We are in the middle of, we just finished the halfway point in our expository study of the book of Genesis as we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter.

We are now in chapter 26 if you want to open up to Genesis chapter 26. We got through the first few verses last week.

Last week's message was entitled, Like Father, Like Son. It gave us an example, showed us, and I'm going to fly through.

We're going to get through all of chapter 26 today. I'm going to fly through a lot of verses here because there's some key points at the end of this we really want to spend a few minutes of time on this morning.

And I'll jump in here so that it will be an abbreviated sermon. But last week it was like Father, Like Son.

We saw how Isaac was copying some of the footsteps that his father Abraham did, but not the good things that Abraham did.

We said that he made two big mistakes last week. The first big mistake was another famine comes on the land, okay, where they're dwelling.

And what does Isaac do? He's trying to provide for his family. A famine comes about and they hightail it and they try to run to Egypt.

Again, trying to trying to not trust in the provision of the Lord. We said that, okay, if there's a if there was a famine in the in the promised land, there had to be a famine in Egypt as well, too.

Wouldn't there? Yes, there was. But Egypt was more set up to handle it because they have the Nile River and the Nile River runs into the Nile Delta, which feeds the ocean.

And that area does not depend upon rainfall. So there's always water in there. There's always plenty of water. The agriculture would still be there. The lush areas would still be there, even though there would be a famine in a region.

The land of Canaan, although you have although you have the Galilee Lake and you have the Jordan River running through there that that bring about provision. Yes, those two areas depended upon rainfall.

That's what God promised. If you are obedient to me, I will give you the rain and the latter rain.

And so in the winter months, you get the rain and the latter rain from the Lord, which fill the lake, which fill the river that provide for the land of Canaan.

So we understand that the land of Canaan to be an air and land of faith.

You're going to have to walk by faith. God's saying you're going to have to you can't run to Egypt and just depend upon the agriculture and everything that as is.

You're going to need to learn to depend upon me. And so that was the first mistake that we saw that that that Isaac that Isaac does here.

And I'm going to try to fly through here in in the in the support of Sharice here and go through all of these all of these verses here without any notes until we get to the till the end of chapter at the end of the chapter with a few things that I want to touch base on.

So we picked up things and says, so Isaac settled verse six. Today's message is Isaac settles down.

Sorry, I forgot to say that, didn't I? Isaac settles down. Thank you, guys. You keep me on task there.

Verse six. So Isaac settled in Gerar. Now, Gerar was still in the promised land, but it's right down there at the ball at the border just before Egypt.

It's kind of interesting to me that God's going to lay. He stops Isaac from going into Egypt.

Isaac wants to he's trying to repeat his dad's mistake. I'm going to go. There's fear coming over me.

I'm going to go down to Egypt. But he stops him in Gerar, still in the promised land, but right there at the border.

How many of us how many of us live our lives kind of like that?

We know where God's leading us. And I know what the laws of the Lord. I know what the precepts of the Lord.

I know what the scripture is telling me how to live. But there's the line.

I'm just going to get right close to the border. And it's like when you're four years old in the backseat of the car, seven years old.

I'm not touching. I'm not touching. I'm not touching. Look how close.

But I'm not. God is not impressed with how close you can get to the line and not touch.

What impresses the Lord is when you listen to the spirit of the Lord, you see that that's the line and you go the other way.

So God is going to actually move Isaac, even though he has stopped. He's in the promised land.

He's a little too close, probably for God's comfort, because God knows that Isaac, anything could send him over the edge.

I'm going to Egypt anyway, you know, but he settles in Gerar.

And it says, when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, she's my sister.

We've heard this before. Where did he learn this? From dad.

Dad told the same lie. That's not my wife. That's my sister.

Now, why would he tell that lie? Because in this in this point in time, in this area as well, too,

if you were a sovereign king of a nation and someone else comes into your territory and you like their wife and you have more men than they do,

you can kill the man and you take the wife. There you go. That was that was good enough for them.

So he realizes that he knows his wife is beautiful. We'll see that in a few minutes.

And he and they see that being played out. And so he says, she's my wife, for he feared to say for he she's my sister,

for he feared to say my wife, thinking unless the men of this place should kill me because of Rebecca,

because she was attractive in appearance. We saw that back in chapter 24 when Abraham sends his unnamed servant

to go find a wife for his son Isaac. And the servant is at the well looking for looking for a wife.

Not attractive because then Isaac's going to be mad at him for the rest of his life. Seriously? Seriously? Seriously? You know, every time he sees her. So anyway, it doesn't say that in the scripture. I'm just giving you that for my insight. There you go.

And so verse 8, when he had been there a long time, when Isaac had been there a long time. Now how long is a long time? We don't know. We're in Genesis, man. Genesis is a long time. It could be a long time. Okay? We got people living hundreds of years back in this time.

We don't have to go through the antediluvium thing as to why they lived that long. But he'd been there a long time. Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, we heard about him.

Remember he had the run-in with Abraham earlier. Okay? Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked out the window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah, his wife.

Now we read that and we think, what's the big deal? Now how is it they make that definition?

Well, when you break down the scripture, what this is talking about here is an intimate laughter that's only shared between a husband and a wife.

And at this stage, in this culture, men and women didn't share that kind of laughter and that kind of relationship unless you were married.

It's not like today where you can have, oh, I got a friend at work and we get along.

No, no, no, no. You didn't do that back in this time. Okay? None of that junk. Okay?

This, and it actually, the wording tends to lend itself to be flirting. Okay?

It's a little bit of flirting going on.

So Abimelech figures out, this ain't your sister. This is your wife.

So Abimelech said to Isaac, behold, she is your wife.

How could you say she is my sister? Isaac said to him, because I thought, lest I would die because of her.

And so, again, he's afraid his life's going to be taken.

And Abimelech says, what is this that you have done to us?

One of the people might easily have lain with your wife and you would have brought guilt upon us.

Abimelech has been through this before with Abraham.

He already knows this.

And so he doesn't, Abimelech is a Philistine king.

He doesn't know the one true living God, but he has seen how the one true living God has worked in the life of Abraham.

And he's seen it now working in Isaac as well too.

And he knows well enough to know, hey, if we do this, this God that you serve, I see how he works.

I see how he blesses.

You would have brought guilt on us.

I may not know who he is, but I know what he does.

And how bad is it?

How bad is it when the people of God continually have the world rebuke them?

The people of the world understand what's right and wrong and they're rebuking the people of God.

You know, these people today, the people of the world today, they may not follow the scriptures or embrace the scriptures as a whole,

but they know some of the key things that scripture says.

And when you profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you don't live it out, guess what you get?

You get that back in your face.

Now, how bad is that that we allow that to happen to begin with?

I'm not saying we've got to be perfect, but goodness gracious, God has put something between both of our ears to use for a reason.

All right.

So he says, would have brought guilt upon us.

So Abimelech warned all of his people saying, whoever touches this man or his wife surely will be put to death.

I would say he's guarding against his people ever making that mistake and trying to have their way with Rebecca.

So it says, so Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year, a hundredfold.

The Lord blessed him and the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

Now, this is something that we're very familiar with.

A hundredfold.

Where do we read that?

OK, we understand that we see that in the parable of Matthew, chapter 13.

Jesus begins to explain the parable of the sower.

And he talks about how those who are faithful, when that seed falls on good ground, OK, that person sows and reaps a harvest that's 30, 60 or a hundredfold.

And that term a hundredfold is a magnanimous term that's just kind of off the charts.

It'd be like, wow.

You know, when Jesus is giving that illustration and explaining that parable, the people would say a hundredfold.

Who could do that in a year?

Well, right here we see it.

Isaac is blessed a hundredfold within a year.

I'm telling you, it would bring about the attention of the Philistine people.

They're seeing everything.

numerous and people and remember abraham had also with him 318 paid servants all right and

those paid servants were not only people that helped in the household they were also trained

warriors and isaac's isaac's isaac's group has grown and grown and grown so these people not

only know how to take care of the sheep and everything else guess what else they know how

to do they know how to battle so this army's getting bigger they see the wealth increasing

they see the people prospering in the land and the philistines are kind of getting a little uneasy

this thing's getting out of hand we welcome these guys but it says and now verse 15 now the philistines

stopped and filled the earth um filled with earth all the wells that that his father's servants had

dug in the days of abraham his father so they're going there the philistines are going in and

they're putting uh they're burying all the wells why envy envy these guys are getting way out of

control we got to find some way to slow them down get them get them to go maybe somewhere else okay

so we're going to fill up the wells with dirt and abimelech the king says to isaac go away from us

for you are much mightier than we are fear has now gripped the philistine people they're afraid they see

all that's all that's going on all that's taking place so isaac he tells him to go away and this is

interesting because isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of gerar and settled there

so the valley of gerar is a pretty good ways away from gerar itself so he moves abimelech says he wants

you to go take your people and so he doesn't isaac doesn't put up a fight he doesn't argue or anything

he takes everybody and they move they move a pretty good ways away but it's obviously not good enough

and so and isaac dug again all the wells of water that had been dug in the days of abraham his father

which the philistines had stopped uh after the death of abraham and gave them names that his father

had given them so it was very important we'll see this in a minute very important for the the people

of israel they named these wells well why are wells important well i'm telling you what you live in a

desert a well is important okay people go to war over water all right there have been

wars battled over over over uh over wells over areas of water even today there are areas of the

united states where states i mean i read in the news lately i haven't seen but uh arizona and new

mexico have not gone to war with california yet but these people are mad at each other because

they're accusing you're stopping up the water before it ever gets down to us and if you've ever

been out to arizona and new mexico no not a whole lot of green out there there's any green it's on a

golf course okay that's it everything is if you move out there you better like tan and brown because

that's the way everything is all right but it's it's water's important water's in as a necessity

and so again it says um uh where do we where do we leave off verse uh 18 they had dug all the wells

verse 19 but when isaac's servants dug uh dug in the valley and found found their spring well so

they've moved from gerar they go to the valley which is a pretty good ways away he tells them

to leave and he does and so they dig a hole and they and they get water right there listen

this is unbelievable don't just breeze through this you can dig a lot of holes in the desert never get

water just because you're digging a hole doesn't mean you're going to get a well

but again it shows how god's hand is upon isaac and these guys see this and it scares them to death

so he tells them to leave they leave and they go to they go to a different area and he digs digs a

well right there and and they get water and then verse 20 the herdsmen of gerar quarreled with isaac's

herdsmen saying this water is ours i know you dug the well but this water is ours somewhere along the

line we know it's ours and and so he called the name of the well isaac because they had

contended with him and that's what isaac means is contentment they contended there there's a

contention verse 21 so the so they leave there and they they go away a little ways and they they

then they dig another well and they quarrel over that one as well they're there you know this this is

our water

our water

so he's gonna call that's hatred and so then that's not happy with him so then they moves um so he moved

from there and dug another well and finally they don't he so he's he's three moves away from where

he was to begin with and finally they don't quarrel with him and so so he called its name Rehoboth saying

for now the lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land and from there he went up to

bear sheba Rehoboth means uh and enlarge enlargement okay and so it was really important to name these name

these wells and he names them as far as he got to a point he doesn't he he went to that area a new

area he puts another well and he names it Rehoboth then he moves to bear sheba but he he doesn't give

that well away understand that he's going to need that well for agriculture for his flock and everything

else but he's gone to bear sheba now it's going to dig another well in a minute but it's kind of

interesting they they name these wells for these reasons and uh you've heard of Rehoboth baptist church

you know they always they'll name that Rehoboth the lord is you never hear of a isek baptist church or

sitna baptist church do you you know it's it's but that's why these names are important

but then we get to verse 24 and 25 and the lord appeared to him the same night and said for i am

the god of abraham your father fear not for i am with you and i will bless you and multiply your

offspring for my servant abraham's sake so we built an altar there and he called upon the name of the lord

and he's pitched his tent there and there isaac's servants they dig another well another well there

are three phrases in here that are very important that we need to really look at this morning the

first of first of all he built an altar now this that is that is intended to be a place of worship

for the one true living god that's why that's why he does this and you do that if you're going to claim

territory the canaanites will do that and when they claim territory they will build an altar and

worship their gods the philistines when they claim territory we'll see that in the old testament they're

going to build an altar and claim there but this is a statement from isaac that he intends to be here

and i intend to stay here i've moved enough i've moved all these places i've gotten out of your all's

way but he all and it also says that he calls upon the name of the lord and we immediately see that

when uh right after the fall and we get down to the birth of seth remember it said at this time all

the people all the people began to call upon the name of the lord you know and that's that's exactly

what should happen but this this uh to call upon the name of the lord is not just to pray that's

what it's talking about here in the biblical context here to call upon the name of the lord

is you you are stating again that you are he you are you are uh god's covenant people

we are his covenant people we are the we are the the people the people of your covenant god is with us

we call upon you and that's what they're saying right there is they call upon the name of the lord

and then it also says that they pit that he pitched his tent here and when it says they pitched his tent

that's not like when uh when you and i go camping or when we were in the scouts and we pitch our tent

and it's pretty much temporary it's pretty much done poorly okay but this is the kind of tent tent

pitching that that says this is where these this is this is we are going to dwell here for the rest of our

lives that's the statement that's being made okay this is the tent of a very extremely wealthy man

claiming territory i mean if you go if you go to the region today you even see these massive tents

still in the bedouin regions today some of them even have little acs in there and stuff like that

but they're they are they are gigantic tents it's not some little bitty tent okay but you have an altar

you have a which is a covenant reminder you have the people calling upon the name of the lord you have

the pitching of the tent and now they're digging another well digging another well they are claiming

territory verse 26 when abimelech went to went uh went to him from gerar with a hussath his advisor

and phycal the commander of his army we've heard about phycal before um isaac said to them why have you

come to me i you told me to leave i left and so you weren't happy with that so i moved a little further

you weren't happy with that so i moved a little further and so now now finally now you're coming to me

you know what what in the world's going on here why can't i get you guys to to leave me alone

you

verse 28 they said we see plainly that the lord has been with you so we said let there be a sworn pact between us between you and us let us make a covenant with you

that you will do us uh let's stop right there they make a covenant with you the first thing the first thing we need to remember about covenants is that

god makes covenants with his people but here we have a covenant made between two peoples this is really just a mutual peace pact

that's this is what what's what's going on here they make a mutual peace pact and verse 29 says that you

that you uh will do us no harm just as we have not touched you and have done nothing to you

nothing but good and have sent uh and have sent you away in peace you are now the blessed

of the lord so abimelech and his advisors they ask isaac to leave and you need to understand when they

ask him to leave it's not as polite as it looks on the pages it wasn't just isaac will you know get out

of here get you guys are becoming way too wealthy way too powerful and uh isaac you know he doesn't

quarrel he goes and he goes further and he goes further and he goes further and then they show up

at his door and they say because the lord's blessing is upon you we want we want a covenant we want a

covenant and it's actually a very beautiful testimony to the fact that god's hand is so much on isaac

you need you need to see that you know that this foreign king recognizes that whoever this man is

abraham's son isaac all the blessings that that the lord gave abraham the lord is now giving to isaac

and every time we turn a man around this man gets more wealthy and more wealthy he's just making

money hand over fist but now it's now he says i want a lasting peace because the lord is upon you

it's a it's also a tremendous testimony of abimelech's humility as well too you know this is this is

somebody who is outside the covenant abimelech is not in the covenant but he's seeing the power

of god's faithfulness in the covenant you know i want nothing to do abimelech is saying i want

nothing to do or any to be to put me on the wrong side of isaac's god i need to make a covenant with

him we we need to make a covenant with him verse 30 so he made a feast with them and he ate and drank

and in the morning they rose and exchanged oaths and isaac sent them on their way and they uh they

departed from him in peace now why why didn't they make the covenant that night they wait till the next

day well because in in this point in time in this culture and still is today the evening time was for

uh first you have a fellowship hospital you extend hospitality before you do business and that's the way

it still is today so that that night was a night of fellowship and then they take care of business

in the morning verse 32 that same day isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug

and said to him we have found water and he's uh he and he called it sheba therefore uh then uh

therefore the uh the name of the city is beersheba beersheba uh to this day

34 when esau was 40 years old he took judith the daughter of barry the hittite to be his wife

and besmath the daughter of elon the hittite and they made life bitter for isaac and rebecca

you know there are times they sometimes you read a short little compressed verses like this and it

looks like a pretty tight little narrative and that you can just kind of move past but we got a big

problem here and the problem is we're just we're not too far past genesis chapter 24 if you remember

in genesis 24 abraham sends his servant out uh in the household he says listen i want you to go back

to my people and find a wife for my son isaac you know put your hand on my thigh and swear this oath to

me that you will do this and and a servant puts his hand he makes the oath with with uh with abraham

but the servant's very concerned that his his mission might fail um and he raises two important

issues he says what if she will not come what if she will not come do i take isaac to her and he

says no whatever you do don't take isaac back there don't take him back there and the second issue he

says whatever you do don't get for him a hittite wife don't get for him a wife from the hittites

you go back to my people in in mesopotamia and you find him a wife there do not intermarry is what

he's saying in there

chills go down your spine okay you think about the book of Ezra you read Ezra when the men of Israel began to intermarry and and all that happened and it brings the nation of Israel almost to a moment of just tremendous peril because of their marrying outside of the covenant in there and how do we relate that to us today how do we relate that to us today does that mean we don't intermarry races that's not what that means what that means is you don't you do not marry outside

outside the covenant of God believers believers believer and believer that's what that means some people will take that scripture and they will twist it what this means is that if you are a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ a covenant marriage is that you marry someone else who is of the covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ that's what biblical marriage looks like it's not hey we got so we got a lot of things going on we like together and you like shopping and

and and you like me and you like me and I like me so we got so much going on so we we were just match made in heaven you know and so let's get married let's do this thing you know that's not what it means but notice right away that Esau says when he's 40 he takes not one but two wives and both of them are Hittites don't let that pass you by you know and and the last verse is just foreshadowing of things to come

it says and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca two new daughters in law they worship different gods they get a different agenda they have from a different culture and if you remember when Rebecca was pregnant okay and and the and the she asked the Lord what's going on in my womb and the Lord said two nations you got two nations there and they will war

against each other against each other and the Lord himself tells her the younger shall be over over the older okay he over that and then several verses back Jacob has already rested away the birthright from Esau okay and and even though he's the older brother he no longer has the birthright but let me just state the obvious here this morning as we wind this

thing down in a covenant in a covenant perspective here Esau Esau could not have done this what he's done right here with taking the two Hittite wives could not have done this if the covenant was going to be continued through him impossible impossible the promise that God made to Abraham that through you and your offspring that through Isaac all the nations would be blessed now clearly cannot come through Esau

he's taken two Hittite wives he's taken two Hittite wives but the Lord had already made it clear that it wouldn't happen that way right he'd already stated that and and and and the story's just going to get worse because when we get to chapter 27 we enter now we enter into how Esau not only sold his his birthright to Jacob but how Jacob now finagles and cheats Esau even out of his blessing okay

now most evangelicals thinking about the story of Jacob and Esau they conflict the two and they think that he sold they see that he sold his birthright and they think that was it no there are two very different things here and it takes it takes uh the culture of this time in Israel to understand what will be known as Judaism to make this clear the birthright is the property the birthright is the property but not the title

it's not the title it's not the title the title comes with the blessing the blessing of the father to the son who is going to carry out the name going to carry out the name think of Jesus the father has given me the blessing all authority has been given to me not only does Jesus have the birthright he has the blessing of the father all authority has been given to me and that's going to come in chapter 27 and we're going to read in chapter 27 how Rebecca

schemes and Jacob cheats Esau schemes and Jacob cheats Esau out of his blessing we've already seen how Jacob kind of rested the birthright away and it's easy for us to think of this in terms of an Old Testament Old Testament narrative but we've got to close this morning and look at Romans chapter 9

Romans verse 4 they are Israelites to them belong the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the worship and the promises wow that's one of the most spectacular verses you can read in Romans I mean look at that you know what did God give Israel well I don't know how about that how about the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the worship and the promises what's left you know what's left

my goodness verse 5 to them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all blessed forever amen all right so why have the Jewish people not overwhelmingly come to faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah why is that is it is you know and he starts us off verse 6 he begins to give us part of the answer but it's not as

it's not as though the word of God as though the word of God has failed God's word has failed God's word has not failed the word of God will accomplish what it is set out to do God's word has not failed it's not as though the word of God has failed for not all who are descendants from Israel belong to Israel this is very very very crucial for us to understand it because it turns out people that Israel Israel in the end is not a biologically determined

people Israel is a theologically determined people Israel is a theologically determined people this is what Paul is getting at right here and it goes on to say and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring in that sense Esau who is a grandson of Abraham theologically is not his offspring you with me theologically Esau is not his but Jacob is Jacob is this

this is what Paul is unfolding this is what Paul is unfolding for us this morning and it relates to us verse 7 and not all of his children of Abraham because they are his offspring through Isaac shall your offspring be named this means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as offspring

and before we go any further you know let's recognize what Paul is explaining is how at least to the best of my knowledge those of us who are in this room this morning okay any of us can get counted into the covenant it's not because of biological descent it is entirely because of God's covenant promises in the gospel the promises that he gives us and keep that in mind as we finish this

this thought out in verse 9 for this is what the promise said about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son and not only so but also Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they had not yet been born and had done nothing either good nor bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls that's great

grace friends that's grace right there all right verse 12 she was told the older will serve the younger as it is written Jacob I love but Esau I hated what what then shall we say is there injustice on God's part by no means for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy I will have compassion on whom I have compassion so then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God's

who has mercy so we're looking at the gospel all the way back here in Genesis here it is right here and it's a gospel that comes to us in good news that God is faithful to his covenants but it's really better news for us that God is not only faithful to his covenant people who are described as Abraham's descendants and they are more numerous than the sands of the sea more numerous than the stars in the sky it's because when we read

Genesis especially here in Genesis especially here in chapter 26 we're not just reading about someone else we're reading about us

us

you

you

When we look at chapter 27, we're going to see that Rebecca is scheming,

Jacob is cunning, and the saddest part of all of it is none of it was necessary.

You need to hear me on that this morning, guys.

None of it was necessary.

It would have happened because God had already determined it was going to happen.

You know, he'd already promised it was going to happen.

He told Rebecca it was going to happen.

It's going to happen.

So we need to keep that in mind when we get to chapter 27,

that we're going to be seeing one of the saddest soap operas in the Bible unfold before our eyes,

and all of it is entirely unnecessary.

How many times in Genesis do we see people who are just impatient with God's plan?

How many times do we see in 2019 people who are just impatient with God's plan?

You just had three young people stand up here and say,

you know, they gave some of the best lessons.

Here's my plans, but I don't know.

I don't know.

You know, you got dreams?

Amen.

Write them in pencil, though, because God writes in a different color.

Write them in pencil.

Always be willing to, here's where I'm leading,

but I'm always open to whatever God says.

Always open to whatever God says.

You know, in Genesis, Sarah gets impatient,

sends in Hagar to be with Abraham.

That worked out really well.

Okay?

Rebecca gets impatient, sends in Jacob to lie.

It would have happened anyway.

It would have happened anyway,

and it would have happened in a better way

had they just left it up to the Lord

and merely been faithful to His promises,

but they weren't willing to wait.

They weren't willing to wait.

But this text that we've read this morning

really shows us what happens

when we try to take things into our own hands.

My goodness, we are stubborn, stiff-necked people.

I don't know.

And I include myself.

How many times do we end up taking things

into our own stinking hands?

And then our prayer becomes,

God bless this mess.

Father, I love you.

I love you, Lord.

Please get me out of this gym.

I'll never, Lord, I promise you from this day forward,

Lord, if you bring me out of this,

if you heal me of this,

we get on the other side,

it's like, oh yeah, I'm good.

I'm good.

I'll get back with you.

We take things into our own hands.

Even in the name of the Lord,

we take things into our own hands.

In the name of the covenant,

we take things into our own hands.

Okay?

You know, even in the name of His promises.

And the scripture ends and it says,

And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Listen, we're going to end on this.

There is a line of promise

and there is a line of bitterness.

That's it.

There's a line of promise

and there's a line of bitterness.

And we see it all the way through Genesis.

We saw it way back in Genesis 3 and 4.

And when there was a line of Cain,

there was a line of Seth.

There was a line of promise.

There was a line of bitterness.

I mean, man, you turn on the news today,

you open up headlines today,

whatever news feed you want to look at,

I don't care what it is.

And then you read the scriptures

and you put it all into context.

I'm telling you,

there are two ways.

There are still two lines.

There's a line of bitterness

and there's a line of promise.

And it's still that way today.

And until Jesus comes,

it's going to continue to be that way.

And our job,

our job is to stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit

and to know where the line of promise is,

to trust in His promises.

We sing about it Sunday after Sunday.

And all of His promises are yes and amen.

Yes and amen.

For you desire good for me, Lord,

and not evil.

You have plans for me to prosper.

God desires for you to succeed and not fail.

God is not a killjoy.

And if that doesn't arrest you, then you don't know the one true living God the way he desires you to know him. Worship team, come on up before we go into another sermon.

So grateful for our graduates this morning. So grateful for the work that they have put in and the blessing of their families. And thank you for visiting us if you're visiting families.

We want to say you always have a place here. And again, Hannah Kate's going to have a signing next door. And there's some refreshments and cookies. Just give them about three or four minutes to get the kids out of the refuge. Please just hang out and say something. Encourage the students and make sure you put words of encouragement in their jars. That's something they're going to take with them as well, too. That's something we've always done here in the life of our church.

But I'm grateful for you today. And I really am humbled. I'm humbled to the core of my heart at the words that AJ and Hannah Kate and Elizabeth spoke over this fellowship.

Because the words that they spoke over this fellowship has absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with the Lord and you.

And I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that this is where God allows me to minister and be a part of what he's doing in and through the life of a great, great, great group of folks that are trying to walk down the line of promise.

Right? And see the line of bitterness and just walk away. Walk away. Let's stand and pray.

Father, we just love you so much this morning, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you call us yours and that your chosen people has nothing to do with the biological birth and everything to do with the new birth.

The new birth that is in Jesus Christ. For those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. Will be saved.

We thank you for that promise. We thank you for your everlasting love for us.

And we thank you for how you've already spoken to our hearts this morning.

In Jesus' name we give thanks and praise. And come on, all God's people said this morning, Amen. Amen.