In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the story of Esau losing his material blessing. Isaac, who is old and blind, calls for his son Esau to receive his blessing before his death. However, Jacob and his mother Rebecca conspire to deceive Isaac and steal the blessing meant for Esau. Pastor Chuck highlights the lack of honor and deception displayed by all parties involved in this story. He also emphasizes the danger of thinking that God's purposes can only be accomplished through our own efforts.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit and His love We'll descend upon your life And make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today Featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith Of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse study Through the entire Bible And on today's edition of The Word for Today We'll be discovering how Esau lost his material blessing As we pick up in Genesis, chapter 27, verse 1 So let's follow along as we begin with Isaac calling for his son Esau Now it came to pass when Isaac was old 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 him, Here I am And he said, Behold, now I am old I do not know the day of my death Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, your bow And go into the field and hunt some game for me And make me some savory, some delicious food such as I love And bring it to me that I may eat That my soul may bless you before I die Admittedly from Isaac, the Spirit's not involved in this issue at all It's his soul It's his flesh I want some delicious food that my soul might bless you before I die Now, at this point, Isaac was 137 years old And he was blind And because his older brother Ishmael had died at the age 137 He perhaps thought, well, this is about it for me And he figured he was dying He didn't, he lived for another 43 years He didn't die until he was 180 But, figuring that he was dying He called Esau in that he might bestow upon Esau a blessing Now, in this, Isaac is deliberately seeking to circumvent The declarations of God If you will recall the blessing that he gives to Jacob Who disguises himself as his brother Esau The blessing that he gives is that his brothers will serve him And in that, he's trying to cross what God had declared before the children were born You remember when Rebekah was having difficulty with her pregnancy Miserable because of all of the action that was going on In her womb, and she said, Lord, what's happening And the Lord said, there are two nations in your womb They're different from each other And the older will serve the younger That was God's declaration before they were ever born That was God's plan Isaac is trying to move out of the plan of God Isaac favors Esau And so he is going to try to move out of the plan of God And he's trying to change that which God has declared And he's going to put the blessing upon Esau And make the younger serve him And so Isaac is not pure and innocent in this thing at all He's acting after the flesh And he's talking about, my soul, my nephesh Might bless you Now Rebekah was listening When Isaac spoke to Esau And Esau went into the field to hunt the game and to bring it So Rebekah spoke to Jacob, her son, saying Indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying Bring me game and make some delicious, 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 Some way to talk to a 40-year-old son 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 And then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it That he may bless you before his death And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, look Esau, my brother, is a hairy man And I am a smooth-skinned man Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him And I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing But his mother said to him, let your curse be on me Obey my voice and go and get them for me And he went out and got them and brought them to his mother And his mother made the savory food, such as his father loved Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau Which were with her in the house And she put them on Jacob, the younger son There is some speculation as to the choice clothes That perhaps they were the clothes of honor That were often given to the son that was to inherit The position in the family You remember the brothers of Joseph became extremely jealous When his father gave to him the coat of many colors A coat of honor indicating Jacob's intention to give to Joseph The place of headship in the family after his death And it is thought that that's what these robes did signify And that Rebekah kept them in her tent Now Esau no doubt was living elsewhere with his two wives at this time And so these were special robes of Esau that she had kept in her tent And she put them on Jacob, the younger son She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands And on the smooth part of his neck Then she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob And so he went to his father and said, My father And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn I have done just as you told me. Please arise, sit and eat my game That your soul may bless me But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you found it so quickly? And he said, Because the Lord your God brought it to me Now Jacob is not honorable in this whole thing He is deceiving and he is lying Isaac is not honorable. He's trying to cross the plan of God He's trying to give the blessing to Esau which God said would go to Jacob Esau had already sold his birthright. The father knew that Rebekah isn't totally honorable. She has set up the whole deception Here again we have an interesting story In which there are people Who believe firmly in the purposes that God has declared Have faith in God and in his purposes But make the mistake of somehow believing That God cannot accomplish his purposes Apart from our help And this is a condition that we often find ourselves in I am convinced of the purposes of God I believe that God will do what he has said he is going to do But sometimes I feel that God can't do it without my help That's the same thing that Abraham and Sarah were involved in When Sarah said, Take my handmaid Hagar and raise up a son by her Yes God wants to give you a heir Abraham God wants to give you a child that you can bestow the family goods upon I know that God wants to give you a son so take Hagar Let's help God out And this is the exact same situation where Rebekah And interesting the suggestion comes again from Rebekah From the woman Let's help God out God wants you Jacob to have the blessing Your dad is going to blow things So let's help God out And so this little bit of deception and all Is their endeavor to see that the purposes of God be fulfilled You don't have to worry about the purposes of God They're going to stand What God has determined is going to be You cannot stop the purposes of God from being fulfilled Or you may fail for sure God will raise someone else God is going to get his work accomplished And he doesn't need our help Now that to me is disappointing At times I've sought so hard to help God out And here unfortunately They felt that they had to deceive and they had to lie In order to help God They are following that Proverb that is not scriptural God helps those who help themselves And here's a classic example of them trying to help themselves To help God fulfill his plan and to fulfill his purpose I don't know how God would have done it I'm certain he would God had declared it His purpose was that the blessing should be upon Jacob And that he should be the descendant from which The line of Christ should follow So he went in Now the end does not justify the means And that is a damnable philosophy That has been embraced many times by the church Paul came down on that philosophy Let us do evil that good may come God forbid, Paul said Damnable philosophy That I should do evil that good may come from it That the end will justify the means We are never justified in doing that which is wrong That which is deceitful That which is of the flesh In order to try to get the word of God glorified Like Paul said, if God is glorified through my lie Then why can God judge me as a sinner? You know, there are some people that have given Some of the most remarkable testimonies you ever heard And Paul says, hey, hey, hey No, that doesn't happen It's not so That you cannot justify the means Because it may bring good results in the end It doesn't work that way And that's a damnable philosophy That's been embraced by the church And it has created far more harm than it has good And so Jacob said to his father, I, Mesa, your firstborn Outright lie I have done just as you told me Please arise, sit in need of my game That your soul may bless me But Isaac said to his son How is it you found it so quickly? Oh, because the Lord now even brings God into this thing Sad, sad, sad Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come near That I may feel you, my son Whether you are really my son Esau or not He is suspicious here So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father And he felt him and said The voice is Hillcatcher's voice But his hands are the hands of Harry Esau means Harry, he got the name Because he was such a hairy kid when he was born And so she took the skins and tied it on his hands So he was feeling the skin of the fur on these little goats He says, man, yeah, that's Esau's hand So he must have really been a hairy guy If it felt like a little goat, you know So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father And he felt him and he said The voice is Jacob's voice 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 Then he said, are you really my son Esau? And he said, I am And he said, bring it near to me And I will eat of my son's game So that my soul may bless you So he brought it near to him and he ate And he brought him wine and he drank Then his father Isaac said to him Come near now and kiss me, my son And he came near and kissed him And he smelled the smell of his clothing And he blessed him and he said Surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field Which the Lord has blessed So when he came close, he smelled the clothes And he was wearing his brother's robe And so he smelled of the field Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven And the fatness of the earth And plenty of grain and wine Let people serve you and nations bow down to you Be master over your brothers And let your mother's sons bow down to you Now you see, in this blessing He was intending for Esau He is trying to actually Disqualify what God had declared should be the case So Esau is really at fault here It is a direct disobedience to that which God has declared In his endeavor to make Jacob Subservient to Esau So Isaac is going against what God has declared Cursed be everyone who curses you And blessed be those who bless you Then it happened As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob And Jacob had scarcely gone from the presence of Isaac, his father That Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting Boy, this was a close call He just left When Esau came in And he also had made the savory food And he brought it to his father And he said to his father Let my father arise and eat of his son's game That your soul may bless me And his father Isaac said to him Who are you? And he said I am your son, your firstborn Esau Then Isaac trembled exceedingly Oh, he's been caught He's fearful now, he knows that he was trying to go against What God had declared And suddenly he realizes That he has been caught And he is trembling exceedingly And he said who? Where is the one who hunted the game and brought it to me And I ate of it before you came And I have blessed him And indeed he shall be blessed Now Isaac, rather than recanting the blessing Realizes that God is involved in this And he affirms that the blessing shall be given to Jacob He tried to twist it He was foiled And now he realizes that God's purposes shall stand Indeed he shall be blessed And when Esau heard the words of his father He cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry And he said to his father Bless me, even me also, oh my father So this wail, exceeding bitter cry And we again remember that Esau Was the rugged, hardy man of the field, the hunter Where Jacob, it says, was a plain man That word plain in other areas of the Old Testament The word tam is translated righteous Or a good man, a righteous man But here's this rugged hunter Tough man of the field Wailing, crying Crying out for the blessing But he said your brother came with deceit And has taken away your blessing And Esau said is he not rightly named heel catcher For he has supplanted me these two times Now the word Jacob, heel catcher Came to be translated in time supplanter Because it is the idea of Catching a person by the heel Tripping him and then passing him up And so the name came to be translated supplanter in time But literally it's the heel catcher Catching by the heel In order to trip them up that you might pass or win We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study Through the book of Genesis in our next lesson As we continue to follow The Blessing of Jacob And we do hope you'll make plans to join us But right now I'd like to remind you That it is our privilege to present for you The word for today The Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith After today's program concludes Be sure to visit our online resource center At www.PastorChuck.com You'll be able to access a number of spiritual materials Designed to help you grow stronger in your faith And more confident in your knowledge of God's word These printed, audio and visual materials Are available to you absolutely free via the internet And you can access them anytime, day or night When you log on to www.PastorChuck.com Once you access our online resource center You'll discover several other helpful tools Including the entire library of Pastor Chuck Smith's Bible commentaries in mp3 format You will also be able to access Pastor Chuck's personal study notes For each chapter of the Bible As well as the four e-books that he's written To help you understand basic Christian teachings Another way you'll benefit from going to www.PastorChuck.com Is by clicking on to the different internet links on our homepage Each one will connect you to a related website Designed to help you meet the ministry needs For yourself or for family and friends In addition, you'll also find a collection Of praise and worship music That will surely encourage you as well Again, the place to go for all these ministry resources is www.PastorChuck.com Here at The Word for Today We're committed to helping you grow In your walk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ If you're in need of prayer And would like to submit a specific prayer request Simply visit www.PastorChuck.com We have a 24-hour prayer team That prays for each request that we receive We would also love to hear your praise reports as well Letting us know how the Lord is working in your personal life And finally, if you're looking for a church to attend Or are in need of Christian fellowship Our website has a listing of Calvary chapels All around the world Again, the web address for The Word for Today Is easy to remember It's www.PastorChuck.com And now, on behalf of The Word for Today We'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry With your prayers and financial support And be sure to join us again next time As Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study Through the book of Genesis That's right here On the next edition of The Word for Today Now once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith If you remember earlier in the story When Esau had come in from the field And he was faint and weary and tired And Jacob had made this great gourmet stew With red lentils and all And Esau said, oh man, give me something to eat And he took some of that stew And Jacob said, give me your birthright And he said, Jacob, what's good to me If I die of hunger, you know Swear to me that I'll have it And he said, I swear you can have it And he ate the food and left And it said, and so Esau hated his birthright Didn't care about it But he did care about the blessing I don't care about birthright So what? Man, I want the blessings Typical man of the flesh Man after the flesh Wants just the blessings This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today In Costa Mesa, California