If you're fearing death for yourself as a Christian, that's ridiculous. For death for you is only to go into the presence of God. Job even knew that. Job knew he'd see God. So do Christians fear death?
Of course not. Read 1 Corinthians 15, O death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? Jesus Christ has conquered death. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Jacob and Esau, neither of those twin brothers model a life of holiness and righteousness. Both of them were deceitful, selfish, and they did things that were morally reprehensible. So why does the Bible include one of them in its list of some of the greatest models of faith? And what are the aspects of his life that each of us should emulate? Find out today as John MacArthur continues his study titled The Power of Faith. He'll show you the key difference between these well-known brothers, what their stories reveal about the character of God, and what it all means for your salvation. And with that lesson now, here is John MacArthur. Genesis 26.
And you might want to turn there because we're going to stick around in that for a little while. Keep your finger in Hebrews 11, we'll jump back and forth. Isaac's life was kind of weakly and sickly and sinful. Yet even through it all, he believed God. And he finally established himself in the scroll of faith because of one great act that kind of wrapped up his life.
Now let's see what this thing was that he did. Back up to chapter 25 verse 21. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren.
So Isaac prayed because his wife was barren and the Lord was entreated by him and Rebekah his wife conceived. And so the children were born and when they came out, verse 26 says, the little baby, interesting thought, Jacob had a hold of Esau's heel, which was symbolic of the fact that he would be grasping Esau's birthright later on. Now the boys grew up and Esau was a hunter, 27, man of the field, and Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. Esau came from the field.
You see, here's robust, rough Esau. And he was faint, too much hunting and he kind of got a little bit tired. Esau said to Jacob, feed me I pray thee with that same red. Therefore was his name called Red.
Edom means red. Now Jacob is a pretty smart guy, pretty shrewd. Esau and his father were a lot alike. They wanted something to eat and if they could get something in their stomachs they were pretty happy. Jacob was a lot more careful than that. He saw something possible here and Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. Now this guy must have really been hungry in the first place. In the second place he must have thought very little of the birthright, right?
Very little. And it's true. All he wanted was something in his stomach. He didn't care about the future.
He was a man who was a pragmatist for the moment. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he swore unto him and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. That's kind of like a bean and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. No thought for God, passionate, impulsive, incapable of estimating the true value of anything that doesn't immediately appeal to the senses, preferring the animal to the spiritual, he was indeed profane, common.
Now with that as a background, let's go to chapter 27 and see how it all comes out at the end. Verse 1, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he couldn't see, he called Esau his eldest son and said unto him, my son. And he said unto him, behold, here am I. And he said, behold, now I am old.
I know not the day of my death. Oh, he's sneaky. Now therefore take I pray thee thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow and go out to the field and take me some venison and make me savory food such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. That's all he cared about. Want to hear something sneaky?
You live 40 more years. And you know something? He knew he wasn't dying. He wanted to sneak in the blessing on Esau. He knew the purpose of God. Surely Rebecca had communicated to him in these years of marriage. Surely she had told him what God originally said. And surely Jacob had reminded him that Esau sold him the birthright. And I'm sure, as best we can tell, Isaac must have known this. And so he wanted to circumvent and get Esau the blessing.
And when he did this, he began to set up a chain reaction of evil things that were really the devil's effort to thwart God's plan, but God just twisted them around and brought His plan to pass in spite of them, verse 5. And Rebecca heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. She was sneaking around, you know, the old ear to the door, and she heard this.
And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and bring it. She was a deceitful woman. She was a proud woman. She was a selfish woman. She wanted her own way, not the Lord's. She really showed a lack of total faith in God because God could have brought about what was right in His own way. But she was going to help God. It's like Sarah hiring Hagar to come in there and give Abraham a child.
Everybody wants to help God and just created havoc. And Rebecca, let's go through the plot. Rebecca spoke unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison and make me savory food that I may eat and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Now she's going to plot with Jacob as to how to beat Esau out of the blessing. Go to the flock and fetch me from there two good kids of the goats, and I'll make them savory food for thy father such as he loveth. Verse 10, And thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, Behold, Esau, my brother is an hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Now old Isaac is blind and he's just going to say, You're not Esau.
There's no hair on your arms. My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son.
She wants to accept the blame. Now watch. Only obey my voice and go fetch me them. Go get those two goats. And he went and fetched, you know, this would have been his chance to be a man, and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory food such as his father loved. And Rebecca took the choicest raiment of her eldest son Esau. Ah, she goes and gets Esau's best clothes.
Get that scent of Esau, you know. And put them...that was before bands so you know that clothes had things like that. So put them upon Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands.
Can't you imagine that little operation? Getting hairy skin off a goat attached to his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck. Goat hair all over him.
And Esau's clothes, look like he was going to a Halloween party. And she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. Here's Jacob all dressed up in this ridiculous regalia with a handful of meat for Isaac. You know, you see, she operated on the principle that the Lord helps them who help themselves.
You know what? The Lord helps them who are at the end of themselves. And Jacob joined in. Here comes the chain of lies.
Verse 18, he came unto his father and said, my father. And he said, here am I. I don't know why they went through all that all the time. But anyway, here am I. These twins apparently sounded alike, even though they were perhaps not identical but fraternal, although that would be an unusual situation. But apparently they were because of the difference in the hair.
Here am I. Who art thou, my son? So there was enough similarity that it was a little hard to tell them apart. And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. That's the first lie. I have done according as thou batest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit in need of my venison that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, how is it that thou has found it so quickly, my son? And in another lie, and here he drags God in, shameless, because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father and he felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he recognized him not because his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. And he said, art thou my very son Esau?
And he said, I am. And he said, bring it near to me and I will eat of my son's venison that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him and he did eat and he brought him wine and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, come near now and kiss me, my son. And he came near and kissed him and he smelled, I told you, the smell of his raiment. He said, that's Esau, blessed him and said, see, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.
The thing came off. Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee. Be Lord over thy brethren.
That's what he wanted to hear. Let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that cursed thee and blessed be he that blessed thee. And he got the blessing. Then Esau showed up, verse 30. It came to pass as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob was yet scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
Here comes Esau. And he also had made savory food and brought it unto his father and said unto his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's venison that thy soul may bless me. Isaac his father said unto him, who are thou?
Haven't I been through this once before? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, Who?
Where is he that hath taken venison and brought it me? And I have eaten of all before thou camest and have blessed him. Yea, and he shall be blessed.
And I believe there's a great pause before that last sentence. And that last statement of verse 33 is the one great, faithful act in the life of Isaac. You say, what does it mean? It means that Isaac had blessed Jacob and Esau coming back said, Who?
Where is he that hath taken venison and brought it to me? And I have eaten of all before thou camest and have blessed him. Then he stopped, realizing that against his own will, against his own plot, against his own fleshly design for Esau, God had granted the blessing to Jacob, you see. And so he says, all right, God, yes, and he shall remain blessed. And so finally, the thing climaxes out with faith.
God, if that's what you insist upon, I buy it. Now, keep in mind this also, that whether he blessed Jacob or Esau, he did believe in the Abrahamic promise being passed to one of those two sons. So his faith was legitimate.
It finally became obedient, even though against his own will. Doesn't that show you when God wants to work his purposes, he'll work them? And he passed the blessing to Jacob, a lesser blessing to Esau.
It was a man who faced death with the absolute confidence that God would carry on after he was gone and fulfill His promise in his children. All right, secondly, and just briefly, we're not going to spend nearly as much time, we see Jacob, Hebrews 11 21. By faith Jacob, now he, of course, the one son who was blessed with the right to be the line of Messiah, by faith Jacob when he was dying, now it's his turn to die and he's not seeing the fulfillment, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff.
Now the life of faith for Jacob was like his father Isaac. It was up and down. It wasn't the shining sun on a clear day.
It was the sun trying to break through the fog and the denseness of sin even in the life of Jacob. He was an up and down individual. He walked by faith sometimes.
He walked by sight other times. He was holy sometimes. He was sinful sometimes. He was anxious for the Lord to be his God in Genesis 28 21. He glorified God in the tribute he paid to Laban in chapter 31. Though he was afraid of Esau, he yet sought the Lord in chapter 32. So he was a man of faith even though his faith didn't really maintain itself through his whole life. But during the closing time of his life, he believed the promise of God enough to pass it on to Joseph's two sons.
You remember their names? Ephraim and Manasseh. And so he passed the blessing on to them. In Genesis 48 we find the blessing that Jacob gives to Ephraim and Manasseh.
And we'll look at this. It's an interesting footnote for you. Some people think that there were only 12 tribes in Israel. There actually were 13. Joseph was divided up into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. There were only 12 tribes that had land. Which tribe had no land? Levi. Levi was the possession of the Lord. So there were 12 landed tribes.
In addition, the 13th tribe was Levi, the priestly tribe. All right, coming to Genesis 48 verse 1, it came to pass after these things that one told Joseph, Behold thy father's sick and he took with him two sons, his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob's getting ready to die. And one told Jacob and said, Behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon his bed. Sat upon his bed? Hebrews said he leaned on his staff. Put the two together, he got up and he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned on his staff.
That's what it's saying. He was infirm at that point, but he resurrected himself out of that bed and got something to support himself in order that he might bless those two with the promise of God. Verse 3, And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Loz...or Bethel, maybe you're more familiar with that name...in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, multiply thee, I'll make of thee a multitude of people and give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. Isn't that wonderful that God told him that? You know something? He never got any of that. God said, I'll bless thee, I'll multiply thee, I'll make a great nation, I'll give you the land and he got none of it.
But you know something? He believed God. He believed that God would do it. Only God didn't do it to him, so he knew God would do it down the line. So he called in those two boys and says, I'm going to pass it on to you. Verse 5, Now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
In other words, just as if they were first born, they shall be mine. You say, well how did Jacob know to bless these two? It's obvious, God revealed it to him and he obeyed.
Here's his act of faith. He really believed that God's promise would be fulfilled in these next two young men. Verse 8, In Israel, another name for Jacob, God gave him the name Israel for the first time we see that name coming into the Bible in connection with Jacob. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. You see, God had to tell him this.
He didn't even know these boys. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee unto me, and I'll bless them. Now the eyes of Israel, or Jacob, were dim for age so that he couldn't see. And he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and lo God hath shown me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees.
And, of course, he didn't even know if he lived to see him ever come back from Egypt either. But now he was seeing his children. Joseph brought them out from between his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. Joseph took them both, watch this one, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand.
Now watch this. The blessing was the right hand. So Joseph brings his two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh. He makes sure Ephraim gets on the right hand. And he makes sure Manasseh gets on the left. And now let me make sure I get this right. Verse 13 is a little bit tangled at this point.
Watch it carefully. He had Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand. He wanted Manasseh to get the blessing. And Israel stretched out his right hand, laid it upon Ephraim's head who was the younger and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly.
Isn't that good? He had them all set and here's what Jacob did. Just like that. Because Manasseh was the firstborn and he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk to God who fed me all my life long unto this day, see he's a believing man, an angel who redeemed me from all evil, blessed the lads, and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. Even though Manasseh was the firstborn, here again there was a crossing away from the firstborn as God was working His plan. He tried to move his hand and Joseph said unto his father, not so my father, for this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it my son, I know it.
You say, well if he knew it, why was he doing this? Because he was following the command of God. He also shall become a people. Sure, Manasseh will become a people, he shall be great, but truly his younger brothers shall be greater than he. His seed shall become a multitude of nations and he blessed them that day. Indeed, shall Israel bless saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.
And he set Ephraim before or above Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, behold I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. And you see, he had belief that God would fulfill His promise completely.
Now that's trust. So Jacob died as a man of faith, just as his father, Isaac, had died. Then we come lastly and just briefly and mention him, Joseph. Joseph died as a man of faith also, verse 22 of Hebrews 11. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.
This is interesting. Joseph is dying here and of course at this point he spent a great portion of his life in Egypt and he's dying and he's going to have to be buried there, but he says, now I want to tell you people about the departing of the children of Israel. They're going back to the promised land and I want to make sure you take my bones when you go. Now that's faith.
He was in Egypt. You know that it had been 200 years since the promise that God was going to do this? 200 years since the promise. The promise recorded in Genesis 15 of the possession of the land, 200 years and they've never been there yet. And he says, you guys are going to be going back pretty soon.
Will you pack up my bones and take them when you go? That's faith. How did he know that? He knew it because he believed God's promise. His faith was strong. In chapter 50, verse 24, Joseph said to his brother, I die and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land.
Isn't that good? He believed God. God had said there was a land and he never saw it, but he believed it would come. God will bring you out of this land under the land which he swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died being 110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin...where?...in Egypt. He died in faith. You say, well whatever happened? Did they ever get his bones over there?
Sure they did. You know, that's the end of Genesis and bang, as you begin Exodus, they move out. In chapter 13, I think it is, verse 19, and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him when Moses took off for the land, for he had solemnly sworn the children of Israel saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones away from here.
So when they packed off in the Exodus, they packed up old Joseph, what was left of him, and took him with them. Now here are people dying victorious. Let me wrap it up by just a couple of thoughts. These are men who believed God in the face of death. They are men who lived by faith in their lives, but the faith that they showed at their death was the consummate kind of faith. And really, let's face it, the acid test of your faith is does it do you any good when you're dying, right?
If your faith is no good then it's no good. Now there's only two reasons to fear death. Are you ready for this? Only two reasons. Number one, you fear for yourself. The only one reason to fear for death to begin with is because you're afraid for what's going to happen to you. Now if you're a Christian, should you fear?
What's there to fear? So if you're fearing death for yourself as a Christian, that's ridiculous. For death for you is only to go into the presence of God. If you ever knew that, Job knew he'd see God. Is it a Christian fear death?
Of course not. Read 1 Corinthians 15, oh death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? Jesus Christ has conquered death. If you're a Christian, what are you fearing death for? For yourself?
No. Far better to die for me to live as Christ than to die as what? If a Christian fears death, then his faith isn't any good somewhere. Do you believe God has a place for you?
Do you believe there's a place in the Father's house that Jesus has prepared? Then what would you fear? What could you fear? There's another reason to fear death. You say, I don't fear death for myself, I fear death for others. Oh really? That's got to rank at the height of egotism. Well if I die, who's going to carry on the work? You say, well I'm concerned about others.
That's ridiculous. God has a perfect plan. He'll work it out with you in it in your place and with somebody to fill in when you're gone. Everybody dies, but God lives, Jesus lives, the Spirit lives, and the work goes on. I think about life sometimes and just soon die anyway. Be with Jesus. But let me say this to you that may not know Jesus Christ and by faith you don't know God, I say to you, you better fear death, for death is indeed the grim reaper that shall separate you forever from good and God and life in hell, and that's tragic.
Don't fear death, instead set your focus on the character of Almighty God. An important reminder from John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, today's lesson here on Grace to You is from John's study titled The Power of Faith. John, as you pointed out today, Jacob was shrewd, he was deceitful, he was a flawed, sinful man. So why is it that the writer of Hebrews commends people like Jacob, people whose lives were marred even by spectacular sins?
I guess in a sense because everybody's life is marred by spectacular sins, if you want to call them spectacular, it's kind of a positive word for negative reality, but that's how it is in a fallen world. The Bible says that before we came to Christ, we were all driven by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, we were all children of wrath, we were all under the power of Satan, basically ruled by the kingdom of darkness, we were in the kingdom of darkness, our Father was the devil, and that's all of us, all of us, not some of us, but all of us. It may have manifested itself in different degrees of overt evil, but we were all enemies of God, haters of God, rebels against his law, and of course, we were transformed. Paul says, such were some of you after giving a horrible list in 1 Corinthians 6 of sinful years, and Paul says to Titus, we all lived like this before we came to Christ. So if the truth were known about all of us, we had evil hearts. It may not have manifested itself in the same kind of evil behavior, but all our hearts were darkened and set against God, and the Lord transformed us.
That's why Hebrews commends men like Jacob, because all of us once were part of Satan's world before the Lord rescued us, and we were all marked by really spectacular sins if the truth were known. And we can all thank the Lord for his mercy and grace toward us, and for giving us new life and new loves, and helping us to walk in the path of righteousness. Thanks, John.
That is an encouraging reminder. And, friend, to make sure you know what it looks like to have a deep, genuine faith in Christ, a faith that pleases God, I would encourage you to download John's current study from GTY.org. The MP3s and transcripts for all ten of these sermons are available free of charge, so contact us today for John's series on The Power of Faith.
Our website, again, GTY.org. And keep in mind, not only are the Power of Faith messages available at our website, but you can download all 3,600 of John's sermons in MP3 and transcript format, so start listening and reading today. Check out our sermon vault at GTY.org. And if this study is helping to deepen your understanding of saving faith, or if John's recent study on the power of Jesus encouraged you, or if someone you know has confessed faith in Christ after hearing John's teaching, we'd love to hear about it. Make sure to let us know how you're listening, whether it's on your local radio station, or online, or through the Grace To You Sermons app, when you email us here at letters at GTY.org, or you can drop a note in the mail to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace To You television this Sunday on DIRECTV Channel 378, and then be here Monday as John shows you important lessons to take away from the faith of Moses. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.
