Amen. Now, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Genesis chapter 27. Genesis chapter 27, entitled
this message, The Gospel in Disguise. The Gospel in Disguise. Now here in this chapter, we
have the history of Jacob and Rebecca's deception of Isaac
in trying to steal the blessing or trying to get the blessing
that belonged to Esau. Now I've got three points here.
First of all, a blessing purposed. A blessing purposed. Then we're
going to see a blessing by provision. The provision of the blessing
and then we're going to see the application of this blessing. First of all, a blessing that
was purposed. Now you remember before these
children were born that they were in the womb of the mother,
Rebecca, and the Lord in sovereign election chose Jacob. He chose
Jacob. He loved Jacob and despised,
hated Esau. And in Genesis 25, 23, the Lord
declares that there were two nations in her womb. two manner
of people that shall be separated from her bowels, and the one
shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve
the younger." So what is this? It is a purposed blessing intended
for Jacob. Now we know this, according to
that, that Jacob is a picture, he is a type of every elect Person
We can read that in Romans chapter 9. I won't take the time to go
there But we know this that this is a God purpose this these two
in the womb of their mother To set forth the the precedent of
sovereign election He said that the purpose of God according
to election might stand and so Jacob was chosen he was loved
of God and And Esau was hated. So Jacob pictures the whole church
of Christ as God promised that he should
rule over his brother, that he should receive the blessing of
his father Abraham. And so we see these are all the
saints of God, the sheep of Christ that were given to him. And it
was for these that Christ came and died. It was for these elect
that Christ rose again. And it is the elect that Jesus
Christ will send his spirit to save. But you know that Esau is a picture
of all those hated of God, those that God leaves to themselves. And so Jacob was loved, he was
chosen of God, to receive this blessing, this birthright, this
promise by which he would be the head of his whole family
and the rightful heir of the covenant promises. But I want
you to see there's a problem with this. God promised that
Jacob should be the heir, that Jacob should be the one to inherit
the blessings. But notice that everything seemed
contrary to the promise. Look at chapter 25. Look at chapter
25 and verse 28 and notice there's something that's contrary to
this. In chapter 25 and verse 28, notice
this, and Isaac loved who? Who did Isaac love? Well, it wasn't Jacob. Isaac
loved Esau because he did eat of the venison, but Rebekah loved
Jacob. Consider the rebellion now of
Isaac. The Lord had told his wife this
truth, that he loved Jacob, that he loved the younger, that he
was going to bless the younger, and so this was conveyed to Isaac,
and yet Isaac, because of his love for dear me. Esau was a manly man. He was
one that his father could relate to. He was a man that loved the
field. And so this was, Jacob was a
mama's boy. He was a mama's boy. His father
didn't like that. He wasn't a manly man. And yet, so this is contrary.
So notice the rebellion of Isaac towards the word of God. That
because of his appetite, he would love Esau therefore you understand
now why I mean there's a lot when I read commentaries about
this you're always hearing about the sin of Rebecca and Jacob
and that's true what they did was was a sin it was deception
as you can't cover it over but consider who put her in this
situation was Isaac because he would not bless Jacob You're
going to read this in just a minute in our text. He's getting ready
to die and he's determined to bless Esau in spite of what God
had said. So everything seems to be like
going against the promise of God in this. Therefore, what's
the result here? Well, Rebecca in love for Jacob
and possibly for her love for the word of God. She goes in
league with Jacob in order to help fulfill the promise of God. Is this something new? No, remember
Abraham tried to do that too. So they try to do this. They try by this deception to
help fulfill the promise of God. And if you remember, Jacob already
did this when he bought that birthright. You remember, he
wanted the birthright, and his brother's sitting there starving,
and he's got a bowl of soup. How evil is that? He let your
brother starve just to get that birthright. But he did. And so
by deception, he got the birthright. But now, so Rebecca now is involved and
tries to help the promises of God. So in this text, Isaac is
about to die, and he's desired to bless Esau, so Rebecca goes
and gets Jacob, and they formulate a plan. She formulates a plan
by which Jacob should receive the blessing instead of Esau.
Now, I want you, this has been on my mind as I read this. This is a lesson here, a very
important lesson for us. In this example, though God used
their scheming, and He did, He eventually used this scheme to
fulfill His purpose. But God does not need us to scheme
or deceive or to manipulate in order to fulfill His purpose.
Here's the purpose of God. His purpose is to save His people
from their sins. Is that not His purpose? Is there
anyone that He chose in eternity, that Christ died for, that shall
miss this salvation? No. But we know this, that God
has determined the means by which He will save His people. What
is it? Preaching. By the foolishness of preaching,
God has chosen to save His people. But if you'll notice what has
happened over the years and church's scheme to get people in to hear
the gospel. I remember when I was a kid.
Every week during the summer, my neighbors would invite me
to a church pizza party. Now, I love pizza. I love pizza,
and I went every time they had pizza. And what were they having
pizza for? Did they really just want, did
they want to feed the hungry? Is that what they were trying
to do? Now that's a good noble thing.
If you're trying to feed the hungry, put out some pizza, feed
the hungry. That's not what they were trying to do. They were
trying to manipulate the children to get them into the place so
they can help out God and get his people saved. That's not
for us, friends. I'm not here to entice the flesh
to get people to hear the gospel. That is manipulation. That's
deception. That's deception. We're to use every means that
we have to preach the gospel. Absolutely. Every opportunity
we get, preach the word. But we're never to scheme and
manipulate. I'll give you an illustration
of this in real life. There was a man that I don't
I didn't personally, I was a young kid, so I went to these pizza
parties, so I knew it was in that church that I was going
to. There was a man in that church who heard the gospel of Jesus
Christ and believed the gospel of his grace. He believed it. But what he intended to do was
to stay in the church and infiltrate the church. And so Sunday after
Sunday he would listen to that false gospel, nod his head, and
then when everybody left he'd take a group of people over here
and preach the gospel to them. Now that is underhanded, friend.
That is deceptive. Now I want you to see this because
there were two young people in that little group that he took
aside, the Lord saved. They heard the gospel. They heard
what this man was saying, and they heard the gospel. And as
soon as they believed the gospel, you know what they did? They
left. They could not tolerate that
false gospel. They left, and they stayed at
Lincolnwood, the church that I grew up in, the rest of their
days, hearing the gospel. But you know what happened to
that man? He stayed in that false church. He constantly acknowledged,
constantly manipulated. Do you think he was happy sitting
there having to listen to that garbage all every Sunday? No, he made himself miserable
by doing it. Listen, sin is not without consequence. In this history, Jacob was forced
to leave his home and flee for his life. Because of what they
did, Rebecca never saw her son again. So don't think their sin
was not without consequence, even though it did fulfill the
will of God, the purpose of God. And so that's a lesson for us
not to try to manipulate. This isn't a shining example
of how we're to do things. But now let us see this. I want to now look at this. This
blessing was intended for Jacob. Everything seemed to be going
contrary to it. Now then they've set a scheme
to manipulate, which was evil. It was a sin. But I want you to see something
else that was against the promise of God, is this, that Jacob had
no natural right to it. He had no natural right to the
blessing. The firstborn had a natural right to the blessing. But Jacob, being second, had
no natural right to it. And so now Jacob by birth had
no right to this blessing, only the firstborn. But see, what
Jacob did in deception, and to get the blessing, I want you
to know this. God gives his people the blessing
righteously. Justly. Though we, like Jacob,
had no right to it. You see the picture? We had no
right to it. Naturally, we have no right to the blessing of God.
But only are going to receive it because God purposed that
we should have it. That's the only reason Jacob
got it. But God doesn't do it unjustly. God does it justly and in righteousness. So then in the text here, we're
going to see this, that Isaac is a picture of the Father in
this text. Isaac, who dispenses the blessing,
is a picture of God the Father. And I want you to look at this.
Now, read this text with me. And it came to pass that when
Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, So he could not see, he
called, he saw his eldest son and said, and then my son, he
said, behold, here am I. And he said, behold, now I am
old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I
pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver, thy bow, and go out into the
field and take me some venison and make that savory meat such
as I love and bring it to me that I may eat and that my soul
may bless thee before I die. I want you to see this about
the Father. This picture here, you know,
a deer is, according to the law, an unclean animal. Even so does God require the
death of every unclean man, as he sent him out to kill that
unclean animal. Even so, I want you to know this,
God will by justice demands the death of every guilty sinner. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Sinners see that God's justice
and anger, though slow, are sure. It is sure that God who cannot
and will not excuse sin must in holy justice destroy every
sinful soul. And I know this, when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes and returns again, he is going to take vengeance
on all those who are outside of him. All those who are outside
of Christ, he will take holy vengeance. And I know this, that
kind of message will never resignate unless the Spirit of God convicts
man of sin. But seeing that God must punish
sin, was not Jacob also a sinner? Was he not the same and like
unto Esau his brother? Was he not born of the same fallen
race? Yes. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. Isaiah said, From the sole of
our foot to the crown of our head is nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. So then, the question is, how
shall Jacob receive the blessing? How shall Jacob receive the blessing
who by nature had no right to it? Who was truly the same as Esau?
How shall he inherit the blessing of God and be accepted? Well,
the answer to that is in the preparation for the blessing.
You see, God purposed that Jacob should have the blessing. Now,
by this scheme, we are going to see how he should receive
the blessing. There was a preparation made.
And so here is the gospel, look at this now. So you see, he intends
to bless Esau, he sends him out, Rebekah hears this in verse 5,
and then what does she do? In verse 6, And Rebekah spake
unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto
Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me the venison, and make me the
savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord
before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my
voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the
flock, and fetch me thence two good kids of the goats, and I
will make the savory meat for thy father. which such as he
loveth, and thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may
eat, and that he may bless thee before his death." Now behold
the picture. Behold the picture of the righteousness
and death of the Lord Jesus Christ is by these two goats. The provision
by which Jacob may enter into the presence of Isaac and receive
the blessing is by the preparation of these two goats. The goats were intended for two
purposes, for meat and covering, for meat and covering. And so then the first goat was
to be killed so as to make the stew, the meat that would satisfy
Jacob. Now listen, Jacob would have
never, excuse me, Isaac would have never blessed Jacob had
he not brought the stew. Had he not brought the stew,
he knew he wouldn't be, it's not Esau. Esau would have brought
me the stew. And so in order to be blessed,
he had to have it. It was necessary. Listen, even
so, the only thing that has ever satisfied the justice of God
for the sins of Jacob is the death of Jesus Christ. That is
the only thing that would satisfy the justice of God. Sinners see that no one then
can approach unto God except he be holy as God. This is important. We are all
going to approach before God, and the only hope for us is that
we are as holy as God. Except our sins be paid, except
our sins be ransomed, except our sins be redeemed, except
the justice of God be satisfied, we would never receive the blessing.
Never. Therefore, for Jacob, As for
the elect, Jesus Christ was taken from among the flock, wasn't
he? He was taken from among men. He was to be made flesh so as
to do the will of the Father in the flesh, which was what? To lay down his life for the
sheep. Consider him. These goats picture
him. And without his death, we would
never receive the blessing. Therefore, our Lord Jesus, in
love for us, came into this world and laid down his life. He laid down his life, not for
everyone, for the sheep, for Jacob. He made his soul an offering
for sin, and by his blood, he did satisfy the justice and wrath
of God against our sins. Behold, Jesus Christ was made
of a woman, made under the law, that he should redeem us from
the curse of the law. How? By being made a curse. That he was to bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. We sing this sometimes, strict
and smitten and afflicted, see him dying on the tree. Tis Christ
by man rejected, yes my soul, tis he, tis he. Tell me you who
hear him groaning, was there ever grief like his? It says many hands were raised
to wound him, none would interpose to save. But the deepest stroke
that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave. Mark the sacrifice appointed.
See who bears the awful load. Tis the word the Lord's anointed,
son of man and son of God. You see, Christ was our faithful
high priest. He was our faithful sacrifice. So the only way for us to receive
the appointed blessing is that he should lay down his life to
satisfy the justice of God. And by his one offering, by his
one offering, he did just that. He's satisfied. You know, when
Jacob ate this stew, he said, man, that's good. Man, that just has satisfied
my soul. How much more is God satisfied
with the offering of Jesus? Go to Hebrews chapter 9. Look
at this with me. See what Christ's death obtained. Look at Hebrews 9. Look at verse
11. It says, But Christ, being come
in high priest, of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood entered in... How many times? How many
times did he enter in? Once. And what did he get? He obtained eternal redemption. He got it. That's what it means. He got it. We needed what? Redemption. What'd he get? Redemption. What kind? Eternal. The best kind. Those bulls and goats never obtained
any redemption. They had to keep offering them.
But he did this once, and he obtained eternal redemption. Look at this in verse 26. He
said, For then must he suffer since
the foundation of the world. He's like those other goats and
bulls. He said, man, then he's got to
suffer forever. But now, how many times? Once in the end of
the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, as it is appointed to men once to dine after this
judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. Unto them that look for him he
shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Behold, Jesus Christ is pictured
by this goat so that Jacob might enter in and be accepted. But
notice Jacob's objection now. He's got an objection to this.
He said, that's good. I need the meat. But there's
something else wrong here, Mama. Something else is stopping me
from going in. Look at this in verse, 11. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his
mother, here's a problem. Behold, look at me, look at me. Behold, Esau, my brother, he's
a hairy man, but I am a smooth man. How are we going to fool
him? If he touches me, look at that,
he said, my father perventure will feel me and I shall seem
to be him as a deceiver. Seem? He is a deceiver. He is a deceiver. And he said,
I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. He said,
if my daddy finds out what I've done, he's gonna curse me. He's
not gonna bless me. He said, how can I? So how can I? who am a deceiver. I identify with Jacob. You know
this fact of being smooth? In our generation, that's what
these young guys want. They want to be smooth. And that
day was a curse. Remember what they did to the
leper? What's the first thing they did to the leper? They shaved
him. It was a sign of a curse. Jacob
was a smooth man. It was a sign of a curse. And if he goes in there smooth,
Guess what? He'll be rejected. You see, you
and I are like Jacob, we're deceiver, we're smooth. This means this,
we're without righteousness. How are we going to be accepted? Peradventure, he feel me and
he'll curse me. How can I be accepted by a sacrifice
of another? How can I be really unjust, really
guilty, and be justified before a holy God? Notice the answer,
Rebecca, are truly the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to us.
And his mother said unto him, upon me be thy curse, my son. If this don't work, let me bear
the blame. Isn't that what Jesus said? Isn't
that what the surety says? If my sacrifice and my offering
and my righteousness are not sufficient, what does he say?
Let me bear the blame. That's what a surety does. So
what is Rebecca doing? She's being surety for this.
He said, let that curse be on me. And so see that God is not unjust
then to pardon his people, his justice was not set aside or
put off in order to show mercy unto Jacob. In fact, his justice
was satisfied for the curse of our sins was charged to Christ.
Was he not made a curse? He was. He was made a curse. Scripture says that God made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Why? So that we might be accepted,
that we might be righteous. And so see the difference. Esau
here, in these types, you've got to understand, Esau is a
picture of Christ in this. I don't have time to go into
a lot of that, but he's a picture of Christ. He's the one accepted. He's the only one Isaac would
accept. Guess what? Who is the only one God would
accept? His son, Jesus Christ. And so here Isaac is a picture
of, Esau is a picture of Christ in this, that he is full of righteousness. We are empty of righteousness.
We are smooth, full of shame, but he is perfect. This then
is the picture of the purpose then of the second goat. The
second goat was purposed in this that he should cover His skin. Look at this. Go back to your
text. Here's verse 14. His mother said,
upon me be thy curse. Only obey my voice and go and
fetch them. Go and fetch them. And he went
and fetched and brought them to his mother. And his mother
made the savory meat, which his father loved. And Rebecca took
the goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which was with her
in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she
put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and
upon the smooth of his neck. You got that? She skinned those
goats and put it on his hands and on his neck. He walking in
there with goat skins on his body, robed in his brother's
best robe, taking in this offering. Behold, now, in order to be blessed
of Jacob, he must not only have the savory meat, but he himself
must be Esau. The only way you're going to get the blessing. Therefore, she put on Esau's
best robe, and she attached those goat skins to his hands and to
his neck. So then behold the great preparation. This is the preparation. What
Christ has done for us is he's provided the two things we need.
He provided an offering we needed, and he provided righteousness.
He provided righteousness, how? By his own obedience. In Galatians
chapter two, it says in verse 16, this is what it says, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, But how
is a man justified? By the faith of Jesus Christ. How are you justified? By the
faithfulness, by the obedience of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. For what purpose? That we might
be justified by the faith of Christ. What's your faith in?
My faith is in the faith of Christ. My faith is in the obedience
of Christ. I believe in Christ that I might be found in the
faith of Christ. You see, I want to be dressed
in His robe of righteousness. When I go before God, I want
to have His righteousness on. That's what we believe in Him.
And so He's provided these things. Now then, thirdly, the application
of this. So here now, Jacob in verse 17,
verse 17, She give him the savory meat
and the bread that she had prepared into his hand. Now he's all robed
up. He's all robed up, ready to go in. And he comes into his
father and said, my father. And he said, here am I, but who
are you? That's me, I'm the father, but
who are you, my son? And Jacob said, I am Esau, thy
firstborn. Liar. You see, he was still a
liar, robed in all that stuff, with all the savory meat, and
guess what? He was still a liar. I have done according to thou
badest me, liar. He didn't do anything, did he? Arise, I pray thee. Sit up and
eat my venison. It wasn't even venison, was it?
It was a goat. That thy soul may bless me. Sinner, let us see that if we
should ever be loved and blessed of the Father, we must have the
offering and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Why? Because we're
liars. We're sinners. We dare not go in before God
as we are. We must have the offering of
Christ. It must be our own. And see that
we must not come in as Jacob did in deception, but rather
come in honesty. And I'm going to tell you this.
Every believer that comes to Christ, what Jacob lied about,
we're not lying about. I am one with the Son of God. All my works, all His works are mine. So whatever
He bade me to do in Christ, I have done. And we may this, thus if we are
in Christ, we may expect to be blessed. Expect to be blessed. See then that Jesus was not a
sacrifice in general, but rather a specific one for his specific
people, for Jacob. And all who come to God by faith
in Christ are Jacob. You who have come to God by Christ,
you are Jacob. You are Jacob. And we are able to come because
Christ is our representative who has fulfilled our righteousness.
And we have become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
You know when Paul talks about marriage being a union? He said
that a man should leave his father and mother and be cleaved, be
joined unto his wife, and these two shall be one flesh. And he
said, but I speak of a mystery. I'm not really talking about
marriage. I'm talking about our union with Jesus Christ. I'm
talking about our union with him. Therefore, all he has done for
us in the flesh is accounted of God as our own. Believer,
you know what your name is. Your name is his name. Your name is his name. Jeremiah
tells us this, doesn't he? In that day, he shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. That's his name. Doesn't that,
that fits it. The Lord our righteousness. Well, 10 chapters over. You read this, in that day, she
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, when I come to God,
I don't come in my own righteousness, but only dressed in the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ. Isn't that what Paul desired? He said, I desire not to be found
in my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Is that the righteousness you
want to be found in? When you come before God, whose offering
are you going to bring? Yours? No, I'm bringing his. The one he prepared? I'm bringing
that one. The robe he prepared? I'm bringing that one. Behold then Isaac's question
to Jacob look at this Isaac said unto his son. How is it that
thou has found it so quickly my son? Isn't that a good question
for you how in the world did you find righteousness so fast? How in the world you found a
sacrifice so quickly Jacob's answer is my answer look at that
Because the Lord God brought it to me And that's your, and
that's your confession. How is it that you are now made
righteous? How is it that you who are really
Jacob are now Esau? The Lord did it. Isn't it a miracle? The Lord did it. The Lord had brought it to me.
This is the experience of grace to every elect child and behold
what great things God has done to make us acceptable, to be
able to receive the blessing. You see, we did not seek God,
He sought us. We did not find God, He found
us. His Holy Spirit came in power and conviction of our sin, showed
us our need of Christ, and by the power and grace of God, He
created in us a new nature, even as God purposed from eternity,
that we should bear the righteous and holy image of the firstborn. You see, Jacob was pretending
to be Esau. I'm not pretending. Why? Because God has made in us the
image of His Son. He has made us. Isn't that His
purpose? Wasn't that His purpose, Romans chapter 8? It says, For
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them that are called according to His purpose, for
whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to what? the image of His Son, that He
might be the firstborn among many brethren. So what does He
do when He saves a man? He conforms him to the image
of Christ. Listen to me. I am not conforming
me to the image of Christ. That's what religion will tell
you. You've got to conform yourself to the image of Christ. Now listen. There are times that I may act
more like a Christian than others. That doesn't conform me or unconform
me. I should seek to always put forth
the very image that He has given me, I should, in my conduct,
but my conduct does not create the image. It was a work of God
in us that creates that holy image. Paul says that we are created
after God in true holiness. You see, it's God that purposed
that we should be in that image. And by the power of the Spirit,
He gives us that in the new birth, the very image of Christ, the
firstborn. Where then is boasting? What did Jacob have to bring
to be accepted? What did he bring? What was his
own? The only thing Jacob had was
sin. That was all he had. He was the deceiver. God purposed that he receive
the blessing. It was his mother that made all the stuff. His
mother put on the skins, his mother put on the thing, put
on the robe on it. He didn't do a thing. Isn't that say true
with us? What did we do? Nothing. What did we bring? Nothing. God
purposed we should be blessed, and Christ provided all that
we needed to be blessed, and it is the Spirit of God that
applied all that we needed to be blessed. It's the Spirit of
God that's done it. Therefore, the Father says to
us who would come to Him in Christ, verse 21, and Isaac said unto
Jacob, Come near, I pray thee. that I may feel thee my son,
whether thou be my son Esau or not. Don't you mind Jake, he's
a little trembled in his boots at this point. So far so good. Wait a second. Is my goat skin
on right? You gotta get that mustache and
it slips off, a fake mustache. I bet he's shaking in his boots
at this point. And he said, look, you come near, I'm gonna make
sure that you are my real son and not a fake. All faith must be tried and tested
to see if it's real. God cannot and will not bless
a false son, but will by searching and divine inspection see the
truth. For God only desires and is pleased
in Christ his son. That is the only one he's pleased
with, is his son. That's the only one Isaac wanted
to see was his son, was Esau. The only one God wants to see
is his son. The only one God would accept
is his son. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Notice he didn't say with whom,
but he says in whom. So then unless you have been
washed in the blood of Christ and robed in His righteousness, unless you are made by the Spirit
of God to be one with Him, you will never be accepted. But see
that all who believe in Christ, we believe because we are in
union with Christ. I like the way he said this in
Galatians. He says this, because you are sons of God, are you
in Christ? Because you are sons. See, you
were sons long before you knew you were sons. And the evidence
of your sonship is this, faith in Christ. Now, faith didn't
make you sons. Faith is evidence that you're
sons. We believe because we are sons,
because we are in union with Christ. Therefore, we who come
to God, we draw near, seek only to be robed in His righteousness
and made one with Christ in the new creation in which He imparts to us His
righteousness. He says, the righteousness of
God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, Romans 3, 22, I
believe. The righteousness of God, how
is it merited? By the faith of Jesus Christ.
Now, notice these two words, unto all and upon all. Why did he say that? Why didn't
he just say unto all? Why didn't He just say unto all
or upon all? Why use the two words? Because
it's necessary to understand this is both charged to us, imputed
to us, and imparted to us. This righteousness that He made.
Now listen, you can't charge somebody with righteousness unless
they're actually righteous. God's not pretending, is He?
He's not make-believe. Eric, I'm just going to charge
you with righteousness. I'm not really worried if you
are. OK, I'm just going to charge it to you. Well, that's not just
charge me with something I don't have. So what does he do? He charges us with it, and by
the grace and power of God, he does impart it to us. Where? In the new nature. In the new
nature. Therefore, when we approach unto
God, we are seen as we are in Christ. As we therefore then
let us draw near to God with a heart of full assurance because
Christ with His blood has redeemed our sin and by His grace and
power given us a new and holy nature. John says this, 1 John
4, 17, he says this, Herein is love made perfect. that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment. That's good. I need boldness
in that day of judgment when he comes back. But I also want you to know this,
you have boldness now. You have boldness now to approach
unto God. How do we have such boldness? seeing our sin, our troubles,
and our unbelief. We have all these things still.
How then may we have boldness? Because John says, as he is. How is he? How is Jesus? Well, he's glorified. He's righteous. He's accepted
with God. As he is, so are we. When? in this present world. As He is, so are we in this present
world. The very righteousness of Christ
is given to us in the inner man. That's how John could say, He
that hath the seed of God sinneth not. But notice there's something
different about about this to Isaac. Look at verse 22 now. And Jacob went near unto his
father, and he felt him, and said this, The voice is Jacob's,
but the hands are Esau's. And he discerned him not, because
his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's. So he blessed
him. Behold, in this we see the two
natures of every believer. The voice is still Jacob's. When you pray, do you sound like
Christ? No. Christ never said this, forgive
me of my sins. He never cried For forgiveness. Why? Because he had no sin. We
cry for pardon and peace with God. We cry because our faith
is weak. Our love is small. Our sins are
great. We sound like Jacob. Still. Still. You see, I have the blood
of Christ that cleanses me from all my sins. I have the righteousness
of Christ now given to me in the inner man, yet I still have
what? I still have that old man, Jacob, about my neck. We still have this old corpse,
this body of death, rotting about our neck. Yet even in spite of
Jacob's voice, in spite of our murmuring, in spite of our sins,
In spite of our deceptions and failings in the flesh, yet God
will bless us because the hands are Christ's. Now look at this. That's mine. That's mine. My arm. It's my flesh. But I know this. I am so in union
with Christ that all the works of His hands are mine. All His offering that He made
is mine. That's why I'm going to be blessed
because of His works. because he purposed me to have
the blessing, because he prepared the blessing, and because he
applied the blessing, guess what? I'm going to be blessed. I'm
going to be blessed. So then the question is this,
are you his very son? Look at that in verse 24, he
says, art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. Are you in union with Christ? Are you his real son? Because only those in union with
Christ are his real sons. Do you come always with the voice
of Jacob confessing your sin and need of Christ, and yet by
faith know this, I am in union with Christ. I am one with Christ. I know this, the covenant promises
are mine because God purposed them for me. I know that everything
that I needed Christ prepared and everything that Christ prepared
the Spirit has applied and therefore all the blessings of God that
are in Christ are ours. Listen to what Christ said. It
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You
know he's happy to give you the kingdom? When I hear that, I'm
always surprised. I'm always surprised, but why
should I be surprised? If I'm one with Christ, doesn't
he deserve the kingdom? And if he does, so do I. So do I. So in verse 27, verse 26, Isaac
said, Come near now, kiss me, my son. And he came near and
kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and he
blessed him and said, See, the smell of my son is the smell
of the field which the Lord hath blessed. You know, every time
that I approach unto God and he kisses me He smells me. You know what he smells? He smells
Christ. He smells Christ. Isn't it a miracle? I tell you, it goes against every
sense of my natural being that that's true. When I look in the
mirror, I don't see any of that. If you watch me a minute, you
won't see any of it either. I know this is true by believing
in Christ, by trusting Him, I know it is true. Therefore the scripture, I love
this scripture, and I'll close with this, Jeremiah 50. So when
He comes and He smells us, what does He smell? Does He smell
sin? That's what I smell. That's not what he smelled. Look
at this, Isaiah 50 and verse 20. In those days and at that
time saith the Lord. Who's doing the inspecting? The
Lord. What does the Lord say? The iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. The
sins of Judah and they shall not be found. Why? For I will pardon them whom I
have reserved. Everyone I purpose to give this
blessing to, everyone that I prepared this blessing for, I'm going
to make them acceptable. I'm going to wash their sins
in the blood of my son and I'm going to clothe them in his righteousness
and clothe them in his very skin so that I can't tell the difference
between them and him. Isn't that what you want? You
want any part of your smell to go up to the nostrils of God?
Anything you've done you want to make yourself accept? Not
me. And so in this deception, I say
they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. I'm thankful
for this picture. I'm thankful that God has purposed
my acceptance, provided my acceptance, and then made me acceptable.
And then he gives that blessing, and I don't have time to go over
the blessing. It's a beautiful blessing, a promise of the Holy
Spirit, a promise of forgiveness of sin, a promise of victory,
conquest, and heaven itself. All those promises are ours because
of our union with him. I pray God will bless this to
you. Stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, I thank you for your
great blessings that you've purposed all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. I'm so thankful you put us in
Christ. There's been no hope for us. We would all have been
as Sodom and Lycan to Gomorrah had you not made choice and loved
us according to your mercies. Thank you for the provisions
you have made in Christ by his offering and by his righteousness.
Thank you that you've taken these things and now applied them to
us that we may be accepted. And now the blessings of Christ
are given to us. Fill our hearts with song and
praise. We ask these things in Jesus
name. Amen.