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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Carlos Moretta

The Art of Deceit

Our study this morning is titled The Art of Deceit.

And of course, with such a broad topic, it could go anywhere.

Genesis 27, we're going to start reading verses 1-17.

After I turned, alright I'll be honest, after I turned 40 my vision starts to deteriorate.

I'm the only 1 in my family that doesn't use corrective eyewear.

And I was going to read out of the Bible, but the print is too small.

So, I'm going to go off of my device here.

Let's read, And it came to pass that when Isaac, verse 1, and his eyes, 27 verse 1, and his eyes were dim, that Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so dim that he could not see.

He called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son.

Therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison.

And make me savory meat such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless thee before I die.' And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son.

And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother saying, bring me venison and make me savory meat that I may eat and bless thee before the Lord before my death.

According to that which I command thee, go now to the flock and fetch me from thence 2 goat kids, 2 good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth.

And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death and Jacob said to Rebecca his mother behold Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man my father per adventure will feel me and I shall seem to him a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing.

And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son.

Only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother.

And his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.

And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau which were in her house and put them upon Jacob her younger son and she put the skins of the kids of goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck.

And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of Jacob.

Have you ever been sucked into a lie that was not your own?

Patriarchs and Prophets, 180 paragraph 2.

It says, No sooner had Esau departed on his errand than Rebekah set about the accomplishment of her purpose.

She told Jacob what had taken place, urging the necessity of immediate action to prevent the bestowal of the blessing finally and irrevocably upon Esau.

And she assured her son that if he would follow her directions, he might obtain it as God had promised.

Jacob did not readily consent to the plan he proposed.

He thought of deceiving his father caused him great distress.

He felt that such a sin would bring a curse rather than a blessing.

But his scruples were overborn and he proceeded to carry out his mother's suggestions.

It was not his intention to utter a direct falsehood, But once in the presence of his Father, he seemed to have gone too far to retreat, and he obtained by fraud the coveted blessing." Let's continue reading Genesis 27, verses 18-20.

And he came unto his father and said my father and he said here I here am I who art thou my son and Jacob said unto his father I am Esau thy firstborn I have done according as thou badest me.

Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison." It wasn't even venison.

Of course, those of you who have ever tasted venison and or goat, I have in the past, they're pretty gamey, both of them.

They're quite different than any other kind of meat.

I don't anymore, in case you're wondering.

And Isaac, verse 20, said unto his son, how is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?

And he said, because the Lord thy God has brought it to me, i.e.

What a tangled web we weave when we first choose to deceive.

Have you ever role-played with yourself in the moment of deceit when you're about to break out a good lie that you got to role-play it in your head?

You go, okay, if I say this, then he's going to say that, then I got to come back with this.

And then, you know, just layer upon layer upon layer of depth with a good lie.

They say that a lie is so quick that by the time it goes around the world once, truth has barely got his pants on.

These are just a few, the Bible is full of them, okay?

Remember when Abram lies to preserve his life in Egypt and he says my wife Sarai is my sister.

Genesis 22, again he does the same thing.

Abraham lies to preserve his life in Gerar and he says Sara is my sister.

Sorry, I jumped the gun here a little bit too fast.

Genesis 26, 7, Isaac takes a play from his dad's playbook and he says, does the same lie to preserve his life.

In Daniel 8-12, the little horn power cast down truth.

Now, if you cast down truth, what are you?

And how far-reaching have the effects of those lies been in the history of this world?

And Rebecca, Just so that you see the consequences of Rebecca's lie, after she convinced her son to do this, to participate in this lie, and Jacob had to run away from the face of Esau, because Esau had intended to kill him, She never saw the face of her son again.

I'd say that's a pretty stiff consequence for a mother.

Let's continue reading Genesis 27, 21-27.

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.

And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands, the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he discerned him not because his hands were hairy and his brother's hands, his brother Esau, as his brother Esau's hands.

Notice how the lie has to keep, you know, at every stage, like, are you sure it's you?

And you got to keep another lie and another lie.

Verse 25, and he said, Bring it near me, son, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless him.

And he brought it near him, and he did eat, and he brought him wine, and he drank.

And his father Isaac said unto him, come near now and kiss me, my son.

And he came near and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his raiment and blessed him and said see the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.

And I don't know if you've ever, well, you got to be really hairy to have a little bit of, I mean if you've ever felt the skin of a, or the hair of a goat compared to a very hairy man, those are 2 very different textures.

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The Art of Deceit

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