Okay, let's take our Bibles and
turn back to Genesis 26. Genesis 26. Because of a famine, Isaac has left where he was. He went to Abimelech, King of
the Philistines unto Gerar. And according to the last message
we just considered, the Lord told him, verse two, dwell in
the land which I shall tell thee of, sojourn in the land, in that
land, and the Lord would be with him. So we know that here was the
Lord's instruction. You're just gonna temporarily
be here. Just gonna be here for a while. But according to verse six, and
that's where we'll pick up, Isaac dwelt in Gerar. The Lord said, you sojourn where
you are. This will be temporary. And Isaac dwelt. That is, he remained to sit,
to abide, to be set, to stay, to be inhabited. That word is a word that has
more of a sound of being permanent. But the Lord told him, you're
going to just stay here for a while. Well, let's consider this fact. The Lord told him, you'll sojourn
here. Verse 6 said, he dwelt there. That's a word, again,
but do you notice that there's no recorded instruction of the
Lord? telling him when to move. He
said, you'll just be here temporarily. You'll sojourn here. And Isaac
was aware of the word that the Lord, the instruction that the
Lord had given him. Turn to Numbers 9 while I'm finishing
this statement. He knew, Isaac knew, this is
going to be a temporary stay. but there's no record of Lauren. Why didn't he go? Why didn't
he leave? Numbers chapter nine gives us
some indication here. Numbers nine, verse 15 to 20. And on the day that the tabernacle
was reared up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely the tent
of the testimony. And at even, there was upon the
tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning. So it was always. The cloud covered
it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. There was a pillar of a cloud
over the testimony, right there in the tabernacle in the wilderness. During the day, they could see
it. There was a cloud that stayed right there, right over the testimony.
place of the testimony. At night, it became a pillar
of fire. In verse 17, and the cloud was
taken up from the tabernacle when after that the children
of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud abode,
there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment
of the Lord, the children of Israel journeyed, and at the
commandment of the Lord, they pitched. As long as the cloud
abode upon the tabernacle, they rested in their tents. And when
the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the
children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and journeyed not. And so it was when the cloud
was a few days upon the tabernacle, according to the commandment
of the Lord, they abode in their tents and according to the commandment
of the Lord, they journeyed. Here's my question. The Lord
said, you're gonna be here temporarily. That's the word. You're just
gonna sojourn here. You'll be a sojourner. He dwelt there. Why? The Lord hadn't moved him. That's
where the Lord put him, right now. You're gonna be here temporarily,
okay? but there's no record. So he
stayed where he was until the Lord moves us, directs us. What do you do? Stay right where
you are. Stay there. Well, the Lord said
he was going to be there temporarily. Well, temporarily is as long
as the Lord says he's going to be. That's what that means. Beloved,
Let me ask you this. Does Isaac's dwelling, sojourning,
there not show us a great picture and type of our residency in
this world? How long we gonna be here, Fred?
We're just sojourners. Sojourners, yeah, according to
1 Peter 2.11, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and
pilgrims abstained from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Now, you know, we talk about
how long is our life? It's just a vapor. How long are
we gonna be here? Just as long as the Lord says
we're gonna be here. But aren't we sojourners? Yeah,
well, I've happened to sojourn here 73 years so far. May be
my last day. But do you know what? I'm just
here, Dan, for a little while. I know that. I realize that. This world is not our final home. Just sojourn in the land. Sojourn
in the land. I'll bless you. That's what he
promised. That's what we just looked at a few minutes ago.
But here we are, walking by faith. knowing that we're not going
to be here long. We know that. How long? Not long. Just a few more setting suns,
waiting, and Isaac was no exception. Isaac, he's sojourning in Gerar,
and he's going to be taught. I want to look at two things
that were truly a blessing to me, and I pray it will be to
you, about The Lord putting this man that he promised to bless,
put him in a place, said, don't go to Egypt. You stay right here.
You sojourn right here. I'll bless you. I'll keep you.
I'll dwell with you. Two things that this man would
be taught. And the first thing I beheld
in this man Isaac, and the Lord leaving him where he was. The
Lord never told him to go, but the first thing I found, the
Lord taught him something of his frailty, and our frailty
too. We do well to learn what the
Lord taught this man right here. Immediately after, the Spirit
of God revealed that Isaac dwelt in Gerar. Verse 7 says, And the
men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said, She is
my sister. For he feared to say, She is
my wife, lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for
Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon. Let me tell you
what I see in that. No believer is exempt from the
trials of this life. Now that's Isaac, like Abraham,
and then Jacob, all the vessels of God's mercy. The Lord said,
I'm going to be with you, and I'm going to bless you. But these
trials are promised to us. In this world, you're going to
have tribulation. Here he is in a place where God put him.
God told him, you stay here temporarily. I'm gonna be with you, I'm gonna
bless you, and here comes the trial. For whom the Lord loveth,
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son he receiveth. Brethren, there's
an old man in all of us. It's a man that wars against
the law of our mind. And this old man, according to
Romans 7 24, you go back and read that, we've read it so many
times, Paul's account of himself and the two men, two men that
he sees in him. He saw one that he declared to
be wretched. Oh, wretched man. And he said
that I am, this is me. God was going to show Isaac,
and he's showing us. If you want to know about a believer,
here we are. Take a good look. This is us. This is us. Oh, how easily we're
tempted to sin and sin. Tempted to sin and sin in our
walk. Here again, this is a son of
God's promise. One that God had promised. I'm
going to bless you. Your seed will be as the malt
to the stars. Heaven, the Word is going to
endure. I'll keep you this vessel of
God's mercy. Though it was a sinner. This
is not. Faithful, consistent. Believer
that you know, let me tell you what he is and he'll tell you
if he's honest, he will be. I am a sinner. He's a publican. Two men went into the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee, one a publican. That publican said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Which believer would not readily
stand up and say, this is me. Isaac found himself in a situation
that his daddy had found himself in. And you know what his daddy
did? Same thing Isaac did. The temptations
and trials which we meet are often found to be the very ones
that other believers go through too. And the Lord instructs us
by his word He blesses His Word to us by His Spirit, and we ought
to realize, and we do realize, how much we need. Lord, without
You, I can do nothing. Lord, don't take Your Spirit
from me. That's what David prayed. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned. Lord, protect me. Hedge me about. Hedge me about
as You hedged Job. even though Job was allowed of
the Lord to be tempted, tried, and he suffered, he suffered,
he suffered. The Lord said this was a just
man, just Job. Yes, Isaac repeated the sin of
his dad. Abraham, each one of them, lied
about their wives. Why? Because they feared for
their life. You know, it's amazing how truthful the scriptures are. God's people, are prone to wander. Isaiah 53, six, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord Jehovah laid on him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the iniquity of us all. We all stray, we all
wander. Almighty God put this man, Isaac,
the son of promise. He sent a famine. He caused that man to move to
a place called Gerar. He told him, he said, you sojourn
right here just temporarily. And he left him there as long
as God was pleased to leave him there up to this point. And Almighty God was going to
show him something of himself. Let me show you this. Well, back
in Genesis 26, verse eight and nine, I want us to behold the
graciousness. Now, these men of that city came
to him and said, asked him about him. He said, oh, she's my sister.
He lied? That's a lie. That was a lie. She's my sister. Why'd he lie? Because he was scared. Scared
for his life. If I say she's my wife, he'll
kill me. He's a liar. God showed him what he was, exposed
him. But I want you to look at the
mercy, grace of almighty God toward this son, vessel of his
promise and love. Look at verse eight and nine.
Came to pass when he had been there a long time, And Abimelech,
king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw, and
behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah, his wife. He was jesting with her. They were just playing, just,
you know, husband and wife, just sporting with men. And Abimelech
called Isaac, and he said, Behold, of surety, she is thy wife. And how saddest thou, she is
my sister. And Isaac said unto him, because
I said, lest I die for her. You know what? Lord, and I'm
telling you, this is mercy. This is grace. Brings us to confess what we
are. We confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Lord's
gonna show us what we are by nature. And He's gonna bring
us to be honest about it. And God's people, again, are
honest. Providentially, the kind forbearance
of the Lord, who again never leaves, never forsakes His own,
stretched forth His hand of mercy, toward his servant, Isaac. And he stopped him, and exposed
him, and caused him to be honest with this king. You know, if
the Lord left us to ourself, left us to ourself, we'd receive
exactly what we deserve. But he brings us to an understanding
of what we are. teaches us. You look in the scriptures
when God, again, Saul of Tarsus, what did the Lord do? He stopped
him. Here in his arrogant religious arrogancy, stopped him on the
road, exposed him. You're persecuting me. Who are
you? I'm Jesus, and you're persecuting. He's persecuting his people,
you're persecuting me. Here, God stops Isaac, exposes
him and stops him. Why? I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna bless you. Turn over to Malachi 3. Malachi
3, you know this passage of scripture. The Lord is gonna expose his
people's sin. God's just. Almighty God is going
to show mercy and compassion, vessels of his mercy. I want
to read Malachi 3. I started just reading 5 and
6. I want to read verses 1 through 6. Malachi 3, behold, I will
send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger of the covenant. Whom ye delight in, behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the
day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?
Here's the just God. He is like a refiner's fire and
a fuller soap. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi
and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old,
as in former days. And I will come near to you in
judgment. I'll be a swift witness against
the sorcerers. against the adulterers, against
false swearers, against those that oppress the hireling and
the wages, the widow, and the fatherless that turned aside
the stranger from his right hand. Fear not me, saith the Lord of
hosts. God's gonna deal with sin, that's
what he's saying. Look at verse six. I'm the Lord, and I change
not, because there's some that's found in the mass of humanity,
out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue, their son,
that the Lord was pleased to take that which they deserved,
take their sin, give it to the Lord Jesus Christ, charge it
to his account, make it to be his own, and judged him in their
stead. And then the latter part, therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Almighty God, because the vessel
of his mercy, the old Isaac, in himself, a sinner, and God
exposed him, showed him what he was, brought him to confess
what he was. I was fearful for my life. That's
mercy that God would bring any of us to see what we are. Way back in Genesis 26, verse
10 and 11. And Abimelech said, what is this
that thou hast done unto us? One of the people might lightly
have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness
upon us. And Abimelech charged all his
people, saying, he that touches this man or his wife shall surely
be put to death." Now, here's what Benelik had done. He placed a special word of warning.
Turn over while I'm making this statement here. Turn over to
1 Chronicles, 1 Samuel, Kings, 1 Chronicles 16. He placed a
warning on his kingdom. And after he told him, he said,
what are you doing? One of the men might have lain
with your wife, brought guiltiness upon ourselves, and he told everybody,
anybody touch this man or this woman right here, I'm gonna put
you to death. You know who moved Obimelech
to say that? The Lord. He expressed Abimelech by his
mouth expressed the will and purpose of Almighty God. First
Chronicles 16, verse 15. Be ye mindful always of his covenant,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, even
the covenant which he made with Abraham of his oath unto Isaac,
and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a long Israel for an
everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, Will I give the land
of Canaan the lot of your inheritance? When ye were but few, even a
few strangers in it, when they went from nation to nation, from
one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them
wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their
sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my profits. No harm. Oh, how great, merciful,
and sure is the word of the Lord's promise toward his own. So we
behold that the Lord was pleased in Isaac dwelling, just sojourning.
You stay here. Scripture said back in 26, verse
eight, how long he been there? Look back at verse eight, 26,
eight. Came past, he'd been there a long time. How long, I don't
know, I don't know. But he was still sojourning,
but God taught him. He was gonna teach him first, gonna teach
him something of himself. Showed him what he was. But after
this, he's caught. After he's exposed, sporting
with his wife, and jesting, playing, and toying with her, Isaac was
exposed for the lie that he had told about her. And Abimelech
reprimanded him. Then caused Isaac to confess
what he was. Abimelech says, don't anybody
touch this man or his wife. I'll kill you if you touch her.
That's the protection of God. Here's what we are. Here's what
we are by nature. But the Lord in covenant mercy,
he said, I'm not gonna let anybody touch you. Here's the second thing we learned.
Of the unfailing grace of God and blessing, unfailing. After
all that he had done, look at verse 12 to 15. Then Isaac sowed in the land
and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed
him. And the man waxed great and went
forward and grew until he became very great. For he had possession
of flocks and possession of herds and a great store of servants.
And the Philistines envied him for all the wells which his father's
servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father. The Philistines
had stopped him and filled him with earth. Now, without a true
and scriptural revelation of the unchanging character of God's
faithfulness. These very verses right here
would just almost be impossible to understand. Did Isaac stumble? Yes. Did he sin? Yes. Let's just
make it, did he sin? Yes. Did he lie? Yes. Was he
deceitful? Yes. And the Lord blessed him. Blessed
him. Some of you might say, well,
how or why would God bless a man who had acted in such a disrespectful
manner as Isaac did against the Lord? Here's the answer. Hebrews 10.23, let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised. The question we ought to ask
is, How could the Lord bless us? Vessels of His mercy while
we act. You look at Isaac and say, look
what he did. Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's don't go that far back.
Let's just bring it a little bit closer to home. How about
right now? How about our disrespect toward him in this service? Not
thinking upon him as we are, not seeking him as we are, not
thanking him as we are, blessing him as we are. The answer, but
concerning the Lord's blessing, all He had done, all He had done,
but the Lord had told Him back in the first chapter. I won't
go back for the sake of time. Go back and read it. Chapter
26, verses 3 to 5. You sojourn here and I'm going
to bless you. I'm going to be with you. Your seed will be as
the stars of heaven. Through your seed, the nations,
through Christ the seed. All the nations of the world
are going to be blessed. And he lied. And God said, I'm
going to bless you. 2 Timothy 2.13, If we believe
not, yet he abideth faithful, for he cannot deny himself. The blessing that the Lord had
given Isaac was a covenant blessing established upon not the faithfulness
of Isaac, or me, or you. upon the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the ground of the Lord
blessing us. All that the Lord had promised
to do and does for His people. Our preservation, our salvation,
our final possession of the inheritance of the kingdom that was prepared
for us from before the foundation of the world. All of His blessing
is done to the glory of His blessed Son. Not us. None of us are faithful. If He
dealt with us, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute iniquity. Are we chargeable? Yeah, we're
chargeable. Come on. But the Lord rules and overrules
for the sake of his son. In verse 16 here in chapter 22,
and I'll end here. Now, Bimelech said unto Isaac,
go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. The Lord had told Isaac, you're
just gonna sojourn here. You're just gonna be here for
a while. And though he had been, according to verse eight, he
had been there a long time, God was merciful, compassionate,
and blessed him. And Abimelech said unto Isaac,
go from us. Thou art mightier than we. Mightier
in himself? No. When we're weak, and God showed
him his weakness, when we're weak, then we're strong in the
Lord. Our mightier, not in ourselves,
but in our mighty conqueror. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us, gave himself for us. Go from us. I thought
about Abimelech telling Isaac, go from us. And I said that that
was the Lord saying that. Somebody said, no, that was Abimelech
saying that. You remember when Balaam was
gonna go meet Balak, and Balaam was riding on his donkey, and the angel of the Lord stood in
the way. Balaam was going to see Balak, a heathen king. Gonna be, this heathen king wanted
Balaam, false prophet. The Lord exposes him. But he
wanted Balaam to come and bless Balak and curse the people of
God. The Lord stopped him. How did he do it? He put the
angel of the Lord in front of Balaam while he was riding. Balaam
didn't see him, but the donkey did. Scripture says, whenever he came
to that place, Balaam's ass beheld the angel of the Lord, standing
in a narrow way, and scripture says that the donkey thrust herself
into the wall, crushing Balaam's foot, causing him to curse the
ass. And the scripture declares this,
Numbers 22, 28, and the Lord opened the mouth of the ass,
and she said unto Balaam, the donkey started talking. What
have I done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? You think the Lord can open the
mouth of a man when he's ready for Isaac to move? You think
God can tell Abimelech, tell Isaac to move? And Abimelech
said, you need to go. The Lord can open the mouth of
a donkey, cause it to speak. He ruleth. in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays the
same." Isaac was there just for a little while, but oh, what
God taught him as he sojourned in Gerar. The Lord's going to
show us what we are, and he's going to show us his blessing
for Christ's sake, and may do so today.