(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, please take your Bibles once again and turn to Genesis 27, Genesis 27. So it's a rather long chapter. And I've decided to call, I mean if you read this chapter, it's a really sad story. It's really about the family of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau and just how deceptive they were to one another. It's such a sad story. You know, this is supposed to be a godly family. It is a godly family. It is the family by which God has passed down the promises of Abraham. The great promise of Jesus Christ coming into this world would come through their loins, would come through their lineage. And we see, you know, this is why the Bible is not written by men. All right. I mean if men were writing stories about themselves and they're not going to give you the bad news. They're not going to tell you how wicked and how deceptive they were, right. I mean this is, the Bible is the word of God. You know the Bible shows us the wickedness of man. It shows us the failure of man and then it just confirms for us the faithfulness of God. That God is merciful, that is long suffering, you know, that is willing to give us time, that is willing to work with us even though we have a sinful nature. And as I read about these stories of the patriarchs in the past, yes they had great successes but they also had great failings. You know I'm just reminded about the great God that I serve and I'm thankful for that because I know I make a lot of mistakes. If you're honest you make a lot of mistakes, if you're honest you fail a lot of times but thank God you've got the same God of the Bible, you've got the same God of Isaac who's willing to be merciful with you, who's willing to still work with you even when there is deception in the family, deception. And so I decided to call the title for this morning, deception, deception. Let's start with verse number one there, Genesis 27 verse one. And it came to pass that when Isaac was old 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. Now you may recall in the previous chapter the Bible tells us that, oh sorry the previous two chapters that Esau was the favoured son of Isaac and his twin brother Jacob was the favoured son of his mother Rebekah. And I told you how favouritism is going to cause a lot of problems in your family. You start favouring one child over another, fathers maybe one child, mothers another child, you know it's going to cause problems and we start seeing this deception here in this family okay. And the story goes that basically Jacob feels like he's going to pass away, in fact he lives many more years after this but he believes he's going to pass away so he wants to pass on the blessing, the promises of God unto the eldest Esau okay. And so that's why he calls Esau in this story. The Bible tells us here that his eyes were dim, he could barely see. In fact it says that he could not see there in verse number one. And so Isaac is in a position to be deceived by his family okay. You see he will be deceived by his family. He gets deceived by his son Isaac, he gets deceived by his wife Rebekah in this story. But the first thing I want you to notice is I want to just cover this topic of deception okay. And we need to make sure that we're not people that are striving to deceive, we'll look at this later on. But we also need to make sure that we're a people, we're a church that's not being deceived by others. That we're aware that this world is full of people that are trying to deceive us. There could be people that desire to stand behind the pulpit and deceive you with false doctrine okay. And the first thing I want you to realize here in verse number one, the reason why it's easy to be deceived is because your eyes can be dim. You might be in a position where your eyes are blinded. In order for you not to be deceived the first thing you need to understand is I need to make sure that I can see clearly. And here in this story Isaac was blinded, he could not see properly. Please keep your finger there and go to Mark chapter 8. Keep your finger there in Genesis 27 and go to Mark chapter 8. And just for the sake of our visitor, just so you're aware on Sunday mornings we go chapter by chapter through the Bible. We've been going through the book of Genesis, we're now up to Genesis chapter 27, Genesis 27. While you're turning to Mark 8 I'm going to read to you from Revelation chapter 3 verse 17. Again we've gone through the seven churches in the book of Revelation but to the church of the lay of the sins God says in verse 17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have no need of nothing and not thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind, the Bible says, Jesus says to the lay of the sin church that they are blind and naked. Then he says in verse number 18, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye soles that thou mayest see. So you see the church of the lay of the sins got to a point, hey they were a great church, they were a candlestick shining for Jesus Christ but they got to a point as a church where Jesus says they are blind, they cannot see and we need to be careful as a church that we don't become like the lay of the sins, that we don't become like Isaac where our eyes are dim, where we start becoming blind you know and that we go to Jesus Christ and we ask him for the solution, we ask him for the eye stove so we can see, so we can see clearly and say what is that solution, it is the word of God, you know the more you know the word of God the more you will see, you know Jesus Christ come into, he made many of the blind to see didn't he, well that's what he wants to do for us, you know salvation can be seen in this light where you're once blind to the gospel, once you know the gospel, once you believe on Jesus Christ now you can see but it's also applicable to our Christian life, it's also applicable to our Christian life. Have a look at Mark chapter 8 please, Mark chapter 8 verse 22, Mark chapter 8 verse 22 speaking of Jesus Christ here it says and he cometh to Bethsaida and they bring him a blind man unto him and besought him to touch him. Now before I keep reading, when we read about Jesus Christ healing the blind men in the Bible many times he heals them completely, as soon as he touches them, as soon as he speaks to them whatever they can see but in this story there's actually a process, look at verse number 23 and he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town and when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him he asked him if he saw ought and he looked up and said I see men as trees walking. So here we have the blind man, Jesus makes an attempt to heal him, he asks him can you see and he can't see very well, he goes I see men but they look like trees walking, you know he hasn't received a full healing of his eyes, he still can't see clearly just yet so what does Jesus do? Verse number 25, after that he put his hand again upon his eyes and made him look up and he was restored and saw every man clearly. I'm glad we have this story in the Bible, I'm glad we have this story, you see in order for us to see clearly it can take time, it could be a process, now I'm not talking about salvation as a process, once you understand, you believe the gospel, once you put your full faith on Christ you're born again into the family, you know you're saved okay but what can happen and this happens a lot right, new believers they know the gospel, they've learnt many spiritual truths maybe, they start learning the Bible, they think they can see clearly, they think now they can correct everybody, they think now they can become pastors, they think now they can just preach and they know all the truths, many times all they can see is men walking as trees, you see growing as a Christian, maturing, knowing the Bible requires work, requires a process, requires you to study, read, memorize, meditate on the word of God, that's what's required from you, the Bible says in Psalm 119 verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, how do we see clearly as we mature as Christians, we need the word of God, we need the lamp of God unto our feet so we can work clearly alright, don't expect and I'm sure you can probably think of people, I certainly can, don't expect you know you've been saved a year, you've been saved for two years, oh I know all the Bible now, I've got all the doctrines worked out, look you can't see clearly, you need the word of God to continue shining for you okay, I mean this is why you need to be careful of not being deceived, you need the word of God, you need to test everything you hear behind the pulpit by every preacher in accordance to God's word, now with the Laodicean church they once could see, they once were a great church but they had gotten to a point where they became blinded right and as they became blinded Jesus says look I want you to fix this up because they're going to be deceived, now they're already deceived you know but that continued down the deception and not see clearly and so while a good church can become blind the reverse is also true when you don't know much about the Bible, when you're a baby in Christ you start kind of not being able to see, you can see somewhat, it starts to clarify for you but you don't have the complete truth and you need to go from being blind to being able to see, so I'm really thankful that Jesus Christ has given us this story in Mark chapter 8, if you've ever wondered why did this man get healed completely, it's so we can take a spiritual truth from it and understand it takes time to be able to see clearly, it takes time and effort to know the word of God, to be able to you know be effective for him and not to be deceived, the Bible says in first Timothy 3 6 speaking about the qualifications of a pastor or even just any teacher, any preacher not a novice less being filled up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil, that's the problem with the novice, that's the problem with the guy that can't see properly is that it's easy for them to be filled up with pride, filled up with oh look how much knowledge I have, look at me you know I can correct everybody's life, I can correct everybody around me, they become filled with pride and they fall into the condemnation, the same damnation of the devil, the devil is filled up with pride and he brought him low, Christians can be filled up with pride and it will bring you low as well, the same condemnation that fell upon the devil could fall upon you, you know being taken down by God because you're filled up with pride, because he can't see, because you're deceived, okay and you know we need to be careful of false prophets, I mentioned that, be careful of false prophets, I'll just read to you from Romans 16 17, the Bible says I beseech you brethren mark them which cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them, look how are you going to mark people that cause divisions and that are bringing in contrary doctrines, how are you going to mark them and avoid them if you can't see, you know how are you going to do that, well here's what you do, you pick up the Bible, every doctrine you believe you should have a passage of scripture that teaches that black and white, crystal clear, you know when you learn doctrines once you learn it you got to nail that doctrine in, you've got to then I've got this doctrine, I understand it and you start building but you've got to have clear scripture, you can't say well the Bible somewhere says this or I heard this preacher say that or somewhere in the Bible it says no it's not good enough, you learn doctrine, you learn where it is, you write it down, you put it on your phone, you do whatever you need to do to know hey if I ever get any challenges I don't know about this doctrine, you go back to those verses, refresh your memory, nail in those doctrines otherwise you will be deceived like Isaac was deceived, the Bible keeps going it says in verse number 18 for they that are such, those that we need to mark and avoid serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words of fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. If you've not read your Bible cover to cover you're a simple person okay, you're still simple minded, you might feel you know a lot about the Bible, you may feel you know a lot of doctrine, if you've not read it cover to cover, God's book, people have died for that book so you can have in your hands and you haven't read it, give me a break, you know you're still simple, now look that's fine, that's fine but get to a point where you've read it cover to cover and I'm not saying that you know we all start somewhere we haven't read the Bible cover to cover then get to the point where you've read it cover to cover and once you've read it once guess what you do next time, you read it again, you get through it two times, you get it through three times, you know so on and so forth, you know you need to know what the word of God says so you're not deceived by the false teachers, I haven't got time to go through this but if you want to do some study during the week 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2 in the book of Jude will tell you what false prophets are like so you're not deceived, those two chapters are the main chapters that tell us all about the nature of the false prophet, now the Bible tells us it has many other places that teaches these things but those are the two key passages you need to look at and you need to do this because you know you might not always be at New Life Baptist Church, you might be in different churches, you may have different preachers and you need to measure up those preachers, you need to measure up those passes with the list of the false prophets so you can point out when you've got a false prophet behind the pulpit okay, now I believe, go check it out, I believe strongly that I do not measure up to a false prophet at all alright, I don't believe I have any of those qualities in me and I'm sure you wouldn't be in this church for two years if you thought that okay, nevertheless I'm not a false prophet but does that mean I can't make mistakes behind the pulpit, even unintentionally think about that, I want you to be careful as a church alright, we've been here for two years, I appreciate you guys, I'm sure you appreciate me, I know you appreciate me and I appreciate you guys but you can't get comfortable, you can't just sit behind the pulpit, well Pastor Kevin's proven himself for the last two years, you know we can see that you know, he's doctrinally sound and I'm just going to lay back now in church and I'll just take in whatever's being taught there behind the pulpit, wrong attitude, wrong attitude, you know you've got to test everything with the word of God, I might not be a false prophet but this is what I am, you know this is what I am, I'm a human being okay, I can make mistakes, I can, now I'm not trying to, I don't purposely get behind this pulpit trying to make an error, trying to deceive you but it can happen, I could make a mistake and you could walk away from church saying being deceived by some false teaching okay, there are good men behind pulpits, there are good pastors out there but that doesn't stop them from having false teaching, I would say to you every pastor, every pastor, every good pastor has false teaching somewhere in their list of doctrines okay and again it's not intentional, it's just that we're human beings, we're looking at this chapter, godly people, godly family, God is using his family, they make some major mistakes and they get deceived as well okay, if the patriarchs that God is using mightily can be deceived, we all can be deceived okay but this is the warning, this is what we need to be ready for, prepare ourselves, you know reduce the amount of deception that might come into our lives, anyway let's go back to Genesis 27 verse number 2, Genesis 27 verse 2, and he said, this is Isaac, behold I am old, I know not the day of my death, now therefore take I pray thee thy weapons, now remember Esau was a hunter okay, so take thy weapons thy quiver and thy bow and go out to the field and make me some venison and that's venison is, I said it's deer, hunting deer, I had a quick fact check and it usually is, it's usually the first definition of it but it can be other wild game out there okay, so he wants Esau to go out and hunt him some fresh meat, verse number 4, and make me savoury meat such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die, now Rebecca is the wife of Isaac, remember this verse number 5, and Rebecca heard when Isaac spake unto Esau his son and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it and Rebecca spake unto Jacob his son, now remember Jacob is the favoured son of Rebecca okay, Isaac's just finished telling Esau that he wants to bless Esau, he wants to pass down the promises that have come to him from Abraham to Esau and Rebecca she wants to make sure the blessing falls on her favoured son, so now she steps in and deceives her own husband okay, verse number 6, and Rebecca spake unto Jacob her son saying behold I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother saying bring me venison and make me savoury 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, now think about this, she's asking her son obey my voice, she's about to teach Jacob how to deceive his father, think about this now guys, should he be listening to his mother here, no, she wants to deceive her husband, Jacob still said no mum, that's not the right thing to do okay, but he goes along with it, he goes along with the deception, verse number 9, go now to the flock and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats and I will make them savoury meat for thy father such as he loveth and thou shall 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 a hairy man and I am a smooth man, my brother's like that, my brother's a hairy man and I'm the smooth man in the family, anyway we have this in the bible, verse number my father peradventure will fill me and I shall seem to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon me, not a blessing, so you can see here that Jacob is concerned about the deception that's going to be made but at the end of the day he goes along with it, now what I want you to do is please keep your finger there and go to first John chapter four, first John chapter four, we're talking about being deceived and over making sure that we prepare ourselves as best we can with the word of God to make sure we're not deceived but first John chapter four gives us some more information about deceivers and first John chapter four verse one, the bible says here beloved, beloved, you know John is saying to the believers I love you, when he says beloved he cares for the believers, he cares for the brethren, he says believe not every spirit, brethren do you believe anyone that calls themselves Christians, do you believe anyone that puts on a nice jacket and a nice tie, gets behind the pulpit, believe not every spirit the bible says but try the spirits, test the spirits whether they are of God because why, because many false prophets have gone out into the world, you say there's probably just a few false prophets out there, many, many false prophets have gone into the world, man you read the Old Testament usually the false prophets are outnumbering the men of God, many times the false prophets are just outnumbering them you know compared to the true prophets of God, verse number two, he by know ye the spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already it is in the world. Now sometimes we preach about the tribulation, the end times, we speak about the beast and the antichrist, there is already a spirit of antichrist in this world, the false prophets are not people of God, they have another spirit, the spirit of the devil, the spirit of the antichrist, now here in these days, here and look even today, you know we have those that deny that Jesus is the Christ or that he came in the flesh, the Messiah came in the flesh and immediately our thoughts will turn to Judaism, right, they believe in a Messiah, they believe in a Christ but they don't believe that Christ has yet come in the flesh, you know, they deny Christ as the Messiah, deny Christ as Jesus as the Christ, okay, that is, that religion is the spirit of antichrist but that's not the only one, keep reading verse number four, ye are of God little children and have overcome then because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, now look at verse number five, they are of the world, speaking about the false prophets, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them, this is how, another way you spot the false prophet, they are of the world, right, they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, listen, the false prophet will come and preach you the prosperity gospel, they preach about the world, how much you can attain in this world, you know, making the riches, you know, making the name for yourself in this world, they bring in the world's music into the church, they bring in the world's entertainment into the church, they bring in the world's programs into the church, they are all about this world, they are about the temporary life, they are about making money, that's how you spot a false prophet as well, okay, they are not focused on eternal life, they are not focused on that because they are not even saved, they are false prophets, you say man, but there are so many people in those churches, the rock bands, the dancing, you know, the whatever, the acting, the performances that go on, those churches are full of people, how many of us are here, 35 maybe, alright, but those churches have thousands of people, well what did it say in the verse number five, at the end of it, and the world heareth them, listen, their church is not made up of believers, it's made up of the world, okay, there's very few believers, there's very few that have trusted Jesus Christ as saviour, most of those people, I'm not saying all, but most of those people in those churches that make up those thousands are not even saved, they are of the world, and the reason they are there is because they hear those that preach of the world, that's how you make a big church, and unfortunately, because Christians can be deceived, there are believers in those churches, there are true sons and daughters of God in those churches, I've met many of them, okay, that are in those churches, and they're there because they see the big church, they say well God must be blessed in this church because it's big, they can't see, they've been blinded, like Isaac, they're being deceived, you know, they look at the big church and think wow, God is blessed, no, it is a church made of the world, it is a church for the world, that's how you make sure, you know, you don't get deceived by certain preachers if they're focused on this world, let's keep reading verse number six, we are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us, he that is not of God heareth not us, he by know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, think about this, when we have people come to our church, again, they're not always in lock step with what we believe, right, how do I as a pastor make a decision whether this is a deceiver, this is someone that's coming to try to hurt our church, or is it just someone that's learning, that's growing, well, verse number five gives us the answer, oh sorry, verse number six, we are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us, he that is not of God heareth not us, if someone comes with contrary doctrine, and I can share my faith, I can share our doctrine, the things we stand on, and they hear us, praise God, they're listening, they're trying to learn, they're trying to grow, they're not a deceiver, even if they're not in lock step with us, but if they hear us not, if we stand on our doctrine, we explain the doctrine, they refuse it, they're against it, then they're not of God, they've come to hurt our church, they've come to be a deceiver to our church, that's how we measure it, okay, it's not just like someone walks in, they believe differently, oh it must be a wicked person, no, okay, it's not at all, you know, if they're willing to listen, willing to grow, praise God, you know, allow them in the church, but if they come in to fight the doctrines, trying to be contrary, trying to cause problems, that's a false teacher, that's someone that's coming to hurt us, the Bible says in Jeremiah 14, 14, then the Lord said unto me, the prophets prophesy lies in my name, I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them, they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination of a thing of naught and the deceit of their hearts, there are many prophets, many people that name themselves Christians, that name Christ, that are out there prophesying lies, they've not been sent by God, he says, how do you know, again, the measure is God's word, how do we know, they lie to you, they preach falsehoods, they preach false doctrines contrary to this book, they're a false prophet, get out of that church, if that's what's happening, get out of that church. Back to Genesis 26 verse 13, Genesis 26 verse 13, better hurry up, and his mother said unto him, upon me be thy curse, remember Jacob was concerned that he'd be cursed because he's trying to deceive his father, the mother says, let that curse be upon me my son, only obey my voice and go fetch me them, and he went and fetched and brought them to his mother and his mother made savoury meats such as his father loved, and Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were in her, sorry, which were with her in the house and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. So Jacob puts on what, Esau's clothing, okay, to deceive his father. 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 savoury meat of the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob, and he came to his father, so it's not just Esau's clothing, but she gets the hair of the animals and puts them on Jacob's arms and his hands, so when the father touches him he sees that he's a hairy man, I mean what a deception, what does this remind you of, remember now, look, Jacob is a godly man you say, okay, but of course we take the spiritual essence here, what does this remind you of, it really reminds me of the wolves in sheep's clothing, okay, what do they put on, hey, they look wonderful on the outside, okay, they look like righteous ministers of God on the outside, sometimes it takes time to realise that man is a false prophet, that man is a wolf, because the wolf, the false prophet, will at the beginning look like a sheep, and this is what we see here, Jacob wants to look like Esau, so he can receive the blessing from his father, Isaac, deceive his father, I mean they're doing wrong, don't read this and think they're doing right, they're doing wrong as a family, very deceptive, and Jacob, sorry, verse number 18, and he came to his father and said my father, and he said here am I, who art thou my son, and Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn, just bold face line, I have done according as thou betest me, arise I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me, and let me stop there for a moment, because Jacob listened to the advice of his mother, okay, and children, there can be times, I'm not saying there will be times, I'm saying that it can happen, especially if you grow up in an ungodly, unfaithful, non-Christian family, okay, that your parents may ask you to do deceptive things, they might ask you to lie and do untruths, they might ask you to sin, employees, your employer might ask you to do deceptive things, might ask you to lie, to do sinful things, okay, our government, you know, might ask us to lie, to be deceptive, to do ungodly things, to do sins, what do we do when we've been asked by those in authority to do wrong things, do we listen to them, the Bible says in Acts 5 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than man, who do we obey guys, we obey God rather than man, alright, you put God's commandments first, regardless of the pressures that have been put upon you, okay, now Jacob thinks he's going to miss out on the blessing, that's why they've been deceptive, alright, you might be forced to lie or just, or feel you need to lie or commit some sin because you feel like you're going to miss out on something, don't worry about it, you obey God, you do what's right, God knows what's going on, God is saying what's going on, he'll settle things, he'll make sure things are right, Psalm 27 says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, there are many nations today that trust in their armies, that trust in their firepower, you know, their gunships and their airplanes, their armies, their navy, you know, they trust in their power, they think they're a powerhouse, I'd rather remember the name of the Lord our God because God can wipe them out in an instant, in fact God will, Jesus Christ when he comes back will wipe out these armies of the Antichrist just by speaking the two-edged sword that comes out of his mouth, I mean, you know, no fire power on this earth can match the power of God, Psalm 118 verse 8 says, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes, even people in authority, even in power of money, it's still better to trust God than those people that have power and authority on this earth and Romans 13 verse 1 says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God, so look, if you're under the authority, yes, obey them but you need to be subject to the higher powers, what's higher than the government, what's higher than your parents, what's higher than your employers, what's higher than your church pastor, God, you put God first, you be subject to him, you make sure that you do what he's commanded to you, even if that means you have to go against the authorities that are under God, you be subject to the higher powers, Rebecca and Jacob should have been subject to the higher power, the Lord God, verse number 20 and Isaac said unto his son, how is it that thou has found it so quickly my son and he said because the Lord thy God brought it to me, oh what a lie, I mean not only have they been deceptive, this is what deceivers do, oh God told me, God told me, you know I have a situation in Sydney, one man full of flattery, oh God's using this church, you know God's using you, this is going to be a massive church full of flattery, God's working you guys, now he's been kicked out of church for being a railer, okay, hey I thought God told you to love this church, I thought God wanted you in this church and now you're turning the hearts of people against one another in the church, that's what deceivers do, that's how they are, they say talk about God, God's done this, God told me this, God told me to be in this church, next week they're out of church, man you know that's what's going on here with Jacob, you know you say this is God's decision, no it's the weakness of your own heart, oh man you bring God into your deception, how despicable, I lost my place, what am I up to guys, sorry 21, yeah 21, 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, so you see Jacob has some questions, I'm not sure if this is Esau, but he's blind, he's been blind and he can't see, verse number 22, Jacob went near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, the voice of Jacob, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands of the hands of Esau, and he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy and his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him, and he said thou art 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 and my soul shall 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 the smell of the ramen and blessed him and said, so before I keep reading, verse number 27, he's got questions, again, are you really my son, he says yep I am, he feels his hands, they're hairy, he says come close so I can kiss you, and he does it so he can see, you know what kind of clothing are you wearing, how do you smell, and because he's wearing Esau's clothes he smells like Esau, you know like a wild hunter out there in the field, you know, and there's instinct in Isaac, you can see some instincts there, some gut, a gut feeling, things aren't right, sometimes you need to listen to your gut feeling, you need to listen to your instincts, I'm not very good at this, I don't think men are very good at this, I think women are generally pretty good at this, I mean there's plenty of times where my wife has said you know that person's a bit odd, that person's a bit, I'm like honey come on, you know, why do you have to be that way, next thing you find out yeah they are odd, next thing you find out they're a deceiver, next thing you find out they're you know in wickedness or whatever, it's happened many times, I'm sure there are husbands here that can say the same thing, you know your wives have given you a tip off about something, you've been like ah come on honey, and it's actually been true, alright, I think ladies generally are sort of more in touch with the instincts in this area, okay, but it doesn't mean men can't, you know obviously we see Isaac here, he has some instincts, and sometimes you, at the end of the day he still is deceived, he gives in to the deception, he tries to find out the truth, but he's deceived all the way through, again why, because he's blinded, okay, and we need to be careful, okay, you know you might have the gut instincts, this doesn't seem right, this person seems wrong, this pastor seems like I don't know about this guy, you know, and you might just try things and at the end of the day you know you've given it some effort, you know you need to listen to your instincts, you know if you've got some concerns, maybe you need to bring it to other people, maybe you just need to take it to God, you know, and find out the truth, and see, you know, if there are other situations, you know, Isaac maybe could have done further research, but you know he accepted what he had, what he smelled, what he felt, and was deceived, was deceived, and that's how strong deception can be, you know once you've been deceived, it's actually very hard for someone to admit they've been deceived, that's something else I've noticed, you know when someone believes they false doctrine, and they've been teaching it for years, and they get to a point where they even think this could be wrong, it's very hard for them to let go of it, very hard, once you're deceived, it's hard, what's the saying, it's easier to be deceived than to admit you've been deceived, something along those lines, there is a saying like that, I believe that's very very true, let's keep reading verse number 27, and at the end of it it says, see the smell of my son is the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed him, verse 28, therefore God gives thee the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine, let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee, be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee, cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee, so you can see it's the same promises, the same blessings that God gave to Abraham, to Isaac, he has now given this to what he believes is Esau, but it's actually Jacob, verse number 30, and it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from the hunting. Now the next point that I want to just bring up here before we keep reading, there is a saying that says the ends does not justify the means, have you guys heard that one before, the ends does not justify the means, what that means is you might have a goal, you might have a set goal which is righteous, which is good, but you decide to take a wicked path to get there, you know, you may decide to deceive people to get to that target quicker, you know, give you one example that many of you are aware of, let's say somebody wants to be ordained as a pastor, but they believe wicked heresy, okay, now the means is probably good, being a pastor, it's a good work the Bible says, okay, but they hide these things, they hide these false doctrines, they become deceptive about it, you know, they're trying to reach the means, but you know, what's the saying again, the end, sorry, no, the end is good, sorry, the end is good, but the mean by which they're trying to get to that end, they're being deceptive about it, we need to be careful about that, because again, the end might be good, you might say, well, I need to get there, that's a righteous thing, but the way you go about it can be very ungodly, can be very wicked, and this is what we're seeing here, because it is Jacob that was meant to be blessed by Isaac, okay, and mum and son were concerned it's not going to happen, so let's deceive that and make sure it's going to happen. Listen, God already promised to Rebekah that Isaac would be the one, take your Bibles and go to Genesis 25, keep your finger there in 27, but go to Genesis 25 verse 22, let's just remind ourselves, Genesis 25 verse 22, we cannot commit theft, we cannot lie, we cannot deceive for the cause of Christ, there's no such thing, you do things right according to God's ways, Genesis 25, 22, and the children struggled together within her, this is within Rebekah when she was pregnant, and she said if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire, to who? Of the Lord, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, look at this, and the elder shall serve the younger, God already said Jacob will be the one in charge, Jacob will be the one where the promises are going to be given, this was already promised by God, there's no need to be deceptive about it, okay, even when you think it's not going to happen, God's going to step in, you either allow God to step in and do what he says, or you try to step in and be deceptive about it, they didn't wait, they could have been faithful, God would have sorted it out, Jacob would have been blessed, no matter what, if they just trusted in the Lord, the Lord already said what's going to happen, now we don't know what might have happened, we don't get the story, because they became deceptive, they found some other method, I've heard people preach, oh you know God was okay with their deception because it was Jacob that needed to be blessed, no, that's not right, they were deceptive, they could have just waited on the Lord, the Lord would have made sure it was going to happen, I'll read to you from Romans 9 6, just quickly, I'll just read it to you, not as though the word of God have taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, listen, the word of God has an effect, we can't say that it has no effect, once he promises, it's going to happen, alright, verse number 7, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, so we see Isaac, yeah, the blind father, that is, verse number 8, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed, verse number 9, for this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son, God gives a promise, once God promises, just rest in it, it's going to happen, alright, verse number 11, sorry, verse number 10, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac, verse number 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to the election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, Rebekah knew what God had said to her, Rebekah knew that Jacob would be the one that would bring in that promise seed into this world, she was doing what she thought was right, right, she saw the end and the end was Jacob needs to be blessed, but the means by which she journeyed was deception, was wrong, she took it into her own hands, listen to me, when God makes a promise, God's going to take care of it, if you have prayer requests, you need God to step in your lives, you let God do it then, if you are unable to do it, righteously, in the right way, you let God deal with it, otherwise you're going to be tempted to do things ungodly, in ungodly ways, to do things contrary to his word, to fulfil that request you need, listen, if you can't do it in a godly manner, leave it to God to take care of, leave it to God, God would have taken care of this, I don't know how, but God says he would have, because he made the promise, God would have taken care of it, they went and became deceptive and found their own ways, let's go to verse number 31 please, in Genesis 27, verse 31, I'll try to speed up now guys, verse number 31, and he that being Esau also made savoury meat and brought it to his father, and said unto his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me, and Isaac his father said unto him, who art thou, and he said, I am thy son, thy first born Esau, and Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, who, where is he that have taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed, and when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, bless me even, me also, oh my father, and he said, thy brother came in with subtlety, and have taken away thy blessing, and he said, is not he rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times, he took away my birthright, remember that, he says he took away my birthright, he gave it away, he despised the birthright, the Bible says, alright, but anyway, and behold now he hath taken away my blessing, and he said, listen, the blessing came with the birthright, those things came together, alright, Esau gave it away, he also gave away the blessing, this is why God through his eyes knew which of these sons wanted the blessing, which of these sons wanted the birthright, which of these sons was caring about the promise of God to bring Jesus into this world, it was Jacob, and so Jacob got the promise, okay, it would have happened even without the deception, verse number 37, sorry, verse number 36, and he said, is he not rightly named, oh sorry, I did read that, he's taken away my blessing, and he said, hast thou not received a blessing for me, verse number 37, and Isaac answered and said unto Esau, behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and with corn and wine have I sustained him, and what shall I do now unto thee my son, he said, look, I've already blessed him, it's too late, verse number 38, and Esau said unto his father, hast thou but one blessing my father, bless me, even me also, oh my father, and Esau lifted up his voice and wept, and Isaac his father answered and said unto him, behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above, and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shall serve thy brother, so again, remember, it's Eden, the descendants of Esau that would serve eventually Israel, they would live on the land of Canaan under the Israelites, and they would pay taxes, they would pay tribute in order for them to live on the land, and that's what the father is prophesying up here, that thou shall serve thy brother, that's the nations that would come out of these two, and shall come to pass when thou shall have the dominion that thou shall break his yoke off, sorry, break his yoke from off thy neck, I believe I was looking into this a little bit, if you're curious, you might want to write down 2 Kings 8.20, 2 Kings 8.20, we see that Edom has a, you know, stops paying taxes and they rebel against Israel, so this might be the fulfilment of what is being spoken of here in verse number 40, anyway, verse number 41, and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him, and this is what happens with deception, guys, you deceive your family, you deceive people in church, what's going to happen? You're going to cause people to hate you, you're going to cause your brethren to hate you because of your deception, it doesn't end well, it never ends well being a deceiver. And Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father were at hand, then I will slay my brother Jacob, now thankfully Jacob lives, sorry, Isaac lives for many, many more years, I think, I could be wrong, but at least 20 years I think, I'll have to fact check that a little bit later, so he says, look, once my father dies, I'm going to go and kill my brother, you know, it's almost like that Cain attitude, you know, killing Abel there, and verse number 42, and these words of Esau, her eldest son was told to Rebekah, so Rebekah hears about Esau wanting to kill his brother, and again, remember Jacob is Rebekah's favourite, and she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, behold thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee, now therefore my son, obey my voice and arise, flee thou to Laban, my brother to Haran, and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away, until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, that he forget that which thou hast done to him, and then I will send and fetch thee from thence, why should I be deprived also of you both in one day, again, deception has consequences, Rebekah realises the deception they've caused has angered Esau to the point of him making an oath to kill his brother Jacob, to kill her favoured son, you know, and so she has to send Jacob away, send him away to save his life, and now she can't be with her favoured son, you know, now she's paying the penalty, she's paying the cost of deception, she can't be with the son that she gets along with best, alright, yeah deception has its consequences, let's keep reading verse number 46, verse number 46, now what's interesting about these two chapters that we're reading now, 26 and also 25, they both end with a very similar story, okay, if you guys just go back to, sorry guys, we're in Genesis 27 aren't we, we're in Genesis 27, Genesis 27 ends in a very similar way to Genesis 26, alright, if you guys just look back in Genesis 26, just the last verses there, verse number 34, Genesis 26, verse 34, it's talking about Esau here, it's that Esau was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Veri, the Hittites, and Bashamath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were a great grief of mine unto Isaac and to Rebekah, so we learnt about Esau taking ungodly women from the land of Canaan to be his wife, to be their wives, and that this was a burden, a grief to his parents, but look at verse number 46 in chapter 27, chapter 27, verse 46, the way this ends as well, it says, and Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heph, if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heph, such as these which are the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me, and that's how it ends, okay, so we see, you know, even though time has progressed here, these wives that Esau has taken is just a grief to Rebekah, I mean they're having bad mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relations right now, okay, and she doesn't want Jacob to take the same women to be his wife, she doesn't want the women of the land of Canaan to be a wife to Jacob, and so just keep those two things in mind, the Bible ends these two chapters with a very similar story because it keeps leading into the next chapter, the next chapter, so we'll get onto that next week, so just in summary guys, just very quickly, thank you for your patience, it's been a long chapter, number one, be careful about being deceived, the only way you're going to save yourself from deception is to have, to be able to see clearly, to see clearly through the Word of God, listen to your instincts as well, husbands, listen to your wives when they have instincts, they're not always right, but very often they are right, okay, about their personal instincts, listen to them as well, the second thing, the main key thing that I want to take away from this guys is that you need to trust in the Lord, once the Lord has promised you something, God will make sure he meets it, don't be deceptive with the way you live your lives, even if you have a righteous end to it, you know, the end does not justify the means, we cannot be deceptive people, you start deceiving people, you start deceiving people in this church, like Esau, they're going to hate you, it's going to cause problems in this church, be careful of deception, let's pray.