start preaching. And I thought,
I love that song. I'm thankful. I like music. I
like singing and playing music, listening to music being played.
Especially when it's about the Lord and what he's done for us.
Genesis 26. This is an announcement. The Iversons have a new grandbaby.
And Lisa's got a new grandbaby. My friend Rick's going to have
a new grandbaby here soon because Hannah's going to have a baby.
That's a precious thing. The Lord gives life. He gives
life. And sometimes if he takes one
away before it's born or when it's very young, the Lord gave
you a believer in your family. The Lord gave us a believer one
time, didn't he? It's a precious thing. Precious thing. A lot of babies going, I love
holding babies. I always told Jaylee, I held you like a football.
We did everything around that house. We'd hang doors or whatever,
got a little baby. Makes me sleepy, I don't know
why. Lord Will and Frank will be out here next week. Frank
Tate will be here to preach for you Sunday. Pray for him as you
able him. Hope he makes it. All right,
Genesis 26. There isn't much about this chapter
if you want to go read and study from faithful people on this
passage of Scripture, on this chapter. There's not much to
listen to if you want to go listen to a good message by a faithful
man on this chapter. There's not much. We know some
things. There's some facts you can learn.
Isaac lived about 180 years. That's more than Abraham. That's
more than Jacob, but very little is written about him. Basically,
we've got this chapter, a couple mentions here and there. Some
scholars say that's because he didn't have many big adventures
like Abraham and Jacob. He didn't have great exploits
and wonderful tales to tell of. We get the bulk of the info about
Isaac in this chapter. We may not be much written May
not be much for him to brag about or us to brag about, but God
says he is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. He set
those three apart and he used all three for our good and our
benefit. So we ought to look at it. Though he was a great picture.
and became great in this world. Many other great men were types
of Christ, weren't they? Isaac prayed for Rebekah. He
waited patiently on the Lord until his bride was brought to
him. And he loved her, and she was spared, and he prayed that
God put life in her, and He did. Oh, what a beautiful picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great husbandman, our kinsman-redeemer. Many men in the Scriptures were
mighty and noble, Abraham was, Isaac was, Jacob was, Boaz was,
David, Solomon, the apostles. They may not have had a lot of
possessions, but boy, they had a great might and understanding. The
Lord gave some of them powers, didn't He? Even you and me. We may have things great in understanding,
great in possession. Some of the poor people in this
nation have it leaps and bounds above wealthy people in other
nations. Our poor hasn't made compared to the rest of the world.
We may have a lot of stuff. but they were only men. I'm only
a man. You are only a child of Adam
outside of Christ. That's it. Abraham was a sinner
saved by the graciousness of God in spite of himself. David
was a sinner saved by God's grace in spite of himself. The apostles,
you, me, nobody's earned it. How many people in San Diego
County deserve to be saved? That's why I say there's a great
revival right now in this room. I was talking to a man about
a congregation that's not very big, and I said, two angels were
sent from heaven to get Lot, his wife, and two children out
of Sodom. So if I preach to eight people, I have twice the responsibility
that those angels did. It's a great honor, isn't it?
If you divide that out, if I preach to two, I got the same responsibility
they had, in charge of one of his children. That's an important
task. All of us are just sinners that
need the Lord to be gracious to us. I want to get my point
out first. It might start smelling real
good. We're going to have a big feast here soon. Bottom line up front,
God promises life to his people. We don't deserve it. We're wicked
and he saves his people in his grace in spite of ourselves because
we're at war with him. We hated him and he loved us.
and He gives us new life and He makes us love Him. That's
its nature. It's instinct. It just loves
Him and loves His people. Genesis 26 verse 1, And there
was a famine in the land beside the first famine, the same way
as it was in the days of Abraham. It was equally as bad. It wasn't
way worse back then. It wasn't way worse now. It's
the same. Nothing's changed. Nothing newer than the Son. And
Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, Now, we don't
know the timeline, because sometimes you'll read through and then
you'll realize Noah was alive when that tower of Babel was
torn down. It talks about him dying, how old he was when he
died, but he's still alive. He saw what happened. So we don't
really have a good timeline here. It jumps back and forth, but
Isaac was 60 when those twins were born. That doesn't mention
the boys here, does it? Well, it does mention Rebekah
in this text, and so we know he was at least 40 when he got
married. So is this same King Abimelech that's reigned this
whole time? Could he have been reigning for 45, 50, 60 years?
Could be, yeah. Could be. Some say that Abimelech
is just the name of Caesar or Pilate or king, but would you
say this is king-king of the Philistines? I don't pass the
simple test. There's Abimelech. In 15-20 years from now, this
is a blessing to me, I hope it is to you. In 15-20 years from
now, if we go through Genesis again, I may look at that and
I'll see this mean worldly king of Imalek that was a world heathen
that was rebuking God's people. But this time we're going through
Genesis, I see a loving brethren. that goes in and covers up his
brethren's sins and is gracious and abundant to those he loves.
And so I'm going to preach it that way. Deal? Now they've got
to work for us, don't they? Famine for Abraham. Famine for
Isaac. Famine for Jacob. That scripture
is 13 times famines mentioned. The Lord sent it. God sent these
famines for their good and for their brethren's good in that
day. And you know what? It's good for us still. Still,
if we got to go through a famine, we got to wait on the Lord through
a famine, that's all right, isn't it? That's all right. Verse 2
says, The Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into
Egypt. Dwell in the land which I shall
tell thee of. Abraham went down to Egypt, didn't
he? We're always going down when
we leave the Lord, and we always have to come up to see Him. Abraham
went down to Egypt. The Lord never told him to. It
wasn't pleasant. Pharaoh got mad, kicked him out, didn't he?
Isaac was heading for Egypt. Tell the Lord stopped him. Don't
you go down there. He didn't say he's going to Egypt.
Lord just said don't go to Egypt. He knew where he's going. Lord
stopped him. Jacob, you remember? We'll go through it. Jacob was
afraid to go to Egypt. You don't reckon. You think,
boy, he finally learned something. He finally got some sense about
him. Good. Don't go to Egypt. There's a
big famine then too. And the Lord spoke to him and
said, go to Egypt. And then him and his offspring was there 400
years. He wasn't there long, but his offspring was. Where
does that leave me and you? One went to Egypt, didn't work
out. The other one was going to go to Egypt, the Lord stopped him.
The other one was scared to go to Egypt, and he made it. Wait on the Lord. We just got to wait. We can't
make heads or tails of anything. So we have to petition Him, and
we have to wait on Him, don't we? We don't know what's right.
It says in verse 3, Sojourn in this land, and I will be with
thee. and I will bless thee for unto
thee and unto thy seed, singular, I will give all these countries
and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father. This is a covenant keeping God
speaking to his child here. If you're a child, I recommend
you perk up and listen. I recommend we ought to pay attention
to him. He says in verse 4, I will make thy seed to multiply as
the stars of heaven. It's going to be high noon here
in an hour, ten minutes. You reckon we go outside and
look up and see all them stars? How many stars are we going to see
if we look up? One. We're going to see the sun. We're going to
see more than one star. It's going to be dark. You're
going to have to go through some dark times. He said, multiply as the stars
of heaven. I will give unto thy seed all these countries. and
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Does
that mean I'm just going to be such a good offspring? That this
town's just... I'm God's gift to Hamel, California? Paul told us, "...now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He said not, and seeds
as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ." Just
the one. A promise was made. The Lord
was going to be with Isaac, and the Lord was going to bless him.
Why was it sure? How can we know it will come
to pass? How can Isaac know this will
come to pass? He tells him why. Verse 5, Because that Abraham
obeyed my voice. The man Abraham, he left his
home, didn't he? And he kept my charge. He was
God's prophet, and he didn't preach another message, and he
didn't preach Christ sometimes. He preached the truth, because
he was God's man. That's the difference. They're as consistent
as the Lord is. My commandments, he kept. Abraham
circumcised your whole house, your servants and everybody.
My statutes, he kept the Lord's table. Did you know that? Him
and Melchizedek. And my laws, there wasn't no
laws yet. It was written on the heart.
It was, wasn't it? But did the man born of Adam
called Abraham, did he muster up faith and power to do all
these things? Of course he didn't. He was a picture of his seed
to come. It was just being used as a picture
of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Isaac, because of Christ,
he said, I will bless thee and I'll be with thee. He knew what
the Lord was saying. He knew what the Lord was saying.
Do we see these things? Let me tell you something better
than what Isaac got. It's come to pass. The Lord said, I'm going
to send the seed through the woman, it's going to crush the
serpent's head. The work's finished. It's done. Christ came. There's
an empty tomb. He's risen. He's sitting on the
right hand of the Father right now, interceding for us. We don't
have to look for one that's coming. We look to one that's already
came, who's the victor, victorious captain. It says in verse six,
and Isaac dwelt in Gerar. What'd Isaac do when the Lord
spoke? Has Isaac spoke any yet? He ain't said a word. God told
him some things and he did it. He obeyed God. And what happened
not long after this promise was made, not after his wonderful
act of obedience and restraint of not going to Egypt. Here's
where we left off last week, verse seven. And the men of the
place asked him of his wife, who's she? Who's that good looking
woman you got traveling with? And he said, she's my sister.
He didn't rehearse this before like his daddy did, did he? For
he feared to say, she's my wife, lest, said he, the men of this
place should kill me for Rebecca because she was fair to look
upon, like father, like son. Like father, like son. Rebecca
didn't go into a harem like Sarah did. She wasn't taken away twice.
But that lie was told, wasn't it? Sin was committed and there
was going to be a consequence for it. Something's going to
happen. The Lord said he will visit the
sins on the third and fourth generation. What's that mean?
He's going to show up in the third and the fourth and the
fifth. He's going to be doing the same things that the great-great-great-great-granddaddy did. They might have slowed down
in their old age and then died. And they didn't go to the bars
as much and go to the whorehouses as much, but go to the drug pushers
as much. But that was the same thing.
There ain't no difference. There ain't no difference. The
Lord actually said he'll visit the iniquities on the third and
fourth generation. You know what that means? Them
fake good acts. The so-called good religious
works. That ain't good religious works. It's iniquities. It's
what you think you're doing good. And that means the third and
fourth generation. All these children, they watch how you talk. They listen to you when you talk.
They watch how you read. They watch how you pray. They're going
to be like us. Do things we are. Somebody's
watching. Somebody's looking up to you, isn't it? It says
in verse 8, "...and it came to pass..." I'll touch on that too. If them boys was born, Esau and
Jacob, and they saw daddy do this, if they got married, what
do you think they're going to do? That's my sister. They're going to marry
a good-looking woman and lie and say that ain't his wife.
I'll try not to lie, honey. Verse 8, "...and it came to pass
when he had been there a long time, He waited a long time,
he was in Gerar a long time, that Abimelech, king of the Philistines,
looked out a window. He looked out a window, and he
saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah. And Abimelech called
Isaac and said, Behold, of a surety she's thy wife, and how hast
thou saidest thou she's my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because
I said lest I die for her. There's a beautiful picture of
Abimelech of Christ here. He looked out his window of heaven,
and there's one window in the ark. He said, in Malachi, he
said, I'll open up that window and I'll pour out blessings to
you. And what a blessing that is. Abimelech looked on the sin
of that one he liked for a long time in this big old city, eyed
him, and said, what are you doing? He rebuked him. Stop. Don't do
that. What was you thinking? He said,
lest I die for it. Isaac wasn't far away. Abimelech
saw him, and he called to him, and I wonder if he'd even left
that window. Doesn't say he came to him. Said he called to him.
Rebekah's sitting right next to him. He said, lest I die for
her. How do you think she felt? I
ain't dying for her. What's wrong with you? Not much
of a husband, is he? Not much of a daddy either. I
may repeat this later, but need said. He was a horrible parent.
He favored one of his children. He loved Esau. He loved Esau. Why? Because of his venison.
I love your baby back ribs. You're my favorite child. What
about Jacob? Get out of here. That's not a
good parent, is it? He didn't train them all up equally
and love them and show them the love of Christ that Christ had
showed him. He wasn't a good parent, wasn't a good husband.
And these heathens, Abimelech is the king. He's speaking on
behalf of his people. Sexual sin was wrong then, just
like it's wrong now. That ain't changed, is it? Those
Philistines knew it, too, without the written law. They said, he's
married, I can't touch her. Though nothing happened with
her, it was malicious to, and it wasn't malicious to Abimelech,
so it seemed like a little sin. It's just a little white sin,
is what we call it. Little clean sin. Isn't that an oxymoron? Mankind's dumb. We're just stupid. No, just a little white sin.
Enough sinning to hell, isn't it? One sin leads to much more. There's an old saying, a match
may not burn down the forest, but then again, it may. Only
takes one spark, doesn't it? What was I afraid of? Dying. He said, lest I die for her.
Isaac was scared to die. Didn't the Lord tell him that
he was going to make his seed like the stars? Didn't he say,
I'm going to be with you, and I'm going to bless you? Why was
he afraid of dying? He forgot. You know why? He was one of God's children,
and children forget stuff. And we're going to be told over
and over, don't we? Verse 10, and Abimelech said,
What is this that thou hast done unto us? What are you doing?
And if this is the same Abimelech, again? Run that family out of
town. What's wrong with them? They
ain't right. What is it that thou hast done
to us? One of the people might likely have leaned with thine
wife, that thou should have brought guiltiness upon us. Abimelech,
whether this is original or it was a well-taught, gracious second
one. They had a whole lot in common.
I'll give them that. Abimelech remembered what happened
when Abraham had done this. This was in their town history.
Did you know that? We know when floods come. how
many inches of rain they got a couple years ago. We keep records
of those things, don't we? Big fire of 2020, the Valley
Fire. I won't remember that one. Tell
the kids about it. Tell your kids about it, won't
I? This is what happened. Here's what the Lord did with
that fire. Well, we read back in Genesis 20, Abraham prayed
unto God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants,
and they bare. They had children. For the Lord
had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because
Sarah Abraham's wife." God sent barrenness to that whole nation.
Nobody had any babies. You're going to notice that and
you're going to remember it. And then Abraham prayed, babies. The hospitals were overrun nine
months later. It was a baby boom. They remembered
that, didn't they? Verse 11 says, and Abimelech
charged all his people. He didn't do anything to Isaac.
Did he run him out of town? They said, you're sinful. You
can't be where we are. They do that. And if this is
a heathen king, kill him. What's one more? Keep my people
clean? Off with his head. Easy peasy. No, he rebuked him. And he said,
verse 11, And Abimelech charged all his people, every one of
them, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely
be put to death. What'd God say? This picture
of the Lord looking out a window, covering our sin. He said, Touch
not mine anointed. You think he's joking? You think
he means business? He means business, doesn't he?
I don't recommend it. I don't recommend it. I've heard
people schooling up God's people. pastors all over this country
and rebuking them and training them up, telling them what right
looks like and all that stuff. I'm going to tell you right now,
I care for you, don't do it. I ain't saying you are, but if
somebody else is listening in another place, knock it off.
Knock it off. The Lord's spoken in there. Biblically
charged all his people saying, he that toucheth this man or
his wife shall surely be put to death. He didn't kill Isaac
and he didn't kill Rebecca. He said, you're going to die
if you touch him. That's grace, isn't it? That's great. Who deserved
to die? The liar. What about them hard-working
folks that's just making a living out there in town, keeping their
nose clean? They say, I'll kill you if you
touch them. Don't even say, don't wag your tongue at them. Verse
12, then Isaac sowed in the land and received in the same year
a hundredfold. And, he ain't talking about the
fruit come out of the ground, and the Lord blessed him. And
the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became
very great. What a thought. The key to unlocking
the good news in this text is experienced grace, just like
David had experienced waiting on the Lord. If you've experienced
God's grace, not read it in a book, not agreed with a doctrine. Oh,
Todd said that. These people say, I've come to
the doctrines of grace. No, you ain't. You're lying.
You come to Christ. Then you agree with the Different
doctrines are of him. But you have to experience God's
grace. Man's logic cannot enter into
this. Theology cannot unlock this blessing. Only experience
can. All Isaac said was lies, and
then he admitted his fault. He said, she's my sister. And
then he said, I lied. That's it. He admitted wrongdoing. He admitted
sin. I'm a sinner. and Isaac was a
recipient of God's sovereign grace. Natural man, religious
folks with iniquities, church-going folks, good Christians, old brother
so-and-so, you know what they'll tell you? If you do good, God
will bless you. If you live right, you'll go
to heaven. If you give your seed money, the Lord will give a blessing
to you. He's not reactive, he's proactive.
What did Isaac do? God had done a work of grace
in his heart. Almighty God spoke to this man, and he went out
and farmed. He wasn't idle. He wasn't lazy and flippant and
just sitting there waiting for somebody to feed him. And you
know what? This is in the middle of that famine. I grew corn at the house when
some landscapers come by and they said, you know how many
people in San Diego County is growing corn? I said, no. They said, you. The second batch didn't turn
out too good. He grew abundance a hundredfold. Is this God's
man? You think that king is going
to go to him just like the king went to Abraham and said, you're
God's man. God's with you. Everybody in that town knew it,
didn't they? He wasn't lazy. He went out and farmed. He worked,
but it was the heart. He did it unto the Lord. What
did Paul say? Did he say, if they can't work,
don't feed them? That is not what he said. He
said, if they won't work, don't feed them. That's true. Now whenever mine grow up and
some of them, if they won't work and I cut them off, put a lock
on a refrigerator, we'll see. But that's the instruction given,
isn't it? That's the instruction given. If God's going to bless
you, it's going to be in spite of yourself, not because of yourself.
If God's going to bless you, it's going to be in spite of
yourself. My dad always said that. He said,
the Lord blessed me in spite of myself. The Lord blessed me
in spite of myself. And I thought, like I always
tell his sayings, don't I? That man's crazy. Come to church
with me. You want a good... I'm trying to make eye contact
with everybody. You want a good thing to say
to people, to tell them the gospel simply. Well, one, that ain't
your job. It's my job. You say, come hear
me. Tell me everything he told me.
Go to where the gospel is preached. Dad said, come to church with
me. And dad always told me, he'd say, he blessed me in spite of
myself. And all these things he always said, he's nuts. Whoever
goes with you, you paid all your workers to come to church and
they wouldn't come. What do you mean, in spite of yourself? Looks
like the Lord's doing pretty good to you. And then you know what?
One day, I realized God was gracious to me while I was at war with
Him. I was stealing His glory. I was
robbing Him of His glory. And I was hating Him. I hated
it. And God saved me and was gracious
to me anyway. And I said, God was gracious to me in spite of
myself. That's true. If he's going to be gracious,
he's going to be in spite of himself. Isaac did nothing to deserve
God's grace. He didn't merit it. If he did,
it ain't grace. It's called a wage. If you work,
you get paid. You know a good place to go when
you're broke? Work. You know a good place to
go to get grace? To Christ, because you can't
work for it. It's given. It's given. That's part of his
character. the character of God. People say, well, the Lord will
be just, but He may be gracious. That's not so. He shall be gracious. That's His character to His people,
not to those that He leaves to themselves. As a man, as a sinner
saved by grace, Isaac was a bad husband. He forsook his bride. He was a bad father. He loved
Esau because of that venison. He had fleshly desires. His belly,
literally, he wanted something to eat. And he was a bad neighbor,
isn't he? He lied to them people. Could
have got them in trouble. He was a bad constituent. He
did all this underneath the king that was good to him. Lying to
the king. What good could come from this?
But God. Isn't that it? But God, who is
rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
By grace are you saved. Grace did this. This is God's
grace. I thought of where grace was
first mentioned. a whole lot of bad stuff with it. Turn back,
let's look at it. Genesis 6, be good for us to
read. We might realize we're the wicked ones. And then call
up for grace. Look here in Genesis 6, verse 5. Just like seeing no stars, there's
got to be a lot of darkness. God has to reveal to us what
we are before we can see light. And God saw that the wickedness
of man, Genesis 6 verse 5, God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every, is that most or every? It says every, don't it? Every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord, he sighed, that he had made man
on the earth. And it grieved him at his heart,
and the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things,
and the fowls of the air. Me that I've made him. I'm wiping
everything off the face of this earth. And he can't. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And the Lord hadn't spoken to
Noah yet. First thing he tells him is like, go build a big old
thing that looks like a coffin. I'm killing everybody. What?
He went swinging hammers. He didn't ask nothing. God was
gracious to him. God was gracious to him. Grace
is never offered in the Scriptures. Did you know that? It's never offered. It's given.
It's given. We receive grace. And we're so
spoiled in this nation with our abundance, we think, oh, I can
receive this. I have two of those at home.
Thanks. Maybe you can refund it, return
it or something at Christmas. Give those gifts back. Or I'll
just go changing that target later. We think we can receive.
It receives it. That means you get it. I tell
you that's about the glass all the time. If I pour water in
that glass, it received water, didn't it? Or a better illustration,
when I was a little kid, if I received a butt spanking from my parents,
which we ought to do often, this world needs told that, I didn't
say, no, dad, I'm good. You got to double down, didn't
you? You get two of them. I received
spankings. Correction. Noah received grace. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Well, if Isaac did so bad, and then he was blessed
so much. The Lord gave him an abundance
in this world, and he blessed him, and he was with him. He
gave him a warm heart. He gave him peace and comfort.
He spoke comfort to his heart. He spoke peace to his heart.
If he did that, and he didn't say much, and all he did was
bad, Mike, do you think we ought to sin more? I'm not bound. This earth was
made for me. I wasn't made for this earth.
I don't have to worry about salamanders up some river. We need to feed
people, don't we? God said be good stewards of
this land. Does that mean I should take a bunch of nuclear waste and
go dump it in the ocean? Well, no! That's done. We know better, don't we? Should
we sin more that grace may abound? Turn over Romans 5. We'll read
that too. I was going to read it to you. We'll read it together.
Romans 5. Romans 5, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous." We were made sinners. When Adam fell, I fell. When he fell in the garden, my
seminal head, I fell in the garden. And I didn't get wounded. I didn't
get poked real hard with a stick in one eye. I died. We were dead
in trespasses and sins. And then I came from the womb
speaking lies. I cried when I didn't need a
diaper, and I cried when I didn't need a bottle. Nobody's ever
taught their children how to lie. They know how to, and I
did it willingly all by myself, so I can't blame Adam. I fell
in him. I was born of that nation that's
at war against God, and I willfully joined in, didn't I? For me,
ever made sinner, so by the obedience of one, Christ our federal head
shall be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Now we have the law. People were
dying before the law from sin, Now we have the law, and we look
at that and say, I ain't done none of that. I broke every jot
and tittle. I haven't kept every jot and
tittle. That the offense might abound, that sin might just blow
up in our face. Show us what we are. But where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath
reigned unto death, it'll kill you. Even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, His grace shall reign. at
one place in Scripture called great grace. Have you ever heard
of grace that wouldn't? Mega grace. Outstanding grace. People say, well, yeah, I believe
in the doctrines of grace. No, it's a person of grace. And it's
amazing. It's amazing. We sing his praises
for it, don't we? Now, if we do bad and he's gracious
to us, what's the next logical thing? Paul says in chapter 6,
verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? We're going to help the Lord
out. And I'm going to start doing heroin. What? No! God forbid! Now get this. How shall we, and he's speaking
to God's people, not everybody. How shall we that are dead to
sin, because the work's finished, live any longer therein? What's that mean? We have life.
We're not dead in sins, we have life. And that new creation wants
to serve God. It delights in His law. I don't
ask people to give. We talked about it this morning.
He ain't out of business, is he? People say, well, I gave
to the church. Lord, don't need your money.
Don't do it because you have to. Do it because you want to.
All them brethren that hurricane hit down in Florida. Well, if
we could, let's lock up and we'll drive down there and start hanging
drywall. You know I'm good? No, but I love Him. I love Him. That ain't out of necessity,
because I have to. The Lord didn't save you because
He had to. He saved you out of love. And if He's loved you,
now you love like He does, because you know what love is for the
first time. Know ye not, verse 3, that so
many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized
into His death? Verse 11. Likewise, reckon ye
selves, Ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He said, Kevin,
you give people a lesson to sin, a seriousness. Do what you want. Our brother Bill Clark said that
in England. He said, what's the believer's
rule of life? I'm not quoting some old dead
fellow, though Bill's with the Lord now. He didn't quote somebody
of old. He said, believe Christ and do what you want. You can't
tell people that. Why not? If you believe him,
don't you want to serve him? If you're his dog, don't you
want to lay at his feet, sit underneath his table? That's
what you want to do, isn't it? But there's a war going on. Not
a skirmish, not a mild disagreement inside of people. There's tea-total,
blood-slinging war. And you feel like you're getting
ripped apart from limb to limb on the inside. back in our text, Genesis 26.
You imagine Isaac going to a Rebecca, his wife, that beautiful woman. You know what that means? That
means she's real good looking. He went to his beautiful wife
that he tried giving away to save his own skin. And then the
king found out about it, let them stay there in the land.
Why? Because God spoke to him. He knew he was God's man. And
then they went out and planted a garden seems dumb in a drought
and a famine, everybody else is starving to death, and corn's
coming out of the ground. Hundredfold! Know what the Lord
told us? He said, you forsake all this
idle junk, and your mommy and daddy and your sisters and your
children and your co-workers, forsake them and I'll give you
a hundredfold in this lifetime. And he knew too about Christ.
Look, one seed went in the ground. Every stalk's got two or three
ears on it. Wheats grow and tomatoes are delicious. Everything he
touched, put in the ground, grew. And he went into his wife that
he loved, that was beautiful. And God gave him that bride. And he was so mean to her. And
he said, honey, look, we're in the middle of a family. Every
ear he brought in, he said, look what the Lord did. He said he
was going to be with us. And he said he's going to bless
us. Here it is. I got a word from the Lord and
he fed my belly. Isn't that something? He said, I was a fool and God
kept his promise. I was unfaithful, unprofitable,
and he was faithful and he was profitable. He said, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering for because
he is faithful that promised. Christ is faithful, not just
faithful for feeding his own in a famine, and that's so. That's
so. David said, I've never seen the
Lord's people begging bread. I saw a bunch of food banks on
TV the other day, and food stamps or whatever they call it in California,
something different, green, fresh or something. Those things are
available. The Lord's people, He provides
for them physically in famine. We may have famine coming. Have
you ever been in that spiritual famine like he talks about in
Amos 8? Have you ever been just where you can't hear a word from
the Lord, and you're just shriveled up and dying on the inside, thirsty
and hungry? He's faithful. Might be a while
when you wait on him. You may wait a while. He's faithful
to comfort his own, isn't he? Give us a word. David said, I've
been young and now I'm old, and I've not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor have I seen his seed breaking bread. He is ever merciful and
lendeth, and his seed is blessed. He said he shall bless his seed.
Isaac suffered for it, though. Look here in verse 14. For he
had possession of flocks and possession of herds and great
store of servants. Well, that ain't just a couple
baskets of corn, is it? He moved forward, man. He worked
as unto the Lord, and the Lord's exploding it. He's got multiple
flocks, and he has multiple herds, and he has a great store, a whole
mess of servants. Same thing happened to Abraham,
wasn't it? And the Philistines envied him. They envied him. The worldly people looked at
it. There's a difference between envy and jealousy. Envy and jealousy,
they're different words. They mean different things. Jealousy
is, you have something and I'd like to have one too. I want
it. I want what you got. Envy is,
I want what you got, but I don't think you ought to have it. You
get that? They didn't want Isaac to have
what Isaac had. But it wasn't just the possessions.
The possessions made it worse. That got some coals on their
head. But they didn't want who Isaac
had. He had Christ. Him and Abimelech
met for worship. And they was happy. And family
was there. And they wasn't upset. God sent it. You got pneumonia. Yeah, Lord gave me pneumonia.
He can take away the same. He gave it. Lord killed your
children. Job experienced all this, didn't
he? Lost everything he had. All his herds, his flocks, all
his servants died. All his children died in one
day. And then his wife looked at him and said, how about you
curse God and die? You think that's lonely? And he said, though
he slayed me, yet will I trust him. People standing around wanted
to kick him. How can you be so hopeful? You have someone who
is your hope. And they hated that someone,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was his hope. Our Lord says, that's
why the world hates you. It's because of him, isn't it?
He said, the Lord hates you because of me. And in this world, you
shall have tribulations, but don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged.
I've overcome the world. and then they're gonna get angrier.
Next week we'll look at it. They fill up all his wells. Wells
was hard to dig back then. Didn't have much piece of machinery
come out. They'd get pickaxes and lower somebody down. There's
well diggers. Lower and well digger shoes. It took a long
time. And some of those, like, Jacob
dug wells, and then that woman at the well was drinking out
of that well still. That lasted a long time. And then Philistines
went and filled in all his wells. They said, we can't stand that
you believe Christ, and we're gonna take our toys and go home,
Burn all your toys on the way out the door. We're going to
throw them all away. I hope it's a blessing. Let's pray together.
Father, be with us. Lord, bless this time of fellowship
you've given us and make us thankful for Christ. Oh, and all the other things
you've been abundant in and blessed us so generously. Oh, be with
us. Thank you for this hour. It's
in Christ's name that we ask it. Amen. All right. Brother Mark and Trevor, if y'all
will come hand out the elements. Thank you, Lord, for gathering
us here today, for bringing your word to us, Lord, thank you that we are.