paul said, oh wretched man that I am. How can God be just
and show this liar, this conniver, this cheat? You say, well, I
can see what he's doing. This is setting forth something
that's going to be very real for all of us. How can I be blessed when God
Almighty has purpose to bless His Son? How Almighty God has declared unto
His people that by His indescribable mercy and wisdom, the wisdom
of God, I want you to turn to a scripture
that we read all the time, 2 Corinthians 5.21, and may the Lord give us
some new insight into this blessed scripture. 2 Corinthians 5.21, when our Lord went to the cross, He, the Father, hath made Him,
the Son. Now look, to be is in italics,
if your Bible has italicized words. He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin. I'm going to say what I say time
after time after time. He knew no sin. But Almighty
God, to absolutely bless His people, was going to deal with
their guilt. Jacob's a liar, I am too, you
are too. Let's just go ahead and be honest.
I had an uncle tell me one time, years ago, he listened to a preacher,
he was preaching the truth, the gospel, and he told me, he said,
I'll never come back and hear that man again. He told me that
I was a sinner. A sinner. He said, I'm not a
sinner. Well, I'll just tell you, you
just disqualified yourself from any hope because Christ Jesus
came into this world to save sinners. If you're not Jacob,
if you're not a Jacob, if you don't see yourself as a liar
and a conniver, I don't have anything good to say about us.
I'm going to just be up front. I don't have anything good to
say about us. We're all liars. Well, how can God be just? and justify. Know what that word
means? It means the law looking at us
and the law saying, no charge, no charge, no guilt. How can
God be just and justify a sinner? Right here. How can I be accepted
of God and receive the blessing that Almighty God has purposed
to give His Son. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. In Him. Look at Ephesians 1-4 again.
I've read this before. Let's read it again. Ephesians
1-4. Almighty God. Ephesians 1-4. According as He has chosen us
in Him. What does that mean? Chosen us
in Him. Made Him to be the surety. Made Him to be the one that's
going to answer for. Made Him to be the one in whom
we are. He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world that we should be, now listen to this, holy and without blame before
Him in love. What hope do I have to stand
before God and have this question asked? Are You my Son? And for me to truthfully say,
Lord, You having chosen me in Him, You having made Him sin
for me, and He put away my sin. He paid the debt of what I am. I'm the liar. Yes sir, I'm the
liar. And he put it away and cast it
as far as east is from the west. And in him I am holy and without
blame before you in him. Not ever away from him. Not ever
away from him. Listen to this. Herein, 1 John 4, 7, is our love
made perfect, made manifest, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. And you want to know where some
boldness is going to be? Because as He is, so are we in this world. You're telling me that Almighty
God has made me to be one with Christ? That's exactly what I'm
telling you. He that is joined to the Lord,
this is 1 Corinthians 6.17, is one spirit. We never forget who we are. But we're blessedly reminded
who we are in Christ. We know who we are in Adam. I'm
a liar. But I'm telling you that according
to God's Word, there has been a new man imparted that does
not sin. That which is born of God sinneth
not. All of a sudden, we realize there's
something that you and I, that's finite, cannot comprehend. We believe it. Because I'm going
to tell you something, this is the only hope we got. You ain't
got no other hope. This is it. As Christ is in His
people, Christ in you, the hope of glory, and God the Father
is in the Son, and we're grafted into him as he said, you're the
branch, I'm the vine. Here's the trunk. Here comes
a branch and it's grafted in. At what point does the branch,
at what point can you look and discern which part is the vine
and which part is the branch? Right in here where it's joined,
right here. How do you discern that? You can't. What part of
that is really divine? It's one. He said, you're the
branches, I'm the vine. He stood before his daddy and
he said, are you Esau? Setting forth this glorious picture
and truth. Are you my son? In him. Chosen in him. betrothed by Him
everlastingly to Himself as the Bride. Great mystery, Paul said. I speak of Christ. These two
shall be one flesh. In Him. In Him. I am His body. This is my hand right here. Is
this really Marvin? Really? Yeah. It really is. So is this. So is this. This is me. Great mystery. Are you my son? In him, verse 25 to 27, and he
said, bring it near me and I will eat of my son's venison that
my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him,
and he did eat, brought him wine, drank. And his father Isaac said
unto him, Come near now and kiss me, my son. And he came near,
and he kissed him. Now remember, he's wearing Esau's
raiment. He's got the skins of those ghosts
that were slain. A picture of the blessed sacrifice
of Christ that made that savory meat, a picture of that which
the Father savors concerning the Son. Remember when we studied
years ago the offerings, the burnt offering? The burnt offering
was said to be a sweet smelling savor. What did the burnt offering
set forth? The obedience of Christ. That's
what the burnt offering set forth, the obedience of Christ. Just
as Isaac, the daddy, loved that savory meat, the father loves
the savor of the obedience of Christ. That robe that she put
on Jacob, Esau's robe, that's a picture of the robe of Christ's
righteousness clothing me. What am I in myself? I'm a sinner. What am I in Christ? Holy. without blame, one. One with Him. Paul said, O wretched
man, who shall separate me from the body of this death? And that
I might enjoy eternally the blessedness of being one in Him. Eye hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man that which God has prepared for those that love
Him. But we believe it. We believe it. This picture right
here, it's a picture of a conniver receiving the blessing. How about
this conniver? How am I going to? The scripture
says he came near, verse 26, he said, kiss me. Verse 27, he
came near and he kissed him and he smelled the smell of his raiment
and he blessed him. And he said, see, the smell of
my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. Bring it near me. Kiss me. And he came near and he smelled
him. And he smelled, the scripture says, his son as the smell of
a field that God had blessed. the fragrance of the blessed
graces of God's Spirit. Remember in Song of Solomon,
the Lord said, Blow, O north wind, Holy Spirit, blow, O south,
upon my garden, that the spices, spices of what? The spices of
the blessed graces of God's Spirit, love, joy, longsuffering, gentleness,
meekness, that I may smell those spices. That smells just like
my son. That's what he smells like. Does the Heavenly Father know
who we are? Yes, He does. Does the Heavenly
Father know His Son? Yes, He does. Does He know that
by His power and His grace that He hath made us in Christ the
righteousness of God? Yes. You say, how can these things
be? How can I be holy and without
blame before Him and love? How? God Almighty is going to have
to do something for us that we can't do for ourselves. I can
tell you right now. Almighty God is going to have
to accomplish something in justice, in truth, that Jacob could never
do in truth. This is a picture. But Almighty
God has done something for us that God accepts, and it's right. You said, I can't understand
all of it. I'm with you. I'm with you. But by the grace
of God, one day, we're going to see Him as He is, and we're
going to know Him and understand. And in that day, we will say,
Lord, You're worthy to receive all the honor and all the glory
and all the praise. You've redeemed us. and made
us unto you kings and priests. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake. Amen. All right.