Like Father Like Son

INTRODUCTION:

Turn to Genesis 25.

*show some examples of fathers looking like their sons. end with me and my dad.

Often, children are a reflection of their parents. And where we’re at so far in Genesis, we’re following the storyline of one man and his descendents — Abraham.

Last week we finished in Genesis 25. We didn’t really touch on it, but this is when Abraham dies.

Genesis 25:8 KJV 1900

8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Abraham is now dead and and the focus of the biblical narrative has shifted to Isaac… the promised one. But as we’ll see throughout tonight’s lesson, Isaac’s life reads very similarly to Abraham’s life… Like father, like son.

Tonight there’ll only be two main points that will mostly be informative. But we’ll finish by applying what we see in the Scriptures to ourselves.

So we’ll see two types of character traits that all fathers pass on to their sons. Let’s begin with the negatives.

NEGATIVES

Does anyone remember who Isaac married in Genesis 24? (Rebekah)

Rebekah bears two children named Jacob and Esau. Look at Genesis 25:22-23

Genesis 25:22–23 KJV 1900

22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, And two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; And the elder shall serve the younger.

Who does God prophesy would be the strongest/most blessed? (the elder)

What’s strange here is that God’s prophecy contradicts the cultural norm. The eldest was customarily the blessed one — the one who received the best inheritance and blessing from the patriarch.

But notice what happens in Genesis 25:30-33

Genesis 25:30–33 KJV 1900

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

Esau and Jacob apparently weren’t aware of God’s prophecy concerning Jacob’s blessing.

Why do you think that might be? (I think it’s because Isaac didn’t make them aware of the prophecy… we’ll see why I say that in a moment)

But moving in to Genesis 26 we find the primary, negative character trait that Isaac “inherited” from Abraham. Can you spot it?

Let’s read Genesis 26:6-11

Genesis 26:6–11 KJV 1900

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: 7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. 8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Isaac deceived Abimelech just like Abraham deceived Abimelech. What’s interesting though is Isaac, at the beginning of Genesis 26, received the continuation of the Abrahamic covenant. He was guaranteed blessings.

But Isaac tells the same lie (“She’s my sister!”) to the same man (Abimelech) for the same self-serving reasons (fear of imminent death), which provokes the same response (“What have you done to us?”).

So here’s a strange takeaway from Genesis so far… If/when you get married… Don’t lie about your wife actually being your sister.

Isaac is manifesting deception in the same ways Abraham did.

Question: Is deception and lying a character trait that you would want to pass on to your descendents?

We’re going to skip ahead in the narrative to chapter 27. We see hints of this habitual sin. Deception seemed to be a pattern in the life of Isaac even until his death bed.

We’ve skipped to Isaac’s last days. The days when he would bless his primary descendent with the blessing of the household and the blessing of God. Look at Genesis 27:1-4

Genesis 27:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

Where did you spot the deception in these verses? Was the eldest prophesied to receive Isaac’s blessing?

Again, Isaac is operating with a deceptive bent. And actually, Isaac’s deception is an attempt to manipulate the plans of God.

You know, most of the time our deception attempts to assert our will over God’s will… or even our will over others’ will.

And this generational sin affected more than Abraham and Isaac.

*summarize Genesis 27:5-22.

Genesis 27:23 KJV 1900

23 And he discerned him not (or… he was deceived), because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.

Like father, like son.

*talk about the similarities of Ishmael and Esau in Genesis 27:30-46.

But there’s a positive to the negative… and I’m not talking about the character traits.

The Lord’s purposes always prevail, even when our sin tries to get in the way.

Even at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and our own worst, God will accomplish his purposes, in his timing, through his ways, and for his glory.

But what did Abraham pass down that was positive??

POSITIVES

First, Isaac received God’s own covenant made to Abraham. Isaac experiences the blessing of God. This is what Genesis 26:2-5 tells us.

Genesis 26:2–5 KJV 1900

2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will 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 the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

*summarize Genesis 26:12-22.

Isaac experiences the presence of God.

We saw it in the verses we just read, but we see it again in Genesis 26:24

Genesis 26:24 KJV 1900

24 And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

Genesis 26:28 KJV 1900

28 And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

Isaac worships God.

Genesis 26:25 KJV 1900

25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

But notice with me in Genesis 28:1-9

Genesis 28:1–9 KJV 1900

1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. 6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram; 8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

Jacob and Esau had the same father. Like father, like son right? But their lives turned out totally different. And I want you to see something in application to us tonight and we’ll be done.

APPLICATION

Here’s what I’m not saying… You are not hopeless because you don’t have godly parents. You are not automatically godly because you have godly parents. The choice is always yours.

However, one Scripture does seem to illustrate that we act like our forefathers. What do I mean by this? Turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12-14

Romans 5:12–14 KJV 1900

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Humanity reflects the sin nature of the First Adam.

It’s like having two parents and you get all of the negative traits from only one of your parents.

This is us in Adam. This is all of humanity in Adam.

All humans are made sinners because of Adam’s sin. That means that you and I along with everyone in our world today reflects the nature of our great, great, great, great… grandfather — Adam.

And because the wages of sin is death, Adam’s single act of disobedience condemned all of his descendents to physical, spiritual, and eternal death.

So as you and I look at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we don’t see that they’re necessarily acting in accordance with their biological fathers, but they’re especially acting in accordance with their spiritual father.

And so for us today, this means we are not shocked that each of us sin. That should not catch us off guard. Actually, it’s expected because we are the sons of Adam.

But for believers, there should be something different about how we approach our inherent sin nature. We don’t assume we’re perfect. We don’t try to cover up our sin. We try to war after our sin.

This is what Paul describes in Romans 7:15-25. Turn there for a moment:

Romans 7:15–25 KJV 1900

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Believers recognize that we are descendents of the First Adam, but we’ve been set free by the Last Adam… Jesus Christ. *summarize the fulfillment of the Adam typology through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:22 KJV 1900

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

We get some positive character traits through Jesus Christ… namely righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Humanity receives Christ’s righteousness through his death on the cross.

So what are we to do?? Do we wallow in despair because of our sin? Do we pretend that it doesn’t matter? Here’s an example of what is happening throughout our life.

When Amanda married me she became a Campbell. But it took a couple of months for that change to be official according to the government. But you know what?? There are many who still think of Amanda as a Burkhart. *tell story about Maria and Emma Mathews names in my phone.

But you know, over time, Amanda’s recognition as a Burkhart is going to change. It’s not going to go away. But through the years, she’s going to come to be known more as a Campbell than as a Burkhart.

The same is true with believers. As we live our lives cognizant of our heritage (First and Last Adam), the hope is that our sinful nature becomes less and less recognizable. That it slowly fades away over time.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why do you think Isaac repeated the same sin (deception) as his father, even after seeing the consequences?

Why is it sometimes easier to repeat wrong patterns than to break them?

Have you ever tried to cover up something out of fear like Isaac did? What happened?

What does it mean that we are all “in Adam”? How do you see that play out in everyday life?

How does knowing you are “in Christ” change how you think about your sin?

Why is it important to fight sin instead of pretending it’s not there?

What does it practically look like to “war against” sin in your daily life?

SMALL GROUP PRAYER PROMPTS

Ask God to show you areas where you are repeating sinful patterns (like deception, fear, or control). Confess specific sins you’ve been ignoring or excusing. (*do this individually)

Thank God that even though you are “in Adam,” you are made alive “in Christ.”

Ask God to make you more like Jesus in your thoughts, words, and actions. Pray that over time, your sinful nature would become less visible and Christ would be more evident.

Ask God to help your group encourage each other to grow and follow Christ faithfully.