In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Isaac and Rebecca from the Bible. He emphasizes the importance of seeking God's guidance and being committed to Him without compromise. The preacher highlights how Rebecca traveled 800 miles to meet Isaac, asking numerous questions about his appearance and personality along the way. When Rebecca finally sees Isaac, she falls off her camel, showing her anticipation and excitement. The sermon also touches on the significance of Eliezer, a servant who represents the Holy Spirit, gathering a bride for Isaac. The preacher concludes by emphasizing the need for believers to unclog the wells of their faith and live as dedicated disciples of Christ.

We're in chapter 24, and we've come as far as, I believe, verse 61. We are looking at this remarkable love story of Isaac and Rebekah, certainly one of the oldest love stories on record and well known. And again, I want you to take into consideration as we move through here, the type. In other words, all of these things are here by God's inspiration. They're here on purpose. And we see, again, Abraham taking Isaac in chapter 22, and kind of walking through the crucifixion of Christ, and finally the only son being offered, and then the angel of the Lord Jesus himself stopping the hand of Abraham with a knife, and then, you know, the ram caught in the thicket, and then him teaching him, the day is going to come when something will be seen here. And Abraham calling the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh and saying, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And then it says, Abraham and his servants returned. We don't hear anything about Isaac. Very interesting. It's almost as though, you know, from the resurrection of Christ, we don't see him again until he will return. Now in the next chapter, 23, we have the record of Sarah's death. And it's very typical of God taking a Gentile bride, setting aside, as it were, Israel for this time, until his plan of the last days. And in chapter 24, then we have Eleazar, which means the one who comes alongside to help, the type of the Paracletus, the Holy Spirit, being sent by the Father outside of the nation of Israel to a foreign land to gather a bride for his son, Isaac. And Eleazar goes and speaks to her of this only begotten son, the heir of all things, and how wonderful he is. And finally we come to the point where the family says to Eleazar, to the servant, well, give us about ten days so we can pack up and say our goodbyes. And the servant of Abraham says, no, I want to stay in the flow. The way things are falling out here, I don't want to tarry. And they say, well, let's ask the girl, which is unusual. They bring Rebekah in. And Rebekah, simply on the urging of Eleazar, sight unseen, takes this journey to this son. And it's so typical of what's happened in our lives. The Holy Spirit has come and ministered to us and spoken to our hearts about Christ. Peter says, whom having not seen, you love. In whom, though now you see him not, ye believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so Rebekah, without ever seeing Isaac, is drawn by the testimony of this servant, Eleazar. And he speaks to her about the wealth of the Father's house and the son who is the heir, the only heir, the heir of all things. And Rebekah then begins to make that journey to go to this son that had been prophesied and miraculously born from a dead womb and so forth. The types are so beautiful. And the thing is, we have to realize that God has done this. It hasn't happened by happenstance. This isn't just a historical record. Any beauty contained in the story is placed there by God and it is His heart towards us. Verse 58 says, They called Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go? And we make that choice with this man. And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, Nabram's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands and millions. A little tough. And let thy seed possess the gait of those which hate them. And Rebekah arose and her damsels and they rode upon the camels and followed the man. And the servant took Rebekah and went his way. And in between verse 61 and 62, we have Eleazar, the one who comes alongside, the type of the spirit taking Rebekah. It says Rebekah went her way. Verse 62, we cross seven to eight hundred miles, if you don't mind, in the twinkling of an eye. And we're back, as it were, in the land. And Isaac came from the way of the well, Leheroi, for he dwelt in the south country. Now here's the beautiful type. We haven't seen Isaac in the story since he went and was offered by Abraham. It says Abraham and the servants returned. We've heard his name, but we haven't seen him anywhere in the story until now. And it's so beautiful because it's the type of Jesus Christ. He's offered, and as it were, it says Abraham received Isaac back from the dead in type. It tells us in Hebrews, Christ is risen and then he ascended. And he will not be seen until the bride is brought to him. That is when he's seen again. And that's when Isaac shows up again in our story. And Isaac came from the well. Now, by the way, seven times, and we'll have to get to Isaac sooner or later in our Sunday morning study. Seven times we find Isaac by the well. Isaac is a man who seems to love the desert. He's a quiet man, evidently a deep man. He loves to sit by a well. And seven times we hear his name in association with a well. And in particular, he unclogs the wells of his father, Abraham. And I think how beautiful it is and how needful for the church today to unclog the wells of the apostles and of Spurgeon and of Whitefield and of the great moves of the spirit of the church when people were committed to Christ with all of their heart, without compromise, and they sought God for the filling of a spirit, and they were dedicated to his word, and they lived their lives as disciples. How necessary for us to unclog those wells and to drink from them again. Isaac here sitting by the well. The Heroi is the one who lives and sees. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, now the King James says she lighted off the camel. The Hebrew says she fell off of her camel. Now it tells us why here. First impressions. Isaac, here comes the camels. Who was that that just took that tumble? Here's why she fell off her camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master. Therefore she took a veil, evidently as she quick grabs the veil to cover herself, she falls. She lets go of the camel. Because she's been coming for eight hundred miles, she's been asking questions. Now what does he look again? Is he handsome or is he ugly? Is he tall or is he short? Is he thin or is he wide? What kind of a personality? Does he have a good sense of humor? What color are his eyes? You have to imagine now, Rebekah, some probably along the journey, she's thinking, I can't believe I did this. And she's talking to Eliezer, traveling for eight hundred miles, and she must have asked a thousand questions. And I'm sure her heart was filled with anticipation, as ours is, awaiting the bridegroom. And she looks up and sees this man walking in the field and says, Who's that? And Eliezer says, That's the one I've been telling you about for eight hundred miles. Oh, she goes to grab her veil and falls off the camel. You know, no flesh is going to glory in his presence. You know, that's what we'll do is probably stumble into the kingdom when we're raptured. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. He prepared a place and took Rebekah and she became his wife. And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. So, beautiful love story now. Rebekah coming to Isaac. A type of the church. You would do well to read 2 Corinthians 11 and Revelation chapter 19 and the song of Solomon and Psalm 45, 11. It just speaks of how beautiful the bride is, how comely she is, you know, how God sees us without spot, without blemish. You know, there are those in the church who teach that Christ is not returning until the church becomes perfect. Now, let me tell you something that is really depressing because I know what they mean and that ain't going to happen. We are perfect by the blood of Christ and by the righteousness that God has supplied. And there is no way that anyone can ever improve upon the work of Christ. It's almost blasphemous. And it says in Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Roman, bond nor free. The idea is there is a unity already that cannot be improved on by man's attempts. And it's wonderful to meet a charismatic Catholic or a Baptist or a Methodist that is a believer. A believer in any denomination be able to sit and laugh and talk about Jesus and sense the same spirit, the same Lord, the same Bible, though we may have differences. And I thank God for the differences. You know, Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors. It would be a bummer to go there if they only had vanilla. And I think, you know, there are people who need to roll on the floor and shun the Mackay to feel close to God. And there are people who need to wear suits and ties to feel, it makes me feel far away from God. There are people that, you know, that need the hymnal and the liturgy. And there are people like us that don't fit in anywhere else. But, see, that's confused Satan completely. For 2,000 years he's been here, and the church is still here. You know, at the end of the first century, again, Lightfoot says the apostolic fathers wrote that there were already Episcopal, Congregational, and Presbyterian forms of government at the end of the first century. And we're still arguing over it today. Jesus is the head of the church, so it survives. It has life. Then again, Abraham took a wife. He's 165 years old. Her name was Keturah. Now, he lived 35 years, evidently, after Isaac's marriage. And she bare him. Now he has six more kids at 165, Abraham, being fruitful in his old age. I think we should do that, by the way. It tells us this in the Psalms. It's fruitful, but you should have children in your old age. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, slash bald-headed, white-headed, now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come. Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O God? Who is like unto thee? Again, the Psalms say this, and I think that is beautiful. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. The idea is that at 165, you're probably not going to have more kids. You're probably not going to be 165. But in the end of your life, in your old age, you can still bear children in the sense that you should be sharing Christ with the next generation. It means so much to a grandchild to hear from a grandparent about the wonders of Jesus and of His love and how those things stick in the heart. My grandfather, who I really didn't know. I mean, he lived in the house with us. I was eight years old, born and raised in what is Austria-Hungary, shoveled coal until he was in his seventies, was an engineer, and would sit next to me on the sofa and answer a thousand questions. I was a little kid, six, seven, eight years old, and he would talk to me about Jesus. I had no idea. And I liked my grandfather because one time he told me one time when he was in the university in Vienna, him and his friends went and took apart a farmer's wagon, this huge wagon, nut and bolt, and carried it up the steeple to the top of the church and reassembled it hanging on the steeple of the church. And the whole town wondered how that wagon could get up there. It was an impossibility in that day. So I thought, you know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I like those kind of things. But anyhow, he died when I was eight years old. He died on Thanksgiving Day. But before he died, he gave my mom money and told her to buy me my first Bible. So on my eighth Christmas, there was a present under the tree, and I opened it up, and it was a Bible with his name in it. He must have known that he was going. And he planted seeds in my heart. And you don't know when you sit with a little grandchild what God will do with that life. I encourage you, even when your hair is gray and white and bald, to be proclaiming his goodness and his wonders to the next generation. It's your job. No one knows it as well as you do. Those of you that have walked with the Lord 20, 30, 40, 50 years, how wonderful. Abram here, in a physical sense, fruitful in his old age, he married Keturah. And she bare him Zimron, Jokshun, Medan, Midian, Ishbak. How would you like to be a kid named Ishbak? Shua. Jokshun begot Sheba and Dedan. That's Saudi Arabia. The sons of Dedan were Asherim, Letyashim, Leumun. And the sons of Midian, Ephah, Epher, Hanak, Abadah, Eldahah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. Isaac was the heir. But under the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac, his son, while he yet lived, eastward unto the east country. So he gave them gifts and sent them east. And believe me, today Isaac wishes that Abraham had sent him east, because Saudi Arabia and Iraq and those countries are the world's wealthiest nations with the oil. So Abraham blessed them more than they knew. But you know, it's amazing that Sheba and Dedan are the sons of Abraham, those in Saudi Arabia, the same blood flowing in their veins as the Jew. It's remarkable to go there. You know, you see a Jew, a Muslim, and a Muslim may be an Arab or not an Arab. Arab is a totally different thing. It's a broader term. You see the Druze, you see the Bedouin, and you can't tell them from one another. And so many of them have the same blood flowing in their veins, but there's just such an animosity there. It's amazing. It's amazing. But one day the Bible says they will all come. All nations will come to the temple in Jerusalem and worship the Lord of the Lords and the King of Kings. So Abraham gave everything to Isaac. He sent his other sons away eastward. These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived, 175 years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years. What a rich, rich life. And then remarkably, it says he was gathered to his people. Now this is speaking about those who had died in faith before him. In the cave in Mephila is only Sarah. This is plural. He was gathered to his people. You remember in the New Testament when Jesus tells the record of Lazarus and the rich man how that Lazarus, when he dies, though he was poor in this world, went to Abraham's bosom, that he was gathered there. So Abraham is gathered to those who had believed before him, remarkably, beautiful, those who had died in faith. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Mephila, these two boys together. In the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is before memory, the field which Abraham had purchased of the sons of Heth, there was Abraham buried and Sarah his wife. So he had been in the promised land as a stranger a hundred years. He came there when he was seventy-five. One hundred years he sojourned without receiving the promises of God. Isn't that an interesting term? Stranger in the land of promise, looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. What an amazing man. I will look forward to meeting him. It came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac dwelt by the well of Leheroi, happy there it seems, a man of solitude. And these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar, the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore unto Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names according to their generations. The firstborn of Ishmael, Nabajoth, Kedar, Adbil, Mibsam, if I mispronounce these, forgive me. You won't know anyway. Mishma, Duma, and Masa, Hedar, Tima, Jetur, Naphish, Kedema. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names by their towns and by their castles. They were twelve princes according to their nations. That had been prophesied in chapter 17 verse 20. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. And he gave up the ghost and died. And notice, he's a believer. He was gathered unto his people. He dies 58 years before Isaac. And they dwelt from Havilah to Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria. And he died in the presence of all his brethren. Literally it says he fell in the presence of all his brethren. So we don't know if he collapsed, but he was gathered to his people. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padinarum, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Now of course it's interesting because this is the son of promise. Why God waited 20 years? Hard to tell. Some of you have been seeking the Lord for your barren wife for 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. This is 20 years. Now we've had couples in the church that have been to all the fertility doctors, and that really is a heart-wrenching experience because you see how Hannah is as we get to 1 Samuel, how her heart is broken. But we've had couples that we've prayed for and God has opened the womb, and after 3 or 4 kids they've come back and said, could you please pray this stops now? Amazing how involved God is with this. And we'll read in Romans chapter 9 that God says that it was by election these sons are born, Jacob and Esau. And God says Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. It seems like a difficult thing for us to hear from a God who says his very nature is love. As Spurgeon used to say, it isn't remarkable to me that he hated Esau, it's remarkable to me that he loved Jacob. I think as we go through this we'll see why he says that about Esau. Malachi chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 tell us the same thing of Esau. Interesting to find that mentioned in more than one place. Now when we get to Hebrews it will say this, that he sought the blessing of God with tears and though he sought it with repentance, it, the blessing with repentance, that he didn't receive it. It doesn't say that Esau could not have repented before God. Every man can repent. It says he sought the blessing, not the birthright. Now he didn't esteem his birthright. He hated it. He despised it. We're going to read that right here. And that was the thing that was attached to the firstborn which was attached to the Messianic seed which was attached to the promise made to Abraham and to Isaac. The blessing was a separate thing and that took place when the patriarch of the family died. When the father died he would gather his sons and normally to the firstborn he would give the double portion. He would give a blessing and that had to do with physical inheritance. And Isaac went to bless Esau and Jacob, remember we're going to get there, stole the blessing as it were. Now he didn't have to do it because God had told Rebekah that the blessing would be his, but Jacob stole the blessing. And it says then that's what Esau sought with tears and repentance and yet did not receive it was the blessing. It doesn't say that he couldn't have repented in regards to sin. The birthright is something we run into this chapter now. Rebekah is barren. Isaac prays for 20 years. When he is 60 she conceives. Verse 22 says the children struggled together within her and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? Now I'll interpret that. What she said, you know, Lord I know this has to do with the promised seed. I know this has to do with, excuse me, what you said to Abraham, what you said to Isaac, and I know this is your plan, but why is my third trimester bananas? You know, what is going on? If you've opened my womb and you've blessed and you've allowed this to happen, what in the world is going on here? If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in your womb. Now that will always be trouble. If you have two nations in your womb. Two manner of people shall be separated from thy boughs. And the one people shall be stronger than the other. I believe probably speaking of Esau and the natural. And yet the elder shall serve the younger. Now God tells her this before the children are born. So it's by election. It's by God's design. When her days were to be delivered, were fulfilled, behold there were twins in her womb. Now these are not identical twins. They are fraternal twins. And the first came out red all over like a hairy garment. And they called his name Harry. That's what Esau means. So again, don't picture an orangutan in your mind. That's not what we're talking about here. The red is ruddy. And it tells us that David was ruddy. It has the idea of rugged and masculine and has the idea of health and vigor. He was ruddy and he had red hair. Maybe like Absalom. Maybe long red hair. But we're going to find out as he gets older, his hands are hairy, his neck is hairy. Harry ends up to be a good name for him. So his name is Harry. And after that came his brother out and his hand took hold of Harry's heel. So as the second child is coming, he's holding on to Esau's heel. And his name then was Jacob. Now without the J in the front, Jacob is heel. Putting the J in front means to take hold of the heel. So he's heel catcher. Because Esau is born and as Esau is born there's a hand trying to hold on to the heel of Esau. An arm comes out first. And so the second one is named heel catcher. Not much originality in the process here. Harry and heel catcher. The boys grew. Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. Now the boys grew. Esau was a cunning hunter. The only other place in the Bible that we read about a particular man being a hunter is Nimrod. And when we read about hunters and hunting, most of the time it's in an evil sense. And I think it's an insight for us as the only other hunter we're taking note of is Nimrod. That Esau is certainly the natural man. He is the guy with the testosterone, with the hair on his chest and his muscles and everything that the world would esteem in the natural. That is Esau, a cunning hunter and a man of the field. It's interesting. Jesus always uses the field as the world in his parables. And to me, that's all that Esau was. He was the natural man. Everything that we might admire, big, strong, successful, a hunter. All of the things that the natural eye would be attracted to. And then it says Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. Now, it's a little deceiving because immediately many paint Jacob as a mama's boy. And there's a certain truth to that. Well, look at it. He was a plain man. That doesn't mean like Mr. Rogers. My kids used to watch that show. It doesn't mean he comes in the house the same time every day and takes off his shoes and puts his slippers on and puts his sweater in the same place and says, can you say neighborhood? It's not a weirdo. That's not what it says. The word plain is used 13 times in the Old Testament. Nine times it's translated perfect. Twice it's translated undefiled. Once it's translated upright. And only here it's translated plain. So we can look at this and say Jacob was a perfect man. He was an undefiled man. He was an upright man. And he dwelled in tents like his father Abraham. He was a pilgrim and a sojourner. And I think he was upright and undefiled in the sense that he had a hunger or a thirst for higher things. We're going to see that he goes right after the birthright. Rebecca must have told him as he was growing up, you know, God has a special place for you, Jacob. And I know your dad loves Esau. He loves him because he's a hunter and he loves his men as he knows all of them. But I don't want you to be slighted because you have another father and God in heaven loves you and is a place for your life. And he grew up with that and undoubtedly Jacob had a thirst and a hunger for the things of God, higher things. Now, this was Jacob's problem. He only knew about the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. He did not know the God of Abraham and Isaac. I mean, I grew up in the church. My dad was Roman Catholic. My mom was Lutheran. I knew about Jesus. I was in Sunday school. I sang, I will make you fishers of men. I grew up hearing, and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that, oh, you know, I heard that when I was growing up as a kid. I had all the information about Jesus, but I didn't know him. I just knew about him. And again, you know, I've got four kids at home. It would kill me if they had been separated from me, never known me, and only known about me, never known me, because I want to be with them. It's a relationship that matters to me. And maybe if you're here this evening and you're only Christian by name, and that's what I was. I wasn't saved. I didn't know the risen Savior. I knew about him. I had the information. You know, you can know about President Clinton. That's different than knowing him and being his daughter. Or you can know about Reggie White or Michael Jordan. That's much different than being a spouse or a child or a relative and knowing the person, though you can know all about them. And Jacob's problem was he knew about this God, but he didn't know him. And because he didn't know him, he didn't trust him. You know, you can't, people come to me and say, you know, it's hard for me to trust the Lord. And I think, well, that's because you don't know him. And granted, in very difficult situations, it may be all for us to, hard for us to trust him in the sense of saying, Lord, what are you doing or why are you doing this? But the idea is generally, I think we live with a trust for Christ, and that's because we know his word. And if we know his word, we know him, because it says the Logos became flesh and dwelled among us. We behold his glory, the only begotten Father full of grace and truth, that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And to me, if you have any insight, you know, some people look at the Scripture just as a book of doctrines, and they are there, and they're important. You know, as we grow, we should develop our own systematic theology. Some people look at the Bible as just a book of principles, and they're important, they're there, or just a book of rules. But primarily, more than anything else, a person is revealed from Genesis to Revelation. And when we know him, we trust him. And Jacob's problem was he didn't know him, so he connived and he schemed. It wasn't that he didn't have a hunger for higher things, he just didn't know how to attain them. And he went about it in his own flesh and his own strength to do that. So we get a picture of him as a scoundrel. It says here, the boys grew. Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison. Now, that's not a good reason to love your son, by the way. You should have higher goals than that. Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And this divided family is a problem. You know, as we study Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see the flaws of the parents passed along. Abraham favored Isaac over Ishmael. We see then Isaac wrongly favoring Esau over Jacob. We see Jacob ultimately favoring Joseph over his other sons to the point where they hate him. Very interesting lessons as we go along. We will see Jacob in Padden-Aram because of a dream at Bethel. And he's running, he gets to Padden-Aram, he serves seven years and ends up with Leah, the wrong wife, and spends seven more years and gets Rachel, the prize. We see Joseph, his son, through a dream, ending up in Egypt and sustain Egypt through seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. We see him living out the same patterns, and we see the influence of the parents being passed along. So these families are all too human as we look at them. And they make many of the mistakes that we focus on the family wasn't on then, so they weren't sure how to make this all work the right way. And I thank God for Dr. Dobson, by the way. So it says that Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his venison, and Rebekah loved Jacob. Jacob made pottage, and Esau came in from the field and he was faint. Now 26.1 tells us there was a famine. So we get the idea that he didn't just go out and hunt for five minutes. Evidently he was out for a number of days. He came back. If there's a famine, it's because there's a drought. If there's a drought, there's no foliage. If there's no foliage, there's no game. So Esau comes back at the point of death, of dying of hunger, famished, makes it back to their home, and Jacob's there cooking some lentils. Esau says to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore his name is called Edom, which means red. Not eat him up yum yum, if you have that video, the little rascals. I love that one. Uncle George, eat him up yum yum. He's called Edom. No doubt that did not make him happy to be called red for the rest of his life, because he would trade away his birthright for this red lentil stew. So that was not a happy man with that nickname. And Jacob said, well, sell me this day your birthright. Now he had heard it from Mom that it was important, that it would be his. Esau says, behold, I'm at the point of death. What profit shall this birthright be to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he swore unto him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and he rose up, and he went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Now, the reason why I think God loves Jacob and hates Esau is because there's a type in this of the flesh. If you haven't noticed, Jacob and Esau, as it were, are kind of both resident in your heart. There's a trader within. There is a natural man who is inclined to the appetites of this world. And he is not, when people speak of our flesh as a Christian, they're not speaking of our physical body. They're speaking of a nature, a fallen nature, again, which you can't satisfy. No amount of pleasure or of food or of money will ever satisfy. It's insatiable because it's not the physical being. It is a nature. And many Christians make the difficult mistake of trying to rehabilitate the old man. And he will not be rehabilitated. He is as foul as ever. He is to be crucified. The Bible says, consider the flesh dead. Don't negotiate with it. Don't rehabilitate it. Just consider the old man to be dead. Because there's a new nature in all of us that did not come from a dysfunctional family. The new nature did not have alcoholic parents. We have the mind of Christ, the Bible says. And we are to care for that nature. Again, that is what we should feed and look after. The old nature, like Esau, will be there saying, feed me. You know, that's Esau, you know, crying for satisfaction. But the flesh can never be satisfied. David was over 50 years old when he fell into adultery. It's never, you know, young men and you find that you struggle with lust and you struggle with anger, that will continue. That is part of the struggle that we're in. That's the old nature. But through Christ we have victory. We should live a life that's pure. And we should live a life where we learn to love one another. And we do have that power through Jesus Christ. But we're plainly told in Galatians 5 that the flesh lusteth against the things of the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the things of the flesh. These two are contrary so you cannot do the things that you would. It's a very interesting picture. It says these two are contrary, it's a military word, they're entrenched, one against the other. So if you haven't noticed, that's what's going on inside of you. You're not schizophrenic. It says the fleshly nature is entrenched, it's dug in against the spirit and the spirit is entrenched, dug in against the flesh and it says you don't even have a third opinion. You can't do what you would because these powers are strong. But if we walk in the spirit, it says we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And don't get that backward because we're legalistic and we immediately say, if I don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, then I'll walk in the spirit. That's not what it says. We think we can earn it. No, it says that if we walk in the spirit, we're led by the spirit, then we won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And again, the flesh lusting against the spirit, I can understand. Isn't it interesting to hear that the spirit also lusts against the flesh? And again, as I thought of that, I thought, you know, I think probably the trouble in James, it says the spirit lusteth to envy, that is actually jealous over us as the carnal nature would influence us. And I think it's an in any difficult situation, our first consultation is with the flesh, not with the spirit. Somebody cuts me out in traffic. I don't initially say, how can I love this individual who just, I say that, you know, and then the spirit's saying, no, no, you can't do that. You're pastoring a large church. I'm going, oh, that's right. I can't do that. I'm a Christian. I pastor. I can't, you know, and I think that is why the spirit lusteth against the flesh because it's almost as though the flesh is always the first one consulted under pressure. You know, there is, so there is that, that wrestling back and forth. Spurgeon said, dead men don't wrestle again, that your wrestling is your evidence of the new birth, that before you were saved, you lived for your own pleasure and for your own life. And there was no wrestling, except perhaps with emptiness. And thank God that the spirit did that. So that is why God hates Esau, because he represents everything that would take from us our birthright. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. We are born of the spirit. Our birthright is an inheritance, uncorruptible, indefile, that fadeth not away, that is kept for us by faith in heaven, through our faith in Jesus Christ. We have all of the better things for us. God has lifted us above the morals of this world, the standards of this world. We have a hope in this age of war and violence. We see beyond the grave, and that is our birthright. And Esau despises all of that. So I think that is why God hates what the natural man would take from us at any given point in time. And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar. Now, Abimelech is his title, not his name, like Pharaoh, that was the title of the king in Egypt. Abimelech is the king in the Philistine country, not the Philistine tribes proper, the way we will run into them later, but evidently the ancestors of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared unto him, now this is the first time we have this written like this, the Lord now appears to Isaac. The Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Sojourn in this land, and listen to this, 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 swear unto Abraham thy father, 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 singular shall all nations of the earth be blessed, speaking of the Messiah. This is the birthright, as it were, that Esau despised. Now, here's the interesting thing. There's a famine again. Isaac's going to run into trouble. God is always gracious, you know, preventive maintenance. Here he appears unto Isaac, says Yahweh God, the Lord appeared unto Isaac and reiterated the blessing that God would keep him and protect him and bless him. Look how Isaac responds. It says, well, let me read verse 5 first. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge and my commandments, my statutes, and my laws, and Isaac dwelt in Gerar, the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She is my sister. Now, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. This is the same line that Abraham used of Sarah. So we got Isaac now saying, She's my sister. Because he was afraid to say, She's my wife, lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon. So isn't this amazing? God appears to him and says, No sweat. I'm with you. I'm going to keep you. I'm going to bless you. Your lineage, you know, will be blessed. And you would think that would be enough, wouldn't you, if God appeared to you and told you that? Well, the first thing he does when he's under pressure is he forgets God appeared to him and promised to keep him and bless him. Now he's telling the stories again. This is my sister. Worked for Abe, hopefully it will work for me. Now, he's at this point in time, probably 90 years old. The boys are grown. They were born when he was 60. And I wonder, why don't any of these people think, why are all these brothers and sisters coming from Abraham's family that are never getting married, that live together for the rest of their lives? Evidently, the boys are grown. They're not with them. So he tells the same story Abraham did. Now, Abraham at least told a half-truth, which is no truth at all. Sarah was his half-sister. So Isaac dwelt there. He tells the men of the place, She is my sister. And it came to pass when he had been there a long time that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out at the window and saw, and that's because he had taken Rebekah to his harem. He looked out his window and he saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah, his wife. So they were playing catch in the yard or something there. I guess they were being intimate, like the king James. They were sporting. And Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold of a surety, that is your wife. That's not your sister. Don't give me that. I saw you out there sporting. Why did you tell me she's my sister? Isaac said unto him, Because I said, lest I die for her. And Abimelech said, What is this that thou hast done to us? One of the people might lightly have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. Much different than America, huh? Here's a pagan king that worshiped idols saying, I can't believe you told us this woman was your sister. What if one of the men of the city would have committed adultery with her and brought guilt upon us? We don't even have a sense of guilt at all today. It's amazing. And they're going to call us Victorian. We're not Victorian. We go all the way back thousands of years B.C. We're way back beyond Victorian. We're biblical. And Abimelech charged all his people saying, He that touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. Then Isaac sowed in the land and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, Isaac, and went forward and grew until he became very great. And he had possession of flocks and possession of herds and a great store of servants. And the Philistines envied him for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father. The Philistines had stopped them up and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. So Isaac and his servants and his family grow to a place of power where the Philistine king is afraid of him. So you're greater than we are as a people. God's blessing. And Isaac departed from there, didn't argue, pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and he dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father. And I wonder how many of these he remembered as a kid. I don't know. For the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water. Now that's the beauty. Living water. Literally Jesus. Remember him with the woman at the well. And he says, you know, when he speaks to her about living water, she thinks he's talking about the water at the bottom of the well that's bubbling up. They called that living water. So as he unclogs these wells, takes the dirt and the stones and so forth out and digs down, all of a sudden that water's bubbling down the bottom again. Living water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, the water is ours. Now, they're the same today, by the way. It's interesting that they, you know, even when the Egyptians controlled the Sinai, there was nothing there but desert. Then the Israelis took it over and there were oil wells, there were development, and then the Egyptians said, that's ours. So when the Israelis had to give it back, they buried all the oil wells and left it the way it was when they found it. And here are these Philistines saying, that's our well. Well, it was filled with dirt and rocks. What do you mean it was your well? You never drank out of it in your life. You filled it up. You're arguing with us over it because we opened it? The water is ours. And he called the name of that well Isik, which is contention, the well of Isik, because they strove with him. And he digged another well and he strove for that one also. So he called the name of that Sitna, which means hatred. And he removed from there, and I'd be tired of digging wells by now. He removed from there and digged another well. And for that they strove not, so he called the name of it Rehoboth, because he said, the Lord hath now made room for us and we will be fruitful in the land. Rehoboth means that God has given us room. We've been able to spread out now and that no contention over this well. And he went up from thence to Beersheba, back on track. And the Lord appeared to 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. And he builded an alder there and called on the name of the Lord, pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants digged a well. You know, it's funny, Abraham, every time he encounters the Lord, he said he pitched his tent and built an alder. Every time Isaac, he pitches his tent, builds an alder and digs a well. He always goes one step further. This guy loves wells. And Abimelech went to him from Gerar and Ahuzeth, one of his friends, and Phicol, the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, wherefore are you coming to me, seeing that you hate me, you've sent me away from me? Isaac's feelings are hurt. What are you doing coming? You guys told me to get out of your land and now you're coming to me? They said, we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. And we said, let there now be an oath between us and between us and thee. Let us make a covenant with thee that thou will do us no harm as we have not touched thee and as we have done unto thee nothing but good and have sent thee away in peace. Thou art now the blessed of the Lord. And he made them a feast and they did eat and drink. And they rose up early in the morning and swear one to another. And Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged. They dug a well and Isaac's going to want to know right away. And they said unto him, we have found water. And he called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba. And the name was there already. We hear it mentioned earlier unto this day. And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Berei the Hittite, and Bezimath, the daughter of Ilan the Hittite, which were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebekah. So we don't know what these girls were like. They were doozies. And Isaac and Rebekah have no peace about the heathen women that Esau takes to be his wife. Now the interesting thing is, you know, in this man Esau, for all the carnal attributes we see in regards to him, later he will see that Isaac, his father, and Rebekah's mother are blessed that Jacob is supposedly going back to Padnerarum, to Laban's house, to take a wife of their own family. And it says in response to that, that Esau goes to Ishmael, his uncle, and takes one of his daughters to be his wife. It's almost that even in this man there was a longing to be respected by the family and to be pleasing to his mother and to his father. So very interesting as we follow along the traits we'll see in regards to the family and so forth. Let's stand and pray. Father, whoever they are, we pray before they leave this evening, they would slip down the front and pray with us, Lord, to ask you to be their Savior and forgive their sins. And Lord, we pray that as we go our ways this evening, Lord, you would send us away, each with a portion, Lord, that you divide to us from your heart, from your word. Lord, as the week begins tomorrow, we commit that to you, Lord, to go the places where we work, Lord, amongst our co-laborers, so many around us that are still unsaved. Lord, we pray that we might be yours. Lord, that we might seek your direction, that we might know your presence. Father, we place these things before you, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.