All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. Continuing to look at this passage
of Scripture. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 20 will be my text. The Scripture says, By faith
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the things to come. By faith, Jacob, when he was
dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning
upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and
gave commandment concerning his bones." I entitled this message
this morning, The Blessing by Faith. The blessing by faith. Now, as we've studied in this
passage of scripture, we have seen last time that all true
faith endures. All true faith endures. In verse
13, it says, these all died in faith. The mark of true faith
is simply this, it continues. If God has given you life, if
God has given you true faith, that faith will continue until
you depart this mortal frame. You will believe. And then we
saw this, that all true faith must be tried. You see that in
verse 17, by faith Abraham, when he was tried. Faith is tried. And so then as faith endures
in this life, it must be tried. The psalmist said, many are the
afflictions of the righteous. But our hope is this, the Lord
delivereth them out of them all. How does He deliver us? Let me
ask you this, when Lazarus was sitting at the gate of the rich
man, how was he delivered? How was he delivered? He was
constantly being delivered by faith. He was constantly being
forgiven his sin, constantly being pardoned. And how did you
know this? He believed God until the end. And ultimately, he was delivered
from his leprosy, from his sores, and from all of his pain when
he died. So the Lord does deliver His
people from their sins. And so, as we're tried, true
faith must cast out all objections that it cannot solve. True faith
must cast out all objections it cannot solve, all circumstances
and providences that seem to oppose the Word of God. Just
like Abraham, when he offered his son, cast out all objections. So true faith, when it's tried,
must cast out all human logic, human reasoning, and stick solely
to the word and promises of God. That's what true faith does when
it's tried. And so, believer, are you tried? Does all God's promises and commands
seem contrary to one another? Let us then, by faith, endure
the trial, looking only to the Word of God, only to the promises
of God. And you may cling to them. You
may hold fast to the promises of God, no matter the circumstance. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. The Scripture says that all the
promises of God are yes, You want a positive message.
There it is. That's a positive. Yes. And what? Amen. It's done. Yes. You receive it. And yes, it's done. It's done. Now, today, I want
us to look at these next three. These things, the next three
verses here. These next three instances of
faith, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning the things to come. By faith, Jacob, when
he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped,
leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and
gave commandment concerning his bones. Now, what I want you to
notice first of all is that these men were not seen in the prime
of their life, they're not seen during the middle of their sojourn,
they're at the end. All three instances. These men,
by faith, on their dying bed. These saints, having endured
all the trials of faith, have come to the end of their course,
and what are these saints doing? Are they reminiscing about the
past? Are they regretting all their
failings and shortcomings? No. Rather, they, by bestowing
the blessings on their children, were by faith looking to the
future. Doesn't that seem contradictory
to all human logic? They're dying. What do you mean
they're looking to the future? They're dying. They have no future.
I beg to differ. They have a great future, a great
future. They're looking forward to something
on their dying bed. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning what? Things to come. They were looking
for the future. Jacob, when he was dying, blessed
both the sons of Joseph. worshiping God on His staff,
and by faith, Joseph, he sees, looking to the future, when Israel
is going to depart, and he said, look, take my bones with you.
Take my bones with you. I don't want to be here. I don't
even want my bones here. I want to go with you. So they
were looking, by faith, to God's deliverance. These dying saints
were looking toward the coming of Christ. And even though their
bodies were about to die, their hope rested in the coming of
Jesus, the seed who was to come and deliver Israel from sin and
the power of the devil. How true is it of all the saints
of God that the death of the body is not the end? True faith embraces this. Death
of the body is not the end, but simply the beginning of all the
blessings of God being experienced. You right now have all the blessings
of God. You have not yet experienced
all the blessings of God. Through death, we experience
these things. We are looking forward to these
things. Jesus said, whosoever liveth,
Are you born again of the Spirit of God? Then you liveth. You
live. And do you believe? Everyone
who lives, what do they do? They believe. He that liveth
continually and believeth continually shall never die. Go ahead, let us sink in. Now,
either that is the most laughable statement in all the world, or
it's the most astounding statement. To us who believe, it is astounding.
It is amazing. Believest thou this? When you
die, you don't die. You believe that? Every believer
should hold fast to that. When you die, you don't die.
Paul said to depart and be with Christ is far better. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. It is simply Moving, isn't it? You're just moving to a better
place, a better home, a better body. And so it is that all true
faith bestows true faith. Looks forward to the blessing
of God. We look forward to seeing Christ
face to face. Now, in the time I have left,
I only want to look at this first illustration here. Now, we could
go to all three. I don't have the time. You're
going to stop just a minute when I go through this one. I don't
know if I have time for this one, but we're going to look
at it. The first one is, By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
concerning the things to come. The first point I have is the
blessing by faith. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning the things to come now. We know this history
that before. Before these children were born,
Jacob and Esau, God made a decree. The elder shall serve the younger. That the younger being Jacob
should be blessed above his elder brother Esau, go to go to Genesis
25. And you can hold your place here
in Genesis 25. We'll be flipping somewhere between 25 and 27.
Look at verse 22. The Scripture says, And the children
struggled together within her. And she said, If it be so, why am I thus? If I have the
promised seed in my womb, why do I struggle so much? Why is there so much pain? Why
is there so much hurt? Is this not a question believers
ask? If I am a child of life, if I have life within my soul,
if I have Christ as all my hope, why then do I struggle if I am
chosen, redeemed, called? God gives the answer. She sought
the Lord for the answer. And he said to her, two nations
are in that womb. You want to know why you struggle?
There are two nations in your womb, in your heart. There are two natures warring
against one another. Two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels,
and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder
shall serve the younger. The elder shall serve the younger.
So we have the promise of God. We have the prophecy given. But
notice yet Isaac's response to this promise in verse 28. Look
at this. In spite of this promise, look
what Isaac did. Isaac loved Esau. Now why did he do it? Because
he didn't eat of the venison. But Rebekah loved Jacob. Now,
Esau loved... Jacob loved Esau above Joseph. So when his life was soon at
an end, Isaac, with all of his heart, purpose, to defy God and
bless Esau. Look at chapter 27. And it came
to pass, when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that
he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto
him, My son. He said, Here am I. Behold, here am I. And he
said, Behold, now I am old. I know the day of my death. I
know not the day of my death. Now therefore, take, I pray thee,
thy weapons, and thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out in the
field, and take some venison. and make me 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." So his heart was set
to bless Esau. To bless Jacob over Esau, I want
you to understand Isaac's position on this, because it was against
nature and against custom to bless the younger son. It was
nature and custom to bless the eldest son. The firstborn was always to receive
the blessing. And also, Jacob was not his favorite
because Jacob was a sissy. Jacob was a weak man. He was
a weak young boy. He was a mama's boy. He was in
there crocheting with his mama. And here you got this manly man
Esau. He was he was a hunter. He was
a man skilled. Surely this is the one God would
bless in all appearances. I'm sure everybody thought that.
And so Jacob loved Esau. Isaac's faith was sure now he
had faith that he was sure that his seed to whomsoever he gave
this blessing, that God would be faithful in his promise. He
really believed that if he blessed Esau, that God would be faithful
in His promise, that whoever he blessed would be blessed. And also regarding the faith
of Rebekah and Jacob, now these two, they knew the Word of God.
They too believed in the promise and knew that whoever, whoever
Isaac blessed, now they really held to this, whoever Isaac blessed,
that he would be the one by which Christ should come. Now, the problem is not what
they believe. The problem is the means by which
they attained it. The means by which they obtained
and accomplished this was sinful. What Rebecca and Jacob did to
fulfill what God had promised was sinful, was wicked. Jacob, by scheming and cruelty,
bought the birthright from his brother. You remember, his brother
was starving. His brother came to him. His
brother was ignorant. His brother didn't understand
that birthright, the value of that birthright. Jacob did. And yet he would not tell his
brother the value of the birthright. Instead, he would steal it for
a bowl of soup. It's cruel, isn't it? He did
it out of cruelty. He did it out of lust for himself. And Rebekah commanded Jacob to
lie to Isaac, we're going to see that, by pretending to be
Esau and tricked him into the blessing. Now though they were
given success, though he was blessed, yet I want you to know
this, their sin did not go unchastened. You realize that after he received
the blessing, his brother sought to kill him and he had to leave
his home. into the wilderness. He never
saw his mother whom he loved again. Their sin was not excused. And
I want you to learn that this is a good lesson for us. Let
us not follow this example to try to fulfill God's promises
by scheming. It's a good practical lesson,
isn't it? Consider this lesson. Jesus said,
Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now, we who know this, who preach the gospel, we know Christ is
the Savior. We know God chose a people. We
know Christ redeemed them. We know that the Spirit of God
shall come to every one of them and He shall save them by one
means. What is the means? Preaching. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 21,
we know that by the foolishness of preaching, God has chosen
to save them that believe. So we know the means. We know
God has chosen the preaching of the gospel. We know that all
things in time and providence are working together, and everyone
who is chosen will hear the gospel. We know that. You not know that? You believe that? We all do.
We believe that. Matter of fact, that's our experience,
isn't it? It is. God brought us like that Ethiopian. Like that, yeah, the Ethiopian. He brought him to Philip. I mean,
out there in the middle of the desert. Brought Philip to him.
That man just left Jerusalem. He had a whole bunch of priests,
had a whole bunch of stuff there. God said, no, he's going to meet
him in the middle of the desert. That's where he found him. We
know that. Yet when times are lean, when
there are few to believe, at times believers in zeal and sincerity,
Even believing the promises of God, we use earthly means to
accomplish God's purpose. We use earthly wisdom and deception
to trick men into hearing the gospel. This is not good. This is not right. How do we do this? Oftentimes
we leave off the offensive parts of the gospel. Trying to get
men to come in. We just leave off those offensive
rough edges. Don't do it. Don't do it. We
water them down. We make them acceptable to men.
We use fleshly entertainment or gimmicks or plays or music.
We're tempted to use these things to draw men in. Don't do it. Sure, invite them to come. Tell
them the truth. And you know who brings them
in? God does. Yet we cannot help but see that
even in our failings and foolishness, God in sovereignty overrules
all things for His purpose. He overrules, just like He overruled
their sin to accomplish His purpose. Isaac believed the promises,
yet he was willfully desired to give it to the wrong person.
Jacob and Rebecca were faithful to believe the word of God that
the elder shall serve the younger, but they did it in deceit and
sin to accomplish this purpose. To which God overruled both Isaac's
and their plan to accomplish his purpose. Now, in this time
remaining, I want us to see the real purpose of this story. Why
is this story given? Why is this history given to
us? It's given to us specifically this, it is a picture and a shadow
of how God saves His people. This whole story is a picture
of how God saves His church. This is nothing less than a gospel
message that is to be believed by the
saints of God. First of all, this history sets
forth the election of God's grace. The election of God's grace.
The promise of God is that Christ should come, that he was the
seed of the woman. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. And you remember he gave that
picture. He killed that animal and covered their nakedness.
That's the picture of what Christ's death was to accomplish. His
blood was to cleanse us of our sin and clothe us in his own
righteousness. But to whom? Was Christ sent
to save? Who did Christ come to save? Whom did God purpose that Christ's
death should accomplish salvation? This is clearly seen by this
blessing of Jacob and Esau. Look back at chapter 25 and verse
23 again. You just saw this. The elder
shall serve the younger. This is the promise of God. this
promise of God. God, before these two sons were
born, chose Jacob to receive the blessing and passed over
Esau. He chose Jacob to be the head
of his mother's sons and that all his family should bow to
him. And this was fulfilled historically,
wasn't it? Simply this. All that race is
called by Jacob's name. Israel. Isn't that right? We
still say Israel today. Why? Because that is the promise
of God, that by Jacob that nation should come. But Jacob is meant
of God to be a greater picture than just a physical nation.
Jacob is to picture all the spiritual descendants, all the church of
God. Paul all those that Paul called
the remnant according to the election of grace. And so just
as God chose Jacob and passed by Esau, even so, God did choose
a people that he should that should receive all the blessings
of God. God chose a people that he should
save by the coming and dying of his son. Now, this that I
just told you is not a It's not a myth. It's not something that
we make up. I was flipping through the YouTube
the other day and saw this question, for whom did Christ die? Automatically,
I'm excited. I'm hopeful. And so I click on
it, and there's an educated fellow there, you know, surrounded by
all of his books and learning, and he looks really academic,
and he has... Somebody posed this question.
For whom did Christ die? And if Christ died for all men
without exception, then why aren't all men saved? He said, well,
that's a good question. But I think... Okay, there he
went wrong. Right there. The first words
out of his mouth is, I think. I feel. I believe. And he went on for
about 10 minutes, Now, how many scriptures do you suppose he
quoted? Give me a guess. Zero. Zero. He had no scripture whatsoever. His thoughts are nothing more
than a fable, a myth, something he himself thought of and imagined. This is not something the doctrine
of election, not something we imagine. It is something scriptural.
Go to Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine is very scriptural. Matter of fact, that Paul deals
with this text we are dealing with right now. He says in Romans
nine and verse six. He said in verse chapter nine,
well, you know, all the Jews, they were given the promises
of God, yet they crucified Christ. So he asked this question, is
the word of God of none effect? He said, no. That's not true. Now, why is the Word of God of
none effect? If Christ came to save Israel and not all Israel
is saved, then what does that mean, Paul? He says, well, not all those
that are of Jacob are of the true Israel of God. Neither because of the seed of
Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, and he explains himself, They which are children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. I don't care
if you were born of Jacob's physical line, that does not make you
a child of God. But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. This is the word of promise at
this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only
this, but Rebecca, when she conceived by one, even our father Isaac,
for the children not yet being born, neither having done any
good or evil. that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works. But of him that calleth, he said
to her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now what in the
world are you going to say to that, Mr. Educated Man? Will you tell me there's unrighteousness
with God to choose one and passed by another before they were born?
Before they'd done any good or evil? Is God unrighteous? Shut your mouth. God forbid. God already told you, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, what is salvation? It is not of him that willeth,
not of him that runneth, but God that showeth Mercy. Mercy. The promise of God given
to Rebecca was that God loved Jacob. God chose Jacob. Why? He chose him as a type to show
that the election of grace standeth sure. That by the blessing of God was
only for the elect. and that all time and all providence
will show this to be true. Everything that right now is
moving and working is to manifest this fact that everyone God chose,
everyone Christ redeemed shall be blessed according to the election
of grace. that His choice was not based
upon works, neither anything done before or after their birth,
but according to His own free grace, His own free-loving purpose
to give the spiritual blessing in Christ before the world began. Anyone who doesn't believe what
I just said, you really just have to cut out Romans 9, you
have to cut out Ephesians 1, you have to cut out 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13. You have to cut out a whole bunch.
You have to cut out Genesis 25? Look at Ephesians 1 again with
me. Blessed be the God and Father. You know what the freewill works
religion says? Cursed be the God and Father
of Jesus Christ, according as He had chosen some and not all
men. No, we say blessed. Those who
are chosen say what? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's blessed us, blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. According
to what? According to my works? According
to my merit? No. According as he has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And what is his
plan in choosing us? That. Here's his plan of the
chosen, that they should be holy and without blame before Him. Imagine that day, everybody,
that He's chosen, standing before Him. Will they be ashamed? No. They'll be holy. They'll
be without blame before Him. Why? He chose them to be holy
without blame. Why did He do that? In love. He loved them. In love, having predestined this
on the adoption of children. Now, how would he do that by
Jesus Christ? I'm just following the text,
friends, this is not complicated by Jesus Christ. That's how he's
going to do it. By Jesus Christ, going to do
to himself, he's going to reconcile to himself. Now, what's the whole
grounds for this? according to the good pleasure
of His will. What's going to be the end result?
To the praise of the glory of His grace. Wherein He hath made
us accepted. Where are you accepted? In the beloved. In the beloved. And so then no scheme of man,
no matter how, no matter the situation or the circumstances
of time. This is sure. This is sure. As sure as Jacob was given the
blessing. Was there anything that was going
to stop this? And they were all scheming and
they were all planning. Was there anything going to stop
this? No. God had already determined to
bless Jacob. Even so it is with the elect. Nothing were forth
the plans of God to bless the elect. Nothing. The elect shall
be saved. They shall receive all the blessings
God gave them in Christ from eternity. Now, like Isaac, some
of us are mistaken. We're often mistaken as to who
the elect are. Isaac was. He thought it was Esau. How often
are we mistaken? Now, surely that guy That guy's
in the left. And you see, he's gone. We were
wrong. We've been wrong. We're often mistaken. Though
we, like Jacob and Rebecca, fail and sin by trying to obtain these
promises by earthly means, yet God will use all the people,
all events, and all circumstances to save His chosen people. And nothing shall be able to
stop Him from fulfilling His promise. Nothing. He said in Isaiah 46, he says,
I'm the Lord, besides me there's none else. He said, I'm God. He said, all that I purpose from
the beginning. Let me read that, I don't want
to mess up that text. Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46, verse 10. He said, declaring the end from
the beginning, from ancient times the things that were not yet
done, saying, my counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. So we see the election of God
in this history. The second thing we see is the
blessing of salvation by Jesus Christ. Go back over in Genesis
chapter 27. I see this, that Isaac, according
to his own lust, desired the stew of Esau before the blessing. He said, you go out there, Verse
3, He said, Now take therefore, I pray thee, the weapons and
quiver, and go out in the bow, and you get down in the field,
and you get some deer. You give me some deer meat. That savory
meat that I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, that my
soul may bless thee before I die. Now see this overruling providence
of God to show something, a gospel truth here. That before the blessing
is given, blood must be shed. Before the blessing is given,
an offering must be made. An offering is necessary because
of the sin of Adam. All of his race is born into
sin. The psalmist says we come forth
from the womb speaking lies. In sin, he said, my mother did
conceive me. And Paul is very clear in Romans
3, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand
it, there's none that seek it after God, they're all together
become unprofitable, there's none that do it good, no, not
one. This is why an offering must
be made. So then, what does God require
of sinners? What does justice demand to be
satisfied for the debt of sin? Simply this, eternal death. For every sin, justice demands
death. The soul that sinneth, shall
surely die. That's offensive to man. I don't want to hear that. I
don't care what men want to hear. That's the truth. Therefore, an offering must be
made. Justice must be satisfied. But we have offended a holy God.
But I want you to notice this. Esau's offering was not sufficient.
Esau's a picture of reprobates. Esau, he sought to please Isaac
by his own skill. He was a skilled hunter. Isaac,
go out there and get me some of that meat that only you can
get. Yes, daddy. I'm going to go out
there and get that because I'm a skilled man, skilled hunter. He sought to please Isaac by
his own skill, by the works of his own hands. So it is with
men who would strive to offer the works of their own hands,
the skill of their religion. They seek to offer that to God. But just like Esau, they will
not be blessed. They will not be blessed. But you see, Jacob, being a picture
of all true believers, of the elect, He brings an offering. He also brings an offering, but
his offering is not by his own hand. It is by the hand of another. Look at Genesis 27, 27. Rebecca spake to her son, said,
Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau, thy brother, saying,
Bring me venison, make me savory meat, that I may eat and bless
thee before the Lord before my death. Therefore, my son, obey
my voice, according to that which I command thee. Go now to the
flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats. Listen, and I will make them
a savory meat for thy father, 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. Oh, here we have the doctrine
of substitution. A doctrine of substitution. This
doctrine of substitution is here presented that by the offering
and work of another, Jacob was to place, was to please his father
and receive the blessing. See, these two goats, they picture
the Lord Jesus Christ. They picture the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, he was taken from among
the flock, wasn't he? He was taken from among the sons
of men. In Romans chapter 8 and verse
3, listen carefully. For what the law could not do.
The law says, go out and earn God's favor by your skill, by
your obedience. Now what the law could not do
in that it was weak, Where was it weak? Is the law not good? Is the law
not strong? How's the law weak? It's weak
because of you and me. Through the flesh. And because
of that, God's sending His own Son in the likeness of flesh. And for sin, condemned sin. In the flesh. For this purpose. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us. Behold the greatness of Christ's
condescension, that in love for the elect He took the nature,
not the nature of angels, but the nature of man, excluding
sin. And being the offering for sin
in His flesh, God made Christ to be sin for us. who himself
knew no sin. The great suffering is that contradiction. That he was made sin, who knew
no sin. For the purpose that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him, he is the goat here
slain. He bare our sins in His own body
on the tree. And a divine act of God, He slew
His Son, and justice without mercy fell on Christ. Later in verse 13 of our text,
Rebekah said this, Upon me be thy curse. Is that not what Christ
said? Upon me be thy curse. For cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ
this morning in this picture. He is the offering we bring to
God. He is the offering. Sinner, do
you desire the blessings of God and eternal life, righteousness,
and peace with God? Then we must not bring the offering
of Esau. one of our own skill in religious
exercise, we must humbly bring only the work of Christ before
God, so that we may be blessed of God. And the second thing
we see is the covering and our union with Christ. Not only was
Jacob to bring an offering, but in order to receive the blessing,
listen, Isaac was so adamant about this, he would not bless
Jacob. If Jacob showed up in his own
skin, he wouldn't have blessed him. In order to receive the blessing,
Jacob must be Esau. Jacob must himself become the
beloved son. Now, who did Isaac love? He loved
Esau. He loved Esau. In order for Jacob
to receive the blessing, he must become the beloved son. How is
it possible? See that God is only and always
loved Christ. Is that not true? Listen to this. Thou art my beloved son, in whom
I'm well pleased. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. You see, the Beloved Son is Christ. God loves always and only loves
His Son. But seeing we, like Jacob, are
sinners, seeing we cannot by any means become the Son of God,
who is righteous and holy and beloved, behold then the cause of the
two goats. The first was made an offering,
but the second was made a covering. Look at chapter 27, verse 11. He said, Behold, Esau, my brother... Jacob makes an objection here
to his mother. He said, Behold, Esau, my brother's
a hairy man, and I'm a smooth man. My father perventure will
feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall
bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. And his mother said,
Upon me be thy curse. It's a picture of substitution.
Obey only my voice and go and fetch them. And he went out and
fetched the goats 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 in her house,
and put it him upon Jacob, her elder son. And listen, she put
the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and the
smooth of his neck. and gave him the savory meat
and the bread which she had prepared into the hands of her son Jacob.
Behold, sinner, you have no righteousness of your own, no way you can make
yourself acceptable to God. Therefore, you must be in union
with Christ. That's what this is teaching.
You must be in union with Christ. So as Jacob put on the garment
and the goatskins, even so does all who come to God by Christ.
We don the robe of his righteousness. And by union of our new nature,
we become one with the son of God. We become one in nature
with him, we are made new creatures. The scripture tells us that that
new nature is created of God in true holiness. Where do you
think that comes from? God didn't make that out of thin
air. It is the very nature of Christ given to us. And once we receive the blessing,
we must we are made new creatures, we must Now, let me let me back
up just a second. The elect were chosen. We were
ordained to eternal life and holiness. And Christ died for
our sins 2000 years ago. But in order to receive the blessing,
we must experimentally be made in union with Christ. We must. And so as Jacob was brought near
to Isaac. And I got the robe of Esau and
he's got the hair on his hands and the hair on his neck, he
comes in to his father. He brought near to his father.
And his father, he felt his flesh. He had to make sure that it was
his beloved son. And so he felt his hands, he
felt his neck, he drew him near, smelt his garments. And then
what did he do? He blessed him. He blessed him. Even so, believer, let us rejoice
For we who are born again of the Holy Spirit are given the
very nature and righteousness of Christ. So then, as God asks
us of an offering, what offering do we present? The offering of
Christ. And as God requires us to be
perfectly righteous in Christ's flesh and obedience, He feels
and smells to be our own. our own. You know what it says
in Jeremiah 15 verse 20? In those days and at that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. When Isaac went in there, when
Jacob went in there, Isaac was feeling for Esau, wasn't he?
He was searching. He was making sure that the blessing
belonged to that, but he couldn't see. He's making sure that that
person was the one. It shall be sought for, and what?
There shall be none. When God seeks for your iniquity,
are you always going to find none? There shall be none. The sins
of Judah, and they shall not be found. For I pardoned them
that I received. Now, notice in your text in verse
22. Look at this. 27 and verse 22. He comes in. He's dressed in Esau's robe.
He's dressed with the skin on him. But something is just not
right here. Look at this. He said, And Jacob
went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, Wait,
the voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's. The voice is
Jacob's, but the hands of Esau's. See in this. the dual nature,
the dual nature that we have been given. We who are in union
with Christ, his offering, his righteousness are our own. But we're still Jacob. We still have sin. Is that not what we confess daily,
that I am Jacob? I am Jacob. We still have a constant
warfare with this flesh. And yet we come before our father
by Jesus Christ. And what do we what do we receive? Here, what the father says to
us in verse 26. He says this, and Isaac and his
father, Isaac, said unto him, Come near now and kiss me, my son. You see what Christ has done
for us? So much are we in union with Christ that the Father says
to you, come near and kiss me, my son. And when we do, look what happens.
And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his
raiment and blessed him and said, See, the smell is my son is as
the smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed. When God draws you near, who
does he smell? You? He smells Christ. He said, this
is my son. This is my son. And what does
he do with all those that draw near? He blesses them. He blesses them. I don't have
time to go over the blessing, but I'll just go over just a
little bit with you. Therefore, verse 28, God give
thee the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and the
plenty of cord and wine. These are spiritual blessings.
The dew of heaven is what? The Holy Spirit. Where does dew come from? Do
you see it? I mean, we see the rain. But
you just wake up one morning and in the morning, there's the
dew. Same as the Holy Spirit. It comes
without observation. He's there. One day He wasn't,
and then He's there. He gives us the dew of heaven
to water us, to refresh our spirits through the preaching of this
gospel. When we are tried, when we are dry, when we are thirsty,
it is the dew of heaven that is the blessing. He gives us
the Holy Spirit to comfort us. The fatness of the earth and
plenty of the corn and wine See, believer, so long we, like in
this body, are surrounded by famine of unrighteousness, but
now by the blood and righteousness, by the body and the blood of
Christ, we are constantly fed, the corn and the wine, bread
and wine, His body and His blood. What a blessing, constantly a
provision of of constant forgiveness and pardon and mercy. This is
the blessing of the elect. Let the people serve Thee, and
the nations bow down to Thee. Be Lord over Thy brethren, and
let Thy mother's sons bow down to Thee. Cursed be everyone that
cursed at Thee, and blessed be everyone that blessed at Thee.
Don't you know this, that if you are the elect of God, All
men are serving you. Is God not working all things
together for your good? So what are all men doing? Serving
you. It don't appear that way, but
who cares how it appears? This is the blessing. One day
it'll be manifest. One day it'll be manifest. But
know that all the circumstances that are happening to you are
for your good. for your blessing, for your blessing. And notice
this, everyone that curse you shall be cursed. You know, false
religion curses you. It's all right. You don't need
to curse back. God already cursed them. And
those that bless you shall be blessed. This is the blessing
of the elect. And I want you to know this,
that this blessing is without repentance. Later on in this
chapter, Esau comes in. Esau says, Father, I'm here.
Here's my works. Bless me. He said, Can't do it.
The blessing has already gone to your brother. And I cannot
take it back. You get this? The immutable counsel
of God. I already chose you. I already
redeemed you. I already called you. And nothing
and no one can take it back. I've already blessed you." When
did He bless you? When did He bless you? "...in
heavenly places in Christ, according as He had chosen you in Christ
before the world began." You were already blessed. He's not
going to take it back. You see the blessing here? We are Jacob. And yet God by grace chose us.
Christ has laid down His life for our sins. Christ, by His
obedience and blood, covers us with His righteousness. We are
in union with Him. We are accepted of the Father.
We are blessed of the Father and nothing and no one can take
it back. You see why the history is there?
It's a gospel message. And by faith, what are we looking
forward to? We're looking forward to receiving
all the blessings, aren't we? I pray that God bless this to
you. Keep this near. Read it. Read it for yourselves
over and over again. See who you are. I'm Jacob. Are
you? I pray that you would be. I pray
God bless you with this. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Gracious Father, bless the message
according to your will, according to your power and your grace.
Honor Your Son. Lift Him up in our hearts and
minds. Forgive us our sins. We pray this in Christ's name,
Amen.