We have a lot of texts to read this morning, and let's get right to it, remembering that God has given us the scriptures, and I read to you the very words of God. So please pay attention to the reading of this word, and let me ask you also if you have pencil or pen and take notes to consider using the printed text rather than the overhead. And to circle the words, savory dish, or my son, or his son, and follow along that way in the text as they will be hints or markers of things that I think are important for us to have in mind. Here then, God's word. Now it came about when Isaac was old, and his eyes were too dim to see that he called his older son, Esau, and said to him, my son, and he said to him, here I am. And Isaac said, behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. Now then please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me, and prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat so that my soul may bless you before I die. And Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son, Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebecca said to her son, Jacob, behold, I heard your father speak to your brother, Esau saying, bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me two choice kids from there that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. Then you shall bring it to your father that he may eat so that he may bless you before his death. And Jacob answered his mother, Rebecca, behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall be as a deceiver in his sight and I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing. His mother said to him, your curse beyond me, my son, only obey my voice and go, get them for me. So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and his mother made a savory dish such as his father loved. Then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, elder son, which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory food and the bread which he had made to her son Jacob. Then he came to his father and said, my father and he said, here I am, who are you my son? And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn, I have done as you told me. Get up, please sit and eat of my game that you may bless me. Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have it so quickly my son? And he said, because the larger God caused it to happen to me. Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come close that I may feel you my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. So Jacob came close to Isaac his father and he felt him and said, the voice was the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands so he blessed him. And he said, are you really my son Esau and he said, I am. So he said, bring it to me and I will eat of my son's game that I may bless you. And he brought it to him and he ate. He also brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, please come close and kiss me my son. So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes he blessed him and said, see the smell of my son is like the smell of the field which the Lord has blessed. Now may God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine. May people serve you and nations bow down to you be master of your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless you. Now it happened as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father. Isaac his father that he saw his brother came in from his hunting. Then he also made savory food and brought it to his father and he said to his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's game that you may bless me. Isaac his father said to him, who are you? And he said, I am your son, your first born, Esau. Then Isaac trembled violently and said, who was it then that brought hunted game and brought it to me and I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? Yes. And he shall be blessed. When Esau heard the words of his father he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, bless me, even me also, oh my father. And he said your brother came to seedfully and has taken away your blessing. Then he said, is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, have you not reserved a blessing for me that Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made him your master. And all his relatives, I have given to him a servants and with grain and new wine I have sustained him now asked for you then, what can I do my son? So I said to his father, do you only have one blessing my father? Bless me, even me also, oh my father. So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling and away from the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live and your brother you shall serve. But it shall come about when you become restless. That you shall break his yoke from your neck. In the very beginning when God created the world he blessed it. And when he created our first parents, Adam and Eve, he blessed them with these words, be fruitful and multiply and increase and subdue the earth. God blessed creation. He blessed the Sabbath day and things were going well until of course the fall. And in the fall God pronounced two curses. I found this striking, even this morning as I looked at it, he cursed the serpent. He cursed the serpent. And he cursed creation. And between these two curses he talked about either the consequences of the fall as it would relate to Adam and Eve or the punishment or a mixture of both with the blessings in the middle of a sandwiched curse on evil and on the earth. But he promised a seed who would crush Satan, who would crush the serpent. There would be one born of the woman, upon which they should put their hopes. And throughout Old Testament history and especially in Genesis we see this hope traced through the seed. Is it this one? Is it this one? Is it this one? And it becomes clearer and clearer it's through. Now it's through Abraham. In fact with Abraham in chapter 12, God appears to him and says very clearly, I'm going to bless you and your descendants after you and I'm going to make a great nation of you. And I'm going to bless all the families of the earth and you and those who bless you, I will bless and those that curse you, I will curse. So they looked in Abraham had a son Isaac and he was blessed and here he is wanting to bless his sons. Now when we think about the Old Testament idea of blessing, we need to understand that it's his primary meaning means to and do with power for success, prosperity, fruitfulness, longevity, these sorts of things. That's what the theological word, word book of the Old Testament says. And I think they're right on the money. If you cherish it out, that seems to be what's there. Even Isaac's words to his son, Esau, I've blessed him with prosperity. I've given him wine and grain and made him your servant, prestige and prosperity. Let me give you three biblical truths about blessing. And then we'll get into the message and into the text. Here's the first one. They're not in your notes, but they're worth writing down at least something of them. Those who are spiritually converted, made alive by the spirit of God, God's elect, are blessed. However you want to say it, those who are truly born again, who have the life of God dwelling in them, who have received the work of the Lord Jesus Christ by the promise of God. And the promise of God and are resting in him and made alive by the spirit, these are truly blessed. We saw that in our assurance of pardon this morning, didn't we? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's spelled out by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8, where we are told there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. You can read that for yourself at another time. Those who are truly alive in Jesus Christ are blessed, are greatly blessed. They're blessed with every spiritual blessing. The second one is this, God calls his people, the very ones I just mentioned, he calls them to live in a way that blesses and brings blessings to others. In other words, those with the spirit of God are to live in such a way that they are a blessing to the earth. They're a blessing in their families and their schools and their workplace and their recreations and everything they do, they are to live in a way that is a blessing to others. We call that in our call to confession for you were called to inherit a blessing and therefore live as a blessing to others is basically what it's said. We see this work out as well in Genesis chapter 12, I will bless you and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you. The third thing you need to understand is this that we can live in such a way that impedes God's blessing and that's what our text is about. If you want to study it out even further, read numbers 22 through 25 and you'll see that worked out with Balum. In this text we see God's blessing impeded. Now God's electors still blessed perfectly, wonderfully, fantastically. We see that trace through the scriptures. We're not going to look at that this morning. We're going to look at this text that talks about how they are, how the family, this royal family, this family of blessing impeded the blessing. There's two ways we'll look at the first one is this way. We impeded God's blessing through the pursuit of personal pleasure. Did you notice when I read I pointed out the whole savory dish aspect that Isaac loves food and we saw that last week if you were here and we saw the kind of the beginning of the story of Jacob when he's born. That as they grow old, it tells us now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game and Rebecca loved Jacob because he, I guess it doesn't say why just that he did, but he loves food. And it says in our text, go and hunt and make a savory dish so that my soul may bless you. I think there's something there and I think that's one of the reasons why Moses, the narrator of this text, gives us these repeated savory dish, savory dish, so that my soul may bless you because God has given us food and all sorts of good gifts that we all sorts of pleasure. That we are to enjoy from his hand. Everything is to be sanctified by prayer and enjoyed. It's good to enjoy a good meal. It's good to have hobbies. It's good to have friends. All these things are good. And yet when our soul finds pleasure in them above God, we have a big problem. And that seems to be what has happened to Isaac, a man of God, a man who watched his father sacrifice him and trusted his father to tie him up and bind him on an altar and then watch God provide a substitute. A man who had heard the foreign nations around him say, we can tell that your God has blessed you because of all you have and the way he watches over you. A man who was out in the field meditating and praying when his wife was brought to a man of faith who has got caught up in seeking the pleasures of this life. So much so that despite the oracle of God, he wants to bless the son who feeds him the food he likes. Think about that. Again, food isn't bad in and of itself, but think about how food can rule our lives and rule the decisions we make. Maybe you're a health nut, if you'll forgive me for calling you a nut. Maybe you're a health nut and you like good food and you're careful, you know, you eat fruits and vegetables and nuts. And you watch your cholesterol and these sorts of things and you like that and you're committed to that. And you like the people who feel this way and you feel a bit of disdain for those, those cheeseburger eating fatty food type people. And you can begin to make your friends based on your diet. I think there's something normal about that. When I want to go to a restaurant, I want to eat a certain kind of food. I start to think who likes this kind of food. I get it's we got to be careful not to just jump into legalism and say, oh, that's just beans and rice, the rest of our life. And then we can like everybody. I guess there would be problems with that. I didn't think about that. But you get the point. And fatty food the same way. I mean, if you love cheeseburgers and you're always saying, let's stop at whatever fast food restaurant and get whatever fast food, chicken tacos, burritos, cheeseburgers, whatever it is. Well, wait, you only like that's some fruits, okay, panera, whatever. After a while, you start saying to yourself, I'm not going to hang out with that person because eating is a drive. You can do that. You can do that with sports. I like sports. This is my thing. I'm totally into it. I like those who do sports. And I don't like those who are fat and lazy. You can say I like video games and eating fatty foods and I don't like those who are outside running around all the time they smell bad. And you can make friends based on your hobbies and your interests and your personal pleasures. All good things that God has given to us to enjoy. And how did it happen? It's a problem with the heart, isn't it? The heart isn't looking to God. There's no Esau. I've been praying and I see the way your brother sold your birthright was wrong and I've sought God's face on this. And this is what I want to do. I want to want to bless you this way. I don't know how this do tell with the bless Jacob steals that they all accept it. That seems to be clear. They all accept by the way this blessing. Rebecca and Jacob know that within the day they're going to be caught and it's definitely a different culture, isn't it? I mean, if this happened today, we'd say, blessings off. And you've earned yourself a curse now, get to your room or whatever it is. But there's something very serious about this. He's supposed Isaac is supposed to reflect the image of God, right? He's made in the image of God. He's to be fruitful and increase and multiply and subdue the earth and rule over it and everything there. He is supposed to reflect something that's true about God who is honest and faithful and is sovereign. As a father, I like what Piper and Grudum and the biblical manhood and womanhood have as a definition. I've changed it. I give them credit for their influence in my life. But I like to think of not even a masculinity but a leadership of parenting and especially the husband of the family elders in the church, this sort of stuff, that their primary job is to lead, protect, provide, and love. That's the way I put it. Lead, provide, protect, and love. And we obviously don't have time to trace that out through the scriptures, but believe me, it's as biblical as biblical can be. And he doesn't do any of these. He does not reflect the image of God in the way he leads. He does not protect his family. He is ruled by the desires which again art sin in and of himself. You know how Hebrews tells us to lay aside every incumbrance in the sin and incumbrance is something that just slows us down. They've become incumbrances to him. He's being led astray by good things because he's made the best thing less or made good things better. Then the best thing. He hasn't gone after God. And look what it's done to his family. Look how his wife acts. Look how his children act. It is the dysfunctional family. His very actions impeded the blessing of God. God's going to do all this holy will. There's no doubt about it. The scripture screamed that. But he sure messed things up. And they suffered as a result of choices. We have to always keep in mind that while God is sovereign, we push that. I know that the scriptures said we said and over and over and over again. But we have to say over and over and over again that we really matter that we really count that what we do has an impact for good or for evil.
Let's look at the other. By the way, he saw us right there with him. We could look at that further, but let's move on. We can also impede God's blessing by pursuing the blessing by sinful means. Again, right on the surface of the tax. This is what Rebecca and Jacob do, but let's start with Rebecca because she seems to be the chief center in this.
If Isaac sent by omission, she sends by commission. It's interesting. She overhears the conversation. And there's a difference in what she tells Jacob than what Isaac told Issa. Isaac said, go get some food, make of savory dish so that my soul can bless you. She says your daddy's going to bless him in the presence of the Lord. She's remembering the Oracle, I think. And she doesn't like how this is going down because God has spoken but she's not living by faith in what God has spoken. She's going to make this happening in her own ways. And it's amazing what she does. She has a crafty woman. He saw a man of the field. He has a certain musk, a certain odor. It's intended in his clothes. They don't have tied and downy on these things to get it out and make it smell off. Freshy sweet. So she gets Issa's best clothes. His best rose and put it on, puts it on him. Now, they're young men. They're men by this age. They have beards and they're covered with this robe. And so just the neck and the hands are covered. It smells like Issa. It feels like Issa. She thought of everything. And the savory dish. She knows he's all ready to die. I can't see. His taste is not completely gone. And she knows how to cook young kids to taste just the way he likes. I mean, I taste like game that's hunted and caught. But he's, he loves his food. And it tastes good. And when he talks to you, he saw what's he say. I, it was hard for me to read in the new American standard because he brought it to me and I ate of all of it. I ate it all. She made it in a way that would seduce him. And she commands her son. Listen to what I command you. I looked that up. That's what it means. Command. Now listen to me and obey my voice. She says, do this. You see your father. Here's another one made in the image of God. Male and female. Remember Genesis 1. And God made man in his own image. Male and female. He made them. I've got a lot of notes here. I know I can't push this. I know God has revealed himself as father. And that's the primary image. Although there are texts that indicate that God has a feminine side, how comfort, compassion, nursing mother, these sorts of things. But let's go with the words of our Lord Jesus when he speaks about the Holy Spirit. What does Jesus call the Holy Spirit in the book of John? The helper, right? The comforter, the paraclete, these sorts of things. But the, the paraclete is the, the helper, the helper. Genesis 2. I will make, it's not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable to him. And so there's something in the woman that should reflect the image of God in the way she helps her husband in the way she, she and her husband reflect the image of God together. And there should be some sort of receiving affirming and nurturing Isaac's worthy and godly leadership. Not that we see that in this text, mind you, but there should be that. And I think there should be this idea of helping too. She does not review Isaac. She doesn't confront him and say, what's going on here? We don't know what would have happened if she had. She doesn't say to her son Jacob, Jacob, this is what's going on. We need to pray. Son, if God has said it, it doesn't matter what man says, God's will will be done. That's where we need to put our faith. Why is it might be saying, yeah, but you don't know how husband's going to be. Maybe I want to go and talk to him and say, what's going on? What, what about the Oracle of God? And he turns around and makes it, makes it look like I'm the one that's at fault. How am I supposed to obey him when he does that? I can't even go and talk to him. I use not made in the image of God. And don't the scriptures teach us. I know it's hard. And when husbands are that way, it's, it's even doubly hard. But, but our sins impede the blessings of God. And this story makes that incredibly obvious, doesn't it? She loves her son. In fact, that's her son. She loves him so much. She loves him more than God. And so she's willing to disobey God, dishonor God, disrespect her husband and lead her son into sin. Let's messed up. And does she blast her son in the temporary? No. He saw a so mad. He says he's going to kill his brother. Rebecca, here's about it. Since says you got to go away and tell us that. Tell us her husband. You know, he saw married these begging women. And the first done Jacob does that. It's just, it's not worth living. Once you send him to my brother, Laban. Good, fine. Standing outstanding man. We'll see that she comes by deception. Honestly, when we meet Laban, she never sees her son again. The last time she sees her son is when he's running for his life. What you do matters. This idea that we are made in the image of God is not just great abstract theological thought. It's life and death. It's blessing and curse. It's walking in the way of God's blessing so that others are blessed. Rather than, okay, God's going to do all this holy will. But it was inspired me the whole time. Where's Jesus in this story? And then we'll get to the next point. Let me just read, read you from Romans 9, 10 through 13. Not only this, there was Rebecca also when she had conceived wins by one man, our father, Isaac. Or though the twins had not yet been born and had not done anything good or bad so that the purposes, so that God's purposes, according to his choice, would stand not because of works because of him who calls it has said the older will serve the younger. I think Jesus is here in verse 36 toward the end of the story. Jesus says, is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing. You know, it tells us of Jesus. His birthright is connected with being firstborn, right? And we talked about that. And firstborn, while it's normal way of being expressed is the first one born gets the first, the birthright because he's the first born. And can mean preeminence. The one who has the most, the one who gets the biggest blessing, the greater part of the inheritance and the name of the father, we are told about Jesus that he is the first born. We are told, listen to this from Colossians 1, for he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. So he wasn't born first in time because he was always the son of God. He is eternally, self-existently, the son of God. But he is the son and has the birthright. He is the first born in terms of preeminence and inheritance. The firstborn sells his birthright in the story of Jacob and Esau and yet the first born of all creation, the Lord of glory does everything he can to give us an inheritance. He delivers us from the domain of darkness. He is the seed who crushes the head of the serpent. He is the one who purchases with his own blood. He gives us life to redeem us. There's a picture of Christ right there. Here's another one, verse 27. Isaac is having a little bit of trouble believing that it's Esau. So he says, did you give me a kiss and a kiss is him. There's deception. There's betrayal. And again our Lord Jesus. He wasn't deceived when Judas came and kissed him. But he was betrayed and he received the kiss of death to give us the birthright, to give us life. One more picture of Christ. And that is found in verse 15 when it says Rebecca took his garments, the best garments of Esau, the best garments of Esau and put them on her younger son. And we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Christ came and spent his earthly life developing a righteousness that was pure and unsullied and perfect in every single way. It wasn't stolen. It was earned and he gives it to us. We are dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. All of those who are baptized into Christ spiritually speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit have clothed themselves with Christ. Paul tells us in Galatians 3.27. What is the way to enjoy and spread God's blessing? Very simply pursue God as your pearl of great price. I use pearl of great price because it's just a quick parable that Jesus taught. He said in Matthew 13, again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant sinking a beautiful, seeking beautiful pearls. Who when he found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had embodied. He loved all the pearls, all the things that God had given for enjoyment. He enjoyed the pleasure of being a pearl merchant. But when he saw that one pearl, he sold all things that he may have. The scripture speak about this from Genesis to Revelation that the first commandment is to love God with all your heart and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. That God despises and rejects a superficial relationship that's only on the surface level and he always wants deep intimacy and faithfulness. And so he uses the marriage motif and the intimacy of marriage and the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of the union and marriage. Our Lord Jesus spoke about it all the time too. This is how other places where Jesus spoke about it. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, sister, brother, wife, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. That was Luke 14, 26 and 27. Luke 14, 33 says, so then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
And it's in this context, I like the way that Rob let us in prayer that when we came to the time of ties and offerings, it's like this is all that you've given to us and we're giving back a portion to you. I think that's it. It does. Tithing is a great example, but that's just an outward reflection of the heart. Again, what's the problem with Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Esau? The problem of the heart, their heart was not inclined toward God. It took matters into their own hands. They followed personal desires and they send to get what they wanted, but the heart that longs for God, that pursues God. That's where I think the Psalmist comes up with words like this, you have made me to know the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand or pleasures ever more. I've got to stop on this, but let me just say, well, no, one more, one more little song and then we'll get to the next point. You remember the him, trust in obey. David, I'm sorry, I didn't get this to you sooner. I wish we had a slumber at the end. Here's a verse, but we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay for the favor he shows and the joy he bestows or for them who will trust in obey. That's good theology doesn't say you will earn your salvation by faith and obedience. We are saved by the grace of God, but we can never prove the delights of his love, the joy of his presence while we're holding on to stuff. This is the battle of the Christian line that we open our hands, not just for conversion, but all the days of our lives and say, Lord, you are Lord and I will submit my pleasures to you and I will submit my ways to you and not sin against you. I'm sorry, I have so much more to say. The second thing is, bless people with Christ's love. Jesus on the night, he was betrayed when he's teaching his disciples in the upper room, he said in 15, John 15, 8 through 14, my father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit and so proved to be my disciples. Just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandment, you will abide in my love just as my father's love, just as I kept my father's commandment and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Ultimate joy, both in the temporal living now, as well as in the hereafter, really is wrapped up with finding our soul, satisfaction in God, both now and in the hereafter. And we are always tempted to be satisfied with lesser things, good things that he provides for us, but not the ultimate thing which is Christ's love. It's beginning of the new school year, everyone's getting ready, setting up the schedule. Where's Jesus? Where's Jesus in your schedule? Where's Jesus in the ways you're living? Some of you have moved here for military appointments or what have you? Where is Jesus in your plans to live for the glory of God in the date and area? Set him above your schedule, make him the Lord of what you do this school year. If you don't, you'll find that you don't live like He's your Lord in this school year. That's great. We thank you, Lord, for your great mercy to us, that you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. And we confess, Lord, all too often we have lived for personal pleasure or have taken matters into our own hands and forced the issue, and we live in a manner of dysfunction because of it. If it were not your mercy that brought forgiveness, we certainly deserve to perish. And so now, oh God, we ask that you would continue your work in our lives, become a Lord for us, our souls delight and make us to hunger and thirst for you more than anything else and to order our lives accordingly. For your glory and our good and the advance of the blessings that you pour out, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.