Genesis 27 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see that he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, my son. And he answered, here I am. And he said, behold, now I am old.

I like the fact that he admitted it, didn't try to cover it up or change it. It's just that I am who I am. What you see is what you get. Behold now, like, look, check it out.

You can see this, right? I'm old. I do not know the day of my death. Now, therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me. In the King James Bible, it's venison, nothing like a venison steak. My dad used to be a hunter and would bring it home. And my mom, like Rebecca, knew just how to cook venison.

And it's not easy to get the taste right. So he was dreaming of it. He thought, I'm old.

I can't see. And this is a perfect chance for me to get a great meal and bless my favorite son. So it's just going to be a deal between us two gentlemen. Oh, by the way, this is going to sort of throw a wrench in your whole view of this blessing chapter. We have a Sunday School view of Isaac being on his bed and blessing his two sons, and we think, oh, his sons are probably in their 20s. They were both 77 in this chapter.

So the whole Sunday School view that you have growing up of this chapter of Isaac blessing his young sons, throw it out. He's 137. They're 77 and still hanging around home. I find it interesting that he's at 137. Now, that's old. But he's sure he's going to die. He just knows he's going to die.

I got to get ready because I'm going to die. You know what really happened? You know how long he lived?

Another 43 years. So I'm thinking that this guy was a little bit of a hypochondriac. You know, he's the kind of person that would go on WebMD when they have any kind of an ache or pain, and they'd read about every disease, and they'd think, I have all of them.

I knew it. Or they talked to a friend, I know I'm going to die. Like the woman who had a tombstone and it read, see, I told you I was sick. I think that was Isaac. I think he was sure he was going to die, but he wasn't going to die for 43 more years. Why did he think he was going to die?

Here's my guess. His half-brother Ishmael died at 137 years old. So when he got to his birthday, he thought, I can't have much longer to live.

Ishmael kicked the bucket at this age. I got to get this blessing thing all sewed up. So he called his son in.

Told him to go out and make him the savory food as such that I love him. Bring it to me that I may eat that my soul, verse 4, may bless you before I die. Now Rebecca was listening. She's eavesdropping. She's not in the room. She wasn't invited.

But she's close enough to overhear it, and she does. When Isaac spoke to Esau, his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So Rebecca spoke to Jacob, her son, saying, indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying, bring me game, make me savory food for me that I may eat it, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.

Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. If you're wondering where Jacob got his conniving character from, look no further than his mother. His mother taught him the ropes. She was a pro. She was clever. She was a master, and he learned from the best.

She had already concocted the scheme. Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father such as he loves. I'll make it taste just like the venison that he's saying he wants from Esau. And then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it, that he may bless you before his death. Classic.

Classic. Here's a human being trying to help pour God out. Now God had said to Rebecca, it was to Rebecca when she said, why am I having such a difficult pregnancy? And God said, because two nations are in your womb and gave him the prophecy.

The older will serve the younger. So she's thinking, how am I going to make this work? What's the answer to that? You're not supposed to make it work. If God said he'll do it, he'll do it with or without you, through or not through you. You don't have to manipulate or connive or help God out. Now that's a trap a lot of us fall into. Here's the trap.

Knowing the word of God, doing the will of God, but not doing it in the way of God. That's the trap. The trap is that the ends end will justify the means. Doesn't matter how you get to it. Just arrive at that end. God said, this is going to happen. I'll help God get there. Knowing the will of God or the word of God, doing the will of God, but not in the way of God.

Does it matter? Well, just ask Moses. God said, Moses, you're going to be the next deliverer of the children of Israel. Oh, he's all excited.

Well, he's nervous, but he's all excited. He's still working in the courts of Egypt. So one day when he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew, he thinks, I got to do something about that.

I'm the deliverer. So he goes over and he rebukes the Egyptian for mistreating the Hebrew because he is a Hebrew. The Egyptian doesn't want to hear about it. So Moses kills the Egyptian and he thinks the Hebrews are going to make me a hero because I killed one of their enemies. Well, they did make him a hero. They didn't trust him after that.

In fact, they pointed the finger at him and said, you're the guy who murdered the Egyptian. Once he found that he was found out, Moses fled for 40 years in the Midian desert, 40 long, lonely years. Now, he'll be back, but it'll take 40 years for him to reach the lesson so God can use him.

Wasted years, but years where God is molding and shaping his character, all because he tried to help God out, didn't have to help God out. You just got to do what God said and he'll do it through you. Or ask David if this concept is pertinent in his life.

He'll tell you. You know the story how the David thought the Ark of God is out in Philistine country because they captured it. We need to bring it up to Jerusalem. So one day he arranged for a big parade. 20,000 people were there and there was dancing and there was singing and he knew how to throw a party. And so he takes the Ark of the Covenant because he wants to take it from Philistine country up to Jerusalem and he puts it on a cart. And he has two people, one in front, one in back.

One is Ahio up in front and in the back, Uzzah. And as they're going down the road, the road gets a little bit shaky and the wheels start to move a little bit and the Ark starts tipping and Uzzah gets so afraid that the Ark's going to tip over. So I have to, he thought, steady the Ark and help God maintain his composure on his way up to Jerusalem. So he touched the Ark simply, simply to steady it. He had the best intentions, right?

He had everything good in his heart. As soon as he touched it, God struck him dead. Talk about raining on one's parade. The parade was over.

Everybody went home. David was totally bummed out. He just couldn't believe God would do something like that. And months went by and he was pouting and pouting and then one day he decided, I'm going to read my Bible. And as he read through the scripture, he discovered that the way God prescribed the movement of the Ark wasn't on a cart for efficiency.

You don't put it on a wagon or put it in a pickup. It has to be carried on the shoulders of the priest, that there's two staves, one on either side, two priests in the front, two in the back and it's covered, and that's how it goes to its place. That's how God prescribed it. That's his way.

Knowing God's word, doing God's will, but not in God's way is not good. Well, when he discovered that, he decided to take the Ark up the right way, put it on priests' shoulders. They went six steps, only six steps.

Now it was six miles away they had to go. They'd walk six steps, stop, build an altar, kill an animal and sacrifice the animal, go six more steps, kill an animal, sacrifice the animal, six more steps. Now, to the average person in the world, they would say, that's not efficient. That's not efficient. The Ark on a cart, that's efficient.

You're right, it's not efficient, but it's effective. The Ark got to Jerusalem, yes, right? Slowly, but it got there, yes? The other way, did the Ark get to Jerusalem the efficient way?

Didn't get there. So, what is considered to be efficient by the world may not be effective in God's standards. You're to wait on God, you're to seek God's will, you're to read God's word, you are to have the right motivation, but you're to do it God's way. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, it's more important than ever for Christians to stand for truth in our broken culture. And in the God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets from Skip Heitzig, you'll get equipped to speak God's timeless truth into the big issues of our time. God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $50 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. The cart idea was the Philistines. They're the ones that took the Ark and captured it on a cart. Now what is a cart?

A cart is simply boards and big wheels. And that's what a lot of Christian organizations do. Let's have a board meeting and bring in the big wheels and let's get this thing moving.

But if they're not seeking the mind and the heart and the ways of God, even that group of Christians can go astray. What is he saying? What is God wanting? What is the next step? It's important to wait on the Lord.

It can be sometimes the most effective way to get things moving. Well, I digressed a bit. No, I think I amplified it. Let's go now to verse 11. Look what Jacob says.

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother. Now listen carefully. Watch this carefully. Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smoothie. Smooth man. It's skinned is in italics.

It's not in the original Hebrew. I'm a smoothie. Smooth man.

Smooth operator. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall watch. I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing. You shall seem to be a deceiver? Little Jacob, you'll seem to be a deceiver because you are a deceiver. But isn't it interesting that what he is worried about isn't the fact that he is a liar and a deceiver, but that he'll be found out as one.

He'll seem to be one. A lot of people are concerned more about what they seem to be than really what they are. What will people think about me?

You know, honestly, who cares? Who are you really is what counts. There's a big difference between your reputation and your character. Your reputation is what other people think you are.

Your character is what you know you are. Look at it like a bushel of apples. Reputation, it's that top layer of apples in the market. The ones they put up there to sell the bushel. That's the reputation.

The ones you look at. The character is all the apples underneath. A box of cereal. The picture on the front, that's the reputation. The cereal inside, that's the character. Your character is who you really are when no one's looking. It's what you say when you're talking to people who don't know you go to church.

It's what you do at night in a hotel room when nobody's there to see except God. That's your character. I'm going to seem to be a deceiver, dude.

You're way past that. You are numero uno deceiver. Then I'm going to get a curse and not a blessing. But his mother said to him, you're a curse beyond me. Can you imagine that? I'll take the curse.

If you get a curse, you know, just move out of the way, it'll hit me, no problem. Only obey my voice. Now keep in mind, he's 77 years old and his mommy's saying, you better learn. Go and get them for me. And he 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 choice clothes.

I laugh because I think you'll get the drift. Took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau which were in her house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. She knew that the only way this trickery was going to work is since her husband's eyes weren't functioning well, that his senses, his nose was still sharp and acute.

She knew that. We have to deceive him with smell. And Esau had his own B.O. He had the outdoorsy B.O. That was his body odor. Jacob was like Giorgio Armani. That was his smell.

Esau was more like locker room ambiance. So we got to get that somehow on Jacob. And so you're wearing some of your brother's clothes, it's a dead giveaway. And then she put the skins that had the hair on it because her brother was hairy on his hands because that's where his father would feel and the smooth part of his neck. Now it's interesting, Kyle and Dee Litch, two great linguistic scholars of the Old Testament report that in ancient cultures hair pieces had been used for generations. From this time all the way up to the Roman times, people took long animal hair, horse hair, goat hair, camel's hair and used it to supplement. They had hair pieces basically back then as a substitute for their own hair to make a hair piece.

And so this was not uncommon to use animal skins for that kind of a purpose. But to put it on the hands was a little odd but they had to fix smoothie up to be like his brother. Then she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son, Jacob. So he went to his father and he said, my father, my father. And he said, here I am, who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn.

I have done just as you told me, please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me. But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? And he said, because the Lord your God brought it to me.

Ooh. His mama taught him well. He's a spiritual fraud. He's now using God to further his agenda.

Now, you know what this is called? Taking the Lord's name in vain. Well, I always thought it was this like cussing. No, the idea of taking the Lord's name, one better translation is never take the Lord's name lightly on your lips. It's where you take the Lord's name and you empty it of its real potency, its content, and you try to use it for your own agenda. So this is God talk. This is like, praise the Lord, Daddy.

God, you know, just put a deer right in the road. It's a lie, but he's using God's name to further his agenda. Every now and then, when a person wants to further his agenda and they want you to buy into his thing, instead of saying, you know, I've been thinking about something lately and this is what I believe, what he'll say is, the Lord spoke to me. The Lord is leading me.

Maybe so. Maybe he has spoken to you. Maybe he is leading you. Or maybe he's not, but using his name will make people go, oh, well, who am I to argue with God? Because I've watched the Lord seemingly lead people into some really stupid things that I can't blame God for. So we have to be careful.

We should never use the Lord to further our agenda and that's exactly what is happening. Isaac said to Jacob, now watch, he's suspicious. Please come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. Now you know there was a lump right then in Jacob's throat. He's going, oh man, I'm dead meat.

Where's my mom? Because she's going to get that curse any moment. So Jacob went near to Isaac, knees were shaking, I'm sure. And as he felt him and he said, the voice is Jacob's voice.

You know, he probably tried to do an imitation of his brother, but the vocal cords wouldn't allow it. 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. And so he blessed him.

Now listen very carefully. Isaac was old. His senses were failing him. He reached out to feel and what he felt deceived him. But there was one thing that gave away his son Jacob that he should have trusted.

And there's only one thing that didn't fail. And it was the word that he heard. When he heard Jacob speak his words, he said, that's Jacob's voice.

It's the words that I hear that make me think it's Jacob, but my feelings are betraying me. You know, a lot of times our feelings betray us, our senses fail us. And if we're not absolutely 100% using the revealed word of God as our guide, we can be deceived.

You don't know how many people over the years I've watched get into all sorts of tangents. The things like, well, I went to this meeting and I know there's nothing really about it in the Bible. The word doesn't say what they practiced was right, but I felt the presence of God. You're being deceived. You're simply saying the criteria for truth and error is how I feel about it at the moment. It's the word that he heard that didn't deceive him.

His feelings betrayed him. And so what we do when it comes to, is this thing a biblical thing that we practice? We ask this, especially as New Testament believers, did Jesus mention it in any of the four Gospels? Number two, was it amplified in the book of Acts and practiced by the church as it was birthed? And number three, was it elucidated and amplified in the epistolatory literature written by Paul, John, Peter, et cetera?

So example, the Lord's Supper. Did Jesus speak about it? Yes or no? Yes. Was it practiced in the book of Acts? Yes.

Was it amplified in the epistolatory literature? Yes. Baptism. Did Jesus mention it? Yes. Was it practiced in the book of Acts?

Yes. And was it spoken of and written about by the, yes, in the epistle. Being slain in the spirit that is falling over.

The presence of God, boom, you have catchers catch you. Did Jesus mention it? Nope. Was it practiced in the book of Acts? Never. Was it ever talked about or amplified in the epistles? Never.

Or the notion of Christians having demons cast out of them. Did Jesus ever predict that? Nope. Practiced in the book of Acts? Nope.

In the epistles? Nope. Oh, but I felt so. What you felt was wrong. What you need to trust is the word that you heard, not the feelings that you feel, because they can be deceptive. So that is the ultimate criteria.

This is a classic example of that. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently speak God's timeless truth into our culture.

Pastor Skip's God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to the never-changing truth in ever-changing times.