We're back to Genesis 25. Genesis 25. The next time we look at this, we'll
pick up on Jacob and Esau. I want to finish looking at Isaac. Isaac doesn't have, really, one
complete chapter. designated to him. He's mentioned
in a few other chapters, but he basically has one complete
chapter designated to him. Abraham had like 12. Joseph,
Jacob, I think they had about 12 chapters. But Isaac here only
has basically one full chapter, and that's chapter 26. So I want
to look at Isaac, and the title of the message is All Things
Given to Christ. All things given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now it says that Abraham, he
took a wife. Her name was Keturah. And he
had six sons by her. Abraham ended up having eight
sons. Who would have thought that?
Who would have thought that? His first son was 90 years old.
Then Isaac came along. Ishmael being the first, and
then Isaac, and then he had these six sons. And that's what makes
up the Arab world right now. That's where those Arabs came
from, these sons right here. Well, after those six sons, Abraham dies, and it says he's
gathered there in verse 8, he's gathered to his people. We all
have to die. Abraham lived 175 years, but
he died. He died. And he was gathered,
it says, to his people. And we all have to die. Sooner
or later, we all have to die and be gathered to our people. Those whom we have made our company,
Those whom we have ran with in this life will be the ones that
we'll be gathered to, either with the redeemed in glory
or with those who perish. But we will be gathered to our
people. But before Abraham dies, he gives
all that he has. It says in verse 5, before he
dies, he does this while he's living. He gives all that he
has unto Isaac. All the promises, all that he
was blessed with, all the flocks, all the herds, all of that was
given to Isaac. Well, you can easily see where
we're going with this. All of it. It says in verse 6, he gave
gifts to his other sons, his other seven sons. He gave gifts.
You know, he blessed them. They have oil. They have oil
over there. They're rich. They have some
blessings, temporal blessings, but they have some blessings.
But the promises, the spiritual promises, the land of promise,
and all that was promised to Abraham and to Abraham's greater
son, which was the Lord Jesus Christ, was given to Isaac. And he sent the others, it says,
away. Sent them off into the east.
But Isaac stayed in the promised land. He was not sent away. And as you know, Isaac is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as a type of believers. And I'm
going to look at both of those tonight again. I think we looked
at it a little bit not too long ago, but I want us to see it
again. God the Father, as we know, has given all things to
His Son, the greater Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten
Son of God, as He's called in the Scriptures. The universe
has been given to Him to rule over. Let's turn over to Colossians
chapter 1. Let's look once again at these
things that our Lord has. These things that have been given
to Him. Over here in Colossians. Chapter 1. In Colossians 1, it says in verse
15 that Christ is the image of the invisible God, that's who
it's speaking of, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him
were all things created that are in heaven. and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. The universe is His. All principalities and powers
are His, and He is before all things, and by Him all these
things are held together. They consist. The reason they
do not explode and come apart, do you have any idea Do we have
any idea of the power and the force that goes on in this universe
all the time? He holds that together. Our Lord
holds that together. All principalities are given
to Him. All the elect were given to Him to redeem, justify, cleanse,
and bring home to glory. You were given to Him. As well
as all the myriads of those whom He'll save were given to Him.
to bring home, to justify them, to cleanse them. Look over in
the Gospel of John 17. Over here in John 17, let's look
here in verse 2. He said in verse 2, As thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. In verse 6, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were. And thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word. Look in verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Look
in verse 10. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. All were given to Him. All were given to Him. The promised
land is given to the Lord Jesus Christ. That new heaven and new
earth The Scripture says He's the light of it. We're not going
to have a son like we see every day. He's the Son. He's the light
of it. It all belongs to Him. He's the
glory of it. He's the glory of it. And all power and authority
is given to our Lord. All of it. That's why it says
in Matthew 28, verse 18, all power and all authority is given
unto Me in heaven and earth. It's given to Him. Abraham gave
all to Isaac. All that he had, he gave to Isaac. All that the father has, all
that belongs to the father, which is everything, was given to his
son. It was given to him. He's the
judge of all. Judgment was given to him. Look over in John chapter 5. John chapter 5. All judgment
is turned over to the son. As the Son of Man, as the Mediator,
all judgment is committed to Him. Over here in John chapter
5, in verse 22, He says, For the Father judges no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. It's all committed to Him. Look
down in verse 27. and have given him authority
to execute judgment also because he's the son of man. It's all
in his hand. He's the one who's going to execute
judgment. All that the Father has, power, authority, all that
is, all that exists, is given to this man, this woman, this
promised son, this promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the
fullness of the Godhead, it says, dwells in Him bodily. All of
it. All wisdom is given unto Him. That's what it says over in Colossians
2. All covenant blessings are given to Him. All covenant blessings. And you know what? We have all
those things that are given to Him, they're given to us. We have them all. They belong
to us too. Christ belongs to us. Now go search that out. Paul
calls it the unsearchable riches of Christ. Go search that out.
All of that belongs to us in Christ. Now if all things were
given to Him, it would only be wise to go to Him for all I need. Wouldn't that be a wise thing
to do? So I need righteousness? Go to Him. Scripture says in
Him we have righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, redemption. We
have it all in Him. I say to anyone that needs these
things, they know they need these things, go to Him. Go to Him. They've been given to Him. Forgiveness? Cleansing? My soul, I need forgiveness
every day. Every hour. I need cleansing
every day. I need it every day. Go to Him. Go to Him. He's the one who can
do it. Help for some trial. He's able, it says, to succor
them, help them that have need. Over in Hebrews 2.18. We have
a high priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
We have one. We're not looking for one. We
have one. And He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Whatever my need is, I can find my help in Him. I can find my
fullness in Him, whatever it is. Now, Isaac is also a type
of believers. And in this light, I want us
to observe a few things. And I'm going to use these five
wells here in a minute. As we know, his birth was miraculous. The birth of every believer is
just as miraculous. Just as miraculous. No less.
Giving life to the spiritually dead is a miracle. It's a miracle
of God. It's a work of God. And those to whom God gives life
to are children of promise. That's what Paul says over in
Galatians 4. Children of promise. Like Isaac. As Isaac was. The
reason you have life is because God promised you to
Christ. A child of promise. Now we can see the life of a
believer in Isaac in five stages. Represented by these five wells.
Now the first one, let's go back to Genesis. Let's go back to
Genesis chapter 25. Look in verse 11. Here's the first one. And it
came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his
son Isaac as he said he would. This is the promised son here. And Isaac dwelt by the well Lehiroi. Lehiroi. Now that means the living
one who sees me. This is where he dwelt. He stayed. This is where he lived. If you'll
notice, let me see if I can find it. I didn't write it down. I
don't know if I ought to go back and try to look that up. Whenever Rebecca In verse 62 of chapter 24, And
Isaac came from the way of the whale Lehiroi. See, this is where
he dwelt, for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went
out to meditate in the field at the evening tide, and he went
out to pray. But this is where he was. This
is where he lived. And this whale, now listen, when
they gave names, back in that time, when they gave names, They
didn't pick a cute name. You know, that's cute. That's
catchy. We'll just name a kid there.
That's real catchy. That's a lot of ways kids get named. It's
something catchy. They had meaning. I mean, when
they named something, it meant something. It meant something
to them. You know, Hannah, go look at that name. She named her son Hannah. Look those names up, what they
mean. Jonathan. Look those names up. These names
meant something. Lehiroi. It meant something. Here's what it means. The living
one who sees me. That's what that name means.
Here's what he's saying. He's saying that God who sees
me cares for me. It denotes His unfailing care
of me. It's God's unfailing care of
me. Leheroi. Isaac walked and lived
in the presence of God. Not mystically, but actually. I'm telling you this, we do not
live before God mystically. We live before God really and
actually. That's how we live before God. Believers live in His presence
at all times. We can truly say, in Him we live
and move and have our being, don't we? Yes, we do. Yes, we
do. In this place, Isaac was greatly
blessed. In this place, he offered the
sacrifices, the altar. There was a grove there that
Abraham had planted. This was home. It was home. And he was blessed. And He was
cared for. And as you and I walk before
God, and we drink in His Word, and we gather here together as
His family to hear the Word preached and to worship, we are refreshed
and cared for. You are being cared for tonight.
Oh, if that would just sink in on us, how God is right at this
moment caring for us. Working on the heart. Instructing. Teaching. Caring for us. But then we come to chapter 26. And there was a famine in the
land beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.
This is a different famine. It's not the same famine. It's
a different famine. We all have our different trials. I have
mine. My sons have theirs. You have
yours. So there's a famine in the land.
A trial comes to Isaac just like it did to Abraham. All God's
children face difficult trials. If not now, you will later. But you will face it. They come. How's Isaac going to handle this
trial? How's he going to handle it? Apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, does it? He handled it just like his daddy
did. He packed his bags. God didn't tell him to go to
Egypt. He was not told to go to Egypt. But he packed his bags and he
headed to Egypt. And he did the same thing Abraham
did. On his way there, he told his
wife, he said, now you tell them you're my sister. She was actually
his first cousin. But you tell them you're my sister.
Did the same thing Abraham did. And got reproved just like Abraham
was reproved over that. He leaves the well. He leaves
the well of blessing. He leaves Lehiroi. He leaves
the place of God's blessing and he heads toward Egypt. Nothing
good ever happens in Egypt. I remember Henry saying this
one time. Nothing good ever happens after midnight. Nothing good
ever happens in Egypt. Well, he packed his bag. Instead
of calling upon the Lord and trusting the Lord and just waiting
it out, He packed up and headed to Egypt. Headed to Egypt. Stay where the presence of God
is. This is wise advice. Stay where the presence of God,
stay where the gospel is preached. Now, if you are able to move
to another place like Lexington or some place where the gospel
is preached, that's different. But stay where God's presence is
known, where the blessing where the blessing of God is. Stay
there. Don't move just to improve your
situation. Stay where the blessing is. The
Lord is merciful to Isaac. He stops him. See, He didn't
stop Abraham. He let Abraham go on down. But
here He stops Isaac because Isaac is not going to leave the land
of promise. He's going to keep Isaac here
in the land of promise. So He's merciful to him. He keeps him
from going down to Egypt, and he allows him to stay where he's
at. He says, stay in this place, but he's telling him to stay
in Canaan, stay in Canaan. And Isaac stays in Gerar for
a number of years. He really stays there too long,
but he stays there for a number of years. I thought about this today, although
we may not be always faithful. He is always faithful. He cannot deny himself. That's
what it says over in 2 Timothy 2.13. He cannot, he will not
deny himself. Even though we mess up, we fall,
he will not deny himself. If you'll notice, it says here
in verse 3 that he sojourned in this land. God tells him to
sojourn in this land. And I'll be with thee, and will
bless thee. For unto thee and unto thy seed
I will give all these countries. And I'll perform the oath which
I swear unto Abraham thy father. And I'll make thy seed to multiply
as the stars of heaven. And will give unto thy seed all
these countries. And in thy seed shall all nations,
in thy seed the Lord Jesus Christ, shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed. Now I wrote, I made a mark from
verse 3 down to verse 5. And I wrote there, God's faithfulness. God is faithful to bless His
children even when they mess up, because it doesn't depend
on me, it rests on Christ. That covenant of grace, that
covenant of mercy, with all the blessings in it, was purchased
by the Lord Jesus Christ, by His blood. It was ratified by
His blood. And we are blessed for Christ's sake. We are forgiven
for Christ's sake. And Isaac is not going to mess
this up. He's not going to mess this promise
up. I'm telling you, if we could mess it up, it would have been
messed up a long time ago. It would have been messed up
a long time ago. Now, we come to a second will.
Let me see, verse 19 and 20. Let me flip over here. In verse 19 and 20. And Isaac's
servants digged in the valley. See, this is the journey of a
believer. This is what I could see today and yesterday as I
studied this. And they found there a well of springing water,
living. It's right out there. Well, it's
in the margin. Living water. And the herdmen
of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, the water is
ours. See, this was such a spring of
living water. It was just bubbling up. They dug this well, and all
of a sudden, this water is just gushing out, just flowing. It's
just flowing. And those herdsmen of Gerar said,
nah, the water's ours. You know, you're on our land.
Wouldn't know it's the promised land. It belongs to Isaac. They
don't know it yet, but God does. And Isaac knows that. And he
called the name of the well Esek, because they strove with him.
And that means contention. Contention. The servants digged a well and
they found that water. It's living water, water of life,
which you have to have. You have to have water. You just
can't, you know, you can live longer without food than you
can have water. And they called it living water. Well, have we
not found in God's Word right here, living water? Is this not, have we not found
the water of life? in the Word of God? Have we not
found it? Then why is it called contention?
If it's called living water, then why did they name that well
contention? Everyone, now listen, everyone
who finds this water of life will have contention over it.
I promise you, if you find the water of life that's in this
book, the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll have contention over it.
You'll have contention over it. The ungodly, false religion will
contend with you over it. You'll find contention over it.
Well, they left that well. This shows you the character
of Isaac. Isaac says, let them have the
well. And they leave and they go dig another well. And that
well is called Sitna. Sitna. That's in verse 21. And they digged another well
and strove for that also. And he called the name of it
Sitna. You see, these wells, they all
had the same water in them. They all had living water in
them. Water. Same water. But the one was contention. Now
the other one is hatred. Hatred. What did our Lord say? Ye shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake. When you find this living water,
there will not only be contention, but you'll be hated for it. If
you truly find it, you'll be hated for it by religion, just
off religion and the world, you'll be hated for it. There's nothing
that will bring out that natural hatred, that natural enmity,
like this living water. It brings it out of natural men. They hate it. Well, they moved
from there. Isaac lets them have it. He lets
them have it. And they moved to another well,
verse 22. Well, they moved to another place
and they digged another well. And for that they strove not.
They had moved far enough away. They had gotten away from those
men of Gerar, far enough away from them anyway. And he called
the name of it Rehoboth. He said, For now the Lord hath
made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. That
name Rehoboth means room. It means abundance. Abundance. Thank God for Rehoboth. The first
Scripture that came to my mind when I read that, it means room. Christ said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. And that word means room. Space. Space. Abundance. Abundance. We may not find a place here,
but we have one in glory prepared for us by the Lord Himself. A
room with your name on it. And it also means abundance.
And here's the best Scripture, I believe, for that. Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Where it abounded, there
was an abundance of grace. God's merciful. Well, after that, old Bimlech
comes along. We'll look at this in a minute.
We'll jump past this. But old Bimlech comes along and he wants
to make a covenant with Isaac. like his father did with Abraham.
And they make this covenant. And then they, after they make
this covenant, they dig another well. In verse 33, and he called
it Sheba. Sheba. Therefore the name of
it, of the city, is Beersheba unto this day. Now, Sheba means
an oath. An oath. A covenant. It's a covenant. A covenant of blessing. It's
a covenant of peace. And there was a covenant of peace
sworn between Abimelech, the enemy, and Isaac, the promised
son. There was a covenant between
them. And this well was dug. And when they did this well,
they named it Sheba. A covenant. My friends, we do rest in a covenant.
We have a covenant. There's a covenant between the
Father and the Son. There's a covenant made with us in Christ. We were
the enemies. Were we not? Were we not enemies
in our minds by wicked works? In Christ, we have peace with
God through this covenant. This is one of the covenant blessings,
peace. You read down through there,
they had peace between them. Over there in verse 31, they
rose up early in the morning, swore to one another, Isaac sent
them away, and they went in peace. They went in peace. They made a covenant between
them. There was an oath between them. And they named this well
Beersheba, place of the oath, place of the covenant. And because
of this covenant, Just like what they did. Isaac, it says, made
a feast there in verse 30. He made them a feast and they
did eat and drink. And because of this covenant,
we have a feast waiting for us in glory. A feast. But I thought about this after
I wrote that. We really have a feast now. We
just need to make more use of it. We could have, and I believe
this, we could have a far greater feast than we've ever thought
possible in this life, in this life, in this life. Now in closing, I want to commend Isaac's conduct
here as a believer under these trials. Even though he left Lehiroi
and should have stayed there, Yet his conduct and his character
proved him to be a believer. Each time they would dig a well,
the servants of Abimelech would come along and contend for it.
And Isaac would let him have it. It's not because he was weak. He wasn't weak. In fact, the
king, Abimelech, acknowledges, you're a great man. We need you
to get out of the land. He said, you're becoming too powerful,
too powerful. And Isaac, instead of using that
power, how many times could our Lord have just, I could call
twelve legions of angels and wipe you guys out. That's basically
what he would say. I could do that. But he didn't. Not at that time, he didn't.
And Isaac, every time they did that, he let them have the wealth.
Just let them have it. Scripture says, as much as lieth
within you, live peacefully with all men. Isaac did that. He's
an example. What an example he is. Seek peace
and pursue it, the Scripture says. Isaac did that. He did
that. And he freely forgave them all
their offenses. He didn't say one word. You know,
down there it says, the king said, that thou wilt do us no
hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto
thee nothing but good." Oh, we've been so good to you, Isaac. Why
do you keep taking my whales? We dig and you take. He didn't
say a word. He just forgot about it. He forgot about it. He just let
it go. He let it go. Isaac was a meek and lowly man,
just as our Lord was meek and lowly. But you notice who submitted
to whom? Well, Bimelech submitted to Isaac.
He came and submitted to Isaac. He was the one who sued for peace. He didn't want any treason. You
know why? He said, God's hand's on you. God's hand is on you. He submitted
to Isaac. He recognized that Isaac was
a powerful man, that God was with him, and that if he wanted
to, he could take away all that he had. He recognized that. Christ. Christ was meek and lowly. He was meek and lowly. Yet He
has all power. He has all power to subdue all
his enemies. And someday, someday, every knee
is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess that this
meek and lowly man is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Just like old Ben Malek came and acknowledged, God's with
you, God's blessed you. That's all I came up with today. It was an enjoyable study. I
tell you, it was an enjoyable study. But I thought it was interesting,
those five wells. Contention, hatred, and finally
the room, and living water, and then the covenant. Blessed for Isaac's sake.