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The book of Genesis chapter twenty six and verse one. And there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Surgern in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee. For unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and will give unto thy seed all these lands, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law. Verse twelve: And Isaac sowed in that land and found in the same year an hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. Verse twenty four: And the Lord appeared unto him the same night and said, I am the God of Abram, thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee. Verse 28. And they said, we saw plainly that the Lord was with thee. And we said, let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt as we have not touched thee, and we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace. Thou art now the blessed of the Lord. First, uh, chapter twenty seven and verse one: And it came to pass, when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his elder son, and said unto him, My son. And he said unto him, Here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me venison and make me savory meat such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. Verse uh twenty five: and he said, bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat, and he brought him wine, and he drank. 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 his raiment and blessed him and said, see, the smell of my son is as the smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed. And God give thee of the dew of heaven and of 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 everyone that blesseth thee. The Lord give us good understanding of his holy word. The events of Isaac's young manhood are well known, I dare say, to us all. And often have they pointed for us most practical spiritual lessons, as well as filling our hearts with the wonderful delights that God prepares for those that love. We have marveled at the young man's obedience both to God and his father, as he allowed himself in the prime of youth and vigor to be bound by that elderly man with cords to the altar. And equally have we admired the tremendous goodness of God to him, as in his providential mercies he secured for that so same Isaac a wife to comfort him after his mother's death and be his lifelong partner. The events of Isaac's middle age are perhaps not known so well. Though in middle life he performed great feats of spiritual courage, even though he was on the whole, it would seem, a rather passive and perhaps a timid man. The sad mistakes of his old age are known to us, but perhaps on the whole we prefer not to remember them. His life is a warning to us all who have reached middle life, that the promise of youth with its idealism, its vigor, its clear-cut sense of obedience to the Lord, and its determination to please him, wonderful though it is. The promise of youth is not always fulfilled in middle life. It is perhaps harder for those of us who are middle-aged than our young folks imagine to maintain that same enthusiasm, that same vigor, that same singleness of heart, that same idealism. Not only does the weight that close our bodies get heavier, but the weights that, uh, depress our spirits get bigger. Isaac's case is sad because the mistake into which he fell in life's closing days was brought upon as a result of the very blessings that God had blessed him with. It is not always our sins that divert us. It can sometimes be the very blessings of God when we receive them, but not in the right spirit, or not always with the right discernment. It is evident merely from the reading of the text that the central matter of Isaac's life is the matter of blessing. Here is the account how, in difficult times with hostile kings around him, living the life of faith as a pilgrim in a strange land, Isaac trusted the Lord and was blessed by him. Blessed so remarkably and so consistently that even the ungodly nations around came to recognize that here was a man in whom markedly present was the very blessing of God. You will say to me that those blessings that he received were largely matters of corn and wine and cattle and children. Are these not very pedestrian things? Ay, let us not despise these blessings of God. Let us not affect to be so spiritual that we fail to see the hand of God's blessing in our day-to-day experience. This is what life is. To have my crops, to have my plots, to have my home, to have my business consciously from God, as a gift experienced and known of God. This is a happy thing indeed. To have them with the sense of God's blessing upon them. This for a little of heaven on earth. Though to have them without God's sense of blessing, that were but vanity and disillusionment. Here is the record of how Isaac, being himself blessed of God over many years, turned at last to bless his son. And in that very action shows us how he had misread all his days what the very blessing of God really means. And where is the heart of God's blessing? And what blessing it is really that has to be grasped in life, as the nut of a fruit has to be grasped with the shell discarded. We learn in his final moments that much as God had blessed him, Isaac had frequently misread where the chief of the blessing lay, had gone for the externals and missed the center, so that in the end, his attempt to bless his son, apart from God's sovereign intervention, would have ended in utter disaster. Oh, I call upon my own heart in middle life, and I call upon your heart again to think of all God's blessing. Where is its heart? And what is the real thing? Just in the midst of so much potential blessing, I grasp at the external and miss the solid reality. Here lie the central points of Jacob and Esau, blessed of God, but blessed in spite of themselves. Here lies the wailing of a man who forgot to seek God's blessing, nay, even despised it, until that blessing was no longer available, and every prayer was answered by a wail of disappointment. Blessing. What is it? We use the word so often, don't we? But what is it? What is blessing? I asked the question, but I couldn't possibly define it, so I shall consent myself with describing it and giving some instances of it. And we shall take our lessons from these lowly things with which, uh, Isaac was blessed, if we regard them as lowly things. Because whether it is in flocks and herds or whether it be spiritual blessings that God gives us, the same principles are involved, and therefore the same lessons can be learned. And my first point is that we must give good care not to equate God's blessing with sensation. And my second point will be that we should ever remember that God's blessing is ultimately his sovereign gift. My third point will be simply this, that while all blessing is God's sovereign gift, we are exhorted to seek that blessing and lay hold of that blessing. It is possible through neglect to miss that blessing and miss it forever. What then do I mean when I say that we should be careful not to equate blessing with sensation? Well, I begin to explain by observing Isaac's middle age experience. God blessed him, and we read that he sowed in that land, and he found in that same year an hundredfold blessing. How happily the national cash registers would ring, wouldn't they? If our profits were always one m hundred percent. And God blessed him. He blessed him with flocks, and he blessed him with herds, and he blessed him with a home, and he blessed him with a family. I think I am not over imaginative if I, uh, picture to myself Isaac then on one of these days when God had blessed him with many herds, and therefore good beef steaks, and much corn, and therefore good, beautiful, wholesome wheat bread, as good as they know how to make it in Ireland itself. And here he sits at the table that, uh, Rebecca, dear soul, has spread. Oh, what an experience it is. Some of our mouths already water as we see in prospect the table at Christmas time all spread. The artistry of the table napkins, the settings of the knives, spoons, and forks. And that, uh, air lungs full of fresh air that the gentlemen have got through coming to the praise and prayer meeting on the Sunday, uh, Christmas morning instead of staying too late in bed. And that brisk walk by the Bangor Sea until they come home right ready for their Christmas dinner. While the blessings of God on it. Do you know such a Christmas dinner will not only feed our bodies and do its immediate task, which is, of course, simply to feed our bodies and to keep us alive. Immediate task, I say, it is its main task, even for a Christmas dinner, to keep our bodies alive. That's where its center lies. But our God being such a wealthy and such a generous God, he is not content just to, uh, nourish our bodies just like that. But he surrounds the whole operation with delights untold, doesn't he? The aesthetic delight of it, that marvelous sensation you get, I guess I hope you get, when that juicy piece of beef steak just done to a nicety is, uh, melted round the palate. Ah, beautifully done. You positively enjoy the sensation of eating it. In fact, at the moment, it's the sensation that's everything, and not the whole business of how is this going to, uh, build up my body, my protein, and, uh, not too much carbohydrate, I hope. And then there comes after the meal that other lovely sensation, doesn't it, uh, when, of course, the women folks have done the dishes. And, uh, you're sitting now by the fire, that lovely, comfortable feeling that's all well with you and the world, at least for the next hour and a half. What a magnificent feeling. I imagine that Isaac, uh, enjoyed all that, and I'm not so glum of mind as to think that he was, uh, sinful in enjoying it. God gave him the thing richly to enjoy and blessed him magnificently. But I come to my point. We must not, for all that, equate blessing with sensation. Come, what would you have thought? Say, what would you think? If Isaac in those years gone by, or some gentleman here next Christmas, after everybody had retired to the lounge, was suddenly discovered by his wife still in the dining room. Oh, no, my dear, what are you doing here? There he is sitting at the table with a kind of puzzled and racked, uh, look upon his face. What are you doing? Well, he said, I'm seeking the experience I once had. Me. Oh, it was such a marvelous experience, eating that beautiful food and the lovely feeling I got afterwards. Oh, I'd give anything to repeat the experience. You say you would. What, are you hungry? Look, there is some cold turkey in the, in the fridge, and there's some, there's some more ham. No, no, I don't want that cold old stuff. No, no, no, no, no. I want the experience, all the wonderful experience I had. While you're sober, my dear, are you doing quite well? Uh, look, there's some food if you want it, if you're still hungry for food. No, so I don't want food, that cold old stuff, no, that's no, I want the feeling, the sensation. You think perhaps Christmas festivities have been a little bit too much for him, maybe. For when all is said and done, though eating is a blessed thing designed of God, the blessing, the very center of it, is in the food that builds our bodies and not the sensations that accompany it. Sometimes there come periods in life when we lose our taste. Or having the flu or something, we can't taste anything, and uh, those who have our good at heart come urging food upon us, and we say, yeah, but it tastes horrible. Ah, yes, but you need to eat to keep your picker up, old chap. You say, no, but it tastes ro- rotten, and trying to eat it is horrible. Ah, I know. But in spite of that, you do need the food to keep your body going. He would be a stupid man, wouldn't he, who rejected the food because it didn't bring him nice and thanky. And he would be a sad and consummate fool. Who thought that even the food that fed his body was everything and was the very center of the blessing, and forgot that even the food itself is but the physical thing that allows God to pour the love of his heart into our experience, and that God is the center of the blessing. He may give us food, and with it the sense that it comes from his kind and loving heart. If our food is his gift, and we thank him, it should be not only the filling of our bodies, but the satisfying of our very spirit. Happy the man that has learned that the blessing, the very heart of the blessing, is not even in the food, so less in the sensation, but it is in the experience of God and his giving. One day he might not give a soul. Days on end in a communist jail, maybe. Happy the man that then has discovered where the true heart of blessing is. He may always have luxurious homes. Happy the man that has discovered that blessing lies in a relationship with God. He mightn't be afraid to exchange his comfortable home for a shanty in Peru, if then God calls. And what we may learn at that, uh, physical lesson, so we may learn at the deeper and spiritual lesson. It is a thing to be observed that when God blesses us with spiritual blessing, he also allows in that same kind of way the blessing to overflow into sensation. Here comes Mary Magdalene, forgiven her many sins, and the whole experience of the free gift of forgiveness has overflowed in her heart, through her emotions, and down tingling through her every nerve. So that it isn't only a spiritual thing perceived by face, but even has its physical repercussions, and the woman is crying at the feet of Christ. The glad tears of sensation and overfill, expressing themselves even in nervous sensation. Oh, how generous God is. He made none of us to be stark computers, unfeeling and mechanical. Even the highest of spiritual blessings are on times accompanied with physical sensation. It is just at this point that those of us who are younger are liable to be misled. And having had such an experience accompanied by sensation, imagine that the center and the most important or important part of the thing is the sensation. But if we do that, we shall be in danger of doing like that stupid man I just imagined, who went into the dining room to recapture the experience and the sensation. Let me take an example. You got forgiven. But if by chance you had gone through some long, protracted experience of the feeling of guilt, or if maybe yours have been a life darkly colored and stained with the guilt of sin, I dare say that when you first grasp by faith the truth of God's word, that he that believeth is justified from all things, not only did you receive the gift of forgiveness, but with it that overflow of sensation. Oh, wondrous art, when first I felt my heart with sweet contrition melt. All the wonderful sensation of those tears, those gratitudes. They were so wonderful that many a man has tried to recapture the experience of the sensation, brought himself no little distress by chasing not the blessing, but the sensation. Excuse my descending pathetically to to something else, but I have heard those that are in the know, young men and their young wives, saying that occasionally there come differences and fallings out, when for a half an hour or half a day, perhaps they're not all together on the, uh, most loving of speaking terms. But then I am informed that when they come to make it up, oh, it's such a marvelous experience, said one younger man to me, that really it's almost worth falling out to away. But I say, what a fool he would be, wouldn't he? The man who deliberately provoked his wife and fell out with her so he could have the wonderful sensation of getting right again. So silly. That may be a wonderful sensation, but the only time it makes sense is when it is a result of having been forgiven. You see, the sensation for itself would be ludicrous. It might even be mentally, uh, unhealthy. Who hasn't known the joy of being used of God? Surely we all have. Undeserving though we are. What a sensation it is to have known oneself, unworthy though one is, to be in the hands of God, for God to convey through one his blessing to somebody else. What a sensation. The use of gift can bring such sensation. But you know, if we thought that the center of that blessing was the sensation, we should be sorry. Many a man is called to use his gift in many weary years of slogging and plodding against hard hearts, when instead of wonderful salvation, there is nothing but frustration and disappointment and almost despair. And if he then thought that the blessing lay in the sensation, then he could be, uh, sorely disappointed and might he stumble for life. The blessing is not in the sensation. The blessing is being allowed to work for God, to have him use you, whether that is accompanied by wonderful present sensations or the reverse. Therefore, we need to watch ourselves. We are to seek God's blessing, and he has indeed blessed us with all spiritual blessings. As we can bear them, he will give them. But let us beware of seeking sensation for sensation's sake. There is a vast amount of it being done around the continent of Europe and the other continents of the world. Young people imagining because some have had special sensations, they think are supernatural sensations, that these sensations are the blessing. But they're not the blessing. Even if they are legitimate sensations, and sometimes they're not even there. Still, they wouldn't be the blessing, would they? And to seek sensation is a delusion. It is the Lord we seek. It is his blessings and gifts and fellowship, but above them himself we see. We can afford to leave to him any sensation. So far from sen- good and happy sensations being the mark of true spiritual progress, they could be the reverse, couldn't they? It could be that God's gracious dealings with any one of us at periods in our lives would necessarily bring sensations that are unpleasurable and hard and difficult. Blessing would be no less, probably greater. So So then. then let us make up our mind on this point before the Lord. Let us thank him gratefully for every sensation he has ever given us that has followed one of his genuine gifts. Let us determine not to seek the sensation, but to seek him. For mark what can happen to a man when he thinks that his senses are the true indicator of God's blessing. Isaac came to bless his son. Now there had been given him and his wife a straight and clear word from God that the second son should be placed in privilege above the first. For, as I remarked earlier, God's blessing is always, in the last analysis, sovereign. The children have not done good or ill of God's absolutely sovereign choice and grace. Did God design to give the blessing, the chief blessing, to Jacob? And Isaac, knowing that word of God, came to bless his son. Then he could be, uh, sorely disappointed, and might he stumble for life. The blessing is not in the sensation. The blessing is being allowed to work for God, to have him use you, whether that is accompanied by wonderful pleasant sensations or the reverse. Therefore, we need to watch ourselves. We are to seek God's blessing, and he has indeed blessed us with all spiritual blessings, as we can bear them, he will give them. But let us beware of seeking sensation for sensation's sake. There is a vast amount of it being done around the continent of Europe and the other continents of the world. Young people imagining because some have had special sensations, they think are supernatural sensations, that these sensations are the blessing. But they're not the blessing. Even if they are legitimate sensations, and sometimes they're not even there. Still, they wouldn't be the blessing, would they? And to seek sensation is a delusion. It is the Lord we seek. It is his blessings and gifts and fellowships, but above them, himself, we see. We can afford to leave to him any sensation. So far from sen- good and happy sensations being the mark of true spiritual progress, they could be the reverse, couldn't they? It could be that God's gracious dealings with any one of us for periods in our lives would necessarily bring sensations that are unpleasurable and hard and difficult. Blessing will be no less, probably greater. So then let us make up our mind on this point before the Lord. Let us thank him gratefully for every sensation he has ever given us that has followed one of his genuine gifts. Let us determine not to seek the sensation, but to seek him. For mark what can happen to a man when he thinks that his senses are the true indicator of God's blessing. Isaac came to bless his son. Now there had been given him and his wife a straight and clear word from God, that the second son should be placed in privilege above the first. For, as I remarked earlier, God's blessing is always, in the last analysis, sovereign. The children have not done good or ill of God's absolutely sovereign choice and grace. Did God design to give the blessing, the chief blessing, to Jacob? And Isaac, knowing that word of God, came to bless his son and determined to bless Esau. But my man, you say. And at your age. What about the word of God? Feeble reply comes back. Ah, but you know I love Esau. Oh. Why do you love Esau? Well, he brings me venison and the wife cooks it with bisto and all the lovely smell and taste of it. Oh, for the sake of me, is this where some of the brethren can get to? That's just what it is. He loved him because he was now progressing in spiritual stature. None of it. Because he was good at hunting and brought in nice savory meals that his stomach could enjoy. Is that at last his concept of blessing? Oh, it was worse than that. His eyes were dim, and if he were going to trust any sense, he, well, had been advised to trust his eyes, perhaps more than his stomach. But his eyes were dim, poor man, so he couldn't, uh, go by them at all. So led now by his stomach and the taste, he proposes to bless his son, but Rebecca and Jacob get to hear of it, and they concoct a scheme. And now here comes, uh, old Jacob dressed up like Esau with, um, supermarket meat or something. That wasn't the real stuff anyway. Or I could be better. That supermarket stuff is. I don't know. Um, but anyway, um, here he comes. Who are you? I am Esau. He said, I- I'll settle this. I'll put it to the test. I'll apply my final criterion of blessing. Ha, come here, my boy, he says. And he tells him, ah, there's something real here, isn't there? There is, yeah, solid bone, nice lot of hairs. Ah, reality now, I said, he said. This is the thing. This criterion of reality is sense of trust. In fresh terms of the old man. Oh, how many of us feel safe if we've got things that we can really touch? To walk by faith with just the word of God, is it not too thin? Unless we've got something solid that we can touch and hold that seems real. And he felt it. Yes, he said, it's Esau. Come near, he said. I'm about to bless you. Let me smell you. You know, I must admit that smelling Esau as he came in from hunting wouldn't be my idea of blessing. Poor old man. Oh, but it's as the smell of the field which the Lord has blessed. For it's lovely to walk through a field, isn't it, and smell the wildflowers and their scent, and be near nature, oh, how lovely. And rightly to be enjoyed. For God painted those flowers and filled them with their scent, but listen, the fire withers and the grass pavers. The heart of the blessing isn't in the smell, evanescent and often temporary, of a temporary flower in a temporary meadow. Oh, what a sad concept of blessing. Something I can touch. Something I can touch. Something I can smell. Lovely things. They're just the pretty paper of the wrapping. They're not the blessing itself. Trusting to his stencils, Isaac was hideously distant. We face that same choice. We are not to be ungrateful for the sensations that God gives us accompanying his gifts, whether material or spiritual. May God give us heaven. See where the heart of the blessing lies, certainly not in sensation, nor at last in the emotion. In the gift, ah, but scarce even there, save only if the gift is enjoyed in fellowship with the gift. Sometimes it will be that God will, in his blessing, give us nothing more than his naked words. Difficult of understanding, seeming to go against all our natural inclinations. Nothing but his naked words. That our heart craves for some kind of sensation that's pleasurable, and all we get is his naked words. Happy the man that has learned that in that God and his word is the blessing, though there were neither another comfortable sensation to the end. Let us see his message. God has indeed blessed us with spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But this incident holds for us one more warning. We are to seek God's blessing, but we are to seek it by right word. And because God's blessing is sovereign, we may not imagine that when God does bless us, that means that he must approve of everything we're doing, or that we are sinless, or that we are no longer to be criticized. God blessed Jacob. God had Isaac bless Jacob, but you wa- mustn't imagine that that was because Jacob deserved it. And you certainly mustn't imagine that because God blessed Jacob, God approved of the methods by which Jacob and Rebecca sought the blessing. It is a mistake we make sometimes. If God blesses us, we think that that must mean that he approves of everything we are doing or have done. That is not so. If God has blessed you at work or in business, that doesn't necessarily mean he approves of all your methods. All the hard bargains that Jacob drove, didn't he? All the deceit he used. God blessed him, but in spite of it. He's always hungry, desperately hungry, and a fool in addition. Jacob saw the chance to make a very dishonorable bargain. Sell me your birthright, he said, I'll give you, uh, this basin full of coffee. Now that was a very, very, very advantageous deal, wasn't it? In the ancient world, you could sell your birthright. We have a record of one young man among the Hurrians at this time who sold a half or part of his birthright. Do you know how much he got for it? Selling a half or thereabouts a half his birthright, he got three whole sheep for it. Cool. That weren't a bad business deal, was it, on on uh Jacob's part to get a whole birthright for a basin full of porridge. Adding to that, he got the blessing to cure deceit. It is evident that you cannot argue because God has blessed a man necessarily, his ways please God. And we all admit it, don't we? When God really blesses a man, there comes to him that sense that he himself is unworthy. How can I prove to you that God didn't approve of Jacob's method, even though he blessed him? Why, by what God did in the end. There came a night when Jacob came back with his flocks and his herds, and way out there in the darkness and distance was Esau, and he had to meet him. And Jacob now had flocks upon flocks upon flocks upon flocks. What shall I do? He says, I must meet my brother. In the darkness, the voice of conscience and the voice of God began to suggest what he must do. If I were you, said the voice, I should get a large bunch of those sheep, and I should send them in front and give them to Esau. What, Lord? Give my hard-won prophets away? Give them away, give them back. Ain't yours anyway, Jacob. Didn't you, uh, drive a very hard bargain one day with Esau? Okay, pay him back. So the first lot goes. Oh, but that ain't enough. You better send a second lot, Jacob. Can you imagine the man? His precious sheep counted out every one of them and double checked, and at last sent off, pay him back, oh boy, pay him back. Good luck, Jacob, go on. There's all the interest to be paid for all those years, isn't there, boy? Pay him back, says God. When I bless you, Jacob, I don't do it by cheating somebody else. Hey there. We must seek God's blessing. And when he blesseth us, we should not imagine that that means he necessarily approves of everything we've done, but we do well to maintain attention. And pray still with the psalm, search me away and see if there be some wicked way in me. What is true at the physical level is true at the spiritual level. One dear man, he labors in the north of Ireland, and hundreds of folks get saved. Another dear man labors in amongst the Muslims, and over years, but few get saved. Why? Because the man in Northern Ireland is more godly than the man among modern? Of course not. Our blessing is soft. And when we see it, it will save us from competition. It will save us from pride if we appear to be successful. It will save us from disappointment if we should appear to be unprotected. But the other warning is this. He for despised his birthright and neglected the blessing. When at last he came to get the blessing, the blessing was no longer available. He paid and he pleaded, and he sobbed and he cried. And I have no doubt that his father forgave. The forgiveness is one thing. It cannot, however, undo the past. He found no place of repentance. What does that mean? Well, it was simply one of these things where there was no way round of changing your mind. A man should have served the Lord, maybe gone out to Timbuktu as a missionary at the age of twenty five and he didn't. He's now lying on his deathbed at eighty five and he says, oh Lord, I see my mistake, what a foolish man I've been. I ought to have gone and served you. Forgive me. Yes, the Lord will forgive me. Give me back a chance. Ah, bah. No. You can't. There's no going back from 85 to 25 and having the chance again. You may seek the blessing with tears, but you'll never find place of repentance. For the thing cannot be undone. So thank God the salvation we have, we cannot lose. There are blessings untold beyond forgiveness and eternal life. As for the seeking of them, while there is chance to seek them, God help us to seek them evenly in his sight, lest neglecting them we find the time go by and the blessing no longer available.