Go back to Genesis 27. With Genesis 27, scriptures, Ephesians 5 said
that Christ gave himself to sacrifice sweet smelling savor to God for
us, for sinners. And that really struck me and
made me think of this story. The life, the person, the work
of Jesus Christ is sweet-smelling to God. He's altogether lovely. That's what God said of His Son.
And He's altogether lovely to His Bride. Sweet-smelling savor. When you think of savor, this
is a scriptural term. We don't use it much. It's a
sweet-smelling savor. It involves smell and taste,
doesn't it? Smell of something. If you're
living, if you're alive, and you're hungry, when you get a
whiff of something, it makes you want to eat it, doesn't it?
It becomes a sweet-smelling, and then you eat it, and it's
a savory meat, such as you love. And that's the gospel. That's
Christ to God's people. When you're dead, you don't have
these things. You have no hunger. You have
no life. You have no sense of need for Christ. The gospel is
nothing to you. Ironically, when the Lord sent
that plague three, four years ago, sent a plague, you know
what one of the first signs that you had it was? And man has a plague called sin. And there's nothing about God's
Word. There's nothing about Christ that's sweet smelling or savory
to him at all. He has no life. He has no hunger,
no thirst. And I could preach the best message
there ever was about Christ. It'd mean nothing to him. That
was me. But God, when you're born again, He gives you these
five senses. sight, hearing, touch, feeling,
smell, taste. The gospel becomes a sweet smelling
savor of what? Of Christ. And I mentioned Genesis 27. We read it. Saw some of you just
smiling. I looked up as I was reading.
Some of you just understood what you were reading. That's the
smell, all right? Now let's taste this. May the
Lord give us the savory meat. The Lord bless us. Four people
in this story, they represent God the Father, that's Isaac. God the Son, that's Esau. That's right, that's what I said.
Stay with me then. You know that everything bears
witness to Christ, don't you? I'm not straining this at all.
There's no reason for this story to be in the Bible except Christ
crucified. There's no earthly logical reason
why this happened except to show us Jesus Christ and Him crucified
and how we're accepted by God. Right? I don't think Jacob understood
what happened until later when the Lord wrestled him to the
ground and then said, do you remember? Back in chapter 26. So Isaac represents God the Father. Esau is the firstborn. He represents God the Son. Rebecca
represents God the Holy Spirit that taught the younger son about
the elder. And Jacob is you and me and every
sinner. Look at verses one through five.
It says Isaac was old. His eyes were dim. He said, my
son, here am I. Verse two, behold, I'm old. Verse
three. Take thy weapons, thy quiver,
thy bow, go out to the field, and take me some venison. Make
me savory meat such as I love, and bring it to me that I may
eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die." And Rebecca was
there, and she heard this when the father spoke to the eldest
son about this. Before the world began, God made
a purpose to save a people. Are you with me? Before the world,
you've got to pay attention or you'll be lost. That's a fact. You've got to hear and your soul
will live. You'll be blessed. Eat this savory
meat. God made a purpose before the
world began to save sinners. This was long before Jacob and
Esau, you and I were born. Before they'd done any good or
any evil, the purpose of God according to the lecture might
stand. God said this, God said that, I'm going to save soon.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit made
this covenant, this purpose. And God said to the Son, listen
to it, like He said to Esau, the father, take your weapons
and go and get this meat for me that I love. Listen to this. In Isaiah 59, this happened before
the world began. He put on righteousness as a
breastplate. The helmet of salvation on his
head. He put on the garments of vengeance and clothed clothing
and was clad with zeal as a cloak. He saw there was no man, so he
came to do this work of salvation. Christ is the weapon, isn't he? He's the sword of God's spirit. Rebecca was there. She heard
this, the Holy Spirit of God. was in this covenant also. God
the Father said to the Son, you go to earth and you do this work
for my people. You save them. You defeat their
foe. You're the weapon. You're going
to destroy him by the sword of your mouth. You're going to save
my people that by your death on Calvary's tree, crush the
serpent's head, and bring in this everlasting righteousness.
And my people will be blessed by you. The Holy Spirit was there
and God the Father said to the Holy Spirit, you're going to
take the things of Christ. You're going to take this Gospel
of Christ and show them and reveal them and tell them to every one
of my sinful sons and daughters. These sons of Jacob. You're going to tell them all
what Christ did and how they're blessed and accepted in the 11th. That's the story. Have you ever
heard anything like this in your life? No, you didn't before you
came. That's the story. That's the
story in a nutshell. All right, now look at verse
6. Here it is. So Rebecca spake unto Jacob her
son, and 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. Rebecca heard this and spoke
to Jacob. She spoke to Jacob. Jacob had
to hear this. Faith cometh by hearing. What
must we hear to be saved? The Gospel of Christ. We must
hear Christ and Him crucified. We must hear what Christ has
done to make us accepted by the Father. We must hear that. We
say that a lot, don't we? We try every time we stand up
to say something about Christ crucified. Why? That's the heart
and soul essence of the gospel. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men to me. People can't come to God but
one way. We keep telling that over and
over again, over and over again. So we'll not be blessed except
through Christ. Faith cometh by hearing, and
that hearing is the gospel of Christ. How shall they hear without
a preacher? This mother told her son that
the Holy Spirit through preaching tells all of God's sons the story
of the gospel of Christ the crucified. They hear it. So verse 8. She said, now, therefore, my
son, obey my voice according to that which I commanded thee.
What is the obedience that God requires of his people? What
is the obedience that God accepts from his people? What is it that
God says that if you do this, I'll accept you? Faith. The obedience
of the faith. In other words, what we believe
is not anything we've done, but what Christ did. Jacob heard her and he thought
I'm gonna be found out He'd say right through me no
son Well, let's go on down here And she said go to the flock
now and fetch me two kids of the goats I And did you notice
all through here, she said, I will make them savory men. Not, Jacob,
here, you take this and fix it up however you want to and hope
the Father accepts it. No. It's got to be prepared perfectly,
doesn't it, John? It's got to be exactly like the
Father requires. Jacob didn't have a hand. He
didn't touch this sacrifice. He didn't help his mother cook
it up. She did it. Sister Helen, no man could have
possibly written this book. It's not possible. It's too complex. It's too amazing. It's too wonderful. It's too wide. It speaks too
much of Christ. It's just him. You go fetch these two kids of
God. Why two goats? Why two goats? Because over in
Leviticus 19, I believe it is, 16. Leviticus 16 is the story of
the sacrifice of two goats. God said, you take two goats.
And he talks about putting raiment on the high priest and his sons. But he said, take two goats.
One goat's got to die, and the other goat's a scapegoat. One's
got to live. One's got to die, shed its blood,
as a sacrifice for sin. The other goat lives, and a fit
man's going to take him far away so that he'll never come back
and separate that goat as far as the east is from the west.
What's that? What are these two goats? There's
one that's crying. Where did Rebekah come up with
two goats? Scripture. God said it right
there. Two goats. And I will make them
savory meat, such as thy father let. You know the Lord is well
pleased with Christ's righteousness. And we cannot come to God without
faith in Christ. It's impossible to please God. And so she said, you go get these
goats, and you bring them to me, and I'll prepare them. And
I'll bring them to the father that he may eat. Verse 10, and
he'll bless thee before his death. And here's what Jacob said to
Rebekah's mother, verse 11. Esau, my brother, is a hairy
man. He's a man. I'm a mama's boy. I'm no man
at all. Smooth man, dwelling tents. Esau's
out in the field providing things for the family. Not Jacob. He's just nothing but a supplanter.
He's a con artist. He's no good. Read on. My father
will feel me. He'll touch me. He'll lay hold
of me. He'll see right through me. I'll be a deceiver. I'll
bring a curse on me, not a blessing. I'm nothing like my brother.
Isaac loved Esau. Isaac loved Esau because of what
he did for him, that savory meat.
Everything was about what he did for the Father. It was savory.
He said he smelled, the smell of Isaac Esau to his father was
like the smell of the field. He's out there providing the
family with Esau. Now Esau was not a good man. God hated him. No prophecy, no
type is perfect, right? That's why there's so many of
them. But to the Father, Esau was very
pleasing. And to God the Father, as one
man has ever lived, is altogether loved and pleasing to Him. And
that's Christ. Why? Because He came to this
field to do what He did for sinners and for the Father's glory. That's
why. It's just that savor in Him. But Jacob said, I'm nothing like
him. The Father's going to see right
through me, and he's going to curse me. He's not going to bless
me. There's no way I could come to the Father. He loves the elder
son, not me. Oh, yeah. Now here's what Rebecca
said. Look at verse 13. Upon me be thy curse, son. Obey
my voice. If the Father doesn't accept
you, I'm telling you the truth. If the Father doesn't receive
you, I'll take the curse. Isn't that what Christ did? Made
a curse for us? Isn't that what the Holy Spirit
tells us? Oh, I can't come to God. I'm
too much a sinner. Well, don't come to God if you're
not. You can't come near to Him if
you're not. You don't need Christ if you're not. But I'm nothing
like Christ. No. And the Holy Spirit says,
I'm going to make you like Christ. I'm going to give you what the
Father demands and what the Father loves. I'm going to teach you
what the Father loves and accepts. I'm going to clothe you. I'm going to dress you. I'm going
to make you just like the Son. Trust me. Believe me. Just believe. That's it. Nothing
I do. No. Just believe me. You believe
you've come to the Father by Christ. If He doesn't accept
you, I'll take the blame. Man, this is savory meat to me.
I hope somebody's eating it with me. I think they are. I'm just
a sinner, Lord. I can't come to God. You better
not come any other way. If you're a sinner, I'm trying
to tell you how, what God says, how he says to come to him and
you will be blessed. All right, verse 14. So he went
and fetched, he laid hold of those two goats, John. He went
at, where were they? They were in a pen, prepared,
ready, waiting, like that ram up on the mountain caught in
a thicket by its horns. crown of thorns around the head
of that ram waiting to be sacrificed waiting for this as it come up
in substitution those two goats right there waiting and he laid
hold of them this is his hope this is his blessing all right
and he brought them to the mother we come to God by faith don't
we God the Holy Spirit His mother, see? See who did this? She made
savory meat such as his father loved. And Rebekah, look at this. Verse 15. So Rebekah took those
goats, and she killed them, and took the skins of one, the meat,
and made savory meat. And she took these, the skin
or the raiment of her eldest son Esau, which was with her. It was hers to be stuffed. the
raiment, and she put them on Jacob. She didn't ask Jacob, do you
like this? Let's see if this fits you. Here, put this on. Will you have
this, Jacob? I hope you accept it. She put
it on. When the prodigal son came home,
The father was waiting on him. How did the father know he was
coming? For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. Let me predestinate, he called. Let me call, he justified by
blood. Let me justify, he glorified,
covered in righteousness. You ever thought of all that
in that sentence? And the father was waiting. There he comes.
I was standing at that window a while ago. I love these windows,
clear windows. I hate shades on windows. Wish
we could open those up, but the neighbor mows his grass and all
that. But I love this. I stand there and I watch you
coming. I love that. I love it. Look, there comes
Kate. Look, there comes Ron and Tammy. Well, they're usually here before
I am. Look, there comes Mike and Karen. You know what I was
thinking? that there's nothing I'd love
more than to stand there at that window, like a father, like the
father did, waiting to be gracious, and say, look. Look who's coming. It's the prodigal
daughter. Look. Would you look at that? There's nothing to give me more
pleasure. You know what I could say? Bring the best robe. That's what the Father said.
Bring the robe. He's home. He's home. Put it
on him. We don't preach a gospel that's
an offer. We preach a gospel that Christ
offered to the Father, that when they're born of God, born of
this gospel of the offering of Christ, this is what the Spirit
of God says. Put it on him. Don't offer it
to him. Cover him. If there was an offer, do you
like this? Yes. Adam and Eve, you're cold, you're
hungry. Yes. You got anything to cover it?
This big leaf didn't do it. I do. Then he made a promise. Come this way. Keep coming. Keep coming. You're still a sinner. Still
broke all those laws, but keep coming. Put it on him. I love that. That
ought to be the title of this message. Put it on him. Look at verse 16. She put skins
of the kids of gold on his hands, on the smooth of his neck. Why
his hands? Watch the father when he came,
the father, the first thing he did was he smelled him and he
grabbed his hands. Why? Who shall ascend unto the holy
hill of the Lord? Psalm 24. He that hath clean
hands. When Christ died, you know what
the first thing he showed his disciples? What's the first thing
he showed them? Behold my hands. His hands perform the work of
salvation. I'm looking for scars. John and
I are looking for scars up in heaven. Where are they? In His
hands. This is what God sends. Your
hands? Sinful. Dirty hands. His hands? Clean. Clean hands. Pure heart. What about His neck? Huh? Christ? The weight? of our sin was laid on Him. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Where does a yoke go? On
your neck. And Christ was yoked to the law,
by the law, to love, and to us. And He puts this yoke And He
puts His righteousness on us. And His works are our works.
And His yoke is our yoke. His burden is our burden. His
cross is our cross. Put it on His neck. When the
Father fell on the Son, what did He fall on? His neck. She gave, verse 17, a savory
meat and bread which she had prepared in the hand of her son
Jacob. How do we come to the Father? We come by faith in Christ. One
way. And this faith to those who have
obtained like precious faith. I never forget hearing Brother
Bruce preach on that. those who have obtained like
precious faith. And he made this wonderful point.
He said, this faith, God gave me. It's God-given faith. He
gave it to me. We can't share each other's faith.
You must believe. You must believe. Right? You
must believe. My parents can't believe for
me. You must believe. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. OK? And God has to give you this
faith. You didn't work it up. You didn't
decide it. It's not of yourself. It's a
gift of God. Once God gives it to you, it's
yours, isn't it? And Brother Bruce brought this
point out. He said, you can't have my faith. I won't give it
up for anything. It's my faith. It's not something
I did, but it's something He gave me. Precious. More precious
than gold that was tried with fire. It's going to be found.
This is our acceptance with God. The faith that He gives us in
religion and the world. Trying to take it from you. The
world is trying to take it from you. Don't walk by faith. Walk
by sight. No. No, you can have that. This is my hope with God. We're
all going to die real soon. My only hope is Jesus Christ. You can have this perishing world.
I don't want to perish with it. This is a faith God's given me.
I won't want to trade it for nothing. Hope. So she said, you take this savory
meat I put on you, on your neck. You go to the Father. Go. Go. He'll help you. And He came. Verse 18. He came. Come unto
me, God said. He came unto His Father and said, my god as i say it winston do not ever
say that unless you mean it or you're taking his name in vain the lord's prayer the whole so-called
lord's prayer it's a disciple's prayer he said After this matter
pray ye, our Father which art in heaven. The whole world prays
that when something bad happens. It's taking His name away. He's
not everybody's Father. They draw near with their lips
and their hearts burn. But God's people know, God's people all
know that God is only our Father because of Jesus Christ. that we have received the spirit
of adoption by Jesus Christ. We are sons of Satan by birth. We must be born again by his
spirit. We must be given the spirit of
adoption. We must be chosen, accepted in the beloved. There's nothing lovable about
that. We're just rotten, no good sons of Adam. How are we the
sons of God? One way, Jesus Christ. This is what the mother is teaching
this youngest son. You're not going to be blessed
if it belongs to the oldest son. You don't deserve this. The right
belongs to the eldest, only well-beloved son. You're a supplanter. You're a cheat. That's your name.
You came out of the womb trying to usurp your brother. No, you're
only going to be accepted through your elder brother. He says,
okay. And he came and he called him
my father. And here's what the father said.
Oh, he said, he said, my father. And the father said, here am
I, who art thou? My son, who are you? And Jacob
said unto his father, I am Esau, that firstborn. I have done according as you
bade me. Arise, I pray thee, sit, rest,
eat of my venison, and bless me. I am your son, Esau. I have done. What's he saying? He's pleading his brother. Christ is the I Am. And we're not, you know what
he's saying. We come to God, what we do is
plead that Christ is the I Am. That Christ is the one that did
this. That Christ did everything required. This is faith. That
we are Him. That what He did, He did for
us. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. When
He rested, I rested. When God blessed Him and sat
Him in His right hand, I was blessed. I'm seated with him
in the heaven. Who are you? I'm your son. That's who I am. I'm your son. In Christ. Christ in you. And Isaac said unto him, I love
this, verse 20, How is it that you found this so quickly? He
said, The Lord God brought it to me. So where did you get this
savory meat so quickly? How did you get this savory meat?
God gave it to me. Where did you get this salvation? How did you get to know God?
How did you understand God? How did you come to God? How
did you learn the truth? John, did you make your decision?
Did you go and let God? Did you let Jesus into your heart?
Did you, of your will, choose Him and make Him Lord of your...
That's so blasphemous. Where'd you get this? Where'd
you get this gospel? Where'd you get this? Here's
what... Salvation's by grace. Salvation
of the Lord. Where'd I get it? God brought
it to me. God was made a man and brought
it to me. Unspeakable gift. He did it all. Maybe that should be the title.
God brought it to me. God put it on me. So Isaac said
to Jacob, come near. And I may feel thee, my son,
whether you're my very son Esau or not. Come near. Draw nigh
unto God. Remember that? Do you think Jacob
is trembling? Do you? Do you think he's afraid? I'm going to be found out. And
I'm bad enough. But if he sees through me, if
he sees I'm Jacob, I'm a goner. He's trembling. How do you come
to God? Fear. How do you come to God? Humility. How do you come to
God? By Christ. So he came. He came near, draw
nigh unto God. And here's what the Father said
in verse 22. The voice is Jacob's voice, but
the hands are the hands of Esau. You know whose voice is crying
unto God? It's mine. It's yours. Have mercy
on me, O God. That's it. Have mercy on me.
Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's
right. Call. Call sinners, but call
through Christ. and call and plead the works
of Christ. Don't plead your works. Father,
don't be like the publican, I mean, the Pharisee. I've done what
you, that is, I've prayed, I've tithed, I've done all these.
No, no, no, no. Plead Christ's works. We call
upon God, but we call upon Him to accept us because of the hands
and the works of Jesus Christ. He said, it's the voice of Jacob,
but it's the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not. All things are naked and open
for the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You know that?
Be sure your sin will find you out. Guess what sin? If God should
mark an equity, who should stand? There's forgiveness with thee.
How? One way. Your sin will find you out. Do
you know where that's written? It's Joshua's sin. And it's a
sin of unbelief is what it is. Now listen, this is so important
here. He discerned him not. His hands were hairy as his brothers
Esau, so he blessed him. And he said, verse 24, Are you
really my son Esau? Are you really? Art thou my very
son Esau? He said, I am. You know, Christ said, if you
believe not that I am, you will die in your sin. You know, without
faith, it's impossible. Please, God. He that cometh to
God must believe what? That he is. Who is? God is. Who is? That Christ is God. is
what? All your hope, all your salvation,
all your righteousness, all your acceptance of God, all your holiness. Without that faith, it's impossible.
He'll find you out. He'll find you out. Do you really
believe? Do you really believe that Christ
is all your hope? Do you? I do. Married. And he discerned him
not. Bring it near. Verse 25, I'll
eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. He brought
it near. He ate. And he brought him wine. Hmm. Meat and wine. Did not Christ say? He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life. My meat is drink indeed. My body is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. That's what the father required. His father Esau said, Isaac said,
verse 26, come near now. He kept telling him to come,
didn't he? He kept telling him to come. Come near. Jacob's trembling. Are you going to find me? No.
Come near. Jacob, wait. Son, why are you being so funny?
Come near. Come near. Finally he came up,
and his father kissed him. Verse 27. He told him to kiss him. And
he smelled the smell of his raiment. And he blessed him and said,
the smell of my son is the smell of the field which the Lord hath
blessed. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave those
parables in Matthew 13 of the field. Two or three parables
of the field. This field is a world. And Christ
came in here to bless some people in this field. Like Ruth, her
hap was to land on a part of the field that belonged to Boaz.
And she found grace in his sight. And he came near to her, and
blessed her, and gave her some of his cornbread, and gave all
those promises. And he told her, you come up
here. You don't go anywhere. You come up close. You come here.
You sit down right here. Bye. They ended up marrying her. Come dear. Smell. sweet smelling
savor and he promised him verse 28 the lord give thee of the
dew of the heaven the fatness of the earth you know he's given
us fat things and wine on the leaves well refined hadn't plenty
of corn that's bread and plenty of wine that plenty of gospel
let the people serve thee fear not jacob i've given ethiopia
and seba for thee for thy ransom they're going to serve you you're
in the world not of it but the world's going to serve It exists, it still exists, for
you. Just like the world exists for
the glory of Jesus Christ somehow, and all will bow down to Him
in Christ, the whole world exists for God's people. And he said
in verse 29, cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed
be he that blessed thee. We're blessed in Christ. And I love this, and I close.
Esau came and was upset. He heard about what happened.
And he said to his father, he said, he's taken away my birthright. He's a supplanter. He said in
verse 34, oh my father, bless me, bless me also. Oh my father. When Christ was hanging on Calvary's
tree, what were the first words? that he cried, Father forgive
them for they know not what they did. And then he said, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ became a curse. Christ
was made a curse that we might be bled. Christ was forsaken
of God. And here's what the father said
about Jacob. He said, I blessed him. And he'll
be blessed. I can't take it back. I blessed him. And he'll be blessed. How? How was Jacob blessed? Through the Son of Man. everyone that comes nine to god
by christ will be blessed he shall be blessed our lord said
that he said everyone that come upon the bay no way come to cry
okay john you come please