If you want to turn there and
just hold your place, I'm going to be working my way to Hebrews
11.20 again this evening. But I don't want you to miss
what I have to say on the way, so listen carefully. God promises it shall be well
with the righteous. No exception. His word declares, there shall
no evil happen to the just. No possibility. The Lord God
declares to you and I who are his, I will not depart from them
to do them good. And we know, we know. My old buddy Harry Graham used
to tell me, he said, if I could just live up to what I preach,
I'd get along a whole lot better. If I could learn in here what
I know here, oh, how much better it'd be. We know, we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. But our lives are frequently
vexed with trials, circumstances, heartaches and troubles that
make it appear that God's promises have fallen to the ground. The things we see and feel, the
bitterness we taste, causes us often to think that God's purpose
of good is nullified. It appears often that evil and
not good is our lot. When Lindsay read back in the
office Sunday evening, Lamentations chapter three, I thought how
fitting this is for the message tonight. We are often like that
weeping prophet in Lamentations, compelled by our circumstances
and our weakness, by our condition and our unbelief, to cry like
the prophet, he hath brought me into darkness. but not into
life. Against me is he turned. He turns his hand against me
all the day. He has compassed me with gall
and travail. He set me in dark places. When I cry and shout, he shuts
out my prayer. He has enclosed my ways with
huge stones. He's made my paths crooked. He
was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret
places. He's turned aside my ways and
pulled me in pieces. He's made me desolate. My God
has filled me with bitterness. We don't express our feelings
too often honestly. But those are feelings we have
experienced. And if you haven't, hang on,
you will. One of the beauties of the book of the Psalms is
that we're allowed to go with a man after God's own heart into
his closet alone with God. And how often have you read in
the Psalms David crying out to God with utter honesty and saying,
I wish I could speak to God like that. and tell them exactly what's
on my heart. That's exactly how we ought to
speak to God. Not publicly. Oh no, we shouldn't
ever do anything to dishearten and discourage one another. But
in private, in our closets, let us ever speak honestly with God. Don't ever try to hide anything.
Remembering our affliction and misery, the wormwood and the
gall, how often have we, like Jeremiah, In our circumstances,
been given cause to think, even if we didn't say it, thou hast
removed my soul far off from peace. My strength and my hope
is perished from the Lord. How foolishly, how ignorantly
we behave when we judge God's goodness by the things we see,
and feel and experience. I don't know how to prevent it,
but I know that it is our unbelief that causes us to judge the goodness
of God by what we see, that causes us to judge God's wisdom by what
we experience, to judge the faithfulness of God by what we feel. William Cowper put it well, and
he He knew perhaps better than anyone
sitting here, including the preacher standing here, of what I'm talking
about now. Cowper spent most of his life
in utter, utter darkness and despair as far as his emotional
state was concerned. And he wrote, judge not the Lord
by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind the frowning
He hides a smiling face. The bird may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. God give us grace in the teeth
of adversity to trust him. I often revert to that passage
in Psalm 56, I believe it is, what time I am afraid. I will
trust in thee. Rex read that 92nd Psalm, a man
for whom I had great respect as a preacher. One Thursday evening,
long time ago, been 20 years ago, preached from Psalm 92 on
inciteness to divine praise. I heard the sermon. Man, just
lift you up. Saturday night, took out a 38
revolver. killed himself. God give us grace in the teeth
of adversity to believe him. What he's promised, he will perform. What he's purposed, he will do. God's providence is sure, his
decree is fair, unalterable, unchangeable, immutable. His
will must and shall in all things prevail. If everything around
us crumbles to the ground, and sometimes it seems to, though
heaven and earth shall pass away, and they soon shall, the purpose
of God will stand. Nothing hinders our God. Nothing
stands in his way. Nothing turns him aside. Nothing
causes him to in accomplishing his will. Now this truth is nowhere
more clearly demonstrated than in the life of God's servant
Isaac. Isaac was the patriarch who lived
the longest, but his life, his biographical sketch, if you will,
in scripture, is the shortest of them all. It encompasses just
two chapters, Genesis 26 and 27. In Hebrews chapter 11, The Holy Spirit uses that which
seems to me to be a very unusual incident to display the greatness
of this man's faith. And yet, when I have looked more
closely at the event, it proved to be a remarkable example of
faith. And that's the reason it's given.
In our text, Hebrews 11 20, the Holy Spirit calls our attention
to the fact that Isaac, by an act of faith, blessed his sons
Jacob and Esau in his old age. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob. Looking at it now, we can see
that clearly. And Esau. That part gives us
trouble concerning things to come. Now, this is the thing
I'm going to be driving at. I want us to understand. Pray
God will give us this kind of faith. Faith submits to the will
of God. That's right where we left off
last time. Isaac wanted the blessing of the birthright for his son
Esau. Oh, he loved Esau. He wanted God's bounty and goodness
for Esau. And yet when the Lord made it
clear to him that Jacob would be blessed and Esau cursed, Isaac
bowed to God's will. And by faith, that is to say,
trusting God, Isaac blessed both his sons, Jacob and Esau. We won't read the passage again,
but the event is recorded in Genesis 27. And in that passage,
we see something of the wisdom and faithfulness, goodness and
sovereignty of God. Graciously, wisely, sovereignly,
overruling and using. I meant to use both words, overruling
and using the frailties, infirmities, unbelief, and even sins, outright
rebellion of others in this world, his creatures, to accomplish
his purpose. The fact is, no matter how our
circumstances appear to oppose it, no matter how disobedient
men and women may be, No matter how cunningly Satan works, no
matter how weak we become, the purpose of God shall stand. The purpose of God shall stand. The foundation of God stands
sure. Know what Paul said? 2 Timothy 2, 19. In the face
of all These things that seem contrary to it, in the face of
all these things that seem to oppose it, in the face of all
these things that seem to nullify it, the foundation of God stands
sure! The Lord knows them that are
his. All children of God understand that. The Lord knows, he loves
them that are his. He provides for them that are
his. He cares for them that are his. He watches for them that
are his. He'll have them that are His.
Now let me show you four or five things with regard to this man
Isaac and his sons and his God. First, there's a lesson here
about divine predestination. It is pointedly displayed in
Jacob and Esau. Now let's look at some scripture.
You turn, if you will, to, I'll let you turn to two passages,
Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. The book of God clearly teaches
the doctrine of God's sovereign, eternal, universal, and absolute
predestination. Now, this is what is meant by
the term predestination. God Almighty, before the world
began, predestined all things, no exceptions, that come to pass
in time. In providence, the Lord God is
simply outworking what he purposed from eternity in predestination. Let me give you some examples.
You say, well, you're just talking about the good things. I said
everything. All things. All things. No exceptions. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, according to Acts 2.23, was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God into the hands of wicked
men, who by the exercise of their wicked wills crucified and slew
the Lord of Glory. In Romans 8.28, We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are thee called, and this is how they work together
for good, according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, then
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Providence
is Romans 8.28. All things working together for
good to them that love God. to them who are the call according
to his purpose. Predestination is Romans 8, 29. This is his purpose, that we
who are his, those who are known of God, ordained of God to life
everlasting, at last be conformed to the image of his Son in everlasting
glory. That's his purpose, and that's
what he's doing. Look at Ephesians 1. Verses 3 through 6 talk about
predestination. Verse 11 talks about providence.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Now look at verse 11. In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him, look at it now, who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. Nowhere is the purpose
of God in eternal predestination more manifestly set before us
in scripture than in the birth and lies and ultimate end of
these twin boys who were born to Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and
Esau. The purpose of God in regard
to these two men was made known to their mother, Rebekah, when
the children were still in her womb. Look at Romans chapter
9. When the children strove in her
womb, the Lord said to her, the elder shall serve the younger.
God's eternal purpose for these two sons of Isaac was made known
before they were born before they had done any good or any
evil, and it was made known for this purpose, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand, not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy."
All right, let's read Romans 9, verse 11. The children being
not yet born, Jacob hadn't done anything good, Esau hadn't done
anything bad, neither had he done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. Not that this has
anything to do with whether or not God's purpose is going to
stand, but that it might stand manifest. Here are two boys,
they haven't done anything. They haven't been born yet, they
haven't begun to breathe yet. The Lord God said, now these
two boys I have set for a standard so that everybody might understand
that the purpose of God according to election is by free grace. and free grace alone. You see
that? It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Now that's the response of almost
everybody immediately when you talk to them about this text
of scripture. Well, that's not right. That's not right. Who are you, who am I, to dare
lift our hands and attempt to slap God Almighty on the wrist
and tell him what he does is not right? Who are we to set
in judgment over the Almighty? God forbid! For he says to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The words loved and hated here
must be viewed in the full force of their meaning. That's how
Paul explains it to us. That's how the Holy Spirit explains
it to us in the passage we read. God loved Jacob in this sense.
He was committed to Jacob's eternal good. That's what love is. It's the concentration of one's
very being upon the good of another. It is the commitment of one to
another's welfare. It is the devotion of a being
to the well-being of another. That's what love is. It's not
a passion, though it involves passion. It's not an emotion.
Though it involves emotion, love is the determination of one heart
to do good to another. That's what love is. God Almighty,
before the world began, looked at Jacob. And he said, I'm going
to take that scoundrel, that rascal, that rat, that fallen,
depraved, corrupt, vile, wretched, despicable son of Adam, and I'm
going to do him. And the word hated must be taken
in its fullest sense. It doesn't mean to love a little
less. This is what it means. It means to ignore and pass it by. If a man come after
me and hate not father, mother, brother, and sister, yea, his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple. That's the way the
word's used here. What does that mean? If you follow Christ, you
don't give consideration to your mother, your father, your brother,
your sister, your wife, your son, your daughter, not even
to yourself. You just follow him. Without
consideration of anything else, he becomes the all-consuming
object of life. Don't you follow him and let
nothing stand in the way. The Lord God left these all to
himself. Passed him by. Gave him no consideration. And that's all it takes for a
man to go to hell. It's for God to leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Now, what is said concerning
Jacob and Esau is said of all men and women and was said before
they were born. Genesis 3.15 marks the announcement
of the coming of Christ, but it does more than that. It divides
all mankind into the seed of the serpent and the seed of the
woman, the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ. This
seed is spoken of in scripture like this in Psalm 22, a seed
shall serve him. He's cut off in the midst of
his years. Who's going to declare his generation? The Spirit of
God enters in the spirit of prophecy. There is a seed that shall serve
him. He shall see his seed. His soul has made an offering
for sin, and he shall see his seed. He'll see him justified. He'll see him glorified. He'll
see him with him. He shall see his seed forever with him in
glory. Now his seed are those who are
God's elect, the people for whom he died, those who are in his
loins as we were all in the loins of Adam, and are his seed. His
seed are all whom he represents, those who are saved by his grace,
and is represented throughout the scriptures as dividing the
human race. There are sheep and goats, and
the two never mingle. They never cross. One of God's sheep, Cain, one
of the goats. Jacob, one of God's sheep. Esau,
one of the goats. God chose the nation of Israel,
passed by all the other nations of the earth. God chose Isaac,
passed by Ishmael. But these things are not talking
just about those individual men. The scriptures made it very plain
that we read in Romans 9, this was declaring to us the purpose
of God. The purpose of God according
to election. It stands not of works, but of
God who calls. Not by the will of man, but by
the will of God. Not by the power of man, but
by the power of God. The Lord God says concerning
Jacob, the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself. Rex, when you read
that tonight, I thought, my son, imagine that. Jacob is Rex Bartley
and Don Fortner. And Israel, listen, for his peculiar
treasure. What a peculiar treasure. They
shall be mine, he says, in that day when I make up my jewels.
And this is what he says concerning them. I am the Lord. I change not. Jacob have I loved. But I change not. But I change
not. But I change not. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. You see, it is God and God alone
who makes us to differ. God and God alone. All right, secondly, Isaac's wife, Rebecca, acted
in terrible presumption and unbelief, attempting to secure by the arm
of the flesh what God promised to do by his free grace. Both
Rebecca and Jacob knew and believed the promise of God. The faith
at its best in us is horribly weak. When I was younger, I never dreamed
it'd be possible for a believer to be so constantly, constantly
Constantly filled with unbelief, as I am. But our faith at best is unbelief. You see, our righteousness before
God is not our faith, but the object of our faith. Our hope
before God is not our believing, but Him whom we believe. Our
standing before God is not the measure of our faith, but the
measure of His Word. That's all. Rebekah believed
God. We're not told in the scripture
that she ever told Jacob, Isaac, anything about this. Obviously
she told Jacob. Probably she told Isaac. But
God told Rebekah, I love Jacob, and I pray that he shall. He
said, the elder shall serve the younger. That's my purpose. But
wait a minute. What would the Lord have me to
do now? He's about to give the blessing
to Esau. And God told me that the blessing
goes to Jacob. Surely then I must do something. Oh, what a mistake. What a mistake. What a tragic act of unbelief. What a tragic thing. She knew
God's purpose. Jacob had already lawfully purchased
the birthright, but Isaac was about to give it to Esau. Her
faith failed and Jacob's failed when she hatched her plot and
Jacob agreed to it to deceive Isaac and get the blessing by
trickery. They should have left it to God's
providence. But they had an example to follow.
Abraham and Sarah did the same thing. Children of God don't ever imagine
that what we do has no effect on those around us. They were working in the energy
of the flesh to prevent the thwarting of God's purpose. Their object
was right. Their object was noble. Their
object was good. But their action was horrid. It was unbelief. And Isaac's affections were perverse. Isaac loved Esau. And his love for Esau stood in
the way of his obedience to God. My soul, what a morning. His love for Esau was a selfish
human thing. Oh, how often displaced affections
lead to horrible consequences. Esau was his only son. He was
his main child. And he fixed things just the
way Isaac liked to. Therefore Isaac was determined
to bless his son Esau, contrary to God's revelation. Well did the scriptures say his
eyes had grown dim. I'll come back to that in a minute.
But notice this fourth thing. Isaac's blessing was prophetic.
Again, you can read this in Genesis 27, at your leisure. Isaac blessed both his sons,
Jacob and Esau. The significance of the blessing
was clear. Jacob was promised both spiritual
and temporal blessings. The coming seed, the Lord Jesus
Christ, was confirmed to Jacob. All the blessings of the covenant
confirmed to Jacob. Everlasting salvation confirmed
to Jacob. Esau was blessed. But his blessings were like the
wicked of whom you read in Psalm 92, when the wicked flourish. It's like feeding a stalled ox. The reason you're fattening him
is to kill him. And that was the blessing Esau
had, nothing else. just temple stuff, earthly stuff,
material stuff, and it contented his heart. God's sovereignty was manifest
here. Isaac believed that the one he blessed would have the
promise. He knew that, that was God's
way. He perceived that the providential hand of God had crossed his affections. I determined from their youth,
Esau is my boy. I determined from their youth,
Esau is the one. I determined from their youth,
I will leave my family name in the hands of Esau. I determined
from their youth, Esau shall have the birthright. And so before
he died, he called in Esau. So he'd be sure to bless Esau.
Made certain that now the blessing would be Esau's. And God crossed
him up. Well, what does he do? to the will of God. Oh, buddy, now that is a remarkable
act of faith. A remarkable act of faith. There's
not a word recorded about him murmuring or complaining, being
bitter, even though he had reason to be a little upset with his
wife and a little upset with his boy. But not a word about
him murmuring are complaining against God's providence. I blessed
him, and he's blessed. He didn't even try to recall
the blessing. He just accepted God's providence And this is
the very thing to which the scripture refers in Hebrews 12, 17, when
it says that he saw salt earnestly, a place of repentance with tears,
but found it not. He saw, started weeping, crying
like a little baby. He said, oh, but daddy blessed
me too. And Isaac said, it can't be done, son. Can't be done. Now, this is the last thing.
God prevails. Oh, thank God the heavens do
rule. When my will crosses his, he
prevails. When my purpose crosses his,
he prevails. When my ambitions cross his,
he prevails. Thank God it's so. He works his will even through
the weaknesses and sins of others, even through my weakness and
my sin. Now if you think that's an excuse
for my weakness and my sin, you have no idea what I'm talking
about. I can't tell you how painful my weakness and my sin is. But
my weakness and my sin, your weakness and your sin, All the
power of hell and all the weakness and sins of men do nothing to
alter or even hinder God's purpose, but rather He rules. And through Rebekah's trickery
and Jacob's deceit and Isaac's selfishness, God Almighty gave
the blessing exactly as he had ordained it. Though it will never thwart God's
purpose, unbelief does do something though. It wreaks havoc upon
the lives of men and women. Oh my, look at Isaac's house. just got two boys, and one absolutely
hates the other and said, I'm going to kill him just as soon
as I get my hands on him. He's a dead man. His son, Jacob,
flees away, gone for a long, long time. The house is just
utterly divided. Esau goes down and marries a
Canaanite. Esau abandons the land of promise,
abandons the worship of God. How come? selfishness, lust. You see, if we're taken up with satisfying the flesh, God help us. If we're taken up
with gratifying ourselves, if we're taken up with pleasing
ourselves, We become terribly dim-sighted spiritually. And we're sure to act in unbelief.
Sure to. Say, but I've prayed about this.
I've been meditating on this a long time. I've been thinking
about this a long time. If we act to please ourselves,
Bobbie Estes, we are sure to act in unbelief. We're sure to. But pastor, what do we do? Trust
God and wait. Trust God and wait. Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, in all your ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Turn to Isaiah chapter
40. I'll give you a word from God
and I'll quit. Isaiah 40 verse 27. All my brothers and sisters,
whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. Just wait on Him. Just wait on Him. Isaiah 40, 27. Why sayest thou,
O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord? My way is hid from the Lord. My judgment is passed over from
my God. Oh, Israel. Oh, Jacob. How foolish. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. He gives power to the faint,
to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and young men utterly fail. But
they that wait, not just they that wait, Lindsay,
but they that wait upon the Lord. There's a difference in folding
your arms and saying, well, whatever will be, will be. No, no. They that wait upon the Lord. What will happen with them? They
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Reckon why he put the last first. Looked at me like he ought to
have said they shall walk and not faint and they shall run
and not be weary. Oh no. As you learn to wait on God,
you quit running here and there. As you learn to wait on God,
you walk peaceably in this world. And you won't faint. Teach me, oh Lord, to wait. But where do you apply this,
Pastor? Everywhere. Everywhere. We want to see God do things.
We want to see things happen. Just wait. Wait on God. We want to see those children
converted. Wait. Wait on God. I believe we did. Just wait now.
I can't tell you how often in my life I've talked myself into
or somebody else has talked me into Handling a situation. Take the bull by the horns. That's
my personality. Just get it done. Every time
I ever laid my hands on that bull's horns, I regretted it.
Every time. I have never in my life regretted
waiting on God. Never. It won't happen. It won't
happen. The purpose of God shall stand. Amen.