[0:00] The Lord's Blessing with you the whole narrative as we read it together regarding Isaac blessing both his sons, Jacob and Esau, with respect to things to come.
[0:48] In Genesis 25, we're told concerning the birth and the early life of Jacob and Esau, and we're told there of how they developed very differently as people. Esau turned out from a fairly early age to be an immoral person and a profane person as well, one who treated lightly the things of God, and he lived to satisfy the flesh. Jacob, on the other hand, we're told, was a plain man or a righteous man, a just and an upright man, and he valued the things of God. There were tensions also within the family. Isaac seemed to have a particular affection for Esau, and Rebekah, on the other hand, had more of an affection for Jacob. And these spiritual tendencies and these tensions within the family all came to a head with respect to the dispute regarding the birthright. Esau sells his birthright to Jacob. One evening, when he comes home from the hunt, he's tired, exhausted, and in exchange for the red pottage that Jacob has scooped, he gives Jacob his birthright. And that transaction, in many respects, brings their spiritual life to a head. Because in it, you see Esau selling away his spiritual privileges. And he does so because he despises them. That is what Genesis 25 tells us, that Esau despised his birthright. He was a man who lived for the moment, and that is why he chose the red pottage over and above the birthright of God. Jacob, on the other hand, buys the birthright, whoever, foolishly he may have gone about it. He buys the birthright because he values the birthright, and because he esteems the things of God, and he reckons them higher than the things of the world.
[2:45] And he is pained by the fact that his father has not yet passed this birthright onto himself as the spiritual child of God. Now, as I said last week, he doesn't go about it in the right way. He takes advantage of his brother's weakness, and for that he will reap the whirlwind. And for a large part of Jacob's life, he is reaping the fruit in chastisement of what he went about in the wrong way. As the psalmist tells us, as God says, I'll visit their faults with rods and their sins with chastisement, yet I'll not take my love from him, nor false my promise make. Jacob was a man of God who erred in this respect. So he was chastised by the Lord, but never lost God's love. And we'll see more of that, God willing, as we go on. Now, that transaction regarding the birthright wasn't just finished with that. It wasn't just finished with Esau gulping down his pottage and walking away as though he had never done anything. Because many, many years later, this whole thing comes back, and it is revived again in the family. Isaac is now 130 years old. His eyes have become dim, and he can hardly see.
[4:05] Esau is married. He has married twice to two Hittite women who have no interest in the covenant. And there again, Esau is putting the flesh before the things of the spirit. Jacob is still unmarried, and his father is not as careful to find a wife for him as Abraham was to find one for Isaac himself.
[4:28] And Isaac suddenly begins to feel unwell, and he senses that the time of his own death is approaching. Now, he must be very weak, and you can see from the way that he behaves in this chapter that he is a weak man, a man who thinks himself on his deathbed. Now, in fact, Isaac rallies, and he lives for another 50 years after this. But the important point at this point is this, that he expected to die. And he decides that it's time to bestow the official blessing upon the family, the blessing of God which the great patriarch was to bestow upon his own sons. Now, this blessing is really just the formal acknowledgement of the birthright. With this blessing, the birthright is formally, as it were, passed by the father to the son. And along with all the spiritual privileges which that contains, there is also the element of wealth and prosperity. By far, the bulk of the goods will now be blessed officially to one of the two children. And Isaac takes it upon himself now to pronounce this blessing. And unfortunately, he goes about to pronounce it upon Esau. He called Esau, his eldest son, and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Behold, here am I. And Isaac says in verse 2,
[6:01] I am old, I know not the day of my death. Therefore, take, I pray thee, your weapons, quiver and bow, and go to the field, and take me some venison. Now, you know how the, see here how the venison is arising again. Notice that that was the root of the favoritism. In chapter 25, Isaac loved Esau because of the venison. And even all these years afterwards, it seems that this is still some kind of attachment between Isaac and Esau. He still views Esau as the dashing son, the firstborn who goes out and who hunts and who brings home the venison. Go, he says, and over this meal of venison, which you can prepare, I will bless you. Now, this is a strange way for the patriarch to go about it.
[6:48] There's no intimation to Rebecca that it's going to happen. There's no intimation to Jacob that it's going to happen. He doesn't gather the family to have a great formal service and a transmission of the birthright. It is all done by stealth. It is done quietly. And when things are done like that, things are not done properly. And that is the way it is with respect to the blessing. So he sends out Esau and Esau goes to hunt for the venison. Now, in the providence of God, Rebecca overhears.
[7:20] And she makes her own plan and she makes it quickly. She brings Jacob into her presence and she says, go out now and get two kids of the goats and bring them here to me immediately.
[7:32] And I will prepare savory meat from them just as your father loves. And the plan is, of course, for Jacob to go in instead of Esau and to get the blessing instead of the older brother.
[7:45] Now, Jacob is unsure about this. He's afraid that the whole thing won't work. But Rebecca assures him that it will. And she goes further and she takes the fine clothes that Esau has and she clothes Jacob with them. And at the same time, she takes the skins from the goats and she wraps them around Jacob's forearms and around the back of his neck because he was a smooth man. And Esau, even from his birth, was a hairy man. Now, you would think it might be a fool who would be deceived between the skin of a goat and the skin of a man. But the fact is that a kid camel goat has a texture of skin and a fine hair that is very roughly similar to that which a hairy man would have. And she carefully and skillfully binds these things around Jacob's neck and arms. And she's going to send them in to the presence of his father. And the rest, you know very well. Jacob goes in trembling. And Isaac seems to detect that everything just isn't the way it should be. But he's blind and he's weak and he's not able. He knows that the voice doesn't quite seem to be the voice of the twin. And remember, they are twins. So they may have been fairly close even in the matter of voice. He feels it is Esau. And all the time he seems to be probing. And he's bringing him nearer to himself. Come near, he says. Come near. And finally, he feels the neck and the arms. And he smells the smell of the raiment as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. And Esau is the man of the field. Esau is the man of the hunt.
[9:30] And then he blesses Jacob. And Jacob has hardly got the blessing when he disappears from the room as quickly as possible. And Esau enters into the house. And he proclaims with triumph that he's brought Isaac the venison that he so desires. But Isaac, we're told in the Hebrew, exceedingly, exceedingly he cries out. Who, he says. And again in the Hebrew, the sentences are broken and staggered.
[9:56] He can hardly bring himself to speak. He can hardly put two words together. Who, he says. Who is it? What has happened? What has been done? Who ate with me? Who did I bless? And he shall be blessed.
[10:09] And of course, Esau is angered. And he cries vehemently to his father to change his mind and to bless him. But there is no way in which Isaac will change his mind. The deed is the Lord's. In his providence, he has overruled himself. And he has brought his own purposes to pass. And Isaac will never again venture to put his hand in there. And he says, it is done. I have blessed him. And he shall be blessed. And from that moment, Esau is consumed with a bitter hatred for his brother Jacob. And for many, many years, he seeks to kill him. Now, in order to bring out perhaps the main spiritual lessons of this chapter, rather than take a text as I indicated, perhaps it might be more profitable for us just to look at the four individuals brought before us here and the part which they all play in this transaction. Isaac, his wife Rebecca, his firstborn son Esau, and the second twin Jacob.
[11:15] Now, they all have much to teach. And much of it lies on the surface. And this is so beautifully written and so clear in some of its lessons that we are loath in some respects to put our hands to it at all.
[11:27] But I hope that the Lord will enable us just to see some of the more hidden things, perhaps a little more clearly. Now, take first Isaac. Well, if Isaac's vision is dim, and if he has become nearly blind, then what has happened to his spiritual discernment? He is still blinded by his affection for his firstborn son, Esau. And he seems to be still ignoring the great signs of decadence, of immorality, and complete unfitness for leadership in the family that Esau himself is showing. He has married these degenerate women simply because he has consumed himself with the lusts of the flesh. And they were a grief of mine to Isaac, and a grief of mine to Rebekah. But he still appears intent on bestowing the spiritual blessing in the family upon Esau and not upon Jacob. Has he forgotten the oracle, uttered a hundred and thirty years before, that the elder shall serve the younger? Maybe he has. And he has no clue, we believe, that Jacob has bought the birthright from
[12:41] Esau. It's more than likely that Esau never told that, and certainly probably Jacob never told him that either. But does he not remember, before the twins were born, the sacred oracle, that the elder shall serve the younger? But he is misled, and he is carried astray, as it were, by his affection for his firstborn son, all because he is a hunter who brings home the venison. And why again, as I mentioned, the secrecy from Rebekah. God made the two one flesh. God formed from the side of the man a helpmeet of the same composition, of the same kind, a human. Adam had seen all the animals pass before him, and he named them all one by one, and were told that there was no helpmeet for himself amongst the animals. He looked at them, he discerned them, and he named them according to their function.
[13:39] He wasn't a primeval ape, he wasn't a half man, half gorilla, he was a full man, with all his faculties, intellectual and spiritual, and he named the animals according to their ability and according to their movement. But he went to sleep conscious that there was no helpmeet for himself there.
[13:59] But when he woke up, a woman was formed from his own side, with his own kind of composition, spiritual, spiritual, mental makeup. And he said, this now, he said, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And God made the two one a helpmeet. The man to love and to care for the woman, the woman to love and to care for the man. Where is that here? Why the secrecy? Why the furtiveness? Off you go out and get the venison. Rebecca has to hear the thing from the other room. Something has come in and all is not well. And Isaac is to be rebuked for these things. But having said that, we have to say this.
[14:44] In the epistle to the Hebrews, it makes this observation. It says, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith, he blessed them concerning things to come. Now you say, well, how can that be when there was this element of almost stubbornness on the part of Isaac?
[15:13] Well, my friends, I think the faith comes through in these ways. First of all, in the beginning, to bless them at all was an act of faith. In the sense that Isaac believed that the blessing was powerful and that the blessing was effectual. He believed in the things the blessing foreshadowed. He believed in the Christ, the son of the living God. He believed in the seed of the woman who would crush the seed of the serpent. He believed that from his own loins or the loins of his sons would come into the world, the Messiah, who would be his own savior and the savior of the world to come. He believed that. And in blessing at all, he was acting in faith. But along with that, there's this. You'll notice the exceeding great and bitter cry, which he puts up in verse 33. He trembled very exceedingly and said, who, where is he that has taken venison and brought it to me?
[16:18] And I have eaten of all before you came and I have blessed him. And then notice, yes, he says, and he shall be blessed. What's the significance of that? Well, the significance of that is great faith. It is Isaac, as it were, saying to himself, the deed has been reversed and the Lord has intervened here. And here is my firstborn son in front of me. And he's crying and he's beseeching me with tears. But he says, I will not alter it, what God has sworn and what God has brought to pass. I will not change it. Yea, I say to you, Esau, he shall be blessed. That is faith. That is the faith that recognizes God and that cleaves to what God has said. And it appears that once the Lord has broken in, his faith is strengthened. He recognizes his own error and he stands four square on the word of God. And later on in the chapter, we're told that when he blesses Esau, in verse 38, Esau said to his father, have you just one blessing, my father?
[17:26] Bless me, even me also. Notice this is Satan coming to Isaac in the guise of his beloved firstborn. And pronounce it now upon your eldest son. But when Isaac lifts up his voice, all he can say is that your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. He cannot revoke the blessing. He will not revoke it. So by faith, he blessed Jacob and Esau. And just again, I'll mention this in connection with that.
[18:10] In chapter 28, when Jacob is leaving home, Isaac repeats the blessing upon Jacob's head, as it were to confirm what he said. As much as to say, my son, I blessed you, thinking you were your brother. But he says, the Lord came in and intervened. And now before you leave, for pardon Aram. And perhaps Isaac knows that he will not see his son for a long time. He says to him, you should know that I am blessing you again with the blessing which I gave you, knowing who you are, and that you are the chosen one of the Lord. So he repeats this blessing in chapter 28 and in verse 4 following. And there you have, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau with respect to things to come.
[19:05] Now, my friends, in some respects, what happens to Isaac here is sad. We're told about Hezekiah that the Lord left him to himself, that he might know what was in his own heart. Now, times like that come into the experience of God's people. Times when God leaves them for his own inscrutable purposes, leaves them largely to themselves. So that they can understand just what the tendency of their heart is without his restraining grace.
[19:41] And when they're brought back by himself, they're more soft, they're more understanding, they're broken by the hand of God, and they cleave to him ever more closely. And of course, a true child of God, who has fallen away in that sense, will always be known by his softness and his brokenness when he is restored.
[20:06] The hypocrite won't be like that. He'll just go down and down, and he will not be arrested in his path. But the Lord left Isaac here to know what was in his own heart. And very often, my friends, there's a sad consequence flowing from it. You usually find that when this happens, some soul is affected for the worst.
[20:31] Some soul is affected for the worst. My friend, you never backslide, as it were, on an island, or as an island. There is always a sad influence emanating from your fall away. And is this not true of Esau here?
[20:50] Because of the way things work in the family, he becomes more bitter, and he becomes more hard. But if you're prone to sympathize with Esau, just wait till we approach himself.
[21:01] Now then, in the second place, we have Rebecca. Now Rebecca, she's condemned, perhaps you could say, on all sides. Most people come down on her and say that she is the one who doesn't emerge from this with any credit at all. And in some respects, perhaps it's difficult here to recognize the woman who so many years ago had left her house in Paddan Aram. When the servant came to her and said, wilt thou go with this man? And she sleeps on the question, as it were, and in the morning she says, I will go with this man. A great woman of faith who goes forward into the unknown. Where is she here?
[21:43] That faith seems to have given away, and given way, and nothing seems left but the senses. But my friends, there's more to it than that. And what I would like especially to think about is this.
[21:57] This is a woman whose own faith is sorely tested. Now whenever you come to evaluate anybody, you remember, my friends, that in a test or in a trial, people are more prone to show failure or weakness in their faith. And this is a woman who is greatly tried. Because like Sarah, her mother-in-law, she is married to a man who for some reason is blind to one aspect of wickedness that is in the home.
[22:30] You know, it's just a blind spot on the part of great saints of God. I think I referred to this a couple of weeks ago. That Hagar made her way back into Abraham's household with Ishmael.
[22:45] But she never forgot her own schemes and her own ambitions to make Ishmael the heir of Abraham. And all the time she's trying to promote Ishmael and trying to undermine Isaac.
[22:59] Now it's not really seen or detected by Abraham, but it is certainly seen and detected by Sarah. She knows the spiritual character of this Ishmael that is in her home and the spiritual character of Hagar, his mother.
[23:15] And a whole 17 years lapse of trial for Sarah before finally Ishmael is expelled from the home. And even then, Abraham is reluctant to lose him.
[23:27] And the same thing comes to the fore here. The same thing. Rebecca is conscious that Isaac is blinded by his affection to Esau.
[23:41] And isn't it strange, my friend, how these things... You know, when you have, let's say you have some kind of defect or a besetting sin, you could perhaps say, in the family. Isn't it remarkable how it seems to pass down from one generation to another?
[23:54] The reason I say that is this, that Abraham was rather blind to things in Ishmael's life. Isaac, the brother of Ishmael, was blind to some things in Esau's life.
[24:09] Jacob, Esau's brother, was blind to some of the things in his own son's life. And it appears that you have the same thing running down. And very often, you have to guard, most particularly, against these things that you see most clearly in the lives of your own household or in your own family.
[24:31] Some of the things that you're most blind to can be the things nearest home. And perhaps you can well detect things out with your own home, but you are quite blind to certain things going on in your own home.
[24:42] Is that not the case? Now then, what is she to do? It's all very easy to say, well, she shouldn't have gone about it like this, but what is she to do? A few more minutes and God's oracle is overturned.
[24:57] A few more minutes and the word of God and his promise is going to be made null and void because of what she sees as the stubbornness of her own husband. And the evil and the scheming of Esau.
[25:08] And Esau is as smart as everyone else. He knows what he's about. And as far as she's concerned, the whole promise and the whole purpose of God suspends upon this whole thing.
[25:19] A few minutes and all is lost. She can well remember the struggle in her own womb when God said, the elder shall serve the younger. And is it all to be lost?
[25:30] So what does she do? Well, she conceives this plan and she conceives it quickly. There's no point trying to reason with Isaac or trying to reason with Esau.
[25:42] She's got to go about it like this. And what does she do? Well, you could call it this. She stretches out her hand to steady the ark of God.
[25:52] When the ark of God steadies, it's better to leave the Lord to put it right. She ought not to have done it.
[26:03] Can you justify her for what she did? No, you cannot. What ought she to have done? Well, this. She ought to have waited for the Lord. Now you say, but how could she have waited for the Lord?
[26:16] She had waited many years for the Lord and there's no time to lose in the matter. Ah, well, friends, it's remarkable what God can do in the twinkling of an eye.
[26:28] If you go forward a few chapters to Genesis 48, you'll see how quickly God intervenes in another situation. Genesis 48.
[26:46] And verse 8. Now, Joseph is here bringing his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
[26:57] He's bringing them into the presence of Jacob, his father. And Jacob is going to bless the sons. Now look at verse 8 of chapter 48. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, who are these?
[27:10] And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, bring them, I pray thee, to me and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel, that's Jacob, they were dim for age so that he could not see.
[27:25] And he brought them near to him and he kissed them and embraced them. Now, look at verse 13. Verse 13. Now, my friend, do you see what happens?
[28:04] Joseph, in fact, after the blessing is pronounced, he tries to reverse the thing himself. And he says, you put your hands on the wrong sons. But Jacob knows what he is doing.
[28:14] The Lord guides his hands. And he puts his right hand on the head of Ephraim. And his left hand on the head of Manasseh. Because God was again going to exalt the younger over the older.
[28:26] And could God not have done this with Isaac? A man nearly blind, whose eyes are dim. If she had but waited, God in his providence might have done something of that kind.
[28:38] He might have intervened greatly or gloriously and showed them their faults and their errors. And brought them all to a better state of mind. But she doesn't wait.
[28:50] She intervenes. And she intervenes with the deceit. With the skins and with the clothes. And she passes Jacob off as Esau in the presence of Isaac.
[29:02] Now, my friends, you must never resort to deceit in doing God's work. Never. Although this seems perhaps not perhaps so great a case of it because of circumstances.
[29:17] Still, it is an aspect of it. There's no doubt about that. There is deceit here in doing the work of the Lord. Now, there are some ways in which people venture to do it in a much greater way.
[29:29] Violating many precepts and many laws of God. Because they want to bring about what is right and what is good. Cursed is he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully. If you are tempted to do something underhand.
[29:42] To do something that's not right or that's not just or not proper. Then, as I said last week, the end does not justify the means. Learn to do the right thing and leave the issues with God.
[29:56] It doesn't matter how improbable the situation is. Or what could come down on your head as a consequence. However, you might be flattened by the whole situation. Or however, you might be reproached by it.
[30:06] Just do the right and leave the thing to the Lord. He is well able to take care of these matters. And if you try to intervene in an unbecoming way.
[30:17] You bring the rods and the chastisement of God down upon your back. Perhaps for years and years. And perhaps onto the back of your family. And who knows the evil consequences that flow from that.
[30:30] Even if your own soul is saved. What is it if your soul is saved by fire. And others are lost because of the way you did a thing. When you didn't have the patience and the grace and the faith.
[30:41] Just to wait upon the Lord. And then these issues wouldn't have flown from it. Oh my friends. As I say. We might be saved by fire. But how much we lose ourselves.
[30:52] And how much others might lose because of us. Wait for the Lord. And do the right. And leave the issues with God himself. And that is what Rebecca was to learn from this whole thing.
[31:07] She was never to see her favorite son again. A few days after this. Jacob was to leave the home. And that was the chastisement on Rebecca's back. She would never see him again in this world for many years.
[31:20] She would never see him again. She lived many years without seeing her son. What of Jacob himself? Well when Jacob hears of the plan.
[31:34] He hesitates. But he is convinced by his mother. And he enters the chamber of his father in verse 18. And I have no doubt that his heart is in his mouth doing so.
[31:47] And he says my father. Well. And immediately Isaac says who are you? And Jacob comes out with what? Well it's a lie. In verse 19. I am Esau.
[31:58] You first born. I have done as you ask me. Rise and eat of my venison. And Isaac's suspicious. And he says. How is it that you have found it so quickly?
[32:10] Look how quick Jacob himself is. And he says. Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. Is Jacob not afraid that the fire of God would come down from heaven.
[32:21] And consume him in a moment? I have no doubt that he thinks to himself. Well yes this is true. The Lord gave me the kids. And the Lord enabled me as it were to prepare the venison.
[32:34] The Lord thy God brought it to me. Yes Jacob. But you know very well. That you are passing off something else to your father in saying that. That it's almost the action of a Jesuit.
[32:44] Saying one thing with your lips and another with your heart. It's not the meaning to the words which your father is going to take from the words. And he brings the name of the Lord into his deceit.
[32:57] Should that not in itself cause him to tremble. The Lord thy God brought it to me. Come near. He says. And let me feel you. Whether you are my son or not. And again he lies in verse 24.
[33:11] Isaac says to him. Are you my son Esau? And he says. I am. And when he goes close. Isaac smells the clothing. And he says. It is the field that the Lord has blessed.
[33:24] And he blesses Jacob. And the deed is done. Oh yes Jacob. The deed is done. You have got the blessing. But again. At what a cost.
[33:35] Your brother now hates you with a vengeance. For 21 years. You are going to be an outlaw. You are going to forsake your own home. You are going to wander in the wilderness.
[33:46] You are going to look after sheep. For a man who is going to twist you. And who is going to cross you. And is going to make your life a misery. And all because. You didn't do the thing.
[33:56] The way the Lord. Expected of you to do it. As I said. I will visit then. Their sins. Their faults with rods. Their sins with chastisement.
[34:08] My friend. Chastisement. Is no light thing. It's no light thing. You notice. How this sin. Comes back on Jacob.
[34:20] Many years afterwards. It comes back on him. In fact. It comes back twice. And the consequences. Of it coming back twice. Stay with him. For a long time.
[34:31] The first time is this. When he was going to marry Rachel. On the evening. Of the wedding. Now this must have something to do. With the kind of oriental customs.
[34:41] That they have. It's difficult for us to understand. How such a thing could take place. But it must be something to do. With the veiling. Of the bride. And something to do. With the way in which. Marriage took place there.
[34:52] Laban. Laban. Who had the two daughters. Rachel and Leah. Sent Leah. Into his chamber. In the evening. Instead of Rachel.
[35:03] And it was in the morning. That Jacob discovered. That he had married Leah. And not Rachel. And he had to work. Another seven years. In order to earn Rachel.
[35:14] As his wife. What is that? Well my friends. It is his sin. Coming back on him. He pretended to be someone else. In the presence of his father.
[35:25] It is not strange. That the Lord. Brought it to pass. That someone else. Was passed off. To be his own wife. And many years. After that again. When he has a large family.
[35:36] Of twelve sons. And Joseph. Is betrayed. Into Egypt. By his brothers. And his brothers. Come home. And they have the coat. Of many colors. Dipped in the blood.
[35:46] Of an animal. And they say. Is this. Your son. Is this. Caught. And he breaks down. In tears. And he weeps. For his son. Joseph. For year.
[35:57] After year. He weeps. For a son. Whom he believes. Dead. Because his own sons. Have deceived him. Even as he. Deceived his father.
[36:08] Many. Many years ago. You think. Our chastisement. That's just a life thing. It's not like punishment. The chastisement. Of the Lord.
[36:19] Is in itself. A severe thing. Child of God. Never play with sin. Thinking. I'll only get a chastisement. For the thing. You will know. The chastisement. Of the Lord.
[36:29] When it comes upon you. You will know it. And you will feel it. And you will learn. That it was an evil. And a bitter thing. That you sinned. Against the Lord. Your own iniquities. Shall reprove you.
[36:40] And for many years. You may suffer. What you have done wrong. In a moment. Because the name of the Lord. Is holy. And reverent. Is his name. And whenever we stoop.
[36:51] To any kind of deceit. Or treachery. To bring God's purposes. To pass. He will put. The smiting. Upon our back. As a consequence. Why? Well.
[37:02] Not just because of what we have done. But its effect on others. Is that not what God said to David. After his adultery. And his murder. He said. Because you. Have given an occasion.
[37:13] To the enemies of God. To blaspheme my name. He said. The sword shall never depart. Out of your house. Do you hear that? Because you have given a reason. For people to mock me.
[37:24] And blaspheme my cause. The sword shall never. Depart out of your house. Let me tell you. Unbeliever. In here tonight. Don't you ever. Take up.
[37:35] Anything. In the life. Of a professing Christian. And use it as your charter. Or as your excuse. To go down the broad road. That leads to death. And to destruction. If God permits that thing.
[37:48] In the life of that person. That is a solemn thing. It is more solemn still. If one of the reasons. Was to hasten yourself. Down that road. Is that not solemn?
[37:59] What possible consolation. Is it to you or to me? What possible impetus. Or motivation. To keep sinning. The fact that someone else. Has fallen. From his position. No.
[38:11] No. No. No. My friend. That is not the way it is. And you remember. Christian. That if you are to compare. Sin with a weapon. You compare it with a boomerang. Because it comes right back.
[38:23] Into your face. Every time you sin. Against the Lord. Right back. Into your face. And never deal. With sin. Lightly.
[38:33] The wrath of man. Worketh not. The righteousness of God. But. As it is written. In another psalm. The wrath of man. Shall praise thee. Oh yes.
[38:44] My friends. There is a mysterious way. In which God. Causes all. These things. To work together. For good. The wrath of man. Shall praise him. Eventually.
[38:55] But it worketh not. The righteousness. Of God. Now what last of all. About Esau. Now I am sure. Reading the chapter. He is the one.
[39:05] Your heart goes out for. And he is the one. You feel sorry for. And who can read. These words. And this pathetic cry. Where he says. Oh my father.
[39:16] Bless me also. Oh my father. Without being moved. And feeling. Here is a man. Who has been deceived. And a man. Who has been greatly wronged. No.
[39:27] You have to keep your heads. In the matter. And look at what the New Testament says. And it says this. Beware. Lest there be. Any fornicator. Or profane person.
[39:38] Such as Esau. Who for one morsel of meat. Sold his own birthright. That was many years ago. And. After that. Found.
[39:49] No place. For you know. That many years afterwards. He found no place. For repentance. Though he sought it carefully. With tears. No. I.
[40:00] Don't tell that fully. I feel that there's a clause. I'm missing out. From the verse. I want to read it as it is. Hebrews 12. Lest there be any fornicator.
[40:12] Or profane person. As Esau. Who for one morsel of meat. Sold his birthright. For you know. How that afterwards. Many years afterwards. When he would have. Inherited the blessing.
[40:22] He was rejected. Because he found no place. Of repentance. Though he sought it. Carefully. With tears. Now.
[40:34] These words. Condemn Esau. And they condemn him terribly. Why? Because he despised. Spiritual things. And chose a sinful life.
[40:47] And later on. In his life. When the blessing. Is to be bestowed. Does he turn around. And say. Oh my father. I sold the birthright. Many years ago. No he does not. He conveniently.
[40:59] Forgets. What he promised. To Jacob. Many years before. He forgets it. And he goes on. As though he had never. Promised. Such a thing. At all. Now.
[41:10] There's at least. Two things wrong. With what this man is doing. And the first is this. Profanity. He doesn't respect. The oath. That he made.
[41:21] He was profane enough. To sell the thing. For nothing. In the first place. And now he adds. To the profanity. By trampling. Upon the oath. Which he swore. An oath.
[41:32] Is a solemn form. Of worship. When you vow. A vow. To the Lord. You vow it. In the presence. Of the Lord. And it is a solemn. Form of worship. It is better.
[41:42] Not to. To offer a vow. To the Lord. Than not to perform. The thing. And here is Esau. As though he had never. Promised. Or never vowed. The thing to the Lord. At all. Now people.
[41:53] Treat vows. Very very cheaply. Today. In one form or another. What you vow. And what you swear to. It doesn't really seem. To matter too much. But to breach it. Is profanity. In the eyes of God.
[42:05] It is profanity. And Esau. Is showing himself. Here. Further on. In his life. To be the same. Kind of man. Except even worse. Except even worse.
[42:18] Because there's this. What does he want. About the blessing. Well. What he wants. Is this. And it's what he always. Had his eye on. Like Ishmael. And Hagar. He wanted.
[42:29] The wealth. He liked the sheep. He liked the cattle. He liked the idea. Of all these servants. He liked the idea. Of being a powerful chief. A head of a powerful tribe.
[42:40] And a powerful clan. Did he want the messianic blessing? No. Did he want the priestly robes? No. Did he want to pronounce the benediction? No. Did he want to be the father of the Messiah?
[42:51] No. Did he want the money? Yes. He wanted that. And that is why he comes. And that is why he wants the blessing. Because he wants the good things of the world.
[43:02] But he still doesn't care one whit. For the spiritual responsibilities that go along with it. And does that not sum up the lives of many godless men and women? Yes.
[43:13] My friend. You want to have your cake and eat it. You want to live with all the good things of this world. And that's your choice. And you've chosen it. And maybe for all I know many years you made some kind of transaction.
[43:26] That more or less sold your soul as it were to that end. And from that day onwards you've gone out this way. And you've lived your life for these things. Just the material goods of the world.
[43:37] The pleasures of the flesh. And that's your god. Because your god is your belly. Ah but. The fact of the matter is my friends. That you can't really have any good apart from god.
[43:53] God will withhold no good thing from those who uprightly do live. That is the thing. God gives blessings and mercies to his own. A hundred fold more in this world.
[44:04] And eternal life in the life to come. And what about you? What about the things? My poor friend. That you are treasuring. Or that you are hoarding. Or that you are valuing.
[44:15] Or that you are loving. What will happen to them all? They'll disappear. They'll go. You hold them so tightly in your hand. And one day you'll just let them go.
[44:25] Maybe suddenly. Maybe in a twinkling of an eye. Like we saw so solemnly. Just a few days ago. Just cut down. In the midst of a life of pleasure.
[44:37] Cut down like that. And standing in front of god. Ah well. What happens on the final day? Well the just. Will have the blessings. And those who chose material things.
[44:51] Will lose them all. That is the sad and the solemn truth. You will lose them all. Every single one of them. I'm sure Esau probably desired to die the death of the righteous.
[45:06] But he didn't desire to live the life of the righteous. Now you might say. Well what about this text. Where it says that he can find no place for repentance.
[45:17] And I'll have to bring this to a close. He finds no place for repentance. Though he sought it carefully with tears. Well. I'm afraid sometimes that that text is misunderstood. It doesn't mean that he was crying to god for mercy.
[45:31] And wasn't getting it. What it means is that he sought for. The word means change of mind. He sought for a change of mind in his father Isaac.
[45:43] He sought for a blessing. But that blessing wouldn't come. God's will was fixed. And God's will was irrevocable. Isaac didn't shut the door of the kingdom of heaven on Esau.
[45:55] No he did not. But the solemn fact is. That Esau never came back. He did never repent. And these things that happened.
[46:07] Only turned him more and more. Down the way. In which he was choosing himself. A profane man. Going deeper and deeper. Into his immorality. And in his profanity.
[46:18] But let me tell you this. Whether or not this comes into it. And I'm not sure. It certainly comes into other things. Very often. Some people deal very lightly.
[46:29] With religious things. And they promise that maybe later on. They'll look at things differently. And when that later on comes. They don't look at them differently at all. What you find is that every decision.
[46:41] Which you make. Puts a stain upon your soul. Every act. Sow a thought. Reap an action. Sow an action. Reap a habit. Sow a habit.
[46:53] Reap a character. Sow a character. Reap a destiny. That is the chain. Between your thoughts. And your final destiny. How many a person promises to himself.
[47:04] Yes I'll live today. And tomorrow. In the flesh. And then the next day. I will seek the Lord. Not realizing that by living. More and more in the flesh. Even the desire.
[47:15] For the things of God. Will vaporize. And it will vanish away. Esau took an important decision. When he was young. And he found that he just couldn't. Go back in it. When he was older. Young men.
[47:27] Young woman. The world presents you. And the gospel presents you. With vital decisions. Every day of your life. And you take bad ones. Maybe you're in the verge.
[47:38] Of taking a bad. When you think. I can put it right later. Never reason like that. Never ever reason like that. You may find to your cost. That you are sowing something. In your life. That you can never go back on.
[47:49] And it's all very well. To take the theological ground. And say that the door is always open to you. Yes. It may well be always open to you. But you may lose the slightest desire. You have to go through it.
[48:01] And that is what I mean. And that is what I say to you. Don't put off things to tomorrow. Don't cheapen the things of religion today. Come into the fold. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[48:13] Trust yourself to him. Forsake the world. Love him. His law. His truth. And you shall be saved. May he bless his word. Thank you.
[48:34] Let's pray. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.