Part 33
acquaintance. Come under my roof; you will bring a blessing with you. Speak to me in the street; your morning word will be a benediction to me." It was the old custom with Apostolic men to say, as they entered a house, "Peace be unto this house." We have given up all idea of blessing our fellow men in that way. But why have we done so? Is it from a lack of love, or lack of faith in our own prayers that God would make it so?
For my part, I value a good man's blessing! As I drove up a hill, in the country, some time ago, a poor man and his wife were walking down the hill. I had never seen them before, but the woman pulled the husband by his coat. They both stood and looked at me and, at last, she said, quite loudly, "It's him, God bless him!"
And although her greeting was not quite grammatical, it evidently came from her heart–and I felt happier for it as I went on my way. I saw her, afterwards, and asked her the reason of her words. "Why," she said, "I have read your sermons for many a year and I could not help saying, 'God bless him!' when I saw you, for you have been a blessing to me." Thus that humble woman, being blessed of the Lord, became a blessing to me! And we, all of us, even the most obscure, who know the Grace of God, might daily be like a great benediction in the midst of the people.
When you think of your minister, say, sometimes, "God bless him!" It will do him good to hear it. Say to your friend, "God bless you!" Say to your children, "God bless you, my dear boy! The Lord bless you, my dear girl!" They will be the better for it if you, yourself, are the blessed of the Lord! You, grandparents, lay your hands on the children's heads and bless them–they will not forget it when they grow up. It may be that you have done much more for them than you have thought. Concerning His flock, the Lord says, "I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing." God's people are blessed that they may bless! Therefore, for the sake of others, as well as for your own, seek that my text may be abundantly true of you. May this be your prayer–
"Lord, I hear of showers of blessings
You are scattering full and free!
Showers, the thirsty land refreshing,
Let some droppings fall on me,
Even me."
It was for this reason that the Philistines sought the friendship of Isaac–because they could truly say to him, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
I want not so much to preach from this text as to ask every
Believer in Christ to feel that it is personally true. Once you were condemned, but, being in Christ Jesus, "there is, therefore, now no condemnation." "You are now the blessed of the Lord." Once your were at enmity against God, but now, being reconciled to God by the death of His Son, you are His friend–"You are now the blessed of the Lord." "You were sometimes in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." How great the change for the man or woman to whom we can say, "You are now the blessed of the Lord!"
There was a day when I was cursed and there was a day when I loved sin and opposed God's will–but now I love sin no longer and I find my highest delight in doing the will of my Father in Heaven!
My Soul, if this is true, "you are now the blessed of the Lord." You are a miracle of mercy! You are a prodigy of Grace and truly, "where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound." Sit still in your pews, you people of God, and roll this sweet morsel under your tongue! Once, because you believed not, the wrath of God was resting upon you, but now you can say, "O Lord! I will praise
You: though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comforted me."
Surely, then, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." You are poor, perhaps, in this world's goods, but being an heir of the "inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you," why, "You are now the blessed of the Lord!" Or, perhaps, you are weak and ill, and scarcely able to be in your place.
But though your flesh and strength fail, "you are now the blessed of the Lord," for, by His Grace, you will triumph over all! Though you are oppressed with many a fear and many a care, still, "you are now the blessed of the Lord," and on Him you can cast your care– and from Him receive deliverance from all your fears! Whatever your distresses, this overwhelms them all as with a flood of joy!
You can join with one who, though in a very humble station of life, says–
"O joy! 'Tis mine, this life Divine,
Life hid with Christ in God!
Once sin-defiled, now reconciled,
And washed in Jesus' blood!
Oft far astray from Christ the Way,
I went with willful feet.
From hopeless track, love brought me back, With words of welcome sweet."
If you can truly sing this sweet song, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." You are not yet perfect–you are not yet taken out of the body to be with your Lord in bliss–you are not yet risen from the dead to stand before the Throne of God in your body of Resurrection glory! But yet you are now, even now, the blessed of the Lord! Will you let the flavor of this sweet Truth of God be in your mouth and in your heart while I seek to open this subject to you?
I would remark upon it, first, that in the case of Isaac, THIS WAS THE TESTIMONY OF ENEMIES. It was the Philistines who said, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." There are some of God's people who are so evidently favored of Heaven that even those who despise and oppose them cannot help saying of them, "They are the blessed of the Lord." I wish that we were all such–so distinguished by piety, so marked out by strength of faith and prevalence of prayer–that even our Abimelechs might be forced to say to each of us, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." What caused this heathen king and his companions to use such an expression about Isaac? In seeking the reasons which led them to see the bounty of the Lord in the case of Abraham's son, we may find some signs of the blessing of God upon ourselves and upon our children.
I think, first, that they saw it in his amazing prosperity. We read in the twelfth, thirteenth and 14 th verses, "Then Isaacsowed in the land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: for he had possession of flocks and possession of herds, and great store of servants." Prosperity is not always a token of blessing. It may be proof of the lord's favor, but it may not be. God sometimes gives most to those on earth who will have nothing in Heaven–as if, seeing that He cannot bless them in eternity, He would let them enjoy the poor sweets of time. I have heard it said that prosperity was the blessing of the old
Covenant and adversity the blessing of the new. Nevertheless, it is true that worldly prosperity may be sent and has been sent to the children of God as a token of Divine favor. It is not always when we eat the quails, that they make us ill–God can send them in such a way that we may enjoy them and be strengthened by them. He can give riches as well as poverty. That was the Philistines' reason– and it is a Philistine's reason. It is not a very satisfactory one, but it has some force, for the Lord Jesus, Himself, gave the sign of blessing upon the meek, saying, "They shall inherit the earth." And in the same memorable discourse upon the mount, He uttered the exhortation and promise, "Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things"–the things which the Gentiles seek after–"shall be added unto you." So we may fairly construe the "mercies of God" as a sign of His blessing.
These Philistines had a further reason for thinking that Isaac was blessed of God–they felt it by Divine impression. A secret spirit whispered to the king, "Touch not My anointed, and do My Prophets no harm." God always has a way of making men feel "how awful goodness is." They may jest and jeer against a Christian, but his life vanquishes them. They cannot help it! They must do homage to the supremacy of Grace. The promise is still true, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." God will impress upon the minds of even unbelievers, this fact, that such a man, such a woman, is one whom God has blessed! Do you not know some Believers who have such an air of other-worldliness about them, that though they mix freely with the people among whom they dwell, men instinctively acknowledge that, "they have been with Jesus" and have been blessed by Him? I do not care to see pictures of the saints of old with a nimbus of light round their heads, even though they have been painted by the old masters–yet there is a something about one who lives a saintly life, a brightness encircling him–like the symbol of God's Presence which separates him from those around him, and leads us to say to him, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
Further, before the Philistines bore this testimony to Isaac, no doubt they remarked his gentleness. I believe that there is nothing that has such power over ungodly men as meekness of spirit, quietness of behavior, patience of character and the continual conquest over an evil temper. If you grow angry when people are angry with you, you will have lost your position. But if you can be patient under persecution; if you can smile when they ridicule you; if you can yield your rights; if you can bear and continue to bear, you are greater than the man who has taken a city! Remember the blessing promised to the disciples of Christ who are peacemakers?
They are not only the children of God, but, "they shall be called the children of God." People will say, "If any man is a true Christian, he is one." They will have no doubt about it! When long-suffering, gentleness and meekness are in the life, men begin to say to such a one, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
As the gentleness of the Lord makes us great, the gentleness of the saints brings to God great glory. Anger has a temporary sovereignty that melts in the heat of the sun. Quietness of spirit is king over all the land. If you can rule yourself, you can rule the world! Isaac conquered by his meekness, for when Abimelech saw that he yielded well after well rather than keep up a quarrel, he said to him, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." Some of you do not understand this. "What?" you ask, "are we not to stick up for ourselves?" That depends upon whose you are–if you are your own, take care of yourselves–but if you are Christ's, let Him take care of you! "But," you say, "if you tread on a worm, it will turn."
Surely you will not make a worm your pattern? No, but let the meek and lowly Christ be your Example! Seek to be a partaker of His Spirit. He prayed, even for His murderers, "Father, forgive them," and He always sought to return good for evil. I pray you to do the same–cultivate a gentle spirit and even worldlings will say to you–"You are now the blessed of the Lord."
Now, while these Philistines saw that God blessed Isaac, they nevertheless envied him, as we read in the 14 th verse.How strange it is that men, who do not care to be blessed of God, themselves, envy them who are blessed of Him! I heard one say, "It is not just that God should have a chosen people." Sir, do you want to be one of God's people? These blessings which God gives to them–do you want to have them? You may have them, if you will! If you will not have them, I pray you do not quarrel with God because He chooses to give to whom He wills. There are two great Truths of God, which, from this platform, I have proclaimed for many years. The first is that salvation is free to every man who will have it. The second is that God gives salvation to a people whom He has chosen. And these Truths are not in conflict with one another in the least degree! If you want the blessing of the Lord, have it even now, for my commission as an ambassador of Christ is to beseech men to be reconciled to God! If you do not want it, do not quarrel with God for giving it to His own chosen. It was so with those Philistines–they wanted not Jehovah's blessing and yet they envied
Isaac, who had it!
But while they envied him, they feared him and courted his favor.
Do I speak to some young Believer who has gone into a house of business, or some Christian woman who has been placed in a family where her religion exposes her to opposition? Let me counsel you to go straight on, taking no notice of the hindrances thrown in your way. You will first be envied. After that, you will be feared! And after that, you will be sought after and your company will be desired. If you can only stay as firm as Isaac did, never losing your temper, but always being gentle, meek and kind, you will conquer! And you who are, today despised, will yet come to be honored, even as Isaac was by the very Abimelech who had, just a little while before, asked him to go away!
A man of God, who was bearing testimony for the faith, on one occasion was pushed into the gutter by a person passing by who said, as he thrust him in, "There, take that, John Bunyan." He took off his hat and said, "I will take anything if you give me the name of John Bunyan. I count it such an honor to have that title, that you may do anything that you like with me." To be identified with those who have been blessed of the Lord is worth more than all the favors of the world! We are in good company. If men despise you, it matters little when God has blessed you! If they push you into the gutter for being a Christian, take your hat off and thank them, for it is worthwhile to bear any scorn, that you may have the honor to be numbered with the followers of Christ! Rest assured that if you will count it a privilege, even, to be mocked for your faith, those who persecute you, today, will acknowledge your high position tomorrow. It is a grand thing when any of us thus gets the testimony of our enemies, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
II. Now, secondly, not only did his enemies thus bear witness to Isaac, saying, "You are now the blessed of the Lord," but THIS WAS ALSO THE TESTIMONY OF THE LORD. It was because he had the witness of God that he was able to behave as to secure the favorable verdict of the Philistines. Like Enoch, before his translation, Isaac, too, "had this testimony, that he pleased God" and was, thus meekly able to bear the displeasure of the world.
When they drove him from one well, he dug another, yet all the time he, with joy, drew, "water out of the wells of salvation." He might almost have sat for the picture which Jeremiah drew of the blessed man, centuries afterwards, when he said, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when the heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."
Let us see, then, how Isaac had the testimony of God as to his blessedness.
First, this was the Lord's testimony to him in promises founded upon the Covenant which He had made with Abraham, his father.
God said to Isaac, "I will be with you and will bless you." In the third verse of this chapter, the promise is made doubly sure to Isaac when God says, "I will perform the oath which I swore unto
Abraham your father." And in the 24 th verse of the chapter, where the promise is renewed, it is still on the ground of the Covenant–"I am with you andI will bless you, and multiply your seed for My servant, Abraham's, sake." Now, do you know anything of the Covenant relationship between God and His people? The bulk of Christians, nowadays, are wholly ignorant on this subject. The preachers have forgotten it, yet the Covenant is the top and bottom of all theology!
He that is the master of the knowledge of the Covenants has the key of true divinity. But the doctrine has gone out of date except with a few old-fashioned people who are supposed to know no better, but who, in spite of all the taunts of their opponents, cling to the Doctrines of Grace and find in them the very marrow and fatness of the Truth of God. I love the promises of God because they are Covenant promises! God has engaged to keep His Word with His people in the Person of His dear Son. He has bound
Himself, by Covenant with Christ, and will not, cannot go back from His Word–and Christ has fulfilled the conditions of the Covenant and He who has "brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant," will certainly, "make you perfect to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." The promise is a double promise when it is confirmed in Jesus!
Though we are poor and worthless creatures, yet we can say with David, "Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and sure."
Twice God says by Isaiah, "I have given Him for a Covenant to the people." Thrice happy are they who receive what God has given and who, in Christ, enter into that blessed bond! Beloved, if God has laid the promise home to you by the Spirit and let you see it as a Covenant promise, then God has borne this testimony to you–"You are now the blessed of the Lord." You are blessed now!
You shall be blessed all your life on earth–
"And when, through Jordan's flood,
Your God shall bid you go,
His arm shall defend you,
And vanquish every foe.
And in this Covenant you shall view
Sufficient strength to bear you through."
Further, the Lord bore testimony to Isaac in secret manifestation.
He came to him in the watches of the night andspoke with him, face to face. None but those who are the blessed of the Lord have such communion with Him. "How is it that You will manifest
Yourself unto us and not unto the world?" asked Judas, not Iscariot, at the supper table, before the Lord's betrayal. Ah, Judas! It is simply because you are not Iscariot, but a true disciple, otherwise had you never known intimately the Presence of Christ. If He manifests Himself to us in this choice manner, it is because He has blessed us in a way in which He would not bless the ungodly world. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His Covenant." Do you ever get manifestations of Christ? Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy
Spirit which is given to you? Then you have a Divine attestation that "you are now the blessed of the Lord!"
Isaac also found this testimony, I think, in Divine acceptance of his worship. We find that "he built an altar" and then he "pitched his tent." Keep up the altar of God in your home and keep to the right order–the altar, first, and the tent, second. When God accepts you, there, and makes your family altar to be a place of refreshment and delight to you, you will feel that in thus doing, He is giving you the sweet assurance that you are now the blessed of the Lord. It is a pity that there are so many houses, nowadays, without roofs–I mean houses of Christian people without family prayer! What are some of you doing? If your children turn out ungodly, do you wonder at it, seeing that there is no morning and evening prayer, no reading of the Word of God in your home? In every home where the Grace of God is known, there should be an altar from which should rise the incense of praise and, at which the one sacrifice for sin should be pleaded before God day by day! In the midst of such family piety, which I fear is almost dying out in many quarters, you will get the witness, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
Isaac had another proof that he was blessed of God in swift chastisement for sin. He told a lie–he said that Rebekah was his sister, whereas she was his wife. Although that might seem to prove that he was not blessed of the Lord, the proof of his blessedness was that he was discovered and became ashamed of it. Worldly people may do wrong and very likely get off scot-free, but if a Christian goes off the straight line, he will have an accident in his roguery and be found out, while other men may do 10 times as badly and never be suspected! Rascals who know not God and who despise the ordinary morality of honest men may speculate on the Stock Exchange with other peoples' money and never be found out.
But if you who really love God only do it once, and say, "Well, I feel driven to it," you will be caught as surely as you live! It is one mark of a child of God, that when he does wrong, he gets a whipping.
If I were in the street and saw strange boys breaking windows, I would say, "Go home, or I will find a policeman for you." But if it were my own boy, I would chastise him myself. I would not meddle with the other boys, but with my own I would! So it is with God who says, by the mouth of Amos, to His people, "You only have I known of all of the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." It is a mark of God's blessing a man, that if the man does to sin–and better that the smart should wean you from sin than that something sweet should come in to make you the slave of that sin forever!
Well, I will not dwell further on this. God testified to Isaac's heart, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." May He testify that to each one of you who know His name and have received His Covenant promises! May the words come to you like a benediction from the Throne of God and send you out to testify of His goodness, and to bless Him who has blessed us, saying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ!"
III. Now, in the third place, I must draw your attention to the fact that though Isaac was the blessed of the Lord, THIS DID NOT SECURE HIM FROM TRIBULATION. Already I have approached this part of my subject by speaking of the speedy discovery of his sin, but in addition to this, there were other sorrows not directly resulting from his own conduct, but permitted by God in order that he, who was now blessed, should be still further enriched in character and conduct.
Even before Abimelech saw the source of Isaac's Grace, he was "the blessed of the Lord." Yet he still had to move about. He was a pilgrim and a stranger, as was his father, and he lived as an alien in the land. He was without any inheritance in the country and though his flocks and herds increased, he dwelt but in tents, while others reared for themselves stately houses and palaces. But God had prepared some better thing for him and "he looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Thus, this trial became a means of blessing to him, as trials always do when sanctified by the Spirit of God! If these words reach any child of God whose nest on earth has been disturbed, whose house has been broken up, I would seek to cheer you by the thought of the "continuing city" which shall soon be your portion. If you have, through Christ, an assurance of an abundant entrance, there, though you never have a house of your own on earth and roam from place to place a stranger, seeming to be, very often, in the way of other people, yet remember–"you are now the blessed of the Lord."
Daily He does load you with benefits and you can even now have your home in His love–
"He loves, He knows, He cares!
Nothing that truth can dim!
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him."
In spite of the position of blessedness in which Isaac was placed, he had enemies to meet. It is true that, at last, his foes became his friends, but the blessing of the Lord did not begin with their friendship–they discovered and surely confessed the fact–but Isaac had been "the blessed of the Lord" all along! When Abimelech sent him away and when "the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen," he was not shut out from God's favor. Jehovah never bade him depart, nor took from him His good Spirit. So, tried
Heart, when foes press around you and one thing after another seems to go wrong, do not begin to write bitter things against yourself, as though God had forsaken you! Remember that it is of the Lord that you are blessed–not of men. He will never forsake you and His deliverance shall soon make your heart glad. Even in the midst of the trial, "you are now the blessed of the Lord" and, like Isaac, after you have drunk of the waters of "contention" and "hatred," you will be brought to Rehoboth where you shall have "room," yes, even to Beer-Sheba, "the well of the oath," or, "the seventh well," "the well of satiety," where your enemies shall seek your favor and glorify your Lord!
Isaac had especially one trial that ate into his very soul–he had domestic sorrow. Esau's double marriage with Hittite women was a grief to his father and to his mother. And I mention this because there may be some of God's people who are suffering in the same way. I saw one, some days ago, who said, "I am like the Spartan who carried a fox in his bosom, that ate even to his heart, for I have a thankless, ungrateful child." And, as he spoke to me, I saw the heart-break of the man. Ah, it may be that some of you are in that condition! If any young man or young woman here is causing that grief to a parent, I pray him or pray her to think of it! You are not heartless, I hope. You have not forgotten your mother's prayers or your father's care of you. Do not kill those who gave you being, or insult and vex those to whom you owe so much! But oh, dear
Brother or Sister, if you have come here broken-hearted about your Esau and all that he is doing, I want to take you by the hand and say, "But still you are blessed of the Lord! Let this console you."
What if Abraham has his Ishmael? Yet God blessed him! Bear bravely this trial. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Give God no rest, day or night, till He save your boy and bring back your girl! But still, be not despairing! Be not cast down, for it is true of you–and drink in, I pray you, this cup of consolation–that, "you are now the blessed of the Lord."
Let me speak two or three earnest words in closing. "You are now the blessed of the Lord." "Now!" Beloved, labor to get a hold of a present blessing. If you are, indeed, saved, do not be always thinking of what you are to enjoy in Heaven, but seek to be the blessed of the Lord now. Why not have two heavens–a Heaven here and a Heaven there? What is the difference between a Believer's life, here, and a Believer's life there? Only this–here, Christ is with us–and there, we are with Christ! If we live up to our privileges, this is the only difference we need to know. Try to be, "now the blessed of the Lord." I have heard of a traveler who was followed by a beggar, in Ireland, who very importunately asked for alms. As long as there seemed a chance of getting anything, the old woman kept saying, "May the blessing of God follow Your Honor all through your life!" But when all hope of a gift was vanished, she bitterly added, "and never overtake you." But the blessings which God has for His chosen are not of that slow-footed kind which never catch up with us. It is written, "All these blessings shall come on you and overtake you, if you shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord, your God." I beseech you, then, to lay hold of this overtaking-blessing! Let it not pass unheeded. "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
Next, be very grateful that you are in this position of Grace. You might have been in the drink-shop. You might have been speaking infidelity. You might have been in prison, you might have been in Hell. But "you are now the blessed of the Lord." Why, praise the Lord, whose mercy endures forever! If you do not lift up your voice, yet lift up your heart and bless Him for the Grace which has made you to differ from other people!
Again, tell others about it. If "you are now the blessed of the Lord," communicate to others the sacred secret that has been the means of bringing such joy to you. Are we earnest enough about the souls of others? Christian men and women, do you love your fellow creatures, or do you not? How few there are of us who make it our business to be constantly telling others the sweet story of Jesus and His love! I read, the other day, of a chaplain in the Northern army in the lamentable war in the United States, who, while he lay wounded on the battlefield, heard a man, not far off, utter an oath. Though he, himself, was so badly wounded that he could not stand, yet he wished to reach the swearer to speak a Gospel message to him–and he thought, "I can get to him if I roll over."
So, though bleeding profusely, he kept rolling over and over till he got to the side of the poor blasphemer–and on the lone battlefield he preached Jesus to him. Some of the other men came along and he said to them, "Can you carry me? I fear that I am dying, but I do not want to be taken off the field. I should like you, if you would, to carry me from one dying man to another, all the night long, that I might tell them of a Savior." What a splendid deed was this! A bleeding man talking to those who were full of sin about a Savior's bleeding wounds! Oh, you who have no wounds, who can walk and possess all the faculties to fit you for service, how often you miss opportunities and refuse to speak of Jesus!
"You are now the blessed of the Lord" and, at this moment, I would have you think that the blessed Lord lays His pierced hand on you saying, "Go and tell others what I have done for you." Never cease to tell the Divine story, as opportunity is given, until your voice is lost in death! Then your spirit shall begin to utter the story in the loftier sphere.
You are coming to the Lord's Table and I invite you, Beloved, to come here with much love. Do not come with doubts and fears, with a cold or lukewarm heart. Remember, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." Come, eat His flesh and drink His blood.
There, on the Table, you will see nothing but the embers of His flesh and blood. But if you believe, Christ will feed you spiritually upon Himself and, as you eat that Bread of Heaven and drink that Wine of Life, you may well hear a voice saying, "You are now the blessed of the Lord."
Well do I remember the time when I would have given away my eyes to be as a dog under the Table–to have eaten only the crumbs which fell as others feasted! And now, for 41 years, today, I have sat as a child at the Table, blessed be His name!
As I told our friends, this morning, this day is an anniversary of peculiar interest to me. Forty-one years ago I went down into the river and was baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit–
"Yet have been upheld till now!
Who could hold me up but You?"
May you, each of you, as you come to the Table, hear a voice saying in your heart, "Now a Believer! Now justified! Now quickened! Now regenerate! Now in Christ! Now dear to the heart of God! 'You are now the blessed of the Lord.'"
Oh, that some who came in here without the blessing would get it before they go! He that believes in Jesus has all the blessing which Jesus can give to him–forgiveness for the past, Grace for the present–and Glory for the future! "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed," is the word of the Lord to you, you doubter! He was made a curse for you, that He might redeem you from the curse of the broken Law of God, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." He hung on a tree for guilty man!
Believe in Him and, as you believe, eternal joys shall come streaming down into your dry and desolate heart, and it shall be said to you, "You are now the blessed of the Lord." You shall be blessed now and blessed forevermore! God grant it, for our Lord
Jesus Christ's sake! Amen. Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon–Genesis 26.HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN
BOOK"–758, 757, 786.LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON:
DEAR FRIENDS–I have received letters from readers who speak of reading with interest the notes at the end of the sermons. I feared that these jottings had become monotonous and, therefore, I am amazed that they should interest so many. I am not able, like
Paganini, to discourse sweet music on a single string and, therefore, I impute the interest spoken of, the love of the reader rather than to the genius of the writer! We are always interested in the smallest details of the lives of those we greatly love.
This present note may record the fact that on the last evening of 1891 and in the morning of New Year's Day, 1892, I gave two short addresses to about a dozen friends in this hotel. My silence of more than half a year is ending. The chirping of the first spring birds is heard in my land. It is true that I sat down, talked my little piece and that I felt glad when it came to an end, but, still, it has been done, by His Grace, and he that was almost numbered with the dead is now beginning to speak in the ears of the living! These two little talks, only of interest to my friends, will probably be preserved in The Sword and the Trowel for February, for Mr.
Harrald took them down in shorthand. You will all guess how happy I am, for I have now some signs and tokens of returning strength. And I am praising God with all my heart for such a wonderful restoration.
To friends who have lovingly kept up the funds for the various institutions, I send my heartiest thanks, and to all well-wishers my kindest regards. Yours to serve till death, C. H. Spurgeon, Hotel
Beau Rivage, Mentone, January 2, 1892.
Ge 27:35 • Household Sin and Sorrow
ERMON 3473
Household Sin And Sorrow
"And he said, Your brother came with subtlety and has taken away your blessing."
Genesis 27:35
THERE are some households where all are saved–how happy they should be! Where every son and every daughter, father and mother are all Believers–a Church in the house, a Church of which the whole of the house is comprised. It is such an unspeakable blessing that those who enjoy it ought never cease to praise God for it day and night. And there are very many other households that have a share of this blessing, but the blessing is not complete. Like
Noah with his household in the ark–Shem, Japheth, and perhaps some of the rest, their wives, Believers and saved, but Ham profane and wicked! And here was the family of Isaac, not a very large one–but two boys–and here were father and mother and one son, but there was also one unregenerate, one of the flesh, one carnalminded and minding earthly things. And in this case this son, Esau, appears to have been a bold, manly, outspoken fellow who did not keep his irreligion to himself and made no sort of pretense about it.
He despised the birthright. The great blessing which God had promised to the seed of Abraham he thought to be–well, a matter that did not concern him. For he received his pottage and enjoyed it. He was satisfied, for he could put on his goodly garments and disport himself as men of his time did–he was perfectly satisfied.
He had not any particular concern about spiritual things–did not need them. And on one occasion he was so profane that he showed the little esteem he had for what his father, and mother, and brother valued beyond life, itself, by offering to sell this birthright that they thought so much of, for just a savory meal! He was a profane person, so the Apostle tells us, and I suppose that action to have been one piece of his profanity. He did it out of profane bravado as well as out of a careless disregard for it. He would, to show his profanity, give it up for a mere basin of lentils! And he became a source of great grief to his father and mother by his marriages, for he married a race that had been cursed of God, namely, the Hittites.
This, we are told in the Chapter preceding the text, was a great grief of mind both to Rebekah and to Isaac. They desired to have no connection with the heathen nations among whom they dwelt, for they were not merely worshippers of idols, but these nations were the most polluted in character. They had committed crimes that are not mentionable!
You remember how it was that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The sins for which those cities were destroyed were common enough in the land, and Isaac did not wish, therefore, to cultivate any acquaintance with the people. He desired to keep his family altogether apart, but where there were two marriages you may readily imagine there was a good deal of connection. There was much sorrow caused to the people at home because there would be brought home to the tent, persons whose language would shock the piety of the household. There would be seen there, sometimes, reunions and gatherings that must have made Isaac's heart and Rebekah's heart very heavy, indeed. Here was a household with all that it needed of temporals, with the blessing of God upon it, but there was one son in it that caused a world of trial and trouble! I wish, sometimes, young men who are, as we say, sowing their wild oats, would remember something of the sorrow they caused to others, even if they did not think about the ultimate trials which they will be sure to bring upon themselves! If they knew how often the father's nights are sleepless and the mother's cheeks are wet with sorrow, they might at least, perhaps, not be quite so bold in sin and open in it as they now are. Now the worst of it was that the presence of this Esau in the house was the occasion of leading all the others into a piece of business most discreditable to them all–and not to be defended for a single moment. Even one person in a household may put all the rest into a wrong position. There may be but one who does not fear God, and yet that one may eat, as does a canker, into the very vitals of the peace of the family and the character of all the house. Though they may be godly persons, they may be seriously deteriorated through having perpetually to come into contact with that one. And this was the case with that otherwise holy family–the presence of Esau became the occasion of much evil!
I shall briefly attempt at this time, first, to show you the sin into which the godly members of that household fell. Iwill show you how they were recovered from itsome of the afflictions which they had to sufferas the result of it. Well then, first, there were– THREE GODLY PERSONS WHO FELL INTO SIN.
They were God-fearing persons in the household–Believers in the Covenant, expecting the blessing, attaching value to spiritual things–as Esau did not. All these three fell into sin. Their sin consisted, first of all, in a lack of confidence inone another. It is a very bad thing in a family when there is no confidence between the husband and the wife, between the children and the parents. Now
Isaac wished to give Esau a blessing. He did not tell his wife but he arranged very craftily that Esau should prepare a little banquet for him–and then on that occasion, when they were all alone, he would give him the blessing. The usual way, and the proper way, would have been for the parent, when he expected to die, to have in the whole family and pronounce the blessing before them all, just as Jacob did when he departed and blessed all his sons. But this was to be done in a covert, secret way. Isaac was afraid of the objections that might be raised by his wife, afraid of the very valid objection that she would have raised that God had said the elder should serve the younger and, therefore, he thinks of this. Good, easy man as he is–he thinks of a simple way of getting out of the matter–so he will have Esau there, and give Esau the blessing. He had no confidence, you see, in his wife–did not tell her what he was going to do. And it is generally a bad thing that a man is going to do when he does not tell his wife of it.
Then, meanwhile, the wife has not confidence in her husband!
She hears this little speech between her husband and her son–she was eavesdropping, I suppose, always fearful that something of that kind might be done. And so without saying to her husband, "You are, in this, about to do contrary to the will of God," as she might have done with much gentleness–and Isaac, who was of a gentle spirit, a holy spirit, would have been quite prepared to hear it. But she did not want to do that–she thought, "You plot, so I will plot– and I will try to mar your plot. You are about to see Esau alone–I will see if I cannot circumvent you." Then she goes to Jacob, and Jacob shows a lack of confidence in his father. He is willing to get the blessing out of his father by deceit, instead of going, as a manly son should, to his father and saying, "My Father, albeit I am not the first-born, yet you will remember God rules in this household and He has said, 'The elder shall serve the younger.' Evidently the blessing is mine and, besides that, I have bought of my brother (however hard the bargain), I have bought the birthright and you have no right to give it to him." He might have said somethingat any rate–much or little.
But instead of that, there is no representation made between them–they are all three, each one on his own account, plotting this and plotting that! Now I believe there is never that in a family but what there is sure to be mischief come of it. It is an excellent rule– though I may be comparatively a young person–I venture to say–a rule which all who try will find very advantageous to holiness as well as to their peace, to take care and keep everything clear and above board. And when any little difficulty comes, to try to remove it at once! And when another difficulty comes, to move that away, too–otherwise one difficulty will tell upon another. And little things kept back will go on multiplying and increasing till, perhaps, even
Christian people will fall together by the ears, one with another!
You must not tell me that it is a slight thing for a husband to fall out with his wife, or for a Christian household to be at sixes and sevens! I tell you it is a thing which makes angels weep, makes devils rejoice, makes the world say, "Is this your Christianity?" We must have united, happy Christian households–and that we cannot have if we conduct our affairs with a lack of confidence in the one and the other! "In preaching the Gospel," says one, "you shouldn't talk about this! Mind your business, my Friend." It is just such talk as Christ would speak if He were here! He often spoke about such practical things as these. His teaching was, in fact, of all the household and of the common everyday concerns–and so shall ours be if, perhaps, we may prevent some evil which otherwise may be a serious damage to the Church of God!
Now the next sin in their case was a lack of confidence in God– all three alike–for I can hardly distinguish betweenthe one and the other. Here is Isaac–he knows God's purpose, but he does not see how God will fulfill it. There is Rebekah–she knows the purpose still better, but somehow or other she thinks God's purpose won't be fulfilled. She says, "Jacob, you are about to lose the blessing, yet God has said you shall have it. The decree will fail. You cannot believe that God will carry it out. Only tomorrow morning and Esau will get the blessing! I heard Isaac say he would give it to him." Now she is so afraid that God would not accomplish His own purpose that she steps in to help the Lord! And what can any man or any woman do to help the Lord? If the Omnipotent and Eternal
God cannot fulfill His own purposes, I am sure Rebekah cannot!
But she thinks she can. She does not have confidence in God. And there is Jacob–well, the blessing is for him and he prizes it above everything. It could not come to him by the rule of the flesh, but it is to come to him by the election of Grace, but he cannot sit down and let the Lord work His own purposes! "Be still and see the salvation of God" is a text that neither of them could understand, or if they could understand it, they could not put it in practice. Isaac is anxious to give the blessing. Rebekah is anxious. Jacob is anxious to get it for himself. And so all round they did not lean on God at all! They desire to do His will, but they do not trust Him to fulfill
His own purposes! And what a sad thing this is in a household, and what a sad thing it is in an individual household when we cannot trust the Lord! Unbelief is a very prolific sin. Once we doubt the Lord, I know not what we may do next, and next, and next! It is a sharp turning off of the right road, that turning to trust in ourselves rather than in the Most High! It won't do, my Brothers and Sisters.
It won't do. We walk rightly when we walk trustfully, when we leave our concerns in the hands of the Lord. But when we will carry our own burdens, we shall soon be in mischief. He that carves for himself will soon cut his fingers. He that runs before the cloud of God's Providence may have, before long, to come back again faster than he went forward!
There was another matter, and that was a lack of confidences in doing right. Isaac ought to have had confidence andto have given the blessing to Jacob. He knew it was for Jacob, but he was, in all probability, afraid of Esau, so he would not venture to bring upon himself Esau's wrath. He will give the blessing to him, contrary to God's purpose. Rebekah cannot leave the matter with God and be truthful–she must concoct a scheme. Jacob cannot trust in doing right–he must make lies and do wrong to make things go right. And on the whole, he thinks that because God's purpose runs that way, he may take some license to lie as he will! Oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, let us always have faith that, as a straight line is the nearest distance between two places, the most efficient way to prosper, after all, is to do right–and the shortcut and the right cut is integrity, uprightness and truthfulness! If we begin to tack about this way and that, we shall have to our sorrow to tack again–only the longer we run we shall have to sail a great deal further and scarcely reach our haven at all, if we once begin that process! Some have been foolish enough to infer that their duty is to be judged of by Divine
Purposes or Providences. This shows, again, a lack of faith in doing right. If they believed in doing what was a right thing, they would know that God would see those purposes were fulfilled. There is much mischief done in believing that we are to follow the promises of Scripture apart from the Law of God! There was a man who once had no wood in his house–and it came into his mind that his neighbor had a large stack of wood, and he thought, "All things are yours." Says he, "I'll go and take some wood. 'All things are yours'–why should not I have some wood off my neighbor's stack?" But just as he was going to take a log of wood, this came into his mind, "You shall not steal," and he very wisely preferred the latter to the former!
And there have been some who have said, "Such a text came into my mind." Never mind, you stick to God's Law! It can never be right, text or no text, for a man to tell a lie! There are some things that cannot be altered and God never does alter. He bids you keep to His statutes. You keep to them. "But, perhaps, that might involve a great deal of suffering to myself." "He that cannot take up his cross and follow Christ is not worthy of Him." And this is a part of the cross–to be willing to suffer for well-doing. "But I may bring suffering upon other people, and might lose many opportunities of usefulness if I were to act exactly as my conscience should teach me." My dear Friend, what have you to do with usefulness? After all, your serving God is your first business, whether you shall be useful or not! God will see to that. You are to seek usefulness, but never usefulness by sinning–for that is the old doctrine of, "Let us do evil thatgood may come," and the notion, the old Jesuitical notion, that the end justifies the means, which can never be right!
Do right if Heaven itself should grieve! If the skies should not be propped except by a lie, let them fall! Come what may, you never must in any degree or in any shape depart from the honest, the true, the right, the Christ-like, that which God commands, that which alone God will approve!
"Well," says one, "but suppose now Rebekah had not thus deceived Isaac and got the blessing for Jacob, what might have happened?" Ah, that is one of the things I don't know, and that is one of the things none of us can guess! But I can as readily suppose what might have happened to set it right, as you can, or will dare suppose what would have happened to set it wrong. I can suppose that long before Esau brought in the savory meat, there might have come to Isaac's mind the recollection of the Divine Word, and he might have felt he was about to do wrong, and might have said to Esau, "I cannot do it. I am convinced, after all, that I have been guided by the flesh, and not by the spirit. I must give the blessing to your brother, Jacob." I do not see why that could not have happened! I think it very probably might. Certain I am that the Divine Purpose would have been fulfilled somehow or other– somehow or other–and it was not Rebekah's business, nor yet Jacob's business to attend to God's purposes! Their duty was to do the right thing and let things take their course.
Now think a minute about the sin of each one of these persons.
There was Isaac. Isaac, a true Believer, a man who lived near to God, one of whom we know that he was given to meditation. He was often in the field at eventide to commune with God–a man of a quiet, gentle spirit. When the Philistines quarreled with him, he just went out of their way. If they took one way, he took another. If they took that, he took another, and so on–a man of a very gentle mold.
This was a virtue, but it led him into a fault. He was like some persons who are too gentle to say, "No." Too gentle to encounter opposition. Perhaps this was why he resolved to give the blessing to Esau, lest he should have a quarrel and bring down the wrath of Esau upon his head–and he thought he would do it so slyly that nobody would know it, and so he would avoid all sort of tempest and trouble in the family. My Brothers and Sisters, there is such a thing as allowing your gentleness to lead you into wrong. Firmness is needed in every question, and firmness especially where God's will is concerned. Isaac was in a great haste to transmit the blessing. He expected to see his seed. Now Esau was married, but Jacob was not. The father, perhaps, for that reason thought that the seed must, after all, therefore run on in the line of Esau, and not in that of Jacob. So he could not wait the Lord's time–could not tarry for the Lord to give the blessing, but, he said, "My eyes are dim. I am getting old"–not remembering that he might have 50 or 60 more years to live–even in his advanced old age! So he hurried to do what would have been right to do if God made him, but wrong to do when his own will made him! Ah, good men, and experienced men, too–you may be in a great haste through unbelief, and you may have to rue the day in which you were in such a hurry!
Then Isaac sinned in that he was forgetful of the mind of God. If God had said, "The elder shall serve the younger," it was not for Isaac to judge of the rightness of that. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? He quarreled a little with the Doctrine of Election– could not quite see it–wanted, after all, that it should be of the will of man, of the flesh, and not altogether of the will of God. He liked
Esau–who would not? A fine fellow, a man given to athletic exercises. And men of gentle mold always admire the opposite in their sons. They like to see the manliness developed in them. So Esau became his favorite, while Jacob, quiet in spirit, and one who loved holy things, should have been–if there had been any difference–should have been, at any rate, more dear to him. And so, running counter to the mind of God, the old man thought of this cunning device of giving the blessing in secret. There was Isaac's sin.
Now look at Rebekah's sin. She was a true Believer, too. Think not harshly of her, and yet excuse not her fault. She looked upon the blessing which went with the line of Abraham as being invaluable and precious. She desired that Jacob should have it. She knew, moreover, that Jacob would have it, for God had declared that it should be so. She was mindful of the Divine Words and deserved honor that she had that laid up in her heart. She was anxious, however, to prevent that Word of God from being thwarted. There was her weak point! She could not leave God to fulfill His own decree, but so anxious was she about it that she determined that her own son, her dear son, should get the blessing– and she was willing to sacrifice herself and all that she had for it! I like to see in a mother a willingness to lose anything if but her son should be saved, and something of that is in Rebekah, though put in a wrong place, when she said, "Upon me be your curse, my Son."
If he will but seek after the blessing, she bids him seek after it, and if there was any loss involved in it she is quite prepared to bear it.
Her fault was that she came of a cunning family. We should call her a shrewd woman–a true mother of the Jews, as Jacob is the father.
Their sin seems to have been stamped in them by their progenitors and she used that, as she thought, in order to prevent the purpose of God being frustrated, and her favorite son being deprived of the blessing!
Then, as for Jacob, he was a fine man in some respects, but he had too much shrewdness, too much business tact, I think they call it now-a-days. (Is not that what they call it now-a-days?) Or too much prudence?–That is another fine expression for a very spurious thing. He was anxious for the blessing. He valued spiritual things–he would not lose the spiritual blessing, whatever might happen, and he would do anything in order to obtain it, for he set a value upon it. Yet with all that, Jacob was too eager and became untrue in his eagerness to get spiritual things.
You see their faults, then. I have set them before you, and with nothing to extenuate them. Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us learn a lesson from these failings and pray God that we may be preserved from them. Now you notice in the second place– II. HOW THEY ARE RECOVERED FROM THIS SIN.
I will call it their repentance. Now look at Isaac. As soon us Isaac perceives that he has been wrong in wishing to bless Esau, he does not persist in it. He will give Esau such a blessing as he may, but he does not think for a moment of retracting what he has done–he feels that the hand of God was in it. What is more, he tells his son, "He is blessed, yes, and shall be blessed." And a second time he calls Jacob to himself and in a solemn manner pronounces over again the blessing giving to him outright what at first he had gotten by subtlety. Here you see Isaac rising somewhat to a hero. He was timid and subtle, but now he has become bold and, let what consequences will follow, he will carry out what he knows to be the mind of God! The good old man, though he makes no confession of the fault here, doubtless did confess it before his God–and stuck firmly to the right.
As to Rebekah, she saw the mischief that she had caused, and did the best thing she could. She gave up her son and sent him away.
Little do we know how much she loved him. Those Eastern mothers have a remarkable–a more than ordinary fondness for the favorite son. Yet she would give him up, she would make a sacrifice of him for the blessing's sake, that he may live and the blessing be continued in him.
As for Jacob, from that very day he begins to develop–he becomes a pilgrim and a stranger–he puts himself under the protection of God. And the manhood of Jacob seems from that day to have been awakened in him, awakened, perhaps, by a sense of the fault he had committed. Altogether, the three persons, though the worse for their sin, were so led to repentance that they became afterwards better men and a better woman in future life. But now I have to remind you of–
III. THE AFFLICTIONS WHICH THEY BROUGHT UPON
THEMSELVES.
There are families that have been very happy up to a point, but from that point something wrong was done and from that hour all happiness vanished. A whole family has been scattered, perhaps, or, if united, yet they are still subject to great adversity. Now in this case Isaac had wanted to see very soon the blessing continued. He did not see it. Jacob must be sent away–right away. He has the blessing, but he must go. Isaac lived to see him again in extreme old age–he lived to see his son come back, but there were some 40 years, perhaps, during which he was away. The son at home would be small comfort to him–and the son whom he had blessed must be taken away from him for a time. As to Rebekah, she never saw her son again. She bade him farewell with many a tear, and when he returned, Rebekah was gone to her rest. She did not know what she was doing for herself. As far as she was concerned, she was forever separating herself and her son in this world. As for Jacob, he for whose good the whole was done–from that moment he had such a chapter of sorrows as made him say when he had gone through it, "Few and evil are the days of your servant." All through his life that one transgression cast a gloom over it all! The right part of it, the desire to get the blessing adhered to him–he never lost it–but the wrong part of it came on, came on very soon. God generally pays His people back in their own coin. If we sin against Him, somebody very soon sins against us–in the same way, too. Observe, he cheats his brother–then Laban cheats him! From the moment he enters Laban's family, it is first one cheat and then another. Laban tries to outdo Jacob, and Jacob tries to outdo Laban–a long, long tale of shrewdness and sharpness. If you choose to go on your own tack, you may. If you elect to be your own manager, you shall manage and you shall see what comes of it. Jacob found what came of it through his having to go to Laban in that way. He became the husband of two wives and he brought into his family a perpetual element of discord and alienation. When they brought him that coat which had been dipped in blood, and said, "Do you know whether this is your son's coat or not?"–when his sons deceived him, do you not think he must have remembered that coat that he had put on to deceive his father? When he went down into Egypt, must there not have been some bitter thoughts? "Perhaps I had never been here if that turn in my life had not led me to the marriage of Laban's daughters, and thus brought quarrel into the house, causing
Joseph's coming down here, and my coming down." We cannot tell, but certainly it seems from that moment to have been true, "Thorns, also, and thistles, shall your life bring forth to you."
You have often noticed his craftiness and said, "How wrong it was." Notice the chastisement that followed. If he had not been a man of God, the thing might have answered, perhaps, but as a man of God he must be chastened for it. "You only have I known," said
God, "of all people of the earth. I will punish you for your iniquities." There is no punishment for the Believer in the world to come, but in this world there are chastisements that will surely follow upon every sin. "As many as I love will I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent." And especially in family sin–family troubles will come up with a terrible harvest if we once fall–perhaps it might be but once–into some family transgression. Fathers, people of God, take pains to rule your households in the fear of the Lord! Mothers, pray for Grace that in your families you may never lead any of your sons or daughters in a wrong path! Sons, ask for Grace that you may have the blessing!
And if you are godly sons, deal wisely with your ungodly brothers, never letting them have to say that you were harsh, or overbearing, or unjust to them as Esau could truthfully say of his brother, Jacob.
But rather be more tender to them, give up more to them, be more kind with them than you would have been if they had been Christians, if by any means you might yet win them over and they might be brought to know the Savior. Oh, for a family in which there is constant prayer–family in which every child may safely follow the father's example–a family in which the parent's life shall always encourage the child to follow their example! Oh, for Godfearing households! They are the strength of the Church! They are the glory of the nation! God loves the tents of Jacob well, and there will He command a blessing, even life forevermore, where brothers dwell together in holy unity. Now as for Esau (one final word about him)– IV. THE UNGODLY SON WHO MISSED THE BLESSING.
He was a profane person in character, a derider of holy things altogether. Care about them? Not he! His blind father's God? He cared not a bit for Him, nor any of those Covenant blessing that were to come! Let him live by his sword and by his bow–let him be a fine gentleman among the Hittites and among the Philistines and that will quite satisfy him. Now there are many–many of that sort.
But it will be asked, "How is it written that Esau would have inherited the blessing but that he was rejected, though he sought it carefully with tears?" So will you be–so will you be if you go to work on Esau's plan! Esau wanted to have this world and the next, too. He wanted to have the pottage and the birthright. He wanted to be a fine gentleman among the Hittites, and yet have the blessing.
He wanted to have his wife of a fine noble Philistine family and be thought a famous fellow among them–and yet at the same time have the blessing that belonged to the separate people of God! And so with tears he sought to get that blessing, but he could not have it.
And so may you. You may say, "Oh, that I might be saved! Oh, that I might have the privileges of a Christian." You cannot have the privileges of a Christian unless you have the separated life of a Christian–unless you are willing to give up this world for the separated life of Christ–unless you will, with Isaac, feel that your possession is Canaan and walk by faith, and not by sight. If you do like Esau, you cannot have it hereafter. It is like John Bunyan's parable, Passion and Patience. Passion would have his best things first. Patience would have his best things last. Passion had all his best things and laughed at Patience as Patience sat there, but after a while Passion had used up all his best things, and then he had nothing left. But Patience had his best things last, and then he came in for his turn and, as John Bunyan says, "There is nothing after the last, so the good things of Patience lasted forever and ever!" So the good things of Jacob, when he chose the good part and sought after it–and with all his sin he did do that–it lasted and his name is in the