Would you turn back to Genesis
21? Tonight, I'm going to be bringing
a message on the message of First Thessalonians. And we're going
to be having our Wednesday night service Friday night, and we'll
observe the Lord's table together that night and have a New Year's
message. And the Harry's are having everybody
over afterwards at their home. I've entitled this message Beersheba. Beersheba. Now, if someone didn't
understand the gospel and they read these stories in the Old
Testament, they would think, what's the point? What's the
point of this story? I mean, you hear Abimelech and Abraham having
dealings once again. They had dealings in chapter
20. You remember where, when Abraham went into the land of
Abimelech, the land of the Philistines, he lied to him. And he said,
Sarah was his sister. And so Abimelech took Sarah and
God appeared to Abimelech and said, you're a dead man. That's
another man's wife. and scared him to death. And
he came back to Abraham. He said, why have you dealt falsely
with me? Why have you lied to me? You
told me she was your sister. And Abraham said, well, I was
afraid the fear of God wasn't in this place. Now, Abraham was
as wrong as he could be, but that was their dealings. And now we hear of this man again,
Abimelech, and he watched Abraham. And this is the conclusion that
he came up with, with regard to Abraham, verse 22, chapter
21. And it came to pass at that time
that Benelec and Phicol, the chief captain of his host, spake
unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. I thought of Joseph, God prospered
everything he did, but without question, Abraham at this time
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is with you in all you do. That was a Bimelech's observation. God is with you in all that you
do. So what does Abimelech say? Verse
23, now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt
not deal falsely with me nor with my son nor with my son's
son but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee thou
shalt do unto me and to the land wherein thou
has sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. Now, Abraham was one that God
prospered in everything he did. He always came out smelling like
a rose, no matter what he did. And Abimelech saw clearly that
God's favor was toward Abraham. Now, have you and I ever understood
that if God has favored toward us, it will be for Christ's sake,
because God is altogether pleased with him. Be kind, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you." Now, understand this. If I'm forgiving, if you're
forgiving, it's not because I asked for forgiveness. It's not because
I was sorry for my sin. It's not because I vowed to not
commit that sin anymore. It's not because I promised if
God will just forgive me, I'll do this and I'll do that and
I'll stop doing this and I'll stop doing that. One reason,
for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. That's the
only reason. Now, Abimelech saw that the only
reason God would have favor toward him is because of his connection
with Abraham. He saw that clearly. I want you to make a promise
that you'll have favor with me and be good to me and be good
to this land and be good to my children and my grandchildren.
I want you to promise this for me. Now, I want you to remember
this right now. How God views you right now,
this moment. He's looking at you. He's looking
at me. How God views you right now is
seen in how you view his beloved son. Now swear to me. He says in verse
23, by God, that thou will not deal falsely with me. Now, in
his experience with Abraham, Abraham had dealt falsely with
him, hadn't he? Look in chapter 20, verse 1. And Abraham journeyed from thence
toward the south country and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur
and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his
wife, she's my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent
and took Sarah, Abraham lied to him. He was afraid for his
life. He was willing to let Sarah go
into Abimelech's harem in order to save his own neck. He thought
if she, if he finds out she's my wife, he'll kill me. But God
came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said unto him, behold,
thou art but a dead man for the woman, which thou has taken for
she's a man's wife. Now, that scared him to death.
God appeared to him. I mean, there wasn't any mistakes
about who this is. God appeared to him and said, you're but a
dead man. It's over for you if this woman
is not restored. Now remember, Abraham dealt falsely
with him. And he went on to say, it's not
my fault. I didn't take her. He said, I know you didn't. It's
because I kept you from it. You remember that? I kept you
from it. But if you don't restore her, he's a prophet. And here's
what you need to do. You need to ask him, pray to
him to deliver the land. God had closed up all the wounds
because of this. And I'm sure that Bimlech was
thinking, he's the one that did wrong. And he's telling me to
pray to him that our Women would once again bear children. This
is all his fault. And he says, now don't deal falsely
with me like you have. But let's take this in light
of the gospel. When we want to enter into covenant
with God, we want him to enter into covenant with us. We say
we want a covenant of absolute truth and absolute justice. Don't deal falsely with me. Now, I find no comfort in any
way in some kind of covenant of the gospel that in any way
is false, that doesn't honor God in all of his attributes.
If you tell me of a gospel where God is less than absolutely just
and punishing all sin, perfectly righteous, if you give me a gospel
that changes or compromises any of God's attributes, I don't
feel incompetent for that because God's just. And you tell me of
a gospel that is not absolutely just, magnifying the justice
of God, and I know it's not gonna go well with me. I need a covenant
that's not false in any way. I need God to deal with me in
a way of absolute justice. Do you? That's what he's asking
for. Don't deal falsely with me. Verse 24 and Abraham said, I
will swear. Look at the way he, I think this
is interesting. Now, verse back at verse 23,
now, therefore swearing to me by God, that thou will not deal
false with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son, but. according
to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto
me into the land wherein thou hast sojourned." Now Abimelech
had seen clearly that God was going to deal well with Abraham. God prospered everything he did.
And you can read in chapter 20 after words where Abimelech saw
this, all of a sudden he made Abraham rich. He started giving
him all kinds of stuff because he saw if I'm going to have God's
favor, I'm going to have to be on Abraham's side. That's the
only way it's going to work for me. And so he saw this clearly,
but where's the gospel in this? Am I saying that I want God to
show kindness to me according to how kind I've been and how
good I've been? Is that what you're pulling out
of this? Of course not. Of course not. This teaches us something about
faith though. When he says, you deal with me according to the
way I've dealt with you. Faith has an object, Jesus Christ. He is the object of faith. John 7, 1 John 5 and 11 and 12,
this then is the record that God has given us eternal life
and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. John the Baptist said, the Father
loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. You have the Son, you have all
that God has. You have not the Son, and God's
wrath is on you for good, and it's not leaving. Now, the only
way of salvation is faith only in his Son. You add anything
to it, it's no longer faith. The only way of salvation is
faith only in His Son. Now the Lord said to the two
blind men, when they groped their way into the room where He was
at in Matthew 9, 27, He said, do you believe that I am able
to do this? You know how they answered? Yea, Lord. Now that's their faith. They believed the Lord was able
to do this. He was able to save them without
any help from them. What about the Roman centurion? I love what he said. The Lord,
before the Lord said unto him, as thou has believed, so be it
unto thee. Remember this man, A bit of luck
saying you treat me the way I've treated you. The Lord said to
that man, as you believed, so be it unto thee. Well, how did
he believe? Speak the word only and my servant
shall be healed. David said in Psalm 33 verse
22, let thy mercy. Oh Lord be upon us. According
as we have hoped in thee. Faith is in Christ only. If you look to Christ only God
will deal with you accordingly. That's what that means. Faith
is in Christ only. If you look to him only, he'll
deal with you accordingly. When James said the double-minded
man is unstable in all of his ways, let not that man think
he shall receive anything of the Lord. If your faith is double-minded,
now you can have weak faith, every one of us do, but not a
double faith that looks to man and Christ. It's in Christ only. Now what he's saying, you deal
with me as I've dealt with you. I've looked to thy son only. Do you? Is he all you have? Do you look to him only? Nowhere else. Only him. Now this is what Abimelech says
to Abraham. He said, you deal with me the
way I have dealt with you. And thank God there's no false
dealings in the gospel of Christ. It's all according to perfect,
absolute justice, truth, and holiness. God doesn't just sweep
my carpet under sin, my sin under the carpet and try to forget
about it. No, my sin is punished. It's put away. I stand before
God. perfectly just by what Christ
did. Now, there's no false dealings. That's when he says, don't deal
with me falsely. Let your gospel be according to absolute justice. Make this promise with me. So
verse 24, and Abraham said, I'll swear. I'll swear. Now look what happened after
this covenant was made and Abraham reproved the Biblic. because
of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken
away. Now I want us to notice, this is very important. He didn't
say I'm not gonna make this covenant till you get this problem straightened
out. That's the way men would look
at things. I'll make this covenant if you
get this problem straightened out. What you've done is wrong. Your servants have violently
taken away my will. You get that straightened out
and then I'll enter into this covenant with you. That's the
way man's religion works. If you get straightened out,
if you stop this sin, and if you start doing this good thing,
and if you get your life straightened out, God will respond to you,
and he'll have mercy on you. Now, if salvation is dependent,
it's not gonna happen until you do something, you're not gonna
be saved. You believe that? If salvation is in any way dependent
upon you doing something before God will do anything to you,
you won't be saved. Now, in this covenant, Abraham
didn't first say, Abimelech, you fellows have stole my well.
Therefore, until you get that straightened out, I won't enter
into covenant with you. No, the covenant was made first.
The covenant was made first before Abraham did, or before Abimelech
did anything about that well being violently taken away. Verse 25, and Abraham reproved
Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants
had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, verse 26, I didn't know anything about
this. I want not who hath done this thing, neither didst thou
tell me, neither yet heard I of it. But today, you and I let's
us know, we're not gonna have any understanding of sin until
he reveals it to us. He didn't even know he's guilty.
He didn't know what he'd done. He didn't have any understanding
of what crime he'd committed. And you and I don't really have
any understanding of sin until he reveals it to us. Abimelech
said, I didn't know. Verse 27, and Abraham took sheep
and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech. Now something seems wrong with
that. Abimelech is the one that you think ought to be giving
Abraham sheep and oxen because he is the one and his people
are the ones who had violently taken away this well. It seems
like they ought to be making restitution, but Abraham's the
one who gives. What's that all about? Abraham
is the one who gives. I love this. There's absolutely nothing that
you and I can do to take care of our sin. It's only what our Redeemer gives.
It's only what our Redeemer does at all times. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, 1 John 1 7, cleanseth us from all Now remember, Abimelech and his
servants are the ones at fault. You'd think they'd be paying,
but no, there's nothing they could pay. And there's nothing
you and I can do at any time to make restitution for our sins. It is only the blood of Jesus
Christ at all times. In my experience, There is never
a time when the blood of Christ is not
everything about salvation. I'm not talking about the way
it used to be. I'm talking about the way I am right now. In salvation, Christ is always
the giver and we are always the receivers, and that cannot be
taken too far. Abimelech commits this crime
and Abraham gives to him. That's the way it always is. The covenant goes something like
this. He is the giver. We are the receivers. And Abraham took sheep, verse
27. and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech. And both of them made
a covenant. And you know, in the covenant
of grace, Christ says, I give all you receive all. And we say,
yes, we agree to that covenant. We're thankful by his grace.
We wouldn't look nowhere else. He gives all, we do nothing but
receive. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name. He's the giver. We are the receiver. Verse 27. And Abraham took sheep
and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant.
And, verse 28, Abraham set seven new lambs of the flock by themselves. In a very conspicuous manner,
these seven new lambs are brought out and set all by themselves. Seven, the number of perfection
and completion, And he set them all by themselves to let us know
that they were put in a conspicuous place. Now look at the question,
verse 29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham,
what mean these seven new lambs, which thou hast set by themselves?
What are these things for? Why have you done this? And look
at the answer. And he said, For these seven
ewe lambs shall thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness
unto you. No, that they may be a witness unto
me that I have digged this well. What are these ewe lambs for?
Well, These seven new lambs represent the perfect sacrifice of the
Lord, Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. And he said, I'm setting
these here. I'm giving them to you so that
I can see. Now what's the point? What did God say when he passed
through the land of Egypt? He said, when I see the blood. Not when you see it. When I see
the blood, I will pass over you. Now understand this, this is
so very important. The blood of Jesus Christ wasn't
for you, it was for God. For God to do something for me,
he first had to do something for himself. And he sent his
son to take care of all of that. He said, this is to testify to
me. This is for me. Now I benefit
from it. You know, when God says, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you, I think, yes, I benefit
from that. All God's looking for is the
blood. He doesn't say, when I see your works, or when I see your
sincerity, or when I see your efforts, or when I see your religion,
or when I see your religious experience, and all the, no,
he says nothing like that. When I see the blood, that's
all he was looking for. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you." And we say, yes. That's what we want. We don't
want anything else but that. God said, this is to testify
to me. You know, the only thing I get
comfort in is what God is satisfied with. God is satisfied with the
perfection of the sacrifice, the seven new lambs. He's satisfied. And that's what I find my satisfaction
in. And look what it says, verse
30. For these seven lambs shall thou
take of my hand that they may be a witness to me, what? That
I'm the one who does this well. This is not a cooperative effort
between me and you. This was not a joint venture.
I dug this well by myself. He dug the well of salvation. He did it all. And that's what he's being reminded
of. Not that God needs to be reminded
of anything, but we need to be reminded of what he delights
in. I dug this well. I did this. Salvation is of the
Lord. I dug this well by myself without
your help. And these seven lambs testify
that I am the one who dug this well. You know, it's amazing.
We're brought again and again and again to this glorious truth,
salvation is of the Lord. He dug the well. He did it all. He left nothing undone. And all
of my assurance is in what he has done. Nothing else. He dug the well. He accomplished salvation. Verse 31, wherefore he called
the place Beersheba. My marginal reading says the
well of the oath, but included in that, it's actually read the
well of the sevenfold oath. And those seven ewe lambs sitting
by their side, pictured the well of the seven fold oath. Now, Abraham promises to deal
kindly with Abimelech because of these lambs. That's what,
that's a reminder to me. And God promises to deal kindly
with us because of his lamb. Now look what it says in verse
32. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. They made a covenant. Now God
makes the covenant. It's not like it's, you know,
I'll do this. If you do that, God makes the
covenant. And we say, we love that covenant. We love it. We don't want it to be any other
way. And then make a covenant, Beersheba. Then Abimelech rose
up and Phicol, the chief captain of the host, and they returned
into the land of the Philistines. Now Abimelech and Phicol were
satisfied with that covenant, that oath that Abraham had made. So they got up and left trusting
the terms of the covenant. And in this covenant, Abraham
was the giver. He gave everything, didn't he?
All they were, were receivers. And they said, we like that.
We can trust that. We'll go our way. Now we know our hope of God's
favor is only in Christ. We know that all of God's favor
toward us. is only in Christ. He's the giver in all things,
and we are the receivers, and we trust him only. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. What a beautiful illustration
of the gospel. of Jesus Christ. And you know,
we learn better, I suppose, through illustrations than anything else.
And that's what the Old Testament's for, to illustrate to us the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God for His covenant. Let's pray.