Turn back to Genesis chapter
27. Genesis chapter 27. Titled this, A Lesson with a
Gospel Story. We have here a lesson in this
chapter, and we have a gospel story in this chapter. Now, if you will remember last
week, We looked back in chapter 25,
Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. It says in chapter 25 and verse
34, thus Esau despised his birthright. He counted it as worthless. It
was distasteful to him. It meant nothing to him. The
birthright meant nothing to him. And if you'll remember, the firstborn
who had the blessings of the birthright would get a double
portion of all these blessings, of all that belonged to the Father.
The firstborn belonged to God. God said, the firstborn of fruit,
the firstborn of the cattle, the firstborn of your sons are
mine. They are mine. And the firstborn
became the head of the family. He was the spiritual leader of
the family and the spiritual blessings belonged to the firstborn. And the promise of the Messiah
that God gave to Abraham, then to Isaac, would have fallen to
Esau. But Esau despised it. He despised
it. And the promised land was given
to the firstborn. Thus Esau despised his birthright. And over in the New Testament,
in Hebrews 12, Esau is spoken of like this. He is said to be
a profane person. I looked that up. Profane means
to treat something sacred with irreverence or contempt. It is
to debase by an unworthy use. It means to be far removed from
holiness. It is to be ungodly, unholy,
profane, and that describes Esau. And he was the one in line for
the birthright, for the blessings, and he despised it. And in this chapter, we will
see how Jacob And Rebecca deceived Isaac, and that was wrong. It
was wrong. Yet God turns many of our things
that are wrong and brings good out of them, even though He never
excuses the wrong. He never excuses it. Now comes time for the blessing
here in chapter 27. We'll look at chapter 27. Isaac
is old. He's about 140 years old. But
you know, he lived another 40 years after this. He lived another
40 years. And he lived the last 40 years
of his life in blindness. I thought that scripture says
many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers
them out of them all. Now, Isaac calls Esau the one
whom he loved. He is verse born. He calls him
in to bless him. He's going to bless him. He's
going to give him the blessing of the firstborn. And he calls
him in. But before that happens, Isaac
wants to eat of Esau's savory venison. He says, such as I love. Remember this. We'll look at
this again as we go on. And Rebecca heard the conversation
and she began to scheme like Sarah did. She began to scheme. going to move along with the
purpose of God by putting her hand into it. God doesn't need
my hand in it. He could bring it to pass. But
He allowed this. He allowed it. We know that the
Lord can turn our evil into good, even though, as I said, He never
excuses the evil. What Rebecca and Jacob did was
wrong, and they are going to be chastised for it. The wicked
are punished. But those who are the Lord's
are his children, he chastens them. He chastens every son whom
he receives. And so he will chasten them for
this deceitfulness. However, through this, through
this incident, we get an insight to God's grace to sinners. God's grace to sinners. Jacob
is no better than Esau, is he? Jacob's no better than Esau.
Jacob is a supplanter. And his mother is no better. David said, I was born in sin
and shaped in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Not that it was a sinful act, but he said it was just
a sinful seed. We are born with a sinful nature. Every last one of us. And it's
only by the grace of God that He plucks us like a bran from
the fire. It's only by His grace. Can any good thing come out of
this family? Can any good thing come out of this family? Well,
the answer is yes. Yes. But only by grace. Only by grace. Jacob have I loved.
Jacob have I loved. God set his affections upon Jacob. He did that before the world
began. He set his love upon Jacob. And even though Jacob is a supplanter,
he's a chief. In the Scripture, he's called
thou worm Jacob. He's called a worm. Yet God loved
him. God loved him. And God's going
to save that man. He's going to save that young
man. Those whom God loves are just as sinful as the rest of
the human race. Is that not right? Over in Ephesians
chapter 2, listen to this. Over in Ephesians chapter 2.
Let me read you this. Ephesians chapter 2, listen,
and you hath he given life to who were dead in trespasses and
sins. This is how God finds every one
of his children, dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others." The same nature. That's
why he's saying the same wretched nature that those who perish. We were born with that same nature.
The only difference? But God. Here's the difference.
But God. who is rich in mercy. For His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins." Not hurt, not wounded, but I mean absolutely dead. You
know, I've learned this. There are no degrees of dead,
is there? Dead is dead. And we were dead, he says, in
trespasses and sins. And hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace, you're saved. The whole
work from beginning to end is of grace. It's all of God's grace
that any man has saved or any woman has saved. Well, as I said, Isaac calls
Esau his son, and he wants him to cook him up some of that savory
venison that he loved. And Rebecca and Jacob, she hears
this, and they go to plotting and planning. They go to plotting
and planning, and they're going to deceive Jacob. They're going
to deceive him for the birthright. You see, Isaac, I'm sure, does
not know that Esau sold that birthright. That's being probably
kept hush-hush. Probably being kept quiet. And
oh, Esau thinks, well, you know, nothing's going to come of that.
Nothing will come of that. I'm just going to get the blessing.
He's going to go in and get the blessing. But no, he sold that birthright.
He sold that birthright. And it's not his now. It's Jacob's.
It belongs to Jacob. And I want you to notice here
before I go on. I want you to know, as I said
here, this is wrong. This deception is wrong. It's
wicked. It's sinful. And I want you to
notice what happened, how God chastened Rebekah and Jacob over
this. Look in verse 42 and 43. God chastens His own children
that they be not, He says, judged with the world. In 42 and 43.
And these words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah.
He said he's going to kill him. Esau said, I'm going to kill
Jacob as soon as my father dies. And these words of Esau, her
elder son, were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob,
her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau,
as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee thou
to Laban, my brother, to Haran. And tarry with him a few days
until thy brother's fury turn away. I think he spent close to 40
years, somewhere between 30 and 40 years there. Rebecca never
saw him again. Rebecca never saw Jacob, the
son whom she loved. She never saw him again. God
chastened him. God chastened him. And that's
what happened. And then you know what happened
with that situation. We'll see that here in a few
weeks. He goes to Laban, what does Laban do? Laban deceived
Jacob. He got a taste of his own medicine.
He deceived him. So that's what happened in that
situation. But I want us to see the gospel
in this. I want us to see this. I want
to point the gospel out in this story. Never read the Bible. Never read the Bible as a history
book. Never read it as a history book.
Always read it to see Christ and be instructed out of it,
to be instructed by Christ. Now, listen, Isaac represents
the father who has all the blessings to bestow. Esau represents Christ,
the firstborn, not in character, but as he is the firstborn. You
remember the first Adam was a type of Christ, but not as one who
sinned. He's not in that sense. So Esau
represents Christ as the firstborn. And then Rebecca represents the
Holy Spirit who hears that covenant that Isaac is going to make with
Esau over this birthright blessing, and she goes and reveals it to
who? Jacob the sinner. She reveals it to Jacob. You
see, Isaac, the father, calls the son whom he loved, that's
what it says, Isaac loved Esau, he calls the son whom he loved
And then Rebecca, who represents the Holy Spirit, calls Jacob. She's the one who calls Jacob
and then reveals to him what to do, how to obtain this blessing,
how to get this blessing, how to get this birthright blessing.
And she reveals it to him. And then the last thing we'll
see is this. The blessing cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. Now, Isaac, as the father, as
the Heavenly Father. He's a type of the Heavenly Father.
He has all the blessings, and He bestows all the blessings
on His firstborn. He's going to bestow it all on
His firstborn. We know that the Heavenly Father
has bestowed all His blessings on the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is said to be the firstborn. Let me see if I can find the
Scripture over in Psalm 89. Over in Psalm 89. I didn't write this
down. Let me see if I can find it. Psalm 89. I think that's the
one. Let me see if I can find it.
Oh, it's in Psalm 80. I think it's Psalm 89. Well, I don't know which verse
it is. But anyway, he said, I have made thee. Here it is, verse
27. Psalm 89. Also, I will make Him, speaking
of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, I will make Him my firstborn,
higher than the kings of the earth. He's given all the blessings
to His Son. All the blessings are in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the One who loved us. He's the One who has also blessed
us in His Son. The Father has blessed His firstborn.
And He's blessed all those whom He chose in Christ in the firstborn. He's one who loved us, chose
us, and it's all His to give. It's all His to bless us with
in the firstborn. And it is the Father who called
His Son to Him to make this covenant. He called Esau in. Remember,
Isaac calls Esau in. He's going to make this covenant,
this covenant of the blessing of the firstborn. And He calls
him in. And He's going to give him these
blessings. Now, Esau here represents the
Lord Jesus Christ as the firstborn. He's represented as the firstborn.
And the covenant is made with the firstborn. We know that.
Christ being the firstborn, the covenant, that everlasting covenant,
that covenant of grace was made with Him. He's the firstborn. And all the blessings belong
to that firstborn. And as we are in Him, All those
blessings belong to us in Him. All the blessings that the Father
has to give, forgiveness, righteousness, justification, sanctification,
peace, all that belongs to us in the firstborn. All of it. All of it. It says that Isaac loved
Esau. The Scripture says the Father
loveth the Son and showeth him all things that he himself doeth.
And Isaac, listen, and Isaac loved the savory meat that Esau
fixed him. He loved that savory meat that
Esau would go out. He'd go out and get an animal,
kill an animal, slay an animal. And he'd bring it in all fixed
and prepared. And Isaac, he says, Isaac loved
that. He loved that savory meat. The
Father loves, now listen, the Father loves the sacrifice of
Christ. It is a sweet-smelling savor
unto God. It's a sweet-smelling savor unto
God Almighty. He loves the sacrifice of His
Son. It smells good to Him. Just like Isaac loved that savory
meat of Esau. The Father loved that sacrifice
that His Son offered up at Calvary. Then Jacob represents here the
believer. He represents the believer. First
of all, in his sinfulness. In his sinfulness. He's called
a supplanter. A cheat. And he was, wasn't he? He was. He was no better than Esau. By
nature. By nature. But he is loved by
God. He is chosen of God. Jacob, have
I loved? Esau, have I hated? That's what
God said. God chose him. And he's a picture
of the believer in the way he's blessed in the firstborn. He's
a picture of that. Then Rebecca here represents
the Holy Spirit. She heard this covenant between
the Father and the Son. And she calls Jacob in. And she reveals to Jacob this
covenant, this blessing, what's about to happen. She reveals
it to him. And she instructed Jacob what to do. How to approach
the Father. And she said, do exactly Do exactly
as I said. Do exactly as I said. Now Isaac
calls his firstborn to himself. He reveals the covenant of blessing.
Rebecca hears it and she reveals it to Jacob and Jacob receives
the blessing of the firstborn. He does exactly what she said.
Now Esau, let me back up here just a second. Esau is to slay
an animal. He's to cook it. He's to bring
it to Isaac, his father. in order to receive the blessing.
Christ being the firstborn, He is to be sacrificed. His sacrifice
is a sweet-smelling savor that the Father loves. And without
this sacrifice, without this sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
without His blood, without His sacrifice, there can be no blessings. There can be no blessings. Isaac
was not going to bless Esau until after he had partaken of that
savory meal. And our Lord Jesus Christ had
to come into this world. He had to die on a cross. He
had to be sacrificed. He had to offer up himself as
a sacrifice for our sins. And because of that and through
that, we can now receive the blessing of the firstborn. We
can receive it. And Rebecca hears this covenant,
and she calls Jacob, and she instructs Jacob to go to his
father. Listen, now notice how she instructs him to go. You
go in the person of the firstborn. Don't you go in there and say,
he sold me the birthright. He despised it. He cares nothing
for it. Don't you do that. You go in
there as the firstborn. You go in the name of the firstborn. That's how you go in there. That's how she instructs him.
And Jacob dresses up. Notice over in verse 15. Look back in verse 13. And his
mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son. Only obey
my voice and go fetch me then. And he went and he fetched and
brought them to his mother. And his mother, see, she knows
of being being a type of the Holy Spirit. She knows what that
savory meat is. She made savory meat such as
He loved. She knows about that sacrifice.
He knows about that sacrifice. And Rebekah took goodly raiment
of her eldest son Esau. This is the righteousness of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And she put it upon Jacob. It
was in her house and she put that upon Jacob, her younger
son. And she put the skins of the
kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck.
And then she gave him the sacrifice. She gave him the savory meat
and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
And she said, Go, present this to your father. When you go before
your father, present this savory meat. And you go in the name
of the firstborn, Esau. And you'll be accepted. You will
be accepted. He hath made us accepted, it
says, in the Beloved. We are accepted in the name of
the Firstborn. We are accepted in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit instructs us
how to go to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
pleading His blood and His righteousness, pleading His name and His person.
You go in the name of the Firstborn. And she put upon him his goodly
clothes. We have upon us the righteousness
of Christ, covered by His blood. And we can actually go into God's
presence. We can go into the Father's presence and be blessed. And be blessed. We can go into
His presence in the name of Christ and receive forgiveness of sins. We can go into His presence and
be justified, accepted. How? In the name of the firstborn.
In the name of the firstborn. And she said, you do exactly
as I said. And the Holy Spirit tells us,
teaches us, you do exactly as it's written. Christ said, whatsoever
you ask in my name. In my name. Now, Jacob said in
verse 12, he'll perceive my deception. Here's conviction of sin. He'll
perceive my deception, my sin, and I'll be cursed. I will be
cursed. At first, our hearts condemn
us. And we are afraid to approach the Father. We know our hearts.
We know what we are by nature. We know how sinful we are by
nature. But Rebecca said, and the Holy Spirit teaches us, you
do exactly as I told you. You go in the name of the firstborn.
You plead the name of the firstborn. You do exactly. You go in the
person of your brother. You go in the name of your brother,
the firstborn. And he did as he was instructed,
and Isaac felt him. Isaac felt him. And Isaac smelled
him. And then he blessed him with
the blessing of the firstborn. Oh, he said, this is my firstborn.
I told you last week, everyone in Christ is a firstborn. Everyone
in Christ is a firstborn. And the blessing of Abraham,
the spiritual blessing of Abraham, and all that entails is given
to the firstborn. And we have that. We have that
blessing in Christ. We have it. And this blessing,
it says in verse 33, look. Look here in verse 33. Oh, he started, it was too late,
but he started complaining and crying and he wanted that blessing. And Jacob said in verse 33, And
Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, Who, that is, who are
you? Where is he that hath taken venison
and brought it to me? And I have eaten of all before
thou camest, and have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed. Be blessed. It can't be changed. If you are blessed in Christ,
If you are forgiven in Christ, if you are saved in Christ, accepted
in Christ, that cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. Nothing
can change the blessing that God has given you in the firstborn. And we've been blessed in Him.
Brethren, we've been blessed. We've been blessed. And we have
the blessing of Abraham. Spiritual life. All the promises of God in Christ,
we have all those promises. And glory hereafter, we have
it. We have it. Now he says here, and I'll close.
I want to look just for a second at this blessing. He says here
in verse 28, when he blessed Jacob, he said, Therefore God
give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve Thee, and nations
bow down to Thee. Be Lord over Thy brethren, and
let Thy mother's sons bow down to Thee. Cursed be everyone that
curses Thee, and blessed be he that blesses Thee. God give Thee
the dew of heaven. In that part of the country,
they had the former and latter rain. And pretty much all in
between that, they just had a heavy dew. And that's what kept the
plants alive, was just that heavy dew. But let me show you something
here. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32. He says in verse 31, Give ear,
O ye heavens, and I will speak. And hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain, and my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain
upon the tender earth, and as the showers upon the grass. But
my doctrine shall drop, my gospel, my truth, my word shall drop
as the dew from heaven." What's that dew from heaven? It's the
word of God. It's the voice of God. Here's
the blessing. God says, you'll have my word. I'll speak to you. My doctrine,
my word, my voice will be to this people whom I've blessed. That's what it meant. That's what Esau despised. He despised God, the doctrine. He despised the Word of God.
He despised Jesus Christ the firstborn. That's what he despised.
That's how serious it was. And the fatness of the earth.
Plenty of corn and wine. All the spiritual blessings.
All the spiritual blessings that belong to the firstborn. Belong
to us. Those who believe the gospel.
It belongs to us in Christ. That's how serious it is. That's
what Esau despised. That's what he despised. And
he said, let the people serve thee. And you know who he's talking
about here. He's talking about Jacob's Lord. People didn't serve
Jacob, they served, we serve, Christ is the one served. You
know, right now, everything serves him. We serve him willingly. The rest of this world serves
him unwillingly, but they serve him. His purpose is being done.
Look over in Psalm 72, I'll close. Psalm 72, look in verse 7. In his days shall the righteous
flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
He shall have dominion, this is speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from
the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the
wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the
dust. The kings of Tarshish And of the isle shall bring presents.
The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall
fall down before Him." Who's Him? The Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the prophecy. He
said, let people serve Thee. And He's speaking here of Jacob's
Lord. The one who was to come through
His loins. His lineage. And nations are going to bow
down to You. Victorious Savior. And you be Lord over thy brethren.
And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. And cursed be everyone
that curseth thee. Paul said, Let him be anathema
maranatha that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed
be he that blesseth thee. Oh, my soul. We have been blessed. Those who believe the gospel,
we have been greatly blessed. in the Lord Jesus Christ with
all these spiritual blessings, forgiveness, acceptance, justified,
sanctified in the name of the Firstborn. And you know what? Even now, when we go before the
Father, we go before the Father in the name of the Firstborn.
When you pray, you say, in Christ's name we pray. In the name of
the firstborn we pray. Accept us for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. You're blessed
in the firstborn. Okay, Mike.