All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to Genesis 25. Genesis chapter 25. Marriage between Isaac and Rebekah
has taken place. Now the Spirit of God moves Moses
to record the latter years of the life of Abraham. And all
that the Lord is pleased to say about this man and the remainder
of his life is found in a few verses. And soon Abraham's gonna
be called to go the way of all men. But found in the last few
years of Abraham's life Lord was pleased to tell us about
another wife that he had. According to verse 6, it says,
which we'll go through 1 to 6, unto the sons of concubines,
which Abraham had. Abraham gave gifts. And it's
obvious that this woman that we're going to just read the
scriptures concerning her was somewhat of the best I can read
and understand. I tried to read everything I
could on the position of a concubine and basically what it was, it
was an accepted practice that men take, other than the primary
wife, they could have concubines. They had children by them, but
they were of a different level. They weren't on the same level
as the main wife, but that's, That's all I know about it, but
found within these last few years, the Lord is pleased to reveal
that Abraham, it says in verse one, then Abraham took a wife,
and her name was Keturah, and she bare him Zimran, and Jokshon,
and Midan, and Midian, Ishbak, Shua, Jokshun, Begat, Sheba,
and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Ashurim,
and Lethushim, and Uamim, and the sons of Midian, Ephah, and
Epher, and Hanok, and Abida, and Eldah. And all these were
the children of Keturah. According to the scriptures,
by this woman said to be his wife, Abraham had six children,
seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. That's what
I just read. And all we know about those people that were
named Keturah, that family right there. There's no other record
in the scriptures except in 1 Chronicles 1, it's repeated again. Who they were, who the children
were, who she was, and that portion of Abraham's life I read a lot
of things that some say, they would speculate, and some say
that this one was, and some say that he was, and I'm thinking
to myself, well, if the scriptures are silent on it, if the spirit
wasn't pleased to reveal who these people were, what they
did, where they went, anything else, if that's all we know about
them, then that's all we need to consider. That's all the Spirit
of God was pleased to reveal. Deuteronomy 29.29 says the secret
things belong unto the Lord our God. Those things that the Lord
has sovereignly been pleased to conceal, this is what we do
with them. Leave them alone. We don't speculate. Spoke to Peter, I want you to
hold your place right here, turn over to John 21, an amazing passage
of scripture. John 21, verse 18 through 22,
John 21, this very latter part, soon the Lord would ascend back
to glory. John 21 verse 18, now the Lord
has met his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.
This is when he was, he asked Peter three times, Peter, lovest
thou me more than these? And Peter, convicted, you know,
grieved that the Lord had asked him three times. And he said,
Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. He said,
feed my sheep. That conversation is taking place
right here. And the scripture says, starting
in verse 18, John 21, 18, verily, verily, the Lord's speaking to
Peter, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by
what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following. Now John is writing
this. Apostle John is writing this.
And he doesn't mention his name, he just says the apostle that
Jesus loved. That's how he's referring. So
here's what John is saying. John is telling us what Peter's
doing. And John is saying, Peter turned about and saw me. That's what John is saying. He
said, Peter, turning about, seeth a disciple whom Jesus loved following,
which also leaned on his breast at supper. John said, I was the
one that was leaning on his breast at supper, and I was the one
that said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? And Peter,
seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, What shall this man do? And Jesus
said to him, if I will, that he tarry till I come, what is
that to thee? Follow thou me. The point I wanted
to make is this, the secret things belong to God, belong to the
Lord. But those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children forever. that we may do all the
words of this law. Things that are revealed are
blessings to the child of God, blessings to be heard, blessings
to be loved, blessings to be obeyed. And while the Lord was
pleased to be silent concerning the children that were born to
Abraham and Keturah, He was pleased to reveal His pleasure concerning
the son of promise, something about Isaac. He said back in
Genesis 25, 5, and Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. Now, here we see Abraham submitting
unto the revelation of God's will and God's purpose concerning
Isaac. Abraham had fathered a child
through Hagar and children through Keturah, but it was the Lord's
will and good pleasure that in Isaac shall thy seed be called."
That's Genesis 21, 12. Then in confirmation of that
fact, we find that same revelation pinned to other times in the
Scriptures, one in Romans 9, 7, and again in Hebrews 11, 18.
In Isaac shall thy seed be called. So here we behold the glorious
sovereignty of God to do what he will, with whom he will, when
he will, where he will, how he will. But while we behold the
goodness and mercy of the Lord, to behold kindness and compassion
unto Isaac, in this distinguishing grace, let's look past Isaac
and behold by faith that there's a greater than Isaac that's being
spoken of in this verse. Isaac was first and foremost
a beautiful picture and type and shadow of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the heir of God the Father. This is an amazing truth. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word Jesus
Christ is God Almighty. He's God. He is the Word who
is God, co-equal with the Father. You know, when you start speaking
of these precious things, you start speaking of The three in
one is one God. And even when I use the word
co-equal, I don't even know if that's a good word. I don't know
if it is or not. What I'm trying now is I don't
know. But according to covenant mercy,
one God is pleased to express himself in three persons. And
the only way I know how to say it is the way the scripture says
it. At his baptism, The Lord was
being baptized and there was a voice out of heaven saying,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased and the spirit
of God descending upon him in the form of a dove. One God. But here is Isaac being pictured
as being the heir of all things. And here is God being pictured
having humbled himself and made himself of no reputation and
humbled himself to be the submissive servant of Jehovah, came into
this world made in the form of sinful flesh and for sin. God, God, truly, fully, completely
man, yet without sin. God Almighty, a man, the man
Christ Jesus, who made flesh, that He might obey, be made of
a woman, made under the law, that He might save His people,
those who were under the law. and obeyed the law of God for
them as their federal head. These things are too high for
me. But here he is in picture and type when he says Abraham
gave unto Isaac all that he had. He's revealed to be the heir
of God according to his humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you
know being God, the scripture says concerning Him, the Lord
Jesus, all things were made by Him and for Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. So being God, all things are
His. All things in creation, all things
in purchase. Being the Son of Man, according
to the covenant of grace, Scripture says he's been given all things
by his right of inheritance. The scripture says in John 3.35,
the father loveth the son and hath given all things into his
hand. So Isaac is without a doubt a
beautiful picture type of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's also
a picture of every believer, every one of God's sheep, everyone
of the elect, everyone of the remnant, everyone of the church,
everyone that is of the bride, of God's choosing. He's a picture
also, Isaac's a picture of every believer. As the son of Abraham,
Isaac was the heir of Abraham and likewise the people of God
being sovereignly chosen by the Father to be the recipients of
his mercy and grace in Christ. The scripture says predestinated
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself as
sons of God, chosen of God, made sons of God by God's will and
God's purpose. We're heirs of God and join heirs
with Christ. And Christ, perfect right of
inheritance as being the faithful and obedient Son of God, His
obedience is the surety of Him having everything from the Father.
So being one with Him in electing and redeeming and regenerating
grace, in perfect union with Him as His bride, And in accordance
with his word, he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake
you. The right of being the heirs of God, being in him is ours
too. It's all for his sake. Now you
talk about a miracle of God's grace. What is man that thou
art mindful of him? The sheep of God's pasture for
them to lose their inheritance. For Jesus Christ is going to
have to lose the glory of Him being the Son of the Living God,
the Redeemer of the sheep. For us to lose, He's going to
have to lose the honor of being the one who finished the work
that was given Him by the Father, and it's not going to happen.
But unto the Son, Hebrews 1.8, he saith, Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. You know, Satan can accuse the
sheep of God with being failures. He can accuse us with being inconsistent. He can accuse us of being unable
in ourselves, and in ourselves, that is right, that's right.
We are that, no doubt about it. Being the heir of all things,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, ever liveth to make
intercession for us. being our representative, our
federal head, our advocate, our mediator, he answers for us. And God, for his sake, for Christ's
sake, beholding us in him, hears us, hears him for us. So if we're chosen and accepted
of God, I'll tell you why. It's because we're in him. If
we're pardoned from our sins, I'll tell you why. It's because
we've been washed white in his blood. If we're found to be holy
and without blame before God in love, I'll tell you why. It's
because we're robed in his righteousness and he has made atonement for
us. His broken body, his shed blood
at Calvary. If we've been taught anything,
if we know anything of God himself, it's because he, as our wisdom,
has abounded, God has abounded toward us, the scripture says,
in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed
in himself. And if we endure to the end,
I'll tell you why. is because we've been begotten
again, 1 Peter says, unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
an inheritance that fadeth not away, that is reserved in heaven
for us, and we're being kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Oh, the blessing. of seeing the fulfillment, the
surety of our salvation in the person of our blessed Savior. When the Spirit declared and
Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac, he's saying in type
and picture, all that the Father has is mine. That's what the
Lord Jesus Christ says. Verse six, we'll stop with this
one. Unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave
gifts and sent them away from Isaac, his son, while he yet
lived eastward unto the east country. Unto the sons of the
concubines, Abraham, the scripture said, gave gifts and sent them
away. You know, these that were said
to be the sons of the concubines seem to represent, I can see
this, I'm not gonna say I see the fullness of this, but I can
tell you the tense of what's being said right here. All that
Abraham had was given to Isaac. And he had, Abraham had other
children, And he gave gifts unto them. He gave them gifts. But
he sent them away. Sent them away from Isaac. And
these sons of the concubines seem to represent, in our passage,
all that are found in this world who are not found among the number
of God's elect. Now, you know, all men and women
are the Lord's by creation. Those were actually Abraham's
children. They were Abraham's children.
All souls are mine. Soul of the father, soul of the
son, soul of the son, it's gonna die. But all that were found
to be Abraham's children were not the son of promise. He had
one. Abraham had one son that was
the son of N-Isaac, in Christ, in Christ. But all of these sons
that he had, though they received gifts, they didn't receive all
that he had, all that Abraham had. So all men and women are
the Lord's by creation, and they do receive benefits, natural
benefits. Turn to Matthew 5, and I'm going
to I'm gonna wrap this up, Matthew 5. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5, 43, 45. The Lord speaking says, you've heard
that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate
thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, Do good to them that hate
you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. You may be the children of your
father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on
the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and
on the unjust. While all that we behold in this
world, all that we behold, all we don't behold, it's the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. And all men according to the
word of our Lord. He said, you've heard it say,
love your neighbors and hate your enemies. I'm telling you
to love your enemies. I've told you what brother Henry said concerning
unbelievers. Be as kind as you possibly can
to them. This is the best they're going to have. The Lord says,
I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Take
it, take it. Do good them to hate you. Boy,
that flies in the face of flesh, doesn't it? Pray for them that
despitefully use you and persecute you. If you ever had somebody cross
your mind, I just don't want to pray for them. That's not according to the instruction.