Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Genesis chapter 25, and reading
for our text, verse 22. It is mostly the words in the
center of this verse, upon my spirit, but we'll read the whole
verse. And the children struggled together
within her, And she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. Genesis 25 verse 22. This is
an account of a real passion. The Word of God deals with real
people and nations. The things that people went through, nations
went through. Peter says, we have not followed
cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord. And we need to often remind ourselves
that the holy, inspired, infallible Word of God, it begins with the
creation. It begins with the creation of
man, and then it follows man. It follows a line, a line to
Noah, a line from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Isaac to
Jacob, the children of Israel, Jacob's name given to him as
he wrestled with the angel Israel, and then his 12 sons, and those
12 tribes of Israel, those tribes that inherited the land of Palestine,
the same nation that is now brought back to that land. The Word of
God in one sense then is a history book, a book that may be verified
from history and has many chapters of which there is just long lines
of names, people, genealogies, a lineage. And we have in Matthew
the line from Abraham to Christ, the kingship line. We have in
Luke the line back from Christ right down to Adam, to God himself,
the creator of Adam and Eve. And so when we come to these
accounts in the middle of this history, when we're reading of
their lives, They are the things that really happened in their
lives. Many of them lived many hundreds
of years. The Holy Spirit has seen fit
to take out certain parts of their lives and to highlight
them, sometimes in very great detail. And there's always a
purpose and a reason for what is made known to us and for what
is silent. God, in effect, is saying to
us in His silence, you do not need to know about that for your
soul's salvation. Where something is in the Word
of God, however strange it might appear, or however unrelevant
at first it may appear to our souls, yet we may be sure there
is a divine purpose for it. John in the Gospel according
to John at the end of that Gospel. He says that there were many
other things that Jesus did, that if all were written, the
world would not contain the books that could be written. But he
says that these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, and that in believing ye might have life through his
name. And we can apply that really
to the whole Word of God. There are many, many things that
could be written that happened during the long history of the
children of Israel and the history of the world. But the things
that are written are written for our learning that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. And that includes
this which is written here, concerning Isaac's wife, Rebekah. We have
her with child. There was some 20 years or so
when she was barren. She did not have children, the
same as going back to Abraham, who had to wait a similar time
before that Isaac was born. And we read how Isaac here prayed
to the Lord. He entreated The Lord for her
prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer. Rebecca, his
wife, conceived. And it was after then she conceived
that then she had this struggling within. These, of course, in
the days, there was no such thing. Like today, you would go for
a scan when someone And a lady as a child, it's a routine thing
to have a scan after a number of weeks. And they'd very soon
find out that there is twins there. But Rebecca did not have
that. All she had was the strugglings
within. I remember when my dear one had
the children expected, sometimes you'd be sitting next to her
on the settee and then you'd get kicked and you'd get the
child would certainly be seen on the outside kicking and moving
around and the mother could certainly feel it. And you could imagine
what was Rebecca's concern here was everything well? Was the
child well? What was happening within her? And it wasn't a lot then until
the days for her were delivered then, it was clear that there
were twins in her womb. And we read how then that they
were brought forth. But in between that time, she
did the best thing that you and I could ever do. And there's
things that we don't understand in our life, medical condition,
Those things are going on with us, and that is to take it to
the Lord. Why, Isaac had taken her barrenness
to the Lord, and he got an answer, she got a child, but here now
it is Rebekah praying, and the Lord hears her, and he tells
her, he doesn't tell her that there shall be twins in effect,
though it is, But he says, two nations are in thy womb. Now, of course, you might have
said, well, if it was said that concerning Abraham, well, there
are two nations. If you take the next generation
down with Ishmael and Isaac, then there's a dividing of nations. So she could have interpreted
it like that. But of course, the scriptures
then say, when she's delivered, then it was clear about the two.
as two nations springing from two people, two individuals. But the Lord then said to her,
two nations are in thy womb, two manner of people shall be
separated from thy bounds. The one people shall be stronger
than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. So this is what she was told,
how the Lord conveyed this to her, how he told her, We do not
know, we are told here that the Lord spake to her, and this is
what was conveyed, and in the bringing forth of the children,
it is very evident, this is what was meant there to nations. And then we have what follows
that, and may we always notice this in scripture. Here is the
Lord foretelling what shall happen. And what did happen? Well, we
read just in this very same chapter how that Esau despises his birthright
as the firstborn. And then later on, we have Jacob
stealing the birthright blessing from Esau, and he obtained the
blessing, the greatest blessing of firstborn and that blessing
was his. And there was conflict then between
them. Esau said that he would kill
Jacob when his father died. Jacob then was sent away by Rebekah
to her brother Laban, and there he was given the wives Leah and
Rachel, and then at last brought back Esau meets him with 400
men. Jacob takes it to the Lord, wrestles
in prayer, and when they met, they met peaceably. The Lord took away the enmity,
the anger, and yet we see the history. Years, years later,
when the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt, 430 years
since Abraham had been given the promise that his seed should
be a stranger in a strange land and that they should be afflicted
400 years and then be brought forth. And they were brought
forth, the children of Jacob, the children of Israel. And as
they then go through the wilderness and come to the promised land,
then Eden, Esau, comes out against him. won't let them go through
their land. God forbids Jacob, the children
of Israel, from fighting against Eden, Esau, because they are
his brethren. But there was that conflict between
them, and what was told here follows right through. So it
is a history, you might say, a verified history, a nation,
two nations, that were brought forth from Isaac, and one nation,
the peculiar people of the Lord, the chosen people of the Lord,
and especially a people through whom Christ came. And so we would say that one
of the reasons that Rebecca had the concern because of the strugglings
within, because I believe that she knew, Isaac knew, Abraham
knew, that through his line, through his seed, would come
the promised seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's
head. It was an important thing that
there be a child and that lineage be carried on. So there was,
you might say, a natural cause or cause that arose and a concern
that arose because of what she knew was vested in that child. The same reason, you might say,
for concern with Hezekiah, Many, many years later, when he was
told to put his house in order by Isaiah, for he should die
and not live, then he also prayed. And the Lord gave him an extra
15 years. And it was in that 15 years that
Manasseh was born. Without that added life, that
line to Christ again would have been broken. And the concern
then, Rebecca, concern of Hezekiah was for that promised seed and
the line unto Christ. But do we only take what we know
and what I've set forth just briefly here as being the only
message of this passage and of Jacob and of Esau? And the answer is no. We have the Apostle Paul mentioning
concerning the election of God, that the twins, before they were
born and having done neither good nor evil, it was said that
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. that the purposes according
to election might stand. And the Apostle uses it as an
illustration of the sovereign choice of God of these twins,
one chosen to eternal life and one not. And to see how in their
lifetime that worked out as well Because Jacob was blessed of
God, he sought, he willingly sought the Lord and followed
Him. Whereas Esau did not seek the Lord, did not follow Him.
And then it was seen, we know our election by our calling.
We should not seek to delve into what is the secret will of God. Very seldom, and this may be
the only occasion, where we ever have God saying, before a person
is born, whether they are his or whether they are not. And
we do not know that. The secret things belong unto
God. And we're told very clearly that
we are to give diligence to make our calling and election sure. They're calling first, and that
then points to election. We are to be obedient and follow
the Lord and serve Him and walk in His ways and seek those blessings
from Him in our life and the blessings especially of eternal
life. So we have also the portion that
we read in Galatians that speaks of the struggles, the struggles
between the new man of grace and the old man of sin. So I want to look then with the
Lord's help this morning, firstly, about those internal struggles
within, Galatians 5, 17. And then secondly, the cause
for concern and how to deal with those concerns. And then the
interpretation, there is an interpretation here and I want to look at that
lastly. So firstly, the internal struggles
within. We read in Galatians chapter
5 and verse 17, the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other,
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." The Apostle Paul,
who is writing this letter to the Galatians, also wrote to
the Romans, and he said that when the commandment came, the
law of God came, sin revived and I died. He became conscious
of his sin, mindful of his sin. The Lord gave him a new nature. He gave him the new birth. And
those two natures, the old nature, which is always enmity and hatred
to God, will always resist and fight against the new nature,
the new birth, that which comes from God. And so the apostle
said, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would
not, that I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? He says, if I do that
which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
within me. It will be that constant warfare. Now the children of Israel, they
had adversaries without, but they also had adversaries in
their own tribes. They had the children of Benjamin
with all of their wickedness. They even had those amongst them
in the Levitical priesthood. The Lord dealt with them, but
they caused trouble, conflicts to the people of God. A man's
enemies are they of his own household, and many a child of God has said,
O that I had not a myself. But these internal struggles,
we said concerning Rebecca, that when she conceived, when she
knew that she was with child, then she's having these struggles
within that she couldn't understand and couldn't work out. but it is in a spiritual way
a very good illustration of what a child of God often feels at
first and can't interpret and doesn't know what they actually
are. Those struggles, those conflicts,
the path that they once have walked and now finding they don't
have a delight in it and don't want to walk in that way, but
there's part of them that does, and still wants to go in the
ways of sin, still wants to go in ways contrary to the Lord. There are those tossings to and
fro, sometimes favoring one side, sometimes favoring the other,
a warfare, a conflict within. And often, This is some of the
first things that the people of God know and the apostle interpreted
there in Galatians, the flesh lusting or fighting, resisting
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. They are contrary
one to another, they are opposite one from another and this is
the reason for those conflicts and struggles in the people of
God. And the things of God are, they're
not built upon just the flesh. They're not built upon old nature. It's a new nature. It is that
which is from above, and therefore the conflict. The question is, do we know what
it is? Have we known what it is? To
have struggles with it? The Apostle Paul, it is hinted
at it when the Lord met with him on the Damascus road, that
he said, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. We
don't read apart from what Paul then says when he writes the
Romans about that conflict, but it appears in this. There has
been those pricks of conscience. There has been that struggling,
that perhaps questioning, maybe, maybe Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ. Maybe there is something true
in what Stephen rehearsed and said. Paul had been a witness
to his martyrdom. And so, those struggles within,
do you have conflicts and struggles? Do I? Are there those things,
that's commotion within, that tumult within, first one thought,
then another thought, struggles against the, our old nature with
all its lusts and all its evils and all its violence, and then
the other, desiring spiritual things, holy things, things above,
and the other wanting things below, those two conflicts are
struggles within. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness,
an inward work, a hard work, something that a stranger is
not going to know about, an intermittent, But those who are subject of
it, they do know what goes on within. But many times, do not
know how to interpret it. What does it mean? How could
it be understood? When the Lord began with me,
it was on two fronts really. One was feeling what a hypocrite
and how ignorant I was of the truth and a real strong appetite
for the Word of the Lord. But then on the other, there
was the things that I was doing, that part of me wanted to do
them, but when I did them, then I found no pleasure in them.
And I try and try to continue my life as I normally had it,
but found no pleasure. And what Solomon says, vanity
of vanity, all is vanity, saith the preacher. I approved that,
but I didn't know what was going on within. I couldn't join those
two things together. I kind of put one compartment,
my religion and chapel going and the Word of God, and the
other compartment was my job and my hobbies and the things
I did away from the chapel, as if those things could be in compartments
in my life, but they can't. It is when the Apostle says,
when Christ who is our life shall appear, it's a solemn thing. Two people, one people amongst
the people of God, another person amongst the world. Two-faced,
as it were. A different person, a chameleon,
different person, in different company, in different colours
as shown, depending on who we're with. But that cannot be with
a child of God. But inwardly, there is known
this this conflict, this wrestling that is going on. So the internal
struggles, do we have them? Do we know what it is? Is there
a time it stops? In one sense, no, it will never
do, because our old nature will always be the same. It's never,
never refined and never lessened in its strength or power. And
the new nature will never die. The Lord holds it up, He keeps
alive that fire, and that life that He's given is eternal life. I want to think then, secondly,
the cause for concern. We said concerning Rebecca that
she knew of the importance of a child being brought forth,
the seed of the woman, and was in expectation of that, and these
things were threatening this coming to pass. And I believe
that where there is these internal struggles, there will also be,
in either lesser or greater measure, a cause for concern, a realization
that we have a soul, that we have eternity before us, that
one day we must die, One day we must appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. And when we have these things
going on and we try to marry them up with being a child of
God or being ready to meet God, then there is concern. Is this
toward that aim? Is this what God's children know?
Is this really that which is working for good? Is this an
answer to prayer? You have Jake Isaac praying and
his prayer is answered in that there is a beginning, but then
it doesn't seem to continue on in the way that he expected.
Maybe it's with you. You've made the prayer, you've
sought the Lord to begin, have mercy upon you and bless you,
and you trust the Lord has begun, but it doesn't seem to be working
out as you thought it would be. Remember Naaman the Syrian, the
account of him being told by a little maid that if he was
with the prophet in Samaria, he would heal him of his leprosy,
and he goes to the prophet, eventually gets there, going to the king
first, but then goes to the prophet, and he has in his mind what shall
happen, that he shall come outside to the door, wave his hand over
the place, you do something dramatic and the leprosy will be healed. But instead the man of God just
sent a servant and sent a word to go and wash in Jordan seven
times. And he was offended at it. It
wasn't what he thought. It was something different. And
we can be like that. We can have an expectation, if
God is going to work, if he's blessed my soul, if he's working
in my heart, then this and this and this will happen. And very
often it's not that. It works in a different way.
The Lord works with each of his people in different ways. And
we each have a different nature. Though it is a fallen nature,
we have our besetting sins. And we have those things we struggle
with. And afflictions of body and of
mind. And they affect us as well. So,
if we have that, and then we have this cause for concern,
because we know we have a soul, We know we need to be saved.
We need to be right with God. We need it not to be an aborted
birth, but a new birth, a real birth that brings forth real
life, eternal life, the hope beyond the grave. And so there
is this concern. There's also a concern because
we know there can be imitations of this as well. There are others
that have been troubled within. We think of Herod when he heard
of the tidings that there was to be the Messiah born in Bethlehem. And he was troubled and all Israel
with him. You hear when Paul was preaching
to Agrippa, and Agrippa said, almost thou persuadest me to
be a Christian, but almost is not good enough. And we hear
Herod, when he heard John, he heard him well, and he did many
things, but again, it wasn't saving, and he ended up having
John's head cut off. And you have Balaam, and he said,
let me die the death of the righteous, let my last end be like his,
but he died fighting against the children of Israel. He didn't
want to live their life either. You have those that come at the
last day, and they say, Lord, Lord, open to us. And the Lord
says, depart from me, I never knew you. And so when we know
those characters, the characters like Judas that was numbered
with the apostles, took part in the ministry. We think of
Saul who had the spirit upon him for the kingship. King Saul
did many things and even prophesied with the prophets and yet ended
up going to a witch and the Lord forsaking him, rejecting him
because of his disobedience, rebellion against the Lord. I gave thee a king, in my anger
I took him away in my wrath. And when we know these things,
then have these conflicts within, that adds concern. Is it really,
is it really God's work Is it really this conflict that is
spoken of in Galatian? Is it the new birth? And is it
a conflict against the flesh? And there is a real concern and
a cause for concern. It's not something imagined.
And you may often say, if you share things with the Lord's
people, that this is a real concern. I'm really worried about this. I'm concerned. about it. Let us hear what Paul says again
in Galatians. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary,
the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
these, and we are given a list of the works of the flesh. Adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, that's all manner of sexual desire. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. envings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God." That's what the old nature likes. It goes after. It stirs up. It doesn't need to be invited.
It doesn't need to be consciously thought about. It just gets a
little thing that we see or hear, and immediately it rises up. Someone does us something wrong
and immediately there's murder in their hearts. It doesn't take
much to stir up envy, does it? Or hatred, or idolatry. You can make an idol of all sorts
of things. All of these things, the sexual
sins, they've all added first. because they are the predominant
thing. You read about it in the world,
you see it in the church, if there's a fall for a brother,
sister in faith, it usually always includes, as with what with David,
adultery, murder, it includes those things that come from the
flesh, the flesh has for a time just taken the ascendancy and
there's been a fall. Then we are given the fruit of
the Spirit, the other side, the other nature, which is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. In such there is no law. They
that are Christ have crucified the flesh. That is a very painful
and slow death with the affections and lusts. One of the Puritans,
he said, impressed upon the new believer that he is called to
a daily battle with the corruptions of his own heart. Paul says,
if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. But
as we desire to do that, as we try to do that, you'll find a
constant opposition, a constant striving within, and it tries
to take the ascendancy. The blessing is, where there
is the true grace of God, then it will be that instead of serving
the flesh, we will serve the Lord. If ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, then ye shall live. And mortifying
is to, when we are tempted and tried, to be deliberately going
the opposite way and to seeking the things of God, the ways of
the Lord, His Word, seeking to a path of prayer, then the old
nature will hate that. It will cry out to be indulged
and to have time and to go in those evil lusts of the heart
and of the way They are clearly set forth here so that we can
clearly identify them and see the difference between the two. And so the issues, the cause
to concern is that which is from beneath, and that which is our
own nature, and that which is of the new. And the concern is
that the work in us be a real work of grace, that we truly
be born of God, that we're not a hypocrite. And we need to be
very clear and understand that it is not a case of, well, if
we are a child of God, you won't have conflict, you won't have
tumult, you will. Now the Lord says, in me you
shall have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. And
part of that tribulation is an inward one. Now, where there's
the concern. We said with Isaac, when Rebekah
couldn't conceive, then he entreated the Lord, he asked the Lord,
he prayed to the Lord. When Rebecca had conceived and
then there was a struggling, then she went, in the words of
our text, to inquire of the Lord. And that is your best, my best
pathway. Very often it's a good thing,
or a thing that we often do, is to go to a minister or go
to a loved one and explain to them and say, can you tell me
am I a child of God or not? and you'd like just to have a
quick answer and to be reassured and to know. But what is man's
opinion? And what is that before heaven? That if it can comfort you for
a little bit, won't for long. What we need is from the Lord.
The Lord did answer Rebecca. And if you and I have these struggles,
maybe take it to the Lord. May we explain to him, tell him
what is going on, what contrary things are felt within, what
conflicts are there, and lay it all before the Lord. I want to look then just briefly
at the interpretation. We read the children struggled
together within her, She said, if it be so, why am I thus? She went to inquire of the Lord. And the interpretation was these
two natures, these two peoples that were to be brought forth.
Now, I want to think of our Lord when he is speaking of himself,
he tells the parable of the Good Shepherd, and we have two peoples
there. Well, in fact, we have more than
that, because he says in one place, he says that other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them must I also bring,
and that is Jews and Gentiles he must bring. But he speaks
of two peoples in that. He says that he is the Good Shepherd,
and the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and am known of mine. My sheep, they hear my voice
and they follow me. He says to the scribes and the
Pharisees who were calling him the Prince of Devils and speaking
against him, he said, ye are not of my sheep, therefore ye
hear not my word. He says, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And in that chapter, we have
many things And they're very clear things. Very clearly that
the Lord lays down his life for some, but not others. Those that
he lays down his life for are his sheep. They're already his
sheep. And he says, Thine they were,
and thou gavest them me, given by the Father, chosen in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. In other words, elect
like Jacob was. Then we have those that are clearly
not God's people, not His sheep. And the Lord makes this great
distinction. One hears His voice, the other
does not. The ones that hear His voice,
they don't just hear it, they follow Him. And also He gives
another evidence that when He puts forth His sheep, He goeth
before them. Well, you think of Jacob when
he went forth to Laban. The Lord met with him when he
lay with the stones for the pillow. He blessed him there, gave him
promises. He went before him with Laban. He gave him his wives. He sent
him to the right place. And then though Laban changed
his wages 10 times, the Lord was with him. prospered and blessed
him in every step of the way. And it is a mark that the Lord
goeth before his people. When Moses wanted the Lord to
show him his good grace, the Lord said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee in the way. That was how The Lord showed
Moses his glory, his grace. And the interpretation then here
is the gospel, is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. This is the crowning thing that
will prove one side or other, does it lead to Christ? Does
it lead us to view him, his death, his sufferings, the ransom that
he paid? His blood that was shed upon
Calvary. Does it lead us to view Him? I, if I be lifted up above the
earth, will draw all men after Me. Does it draw us after Him? No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. No man can come unto Me except
the Father which sent Me draw him. Do these struggles, do these
conflicts lead us to Christ? The devil will never do that.
The flesh will never do that. It will never lead us to long
for Christ, to see in Him all our soul's desire. We say to
the concern for Rebecca here, the line to Christ, we say to
the concern, the cause for concern, if you and I know of eternity
and the worth of our soul and that there are many imitations
of these struggles within. But where does it lead? Where
does it point? Where the Spirit's work is. He
shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. Christ will
be the one that is led to, directed to, looked to. You think of the
children of Israel in Egypt. You might say they had nine signs
of struggles. Pharaoh would let them go, wouldn't
let them go, let them go, wouldn't let them go. You think of all
the trouble, the toing and froing through all that time, and all
the things they went through in Egypt. And they won't let
go, they won't let go at all, until it came to the end, then
the blood was shed, the Passover, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you, and immediately they'll let go. And all those struggles
in Egypt, In their being brought forth and born, as it were, as
a nation from another nation, they all led to Christ, a beautiful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So where is it with us and the
interpretation with us? Does it bring us to long for
Him, to know more of Him, to know our interest in Him, And
the thought that we are not amongst his people, or not redeemed,
causes us concern. Am I his, or am I not? And yet,
with the struggles, and with how that leads unto Christ, and
unto the one name given among men whereby we must be saved,
it points the reality of the work. that it is a soul that
has been brought from death unto life and to the giver of life
and to be united with Christ and his people. We know that
we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
Paul, Saul of Tarsus, in unregeneracy had conflict with the people
of God and peace with the enemies of God. But when he was converted,
He had peace with the people of God, but in conflict and persecuted
by the enemies of God. A change had been brought about. Jacob, he bore Joseph. The Lord met with Joseph in dreams. And Joseph said to the butler,
the baker, and to Pharaoh, do not interpretations belong unto
God. Here, Rebekah took it to the
Lord. And we've tried to bring you
to the word of God, to the scriptures that all point to Christ, and
the work within will point to Christ. However much it is opposed
by an old nature, The thing proceedeth from the Lord. The Lord gave
conception. The Lord gives life. And dear
friends, may you be able to see it. May you have the comfort
of it. May you have the joy of it. That it is the Lord, He which
hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. If it be so, why am I thus? She went to inquire of the Lord. Well, if we have these struggles,
this question, Lord, help us to inquire after Him. May we
be pleased to use the message this morning to answer those
inquiries. Amen. Let us close by singing hymn
762.