Turn with me to 2 Corinthians,
chapter 3. The title of this message is
Acceptance with the Father. Let's look at a few verses here
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He says in verse 12, seeing then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness or boldness of
speech. And not as Moses who put a veil
over his face. Moses coming down from receiving,
from being in God's presence, he had to put a veil over his
face because of the brightness of being in God's presence. Not
as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of
Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished, that is, the brightness of that giving of the law. But their minds were blinded.
Their minds were blinded. Until this day remaineth the
same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament,
which veil is done away in Christ. That is, people don't see the
glory of God when they read the Old Testament. They don't see
the gospel when they read the Old Testament. And that veil,
though, is done away in Christ. We see Christ clearly in the
Old Testament scripture. Even unto this day, when Moses
is read, the veil is upon their hearts. Nevertheless, when the heart
shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now, the
Lord is that Spirit, that Holy Spirit, and where the Holy Spirit
of the Lord is, there's liberty, there's freedom. There's knowledge,
there's freedom to see Christ clearly in the Old Testament
scripture. But we all, with open face, behold him as
in a glass, the glory of the Lord. We're changed in the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, one time I preached an Old
Testament type. It was that story of Abraham
sending his servant down to get a bride for Isaac. I preached
at a certain place and a young man who has since left that church. I don't know if he's attending
anywhere. I don't think so. He left for a big job of some sort. He
came up to me after I preached the message. I had a great deal
of liberty with it. He came up to me afterward and confronted
me. He said, I think you're reading
too much into that. He said, I don't see Christ in
that passage like that. He said, you're reading too much
into the text. Well, he didn't see Christ in the text. He didn't
see Christ in the text. His mind was blinded. There was
a veil upon his heart, upon his mind, upon his understanding.
If anything, we don't see Christ clearly enough. in the Old Testament
Scriptures. We don't see them clearly enough.
Christ said, they are they which testify of me. What was he speaking
of? The Old Testament Scriptures. They are they which testify of
me. And when he finally revealed
himself, before he went back to the glory, when he finally
revealed himself to his disciples, He told them that all things
must be fulfilled, all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the Law of Moses, the first five books, in the
Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. That's the whole of the scriptures,
the Old Testament scriptures. That's all of it. So I hope as
you listen to this story I'm about to relate from the Old
Testament, I hope you don't see it as a mere moral an old story
with a moral to it. But I hope you see the wisdom
and the power and the glory of God Almighty as it is seen in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
27. Genesis chapter 27. Now, this is a very old and a
very simple story, and I hope that the Lord will give me liberty
and will remove the veil. that we'll get a real blessing
from this this morning. I know it's there. I've had a
blessing already from it, a tremendous blessing. This is a story of
a man named Isaac. He's an old and dying man, and
he has two sons named Jacob and Esau, or rather Esau, who is
the oldest, and Jacob, the youngest. The father here is setting things
in order before he is to die. Before he dies, he's leaving
the business in the hands of the older son, as it were. Like leaving, like calling in
the oldest son, you know, to put things in his hands to make
sure the business carries on while he's gone. He's preparing
to bless his oldest son, Esau. Now, Rebecca, the wife of Isaac. the mother of these two young
men. She overhears the conversation.
She overhears Isaac speaking to Esau concerning the blessing,
concerning giving the blessing and what he's requiring of Esau
before he gives the blessing. And Isaac, while he's talking
to Esau, he tells him the order of things, the way things must
be before he is to receive the blessing. He says, he tells him
to go out into the field and shoot some venison. Go out into
the field, spend as long as it takes to get me some venison,
because I love venison, he says. It's what I love. I love good
tasting venison. And after you've done that, come
in and prepare it just right. Prepare it just like I like it
now. And then you come in and offer
it up to me. And I'll get my belly full, I'll be happy, satisfied,
and I'll bless you, and I'll bless you." Well, there's some
things that we need to know concerning this story. Two things, basically. First of all, we need to know
that Esau, though he was the oldest and deserving of the blessing,
he sold that blessing. You remember the story of how
he saw it was happening and Jacob was in the field I assume tending
to sheep as probably a place somewhat far away from the home
and he saw it spent probably many days out hunting for something
whatever it was and he didn't get any evidently because he
was starving to death and he came back and the first place
he got to before home was Jacob's camp. And he was about to think
that he thought he was about to die. Evidently, he hadn't
had anything to eat for days. And he begged Jacob to give him
something to eat, just a mess of potage, anything to fill my
belly up. And Jacob, being a conniving,
scheming fellow that he was, being a smart fellow that he
was, he said, I'll give you something to eat, brother. Just sell me
your birthright. Sell me that blessing that belongs
to you and you only. Sell it to me. Let me have it.
And he saw across Oh, I'll get it when the time comes. The law
says the oldest is supposed to have it. I'll get it when the
time comes. I'm dying right now. I've got to have something right
now. He says, sure, OK, I'll give it to you. Well, he sold
the birthright. He sold it. It was no longer
his. It was given to another. And
secondly, we need to understand that God had before, before these
boys were born, told their mother that Jacob was going to serve,
or Jacob was going to was going to reign over the oldest, that
the elder was going to serve the younger. She had already
told him that, told him that. God had already told her that,
that is. We need to understand that, that Esau sold the birthright
and that God had before determined that the elder was going to serve
the younger anyway. This was in God's good providence. Even though Esau was wrong in
doing what he did, even though he sinned greatly, God overruled
it for the greatest story. Well, there's four people involved
in this story, and this is who they represent. Isaac represents
God the Father, and Esau represents God the Son, Christ, and Rebekah
represents God the Holy Spirit, and then Jacob represents all
believers, all disciples of Christ, all those that are really seeking
a blessing. Really seeking acceptance with
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, like Jacob in this story,
I'll read it here in a minute. Like Jacob, we may be seeking
to be blessed by God Almighty. We may be seeking to be blessed
by the Father, but we need to realize that the only one that
God's going to bless is his oldest son. The only one that has the
rightful blessing, has the right to the blessing, is the oldest
son of God, Jesus Christ. He's the only one that's truly
earned it. He's the only one that the Father is really going
to bless, really bless, I mean, put all things into his hand,
bless him. He's the firstborn of the Father,
he said, Christ is. So if I'm going to get the blessings
from the Father, which is only due his Son, somehow or another,
somehow or another, I'm going to have to be his Son. I'm going to have to appear before
the Father as I'm going to have to appear that way. If I do,
if the Father sees me as being his son, oh, he's going to bless
me. He loves his son. He accepts
his son. And he's going to bless me as
being his son. If I appear to be his son, God's
going to bless me. If I don't, if I appear to be
a hypocrite, he's going to curse me for my whole eternity. And
the only one that's going to be able to prepare me, to teach
me when, how, and with what to approach the Holy Father with,
is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to give me
this understanding, you see. The one who was there to hear
the Father and the Son talking. So let's read it here in Genesis
chapter 27. Genesis chapter 27. Here's the story. And it came
to pass, verse 1, that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim,
so that he could not see. He called Esau, his oldest son,
and said unto him, My son? And he said unto him, Behold,
here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am
old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore I take, I pray
thee, thy weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the
field, and hunt me, take me some venison. and 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 Rebekah, his wife, heard
when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son. Well, Esau left. He went to the field to hunt
for venison and to bring it. And Rebekah spoke unto Jacob,
her son, saying, Behold, I heard your father speak unto Esau thy
brother. Say, bring me, this is what he
said, bring me venison, make me savory meat that I may eat
and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now, therefore,
my son, obey my voice. Rebecca's speaking to Jacob here.
Obey my voice according to what I command thee. Go to the flock
and fetch me from thence two kids of goats, two good kids
of the goats, and I'll make them 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.' And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau
my brother is a hairy man, I am a smooth man, my father for adventure
will feel me, and I seem to him as a deceiver, and I will bring
a curse upon me, not a blessing. His mother said unto him, Upon
me be thy curse. My son, if this thing doesn't
work out, I'll take the blame, only just obey my voice and go
fetch them. Fetch me them." So he went, he
went and fetched and brought them to his mother, and his mother
made savory meat such as his father loved, and Rebecca took
goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, took Esau's clothes
which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her
younger son, and she put the skins of the goats the kids of
the ghost, on his hands and upon the sleuth of his neck, and she
gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared
into the hand of her son Jacob." Now, here's the story. Old Jacob
wants the blessing of his father. He wants the blessing. He wanted
it before, so he tried to scheme his way into it. by asking Esau
for it. He wanted to bless him, but he
doesn't know how to get it. He knows his father well. He
knows his father is a just man, a righteous man. He knows his
father well, and he knows he's a man of God, and he thinks and
he acts strictly according to God's holy law. He's just not
going to do things just up in any old way. He's going to do
things the way they're supposed to be done, his father, Isaac. And surely, he thinks, my father
is going to bless Esau. That's just the way it's supposed
to be. And then my father is a man of God, and that's who
he's going to bless. No way around it. He remembers Esau's promise
to him back in that field, but he doesn't believe it. He thought,
that's too good to be true. Surely I couldn't have gotten
it that way. Surely not. So Rebecca, his mother, she has
to instruct him. She tells him she knows a way,
the way, the only way. She knows the way that he can
approach his father and be accepted. So she instructs him and she
prepares him in every way necessary to approach Isaac. And even so,
I'm a sinner. And I'm seeking God's blessing.
I'm seeking to be accepted by God. I'm seeking salvation. But
I know God's holy. I know God's righteous. I know
God acts in strict accordance to his justice, his holy law. He acts—he only will accept those
who have kept his law perfectly in deed and in thought. Only
those will be accepted by him. Surely, I say, that only God,
that God will only accept his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely,
he's the only man ever been righteous before the Father. He's the only
man approved of God, well pleasing to the Father. But the Holy Spirit,
who was there in the beginning to hear this covenant, to hear
this story, to hear what the Father demanded of me, the Holy
Spirit comes to me and instructs me. tells me, the Holy Spirit
tells me about that covenant between the Father and the Son.
And he tells me he knows a way, the way, the only way that you're
going to be accepted by this Father. I know the way, the Spirit
says. I know the way. So the Holy Spirit
instructs me how to be saved, how to approach the Father. He
instructs me. Well, there were four things needed here in this
story. in order for Jacob to be accepted
by Isaac, his father. Four things needed, and there
are four things that we need to be accepted by the Father.
First of all, we've got to have a sacrifice. First of all, we've
got to have a sacrifice to approach this Holy God. Look at it here
in verse 3 of chapter 27. Isaac tells his son Esau, and
he says, Therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver,
And I bow, and go out to the field, and get me some venison,
and make me savory meat." Kill him. Kill that deer. Make it
savory to me, such as I love. I love venison, he said. Bring
it to me that I may eat, in order to bless you. Let me have your attention here.
This is a beautiful story. Gather all your wits about you
and listen to this story, please. Cross everything out. The father
says, son, bring me some venison. I love venison. I like red meat. I like wild meat, red meat. And Esau says, well, how about
something a little easier to get? It's hard to go out in the
field, you know, and hunt all day long. Sometimes you don't
find, sometimes it takes two days. Three days, I've done it
before and didn't get anything. How about something a little
easier? How about I go down to the chicken coop and get you
some good chicken?" And the father says, No! You've got to have
venison, red meat, wild meat. You see, venison here represents
that which God provides. Men don't raise deer, do they?
No, men raise cattle, though. Men don't raise deer, God does.
He replenishes the earth with deer as he sees fit, and it's
red meat, and it illustrates the blood too. Well his son may
have said, Esau may have said this, well how about something,
how about something, how about some hamburger? I got some venison
left over, and I'll mix it with something else, and we'll get
enough of it to make you happy. No, he says. Uh-uh, that won't
do. I want fresh red meat. I want
venison. Go out there and get me some
penicillin." And God the Father is holy, just, righteous. He will by no means clear the
guilty. No means. He says, without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. The soul that
sinneth must surely die. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. Only the blood. Well, somebody
may say, well, surely not. Surely. It doesn't take the death
of Jesus Christ. Surely something, Christ didn't
have to come to die. Surely God can just up and forgive
sin. No! Without the blood, there's
no remission for sin. Blood, you must come with blood
and blood only, a sacrifice. Well, surely God will accept
my repentance and my faith and forgive my sin. No! Blood, it's
only the blood. Only Christ's sacrifice that
I'll accept. That's all. Well, how about if I bring the
sacrifice of Christ and then my works of obedience? No! Just the blood. Just red, wild
meat. Just the blood. Just come plead
in the blood. That's all. It's the only thing
I'll accept. Only thing. But look at verse
5 with me. Rebecca heard this. She heard
Isaac. He saw his son, and Esau took
off, went to the field to hunt for venison, to bring it. And
Rebekah spoke unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard
your father talking to your brother. And he said this, he said, Bring
me some venison, make me savory meat that I may eat, and bless
you before the Lord my God. Now therefore, my son, you obey
my voice according to that which I command thee. Listen to me
now, listen carefully. She heard what the father demanded
of the son to be accepted. She heard, and she's going to
tell it to Jacob. She said there in verse 8, you
better listen to me now. You better listen to me and do
as I say. You better. Look at verse 9.
Go to the flock and fetch me two goats and I'll make them. I'll do what's necessary. I'll
make them savory meat for your father, just like he likes it.
You go down there and get those two goats, and I'll prepare them
for your dad." And so she did. Verse 14, Jacob went down there
and fetched and brought them to his mother, and his mother
made them savory meat, just like daddy liked it. She did it. She
did it all for the son. And even so, the Holy Spirit
speaks to us through this word. The Holy Spirit, who was with
the Father and with the Son in the giving of that covenant,
the Holy Spirit overheard what the Father demanded of the Son.
He heard it. He knows what the Father demands.
And in mercy and grace, God the Father sends the Holy Spirit
to us to instruct us the only way to get to the Father. And
the Spirit says to us, just like verse 8, you better listen. You
better listen up now. You better hear me. He that hath
ears to hear you better hear the word of the Lord. You better
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, or be damned. You better bow to the perfect
instructions of God and Spirit concerning Christ. Don't try
to work it out your own way. You better look to Christ. No
other way. Look to the Lamb. And the Holy
Spirit says, like in verse 9, it says, you know, you go down,
you fetch two kids from the flock, and you come, and I'll make them
acceptable to the Father. The Holy Spirit tells us in his
goodness and kindness, he gives us repentance and faith. He gives us, he shows us the
lamb slain that's already been perfected. You know those, he
told, she told Jacob to go down in that pen to get two kids of
goats. How did she know there was two goats, two kids there?
Two firstlings, that's the only sacrifice that was acceptable.
Two firstlings of the flock without blemish, without spot, without
blemish. Isaac knew good meat when he tasted it now. That better
be the best one. How does she know there's two
baby goats down there? Oh, she knew. She knew what was
in there. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, already prepared, already prepared
before the sinner ever sinned the sin. And God the Father tells
us by faith. He gives us justifying and regenerating
faith. He gives us wisdom and righteousness,
the two kids. He gives us sanctification and
redemption. He says, by faith, look to Christ. Look to the body
and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit takes
that and applies it. By faith we come, we believe,
we pray, we seek, we lay hold on the life, the death. Jacob
went down there and grabbed ahold of those two kids. He said, this
is my only hope of the blessing. He wasn't going to let go of
them, buddy. He drug them up there, hiding her, you know,
up there to his mother. And by faith we lay hold on the
life and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body and the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We lay hold on Him by faith.
And the Holy Spirit takes that blood, that sacrifice of Christ,
and applies it to our hearts, applies it to our lives. He does
it just like Rebecca did there in verse 14. She took that, those
kids, and made them just like the Father liked, made it savory
meat to the Father. And the Lord takes our repentance
and our faith, our look into Christ, which is still imperfect,
and makes that sacrifice. He imputes that righteousness
to us, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He
puts it all on our account, makes it acceptable to the Father,
makes us acceptable to the Father. You see, God the Father loves
the Son. He loves his son, and he accepts
only him and his perfect righteousness, and he'll only accept us through
his imputed righteousness, through God the Spirit making us like
Christ, making us appear to be the Father. The broken body and
shed blood of Christ, the death and the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sacrifice. So old Jacob had to have a sacrifice
to come to the Father and be accepted. Secondly, look at this,
back in chapter 25. Jacob had to have a covering.
Look at chapter 25, verse 24. Chapter 25, verse 24. Now, Rebecca
here is giving birth to these two sons. And when her days to
be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her
womb, two men considered in her. And the first came out red all
over like a hairy garment. And they called his name Esau. Esau. Look back at chapter 27,
verse 11. Chapter 27, verse 11. And Jacob
said to Rebekah, there was such a vast difference in these two
sons. A vast difference between Jacob and Esau. And this is what
Jacob said. My father is going to feel me.
Or verse 11. Esau is a hairy man. I'm a smooth
man. Dad's going to take one feel
of me, search me, and he's going to know who I am. There's no
way around it. No way. Esau's hairy. I'm smooth.
He's big. I'm little. He's strong. I'm
weak. We're opposites. Totally opposites. And Rebecca says, Son, just obey
me. Verse 13. Upon me be thy curse,
my son. Just obey my voice, and you go
do what I say. You fetch those sacrifices. You
betcha. Have faith in me, son. I'll bear
the blame. You just believe in me and trust
in me and rely upon me to do the job." And she did just that.
Verse 15, she took that goodly raiment of her eldest son. She
took Esau's clothes and put them on Jacob. Verse 16, she put skins
of the goats on his hands and the smooth of his neck. Smooth
of his neck. And even so, we're sinners, we're
opposites of the Lord Jesus Christ, totally opposites. Christ is
holy. I'm altogether sinful and undone,
unjust. He's spotless. I'm a leper. Surely
now, surely God's going to, I'm going to go in the presence of
God and He's going to spot something on me and He's going to say I'm
no body but a sinner. So how can I come, how can I
appear to be Christ? Christ is love. I'm unlovely.
He's able. I'm unable. He's life. I'm dead
and trespassing in sin. And we say in doubt and fear,
just like old Jacob here, forgetting the promise, forgetting. You know, I bet you, you know,
Esau was daddy's favorite and Jacob was a mama's boy. I guarantee
you that this, that Rebecca told Jacob about that promise, Jacob. Now, don't worry now. I know
Daddy is partial to him, but God told me that the elders serve
younger. I bet she told him that. But
he forgot all about that, and he came in doubt and fear. And
we do the same thing, although the promise is right before us.
And we come to say, now, if I come to God, surely—we read that verse
over there in 2 Corinthians? Chapter 5, you know, as you receive
in his body the deeds done, whether they be good or evil, and we
say, oh, that's me. God's going to spot something in me. He's
going to kill me, surely. He's going to search me and try
me and see that it's me, a sinner. And he'll see all my hypocrisy.
He'll see how I'm trying to play the part of a Christian. And
he'll damn me. He'll curse me on the spot, sure. But no, God's Spirit says, comes
to us and says, you must not doubt. You must believe. I've told you the promise. I've
given you the promise of the word. If it doesn't work out,
I'll bear the blame. I gave the promise. I give the
word. I applied it to your heart. Just
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him and be saved. There's
no other way. No other way. And then he takes
the robe of Christ's spotless righteousness and puts it on
me. He takes the skins and puts it on the hand. That's Christ's
works. Makes my works righteous before God. Takes the skins and
puts it on my neck. That's Christ's love and bowing,
submission, obedience, perfect submission to the Father. He
makes me appear to be obedient and working righteousness in
the Father. He feels me. That's my boy. No doubt about it. That's my
boy. And then I look, according to the power of the Holy Spirit,
I look and feel just like Christ. There's something else that's
needed though. Look at verse 27. Verse 27 of chapter 27. And
he came near. Old Jacob came near. Ah, I bet
he was shaking in his boots. He came near. And kiss the father
and the father. Smell nothing. Smell his clothes
smelled of him. He smelled up. The father tasted
the sacrifice and that's good. Yes, that's good. That's like
I like it. And then he. He smelled around. He so closely
scrutinized his son, Jacob, so closely. He examined him that
Jacob had to even smell like Esau. Man, how's he going to
do this now? You know, Esau was an outdoorsman.
Like I said a while ago, Isaac loved Esau. Esau was a hunter,
fisherman, an outdoorsman, strong, virile, tall, dark, and handsome
fellow. Jacob was a bookworm, a mama's
boy. keeping sheep out there. Esau was strong and courageous.
Jacob was kind of timid, you know. And Isaac liked the way
Esau did things. He liked everything about his
oldest boys, something about fathers for their oldest sons,
just the way it is. He loved the way Esau did things.
He liked his courage and so forth. He liked his ways. He liked everything
about his boy Esau, even the way he smelled, smells of the
field. And I liked the field. Isaac
was a man of the field. And he liked the way Esau even
smelled, you see. And God, the holy God, loves
his boy, the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves his son above all else. He likes the way he looks. He
likes the way he talks. He likes the way he walks. He
likes the way he smells. He's a sweet-smelling savor to
the Father. He's righteous. He's holy. He's
perfect. He's well pleased with that son
of his. This is the reason for predestination.
The scripture says we're ordained unto good works. The Father has
ordained that we should walk in them. This is the reason God
has predestinated the people to be conformed in the image
of Christ, you see. Like Barnard said, God saw his
son one day and he loved him so much, he said, I've got to
have a whole bunch of them just like him. You know, I love that
daughter of mine so much. If I was going to have another
child, I'd just be pleased for every one of them to be just
like her. I love everything about her.
And I'd just be happy if all of them were like her. 10 or...
Mindy wouldn't be 10 or 20. I'll take them, because I love
that girl. And the father loves his son,
and he's predetermined before the foundation of the world,
if he's going to have any more children, it might be like that
one. Just like that. I mean, once
you've had the best, you're not settled for second best. Uh-uh. And we're altogether sinful in
God's sight. From the sole of our feet to
the top of our head, there's no soundness in us, the Scripture
says. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefied sores. You ever smelled of rotten, decaying
flesh? That's what the Scripture says
we smell like to God. It doesn't? We stink to God Almighty. Does that hurt our pride? It
doesn't hurt us. We stink to God Almighty. Oh, boy. We smell of sin. We
smell of death. And we come before God Almighty.
We're going to come now. We are. Every man, every woman
here, young person, is going to stand before God Almighty
someday. Stand right in front of Him. And God's going to And there better not be one with. He better not smell one with
the sin. What's that smell in my kingdom?
Smells of self-righteousness. Who is that? Spot him out. There
he is. Get him out of here. That's self-righteous
affairs. I'll not have it. I want to smell
the sweet savor of my son. I want everybody to be perfumed
with his righteousness, not theirs. That's a fly on the ointment,
you see. Well, we come before God by faith,
trusting in Christ, wrapped in Christ's righteousness. The Holy
Spirit imputes His righteousness to us. He takes that skin on,
puts it on our neck and our lives and the works of Christ, and
we're under God, a sweet-smelling savor. Sweet-smelling savor. All this had to be done. All
these had to have a sacrifice, had to have a covering, had to
smell right. Boy, this was strict, wasn't
it? Well, there's something else
that needs to be had here. Old Jacob couldn't just rush
in and demand a blessing. It wasn't his. What if old Jacob
would have run in there, Daddy, I heard you're going to give
out blessings. Who are you? I'm Jacob. You don't deserve a blessing.
The blessing goes to my oldest son. Now get on out of here before
you get in trouble. That's what people are doing
before God, aren't they? I've decided to accept Jesus
as my personal Savior. I've decided to let God put me
in His family. Ain't that big of me? Old Jacob couldn't come just
any old time. He couldn't come when it was
too soon. He couldn't come before the Father had promised to give
a blessing. He couldn't come too late after the blessing had
already been given. It had to be just right. Just the right
time. Just the right day. And only
Rebecca knew when. Only she could reveal to him
the proper time. Only she. Jacob was ignorant.
He didn't know. He never would have known that
today was the day of salvation. He never would have known that.
Today was the day of blessing. And she ran in and said, Jacob,
you better come on. You better go get your sacrifice.
Come on, bring it in here and I'll close you and get in there
now. Right now, before he so gets back. He'd never know. You see? And we can't rush into God's
presence just any old time. Just when we get good and ready.
Today is the day of salvation. It may be too late if we just
peddle around, playing around on this earth. Someday, it may
be too late. Oh, God, help us all to see that. We may die tomorrow. Eighteen or twenty or forty-five,
if we don't know Christ now, we're goners. Maybe tonight. We can't just, just when we get
good and ready, Not when it's too soon. We can't come to God
unless we really believe Christ from our hearts, by faith. And
we can't come when it's too late, when God's just made reprobates
of us. It's got to be according to the
wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to tell us when the time
is. To work on us and woo us. Reveal
the truth to our hearts. Get to Christ. Now's the time.
Now's the time. It had to be the time, you see,
the right time. Well, let's look here and I'll
let you go. Jacob, let's look at old Jacob
coming before his father Isaac. Look at verse 18 of chapter 27,
verse 18. Old Jacob, he came unto his father
and he said, my father, he used the term, dad, And his father
said, Here am I. Who are you? The father demanded he identify
himself. Who are you? Before you approach
me, who are you? Look at verse 19. Jacob said
unto his father, Well, I'm Jacob. Oh, no, no, no. He didn't say
that, did he? It's me, God. Aren't you glad
to see me? I heard Oral Roberts say that
one time. It's me. Who are you? Oh, Robert.
Well, I've been waiting on you. You've heard that story. No,
what did old Jacob say? He said, I'm Esau. I'm Esau. You're firstborn. I've done according to what you
told me to do. Now, I pray you, eat. Take this
sacrifice. Bless me. I'm Esau. And we've got to do the same
thing. We've got to come by faith and say, I'm Christ. I was crucified
with Christ. Take your sacrifice. In Christ,
I'm righteous. I'm holy. I did what you demanded
of me in Christ. Take it. Bless Christ. Look at
verse 20. And Isaac said unto Jacob, How
is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? How did you
get this? How did you come across this?
Did Jacob say, Well, I went down and I worked real hard to get
it. It took me a while, but I finally found it. I just lucked out,
you know, and got it. And here I am. No, he said, verse
20, he said, The Lord brought it to me. Oh, boy. And if God ever asked
a true disciple of Christ, ever asked one of his children, A
true Christian. How is it that you receive this
faith? How is it that you come before
me? How did you get to heaven? If you want to enter into my
kingdom, what right have you got to be here? How did you do
it? Well, I believed on Jesus. When I was twelve years old,
I made my decision. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior,
and then I made Him Lord when I was twenty-two. And now I'm
supposed to be here. I'm claiming the promise. That's
not what the disciples said. How is it that you're to be here
in my presence? What right have you got to be?
I've got no right in myself. The Lord said it to me. God,
you saved me. You're the one that did all this
for me. You're the one that did the work. Unto you be the glory,
power, and strength, and honor. You did it. Salvation belongs
to our God. Salvation is the Lord. Look at verse 22. And Jacob went
near to Isaac, his father, and his father felt him, felt around
on him, patted him, touched him, patted him on the back, you know,
felt of him. And he said, the voice is Jacob's
voice, but the hands, the hands of Esau. And verse twenty three,
and he didn't discern him. He didn't see who he really was.
Because his hands were hairy. As his brothers Esau hands. And
the father says, I come before the father. I come before him
in prayer or worship. I come before him in Christ.
I come before him and Christ examines me. He examines my life
closely. He heals me, touches me, looks
me over. And he says, he's got the same
old voice. I hear it all the time. But he
looks like Christ. His works are righteous. He's
holy. He looks like Christ. He finds
no sin in us, although we're real close to the Father. And
look at verse 24. And the Father said again, Are you really my
son? Are you my son Esau?" He asked him again, now, who are
you? Who are you now? And he said, yeah, I'm Esau. I'm Esau. And God asks us over
and over again, prove the sincerity of love, of your sincerity of
your love. Who is it that you, who is it
you're claiming? Huh? Examine yourself, see whether
you've been, who's your righteousness? How are you going to appear before
God now? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. Verse 25. And he said, Come a
little closer. You know, the more you plead
that, the closer you get to the Father, to his heart. Bring it
near now. Bring me that offering. Bring
that sacrifice and I'll eat it. That my soul may really bless
you. And he brought it near to him.
He ate it. He brought him wine. He said before his mother prepared
bread, didn't he? Wine, bread, meat. And his father
drank. And by faith, you know, how do
we commune with the Father? What is the closest communion
we can get with the Father? Bring it near. The bread and
the wine. You really, Esau? You really trust in Christ? Eat
the bread and the wine. Show me. Show me. Better not eat it unworthily
now. Better not eat in hypocrisy. Come on now, come a little closer.
Let me look you over a little bit closer. In verse 26, And
his father Isaac said to him now, here in final order, Come
near now and kiss me. Kiss me. What does the scripture say? A kiss. A kiss of a Peter, a real disciple. I think he knows it. You know a kiss. My wife knows
what's behind my kisses. She knows when it's a kiss of
love. And when it's just a kiss of duty, it's time to kiss, you
know. God knows. Oh, my soul. God knows what's
in the heart. That's what we're talking about. That covering? Has God made you
a sweet-smelling savor of Christ? Are you in Christ by faith? Can
you in sincerity kiss the Son? Kiss the Father? You know, Paul
said, I want to be found. How? How? I want to be found in Him. When I get before God, before
the Father, I want God's... I want to be found in Him. Not
having my own righteousness. I don't want God to feel on my
garment and feel an old piece of cloth. Or a new piece of cloth
sold to an old one, you know. I don't want Him to feel my self-righteous
rags. Do you? Uh-uh. I want Him to
feel Christ. I want Him to see Christ's righteousness.
I don't want Him to smell any sin on me. I want to appear to
be just like Christ. I want to be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness, which is through the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. And there's only one way that
we'll be accepted by the Father, and that's how. We're accepted
in the Beloved, in Christ, His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's
the one he loves, he's the one he'll accept, and only those
that are in him by faith, real faith. Stand with
me and I'll dismiss this in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your the glorious, the beauty of your word. We thank you for
the truth of it. We thank you for your wisdom.
We exalt you in your wisdom, how that you have truly made
all things speak of Christ. We rejoice in this beautiful
story. I ask you that you would make
everyone in here rejoice in it. Make Christ dear to everybody.
It's not too much. Our God's great. He can do great
things. And I ask you to give faith to those that don't have
it. Impute the righteousness of Christ
to those that don't have it. Make those fall in love with
Christ who aren't yet lovers of Christ, but more lovers of
self. In His name we pray and ask these
things. Amen. You're dismissed.