Turn with me to Genesis chapter
26. In relation to this chapter, Solomon
says this in Ecclesiastes 1 verse 9, The thing that hath been,
it is that which shall be. And that which is done is that
which shall be done. And there is no new thing under
the sun. And this is true in the life
of the believer. When we read chapter 26, now
that we are familiar with the book of Genesis and having gone
at length through the life of Abraham, you'll notice some details
in this chapter that sound very familiar to what we've seen in
Abraham's life. And so I want to look today at
Isaac through the experience related to five wells, four of
which are declared it or spoken of in this chapter five wells
and you'll see that Isaac bears a remarkable resemblance to his
father Abraham because the details contained in this chapter are
just that similar they're just so similar and and what it is
is there's a repetition here and why does the Lord repeat
things in the scripture He repeats them because we're built to pick
up on patterns and detect patterns and there's a repetition here
because the Lord is drawing our attention to something, to cause
us to notice. And so I believe that this account
was done in the life of Isaac, for Isaac and in Isaac's life
because these events stand as types. of what every believer
experiences in this life as the Lord grows us in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we're going
to look at the lessons of five wells. Now the first well that
we meet with where Isaac is concerned is called Beer Lahai Roy. Be'er lehi roi. And first, look
over at Genesis 25 verse 11. It says there that it came to
pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac,
and Isaac dwelt by the well, Lehi-Roy. Anytime you see bir
in scripture, it means the well. So bir Lehi-Roy, or the well
of Lehi-Roy, it's the same thing. And this name, Lehi-Roy, is the
name that Hagar gave to the Lord. She spoke it concerning the Lord,
when the Lord had found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness. What was she doing there? She
had fled from her mistress Sarah, because Hagar conceived a child
in her womb, and Sarah noticed that Hagar despised her mistress,
and so Sarah began to treat her harshly. She spoke harshly to
her. She had her do harsh, hard tasks. And so Hagar was offended and
she fled. She left. And she called, and
I will turn over to Genesis 16 and follow this with me. Genesis
16 and we'll pick up in verse 13 and 14. This is Hagar. She called the name of the Lord
that spake unto her, Thou God seest me. That's what Lehiroi
means. Thou God seest me. For, she said,
have I also here looked after him that seeth me. Wherefore the well was called
Beer Lehiroi. Behold it is between Kadesh and
Bered. And so Going from there, let's
look at one more scripture in chapter 24. 24, one more passage
I should say, verse 62. And Isaac came from the way of
the well, Lehiroi, for he dwelt in the south country. And so
here we find Isaac dwelling at this well in the vicinity of
this well the high Roy and he was there when his Rebecca was
brought by the servant of Abraham. when he brought the wife, the
bride of Isaac to him. He was dwelling there at Lahairoi.
And verse 67 of that chapter says, Isaac brought her into
his mother Sarah's tent. Sarah had died now. Into the
tent and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved
her. And Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death. And so from receiving Rebekah's
wife to when Abraham died, Isaac lived it by this this well the
high Roy and that was a good amount of time because Isaac
was still alive when Rebecca came Isaac as I understand was
still alive when the boys I ate Jacob and Esau were born 20 years
later He saw them. He was alive still for a little
while when they were born and so he dwelled by this high Roy
this well for a long time a long time and This place here, this
well, becomes synonymous with comfort. It's a place of comfort
for Isaac. It's a place of rest there. And
he was blessed there in his time there. That's why he spent so
much time. Well, why is such a place? Why is Lahairoi a place
of comfort for believers? Well, we get a sense of that
when Hagar fled to that well. When she went there, she was
certain that no one was going to find her. She was certain
that she hid herself well in the wilderness, but the Lord
knew right where she was. The Lord found her no problem,
and he came to her, and he spoke to her, and he changed her heart,
and he sent her back to Sarah. And she was comforted in that.
She was comforted by what the Lord had done for her. And she
called Him, Thou God seest me, because He saw her. He found
her. He revealed Himself to her and
He spoke to her kindly and with gentleness. And He dealt with
her in a manner that was very kind and very gracious to her.
And what we understand in this is that our God sees His people
in sovereign election. We're not hidden from the Lord.
He knows us. He knows where we are. He knows who we are. He
knows the trouble that we are in. But He chose us and He comes
to us in His grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us concerning this electing
grace of our God and choosing His people. He tells us this
to comfort us. He says, Christ said to His disciples,
ye have not chosen me, I have chosen you. I chose you. Paul said, Because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Our Lord tells us in that great
sermon in John chapter 6, He said, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and I will in no wise cast you out. You
that come to Christ, I won't cast you away. I won't turn you
away. I won't put my hand up in your face and stop you from
coming. I'll receive you. I'll receive you. Why? Because
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And so we, the people of God,
who have heard the voice of God, by the Spirit of God, rejoice
and are comforted by the fact that our God chose me, a sinner
like me, one of my favorite I guess, phrases. One of my favorite phrases
in the scripture is what Paul said when he said in Galatians
2.20, speaking of Christ, who loved me and gave himself for
me. For me. That's a comforting. And Christ gave himself for me
because God chose me unto the salvation in Christ. And so it's
a great comfort to us at that. It's a well of Lehiroi that God
sees me. God chose me. God loved me. And every sinner rejoices in
the God who loves them and chose them by his perfect hand. He doesn't put salvation in my
hand. He doesn't put salvation in your
hand. And that's a great comfort when we see and know my hands
are corrupt and defiled. I can't make anything good with
these hands. Not spiritually lasting and eternal,
but God is able and his son is able. the Son of God, whom he
committed all things into his hand, to build the house, the
house of God. And so Hagar said, I also here
looked after him that seeth me. We only believe now because God
hath looked after us and made us to see him, made us to know
his grace and mercy and power in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 8.29 says, for whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. His electing grace is for whom
he elects a people, and then he predestinates their steps,
their walk, where they go. He's with them all the way. So,
while Isaac dwelled at the well of High Roy, he enjoyed peace,
and comfort of God's presence. And it is a picture of God's
sovereign, electing grace of His people. It's a great comfort. But God would prove the faith
which He had given to Isaac. We saw that. He predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of Christ. And Christ was a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And He was going to prove this
faith. bring out the marvels of his mercy and grace and reveal
them to Isaac and reveal them to us who read the scriptures
and see our brother Isaac and what God had done for him because
this is what God does for us brethren and so Genesis 26 verse
1 now we see here God's going to bring a trial and move move
Isaac further. He's going to grow him in his
experience. He's going to walk in the footsteps
of his father Abraham here. Verse 1, and there was a famine
in the land. There was a famine. God permitted
God brought a famine into the land beside the first famine
that was in the days of Abraham. This is, because you're going
to read it and say, wait a minute, was there a mistake here? This
is repeating. I've already read this of Abraham.
Maybe there was some confusion. No, no, no, this is no confusion. God is bringing Isaac through
the steps of his father Abraham in the way that he revealed himself
to Abraham. And so there was a famine beside
the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac
went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. And just so you know, it was
believed that when this famine struck, it at least entered the
mind of Isaac to go down to Egypt. He thought about going down to
Egypt. But 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. And so God leads him to Gerar. And the Spirit of God has him
remain there in that place of Gerar. And here at Gerar, as
he's dwelling there, what does the Lord do? Something he did
for Abraham. He repeats the promise. He declares
the gospel to Isaac. He declares the gospel to him,
just like he did it to Abraham. He said, verse 3, Sojourn in
this land, and I will be with thee. and will bless thee, for
unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and
I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father,
and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will
give unto thee and unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." What a
beautiful picture of the redemption of Christ according to every
tongue, tribe, people, and nation. His redemption. He's inherited
all these countries of the Jews and Gentiles. He's brought them
in. You that believe Christ are those
many children, those stars that are of the seed of Christ, born
of Christ and his family. Now, in times of spiritual trials,
and that's what this famine pictures, spiritual trial, believers begin
to experience manifold temptations. We are exposed to and go through
manifold temptations. These are trials of our faith
that Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7. And God has ordained
the gospel of Christ for our comfort. for our instruction,
for our learning. He's ordained the Gospel to instruct
you in those trials, in that path that we are led by His grace,
because God has a purpose in it. He's predestinated us to
be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And so
this is our comfort. We're told in verse six, Isaac
dwelt in Gerar. He dwelt in Gerar. So Isaac obeyed
the voice of God. God led him there and he was
dwelling there in the land that God had showed him. And it's
a picture of You that obey God. What does it mean to obey God?
To believe the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe the gospel. That is
the obedience of Christ. To hear Christ, to believe Him,
to walk by faith in Him according to the grace of God given to
you by His Spirit. That's the obedience. Trust in
Christ, coming to God and His righteousness. That is your obedience,
brethren. That is the obedience of faith.
But here, we begin to see, or we see the weakness of Isaac's
flesh. And the purpose of seeing his
flesh is because we're gonna see God's grace manifest. We're gonna see God's mercy,
like we saw this morning, how that God, when he purposes to
be merciful to someone, he's merciful to them. All right,
so verse seven. 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 Rebecca, because she was fair to look upon." You
know, we get ourselves into all kinds of trouble with our logic.
We get ourselves into all kinds of trouble and we block ourselves
up in a maze and we can't get out of it. because it's so sound
and makes sense to us when we're doing it. He got himself into
trouble there, but this is exactly what Abraham did. Exactly what
Abraham did, the same logic of Abraham, not only when he went
to Egypt, but even when he went to Gerar. and met Abimelech,
king of the Philistines there, he did the exact same thing.
Let me quote for you from Genesis 20, verse 2. Abraham said of
Sarah's wife, when he got to Gerar, he said, she's my sister.
And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. He must
have been a young man at that time. And he went and said, well,
she's a pretty girl. I think I'd like to have her
for my harem. And so he sent for her and took
her. And then verse 11, we're told
why. Because Abraham said, because
I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place, and
they will slay me for my wife's sake. He stooped low. He stooped low. He was willing
to let his bride go just to protect himself there. And so Abraham
and Isaac, they're surrounded by the enemies of God and the
enemies of his people. And they felt, it's a danger
for me right now to own the bride as my wife. It's a danger for
me. And this, I don't want to appear
as one flesh with her. I feel threatened in this place
of strangers. Well, I think there's a spiritual
picture here, and this for us, that we can identify with. The
Bride is the Church of Christ. The Bride is the Church of Christ.
And in this world, she's His Bride. And we're in a strange
place. We are strangers and pilgrims
here in this world, and there are times in the weakness of
our flesh where it seems easier, it seems less offensive to be
associated to the Church, the Bride of Christ. It's okay if
we're seen to be associated to the church in a carnal, fleshly
association, but it's a whole other thing to confess, I love
Christ. I love his gospel. I love his
people. It's a whole different thing
to confess before the world your love for Christ and his people
and his word. Right, and so we dissociate ourselves
from the church in that sense as the bride of Christ. It's
okay, right, and the world will accept you if you grew up in
the church, or you go to church because your parents make you
go. It's okay if you come to church because you're the pastor's
wife, and well, it makes sense, I guess you gotta go. But it's
a whole other thing if you're going there because you love
Christ. And you're his bride, and you're
one with him. You're one flesh with him. You're
in the body of Christ, because now you're subject to persecution.
And that's where Isaac was concerned. If he said, she's my wife, he
was opening himself up to persecution, to death, to death even. And so that can happen. I'll tell you, it's happened
in my life. I've been in work, I've been in business, where
it just seems to make sense not to sound too zealous for the
Lord. And it's a shame, but that's the weakness of the flesh. And
that's what I think the spiritual picture is here. But thankfully,
we're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. What Isaac was, we are,
brethren, but God will not leave His people in darkness. God has
a purpose in this. He makes us, He shows us our
shame. He will show us our sin when
He has a purpose in it. And to glorify His name. And He brings us out of darkness.
He brings us so that we won't be ashamed. to be one with Christ,
to be counted among his bride and his people. And so he draws
us out of darkness. You know, Paul, I don't know
that Paul, the only time Paul was ashamed is when he didn't
know Christ. He said in Romans 1 verse 16 and 17, he said, I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? Because it is
the power of God unto salvation. It's what saved me. How can I
be ashamed of my Savior, my Lord, who laid down his life for me?
and done me good and saved me. Saved me. What was it, Polycarp
who said the same thing when he was 85 years old? And the
emperor said, deny him and we'll let you go. And he said, I've
served him for 85 years and he's done me no wrong. How can I now
deny him who left me and gave himself for me? And so he let
them put him to death. for Christ's sake, because he
wasn't ashamed then, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. God exposed the sin of Isaac.
It became exposed. It was brought to life. And yet
God, in sovereign mercy, had done it and protected him from
his enemies, from the harm of his enemies, so that Abimelech,
once he found out that Rebekah was his bride, he said, any one
of you, my people, touch him or his bride, his wife, you'll
be put to death. And then we're told in Genesis
26 verse 12 that Isaac sowed in that land and received in
the same year and hundredfold and the Lord blessed him. The
Lord blessed him. Why didn't Isaac just do that
sin? Didn't he do something shameful?
Sure he did, but God delivered him. God was merciful, brought
him into the light and God blessed him because God would be merciful
to whom he will be merciful. God will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious. And so he prospered Isaac because
God loved him and God would bless him and he caused him to increase
in riches. But in doing that, he became
the envy of the Philistines that were there. Look at the end of
verse 14. The Philistines envied him. They looked at his substance
and they didn't like it because he was blessed and they weren't.
They planted in the field right next to him, and theirs didn't
yield a hundredfold, but his did. God had done it. Verse 16,
and Abimelech said unto Isaac, go, go from us, for thou art
much mightier than we are. And so God providentially was
leading Isaac away from there. And God said to him, I'll lead
you. You go. You stay in the land.
Don't go down to Egypt. I'll provide for you. I'll tell
you where to go. And here, God was opening it up where he was
sending him. He was opening it up there. And so there's a spiritual picture
here, and this for us, it's that when God prospers us by His grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ, through Him doing it, not through us
through diligence and the law and disciplining ourselves, but
when God will do it, He'll grow you in grace and He'll drive
that wedge between you and this world. He'll do it. He'll drive
that wedge between you and this world in a manner that we could
never duplicate. God does it in grace. Not by
the works of the flesh, but in grace, he does it. James says
this to us in James 4.4, ye adulterers and adulteresses. That's our
nature. We are adulterers and adulteresses
by nature. We would commit spiritual adultery
against our God if left to the strength and power of our own
nature. And so he says, you adulterers and adulteresses, Know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. How does He break us from that
love of the world and the love of the applause of the world?
He grows us in grace. He prospers us in the things
of Christ so that He separates us by His power. by His glory,
by His strength, and He delivers us from that embrace of this
world and our embrace of the world. He does that work by His
grace and power so that it's all to the praise and glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the next verses, 17 and
18, we see Isaac's troubles are not over. They're not over yet. There's gonna be some more growing
some more some more sorrow here so verse 17 Isaac departed from
there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar now he's
in the valley of Gerar and he dwelt there and Isaac digged
again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of
Abraham his father for the Philistines had stopped them after the death
of Abraham and even though Abraham had an oath with them, and they
shouldn't have done that, but they stopped them up after Abraham
died, and Isaac called their names after the names by which
his father had called them." All right, he's walking in the
footsteps of his father. He's being conformed to the image
of Christ just like his father before him was, in the grace
of God. And so the sense here is that
Isaac is now low. It hurts to be rejected and despised
by this world. It does hurt in the flesh. There
are sorrows that do trouble us. Even Paul said, when we're smacked
in the face by the enemies, don't we burn? Don't we burn in our
flesh? Doesn't that make us want to
get them back? or do something or see them brought to justice
for what they're doing, we burn too, right? But that's not what
we're called to do. And so it hurts to be despised
and rejected by the flesh and carnal man who won't hear what
you're saying and speak to you like you're some criminal, some
enemy. And all you're doing is just
living faithfully in the Lord and they're rejecting you. And the picture here of him dwelling
in this valley is that he's now in a low place. He's in the valley. He's in a low place. He's not
high up on the mountain. He's in a low place, far removed
from the heights and the comfort of Lehiroi, where he enjoyed
the comfort of God. He's in a strange place, and
things are different here, and he's in a low place in the valley. He's received providential blessings
from God that have now brought him into rejection and being
put out by the world. It's hard. He's a man of sorrows
here. And God's purpose in this is
what? He's causing him to seek the
comfort of God. He's not finding any comfort
in the world, so he begins to seek that comfort that he once
had in Lehiroi. And so he begins digging a well. He's looking for that comfort
of God. He misses that comfort and peace that he enjoyed in
God's presence. Verse 19, and Isaac's servants
digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water.
And that word means living water. He had tasted of that joy of
the Lord again. He tasted those cool, refreshing
waters of the Lord when he was hot and burning there. In verse
20, the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen,
saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the
well Esik, because they strove with him. And Esik means strife.
And they digged another well, and strove for that also. And
he called the name of it Sitna. And Sitna means hatred. And so
in this world, you're going to have strife, because this world
hates God, and hates his gospel, hates his Christ, and hates his
people. And they're going to hate you. I'm going to hate you
because of it. This is what our Lord tells us,
because the works of the flesh and the flesh of man is never
satisfied. He's going to look to inflict pain and sorrow upon
you. But our Savior said, and he's
a man of sorrows, what our Savior did, he didn't come to be ministered
unto, he came to minister, to be a servant, a servant of God
for the life and salvation of his people. And our Lord said
in John 15 verse 18, If the world hate you, ye know that it hated
me before it hate you. If ye were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore,
because I chose you, because I love you, the world hateth
you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not
greater than his master. We're not going to get away with
anything that Christ has gone through. If we're his, we're
going to experience that to some degree. And he says, if they've
persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they receive my
word, they'll receive your word. It's as simple as that. But all
these things, well, they do unto you for my name's sake. That's
why they're doing it, right? Samuel, when Samuel was rejected,
he said, they haven't rejected you, Samuel. They're rejecting
me for my name's sake. because they know not him that
sent me." And so the only surprise when you're persecuted by the
world for Christ's sake, the only surprise is when they don't
persecute you. Because he tells us there will
be persecution, there will be trouble, there will be difficulties
in times of darkness. They're going to go through it.
Even the Apostle Paul He said it this way. He was no stranger
to hatred and persecution. He said to the Corinthians, 2
Corinthians 4, picking up in verse 7, he said, but we have
this treasure. What's the treasure? this gospel,
this redemption, this life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the knowledge
of these things, His Holy Spirit being born again, living again,
this treasure in earthen vessels, in weak fleshly vessels which
do not receive the things of God. It's only by His Spirit
that we know Him. Why? That the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. We go down into the valley, but
we're not destroyed. always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. And what he's saying there is
that without these sorrows, without these trials, without these manifold
temptations, the life of Christ, the power of Christ, the truth
of Christ, all these things would not be manifested in us to the
same degree and understanding that we receive it through these
things by the grace of God, through his gospel and spirit, we wouldn't
know these things to the same degree, is what he's saying,
without these. Remember, God predestinated us
to conform us to the image of his son, Jesus Christ. For we
which live, Paul goes on to say, are always delivered unto death
for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us,
but life in you. And that goes to what? Paul was
saying at the beginning of that letter in 2 Corinthians that
the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God is for your
comfort. If I go through a trial and it
slays this flesh, and it brings me low, it actually works to
the benefit of Christ's bride. It's for your good. It's for
your life. It's for your benefit. Because then I can speak to these
things with understanding, having gone through the experience of
them. And the same thing with you. When you go through trials,
and you go and have sorrows and hard times, and you see and learn
the grace of God through that, That's now something you can
share with others according to the grace. Was it in Ephesians
4 thing? That we speak to one another
according to the grace, wherewith we ourselves have received that
grace. And that comes through experiencing these trials and
sorrows, so that you can now speak to one another with that
same grace that you received. So that death in you, that slaying
of the flesh in you, works to life and benefit your brethren
who are now benefited by the grace of God in you in that sense.
Then again, our Lord tells us, in the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And
so he strengthens us. We seek him and he strengthens
us. We're digging those wells, looking for his word of comfort,
and he gives it to us. But we go through sorrows and
hard times. Next, our Lord gives Isaac a
respite from the strife. Thankfully. And he does that.
It's not always. We're not always going through
valleys of darkness. Verse 22, it says, he removed
from there and digged another well. And from that they strove
not. And he called the name of it
Rehoboth. And he said, for now the Lord hath made room for us.
And we shall be fruitful in the land. And so Rehoboth means room
or spaciousness. He's given us some space from
the pressure and the hatred of our enemies. And so God gave
Isaac this rest from the attacks. And it does, it pictures that
time of peace when we've gone through a trial, sometimes a
long season of trial. And then there's that peace.
And you can reflect on it and see how the Lord has been gracious
to you and kept you through all that. and provided for you and
strengthened you in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I see when
I look at this, I look at that experience there traced out for
us in Isaac, it's a form of chastening. And chastening is not necessarily
because you did something bad, although we could always look
to something foolish we've been doing. But not all chastening
is to punish you. In fact, no chastening is to
punish you ever. It's not punishment. He's chastening you because,
again, he's conforming you to Christ. If Christ suffered, we're
going to suffer. And it was good in that sense. And so what our Lord does is
for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness.
Hebrews 12, 10. And verse 11 of that same chapter
says, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. And so, for your encouragement,
brethren, the Lord tells us that there is chastening, there are
sorrows, there is suffering, but it's for your profit. It's
for your good. It's a chastening that is for
your profit. Not the way our fathers chastened
us, who did it according to their pleasure, but God does it for
your good. James 1, 2-4 says, My brethren,
count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let
patience have her perfect work. that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing." They were made stronger in the body of Christ
by His grace and power there. Now, ultimately, Isaac was led
on to another well, the last well we're looking at here, Beersheba.
Verse 23 and 24, he went up from thence to Beersheba, and Beersheba
is the well of the oath. And the Lord appeared unto him
the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father,
Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply
thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. the gospel. He's repeating the
promise, his promise there once again. And he comforts Isaac
in it. He restores Isaac again after
that long season of trials. He comforts him again. Verse
25, and Isaac built an altar there and called upon the name
of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants
digged a well. Now it's at this point that his
enemies from Garar seek him out and they want to reconcile. They
realized they made a mistake, they were too hard, and they
shouldn't have sent him away because God had blessed them,
they saw it, and so they asked, can we have an oath? Can we just
make an oath that there will be peace between us, that we'll
not fight here, we'll not do each other harm? And so Isaac
does, and they have a feast that night, they eat, and they rise
up the next morning, and they go away in peace. And we never
hear of that troubling Isaac again from Gerard there. And
verse 32 and 33, it came to pass the same day, after those men
left, that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the well
which they had digged and said unto him, we have found water. And he called it Sheba, which
means the well of the oath, Beersheba. That's what it became, Beersheba
until this day. And God had repeated that gospel
to Isaac. And that's where he worshiped
God. God ordained that gospel of peace
for you, brethren. And in hearing that, and being
brought through these trials, and seeing the hand of your God
through the redemption of Christ repeatedly providing for you,
and delivering you, and strengthening you, and keeping you, It causes
us to worship him, by his spirit and grace, to worship him in
spirit and in truth. Because it's all of his work,
because he chose us. The high roy, he saw us and chose
us in Christ. And so this peace that he made
with his enemies, they didn't trouble him anymore, but this
well wasn't even dug yet when all this happened. And it just
shows us that Isaac was there walking by faith that whole time. He's walking by faith, leaning
upon the promises of God. And the oath was made, and the
promise was given, and he worshipped God by faith. And then that well
was dug. And it's a picture there of the
faith which our Lord gives us, here and now. By grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. And so God's oath, or his promise
to his people, to crush the head of the serpent and the seed of
the serpent, is true. And it's been fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you that believe him, as
Christ said, you shall be raised up from the dead. when Christ
comes again to redeem these bodies. Not this time, not in sin and
weakness. This time, He's coming in power and in glory. And He
shall raise us up to be forever with the Lord. And so, our God
who made that promise to us never forgot it. all the way through
all our fall and all our sin and all our darkness he never
forgot that promise he never steered away from that promise
he redeemed us by Christ and so we know he's not forgotten
that promise that promise the fulfillment of that to its fullness
still stands to this day God's not changing at all and so The
relevance here to you and me, brethren, is that God remains
faithful to us in Christ. He's bringing us through this
life. We're walking in the footsteps
of Abraham and Isaac. And Jacob, we're going through
that and learning these lessons through these wells of his deep
grace and power. And he's keeping us, right? And we see, we've been seeing
how the Lord is sovereign in all these things. He raises up
the enemies when it's time. He puts the enemies down and
silences them when it's time. And he's the one who brings all
these trials and temptations for our profit. for our good
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You that keep looking to Christ
and keep coming to Christ, that's because God's in it and he's
not left you. He's not left you. Now, it's just like he said to Isaac,
sojourn in this land and I will be with thee and will bless thee.
Now, in Romans 5, let's go there, Romans 5, and we'll wrap this
up. Romans 5 verse 1, 1 through 5. Therefore, Paul writes, Romans
5, 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand. and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh
not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Isaac was blessed of God. Yes,
he went through that but he he was blessed of God going through
the same experiences that God gave to Abraham and how God dealt
faithfully with Abraham. He did the same thing for Isaac
and we brethren by the same token of grace are given these same
experiences in Christ. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Amen.