Today's message will be entitled
Jacob Denise Saul and we'll be looking in Genesis chapter 25
and I want to begin reading in verse 20. It says Isaac was 40
years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethiel,
the Assyrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban, the Assyrian.
And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was
barren. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together
within her. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. And the Lord said unto her, two
nations are in thy womb. and two manner of people shall
be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there
were twins in her womb, and the first came out red, all over
like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. And after
that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel, and his name was called Jacob. and Isaac was three score
years old when she bared them. Verse 27, and the boys grew,
and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob
was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau,
because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And
Jacob saw a pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was
faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that
red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called
Edom. And Jacob said, sell me this
day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at
the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright
do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this
day, and he swear unto him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and
pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and he rose up
and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Our last message we tried to
look in Genesis chapter 24, how that Abraham chose a bride for
his son Isaac, and her name was Rebekah. And in Isaac, he was
the true heir of Abraham. He was the one through whom the
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come, and Isaac is a picture
of him. He's the heir of all things.
All the blessings are included in him. And our Lord said that
in Isaac, all the world would be blessed through him, and that's
a picture of Christ our Lord. And in this chapter now, we come
to Abraham and Isaac, and Isaac has married Rebekah, and they've
been married for, he was 40 years old when they were married, and
we find out in verse 26 that he was 60 when the children were
born. But Rebekah, like Sarah before
her, she was married. She was not able to have children.
God had told Isaac that he would be the heir, and that the heir
would come through him. But the more they go, the older
they get, they see that they cannot produce a child. And they
go to inquire of the Lord. So they prayed for 20 years that
God would enable Rebekah to conceive for 20 long years, and they had
to wait. They are waiting, and they are
trusting God. The promise depended upon God and God's faithfulness.
God had promised Abraham, God had promised Isaac, and he doesn't
have any children. Now, if you'll read the other
accounts about Ishmael, Abraham's other son, every time he turned
around, he was having children, but not Isaac. And it seems to
be always that way with the people of God. Sarah was that way. Rebekah's
that way, and others in the scriptures, but they inquired of the Lord
for 20 long years, and God is the only one that can enable
her to have a child. We see in this that often God's
people are afflicted, and it seems like the people of the
world are blessed. But always remember that God
does all this to his people so that we will trust him and not
in ourselves. He is the God of all grace, and
all life must come from him. The fulfillment of the promise
rested upon the faithfulness of God, not upon the faithfulness
of Isaac and Rebekah, upon him. And that promise is Christ. This happened to him, and God
told him that he would have a son. Not only was he going to have
a son, but he was going to have two sons. Isaac and Rebekah had
been taught by Abraham that the promised Redeemer was to come
through them. This was their hope. And this
is what they live for. They are looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. So they've waited for 20 long
years. And now, she conceives. She conceives. God answered their
prayer. God's faithful to his promise,
to his covenant. And it says in verse 22, we see
the conception. And the children struggled together
within her, and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And
she went to inquire of the Lord. They didn't try to help God out
as Abraham and Sarah did. You remember how Abraham went
in to say, hey, Gar, and she conceived and had Ishmael. During
that 20 years, they waited faithfully and patiently upon God. And here
in her conception, this struggle begins to go on. She said, if
it be so, if I'm the one through whom the Redeemer, the promised
seed is to come, why is this struggling going on? She had
these questions, and she went to inquire of the Lord. The struggle
was on the inside. She couldn't understand why the
struggling was. I can see her going to other
women and I can see her go to other women and say, well, when
you conceived, was it like this with you? Did you go through
these? Was it like this struggle on
the inside? I read from somebody years ago,
I can't remember who it was, that the struggle was so great
that she thought that those two children were either going to
kill each other or they were going to kill her. this struggle
that was going on the inside, and it said that she went to
inquire of the Lord. Most believe that Abraham was
still living at this time, and I can see her. If I'd been living
in the days of Abraham, I would have went to Abraham and said,
Abraham, can you help me out here? What's going on? I'm confused.
I never imagined that it would be like this, this struggling
that's going on. And I see here a picture of when
God begins to work in the heart of a believer or heart of a sinner,
how God begins to bring this struggle. They're confused. They don't know what's going
on. But what happens is there's life. There now is a struggle
between the new man and the old man. Life begins at conception. We don't know when a person is
born again, but he's born again when the Spirit of God begins
to work in the heart and the womb of that sinner. And here
this struggle is. Rebecca has to have some answers,
so she inquires of the Lord. What does this mean? God tells
Rebecca what is going on, and he explains this to her. We see
her in verse 23. And the Lord said to her, two
nations are in thy womb, two manner of people shall be separated
from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than
the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. She
said, he says, there's two nations, there's two manner of people,
shall be separated from thy bowels, the one shall be stronger The
elder shall serve the younger. And God explains to Rebecca before
these two boys were ever born what they will be like and what
they represent. She now finds out that she not
only has one, but two sons. And before they were born, they
were already struggling. One was stronger, one was weaker,
one was striving for the birthright, the other not. They both wanted
the preeminence. One would be stronger, one weaker,
one older, one younger. What does this picture? It pictures
the old nature and the new nature. There is a struggle between grace
and corruption in the soul. Galatians 517, for the flesh
lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot
do the things that you would. God is telling Rebecca that before
these children are born that he is sovereign in all things. All things were created by him
and for him and by him all things consist. God brought this to
pass. God is ordering all these things.
And in Romans chapter nine, Paul the apostle uses this to illustrate
God's sovereign election in grace. Now listen, Romans chapter nine,
verse nine, for this is the word of promise. At this time will
I come, that is the promise. God told Abraham, when Sarah,
remember they tried to help God out and produce Ishmael, but
the promise is, here's the promise, at this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, who's the
heir of all things, who is the son of the promise. Here's what
he says, for the children being not yet born, I'm talking about
Jacob and Esau here, neither having done any good or evil. Before they were ever born, they
hadn't done any good and they hadn't done any evil. They've
not even been born. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said to her, as we read
here in Genesis, the elder will serve the younger. The elder,
the oldest, will serve the younger. As it is written in the book
of Malachi chapter 1, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Before those boys were ever born,
God chose and set his love upon one and left the other to himself. But also we see here in these
two natures, Esau's a picture of the old man that's born first. He's the firstborn. Jacob, the
beloved, the new man, who's accepted of God, and Esau, the old man
who's never accepted. They struggle. We find this plumb
back in the book of Genesis chapter 3. I believe it's chapter three
when Adam and Eve came together. As soon as they came out of the
garden, Eve conceived and she buried Cain. Then she buried
Abel. And you remember that struggle.
Cain killed Abel. There's an enmity between the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And that's what
this struggle's all about. And God explains it to her. Between
these two childs, two nations, two nations, their birth, verses
24 through 26. And when her days, Rebekah's
days, to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her
womb. And the first came out red all
over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. And
after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was three score
years old when she bare them. Esau was born first. He came
out red all over and was like a hairy garment, so they called
him. That's where he got his name Esau. Jacob was born second. He's the younger. He came out. As he came out, he grabbed Esau
by the heel. So that's where he got his name,
the trickster or the surplanner. He's trying to get, he's trying
to latch hold of the firstborn. Esau was born first. Then we
see in verses 37 through 34, we see these sons. Esau was born
first. Jacob was born second. Nothing
is recorded while the boys were young. We find out before their
birth. We find out that God chose one
and rejected the other. We find out that God passed by
one and chose the other. We see that God says the elder
son. Now before they were born, the
oldest son is gonna serve the younger son. Who determined which
one was born first? God did. People say, well, that's
just not fair. God controls all things. God
is sovereign in all things. Can he not do what he wills with
his own? Isaac was his. Sarah, Rebecca
was his. They're going to conceive when
God sees fit. God gave them life. And when
God gave them life, he gave them these two sons. One was older
and one was younger. But what I want you to see that
these two boys, were raised in the same house. They were taught the same truths
about God. Abraham taught Isaac, and Isaac
taught Jacob and Esau the things of God. He taught them that one
day God was going to send a deliverer into this world and that God
was raising up a people and through that people that he had set apart
for his own purpose and his own love and grace, he would set
them apart and through them the Lord Jesus Christ would come,
who's the heir of all things. That's what all these things
picture in the Old Testament. Now this is history. I know these
people really existed. Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and
Esau, they were real people, but they picture something. They
are pictures of Jesus Christ and how he redeems his people.
But both these boys were instructed. Both of them were taught, and
they were taught what? The significance of the birthright. See, the birthright was Isaac's.
It was his by birth. It was his by promise. Now listen.
Because he was born first, he had the right, the birth right. It included both spiritual and
material blessings. The holder received a double
portion of the inheritance, Deuteronomy 21, 17. But he shall acknowledge
the son of the hated for the firstborn by giving him a double
portion of all that he hath, for he is the beginning of his
strength. The right of the firstborn is his. The firstborn was the
head of the family. was the firstborn was the head
of the tribe. And above all, he was the spiritual leader of
his house. Isaac instructed his family in
the things of God. That was the responsibility of
the firstborn. That was his right. He was the
beginning of strength. He was the spiritual leader of
his people. And in this case, he had the privilege of being
the ancestor of the Messiah through whom he would come. That's what
the first one was. Esau was the oldest. The birthright
was his by right. He didn't have to work for it.
He didn't have to earn it. It was his. It was his by birth. It says that he was a cunning
man, a man of the field. Esau was a man of the field,
and this is always a picture of the world. And the word hunt
is always used in the scripture in an evil sense. It said he
was a cunning man, a hunter. He was a man of the field, a
man of the world. Let me give you a couple of scriptures.
Proverbs 6, 26, for by means of a whorish woman, a man is
brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt
for the precious life. The good man is perished out
of the earth, and there is none right among men. They all lie
and wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother
with a net. Two men are called hunters in
the scriptures, Nimrod, who built the Tower of Babel, and Esau,
and both of them were judged. That's what Esau was. He's the
firstborn. He's a man of the field. He's
a man of the world. He's a, it said he was a hairy
man. He was, and Robert Hawker said
that word means, Esau means he was the perfect man. So what
do you mean the perfect man? He would probably, we would have
looked at him and said that he's the perfect specimen of mankind. Like Adam. Adam was the perfect
man, but he fell in the garden. And Esau became Edom, who was
cursed. Esau means red. Adam means red. Red earth. Jacob was the younger. He was outwardly speaking the
weaker of the two. He was the younger. It says he
was a plain man and dwelled in tents. I can kind of see him
as a mama's boy. But as he dwelled in tents, he
was like his father. He was a tent dweller. What did
that mean? He never settled down. He looked
for a city who has foundations, who's builder and maker is God.
His place was not in this world and he knew it. He was a tent
dweller. What's a tent? You can pick it
up and move it. He sits it here one day, he dwells
where God wants him to dwell, and when God sees fit to move
him, he picks up his tent and he moves. Like his father, I
can see him that he kept sheep. And I can see him though sitting
in the tent with Abraham wanting to hear more about this birthright. Tell me more about that one that
is to come. God revealed these things to
Abraham. Abraham revealed these things
to Isaac and revealed them unto his sons. Both of these sons
were taught these things. And then it says that Isaac loved
Esau The daddy loved the boy. Why wouldn't he love him? He
says he loved him. Let me find the scripture Verse 28, and Isaac loved Esau
because. There's always a because. There's
always a reason. Why did he love him? Because
he loved his deer meat. He loved the venison. Oh, this
is my boy. Look at him. He's a big man. He's the outstanding man, strong
man in the world's eyes. Do you get the picture? This
is what he pictures. This is what he illustrates.
But it just says, Rebecca loved Jacob. Now God revealed to Jacob,
and I believe God revealed to Isaac also, that that elder boy
was Esau, is going to serve that younger boy. Why? God said so. God said so. And Rebecca loved Jacob. In these
two sons, we see a picture of the old man. the depraved nature. He's the oldest. He was born
first. Your old man was born first. Your old man came into
this world first. He's first. He thinks he's strong. He thinks he's able to do all
these things. And he always goes after the
things of the world. Your old man will never seek
the things of God. There's none that seeks after
God. Esau would have been a man's
man, big, robust, not afraid of anything. Outwardly, he would
have been the one we would have chose. We would have been just
like Isaac. We would have set our love on
Esau. He's the big hunter. He's loved by his father. He
had the respect of the world and everybody around him. To
me, he represents just like David's eldest brother when they brought
him in before Samuel and they was gonna anoint him a king.
Samuel looked at him and said, well, this one must surely be
the man. That's how we always look. God
said, listen, Samuel, you look on the outside. God said, I'll
look on the heart. I've sought me a man after my
own heart. Let me read you this in 1 Corinthians
1. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God chose the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God chose the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And the base things of the world, and the things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are..." Why did God do this? Why did God pick Jacob
over Esau? Right here it is. That no flesh,
that no flesh should glory in his presence. No flesh. You say,
well, look at Esau. Oh, he's the one. No, God left
him alone. But Jacob, he would have been
the one that was despised in the world's eyes, that he's just
a plain man, just a simple man. But he represents the new man,
the one that's born second. But the elder will serve the
younger. In the world's eyes, he looks
like the weakest, but he's the strongest. Jacob saw. I want you to see
this. Jacob saw. There's so many differences between
Jacob and Esau. You can see them. One's a hairy
man. One's just a plain man. One's
accepted in the world's eyes. One's despised in the world's
eyes. But Jacob, Jacob saw the importance
of the birthright. It was promised to him before
the world was ever made, before he was ever born. God promised
it to him. promised before Jacob or Esau
had ever done any good or evil. Hadn't done anything. They'd
not even been born. God determined to show mercy
on that boy. God picked him out. You know
what God said? That's the one I will accept. Based upon his
grace. What made the difference between
Jacob and Esau? Grace did. And he made up his mind to get
that birthright. Even when he was born, he was
grabbing after his brother's heel. He should have waited on
God to give it to him. We see here that Jacob, Esau
comes in one day, he's been out hunting all day long, and he's
just flat wore out. He thinks, he said, I'm at the
point to die. What does that show? The things
of the world can never satisfy you. And he comes in, he's not
been interested in Jacob before, and he says, give me some of
that red stew you've got. And Jacob says, okay, I'll give
you the red soup or whatever it is if you'll sell me your
birthright. If you'll sell me your birthright.
Now, it was wrong of him to try to buy the birthright. It was
his by promise. And eventually God would have
gave it to him. And God did eventually give it to him. But we see here
that Jacob saw the importance of the birthright. Esau didn't. It says Esau despised his birthright. He knew about it and he despised
it. He said, give me some of that
red stew. He was ignorant to the things
of God. A man cannot in himself understand
or comprehend spiritual things. He could not understand it. They're foolishness to him. So
he willingly, he says, give me whatever it was. He said, give
it to me. I want it so bad, I'll sell my birthright. In Hebrews chapter 12 it says,
looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God,
lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many
be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator
or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. For you know that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. Esau despised the birthright."
What does that mean? He despised the things of God. He says, what good is that birthright
going to do me? Jacob saw with the eye of faith.
Esau couldn't see it. He knew about it, but he said,
shoot, what good is it to me if I'm going to die? Here, take
it. What did he despise? Let me tell
you what he despised. He despised the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the first begotten from the dead. He's the firstborn
of all things. Everything here pictured Christ,
and he said, I do not want him. He says, I choose the things
of the flesh, the fulfillment of the flesh, this one bowl,
he said, one morsel of meat. He actually chose one morsel
of meat over the Lord Jesus Christ? And men choose to fulfill the
lust of this flesh over the things of God? Men today still sacrifice everything
for a little fulfillment of the flesh. Talks about the pleasures
of sin for a season. But Jacob wanted the birthright. It was not his. It was his brother's. He said, but I got to have it.
And all God's people are pictured in Jacob. We're called the sons
of Jacob, the chosen of God, that nation that is set apart,
the elect of God. They must have Christ more than
anything else. And that's what we see here.
And my question to you is, are you a Jacob or are you an Esau? Or will you despise the birthright? Will you despise Christ? Will
you sell Christ just for the lust of this flesh, for the fulfilling
of the flesh? Or will you look to Christ? Our
Lord said, the kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent
take it by force. We must have Christ or we'll
perish. May God bless this message to
your heart.