Fooled By A Feeling
Genesis 27:21-22 (KJV)
21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
In the course of our lives we often long for something so much that we can meddle with things Divine in an effort to get ahead of the Lord. Usually this results in no good and we even miss the very thing we have tried to bring about. James 1:4 KJV
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
But sometimes the Lord in Heaven allows our little scemes to come to fullness only for us to find that the added baggage, our sinfullness toward God, corrupts what He had designed for us to be a blessing. To quote a sermon title by Brother Johnny Campbell, “You Got What You Wanted, But Lost What You Had!” What a shame!
Many people today are easily swayed by their emotions, they go with the feeling in other words: As their emotions go, so goes their spirituality!
Many lost souls have come to an alter under a emotional sermon and have not made a sincere “repentent” peace with God. This results in a profession without possesion.
Many have been saved by grace but are confused and doubt their salvation when the expected fireworks or visions from on high don’t overcome them!
Let us look for a little while at the events in the life of a little family in Chapter 27 of Genesis to see the results of depending on our physical senses when it concerns Spiritual Things! This is a story of how we may taint the blessings of God when we try to bring about His promises in our time frame rather than waiting patiently on the Lord. The Lord God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2), will fulfill all of His promises but we may be surprised at what else we may bring about by our sins toward God. And by the way a sin is against God, see Joeseph when the woman came against him!
The greatest blessing of God in this life is that we are not saved, lost, kept, protected, punished, nor judged by the way that we feel. Sometimes I don’t feel very saved when the flesh acts up. We are beyond the opression of human emotion, yet we linger too close to the world and it’s trappings and are swayed by our feelings.
Let us heed the warning of our scripture and not be:
Fooled By A Feeling
A Loss of Sight Gen 27:1
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Isaac longed for the day that he might bless Esau so much that he got ahead of the will of God, a lack of Spiritual Sight.
His lack of Physical sight caused him to depend upon the other four senses but they too would let him down.
The 6th sense is not speaking to the dead, as made popular in movies, but rather speaking to God through the Holy Spirit dwelling within.
Decisions based upon emotion (senses) rather than the guidance of the Holy Ghost will always cost you more than you were ever willing to pay.
Physical blindness is no excuse for not seeing the and experiencing the will and peace of God.
Illustration:
Fanny Crosby never had sight in this world but she was able to see well into the next in her writing of many well loved hymns.
Blessed Assurance:
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight:
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
A Longing For A Taste: Gen 27:4
Psalm 34:8 (KJV)
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
In Spiritual decisions do not let a taste for the world interfere with the will of God for your life.
The taste of the world will leave bitter after taste that is not worth the immediate pleasure.
The greatest mistake committed in the Church today is a longing a taste of the world when we have tasted of the Lord and know Him to be good.
How many good Christians have fallen into disfavor with the Lord by saying the same as Isaac, “let me taste of the world just one more time before I die!”
A Listening Family: Gen. 27:5
John 8:44 (KJV)
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Deceiption ran amok in the house of Isaac:
Abraham Lied about Sarah being his wife to the Eqyptians
Isaac lied about Rebekah beign his wife
Rebekah deceived Isaac with Jacob posing as Esau
Jacob lied to his Father 3 times here,
Jacob deceived by Laben in taking a wife.
Jacob deceived by his own sons concerning the death of Joseph.
Isaac listened to his stomach.
Rebekah listened in on Isaac’s plans
Jacob listened to his Mother’s bad counsel.
NO One listened to the plan of God!
A Lack of Smell Gen. 27:18
Job 1:1 (KJV)
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Isaac should have smelled a rat when it entered into his home. If you can’t smell the rat you may just be one yourself!
A man whose life is built upon deceit often will fall victim to the very lies he built upon, we surely reap that which he sew.
Job is recorded in the Word of God for the traits mentioned in verse 1, the greatest of all was that he recognized evil when he saw it and was able to avoid it all together. Jabez simply prayed that God would keep him from evil.
Illustration: The Whole World Stinks.
There was an old man that took a nap everyday. He had a mischievous grandson. One day as the old man slept, his grandson got some Limburger cheese. (Limburger cheese is a pungent semi-soft surface-ripened cheese.) Now the grandfather had a long handlebar mustache. So His grandson rubbed the Limburger cheese into his grandfathers mustache. Later the grandfather awoke, and said, “my this bedroom stinks.” So he went into the front room and sat in the recliner. After a few minutes, granddad said, “my the frontroom stinks.” He went into the kitchen to fix a sandwich, he noticed the kitchen stank terrible. So he went out on the front porch, he noticed the pungent odor and stated even the frontporch stinks. So he took a walk toward town, and grandfather made a brilliant observation: MY, I THINK THE WHOLE WORLD STINKS!
A Lying Touch Gen. 27:21
We often do not examine circumstances thoroughly enough, Things are usually not what they appear to be on the surface.
It will take a revealing by the Holy Ghost if we are to discern the spirits in this world and make sound Biblical judgments.
We must not depend upon the physical senses for they can lead us astray. We must instead lean to the Lord and seek His guidance based upon the spiritual man, that is the New Creature that dwells within.
A Touch of Faith:
One Life To Be Made Whole: Matthew 9:21 (KJV)
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
Many Lives To Be Made Whole: Matthew 14:34 (KJV)
34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
To see the LIGHT: Mark 8:22-23 (KJV)
22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
The Little Children came to be touched: Mark 10:13 (KJV)
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
To Raise the Dead back to Life: Luke 7:14 (KJV)
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Jesus knows when He has been touched! Luke 8:46 (KJV)
46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Closing:
Are you depending on the physical senses rather than the spiritual?
You will be mislead by the senses of man, only the Spirit can lead unerring.
Have you been touched by the Master’s hand?
Jesus can touch any need, but you must come believing!
Sing: HE Touched ME.
