Affirming the Promise

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 119:1-8

Psalm 119:1–9 ESV

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Scripture Memorization: Genesis 50:19-20

Genesis 50:19–20 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-6

Hebrews 13:1–6 ESV

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Sermon:

Well once again, and as always, good morning church. I was always glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord.

Well, this morning, we are through chapter 25 and into chapter 26 of the Book of Genesis 26, verses 1 through 6.

And in our journey going through this book We've now made it to the Isaac portion of Genesis. If God is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the Book of Genesis is the book about God's Plan of Redemption and salvation. God working all things according to his good pleasure and his Sovereign will. As we come here to the story of Isaac. We might begin to wonder, well, how does Isaac fit in With God's plan, and what God is doing.

We know in some ways. Well, he's the son of Abraham. He's the son of Promise. But is there more toit? And what we'll find out today is that there is.

The Bible is very intentional. In showing us the the movement of the promise that is for Abraham and then going to Isaac and Jacob. It's intentional in showing us how this unfolds. How God is working through this family. It's not just through Abraham that these things take place.

Genesis chapter 26 again, starting in verse 1. And we will read through verse 6 this morning.

Genesis 26:1–6 ESV

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” So Isaac settled in Gerar.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's begin our time together with the word of prayer.

Dear Lord, we do. Thank you. For your promises. Given to us. We see them find their fulfillments, their ultimate beautiful, glorious fulfillment in your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank you that when we were dead in sin and trespasses, you have made us alive together with him. What a precious, wonderful gift! Thank you for our great intercessor. Thank you for the comforter. The Holy Spirit at work with in. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do. May you open up our our eyes to see, give us ears to hear, speak through your servant, speak through your word to all of our hearts this morning. In Jesus name that we pray. Amen. And amen.

As we go through the Book of Genesis, there's a little bit of. Maybe Whiplash that happens. We go from longer and shorter passages. We just a few weeks ago had the longest chapter in all of Genesis in Genesis 24, and then three sermons in Genesis 25, and here, just a short passage in Genesis 26. A short but important. Passage. Again, as the torch is being handed from Abraham to Isaac. We need to know... We could we can mix a lot of metaphors here. Will the torch handoff go smoothly? Is he unworthy to handle and hold the torch. Will the light go out when passed from Abraham to Isaac? These are all important questions. And the answers are given to us in this short compact. But beautiful narrative.

And as with basically everything we do around here, we start with CONTEXT

Context: FAMINE

The context of of affirming the promise that's going to go to Isaac. The context starts with. Famine. It's interesting that this is how we start 26:1.

Genesis 26:1 “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham."

There's famine. Things aren't going. Perfectly. This is certainly not the main issue with this text, but I also think it's an important issue. God is going to come to Isaac... Not when everything's going well. Not when everything's hunky-dory. Not when life is smooth sailing. But rather When things are difficult. This has been a theme. We saw this multiple times in the life of Abraham. We see it again here in Isaac. We'll continue to see it. Reaching in many ways. It's sort of. Fevered pitch, the loudest sort of cry of this thought is. In the life of of Joseph. Not very much goes well for him. Famine's important in his story, but here, God's promise coming to Isaac comes in a time of famine. A time of famine when Temptation to abandon God's promises might be high.

Famine is is difficult living in the time and place they did without modern irrigation and things like that. But even if we're being honest with all of our modern technology with all of the advancement that we've made and our ability to do all sorts of things. Famine still happens. I mean, that literally. The rains don't come, we worry about. Is it a El Nino year? Was the rain's going to be? What about the monsoon? The monsoons are late. It's a seasonably warm winter. What's going on? How do we handle these things? These still affect us. But also we should think through in a sort of analogical way. There are times of difficulty and famine in our own lives, and those are often the important and formative times of what God is doing in and through us.

But all of these, just serve to teach us. That we're not in control of all things. There must be something higher, something and someone more powerful who is in control of all of these things. From whose hand we must take from... who who must provide. And so the fact that there's a famine is not just some sort of throwaway. It gives reason to why Isaac is going down to Gerar. But also just reminds us who's really in control... In all of these stories.

Here It's not Isaac. It's not man. It's not Abraham. The one who is Sovereign over all things: Is God! That’s our context. We need to start remembering who's in control who's Sovereign? And therefore, when we come to the next point, it's easier for us to understand... well, who's allowed to how come God gets to come to Isaac and tell him where and when he can or can't live, how he's supposed to live his life. Well, he's God. He's the one who's Sovereign over the famine. And God means this famine for some good. And here the good will be the affirming of the promise given to Abraham now Given to Isaac. But it comes with a command.

Command: DO NOT GO TO EGYPT

Verse 2. And the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt.

Simply put, that's the command. Do not go to Egypt. There's a theme in the Old Testament. It'd be hard to miss. Going down to Egypt is really not good.

Now that's going to be turned on its head, just a little bit. Jesus will have to go sojourn in Egypt for a while, and he will come back.

Let me rephrase that say it a little more rightly. Nothing good happens in Egypt. The people will come out of Exodus. There's a whole book called Exodus. They will come out of Egypt. That's a blessing. Jesus again will come out of Egypt. But Egypt itself is a dark place. They don't know God. They don't serve God. They don't love God.

To say, don't go down to Egypt in some sense Is God telling Isaac to trust him. You don't need to go down to Egypt? This was — for those of us that were here when we preached through the book of Isaiah. And in the opening of Isaiah, this becomes very important. Isaiah goes to the king, and he's, like, hey, just trust in God, don't trust in your own scheming. I know the world's raging, there's Wars, and all of this terrifying stuff. But what's Isaiah's message? Do not go down to Egypt. It's the same message here.

Instead of going to Egypt trust in the Lord. And that's where God goes. It's not just don't go down to Egypt. It's also do not go down to Egypt, dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

Intentionally. We are supposed to remember. Wait, that sounds those words. They sound familiar.

Genesis, chapter 12:1. The Lord said to Abram go from your country and your Kindred in your father's house. To the land. That I will show you.

Do not go down to Egypt, dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. To Abraham, God says go. I will show you where to go to Isaac, God says go. I will tell you where to go. For both of these, the question is. Are you going to trust God and not go down to Egypt? And are you going to obey God? When he tells you to go, will you go?

Abraham to his eternal credit. Picked up. And went. There were difficulties. There were trials. There were ups. There were downs. But He went. And, and the purpose the story is meant to build this up in our hearts. Okay, we saw Abraham Abraham, God said, go. He went, God said. Here's the promise, and then we read, and Abraham trusted the Lord, and God counted his faith to him as righteousness. Abraham was a man of Faith. When God said to go, he went. Isaac, will you? Be the same. Maybe we have a little bit of Hope. Maybe he'll be a little better.

Abraham had some some problems, ultimately through he was our big hero, he was not the one that we have been waiting for.... Because there's another another thought we need to remember. We haven't talked about this one in a while, but there are many important threads through the book of Genesis and I want to remind us of one we have not talked about in a while, though it has been there… ut it's the theme that's been continuing since Genesis 3. In Genesis 3. There was a. Prophecy. Given to the serpent at the time of the Fall. I will put enmity between you and the woman Genesis 3, 15 between your Offspring and her Offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise. His heel.

There's been a battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And over and over again. It felt like the seed of the serpent was winning.

12:20

Kane kills Abel. The earth has to be destroyed in a flood. And the seed of of the woman is down to just Noah. And it's difficult. Everyone grows and things expand, and then the Tower of Babel. Begin to wonder, who is the seed of the woman and we get to Abraham? He's the seed. But he struggles. He fails. And ultimately, the consequence is that he dies. Now, we enter Isaac. Is he the seed of the woman that will crush the head? Of the serpent. So far. For being honest. Things seem good. But here's a test. It's in the form of a command. Do not go down to Egypt, don't do it. Don't do it. Egypt is where the seed of the woman goes to die. Egypt is not where this is going to take place. Do not go down to Egypt. Instead, stay in the land that I will tell you.

Verse 3 sojourn in this land. Stay here.

Because then God is going to, in Verses three, four, and five. Reiterate the Covenant made with Abraham. And so the Covenant here to say it shortly. As with Abraham. So, with Isaac.

Covenant: AS WITH ABRAHAM, SO WITH ISAAC

As we hear the promise to Abraham, our mind should be saturated with this… my goal as we've been preaching through to Drill us, we should know as… not as… More... familiar than the back of our hand, the Covenant that God made with Abraham. Decendants: Offspring that would outnumber the stars in the sky in the Sands on the sea. Lands: that he would inherit the land and then a nation that Abraham's descendants would grow to be a nation, and that Nation would become a thattsn the third part: blessing to the whole world

descendants land blessing.

Genesis 26:3–5 “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

It's the same promise. The same promise that God gives to Abraham. He here comes and repeats and reiterates the Covenant with Isaac.

The God, the covenanting God that came in covenanted with Abraham, comes to Isaac and says that promise is still in full effect. And we should know that and expect this because the promise made to Abraham was.. we read... an everlasting Covenant.

But, as we hear an everlasting Covenant, then we see Abraham dies. We might wonder: Is the Covenant still going to be Everlasting? Yes, it is. God's going to come, and with the son of Abraham, reiterate. I haven't forgotten. My promise still stands, and it's still the same. Descendants, land, and blessing. It's, it's the same promise. So, as with Abraham, it is the same Covenant, the same promise. God says, I will bless. I will keep, I will do this.

If you were to sit me down, say you know, what's the main focus? What's the most important part of this passage? Anytime I sit down to preach.. Some of the questions I ask myself. Okay, what's the main point? What's the most important? And usually, that's the one you want to preach. That's the one you get the, the main emphasis of. Here In this passage, it's this. Context is important. The famine is moving on. Yes, that's important. The God commands him. Don't go down to Egypt, that's important. But the most important. God's promise still stands.

And God is going to do what God Said he would do, and God is going to do what God Said he would do, how he said he's going to do it in the way that he wants to that sees that God sees fit, and that seems right to him.

And so, while there's this famine raging all around and Isaac's trying to understand, well, what am I going to do? I'm here in Gerard, should I go down to Egypt? God appears and says, don't go to Egypt. Instead, hear this. Here's my promise.

I will bless you. I will establish verse 3 the oath that I swore to Abraham, your father. Verse 5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my Commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

We read that last verse and we think. Okay, God. We get the point. You don't have to say the same thing four times. He kept my charge, my Commandments, my statutes, my laws. But God's intentional and says the same thing four times.

Listen. To the words of the Lord.

This great promise this Covenant does come with a command. We summed it up. Simply don't go down to Egypt. But there's more to it? There's a charge and commandment statutes and laws because now when Moses is writing this...

Right, so these events happen. And then. Hundreds of years will pass, and the people will go to Egypt. They'll be enslaved in Egypt. God will send Moses to free the people. Moses will lead the people out of captivity out of Egypt because we want to go to Egypt, but they did so. We come out of Egypt. The people need to be reminded of who God is and what he's promised.

And so, part of the story is just like God gave the Covenant to Abraham, and now it extends to Isaac. Now you Oh Israel. Hear this. You are now the right recipient of this same promise. So, what must we do as we enter the promised land as we do what God has called us as we go into this land that God has promised to us and our forefathers here... What must we do? keep his charge Commandments, statutes, and laws!

And now we continue to fast forward. And we come to us. A people saved by grace through faith. What's our command? Keep the charge commandment statutes and laws. We've seen the fulfillment of these things in Christ. And so it's no longer. The charge is no longer to enter by the blood of bulls and goats and Rams. We enter by the blood of Jesus. We follow now, the law of Christ and All that he has commanded. We live lives worthy of the calling we have received these things.. still stand.

Part of the reason we need to see that God's promise can move from Abraham to Isaac. Is that pattern must continue. Abraham, Isaac Jacob, through all the way to ultimately the son of Abraham that is longed for the one who will crush the head of the serpent Jesus. And all of all of us who are in Jesus. We still grasp at these promises.

The Covenant still stands. As with Abraham. So, with Isaac fulfilling in Christ. May we look to him?

Now, the ESV translators. Put the break between verses 5 and 6. I don't think that's right.

The command in verse Two: Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land that I shall tell you sojourn in this land.

Well, what's the conclusion then to this story?

Isaac obeys.

Command: ISAAC OBEYS

So Isaac settled. In Gerar

He doesn't go down to Egypt. Good job.

Will Isaac be perfect?

We've already seen some mistakes, right? He's... Isaac loved Esau because he ate of the game eight of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. That is not How parents should act? This is, he's not perfect.

But Abraham obeyed. Chapter 26, verse 5, because Abraham obeyed.. chapter 25, verse 6 Isaac obeys to.

Obedience. Is a mark of The people of God.

I I recently. Had to block Facebook from my phone. I don't usually get on My “getting on Facebook” involves Desiree, sending me some reel or some link to some article. And I'll open it. Laugh. Think, whatever she wants from whatever. That's my extent I don't get on. I don't comment on social media, not great.

But I had to block it, not just treat it with a level of distain. Because for some reason, the algorithm thinks that, well, actually, I know the reason... let me, can I help us all out just free advice? The algorithms that these companies put out. They don't care if they make you happy or sad, loving or mad. In fact, those feelings are the same to them. Anger and Delight work the same. They keep you engaged. And for some reason, the algorithm had shifted in my point of view to a lot more Sinister. And he just wanted to rage bait me.

Every every post I was, like, oh oh, it made me more mad. And a lot of them, truly the most of them.... We're from people who Proclaim to be Christians. Who refused to obey?

I don't know how else to say it, but that boldly, and that bluntly. We seem to think, and I say, we, the sort of corporate General as Fallen Humanity, we seem to think that We know better and are smarter than God.

And so God gives commands. And his commands. Were we to follow them lead to Human flourishing and joy and Delight! We should Delight in the laws of the Lord, his charge his Commandments, his statutes, his laws. They are good, and they are good for us.

And yet we Rebel. We cast these things off. Would that we would obey.

I am not. The final arbitrator. Of all that is good and right. I am not the one who gets to Pilot my life in how I see fit. Rather, I humbly bow before the high King of Heaven. And in him. In his commands and statutes, is life and freedom forevermore.

We, we hear these stories and we get it all twisted. We want to appropriate God's promises and and all the happy things we think we want. But here, the full thing. Do not go down to Egypt, so Isaac settled in Gerard. The command goes out, the Covenant is restated, and then Isaac to his Eternal credit. Obeys.

We need to be careful. We'll get to this in a little bit. We're not perfect, and I'm not calling us… I am calling you to Perfection. I'm calling to Perfection… knowing none of us will make it.

But when we hear the commands of God, may we respond. May our hearts be inclined towards him.

When there's famine around us? When things are difficult. And painful even. Nothing's going right? The economy tanks. Jokingly called last week's sermon Rising food prices. Sometimes that happens, you know, what happens the most in a famine? God's still Sovereign. May We look to him!

Let's pray.

Communion:

Jesus Perfect Obedience