Yet, there was none who could
substitute for our Lord Jesus. He is Himself the substitute
for His people. No one else could redeem us.
No one else could save us. No one else could bear the wrath
of God in His own body on the tree. No one else had the might. No one else had the courage No
one else had the worthiness, the fitness to be our Savior
but the Lord Jesus. That ram caught in the thicket
by its horns certainly pictured our Savior in His might and in
His strength. And God said in Psalm 89, I have
laid help upon one who is mighty. and that is our Savior Christ
the Lord. Yes, Isaac was a... He was the willing sacrifice,
as was our Savior. And then, of course, Isaac was
the appointed heir of all things. Eleazar, you will remember, said
to Rebekah's father, Bethuel, back in Genesis 24, when he was
bragging on Isaac, he said, Abraham, my master, he says, he's put
all things into the hands of Isaac. And we know that God has
put all things in the hands of Christ Jesus. And if you would
honor God, you must honor Christ Jesus. He that honoreth not the
Son of God, honoreth not the Father who hath sent Him. And of course, we know that in
the book of Hebrews 1, in the second verse, it says that God
has appointed Him heir of all things. That's His reward for
finishing the work of redemption. Everything belongs to our Savior. Everything. You talk about the
throne of judgment, that's His. You talk about the throne of
grace, That's the same throne. You talk about the throne of
salvation. That's the same throne. You talk
about the throne of providence. That's the same throne. He rules. He reigns. He governs all things. In this passage of Scripture
that I read to you, isn't it amazing how the Lord tamed the
heart of the king of the Philistines? The Philistines were the enemies
of Israel. And yet, you see, God makes even
the enemies of His people. He can make even the enemies
of His people our friends. And so then we read that Abimelech
said, listen, he announced to all the people in his empire,
leave Isaac and Rebekah alone. Hands off. Well, who could govern
that kind of man except the mighty God? The Scripture says that
the heart of the king is in the Lord's hands, as the rivers of
water, and he turneth it whithersoever he will. And I would remind you,
these Philistines later, later, they would put Israel totally
out of business if they could, and yet God enabled the Israelites
to absolutely trample underfoot all the Philistines. And yet
here the enemy. And Isaac even, as he recognized
him, they said, you hate me. And yet, God controls the heart
of the king. And the king leaves him alone. And he makes a statue throughout
all the kingdom. Leave these people be. Don't
harm them at all. And let me tell you something,
nothing can harm you apart from God's full ordination Nothing
can hurt you, nothing or nobody, because all things are under
the government of our Savior. He does rule. That's the sweet,
sweet truth of the Word of God. He governs all things because
He's the heir of all things, having finished the work of redemption.
But Isaac, who is the son of Abraham, not only pictures our
Savior in his sonship, but he also pictures all of the children
of God. After all, if children, then
heirs. Heirs of God enjoin heirs with Christ Jesus. Romans chapter
8 and verse 17. And he pictures us in another
way. He is often associated with water from a well. Isaac benefits greatly from these
wells. Water is a picture of the Spirit
of God. Oil is a picture of the Spirit of God. A dove is a picture
of the Spirit of God, and so is water. And the water is also
a picture of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, the washing of the
Word. And throughout this chapter,
we're going to see these wells that Isaac, he either digs them
or he cleans them out, or his servants dig them or clean them
out. And he rejoices in this water
that the Lord gives him. And the Lord is Himself the water
of life to all of His people. And we rejoice. This is not contaminated
water. This is pure water. The water
of salvation as our Lord spoke to the woman at the well in John
chapter 4. He that drinketh of the water
that I will give him will be in him a well of water. A well
of water. and it springs up into everlasting
life. In this gospel of grace, we drink,
drink of the water of life tonight, drink freely. If you're a thirst,
if you're a thirst, you thirst for the Savior, you thirst for
communion with God, Do you thirst for forgiveness? Do you thirst
for righteousness? All of your thirst is to be satisfied
with this one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and drink
to your heart's content. You know, as I thought about
the wells, reading through here, five wells by name, I've never really seriously considered
Isaac in association with the wells of water. But it's pretty
obvious as I read this to you, and I know it's a lengthy passage
of Scripture, but I wanted to read it to you so that you would
recognize what I have recognized, that so often in the life of
Isaac, He is to be found at a well, a well of water. Not a cistern, but a well. Because you see, a cistern is
not running water. A cistern is that which catches
a rainwater. And you can irrigate and drink
it for a little bit, but there's no fresh water coming into it. There's no running water in a
cistern. You remember in the book of Jeremiah,
the second chapter, in verse 13, Jeremiah says, for my people,
he quotes the Lord of course, my people have committed two
great evils. They have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain, the fountain of every blessing, the water of
grace, the water of life, the water of righteousness. And secondly, they hewed out
cisterns but as if that weren't bad enough. He says they've hewed
out cisterns, broken cisterns. That's what he says that can
hold no water. They've forsaken God for broken
cisterns. And I thought about this. Here's
two important things, two very vital things. There are two kinds
of religion. There's biblical religion. That which is of God. Salvation
of God by grace. Salvation through the person,
the work of our Lord Jesus. His sufferings and His death
and His resurrection. Salvation that comes to the sinner
apart from any merit of their own. Salvation simply because
of the gracious purpose of God. And I say simply because of. There's infinite wisdom behind
this salvation, but to put it quite simply, it's all due to
the gracious, eternal purpose of God. That's the reason we're
saved this evening. If we're looking to Christ Jesus
only, if we have been prevented from perishing, if we have a
good hope through grace, that's biblical religion. That's what
that is. This is salvation from first
to last by God's grace. And this biblical religion, it
has an effect upon our lives. It sure does. So much so that
James says this, pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in
their affliction and to keep Himself unspotted in the world.
That is, if you have true biblical religion, you will care about
others. You will seek the good of others
even over your own good. Biblical religion means you're
less attached to this world and more attached to the Lord. But
over against biblical religion, there's a second religion, and
I'm going to call it broken religion. Just like it says here, broken
cisterns, as in Jeremiah chapter 2. There's biblical religion
and there's broken religion. And let's face it, let's just
be absolutely honest. Most of the religious houses
of worship in this world, they are but broken religion. There's no water there. There's
no water of life. There's no water of salvation.
It's broken. It's broken. Man's religion is
a broken cistern. No water. No gospel. No life. No salvation. No Christ. No Holy
Spirit. Can't save. Can't bring forgiveness. Can't make you righteous. What's
wrong with religion today? It's broken. It's broken. What's wrong with the majority
of churches in this city? It's broken. The churches are
broken. You see, biblical religion does
not set before you a broken cistern of dry, barren, lifeless religion. It doesn't do that. Biblical
religion sets before you water of life. Flowing. Flowing. It's living water. You know where it comes from?
You know where the origin of this water of life is? The very
throne of God. That's where it comes from. It
comes from God. God sends it. That's biblical
religion. And biblical religion is known
by the fact it proclaims the glory of God always. Always. Leaves no room for man's
credit. Well, let's focus in now on Isaac
the well-didger. We might say of Abraham, Abraham
so often is associated with altars because he built many an altar.
And we might say of Jacob, one of Isaac's sons, that he dwelt
in tents. But that which is so very, very
prominent in the life of Isaac was a well. First of all, the
well, it's called Lahairoi. And for this, I'll have you look
back to chapter 24 and look at verse 61. It's this one. the servant of Abraham is in
search of a bride for Isaac. And she has agreed to go with
this servant. Eliezer was his name, to go to
Isaac and to marry Isaac. Eliezer, he's been bragging on
Isaac. He's been bragging on his master's
son. He said, my master's given everything
to his son. You've got to come. You've got
to see him. He's magnificent. And so in verse
61, Rebecca, she arose. and her damsels, and they rode
upon the camels. They followed the man, and the
servant took Rebekah and went his way. And Isaac came from
the way of the well of Lahairoi, for he dwelt in the south country."
And I'll just read this too. Isaac went out to meditate in
the field at evening. He went out to pray. He went
out to worship God. But Isaac dwelt in the way of
this well, Lehiroi, which means, well of the living one who always
sees me. That's the full meaning. The
well of the one who always sees me. If you remember back in Genesis
chapter, 16, Hagar, when she had to leave and Ishmael, she
and Ishmael had to leave, they went out and the Lord opened
her eyes and she was at this well, Lehiroi. And she gave it
that name because she said, Thou God seest me. Thou, God, seest
me. Now those of you who are the
children of God, and I hope that's all of you, and those who are
watching by way of the Internet, this is a great comfort to us
as the children of God. And this is indeed a well to
stay near. This is the well of Lehiroi in
recognition of Thou, God, seest me. You see me. You see my condition,
you see where I'm at. One fellow one time said, sometimes
I feel like the Lord doesn't even know my address anymore.
Well, He not only knows your address, He put you at that address,
and He knows where you are at all times. Thou God seest me. And what could be more comforting
to a child of God than to have the understanding and the confidence
that the God of glory He sees me. He observes me. He knows
me. He watches over me. He's always
seen me in Christ Jesus. There never has been a time when
God has seen me out of His Son. In old eternity, He saw me. He saw me in His Son. You see,
this matter of the everlasting covenant of grace really is a
covenant without beginning. Well, how old is it? It's as
ancient as God Himself. God has always seen us. And He
saw what would happen to us in the vault. He purposed everything. He saw us fallen in Adam. And He saw us rescued in Christ
Jesus. And He sees us now. Oh, this
is a good place to be. A good place to be. Oh God, keep
us at the well of Lahairoi. Let me give you another reference. Chapter 25 and verse 11. Chapter 25 and verse 11. It came
to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac
and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi. There, he and Rebecca. Wow, what
a blessing, what a privilege. I'm right here at this well,
Isaac would say, and he would say to Rebecca, here we are honey,
under the watchful gaze of our God. Oh, what a blessing to be
here. And you who are God's children,
always realize and believe and have confidence, you're always
under the watchful, loving eye of your Heavenly Father. At the
well of Lehiroi. While He saw you in your sin,
in your filth, And in that time of love, He said, live. Ezekiel
16. Live. And He continues to watch
over you. So that's where Isaac is sojourning. And then, verse 1 says there
was a famine in the land. A famine. In the Bible, unless
I'm wrong, there are 13 famines that are mentioned in the Word
of God. Each one being a test from our
Lord. A test to His children. And, sometimes we pass a test
by His grace. A good many times we don't do
so well. Isaac, instead of staying under
the watchful eye of God, that is, at the well of Lehiroi, he
goes to Abimelech. Why would you go to a heathen
king? You've been out there fellowshipping
with God, worshipping God at the well of Lehiroi. And now
you're going to go to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. And
God says to him in the second verse, He appeared to him and
says, don't go down to Egypt. You know who did. His daddy. Abraham went down to Egypt. Got
in a mess of trouble for doing it. And that's where Sarah picked
up a handmaid for herself, a little slave Egyptian girl called Hagar. God said, don't go down there.
He said, dwell in the land, only dwell in the land where I will
tell you of. To dwell in the land means to
just stay there where I tell you. He said, as far as this
land, verse 3, I want you to sojourn in it. Big difference
between dwell and sojourn. To sojourn is to stop for a little
while, but then keep moving. On the other hand, to dwell means
to stay there. We sojourn in this world, right? Well, what about where are we
going to dwell? And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I'm not going to sojourn there. I'm sojourning here. I'm just
here for a little bit. And that's what God told Isaac.
He said, sojourn in this land. Don't stay here. This is not
your permanent abode. And let's all of us remember,
this is not our permanent abode. This is not where we're going
to live forever. We're just here sojourning. We're going to dwell in glory.
Be with the Lord forever. Well, God said, I gave it to
your seed. I gave it to you and I gave it
to your seed. Who is the seed of Isaac? The
same as the seed of Abraham. Our Lord Jesus. That's the seed
of Isaac. And from Him a multitude of people,
true Israel, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. But
He leaves, He leaves the well of Lehiroi. He doesn't go to
Egypt. And that's important. Because,
and I was thinking about this today, Abraham, he left the land
of promise. Jacob will leave the land of
promise. And Joseph will leave the land
of promise. You know who never left? Isaac. Isaac never left. God kept him
there. He kept him there. Well, he should have stayed at the
well La High Roy. The Lord knew all about the famine.
Do you ever go through a famine in your life? I mean, a severe
trial, a severe test? Well, of course you do. All of
God's people do. In fact, every day, you think
about this, every day is but a series of tests. And most of
them are very little. We don't even pay much attention
to them. But every once in a while, it's famine. Well, wait a minute. It can't separate you from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The Scripture says it
can. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God. Nothing can separate you from
the Son of God. Shall tribulation or distress
Or persecution? Or famine? It even says that
in Romans 8. It even covers that too. Or nakedness? Or peril? Or sword? Can anything separate you from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? No! He says, nay, in all
things you're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. The famine is not going to hurt
you. God can send a famine of His
Word. His Word. His Gospel in this
world. And I think He's doing that to
a certain extent. And men don't even recognize
it. They're in the midst of a spiritual famine. But you know what? We
aren't. We aren't. We got plenty to eat,
don't we? We have plenty to dine on. The
bread of life, the wine of the gospel. Well, let me go further. It's like I'm not going to make
it all the way through this message tonight. We'll pick up next Wednesday,
but let me give you this. Secondly, we've talked about
the well of Lahairoi. I want to talk to you about the
reopening of the wells that the enemy had closed up. Look at
verse 17. Verse 16, Anabimelech said unto
Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. So Isaac
departed thence, and he pitched his tent in the valley of Jerar,
and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells
of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father.
For the Philistines This is a terrible thing to do. They stopped them
up. They stopped them up after the
death of Abraham. And he called their names after
the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's
servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing
water. Does your Bible have a note there
beside verse 19? Mine does. And it says, living
water. Does your Bible have that? Living.
What is springing water? Living water. Living water. That's who Christ is. He's living
water. That's what the Gospel is. It's
living water. That's what the Word of the Holy
Spirit is to us. Living water. Not a broken cistern. Not something that's dried up.
You see, the broken cisterns of this world, they're dry and
barren, they can't help you any. But the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
is springing water. It's living water. Come on back
Sunday, there'll be some more living water here. What about
that? Come back, there'll be another
well. Another well. Reminds me of our Lord who, as
it were, reopened the well of living water which the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the scribes and the elders and the chief
priests and the Sanhedrin, they had stopped them up. They wouldn't go into the kingdom
of God. They didn't want anybody else
going to the kingdom of God either. The water was stopped by the
traditions of the fathers. and the ceremonialism of the
Jews. But our Lord Jesus on the great
day, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, He stood and
cried saying, If any man thirst, the high priest will pour it
out a pitcher of water. And as He did that in His ceremony
there at the closing of the Feast of the Tabernacles, our Lord
Jesus, He stood and He cried. He cried. He preached loud. I
don't like loud preaching. He cried. And he said, if any
man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water. Oh, what about that? What about
that? He opens up the wells that the
enemy had stopped up. And I tell you what, the enemy
of the gospel Even Satan himself. Oh, he's tried to stop up the
well of life. Oh, he'll try to stop it up over
here. And you know what the Lord will do? He'll open up a well
over here. And then maybe in time,
to fulfill God's purpose, that well of water seems to be stopped
up. And God says, hey, you can't
cut off my living water. I'll just have it somewhere else.
And I'll tell you what, if you don't want the living water,
if you don't want it, go without it then. But there are some people
that God will see to it, they've got to have it. They can't settle
for anything less. Oh Lord, give me the living water.
I can't go on without the living water. I can't continue without
the gospel of grace. Let others go to their broken
cisterns and just go into that dry bed of religious death. Lord, I don't want that. I want
living water. Living water. And that's what he gives us. You know, I bet you I can't finish
this message in five minutes. You give me five more minutes,
here we go. Thirdly, here's the well of esich,
strife and contention. Look back at verse 19. Isaac's servants digged in the
valley and found there a well of springing water. And the herdsmen
of Jerud did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is
ours! And he called the name of the
well Esek, because they strove with him. And you know what Isaac
said? Let's just dig another well.
Look at verse 21. They digged another well. In
other words, the attitude of Isaac was, I'm not going to fuss
over a well of water. The glory of God's not at stake.
The truth of God's not at stake. We're all going to die and leave
all of this behind. What are we going to argue over
a well for? A lot of people argue over a
well. They'll argue over a foot of
land. Let them have it. As long as
the truth of God's not at stake, the glory of God is not an issue. I tell you, the things of this
world, they aren't worth fighting over. Because we're all going
to leave. We're all going to leave it all
behind. Let somebody else fuss about it. We've got bigger things
to do. More important things to do.
So, then there's another well. Here's this well, verse 21, the
well of Sitna. They digged another well and
strove for that also, and he called the name of it Sitna.
Hatred, that's what that means. Esik means strive for contention. This one means hatred. Hatred. Make no mistake about it, people
of this world hate the water of life. In fact, from this word Sitna,
I'm told, we get the word Satan, diabolical. spiteful, malicious. But look at verse 22, here's
another well, the well of Rehoboth. And he removed from thence and
digged another well, and for that they strove not, and he
called the name of Rehoboth. And he said, for now the Lord
hath made room for us, we shall be fruitful in the land. I'll
tell you what, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. See, the One who spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall ye not
with Him freely give us all things? And then the last one, verse
23, He went up from Thins to Beersheba. Beersheba. He built an altar there to worship
God. And Abimelech went to Him, And
Isaac said to him, verse 27, Why have you come to me, saying
you hate me? You've sent me away. And they
said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. You know
what's sad? They didn't want the same Lord
with them. They could recognize in some capacity that the Lord
of creation, the God of glory, was with Isaac and with his family. with his wife and his servants.
But they didn't want the same Lord. So they made a covenant. They
entered into an oath. And Isaac made a feast. I've
just got to give this to you. It came to pass the same day,
verse 32, that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning
the well which they had digged, and they said, We have found
water! We have found water. And you
know what? This is what happens to the people
of God. When we sit under the Gospel
and all of a sudden, never heard that message before, and you
go out and you know what you tell people? I found water! I
found water! And you know what? I hope that
every time we come in here, that we can say, that every one of
you can say, I have found water again! When you leave tonight,
I found water! Can you imagine the joy in their
hearts? We found water! Well, and here's the thing of
it, the water of life found you, drew you to that well, and you
drank. Isaac and these wells He's a
digger of wells. Richard, that's who he was. He
was a digger of wells. Well, let's pray. We thank You,
Father, oh, for the water of life. Can't
thank You enough, can't praise You enough. You gave us a thirst,
You gave us a desire to drink of the living water. of the gospel
of Your grace. And oh, how it soothes our thirst. And once again tonight, we've
brought our cups, empty cups as it were, and we've dipped
into the water of life, and it is so, it's such good water. It's water that originated from
Your throne of glory. It's the water of Your grace.
It's the water of salvation. It's the water of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So we bless you and we thank
you for all things for Jesus' sake. Amen.