Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren and the Lord answered him and Rebecca his wife conceived, but the children struggled together within her and she said, if it is so, why then am I this way? She went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said, two nations are in your womb, two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger. In her days to be delivered were fulfilled, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel so his name was called Jacob and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. When the boys grew up Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field. But Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. And when Jacob had cooked still, Esau came in from the field and was famished and Esau said to Jacob, please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there for I am famished. Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, first, sell me your birthright. Esau said, I am about to die. What use then is the birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me. So Esau swore and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread, and lentil stew, and he ate, and drank, and rose, and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright, chapter 27. 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, here I am. Isaac said, I am old, I don't know the day of my death. Now then please take your gear, your quiver, your bow, and go out in the field and hunt game for me. 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. Now Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game, Rebecca said to her son, Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau. He said, bring me game, prepare a savory dish, and I'll bless you in the presence of the Lord. Now my son, listen to me, go to the flock, bring me two choice kids that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father. Then you shall bring it to your father that he may eat, and that he'll bless you. Jacob said to his mother, behold, he saw my brother as a hairy man, and I am smooth. Perhaps my father will feel me, then I shall be a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing. But his mother said to him, your curse, beyond me my son, only obey my voice, go, get them for me. So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food such as his father loved, and Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. She put the skins of the kids on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory food and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob, then he came to his father and said, my father, here I am, where are you my son? Jacob said, I am Esau, your first born. I've done as you told me, get out, please sit and eat of my game that you may bless me. And Isaac said to his son, how is it you've done it so quickly? Because the Lord caused it to happen to me, liar, liar, pants on fire. He doesn't only lie, he invokes what? He invokes the name of God. And Isaac says to Jacob, come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau, Jacob came close to Isaac and felt him and said, the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He didn't recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's, so he blessed him and he said, are you really my son Esau? I am. So bring me, bring 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 and he brought him wine and he drank and then his father, Isaac said to him, you know, one last check, come close, kiss me, my son. So he came close and kissed him and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, see the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord is blessed. Now may God give you of 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 came about as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had hardly gone out of the presence of Isaac's father that Esau came in. He made savory food, he brought it to his father and he said, let my father arise and eat of his son's game that you may bless me. And Isaac his father said to him, who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn Esau, then Isaac trembled violently saying, who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me so that 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, amen, may God bless this reading of his holy and infallible word, you may be seated. You'll agree with me, won't you, that there isn't anything that has the power, like the power of blessing. When we were little kids, we'd play this little thing, this little ditty, wouldn't we? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me, your words will never hurt me. What a lie, what a fib, words have power. They have power to go down deep inside of us and take root in such a way that they shape us, the power of words to curse and the power of words to bless. I have a friend who has done untold damage to others in his life because the words to plan his head constantly are the words of his father. He told me, I mean this friend was productive, this friend was highly motivated, this friend was a workaholic, driven, and he'd tell me all he remembered of his father who left the family when he was a teenager, was his father telling him, you'll never amount to anything. The brand of a father and the heart of a little boy, you will never amount to anything, your worthless, words of cursing, how they affect us in contrast, how the words of blessing can bring forth life. I could still remember my mother's words to her fifth child, yours truly, when there was little evidence to support it, she would say to me, Raymond, I know God is going to do awesome things with your life. I mean the power of blessing, the power to discern character and qualities and gifts and abilities and someone so young and to elicit them, to draw them forth to call them out in essence. I still remember my mother leaning over, my knees were shaking, I remember the occasion, I'll never forget it, of course, it was the funeral of my brother and I was to be the preacher. And I can remember my mother coming up to me and wrapping her arms around me, just whispering, so just I could hear and telling me, you are so brave. Are you kidding? I was scared to death. She's saying, I see bravery in you. Gosh, maybe I am. My mom thinks I am, maybe I am. And the power of, see that's the thing, is you can't bless yourself. Blessing has to come from outside of you. Much as you can say, I don't care what anybody says about me, I really think I'm stupid, but I don't care. I don't care that anybody thinks I'm stupid, it doesn't bother me at all. That does protest too much. It bothers us, what other people think about us. It matters greatly what other people think about us, whether we argue to the contrary, it particularly matters what our parents think. The power of parents, the power of those we admire in respect and look to and how we long for them to bless us. Genesis, chapter 25 and 27, we see two brothers and two parents fighting over blessing because there's nothing more important to us in this world than that we received the blessing of the first born. Before you leave this room today, I will tell you how to get it or I will give you assurance and cause you to wonder, the wonder of wonders that you have it. Take your sermon outline, let's talk about the blessing. Together, the first thing I know about this blessing is that much patience will be required, patience waiting, waiting is required with the blessing. One would think, well if I am the favored of God, if I am the favored child of God, then I will experience a life of his blessing, of his care, of his providence, of his provision, of his watching out for me. I'm going to be way ahead of everyone else. My life is going to be paved, there's not going to be great hardship for me and I'm here to tell you this morning that that would be a wrong conclusion to draw. The this blessing comes with hardship and difficulty and consternation, much we know when you buy a toy for a child, sometimes it comes with a warning on the box, doesn't it? Some assembly required and that is saying you may be brave and intrepid as a parent but proceed at your own risk. A headache is awaiting you in the future and so the blessing of God comes with this caveat, some some waiting required. God says in the corruption that's visited on this world by Man's rebellion that he's going to fix it and make it right and he's going to he announces that in the book of Genesis that he's going to do it. Has he done it? Has he done it? Some waiting required. Yes, God's active. Yes, he's begun the plan of redemption. Yes, he's made great and bold strokes but he hasn't completed it yet. His people are waiting. They're always going to be in the mode of waiting. So God says I'm going to work particularly through one family and on and that family ultimately one will come who's going to be the Messiah and that Messiah will be a what to the whole earth, a blessing. He'll bless the whole earth and and God chooses Abraham and to God says to Abraham I'm going to give you a vast land and I'm going to give you a Messiah that will come out of your line and I'm going to make of you a great what nation and so Abraham and his wife they start having children like crazy don't they? God promised. He said I'll make you a great nation but what was Abraham's experience? He had to wait and wait and wait. His life goes almost to the end. He's waiting. Think of Abraham. I'll give you this vast land. Abraham gets all the way to the end of his life. He possesses none of it. It is true in the experience of the people of God that the promises of God to them often do not are not seen are tasted the sweetness of the fruit of God's promises they don't taste in their lifetime. And so if you are of the persuasion that if you have the blessing of God then prosperity awaits you rapidly. Imagine how disillusioned you'd be after Abraham who does the blessing rest on it rest on his son Isaac doesn't it? Isaac marries Rebecca when he's 40 years old he gets married. He has twins those twins are born when he is how old. 60 years old 20 years of waiting. Some of you have known Baroness. Some of you have known infertility. Some of you have known the difficulty of cycle upon cycle year upon year anniversary upon anniversary waiting longing wishing hoping desiring for Isaac and Rebecca 20 long years when she was married to him her family blessed her and you know what they said when they blessed her and sent her away to marry Isaac they said you will be the mother of thousands in fact 10,000 yeah right how about one that's the experience of God's people who have his blessing look at the book of Hebrews read chapter 11 and what will we read that the people of God were were thrown into animal skins and torn to bits they were they had to hide in caves they were cut into they were pulled apart they were tortured and many of them died having never tasted the what the reward of being the children of God. So here's the question before us is God faithful is he true listen if you've read the Bible for five minutes you know he is if you read the Bible for five minutes you know that every problem he made to Abraham has come true we have all the advantage of that perspective but guess who didn't have it Abraham didn't have it Isaac couldn't see the rest of the story we can and so the question in our life is will we wait knowing and knowing that our God never fails well we have the kind of character to endure I was watching a TV preacher the other day he said he said there are three keys to prosperity first key you put it in the door you want to open the door of financial prosperity the first key is prayer the second key is fasting the third key is generosity towards my ministry you put in those three keys and you turn them the door of financial prosperity will open to you now you should I shouldn't watch TV preachers because when you do you get very critical and you get very judgmental and and you have to realize some of them got different doctrine and different thinking and and and every family's got some weird cousins right you know and you know they get some weird cousins but they're still your family and and yet when I watch that I said that man is not a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ that's not a doctrinal error that's Satan it's not a doctrinal error that is that is a that is a lie from the pit of hell and and and and he will be held accountable for misleading the children of God in such a way how important it is to tell you that if you're hitching your train to you know your card to the to the Jesus train you're you're going to make following Jesus your life how important it is to tell you you'll find yourself it's sometimes bitterly vexed by your experiences I've been a Christian for 20 years and my husband still's not converted what's going on what's going on I'm waiting it's God hear me I want you to know he is faithful and he is true but he will ask you to wait someone the other night in pastor's class I talked about being with my children in heaven the desire of my life has had my children walk through the gates of heaven and and what do you think happened as soon as class was over people in their 60s and in their 70s came up and said I don't know how much longer I'm going to live but my kids don't know Jesus we're waiting you know how long are we going to have to wait the desire of their hearts too but they've waited a long time seller called me up this week he's a pastor he's a pastor of a leading church he says a dynamic ministry he called me up and he said my marriage is hell he said my wife hates me and I don't know what to do he said I'm hanging in there and I'm hanging in there and I'm not going to go to any other person and I'm not going to walk out on this thing and I've been praying but I just want you to know that to be the blessed of God is the greatest thing in this world but some waiting will be required and if anybody tries to sell you something different run for your life because the father knows what's best for us and he will stick to the plan to shape us up and make us his and make us holy dependent on him whether we like his plan or not he's not like us you know we go to discipline our kids what do we do I'm going to thank you for that okay I won't you know you do that one more time and you we you do that one more time and you you do that one more time you know the father is unpersuaded by our whimpering he loves us too much or the two girls that were playing in the backyard in a wooded area behind their house when they stumbled onto a hornet's nest and out of the nest came these little barbed you know demons and and we're we're all lighting on them and and stinging them and they began to scream and suddenly the girls reported to through the woods crashing and hurtling and and clumping and stomping you know like some sort of big foot came one of the girls father like a you know superhero swooping to the rescue and he heard the screams of the girls and he ran through the woods and he grabbed them up and and and took off through the woods weaving through you know this trail of a pest behind them until he'd outrun them all and got all these hornets off the girls and you know when the father did that the girl said he heard us I mean when he grabbed us up he was too rocky he bruised us and and and he scratched us by the branches and the things we ran through and and he was rough and he was rust it hurt to be loved and say something when the father comes into this world to rescue sometimes that rescue will hurt sometimes that rescue will be it will involve the father saying I have much work to do with you with your life and your character and so if I am going to press my love into your life there will be waiting involved got it in the midst of your waiting will you be the one who says where are you God or will you be the one who says I will trust in the Lord with all my heart my father is faithful and true may God give us the grace to be the latter second this promise doesn't only involve waiting but this promise can be forfeited this promise um we read in Genesis chapter 25 can be so devalued as precious as it is that it can be bartered or traded away now Isaac and Rebecca have two boys their twins Jacob and he saw but it appears to be that they're not identical they're so different and here we read of he saw he's a hairy man he's an outdoorsman he's a man's man he's a hunter he's burly he's he's got a ruddy red complexion he's um and and he is the apple of his father's line and what does it say about Jacob Jacob was move Jacob was a smooth man Jacob didn't like the outdoors Jacob lived in the fence Jacob helped in the kitchen um and and so Jacob was his mother's favorite and um and the bible says that the birthright it goes to the first born their twins but the first out of the womb was Esau and the birthright was meant a great deal I mean not only did it mean that Esau was the family heir he would receive the bulk of the state of the family it meant he would be the future tribal you know leader of the clan of of of all the family it meant that um that he would be the doted on child the oldest was the one who would carry the family name would be so the parents would pay special attention you'd give them the special education you'd you spend extra time with them because all your families hopes and dreams and wishes were invested were vested with the oldest Esau understand has been informally given the birthright already by his father Isaac Isaac is Gonzo over Esau Jacob hates that Jacob longs for the birthright Jacob you know order to be like to miss it by a couple minutes their twins older brother my foot you know Jacob wants the birthright and he decides to take advantage of his brother's carnal nature of his brother's appetite and so in his brother we know it comes in hungry he and he manages to secure the birthright at the oath of his brother all for the cost of what a bowl of soup what Jacob would give anything to possess his brother sells for a bowl of soup and that just give you a pause to stand back that's something so precious and valuable could be deemed so invaluable could be cast aside so readily the bottom line is we turn to the New Testament the New Testament says let you be warned in your heart about Esau that Esau was profane he was hedonistic he was worldly he would cash in what was precious just to satisfy his appetite and his desires Esau had every spiritual advantage he is Abraham's grandson and he throws it all away he couldn't care less and the Bible says oh my watch out because there's Esau in all of our hearts do you think there's anybody in this room who values the Bible like we should doesn't we have something precious most of us have eight or ten of them there are places in this world yet that they have one page of the Bible they would virtually set it up on the wall and kneel down and pray before it every day it's possible isn't it to have precious things in our midst and be utterly unmoved by them isn't it isn't it possible to even have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ before us and to be utterly unmoved it's possible to sleep isn't it in the face of preaching it's possible however unthinkable we have that ability don't we don't you or I know that don't you read the Bible often and your unmoved board I mean admit it I am these are the richest grandest truths in the world and sometimes they fall on my heart like rain on a stone they make no impression we can have a church and we don't cherish it we can have families that we we have the ability to take what's precious and treat it like it's of no value we've got Esau in our heart don't we Esau given the opportunity you know he is the first born he'd rather have a bowl of soup to be a child of the living God to have the treasure of the gospel frankly that's not what we want the most the Bible tells us the people who love the world first
is reading this week a survey that said college girls now they don't go on dates they hook up hooking up refers to sexual relations 40% of the girls surveyed said is not unusual for them to have relations with a guy on the first date that they don't even call it a date you don't date anymore you hook up and you read something like that and you say why would someone take something so precious and give it away why why did Esau give away what was so precious because he was hungry why would a young girl or young guy do that because they are hungry they're hungry for the blessing of God which is what our soul truly craved and yet the the fact is we will try to satisfy ourselves in all the wrong places and only end up more thirsty yet everybody who has an abortion says later on what how did I ever do that whatever came over me why would I do that what's the answer why does anybody do that because they're hungry they're hungry for something they're hungry to suck the marrow out of life and so they run away from God they're trying to live in this world without God and deal with the consequences of their choices in their life without God and every move they make only get some deeper in the you know deeper in the morath what do people build houses that are bigger than what they need what do people do that what do people do that because they're hungry and they think that their hunger can be satisfied perhaps by having more more more why do people work work to their to their ill health work to their families they're driven way past what they ought to do read this week of a man who who was on a book tour national book tour of 14 cities 13 days you know he was an author he written this book he was publicizing it was exhausted he was tired of sitting there autographing book smiling and people acting like he really cared about their banal comments you know and here he is on the plane and he's flying home and he calls the secretary and he says please tell me that I have nothing tomorrow please tell me there's no appointments as he does actually have a lunch he says cancel it said I can't why can't you he said because you agreed to it they actually auctioned off lunch with you at a charity auction somebody paid $500 of lunch with you and it's tomorrow he said cancel it she said I can't and I won't it's your daughter who bought the lunch the only way this teenager could find time with her father was to spend $500 to go to lunch with him he said at that moment it was it was one of those wife changing smack in the face moments that what's truly precious and what's truly valuable I was throwing away seeking what seeking to fill some emptiness inside of myself with worldly a claim with some sense of value through all these people wanting to buy my book anybody in that rational moment he'd say I give all that up to have lunch with my daughter oh may god make this morning a moment for you with your eyes are open and say how much am I any saw how much am I lusting over a bowl of soup when I could have the treasure of the blessing of god third the blessing will will be waited on it can be forfeited and third you have to understand it is utterly undeserved and unmerited and that should be so obvious from this passage they're fighting over the blessing it's a great narrative isn't it has a lot of suspense it's a great story Isaac is an old man he's a infirm he's a blind he's about to die he calls in his church son he saw him a man you know go get some of that killer stew and cook your daddy up some stew and and we're gonna have a great time together we're gonna eat together and then I'm gonna I'm gonna pass the man along to you son it's time and he saw scurries out to get it done but waiting in the wings is who who's listening I mean it's like this family could fit on Jerry Springer I mean here's Rebecca waiting in the wing she overhears her husband her royalty ought to be to him but it's not it's to her son this is a fractured and dysfunctional family she she can I she calls Jacob and and says your father's about to give the blessing to Esau that's not gonna happen go get the animals we'll cook up some stew that'll your father alike get the animal skins we'll cover you up so that we can fool your father we'll get your brothers claws we'll put them on and sure enough that's what they do they go into Isaac's presence and Isaac says how'd you get back here so quickly and Jacob says God God enabled me to do it let me tell you if you have any inkling in your heart that maybe what Jacob is doing is right vanish it the bible's very clear and this is a principle somebody taught me when I was a little child and it's it's kept me from making some foolish mistakes it is never right to do wrong so that good may occur it is never right to do what's wrong so that right happens you got that it is never right to cut across the corner and say yeah I know that's questionable yeah I don't know that really washes but the ultimate result is good let me tell you that's a great way to get yourself shipwrecked and that's what we see Jacob doing he's a liar he's a schemer he's a cheat he's foul invokes the name of God with the complicity of his mother he fools the father come here come here come here close are you sure you're my son yes I'm e saw and so Jacob Isaac gives the blessing to Jacob believing as he saw and as soon as Jacob departs what happens in comes the brother in comes e saw he's made the stew only to have a little look at verse 33 it's a telling verse in this entire passage chapter 27 verse 33 I believe it's in your sermon outline as well on the third point have you ever wondered when when when Isaac realizes that he blessed the son he didn't intend to why he doesn't just say I take it back I take it back it doesn't count I said the wrong thing this contract is null and void because it was fraudulently signed under false pretenses under the rest it doesn't count why doesn't he say that
look at verse 33 it tells us why would commentators say happen here as Isaac is converted Isaac when he realizes that he has blessed Jacob and not e saw he trembled violently and said who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him yes and what he shall be blessed Isaac has fought the will of God his entire life God told Isaac before either twin was born that the what the older would serve the younger from the time of before their birth Isaac knew the God's choice lay on the younger and yet Isaac resisted God I know better than God the older is stronger the older is his my choice the older is the family leader he's the rightful one and I don't care what you say God right to the end of his life he stubbornly resist to the point that he is going to bless e saw and now what happens when he realizes he blessed Jacob what does he do he shakes violently at the realization of the providence and sovereignty of God that God says you have fought me your whole life but guess what you lost even though there was evil and even though there was conniving and even though there was chicaneery what I intended to happen is exactly what happened in Isaac relents to it and says I have blessed Jacob and he shall be blessed now how do you how do you understand the story you know what you ought to understand the God wanted Jacob blessed because he was such a wonderful guy right and it's always the good that God was right what should be the obvious conclusion here is that Jacob receives the blessing of God and yet perhaps nobody was ever more undeserving he is the basis character in the episode he is a liar and he is a cheat and the genesis when you read about Abraham you read about him lying and you read about him being impatient but you also read about a faithful act so you kind of have a good Abraham chapter allows Abraham chapter good Abraham chapter bad Abraham chapter you get to Jacob and guess what it's all bad it's all bad there is nothing good in this man and yet he is the beloved he is the loved of God God's blessing falls on the utterly undeserving and I want to say that to smack in our faces I know because I've stood right in this spot and I've said you know what it may be the Jeffrey Dahmer the human serial murderer who ate his victims is in heaven and I've seen people in this church just physically recoil at that news that is wrong it can't be he's wicked so Jacob back it's the only kind God takes it's the only kind eligible because God wants the world to know that it's all of him it's all of his grace it's all his merit we provide nothing Jesus paid it all all to him I owe and so that's why Christians walking around like they're such hot stuff when it's all him he did it all we're Jacob we don't qualify in any way shake or form there ought to be humility ought to be the result of the teaching indeed like this you know somebody said to me recently they were talking about somebody else and they said don't you think they are the most self righteous and proud and critical people you've ever met I had the best answer what do you hear this I said yeah I think they are other than me
I got to tell you I was so proud of my humble answer and I honestly was I thought myself darn that was good you were you were so humble so I can't even get humility right I'm so proud of it when I do it
so my heart was all wrong but you know what my words were all right because the person was saying I don't know anybody that bad and and our answer ought to always be yeah I don't either except for me I don't know a heart worst in mind we said of Jonathan Edwards that he was preaching and a town over a series of nights and God was working through his preaching and a woman rode him a letter and she just asked for prayer for her husband that he was hard and he was stubborn cold and difficult and their home was an unpleasant place and Edwards was preaching to 800 men one night and he thought you know perhaps that man is here so he read the letter and he asked if that man would stand up so that they could pray for him and 300 men stood up the ladies I saw ladies giving what people the high fives out there you know does that ought to be us Lord it's me you should almost be able to hear the description of any center and as it's being described will the real you know Jacob please stand up you ought to get up and say that's me if I am right with God it is all it is all grace I've contributed nothing and let me just say this too somewhere in this room are some rascals and you've said you know christianities for good people and I'm not one of them I've got so much sin in the bank I could never crawl out of this hole and I you know 10 commandments and do this and do that I just know my heart I'm not I'll never qualify so all I find is christianity be this most frustrating thing where I'm being asked to climb a mountain and I don't have any arms on any legs I can't do it the gospels for you Jacob's utterly unqualified he did everything to be undeserving and God loved him the gospels for you because frankly there isn't any other kind but you take hope run to Jesus somebody came to me once and they said do you know who's in the pastor's class and that guy's like a bottom feeder I mean he's a womanizer he's a is he's a that and you know I mean what's he doing coming to our church I tell them looks to me like I could fit in well people are absolutely nothing to their name except what boast in nothing but the cross last of all this blessing is transferable will you listen for just one more a couple more minutes the blessing is transferable you know what that means that what Jacob wants with all his heart in fact you can look at the 27th verse I believe it is let me get it right the 19th verse of chapter 27 and when Jacob says to his father I am Esau your firstborn the Hebrew construction there tells us that essentially what Jacob is saying is I'm the firstborn do you think his mother hadn't told him his whole life that he was the chosen one of God and Jacob is saying to his father I am the firstborn you should have loved me dad why didn't you do it on me smile on me dad smile on me and what happens when Esau finds out that he's not going to receive the blessing even with all the callousness of his heart what does he say to his father bless me bless me dad don't you have a blessing for me too like a little child he says they're me too me too dad I don't care how tough you think you are how self-reliant and sufficient you think you are this morning in your heart of hearts you want the blessing of God you want God to look inside of you and say I find favor in you I am delighted in you how could that happen for us well the Bible says that there is a firstborn of God his name is Jesus he was the only begotten of the father he's the first born from the dead he is the heir of all of God's wealth and possessions he is the head of God's family he was dotted on by the father in all eternity path and yet the Bible says he left his position of privilege as the first born and he took your clothing he dressed in your smelly foul clothing and he appeared before the father as one who deserved the curse and so when the father drew near to his first born he didn't smell the first born he smelled the rest of us and in his rage and in his judgment he poured down cursing on his son so the son could cry out that nothing silent and that Jesus takes the robes of his perfection the sweet smelling saver and he wraps them around us so that when the father leans over to smell us he says that's Jesus I smell Jesus I smell the first born and he gives us his blessing that's the gospel if you are in Christ if you believe in Christ then you are the first born of God Hebrews chapter 12 says that that the church of Jesus is the church of the first born think about that everybody in Jesus in this room is the first born you're the one who God's nuts about you're the one he don't son you're the one of his special favor and attention I had a granddad like that my granddad used to send me letters and call me and pay such attention to me that I was utterly convinced that was his favorite grandchild I used to think that he's grooming me to take over the family business he's spending such extraordinary time with me I hope my brothers don't get jealous I mean when he comes down from New Jersey to our home in Miami he's just gonna want to be with me it's gonna be really hard on them guess what they felt the same way the Bible says that God's spirit is given into you to bear witness with your spirit that you are the first born of God experience it oh and discernment good that was good that was good message close your Bible go home just another message from God or do you experience it emotionally physically really hearing the voice not those voices from your past of cursing but experiencing God speaking into your spirit blessing you do you experience that God saying do you ever do you remember when your kids were so little you would go in and watch them sleeping in their crib and sometimes it would just be so good you would just shudder the Bible says the Father feels towards his first born and if you're in Jesus that's you your love is better than life that's what we say the whole blood manner of love of the Father has given unto us that we should be called the first born of the living God