Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Isaacs Legacy - The Good & Bad in Light of God's Presence and Promises

A. W. Tozer describes how we ought to think about the fact that God is all-present (omnipresent), that he is everywhere:

We should never think of God as being spatially near or remote, for He is not here or there but carries here and there in His heart.

Space is not infinite, as some have thought; only God is infinite and in His infinitude He swallows up all space.

“ ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ saith the Lord.”

He fills heaven and earth as the ocean fills the bucket that is submerged in it, and as the ocean surrounds the bucket so does God the universe He fills.

“The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.”

God is not contained: He contains.1

The mind-stretching reality is that if the hundred thousand million galaxies that form the ever-expanding universe were compressed in a bucket, that bucket would be as awash and fully saturated with God’s presence as it would if lowered into the sea.

God surrounds and fills the universe with the sea of his presence.

Tozer’s explanation quoted one of the two great Old Testament passages on God’s presence:

The other grand text is the lyrical expression of David in Psalm 139:

All of God was present wherever David would go, not merely some aspect of God.

God is present with his whole being everywhere.

A classic expression of God’s all-presence is: God does not have any size or spatial dimension and is present at every part of space with his whole being, and yet God acts differently in different places.2

In respect to his people, while all of God is spatially present everywhere, he is specially present with his children.

Indeed, he is with them and in them (cf.

John 17:20, 21; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

He is specially present with his people to protect and to bless them.

David wrote:

Most of the time when the Bible speaks about God’s presence, it refers to his presence to bless.

The truth for believers is: All of God is always with us in every place and at all times to protect us and bless us.

And when taken to heart this truth is elevating and life-altering.

John Wesley, whose life and ministry so affected the church in Britain and America, died after calling out, “The best of all is, God is with us.

The best of all is, God is with us.”3

I have said all this because the life of Isaac, as it is presented in the brief compass of Genesis 26, had to do with his learning that God was present with him.

We see this in three parallel declarations of God’s presence at the beginning, middle, and end of the account.

The first was future: “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you” (v.

3).

The second was present: “Fear not, for I am with you” (v.

24).

And the third was past, as the pagan king Abimelech observed, “We plainly see that the Lord has been with you” (v.

28).

How Isaac related to and appropriated the reality of God’s presence had everything to do with how he lived.

And so it is with us.

[1 A. W. Tozer, Born After Midnight (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1959), pp.

119, 120.

2 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), p. 173.

3 Herbert Lockyer, Last Words of Saints and Sinners (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1969), p. 64.

R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), 339–340.]

I. Deception & Discord with the Philistines (Gen.

26:1-35)

A. Divine Intervention (Gen.

26:1-6)

Future - God Has Promised His Children His Presence (Gen.

26:3)

1.

The Dearth (Gen.

26:1)

God requires obedience

2. The Directions (Gen.

26:2-6)

Obedience brings blessings

B. Deceiving Like Daddy Did (Gen.

26:7-11)

Dealing With Our Sin-Problem in Light of God's Presence

1.

The Deception (Gen.

26:7)

Threatening God's blessings

2. The Realization (Gen.

26:8)

3. The Rebuke (Gen.

26:9-10)

God's intervention for protecting His blessings

C. Digging Where Daddy Dug (Gen.

26:12-22)

Handling Our Personal & Interpersonal Conflicts in the Light of God's Presence

1. Isaac's Prosperity (Gen.

26:12-14)

God's blessing of water in the wilderness

The world envy's those whom God blesses and opposes the

2. Issac's Persecution (Gen.

26:15-22)

D. Dwelling Where Daddy Dwelt (Gen.

26:23-35)

1. Isaac's Worship of Jehovah (Gen.

26:23-25)

Present - God's Promises in Light of His Presence (Gen.

26:24)

2. Isaac's Witness to the World (Gen.

26:26-33)

Past - God's Peace in Light of His Presence (Gen.

26:28)

3. Isaac's Woes as a Father (Gen.

26:34-35)

Handling Our Family-Problems in Light of God's Presence

II.

Deception Amidst Blessings (Gen.

27:1-40)

A. Preparing Blessings for Esau (Gen.

27:1-4)

Isaac Hatches a Plot to Circumvent God's Previously Revealed Will to Continue the Covenant Blessings through the Younger Son

B. Plundering Blessings from Esau (Gen.

27:5-29)

1.

The Scheming Spouse (Gen.

27:5-13)

2. Setting the Stage (Gen.

27:14-17)

3. Swindling the Giver (Gen.

27:18-25)

4. Stealing the Blessing (Gen.

27:26-29)

C. Perception of the Deception (Gen.

27:30-40)

1. Esau's Return (Gen.

27:30-31)

2. Esau's Realization (Gen.

27:32-33)

3. Esau's Remorse (Gen.

27:34-38)

4. Esau's Remainder (Gen.

27:39-40)

Conclusion:

Deal with the subtle deceptions that rob you and your family of God's fulness of His blessings.

Live in the light, and show your children what it means to walk with God in the light.