Exodus, I'm sorry, Genesis 25. Go there with me. Genesis 25.
I've been reading Genesis just for my own enjoyment and profit.
And as you know, we've gone through a few things here and came to
this chapter 25. Did not intend to deal with this
as a the type of Christ, but it so blessed me that I thought
it would be good for us to look at it. Read verses 19 through
23 with me. Genesis 25. These are the generations
of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac
was 40 years old. when he took Rebekah to wife,
the daughter of Bethul, Syrian, the Danrem, sister to Laban,
Syrian. Isaac entreated the Lord for
his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together
within her. She had twins, you know. And
she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire
of the Lord, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in
thy womb, two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels,
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger. This is another type of Christ
who is Isaac, the beloved son, and all of his people are his
bride. But this is such a good picture of salvation, what happens
to everyone whom Christ is formed within. When the Son of God,
He said, they shall hear my voice. Christ is the seed, isn't it?
When He knows us, whom He did foreknow, He comes to in time
and reveals Himself to and implants the seed, the word of truth,
the gospel within every dead sinner that he's chosen, and
they live, they have life in them, like Rebecca. And they
have two manner of people in them. And then the war begins. The struggle begins. That's what
this is all about. Now this story begins with the
father and his beloved son, doesn't it? In verses 19 and 20, these
are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat
Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old, a grown
man. This is the father and his beloved
son. Salvation, the word, the gospel,
the truth, the Bible is all about God who sent his beloved son
into the world to save sinners, a people given to Christ in a
covenant before the world began. God the Father. God had one begotten,
only begotten, well-beloved son, didn't He? The Lord said that
to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son. He said it twice,
didn't He? Whom thou lovest, and offer him
on a mount as a burnt offering unto me. That's Christ. Isaac represents Christ. He was
the son of promise. God promised Abraham a son, didn't
He? And Abraham waited. and waited. And God cannot lie. That son is coming. He's going
to come. Son of promise. Well, Abraham,
you remember, thought, we can't wait. Hagar and Sarah said, we
need to do something. So they, together, they They
got with Hagar and produced a son. That's of the flesh, isn't it?
God rejected. That's not the promised one. That's not the Son of God, what
you do. This is the Son I promised. Christ
was called the woman's seed, wasn't He? The promised one.
Isaac was a miracle because Sarah was barren. Sarah was old. Sarah was, what, 89 years old? That's not possible for a woman
that age who's barren to have a child. Well, she did. And she
laughed. And that's another story. She
said, God has made me laugh. That's what Isaac means, laughter.
And she had a son, a miracle son. Well, Christ is born of
a virgin. Miracle. Behold, he said, I'll
show you a sign in Isaiah 7. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son. This is the Son of God. The only
Son. Only Son. Christ is the only
begotten. As said, Ishmael was a son that
Abraham and Sarah and Hagar got together and produced. But Christ is the only Son of
God. And so was Isaac. Look at verse
4 of Genesis 25. Verse 4 says, The sons of Midian
and Ephah, and Eper, and Hanak, and Abida, and Elah. These are
all the children of Keturah. They were called his wife, but
verse 6, it says they were sons of the concubines. These were
illegitimate children. Ishmael was not Abraham's son. These weren't Abraham's sons.
Were they? Abraham had one son, and God,
through a miracle, produced this son, Isaac. And Jesus Christ is God's only
son. And all His other sons come from
Him and Him alone. You understand that? He's the seed, and we are His
seed. He shall see His seed. and be
satisfied. That's Christ being one. And we're the seed. Not the flesh.
Children of the flesh. But the children of the promise.
Children of the woman's seed. Christ. You understand that,
don't you? Is that important? That's true. Alright? So Isaac
was the miracle son. The only son. In Isaac shall
thy seed be called. In Christ are the people of God
called. And number with him. And look
at verse 5 of chapter 25. Abraham gave all that he had
unto Isaac. It says in verse 6, he gave some
gifts to these others and God's tender mercies. over all His
works. And what does anyone have that
have not received from the hands of our Father? He's not their
Father, but He is their God, and He's good. And His tender
mercies are over all. And He gives everything, everything
that the sons of men have, God gave it to them. But He gave everything to one
son, Isaac, didn't He? John the Baptist said, The Father
loveth the Son, hath given all things into His hand. Christ
said, As thou hast given Me power over all flesh. He said, God hath given Me authority
over all. Come unto Me. All fullness is
in Him. All salvation is in Him. All
riches are in Him. All mercy, all grace, everything
is in His hands. You come to Christ. He's the
heir of all things. And you'll be a joint heir with
Him. Isaac had it up. Alright? Isaac had a son, a bride given
to him. Look at verse 20. Isaac was 40
years old, he took Rebecca to wife. Now you know the story,
don't you? It's wonderful. Right before
this, chapter 24, go back there, chapter 24. Right before this
is the story of Abraham telling his servant to go find a bride
for my son Isaac. You know the story, don't you?
Look at chapter 24, verse 4. Thou shalt go unto my country,
my kindred, and take a wife. Thou shalt take a wife unto my
son. This is the father saying to
the servant, go to my people, God's chosen people, God's elect,
in him, and you will take a bride for my son. They'll be my son's
bride. Sounds awful certain, doesn't
it? Sounds like the Father is disordering this. Purposing all
things. Sounds like it's sure to come
to pass. It is. This bride was betrothed by the
Father. Betrothed. Arranged. This marriage
was arranged. You know, true marriage is made
in heaven. It really is. What God joins
together, no man will ever put asunder. The Bride of Christ
from His from the son. But the father betrothed this
bride to him. Well, the servant represents
the preacher of the gospel, doesn't he? That old servant. He never gives his name. Never
tells his name in this church. Why? Because it's not important.
Not at all. Who's important? The son. And
he goes down, and that servant goes down to find this bride.
Where is she? She's in a heathen land. He said
in Ezekiel 36, your father was a Hittite, your mother was a
Hivite, you're a heathen, you're a Gentile. In sin did your mother
conceive you, heathen. But God said, they're my people,
Gentile. But he sent this servant who
represents a preacher of the gospel. And he said in verse
7, the Father said, the Lord God of heaven, will send his
angel and you will take a bride for my son." And I have to be
careful not to get stuck here in this chapter. But this servant
didn't go down there and ask anybody who wanted to be a bride,
did he? He didn't offer Isaac to anybody. In fact, Abraham said before
this, you're not going to bring my son down there. You're going
to bring her to him. Isaac had already been offered
on that mountain. Now he's a 40-year-old man. He
ain't begging for a wife. He had not offered to anybody
and everybody, but the Father said, you will take a bride.
And the angel of God is our Holy Spirit of God, who takes a servant
of God, a preacher of the gospel, with the gospel of Christ. And
all his servant did, you know the story, all his servant did
was say, my master has a son. And he had given him everything. And he's altogether lovely. And
he gave her some tokens. He said, in his hand were all
the Master's goods. All of them? Did he have everything
to show to her? Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. There's some of them. He said,
these are the things in my Master's. She was sought by the servant,
by the angel of the Lord. She was bought. There were some
gifts given to her. She was brought. She was brought, she was taught,
the long trip and all the way, you know what they were talking
about? The son. Now what's he like again? Rebecca
would say, what's he like? And before that, she's with her
family and the servant said, I can't eat, I can't tarry, I
came here for one reason, to tell my story, to tell my errand,
sent by my master, sent by the father to find a bride for his
beloved son. Now, this is my story. And they came to her and said,
Rebecca, will you go with this man? Will you go with this man to
meet this son of Abraham whom you've never met before, whom
you've never seen? You know what she said? I'll
go. Immediately. She said, I'll go. In fact, her
cousin left her father and her mother and her half and her kindred
to go to a play to see a man she'd never seen before. God
made her willing right there. And thy people, Psalm 110, says
that shall be willing in the day of thy power. What is the
power of God? The gospel. What is the gospel? Concerning
God's Son. Now God hath given all things
in His hand, and God hath given Him, Christ, a bride, and they
will come to Him. But you know what about that
bride, every one of them? They're barren. Look at verse
21 in our text. Isaac entreated the Lord for
his wife because she was barren. We have some women in here, barren,
never had children. Well, that's okay. If you have Christ in you, you
don't need children. Oh, my. Christ is all. But you
know, the principal women and the children in the covenant
all were barren, every one of them. Sarah was barren. Rebecca said, I'm the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Right? Abraham's wife was barren,
Sarah. Isaac's wife, Rebecca, was barren. Jacob's wife, Rachel, was barren. Hannah was barren, and on and
on it goes. She was barren, okay? But she was given to Isaac, and
she's going to get life from Isaac. She's barren, and Isaac,
you know, Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she
was barren, and the Lord gave her life. Why? Through Isaac's prayer, she was
given life. And Christ, why do we live? When does salvation come to one
of God's elect? When God says so. See, the Spirit
bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell the sound
thereof. When is the seed planted? When does conception take place?
We don't know, do we? God does. But as soon as that
seed is implanted, life comes. What is the seed? It's crying.
It's crying. It's His Word. He said, My sheep
want to hear My voice. He said, I'm going to call them
from death to life, and you have to eat. quickened who were dead
and trespassing. How were you quickened? The seed
came. The gospel came. Yes. Oh, you're
just preaching a sermon. Yes, I am. But God takes this
word, this message, this same old message of Christ and Him
crucified and implants it in a dead heart. And if God in the
fullness of time, if God, if they're one of God's own, He's
going to open blind eyes, deaf ears. They're going to hear what
they've never heard before. Who? They're going to see whom
they've never seen before. They're going to feel what they've
never felt before. Salvation's a miracle. Natural
birth is a miracle, isn't it? Mindy and I thought, like so
many young people, we'll wait a while and then we'll have children.
Huh. It's not up to you to say it. Is it? You know, we've got things to
do and places to go and people to see and then we'll decide
then we'll have children. It doesn't work that way. God says, I make a love. We found that out, didn't we?
And we finally thought, Mandy's barren. And she was, wasn't she? Who else? We both submitted to
that. There's nothing we can do. If the Lord gives us a child,
it's His will. It was His will. And salvation's a miracle. Birth is a miracle, isn't it?
Conception is a miracle. That's when it began. And they
say that a heart beats after, what, 16 days or something like
that, or less. Somebody tell me. It's real soon.
The heart starts beating. That's how you know there's life
in there. Salvation's a hard work. Salvation's a miracle.
Mindy and I were talking about some that we have a great burden
for. And, you know, with man it's impossible.
I preach sermon after sermon after
sermon after sermon. I can't convince anybody of anything.
I can't break anybody's heart. I can't give eyes to anybody. I can't give ears to anybody.
I can't do it. God alone must and can. It's a miracle. Salvation
is a miracle. One person has their heart broken
over sin. It's a miracle. If one person
sees their need of Christ, it's a miracle of God. It's a miracle
of God's grace. An undeserved miracle. You're
looking at a miracle. I am a miracle of God's grace.
They said of me when I was a teenager, he's hopeless. That's right. It's a miracle. You have loved
ones, don't you, that you think they're so hard-hearted, they're
so steeped in this world, young people that the world has them
in bondage and captivity, and they won't hear a word you say,
they won't hear a word that I say, they won't hear they're barren,
they're dead, they're lifeless, and no human being can convince
them otherwise. Oh, but God. Sometimes, bless
his holy name, in time, takes that young person that sat there
for so long, hard hearted, can't wait to get out of here. And
a miracle of God's grace comes. Christ speaks to them. And they're
hearing His voice. And that old proud heart begins
to break. And those blind eyes begin to
see. And those deaf ears begin to
hear. He's talking to me. Yes, I'm the sinner. Oh, is Christ
the Savior? I need Christ. Oh, I never needed
Him before, but I need Him now. You reckon God will have mercy
on this sinner? That's a miracle. I pray for
a miracle to happen in our midst. Well, it did. Isaac came to Rebekah. She can't produce life. She can't
give life to herself. There's nothing in her. In her
flesh dwelled no life. No seed. She cannot produce light. But Isaac came and knew her,
like Adam knew his wife Eve, and prayed for her. And God sent
and put his seed in her. This is a glorious picture of
how the salvation begins. All right? And she now has life
in her. Rebecca's not barren anymore.
She has life in her. Her womb was dead. Now it's full
of life. Oh, is it full. She has two twins in her. And this is how
you know she has life. Okay? Look at verse 22. The children
struggled within her. All of a sudden, one morning,
she wakes up, and boom! You ladies, many of you have
been through it. Boom! What was that? Boom, boom! And it starts, and for nine long
months. You remember, don't you? Do you
remember? Oh, you think, is this ever going
to end? pain, the suffering, the sickness. You have cravings. Isn't this
a wonderful picture? You have cravings you never had
before. You're hungry all the time. Things make you sick you didn't
make you sick before. Isn't that a good picture? When
life was at the end, this world makes you sick. You were never
sick before. when this new creature is created
in. There's two persons in her, verse
22. She said, I believe the Lord
has given me life. I believe He's enabled me to
conceive. I believe there's life in me,
but why is this happening? What is happening to me? Why
am I thus? Why is this going on? What is
going on within me? Why is this a struggle? I thought
when I had children, they'd all be just wonderful. Just all just
be wonderful. As soon as life can see, I thought
it was going to be happy, happy, happy all the time. No. Sickness
and pain and suffering. Isn't that what the Lord told
Eve in the beginning? And sorrow. Why is this happening? And she
inquired of the Lord privately. Now Isaac entreated the Lord
for her and the Lord gave her life, okay? Now what's she doing?
She's entreating the Lord. You know who's going to be saved? God, who Christ called to the
Father for, didn't He? Father, forgive them. That's
who He saved. That's whom He implants the Gospel.
And you know what they do after that? Father, forgive me. They
call, they cry, they intrigue the Lord, and they say to Him,
why am I this way? If I belong to You, if I'm a
child of God, why am I like I am? I thought all my troubles would
be over. If you saved my soul, have mercy
on me. But now, it seems like all I do is struggle. Is that
you? You see, before Rebecca had life,
there was no struggle. It's all just fine. What's she
think about? Eating, drinking, buying, selling,
building things and stuff. Now she has two people inside
her. There's a war going on. One of them God loves. The other one God hates. One
of them is the Son, elect God. The other one is reprobate. One
of them is going to live forever. God says, I'm the God of Jacob. The other one said, I'm going
to cast him out. One of them is in the covenant. The other one sold his birthright
right after this. Esau said, I don't want anything
to do with God or that birthright. Just give me a bowl of beans.
All I care about is my belly. That's what Esau said. But Jacob said, I want the birthright. two manner of people within. Why am I thus? Turn to Romans
7. If you didn't know, I was going
to turn there. Surely you did. Romans 7. Why am I thus? You see, when salvation comes,
and it comes by the Spirit of God taking the Word of God, Scripture
says we're not born of the will of the flesh or the will of man
blood, or the will of the flesh, or the will of man, were born
of God. And Christ is the Word, the seed. James 1.18 says, Of
His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. Peter said,
Being born again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible. The
Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. This is the
Word which by the Gospel is preached. The Word of God is sent, the
Gospel is sent, and when life begins, the struggle begins. Paul said in Romans 5, he said,
I was alive without the law, without the Word one time. He
said, I thought I was righteous. I thought I was good. I thought
I knew God and this and that and the other. He said, but when
the law came, when the Word came, when Christ came, when God, when
Christ spoke to me, I died. Paul never had any trouble with
his flesh before. He thought he was blameless.
Didn't he? He said, but when God sent the Word, when Christ
spoke to me, my troubles began. He had a thorn in the flesh all
his days. And Romans 7 is what every single child of God feels
and goes through when the gospel, when Christ knows them. And they know Him. Now, verse
14, Romans 7. It says, We know the law is spiritual. We know God is holy. We know
Christ is holy and righteous. But I'm carnal. I'm sinful. He didn't think that before,
did he? Paul didn't think that. Saul of Tarsus didn't think that.
He said, I'm blameless. Now he thinks, that ain't nothing
but sin. Now he says, it seems like all
I can do is sin. Verse 15, that which I do I allow
not. What I do I don't want to do. What I would do I don't do. What I hate is what I do. What
I love, I can't seem to do. What's wrong with me? Why am
I thus? But now, verse 16, He said, Then
if I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that
it is good. Now then, it's no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. There's this old man in there.
God doesn't remove this old man when new birth takes place. He doesn't remove this old man.
He's still there. But 2 Corinthians 6, it says
he's perishing. He's perishing. 2 Corinthians 4 says the outward
man is perishing but the inward man is renewed day by day. This old man within us does not
go away. God does not renovate the house. He has to
tear it down. He has to kill this old fellow. He is dead and dying is what
he is. But he's always there. Always there. Struggling. But
there's a new man created in the image of Christ Jesus. Look
at verse 18 of Romans 7. I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. In me. To will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. The good
that I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that
I do not. Now if I do that, I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin, this old man that dwelleth
in me. Now Paul's not passing the blame
like Adam and Eve. He's taking the blame. He said
that in me dwelleth no good thing. Me, nothing good about me. Nothing righteous in me. But
now, verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. But I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. You see, I see another law warned
in my memory. There's a new creature created
in Christ Jesus, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight,
creating the image of Christ. He's perfect. He's complete in
Christ, a complete man. He's growing, but he's not going
to change. He's just maturing, okay? He's
being renewed day by day, and someday he's going to bust out
of this old body. His old body is with the old man, going to
be laid in the grave forever. And that new man, like a worm,
turned into a butterfly. It's going to sprout wings and
fly into the face of God. And dwell with Him forever. Wherein
dwelleth righteousness, and nothing shall defile. No sin ever again.
Sinless creatures. Perfect. Just like Jesus Christ. And that old man is gone. done
with forever. Not going to be any sin, struggle
with sin ever again. Don't you look forward to that.
But right now, in this body, on this earth, we have this law
in our members of sin. Verse 21, warring against the
law of my mind. Bringing me into captivity, the
law of sin, which is in my memory. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I'll tell you who he is. I am
is. The I am is. As He is, so are
you. It's just a new man. Now go back. He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So with the flesh served sin. It seems like all I can do is
sin. But with the mind, I love God. Love God. With this new man, this new creature.
But until then, there's this war going on. That's what the
Lord said to Rebecca. We read it in Romans 9. Go back
to our text. In conclusion, verse 23, the
Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb. Two men are
people. I just tried to describe that, this war between the old
man and the new and the believer. But this is also, as Romans 9
says, this is election. The purpose of God according
to election. The children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. As it is written, it was said
unto her, Jacob have I loved. Well, who's Jacob? He's a sinner. But God loves
him. God chose him. What's Jacob's
hope? God. Sovereign election. Sovereign mercy. Blood. He was
given the blood atonement. Not Esau. Given a new heart. But you see, Jacob, this is a
picture, this is election of God's people. And we read that
in Romans 9. It's not of him that willeth,
is it? Of him that runneth or worketh.
No, no, no, no. It's of the Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord. And they both showed that one
wanted the birthright and the other one didn't. Esau said, I don't need God or
anything to do with God. Jacob said, I do. And he loved God, because God
loved him. And then the Lord said to Rebekah,
and I close, two nations are in that womb. Two manner of people
shall be separated. They're two separate people.
Sanctified, separated. One belongs to God, the other
one doesn't. One's loved by God, the other doesn't hate him. One's
going to live forever. He said, I'm the God of Jacob.
The other one's going to die. Is there this struggle within
you? If there's life, if Christ is
in there, there will be. And it's going to go on all the
day. Now look at this blessed promise. One people's stronger
than the other. We thank that old man. David
said, My enemies are strong. They're lively. They're old. This old man's been with me since
the day I was born. This old man's been with me now
for 66 years. Some of you 70 and 80, 90. He's still there, isn't he? You
know what God said? The elder shall serve the younger. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. He seems strong. No, sir. Romans 6 says, sin shall
not have dominion over you. Why? Christ said, I have overcome. You trust me. Look to me. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. That's why they're just struggling
there. And will not be ashamed. Your sins are not going to kill
you. That plague of your heart, he
said in Exodus 12, will not kill you. Why? The blood's on you,
and the Son of God's in you, and that old man serves a purpose. Humble you. Keep you broken. Keep you calling on the Lord.
And there's a new man in there. Why am I? I don't understand
this. Do you understand now? Why you're thus. And it's never
going to get any better. If not, it'll get worse. Do you
not look, and that says 2 Corinthians 4, the old man perishes. When
you look in the mirror at yourself, what do you think? Do you like
what you see? There was a time you probably
did, right? When you were young and beautiful,
didn't you? Look at me. You couldn't walk by a mirror
without looking at it. Now you don't want to look at it, right? Oh yeah, when you look at it
now, you young people can't get rid of it. But it's so. You look
in the mirror and say, oh, I'm getting so ugly. And then you
look in this mirror. A man looks in the face. His
face looks in this mirror of God's Word. You know what you
see? If you see yourself, you say, in my flesh, brother, no
good thing. I'm ugly. I'm dying. In me is sin. There's nothing but sin in me.
Turn to a page and try to find something good about you. You
can't find anything. It magnifies like He's magnified me. You see
every spot, every blemish, every gray hair or no hair. Look at
me. I'm dying. That's all I am. It's flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
But God, if He shows you another face, There's another face in here.
Keep looking. And you'll behold, as in a glass,
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Altogether lovely. You say, I
want to look like that. You know what God says? You do. You do. You just can't see Him. You will. We're going to strip
this flesh off you someday. We're going to lay it in the
grave. It's going to rot and never be seen again in this new
man. Creating the image of Christ.
And I love that story. It was Christiana and her companion
when they crossed the river and they looked at each other and
they shed those garments, those fleshly robes, and instead they
just looked at each other and stared. And one said to the other,
you look so beautiful. And she said, no, you look beautiful.
They both looked like Christ. And see that new creature's there.
And how you know it is you say, why am I this? Why is this going
on? What's happening to me? It's
never happened before. And God promised you. Isn't this
a wonderful promise? That old man, he serves a purpose.
He doesn't. He's going to be with you. He
needs to be with you forever. An enemy. You need an enemy.
Because when you're weak, you say, He seems stronger. But when
you're weak, Christ is stronger. And Satan, God will bruise Satan
under your feet. Okay. John, you come lead us
in singing.