God Knows What He Is Doing — Genesis 12-50

0:04 Good morning, everyone. Good morning. I heard a rumor that next year for craft they need the glass Starbucks jars and the Dunkin' Donut boxes. Yet to be confirmed. That would not quite be as much sacrifice as Pringles and Gatorade, neither of which I care for really.

0:30 We're going to resume our working through Genesis and I'm going to try to oh, there's no clock. I'm to try to cover a couple of chapters. Fortunately there is a phone but I can read it so don't call me. And I promise to be done by ten after or sooner. Hopefully sooner, but anyways we're going to resume our course, our study in Genesis.

1:00 And before I started preparing for my own chapters, I reviewed all of the messages that I had notes for. I just looked at my own notes from the messages and I saw a distinct theme. That, in the book of Genesis, there is testing, accountability, the consequences. And as one of the preachers said that faith is the means of rightly relating to God. And in chapter four of Genesis, the story of Cain and Abel, Cain disregarded the information he had, and it was and it, was very costly.

1:38 The story of Noah, even in the story of Noah, which is a story of judgment, we see God's grace. There was many years for the people to be under the teaching of Noah. The New Testament says he was a preacher of righteousness. So even in judgment, God is gracious. And, certainly, Abe brought that out effectively in in Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

2:02 Even God's grace was present there. And I appreciate... I wanna build a little bit upon Abe's closing application for us. The verse nine... I forget which verse it was.

2:13 21 maybe. In chapter 19, don't look back. That is remember who you are, your identity in Christ. Don't stop on the plane. Be vigilant in your faith.

2:26 Keep moving. Don't don't entertain sin as as the admonition to Cain was, sin is crouching at your door. Don't let it master you. And then flee to the mountains. Get away from sin.

2:41 We see many triumphs and tragedies in the book of Genesis. And and we all are writing our own biography too in a sense. I recall that first in first Corinthians three fifteen, particularly in the reference to Lot. If any man... If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

3:03 I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds it hard to believe that the New Testament describes Lot as righteous, but but it does. So let's not see how worldly we can be and still get home, but let's let's set our sights on the lord and be godly. And then a couple weeks ago, mister Bingham read those verses that are probably on the minds of all of us who share from Genesis. First Corinthians ten eleven and twelve. Now these things happened to them as an example.

3:34 And they were written for our instruction. Notice that phrase, they were written for our instruction. So these events happened four thousand years ago in the life of Abraham. But they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. I think a lot of us can believe that.

3:52 Upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who stands take heed lest he fall. All of us have things to learn and live on a daily basis. That's the as I've said to many, that's the thing about faith that is so difficult. It's required for each day.

4:07 We don't achieve faith and then and that's it, coast our way home. I'd also like to couple those verses in. Romans 15, a similar thought, fifteen four, for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction. That through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Life is a battle, and there are many times that we will fail, but...

4:36 And we see that in the book of Genesis, but yet we see God using these these men and women to accomplish his purpose. So my question is, where do you see yourself in the book of Genesis? My takeaways so far from our study is includes that God knows what He is doing. He can be trusted and when we try to fix things, it makes things worse. For example, Sarah and Abraham trying to help God out by birthing their own son.

5:15 That didn't work out so well. And then, of course, we won't get to it today, but Jacob tricking his dad into getting the birthright, and that's a whole another story. And also a couple months down the road when Joseph's brothers apologized, he says basically, don't worry. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. So God is an amazing God who can bring good out of bad, and we must not question Him.

5:43 I've already shared with you the new phrase I've coined. We've all... You've all heard the phrase that there are answers that we can't question. Well, I'd like to turn around and say, God has given us answers that we must not question, answers we must not question. I do have a couple for him, like why did the seed that was following Isaac have to be one of two twins and all that all that mess that came about.

6:49 So we just ask for your help for this for these few minutes that you'll speak to us, that we'll listen, that we'll with your help. And we ask this in our Lord Jesus' name, amen. Genesis is an amazing book. The first 11 chapters talk about a lot of the well, the creation of all of this that we're looking at, the origin of sin, marriage, children, introduction of sacrifices, the development of cities, trade, agriculture, languages, nations, music, worship, prayer. And that's all in the first 11 chapters.

7:29 And then in chapter 12 through the end of the book, we see the beginnings of God's working with Israel. God's one commentator called it God's test tube nation to be a spiritual representation of all the people of the world. And I don't know about you, but I prefer this age of grace over that time. I'm glad I wasn't alive in that time. Sometimes I wonder which way I would have gone with the evidence before me.

7:56 So, primarily from Genesis 12 through chapters 12 through 50, have the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph. One of my favorite, commentators is William Scroggy. He had a textbook at school that we used a little bit. And his one word summary of Genesis is election. And if you think about it, that makes sense.

8:25 And just to settle some of your curiosities for the rest of the Pentateuch, his word for Exodus, unsurprisingly, is redemption. For Leviticus is communion. For Numbers is direction. And for Deuteronomy is instruction. But certainly, I don't know if Genesis helps me to understand or explain election, but we see God choosing people and working in their lives to accomplish His purposes.

8:55 So less than twenty, thirty minutes. I'm just going to summarize some of the high points. Chapter 24 will be our main resting point today. But in Chapter three we have the death of Sarah. And Sarah has her place in Hebrews chapter 11.

9:14 She passed the test. God gave her his approval despite the the quirks of of her life and and she has paid tribute. Also, Abraham pays tribute to her too and in chapter 23, have the acquisition of the birthplace of all the... Not all the patriarchs, but the patriarchs where where Abraham wanted to not go back to where he had come from, but establish his location in the land. And that's illustrated here in the cave that he had purchased from the Hittites.

9:56 He was investing in a land that would one day belong to his descendants, and he was severing his ties to the homeland. But after the death of Sarah, and that brings us to chapter 24, scripture focuses most of our attention on Isaac. Chapter 24, That's that's one of my key points. Thank you. Abraham's final important action was to find a bride for Isaac.

10:34 It's a great it's a great story. It's a beautiful story. And we'll see after we get past chapter 24. It takes some twists that are not so beautiful but in itself, it is it is a beautiful story. But it illustrates Abraham's faith and devotion.

10:51 He did not and notice verse eight, which I think Siri just helped us with. The instruction to that Abraham was very clear to his servant was if you do not find a woman if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath. Only do not take my son back there. He did not want his son going back but to stay where he was, to, not look back, to flee to the mountains. So that's an essential part of our identity too, to go back, to not get entangled with the world.

11:37 But there are many types in this chapter. All the people I read, they all drew the parallels between, that apply to the church today. Eliezer, who is believed to be the servant, is a type of the Holy Spirit who was sent by the Father to win a bride for the heavenly Isaac, the lord Jesus. So, Abraham had sent his servant to find a bride for his son. And fast forward four two thousand years and we're we're waiting for that.

12:13 The father sent the savior, Genesis 22, that was exemplified, who gave himself for us and he's winning a bride among us for his son, the lord Jesus. Also, in this chapter, we see the heart of Rebecca. She was willing to go the extra mile. Not only was she willing to give the servant a drink but she was willing to water his camels. And the thought I took from that was how much faith do we have in our prayers to God?

12:52 Do we just ask Him for little things or willing to ask him for big things? And that's what his servant had said, not just someone who's going to water with the camels, but it's also going to or to give me water, but also water my camels. Rebecca was beautiful and chaste. She she was a pure woman. I'm and that pushed my thoughts into the New Testament again.

13:19 Ephesians chapter five and this is a challenge to all of us men. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And as Howard Hendrix used to say when he was alive, that's too convicting. Let's move on. But men think about that, that's a daily challenge and opportunity.

13:59 Laban and Bethuel, Rebecca's brother and dad, they knew it was God too that was arranging it all. And they extended hospitality to Eleazar and the travelers. But notice, and this is part of the verses that Scott read, verse 33 of chapter 24, he wanted to he would not eat until he declared his business. And in his explanation, he gave tribute to his master, Abraham. And for us, in our testimony, we have the opportunity to give tribute to our Heavenly Father.

14:44 Then he talked about Sarah and this baby that was born in the late years. She spoke of this unique son. And that's really our opportunity too, to speak of the only begotten son, the one in whom who alone is able to save. And then he related his own experiences too, how God was at work in his life, including the remarkable verse and encouragement, how he was praying, even while he was praying, before he finished praying, the Lord answered his prayer and Rebecca showed up. Also, he brought gifts for the bride.

15:22 And the Father has given us gifts through the spirit. New Testament talks about spiritual gifts. First Corinthians 12 is one spot. To each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Verse seven and then verse 11, but one and the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually just as he wills.

15:45 In addition, Rebecca had an adventurous faith. She was ready to go without delay. And sometimes the imagination has to help out here. I'm sure, at least in my imagination, that she would have known about Abraham and I'm sure about Isaac, the amazing story of Isaac. But it was all unseen to her.

16:08 But she was willing to go back. And as we hear the gospel, it's an amazing story. And we receive it by faith and then we respond by faith and then live by faith. And Isaac in this chapter, the first time we see him after being on Mount Moriah with his dad, which is what Don talked about last week, is when he goes out to welcome his bride. Talks about how he went out in the fields to meditate at night and he looked up his eyes and he saw her returning.

16:46 And, as a detail, he was the only patriarch with one wife. And to correlate that to the Lord, the first time we see the Lord, the first time we will see the Lord after his death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension is when he returns to claim his chosen bride. So there's lots of deep parallels in this chapter 24 of Genesis. Also, one of the authors pointed out at the end of this chapter when it says that Isaac loved her, that's the second time the word love appears in scripture. And I'm sure you remember the other one from last week when God told Abraham, take your son, your only son, who you love, and put him on and offer him.

18:17 I had to laugh. My brother had a birthday on Friday, my older brother. And I just happened to call him when he was watching his grandkids with his wife. And he says, this is a lot of work. My brother just turned 60.

18:33 Abraham, I didn't do the math, but he would have been well over 100 when Sarah died. I think he would have been like 150 because she was well, she won't anyways, he was not a young man, but he was adventurous. And Don helped us chart a timeline last week. When Abraham died, and we have the record of his death in this chapter, he was 175. At that point Ishmael would have been 89, Isaac would have been 75, Jacob and Esau would be 15.

19:08 We know that because Isaac was 60 when they were born. So these three chapters are pretty well put close together chronologically. Abraham breathed his last, 20 five:eight, and he died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. That is there is more to those statements than you might first see. He lived a complete life, a content life, and he died well.

19:38 A ripe old age. His life was well lived. He was approved by God. He started out to find a land and he found a nation. He died with no possession but a grave and no sight of his posterity other than his son Isaac and his grandsons Esau and Jacob.

19:58 He fulfilled the work that God gave him to do. We're going to skip over some things here in Chapter 25. But Isaac and Rebecca are married. Now in Verse 21, after twenty years of marriage, still no children. And we read that Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren.

20:22 And the Lord answered him, and Rebecca and his wife conceived. That would be one of the things I'd put into the category of unquestioned answers. God knows what he's doing, we don't need to understand it all. But Isaac prayed, exhibited the trust in God that he would open her womb. And life has been wild ever since.

20:52 But the children struggled within her, together within her and she said, if it is so, why then am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb and two people shall be separated from your body and one people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger. Two nations are in your womb. And we know that Esau became the leader of the Arab nation.

21:27 And two nations are in your womb, you know, then there's going to be struggle. Yes, there has been. I wonder what would have happened if Isaac or Jacob was just a single birth and Noah but God's ways are his ways and we must not question him. But internal struggle, the explanation was in verse 23. Then in verse 24, twins, verse 25, is the birth.

22:04 Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment and they named him Esau. And afterward, his brother came forth with his hand holding on Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them. If two brothers are ever more different, I have not heard of them yet than these two.

22:28 Jacob, we did not name our oldest son Jacob because of the literal definition of the name. Jacob means Ryrie says heel catcher, trickster, or supplanter. There's a lot of biblical names that pack a lot of meaning. Skips right forward to their youth. When the boys grew up Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents.

23:09 Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Here's one of those neon signposts in the realm of parenting, the danger of picking favorites. And there's a lot that could be read into that perhaps, and we'll talk about some of it. Apparently Isaac really liked venison and Esau was really good at harvesting that venison. And it shows that Isaac was drawn away by the lust of the flesh.

23:55 And Jacob was more of a mama's boy, and it created rift between Isaac and Rebecca. And eventually a rift between Jacob and Esau. And the rest of the chapter gives us just the condensed story of that. And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished and Esau said to Jacob, please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there. Sounds like something a brother would say, let that red stuff there, for I am famished, therefore his name was called Edom.

24:31 But Jacob said, first sell me your birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am about to die, so of what use then is this birthright to me? And Jacob said, first swear to me. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went on his way.

24:53 Thus Esau despised his birthright. Jacob did not absolutely trick him out of it, but he did make use of an opportunity that presented itself. And Esau, with his eyes open, gave it up. And Hebrews chapter 12 does not have complementary things to say about Esau. He profaned.

25:22 He gave up a valuable thing for momentary gratification of the flesh. Clearly his heart was that of a natural man directed by sight, not faith. Now what's the importance of a birthright? Most of us think about the dollars and cents first and it did carry with it the greater inheritance benefit. But it also included the spiritual leadership of the family.

25:53 The possessor of the birthright had that responsibility. And in this situation, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the birthright would also involve the legacy of God's promises to Abraham. It was no small thing. And that's part of the whole mystery that stretches your mind and strains your brain as you see the whole birth process. And I'm just glad I can leave all those uncertainties with the Lord because if you try to solve all the things that threaten your faith, you might just, well, have a bigger problem.

26:31 But the possessor assumed the spiritual leadership of his family and although Jacob obtained the birthright by a fleshly method, he still saw its value and to some extent demonstrated his faith in the promise of God. Esau, I think clearly represents the flesh in an unsaved person. And Jacob displayed while he displayed the flesh he was attempting to obtain spiritual blessings by natural means, he still had that desire for the spiritual blessings. And Hebrews 11 says, by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. So even though there's details in these stories that might stumble us or might cause us to question what's going on, these men still had God's approval in the end, which honestly is very encouraging to me.

28:14 Sojourn in the land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and will give you your and will give your descendants all these lands and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So Isaac lived in Gerar. He didn't go any further to Egypt.

28:44 Egypt is a picture of the world depending on the world's solutions for our needs. And God said, don't do that. And he reiterates to Isaac that he will bless them, that he will take care of him. And then, the very next verse, Isaac stumbles. When the men of the place well, I think we all remember the story of how his dad several times lied about Sarah that she was his sister, not his wife, because he was afraid for his life and for the safety of them both.

29:24 And Isaac does the exact same thing. He says Rebecca's my sister, she's not my wife. And this is one of the things I love about meditating on the scriptures. Why would he do that? Well, we know he was thinking of his own skin.

29:48 But why would he do that? The Lord just said, I'm going take care of you in those previous verses. But also it illustrates even in that pagan culture, the worldly culture, the people he was afraid of had a respect for marriage. I mean, if he told them kind of a funny respect for marriage because they honored the marriage covenant so much that they wouldn't take his wife. But in order to clear that hurdle they would just clear him, kill him, and then the wife would be available.

30:27 It's probably not too dissimilar to some of our techniques today, they honored the institution of marriage even if they did honor the sanctity of life. But the bigger picture is Isaac is doubting the promise of the Lord, the clear promise of the Lord, I will bless you, I will give you these lands. But Isaac then uses God then uses this same threat to preserve him. Abimelech, is representative of the leader, not necessarily a person, then says, hey, anybody touches this man or his wife, you're dead. And Isaac and Rebecca remained there for a few years and it says he became very wealthy and the Philistines became envious and they started to stop up the wells that he was using to care for his animals.

31:28 So he moved to the Valley Of Gerar in verse 17 because Abimelech said, go away from us, for you are too powerful for us. Then there's an ongoing conflict with some of the people that were there, the other shepherds over the wells. But Isaac kept moving on. His faith was more of a passive faith. He wasn't a fighter.

31:57 He was more of a peaceable man. But he kept digging wells until he was left alone. And then the Lord appeared to him again in verse 24. After all those experiences he went to you, I am the God of your father Abraham, do not fear for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.

32:22 Reassurance from the Lord, in verse 25, his response. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched a stent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well. He made an altar. That's an obvious expression of worship.

32:40 He was moving away from the foreigners. He had pitched his tent and then he dug a well and gave him refreshment. And then Abimelech came to him and they wanted make a deal with him in twenty six to twenty nine. Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his advisor Azerothath and Fikol, the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you?

33:11 And they said, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do to us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord. And then they add their fellowship together. But the observations I see here is it's interesting that when Isaac separates himself from these men of Gerar that they come to him seeking a blessing from God.

33:53 And one of the applications that I think it was Bill MacDonald made was that the Christian best helps the world when we live in separation from it. When we try to blend in, our light does not shine so distinctly. But God was certainly at work in Isaac's life and they saw it. And gave Isaac an opportunity for testimony. And then God's not unusual blessing of Isaac.

34:24 After they made a deal and Isaac moved on it says, the next day Isaac's servant found water. God's blessings are new every morning. Now water in those days was everything. You didn't live somewhere if there wasn't a water source and God meets that daily physical need for Isaac and indeed for us too. And then we can end on a sad note.

34:55 Verse 34, Esau did not follow the instruction of his grandfather Abraham, but he married some of the local women. And not only just a woman, but took on two wives. And it brought much grief to Isaac and Rebecca. Another evidence of his spiritual deadness. Let's turn to Romans four for our closing verses in just another minute.

35:47 These are some verses that Uncle Dave highlighted his week with probably about twenty years ago now. Romans four nineteen, And without becoming weak in faith, contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. Which that verse is talking about a specific instance, but for us I think we have to come to understand our own limitations and our own spiritual deadness and our need for intervention from God. Yet respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God. And being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

36:29 Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for and this is a key verse. This isn't just about the patriarchs and approval that we see in the book of Hebrews, but it's about you and about me. Therefore also it was 23, not for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He who was delivered up because of our transgressions and raised because of our or to demonstrate our justification.

37:09 The faith decision that was before Abraham was before all of us. And I know many of us have made that decision to put our faith in the Lord. And through the fuller revelation and the work of Christ, which we now see, it has been counted to us as righteousness, which is part of the challenge to all mankind for saving faith, but then for those who are believers to live by faith as well. So I hope these few minutes looking at some of these remarkable stories in Genesis have challenged your faith but also strengthened your faith to see how God works in ways that don't make sense to us, but He has a purpose. And when we trust Him and obey Him in our particular area, it does go better.

38:01 Let's pray. Thank you for your patience. Father, we do thank you for your word, indeed a gift, as it teaches us about you and how we can be rightly related to you. And we certainly see how your people in the past have had struggles and defeat, but also victory and your approval. So help us in our sojourn for this world is not our home.

38:26 Help us to to, first of all, keep our eyes on Jesus and to and to live in obedience, to be assured of your presence with us and your promises that will carry us and not to give up or doubt so easily. And we all know we stumble in many ways, but, father, help us to stumble less and to, with our faith, give you glory. And we do are so grateful for the opportunities we have to to walk with you and to serve you. And we just commit this day and this week to you now in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen.