Alright, read with me verse 1,
Genesis 28, And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged
him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the
daughters of Canaan. Now go back with me to chapter
24, where the Lord through Abraham gave the same charge to his servant,
who went to look for a wife for his son, for the Abraham's son. Chapter 24, verse 3, ìI will
make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God
of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites.î And there are other places. Chapter
26, verses 34 and 35. was 40 years old when he took
to wife Judah, the daughter of Berib. She was a Canaanite, Hittite,
Canaanite. And Bashamath, the daughter of
Elam, a Hittite, another Canaanite. And chapter 27, Rebekah, verse
46, Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the
daughters of Heth, these Canaanite daughters. If Jacob marries one,
I don't know if I want to live through it. How important could this be if
the Lord says this so many times? Over and over, don't marry a
Canaanite. And so it impressed me, so we
want to do a whole message on this subject. Do not marry of
the daughters or the sons. of the Canaanites. The Lord is
speaking to his people to tell their sons and daughters. Let
me tell you something from the beginning. When Isaac told this
to Jacob, Jacob didn't know the Lord yet. He's unsaved. He doesn't know the Lord. But
Isaac told him anyway, do not marry a Canaanite woman. And so this is speaking to those
who know the Lord, those who don't, daughters and sons of
those who know the Lord. It's about marriage, who to marry. The Lord is wisdom, and He tells
us, and He is merciful and gracious, and He
tells us for our good who to marry, who not to marry, or remarry. Some lose their husbands and
wives and remarry, so it's vital who we might remarry. He says
you want to be blessed like Jacob. Do what the Father says. Do what
he said. If not, you may end up like Esau,
who himself and his spouse were a grief to their parents. So you see, and many of you right
now are experiencing it. All right, now don't think for
a minute that the Lord is commanding some kind of purity of the Jewish
race. You know better than that. Those
of you who know the truth, there's no pure race. Abraham was the
first Jew. He was an Iraqi. He wasn't from
There were no Jews. The Jebusites, the heathen, the
Canaanites were in Jerusalem. That's who was there, Canaanites.
No pure race. The Lord is not commanding that.
Besides, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Just because
they're the sons or daughters of Abraham, that doesn't make
them a Jew. You know that. He is a Jew inwardly. The people
of God are those chosen by God who know God and worship God,
which most of the Jews do not. And whatsoever things are written,
Paul said, are written for our learning. This story, all of
this concerning Jacob, is for us, the sons of Jacob. The spiritual
people of God. Everything said to Jacob and
happened to Jacob applies to all of God's people. Sons of
God. Verse 1, he says, Thou shalt
not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Verse 2, Arise, go
to... There's another name I've been
working on. Pedanerim. Pedanerim. Pedanerim. Difficult. You try it. to the
house of Bethuel, my mother's father, thy mother's father,
and take thee away from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy
mother's brother." Your cousin. And he said, and God Almighty
blessed her. Go there looking for a bride, and God bless you. And so Isaac here gives a charge
and a command to his son. And they also make a prayer for
him and a hope for a blessing. And that's what I'm doing this
morning. A command from God's Word and
a prayer and a hope. A prayer and a hope. All right,
there's a passage, there's a chapter in the Bible that the whole thing
deals with marriage. 1 Corinthians 7. Go over there. 1 Corinthians
chapter 7. Go over there. It deals with
if you want to know about marriage and divorce, this is it. 1 Corinthians 7 is the chapter. All right, look at it. Let's
just read much of this without too much comment. 1 Corinthians
7, beginning with verse 1. Now, concerning the things whereof
ye wrote unto me. Apparently, someone wrote to
ask about marriage and divorce or virginity or whether or not
to be married. He said it's good for a man not
to touch a woman, nevertheless, to avoid fornication, that is,
sex outside of marriage. Let every man have his own wife. Let every woman have her own
husband. That's one man, one woman, isn't it? It's unbelievable that you have
to address this, isn't it? It's unbelievable. Did you ever think we'd come
to a point where you had to define marriage as being between a male
and a female? At any rate, he said in verse
3, Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, likewise
also the wife unto the husband. These are all commands for a
happy marriage. The wife hath not power of her
own body, but the husband likewise. Also the husband hath not power
of his own body, but we are for each other. Mind and body and
service. Be fraud ye not one another,
what is due, except with consent for a time, mutual, that ye may
give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and then come together
again, physically. tempt you not for your incumbency. But I speak this by permission
and not by command, not of commandment. I would that all men were even
as myself. What's that? Unmarried. Unmarried. And what's the word
I'm looking for? I forget the word. Chastity. But every man hath his proper
gift of God's, one after this man or another after that. I
say, therefore, the unmarried and widows. It's good for them
if they stay that way, if they abide even as I. If they cannot
contain, though, let them marry. It's better to marry than to
burn. But hold on. He's going to tell us in a minute.
It's not just to marry anybody. Oh, no. Verse 10. Under the married I command,
yet not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from
her husband. This is about divorce. But if she departs, Let her remain
unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. Let not the husband
put away his wife. To the rest speak I, that is,
those who have had a husband or wife leave. If any brother
hath not a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell
with him, let him not put her away. And likewise, a woman which
hath a husband that believeth not, if he be pleased to dwell
with her, let her not leave him. The unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife, the unbelieving wife sanctified by the husband,
or else your children are unclean, bastards, illegitimate. But now
they're holy. God instituted marriage, and
even between unbelievers, it is sacred and it's binding in
God's eyes. But, verse 15, the unbelieving
depart, let them depart, a brother or sister, It's not under bondage
in such case. God has called us to peace. Verse 27, go down there. Are
you bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou
loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But, and if
you marry, thou hast not sinned. If a virgin marries, she hath
not sinned. Nevertheless, now read this. Nevertheless, such
Married, that is, shall have trouble in the flesh, or unmarried.
But I spare you." And he says this, remember, brethren, the
time is short, it remaineth, that both they that have wives
be as though they had none. Some in here have lost their
husband. And my, my, my, my, it just seems like yesterday
you were married, a young couple. is now 55 years old today. She was 17 when we started dating. Oh, it's a vapor, isn't it? It's
a vapor. It seemed like yesterday we were
dating. Well, verse 30, and those that
weep as though they weep not. All right, down in verse 39,
the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth
But if her husband be dead, she's at liberty to be married to whom
she will. Only in the Lord. That is, only in the Lord. A believer in the Lord. Not the daughters or the sons
of the Canaanites. Does this apply to us? That's
what it said. Everybody. My pastor was just
that, a faithful pastor, under shepherd, a guide, a feeder of
sheep, bold, always faithful to God's Word, faithfully declaring
the gospel and faithfully warning us, just young people, all his
days, young and old. Some of you have been divorced. And hopefully none in here will
be divorced, but some have. And we need this faithful warning. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. That's the illustration. A yoke
is always two. Two animals. And if they're not
equal, they're pulling in different directions. And what have you
got? One's pulling this way and one's pulling that way. One's
pulling for the world and one's seeking the Lord. One worships,
hates God and one loves God. What have you got? A constant
struggle. No peace. No real happiness.
Tolerance. A physical relationship. This
is God's Word and it's for our good. God doesn't say things
to make us miserable. He says them for our mercy. Not misery, but mercy. He said,
I know my thoughts toward you, thoughts of peace. It's just
that you're too ignorant and too deaf to hear me. Genesis
6. Go back there. Genesis 6. This
is where the trouble started. It's where all the trouble started.
Genesis 6. In the beginning. And if you
want to know why the world is like it is, go back to Genesis
3. Right? Tells us why. Man's like he is,
woman's like she is, world's like it is. Genesis 6 talks about
marriage. There's the trouble. Verse 1,
it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, daughters were born unto them. The sons of God saw the
daughters of men. That was believers. Sons of God
are believers. Saw the daughters of men. in
general, girls in general, young women in general, and they were
fair. They were beautiful, so they took them for wives. That ought to be the last criteria
for a wife. You know, that's a pretty shallow
reason to marry somebody, because I'm telling you this, beauty is not outward. The Lord Jesus
Christ, there was no beauty about him that we should desire. Now what kind of husband is he? On the other hand, Absalom
was taller, flowing hair, valiant, Wild as a Red River steer, you
know? He's a sorry son of... Beauty is not outward. It's inward. True beauty is a
character. It's a mighty sorry reason to
marry somebody for beauty. Outward beauty generally generates
pride. And that's the ugliest thing
there is. Pride. Well, I'm getting ahead
of myself. The Lord said in verse 3, right
after that, after they started marrying these unbelieving women,
the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. In
other words, he was provoked. Adam and Eve, Seth and his wife,
Jared and his wife, Enoch and his wife, Noah and his wife,
they were not polygamists. One woman, one man, one woman.
And no mention of divorce either, until Moses came and our Lord
said, He just did that because of the hardness of heart to keep
men from killing their wives. Noah's sons, chapter 9. Noah
had three sons. Chapter 9, verse 18. The sons of Noah went forth with
the ark, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Ham. Well, you know about Ham. You know about Ham. Something
happened that he looked on his father's nakedness. Do you remember
that? And God cursed him. Something
bad happened there, at least in his mind. This is where that
started. Canaanites. Canaanites. Canaan is a son of Ham. Wickedness abounded. Let's see,
we don't need to read all this, but that's what happened there. It started something terrible.
Canaanites, over in verse 15 of chapter 10, Genesis 10, Look at verse 15, Canaan begat
Sidon, say with me now, this is to everybody here, don't let
me lose you. God wrote this. Canaan begat
Sidon, his firstborn head, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Gergesite,
the Hivite, and on down in verse 19, went to Sodom and Gomorrah,
the Sodomite. So you see who this is talking
about. You see who this is referring to? These Canaanites became wicked,
vile enemies of God. These were all the enemies of
God and the enemies of his people. Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites,
Amorites, hated the Jews, hated the truth, hated the God. And
somebody argues, but weren't we Gentiles? Someone argues,
well, aren't we all like that? Enemies? Our own wicked work? Weren't we all born that way?
Children of wrath even as others? Yes, we were. Such were some
of you. But God made you a Jew. Circumcised your heart. And now
you're not. You're a Jew. You're a child
of God. You. And so you tell your children. He warns us and our children,
until a person is born again, born of God, a Jew, don't marry
him. Don't be unequally yoked to him.
Don't seek one out. He told the command to Jacob
was, you go find one. That's the man. I've often thought,
if I was a young man, unmarried and needed to be, And I wouldn't
need to be. I needed to be. I wasn't given
that gift. No, I was given a gift. But if
I was that way, well, the Lord says, Go, Jacob. Go to my people. Who are God's people? Where are
they found? Where are God's people to be found? Well, I'll go to
a library. I'll go to some store where lots
of... No, no, no, no. Go where God's
people are worshiping. Go where the sons and daughters
of God's people are going to be. Jacob didn't know the Lord. He
didn't know the Lord. He's going to in about 30 minutes. Go to Rachel now. What did he say? Wait. Jacob. He told Jacob, go. He told Rachel, wait, your husband's
coming. Wait! Jacob is coming. Israel, your prince, the prince
of Galilee. Wait, I say. Now, the command,
that's the command to Jacob before he knew the Lord. And the command
still comes, Thou shalt not take a husband or a wife. to our sons and daughters and
older people, whoever, thou shalt not. You want to be blessed? You marry somebody that knows
the Lord. If you want to be a grief, have grief and misery, and disobey
Him, then you've got trouble. Nothing but trouble. And then he said, oh, in our
text, Genesis 28, He said, oh, his prayer was, oh, may God,
verse 3, bless thee and make thee fruitful and multiply thee
that thou mayest be a multitude of people. And oh, my greatest
prayer, son, Isaac said to his son Jacob, my greatest prayer
of all is God give you the blessing of Abraham, that God reveal himself
to you like he did to Abraham. Oh, Jacob, seek the Lord while
he may be found. Call on him. Now listen here,
oh Rachel, oh Jacob, God bless thee and God give you
the blessing of Abraham. I cannot tell you, I'm going
to try, but I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to be married
to a believer whose parents are believers. Very few people in
here have had this blessing like my family has. Both, when we
get together as a family, it's believers in Christ. There's
never, my mother's 80th birthday, 90th birthday, goodness gracious,
90th birthday, alright, Bob and Rebecca, Gabe and Hannah, dad
and mom, Brandon and Megan, All believers. Men and I. Our children. Carrie and Adam. Luke and Tracy. All believers. My brother comes. and brings his son who's dating,
not married, but dating, and they're shacking up, and their sons and daughters,
and it's not the same as them. It changes everything. We start
to pray, and most of us are praying from the heart to God. Well,
some wish they'd get it over and get to the food. Oh, boy. I know they all can't
be believers, but here's the thing. I wish I could tell you.
I just wish, I'm trying, the blessing to be had. You don't
know right now, but I do now. You just don't know. May the
Lord cause you to look for someone who knows Him, and may the Lord
cause you to wait on somebody that knows Him, Now I'm telling
you, if you're dating somebody or interested in somebody now
that's not interested in the Lord, and they won't come to
worship with you now, you can just about forget it
when you get married. I'm telling you the truth. Generally, when you really love
somebody, you'll do anything to marry them. I came because
I wanted that girl right there. And I kept coming because I wanted
that girl right there. I fell in love with her. Thank
God it caused me to fall in love with Christ before we were married. Then he wasn't going to marry
me. She was already a believer. She was not going to marry me
until then. And such is the same with some in here. The Lord blessed
to wait and seek out, seek out and wait and find a true believer. And God blessed it. and your
children, and your children's children. You think about the
family of Isabel and Sophie. You've got that five or six preachers. Now, that won't save them. That
won't save them. But boy, what an advantage it
is. And I'm so thankful my father was a preacher, but the Lord
had to deal with me personally like He did with Jacob. 2 Timothy
3, go over there. 2 Timothy 3, and I'll close here. I had so much more I wanted to
say. And you know the Lord is merciful. Some have disobeyed and married
unbelievers. Some of you, many in here, were
married before the Lord revealed himself to you. You and your
husband were unbelievers. And it's still sanctioned by
God. It's still binding. We just read that. And the Lord
is merciful, so merciful. We're all lost till found. But
some of us, oh my, wasn't the Lord merciful to you, Stan and
Sherry, to save you both, save you? That doesn't always happen
that way. The Lord saves whom He will. Often saves a man and
not his wife or a woman and not her husband. Often happens. And so he tells us that his believers
are responsible. And some have disobeyed that,
though. Some have married unbelievers, and the Lord saved that new spouse
anyway. Isn't he merciful? So merciful? Many have had bad marriages.
That in itself ought to be enough to tell us, don't do it again.
Oh, my. You want to be happily married?
Marry somebody that's like Jesus Christ. They'll never leave you.
They'll really love you, render due benevolence to you, and you'll
want to submit to them, not otherwise. And we should hope in the Lord's
mercy. We should, for our unbelieving spouses and children and all.
We should. The Lord takes pleasure in having
hope in His mercy, those who pray for them and seek their
salvation. But don't presume upon that mercy. Hope in His mercy, but don't
presume upon His mercy. Or in other words, here's this.
I'm going to do what I want to. I'm going to do what I want to.
Maybe the Lord will have mercy on that person. I'm going to
seek whom I will. Maybe the Lord will save them. That's rebellion. It will be
great mercy if He saves them. Great mercy. That's presumption. Well, and we don't have time
to read this, my time's up, but 2 Timothy 3 talks about the Canaanite
women and young men. This is them, 2 Timothy 3, verse
2. This describes them, lovers of
self, covetous, worldly, that is, thinking about things, not
God. Proud, boasters, blasphemers,
not glorifying God's name, cursing it, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy. In other words, here's the daughters
of Canaan, the daughters of the world, proud. Doesn't that describe
the people of this world? That's the clearest description
of the people of this world. Proud. I'm somebody. Look at
me. Aren't I something? Beautiful. We're the beautiful
people. God says you're ugly. That's
the thing God hates more than anything is pride. That's the
reason believers need to check that in themselves more than
anything. Watch for that. He'll bring you down. Hard, a hard lesson. Pride, attitude. It's a positive thing today,
isn't it? Don't they encourage that in
our children? Attitude. That means rebellion for a minute. I've got an attitude. Everybody with an attitude We'll
split hell open unless God has mercy on us. Here's the daughters
of Abraham. Humble. Meek. An attitude of humility. Shamefacedness. Shamefacedness. While I'm on the subject, I've
been waiting to say this. Facebook. We have no business displaying
our faces, our opinions, our thoughts, our families, and all
our private things to this world. It's none of their business.
Besides, God's people are ashamed of their faces. The angels who
are holy covered their faces. And that's another forum for
people to espouse their hatred of God and their opinion. There's
too much talk to that. It's a bad thing. There's other
means. I said it, didn't I? I can give
you 25 verses of Scripture that denounce that sort of thing. Shamefacedness. This is God's
women. Shamefacedness and sobriety. The daughters of Cain are loud.
The daughters of Abraham are soft-spoken. Swift to hear, slow
to speak. The daughters of Canaan are manly. The daughters of Abraham are
feminine women. Daughters of Canaan are independent.
I don't need you. I don't need anybody. I'm a self-sufficient. The daughters of Abraham are
totally dependent on the Lord their God and their husband. And they're happy about it. They're
a lot happier than the daughters of Canaan. I'm telling you. I'm
not telling you. God's telling you. The daughters
of Abraham are content and happy and provided for and loved. And they're going to be with
the Lord. Them and their husbands, if he knows the Lord. What a
blessed time that will be when that spouse of yours that you're
with all those years who knows the Lord through you and he or
he and she, but no male and female then, no husband and wife, but
you're standing there right beside each other. Oh, what mercy! And
your children. The Lord's telling us, you want
to be blessed, listen to me now. If you don't, then bring it all
on yourself. Bring it all on yourself. Did
I tell it right? Ishmael, in our text, Ishmael
said, these wives of Canaan don't please my father and mother.
So he said, I'm going to go get me a woman that will please them.
Did he divorce those women? I agree. You can't do that. But he did anyway. Whatever he
did, he went and found the daughter of Ishmael. Boy, if this isn't a lesson. Ishmael was against Abraham,
against Isaac. Ishmael seemed to be a son of
Abraham, but he wasn't. He was law, legal. So Esau said, I'll marry me a
religious woman. I'll marry me a religious woman.
Now she'll please my parents. She's no better than the daughters
of the Canaanites. She'll bring more grief on. I
know somebody real close that has two sons. One loves the Lord
and one doesn't. One's married to a believer and
the other's not. And I know them all. And I know
the wife of the unbeliever is loud and proud, and you hate
being in the same room with her. While the daughter of the believer is one of the sweetest women
on the face of the planet. Self-spoken. Just like our Lord. And this man has that exact same
thing. Nothing new, is it? Nothing new.
So God's command and my prayer for you is that you'll listen,
and though you don't know the Lord yet, seek Him and seek His
will and do His will, and the Lord bless you if you have His
Word on you. Did you hear me? Okay.