Hello and welcome to the second in this series of messages on the tale of two boys. We're looking at Genesis chapter 27. Have your Bible ready. Well, as we come into chapter number 27, we find a chapter that is completely opposite to what we were reading about in chapter number 24. In chapter 24, Rebecca and Isaac are just getting married. The Holy Spirit was totally and completely in charge of everything that was going on. As we get into chapter 27, only three short chapters later, everything has changed. Well, we need to be careful that it doesn't happen to us, because the changes that were made here were not for the better. And our life, as was theirs, is simply made up of choices, and choices lead to consequences. We have absolute freedom to choose anything we want to do. You can trust the Lord or not trust Him. You can obey Him or not obey Him. pray or not pray. We can do whatever we want. We have choices that are totally free to make whatever choices we want. However, we're not free to make the consequences of those choices. They'll be whatever the Lord has determined. Well, they made a bunch of bad choices. The Holy Spirit was not in charge of their life anymore, obviously, as we go down through this chapter. there is some major changes for the worse. Both Isaac and Rebecca are nowhere near God anymore in their life. We have their two boys, Esau and Jacob. Isaac is, more than his eyes are dim, we read yesterday in our broadcast that his eyes were dim, yeah, his spiritual eyes were pretty dim too. And we have his son Esau, he was a schemer, and we have his wife, Rebecca, she has become a deceiver, a wicked deceiver. And Jacob, who has made a choice to follow his mother's deception, as we said yesterday, he didn't have to do this. He was 75 years old at the time. He could have just said, no, I'm not going to do this. But as we get into this story, we find that everyone was in a hurry, in a hurry to do things their way. And that's something we need to be very careful of. We need to stop, slow down, take some time, pray, get out in the field and meditate like Isaac used to do, and just take time and get God's direction and the decisions in our lives. Isaac thinks that, you know, life's all over for him. Well, if you study it carefully, you'll find he had another 43 years left to live. Rebecca, she's in a hurry. Gotta do this quickly. Jacob, hurry up, get here. We gotta get in there and act like you're Esau. You get in a hurry, you're gonna make some mistakes. It says in Psalm 119, verse number 60, I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Job 31.5 refers to hasting on to deceit. Ecclesiastes 23 through 26, Solomon talks about his sorrow and his grief and his vanity. And he says in verse number 25, who else has hastened here unto more than I? And he's the man that started out as the wisest man on the face of the earth at that time. Well, we ought to start out every day asking the question, who's in control of my life? Am I in control of it, or am I letting someone else control it, or the Holy Spirit? The Bible says you did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? Now, it won't be the Holy Spirit that hinders us. It'll be ourselves. Sometimes we blame the devil for what we're doing ourselves. But no, we just need to realize that we need to have God in control as we begin every day of our lives. You want to do it in your own way? Not a good idea. Bathe it in prayer. Make your decisions in prayer. Rebecca would not be deceiving her blind husband if she had prayed about this earnestly. Jacob would not be deceiving his father. Isaac, you know, Isaac, he knew the older would serve the younger. He knew that. He just needed to stop and realize what was going on and pray about God's will for his life. But no, everybody in this story wants to do it their way. They want to get it done the way they want to get it done. And so how does this work out for Isaac? Well, as we said the other day on the broadcast, he wanted some of that venison. What did he get? Two goats out of the farm. Nobody eats goat meat. Can you go to the store and buy some goat meat? I don't think so. Didn't work out so good for you, Isaac. You should have just slowed down. You should have let God have his way in your life at this time. He wanted a blessing for his family. His family turns out to be an absolute mess. As we'll go through this story, we will see that. Rebecca's plan, how's that working out? Well, Jacob has to flee to his uncle in Haran, and she doesn't, I don't think she ever sees him again. He's gone for 20 years. Esau, he had to move to Eden, and Isaac and Rebekah's relationship can't be really too good after this nonsense went on. She said, well, you gotta go, verse 44, you get out of here, Jacob, for a few days, and that few days, as we said, turned out to be over 20 years. And there's no indication she saw her favorite son again. When Isaac did return, there's nothing said at all about Rebecca even being on the scene. Well, the Bible says in Galatians chapter six, verse number seven, you sow to the flesh, you're going to of the flesh reap corruption. Well, we're going to travel down through this chapter and see what we have. It starts out in verse number one in chapter 27. It says, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old, and we said the other day, he was about 137 years old here now. And his eyes were dim so that he could not see. He called Esau his eldest son and said unto him, my son. And he said unto him, behold, here am I. So again, we want to remind you that everything's happening in big hurry. Isaac thinks it's all over for him. He has another 43 years to live, but he doesn't realize that. He says, behold, now I am old. I know not the day of my death. Well, there's a good lesson right there. None of us know the day of our death. It might be today. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after that, the judgment. And so we need to be concerned about that day when we will face God. I know not the day of my death. There's a tremendous lesson here, and we ought to learn it. Problem with this is Isaac has got his focus on himself The Bible says whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God whether you live whether you die do it to the glory of God Whatsoever you do and there's no glory in this if he's going to die in the next few days, which he's not What he's doing now certainly wouldn't glorify God. Well now he said therefore Verse three, take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison. Ah, I need to have a last meal here, and I sure do like that venison. So get out there and get me some of that, and make me savory meat such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, and my soul may bless thee before I die. All about me, everything was focusing on himself. Well, we read in verse five, we've got Rebecca now, Remember when she lit off the camel back there in chapter number 24, and she was so excited for her new husband was there, and he was out in the field, and he was meditating, and he saw those camels coming over the hill. What an exciting day. What a love. The Bible says that he loved her. A beautiful, beautiful love story there. Well, that all fell apart. We got here in verse 5, Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it, and Rebekah spake unto Jacob. Now remember, that's her favorite son, and they should never have favorites, but they did. Anyway, Rebecca and that was one of their problems Rebecca spake unto Jacob her son saying behold I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother saying bring me venison and Make me savory meat 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 so she says now I want you to get out there and Then I want you to do what I am going to tell you to do." And what does she tell him to do? "'Go now to the flock and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth.'" Now, he doesn't love goats. He loves venison. But he's lost all discernment. He can't tell the difference between a goat and some venison. He can't tell the difference between Esau and Jacob. He has lost discernment. He has lost discernment. And thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat and that he may bless thee before his death. Well, Jacob's listening to this, and remember, he's 75 years old, he's not a teenager, and he says to Rebekah, his mother, me them." Now he's got a decision to make. Here we come back to choices and consequences. All he had to do was make the right decision here and everything would have turned out well for him. But he didn't. What did he do? And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother. Here's a couple of goats. Let's deceive dad into thinking he's getting some venison. And his mother made savory meats such as his father loved. No, it wasn't such as his father loved. It was, it was goat. Well, we're throwing this word love around pretty loosely here. You remember back in chapter 25, it says that Isaac loved Esau because he did eat his venison, but Rebecca loved Jacob. And the next time we have this word loved, we're talking about him loving goat meat. Well, we got Jacob obeying his deceitful mother here. Let me ask you a question. Who are you listening to? The Bible, again, says you did run well. Who did hinder you? Who are you going to listen to? You can listen to those who would lead you astray, or you can follow the Holy Spirit as he lines up with the Word of God and do what is right. Well, Rebecca's cooking up her plan, and she's cooking up her goats. And she says in verse number 10, and thou shalt bring it to thy father, and he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. Let's get on with this. Well, not only that, in verse 15, we see Rebecca took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. Now it's interesting, you know, it doesn't just say here that she took some of his clothes. They were with her in the house, like she had premeditated this whole thing. And she put the skins of the kids, of the goats, upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck, and she gave the savory meat, and the bread which she had prepared unto the hand of her son Jacob. And he came unto his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I. Who art thou? My son. Who am I talking to? Remember, he's blind. Well, we have lie number one, verse 19. Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. He is a schemer. He is a liar. The second, he said, I have done according as thou had bettest me. That's the second lie. He hadn't told him to do anything, hadn't even been talking to him that day. I pray thee, sit and eat my venison, oh, third lie, eat my goats, they're not venison, that thy soul may bless me. Now there it is, everything's about me. You see, again, Rebecca wants her way, Isaac wants his way, Jacob wants his way, of course, everybody. The closest one to God, and he's not very close in this whole story, the closest one to God is Esau, but he's out in the field and he's a man of the world. I think he falls into that category where the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak. That seems to be what Esau was. Well, with these other three, the spirit is weak and the flesh is weak. Everything is just plain weak. Well, in verse 20, Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? How did you get that venison so fast? And listen to this. He said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. There's a next line, and that is a Vicious lie. He is bringing God into this wicked plan all that God did it God not doing anything here He well later on they'll all hear from him, but he's not doing anything here. Well 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 now he's suspicious about this whole thing and but he doesn't have any discernment left. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him, and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He doesn't know what's going on. Why does he not know what's going on? 23, and he discerned him not. He had no discernment. He used to have some discernment when he walked with the Lord, but he's not walking with the Lord anymore. And so we read in verse number 23, he discerned not, and so he ended up, it says, he blessed him. And he still questions it here. He said, art thou my very son Esau? And he lied again. He said, I am. And he said, bring it near me. Me, it's all about me. And I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it unto him, and he did eat. He brought him wine and he drank and his father Isaac said unto him come near now and kiss me my son look at this 27 and he came near and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his Raymond. Oh, yeah, we're making decisions on a smell and He said it is the smell of the field and the Lord has blessed the Lord has nothing to do with this Well, we're out of time again. Be sure to tune in again tomorrow. We'll take it from here We'll try to make it plain and we will try to make it simple you