Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Genesis Chapter 25:1 to Chapter 26:17 – Zac Poonen

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And we read here further in verse 7, these are all the years, Genesis 25:7, these are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived one hundred and seventy-five years. And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age. He has a very beautiful expression, an old man and satisfied with life, and he was gathered to his people. We can ask what it was that made Abraham satisfied.

He had left his relatives nearly a hundred years ago. He was 75 when he left Ur of the Chaldees. For one hundred years, he had never seen his relatives. Think of that. Some people who just can’t live without seeing their relatives.

Well, Abraham lived a hundred years to do the will of God, to be where God wanted him to be, to fulfill God’s purpose for him, even if it meant that for one hundred years of his life he’d never see his relatives, he was satisfied. It’s foolish when we think our satisfaction comes from these earthly values that we have acquired from childhood. He had lived comfortably in Ur of the Chaldees, and he lived as a pilgrim, never having a permanent house, always in a tent moving from place to place, and he was satisfied with life. And that is a tremendous expression that we can ask ourselves whether when we come to the end of our life, whether we will honestly be able to say that, that we are satisfied with the life we have lived. I believe the only person who could say it would be one who has really sought with all of his heart to break free from the tides of earth, and relatives, and friends, and money, and earthly things to do the will of God.

Even if it meant misunderstanding, I’m sure Abraham’s relatives misunderstood him a lot for the stand he took. He was not bothered. He wanted to do the will of God, whatever his relatives thought. He was satisfied with life. And those others who lived comfortably way back in Ur of the Chaldees, they died too, but we don’t even hear about them.

They never did God’s will. Humanly speaking, it wasn’t an easy life Abraham had. It says he was rich, but this constant moving around in tents and no certain dwelling place, He was willing to face all that and he died satisfied with life, satisfied that he had brought up one son who would live for God and through whom His purposes would be fulfilled. These were the things that made him satisfied with life when the time came finally for him to die. And then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar.

We know that that was the only place in Canaan that Abraham ever owned during his lifetime. God said, one day this land will be yours, but the only place in that land that he owned in his lifetime was a graveyard. And it came about that now verse 11 after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi. Then we read a record of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, described in the next few verses. And it says about just one phrase here.

Ishmael’s Descendants and Their Spirit

It says about Ishmael and his children in verse 18. They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is East of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria. He settled in defiance of all his brothers. See, there can be an attitude towards our brothers and relatives, which is one of defiance. This is the contrast to the attitude Abraham had.

Because I find that when we speak in the church about hating father, mother, brother, sisters, wives, children, there are people who get it in this spirit of Ishmael’s children, in a spirit of defiance. And then you know you’re calling Ishmael, not Abraham. That’s the wrong spirit. Abraham didn’t have that spirit. He was glad to live in peace, but he wanted to follow God.

And we need to distinguish between these two spirits. He settled in defiance of his brothers. Yes. They hated their brothers, but not in the right spirit. And there are people today who hate their father and mother, but not in the right spirit.

Or any of the others whom the Bible tells us to hate, but not in the right way. It’s in a spirit of defiance, which is the spirit of Ishmael’s children. That just in passing.

Isaac and Rebecca’s Long Wait for Children

Then we read of the record of generations of Isaac in verse 19 and verse 20. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister of Laban, the Syrian to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. And the Lord answered him, and Rebecca’s wife conceived. And it says here in verse 26, the last part that Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them. We just read that he was 40 years old, verse 20 when he got married. For twenty years, he had no children.

And that was quite a depressing thing in those days, more depressing than it is today. But you can imagine the questions that went through Abraham through Isaac’s mind. Is this the one God has chosen for me? Have I made a mistake? Because she is barren. And yet we saw in our study last week that this was one of the clearest examples of the leading of God in a marriage.

And yet God led him to be married to a barren woman. Think of that. Many people think that if we are led by God in something, it means there’ll be no problems, no difficulties. Everything’s going to be smooth sailing. That’s not what God’s word teaches.

We read in the leading of Paul and his party in their one of their missionary journeys that once they got a clear leading from God, it’s the only place in the Acts of the Apostles where we read Paul getting a clear leading from God in a vision to go to Macedonia. He saw a vision. He went to many places, but there was a clear there was once when it was under the clear leading of God. And as soon as he reached Macedonia, Philippi, we read he was locked up in jail. We read of a time when Jesus told His disciples to go across the lake, soon as they got into the boat and went across, there was a storm.

So we shouldn’t think that just because we got into a little difficulty somewhere that we are out of God’s will. There are many people who get married who begin to question the wisdom of their marriage just because they face a little difficulty. That’s foolish. That’s the devil coming and saying, oh, you may have missed the will of God. Well, what did he do?

And this is what we should do. Pray to the Lord. Pray to the Lord. And he prayed to the Lord, and I can imagine he prayed for twenty years. Twenty years, she was barren and prayed and prayed and prayed and didn’t give up.

Prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. He had a long wait to get a son just like his father, Abraham, had to get him. And no doubt, he had heard from his father how God is a God who answers prayer. He would have heard from his father, son, I waited nearly twenty years to get you, and I’m glad I got you. And his faith was strengthened that he could also lay hold of the same God and pray for his wife.

For his mother was barren too, and God had done a miracle in her. And now his wife is barren, and God can do a miracle for her. And that teaches us something as parents, that in the different situations in life, if we can teach our children faith that God is a God who answers prayer and give them examples and demonstrations of it. When they grow up and they set up their own homes and they are in a difficult situation, they will remember what they learned from their parents and say, yeah, I remember that type of situation years ago when I was a child, and I know what my dad did. He prayed, trusted God, and God did wonderful things.

The Power of Faith Passed Down Through Generations

That is an example for us, brothers and sisters. That’s why Isaac prayed. He didn’t give up hope. He didn’t give up hope in twenty years because he had seen something in his father’s life. It was not a message. It was not a doctrine that Abraham gave Isaac, but a living faith. It’s a very beautiful verse in Second Timothy. Second Timothy 1. It’s not just a father who can give it. Timothy didn’t get it from his father, he got it from his mother. And so the sisters can take heart too.

Second Timothy 1 verse 5, Timothy says, I’m mindful of the sincere faith. Paul says to Timothy, I’m mindful of the sincere faith, not the right doctrine, but the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I’m sure it is in you as well. Paul knew that that grandmother had faith first, and she transmitted that faith to her daughter Eunice. And Eunice transmitted that faith onto her son Timothy so that Timothy could be one day a mighty coworker of the apostle Paul.

Well, that’s what Abraham and Sarah passed on to Isaac. Faith that God can do miracles, and God did it. He prayed for twenty years. Many another man would have given up hope after maybe four, five years, not Isaac. He prayed, and the Lord answered him.

Just as the Lord answered him, but we know from verse 26 that it took twenty years for that answer to come. Twenty years. He almost had a similar experience as his father. And then his wife conceived. There was another miracle.

Rebecca the barren conceived just like Sarah. And it teaches us here the power of fervent continuous prayer.

Jacob and Esau – The Struggle Within

Finally, the children, there were twins in her womb, struggled together within her. And she said, why this struggle? Why am I this way? And she required some good habits too after having come into Abraham’s family for twenty years, Isaac being with Isaac for twenty years now. She knew that when she had a question, she should go to the Lord. Lord, why like this? Why is it like this? Why this tussle going on inside my womb?

A good example for us to do, to go to the Lord. Isaac went to the Lord. Rebecca went to the Lord. Wonderful example for husbands and wives. When you have a question, to inquire of the Lord, there are certain things that even your husband cannot answer.

Rebecca could not have got an answer for that from Isaac. There are many things a husband can help you in, but certain things you have to go to the Lord. And she went to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to her and said, two nations are in your womb. That is Jacob and Esau who are going to be the head of two separate nations.

Two peoples will be separated from your body, and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. That is Esau will serve Jacob. It’s a picture, we can say, of the struggle that goes on within us, of the flesh and the spirit. That struggle that went on in Rebecca’s womb is the struggle that goes on in us, flesh versus spirit. And the flesh is the older one because we were born of the flesh long before we were born of the spirit.

But the promise is the older will serve the younger. The spirits will triumph. It’s a promise of victory that we can lay hold of and thank God for. One people will be stronger than the other. Power of the spirit is far stronger than the power of the flesh.

The struggle is there, but one will triumph. That’s God’s word. If we have faith in it, believe it will be so in our lives. And the other thing I want you to notice here, it says here, the older will serve the younger apart from the illustration of it being a type of flesh and the spirit. In actual terms, it was Jacob and Esau.

Now I want you to turn to Romans chapter 9 and see what the Holy Spirit says about this statement of God through the apostle Paul in Romans 9. In Romans 9, the subject of Romans 9 is the sovereign choice of God. God sovereignly chooses. Now I want you to understand what I mean by that. Sovereign choosing means that He does it because He has the right to choose.

God’s Sovereign Choice

Romans chapter 9 verse 10: “And not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. For though the twins were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad…” It’s obvious. They had done nothing good or bad. I think when Esau was born, he looked just as beautiful and just as innocent as any other child.

I’m sure Judas Iscariot looked just as innocent and just as beautiful as any other child when he was born. And they’d not done anything good or bad “in order that God’s purpose according to His choice, that is His sovereign choice might stand, not because of works,” that’s the point, “but because of Him who calls.” It was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” That’s the verse we just read.

The older will serve the younger, God told Rebecca. And we can ask, why? There’s an answer to that also. You will say to me then, verse 19, why? The Holy Spirit anticipates that question.

You will ask why? And the answer is in verse 20, “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded cannot say to the molder, why did you make me like this?”

I think it’s very important for us to understand a little bit at least of the fact that God chooses sovereignly. It’s not according to works. It’s according to His choice. Have you ever marveled at how God chose you to be His child when perhaps your brothers and sisters have no interest in the things of God? If you think it is because you were a little better, that’s conceit. It’s God’s choice. He picks up the worst ones.

It’s a sovereign choice. Have you ever thought why it was that God enabled us to hear some of these truths that’s led us into a godly life that so many others have not had the opportunity to hear? I hope we don’t think it’s luck or good fortune. It’s God’s sovereign choice that He allowed you to come to a particular town and live in a particular place and come across certain people and come to hear the truth. It should humble us.

It’s sovereign choice, brothers and sisters. Meditate on it. Many a time, it’s something that has humbled me very deeply before God, that it’s sovereign choice that’s placed me where I am. And once we understand this, it brings a tremendous rest in us also concerning ministry in the church. Do you know that ministry in the church is a matter of God’s sovereign choice?

Even if you try all your life, you can’t have the ministry that God has given to another. It’s got nothing to do with works. It’s God’s sovereign choice. That’s why it’s good for each of us to humble ourselves and say, Lord, I’m quite content with the ministry you have appointed for me. And the circle and boundary that you have drawn around my life.

I’m not in competition with anybody else. I’m not jealous of anyone else. It is Your sovereign choice that gave another person that task and has given me this. The sovereign choice of God, nothing to do with works. So that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand.

Called Before Birth

So that’s something we must learn while they were in the womb. Think of this verse in the book of Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, it says, “The word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” When did God know Jeremiah? Before he was conceived in his mother’s womb. And when was he appointed to be a prophet?

He wasn’t appointed to be a prophet when he was 20 years old. He was appointed to be a prophet before he was born. He was consecrated and appointed to be a prophet to the nations. The ministry was given to him sovereignly when he was in his mother’s womb. And in his mother’s womb, God equipped him with the intelligence and the abilities and the talents and the gifts, so that when he would come forth, he would grow up to be a prophet.

You can’t fight with that. You can’t imitate that. That’s why I say it’s the height of folly when somebody tries to imitate somebody else’s ministry. You got to get back into your mother’s womb and ask God to start all over again if you want to do that.

It’s impossible. You just have to humble yourself and accept the way God made you. In the mother’s womb, God said, the younger is going to rule over the older. That’s it. That settles it.

That’s the thing that brings us rest. That’s the thing that delivers us completely from jealousy and competition. We need to see it. If Esau had seen it, he could have humbled himself, but we read in Esau’s life, all through he was fighting, fighting, fighting against God’s purpose, but he didn’t succeed. God’s purpose still succeeded.

We can’t fight against God’s purpose. When God’s given a task and a ministry and a calling to somebody else, it’s no use fighting against it. You’ll just lose out yourself. That’s what we learned from Esau. If only he had humbled himself and accepted God’s verdict, it might have gone a little better with him.

The Birth of Jacob and Esau

Genesis 25 verse 24, “And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment, and they named him Esau. And this was a pretty quick delivery of the second one. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel. So his name was called Jacob,” which means grabber, the one who takes hold of the heel.

Grabber. So we see that he didn’t begin his life in a very good way. He came out grabbing his brother’s heel. All through his life, was like that. He grabbed his brother’s birthright by cheating his father, went away to grab a beautiful girl, grabbed his father-in-law’s property.

It began from the mother’s womb, this grabber. And the interesting thing is that God could choose such a person. One would think that it would be a sweet, innocent little one whom God chose as a grabber. And that is an encouragement to us that Jesus came to choose sinners. He changed that grabber into a prince.

His name became Israel later on. We’re also grabbers. I tell you, we are all grabbers. We can be pious looking on the outside, but this grabbing spirit to grab the brother by the heel is there in our flesh. And if you haven’t seen it, ask God to help you to see it.

To seek my own, to seek what will profit me, very much in our flesh. Tremendous encouragement that God chooses to call Himself the God of Jacob, the God of the grabber. One would think that He should call Himself the God of Israel by the new name which He gave. Have you noticed this in Psalm 46? Psalm 46.

This is written many, many years after Jacob died, after Israel died. Jacob’s new name was Israel. Just like Abram’s new name was Abraham, you know that. Abram’s new name was Abraham. And you never read after Genesis 17, you never read that old name of Abraham again in the Old Testament.

Do you notice that? He’s never called the God of Abram. He’s always called the God of Abraham. And following that rule, one would think that once Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, God should call Himself the God of Israel. Always.

But He doesn’t. It says here in Psalm 46 and verse 11, the last part, “The God of Jacob is our stronghold.” And verse seven also, the God of Jacob and even at the burning bush in Exodus 3 verse 6. Exodus 3:6, God told Moses, “I am the God of your father.” Not the God of Abram, that was his old name, but Abraham, the God of Isaac.

He had only one name. But when it comes to Jacob, why doesn’t He use the new name? Why doesn’t He say the God of Israel? Why the God of Jacob? That is to encourage us grabbers. To encourage us sinners that He’s come for us. He’s the God of the grabbers, so that He can transform them. If you can get the encouragement out of that, praise the Lord. So we see that Jacob wasn’t a saint. He was a crook.

Two Different Personalities

He had a different personality. Quite two extreme personalities, like very often we see in our children too. One this extreme, the other the other extreme. We read in Genesis 25 when the boys grew up. Genesis 25 verse 27.

“Esau became a skillful hunter.” He was the hairy man, tough, muscular, out in the fields, rough, can tackle hardship, outgoing, extrovert, making friends with everyone, popular, popular in school, tough, big built. Jacob was timid, shy, retiring, not spiritual. Some of these quiet, timid, shy, retiring people are pretty good grabbers in secret. Don’t be deceived by that outward appearance. “Oh, what a humble brother.” Rubbish.

And God does the work of transformation, something will happen. Otherwise, this outward shy, timid, quiet disposition can conceal a pretty covetous grabbing nature inside. And don’t think this tough, brawny, muscular extrovert type of person is useless to God. Esau didn’t become useless to God because he had hair on his chest.

That’s not the reason. It’s because he made the wrong choice. It makes no difference whether you’re an Esau or a Jacob, an extrovert, outgoing, brawny, muscular, tough, or shy, retiring, timid. Both are grabbers, and both are equally lost in sin. Both need equal salvation.

I say that because very often, particularly among younger believers, they don’t seem to have discernment in this area. They get fooled very easily as to what true spirituality is. They think being introverted is true spirituality. No. Jacob was a grabber.

But he was a quiet man. He didn’t go out in the field. He was sitting in the tent. He was not popular. That’s true.

But God chose him because of His sovereign choice. Esau was a hunter. He didn’t have much time for God. There are only two hunters mentioned in the Bible. One is Nimrod, the other is Esau.

Pretty bad company to be in. They have no time for God. Now Isaac loved Esau. Isaac, these boys were probably about 20 years old. Isaac must have been about 80 now.

Parental Favoritism

And unfortunately, Isaac is no longer the type who goes out into the fields to pray and meditate like he was when he was 40 years old. You know, we read that last time that when he was 40 years old, he was going out in the field praying and meditating. But now at the age of 80, some of his lusts have been developed. He likes deer’s meat very much. Deer’s meat meant more to him now than meditating in the field.

And it’s an amazing word that says Isaac loved Esau because, not even because he was his firstborn, and that would have been some reason, but because he had a taste for venison, for deer’s meat. Think of that. Think of how this man drifted. You know, it’s a sad thing when you contrast the beginning and ending of Abraham’s life to the beginning and ending of Isaac’s life. Abraham began out as an idolater, but he ended satisfied as we just read.

Because he lived for God, he grew from grace to grace to grace to grace, glory to—not grace in the New Testament sense, but according to that level in the Old Testament—from one degree of glory to another. But Isaac started off so well. Think of that submissive son in Genesis 22, submitting to being tied to be slain by his father, meditating in the field. And at the age of 80, at the age of 40 is meditating, at the age of 80 is thinking of which of my sons can get me venison. I love that one. But Rebecca loved Jacob.

There was a division in the family through love for the children instead of loving one another, very common in Indian families. Father and mother love their children more than they love each other. And what is worse, partiality. I love this child of mine more than this one because he is more intelligent, because he is more good looking, because he is my firstborn. All equally stupid reasons as because I love deer’s meat.

Or here’s another stupid reason, because this is the only daughter I have. The others are boys. That is like loving deer’s meat. That is the partiality that has ruined children. I’ve seen many cases of parents who have been partial towards some children for some of these stupid reasons, which I just mentioned.

And then they treat maybe one of their children in a little despising way, and you see that one who is despised turns out to be the most spiritual of the lot. Just like Jacob turned out to be more spiritual. The father loved Esau. Be careful, dear parents, that you don’t drive away your children from God.

God is on the side of those who are despised and rejected and who are weak and considered as nothing. He’s not on the side of those who are attractive and intelligent and who are appreciated by the father and mother necessarily. It’s a very sad thing when there’s partiality towards a child. And Jacob no doubt was conscious that my father doesn’t love me as much as he loved Esau. Many children are sometimes conscious.

My father or mother don’t love me as much as they love another. It’s a very sad thing. And they can carry that memory all through life. Even if they forgive you when they are grown up. It’s a very sad thing.

We harm children by making one of our children into a favorite. Doing special favors for one that we won’t do for another. Ungodly, with God there is no partiality. Let’s be like Him. And what is worse, when father loves one, mother loves another.

And there are sides, there’s a division that must never be found in the church, never be found. This could be the other way around. I have so many daughters. This is my only son. Oh, so he is special.

The Evil of Partiality

That could be like that also in our country, unfortunately. All these evil things, we had to cleanse ourselves from it and be like God. That all are the same, first born or boy or girl or middle child or last child or anything, deformed child, intelligent child, no different. That is to be like God. And if we don’t partake of divine nature here, we’re just talking a lot of rubbish when we talk about the new and living way.

Partiality is evil. It is in our flesh, we have to get rid of it. And that’s what we saw divided that family. Isaac and Esau versus Rebecca and Jacob. And it was like that throughout till the end of their family life.

Isaac and Esau versus Rebecca and Jacob. And whose responsibility was that? Isaac. If he had meditated on the fields at the age of 80 like he had done at the age of 40, he would not have been so foolish. If he had stopped loving deer’s meat and loved prayer a little more than deer’s meat, he wouldn’t have been so foolish.

It’s sad. That family got divided because father and mother were divided. When father and mother are divided, children are divided. Remember that. You destroy your children when you are not one with your wife or husband to the best of your ability.

Keep that in mind. An example of a warning here. Then we read in verse 29, when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field, he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I’m famished, therefore his name was called Edom. Red, that’s how he got that name, Edom, because he ate that red stuff.

Jacob’s Shrewdness and Esau’s Foolishness

But Jacob said, first, sell me your birthright. You see, he was not such a sadhu after all. He was pretty shrewd. He knew this is the time to get what I want out of this fellow. These shy, quiet, timid, retiring types, they know when the time comes to grab, not only my brother’s heel, but my brother’s birthright as well.

Don’t be deceived by the outward appearance. He said, first, tell me your birthright. He was a real businessman, this Sadhu looking fellow, like a lot of Sadhu looking people today are, real businessman inside, the spirit of the businessman. I’ll give you this, and Jacob knew this is what I want from this chap. He happened to be born just a few seconds before me, and therefore he’s got the birthright, but I’m going to get it back from him.

And Esau said, maybe Jacob had been waiting, waiting, waiting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jacob sort of purposely made it when he saw Esau coming just to sort of tempt him to grab him. He’s capable of anything. And Esau said, behold, I am about to die. What use then is this birthright to me?

And Jacob said, first swear to me. He’s a real businessman. If they had registrar’s offices and all, he’d have taken him there before he gave him the meal and got it all sealed and signed. Swear to me that you’ve really given it. And so he swore.

He said, alright. I’ve come to see that these people who are outwardly very brash and open and very brusque about their manner are actually safer than these quiet timid types. They say still waters run deep, and it’s usually like that. They’re more dangerous very often. And he got it.

With his shrewdness, he managed it. He sold his birthright to Jacob, and Jacob gave Esau bread and lentils too. He ate and drank and rose and went on his way. Thus, Esau despised his birthright. For Esau as a young man around 20 years of age, I presume, that was a moment of crucial decision.

Crucial Decisions in Youth

He made a decision that day that affected the whole course of the rest of his life, his children, grandchildren, and all his posterity. One decision. And I believe that with many young people, there comes a time in their late teens or early twenties. It’s usually around that time of life. Late teens or early twenties, when they have to make a decision, which can affect the course of their whole life.

In most cases, the direction is set. There are few cases where miracles take place later on, but in most cases, the direction is pretty well set, particularly if you’re a believer. The choice is between that which will satisfy my physical earthly need now, this pottage. May not be pottage, it may be sex, it may be money, it may be some earthly ambition, it can be anything. Put anything into that bowl.

In Esau’s case, it was food. Some lust in the body, whatever it is. Maybe the desire for food, which I haven’t mastered, that I’m a glutton. Anything. But it’s a choice between that and what is spiritual.

Because the birthright meant that whoever got it would get the promises that was given to Abraham and Isaac. And Jacob knew that’s a tremendous thing to get those promises. And it says, Esau despised his birthright. And in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit warns us in Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12:14, pursue after peace with all men and after sanctification, and there’s a price to be paid for sanctification, and that price is that we must master the desires of our body, and seek without which no one will see the Lord.

The Danger of One Bad Habit

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. That means misses out on God’s grace. That no root of bitterness bringing up cause trouble and by it many be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau. Esau was an immoral godless person who sold his own birthright for a single meal, who sold his spiritual calling for the sake of one lust in his flesh.

I believe that there are people whom God could have used mightily if they had conquered one bad habit that they kept in their life. One habit, not two, one. One bad habit that they never really mastered and overcame. And because of that, of course, God blesses them. There’s a limited way in which God does things for them and through them, but it can never be what God really wanted to accomplish through them.

Because of one habit, one bowl of porridge, they wanted to satisfy their bodily lusts. Be careful, dear young brothers and sisters, that you don’t lose out your calling for the sake of one dirty habit. You will discover in eternity what you have missed by retaining one dirty habit in your life. One. One dirty thought process that keeps on going around in your mind, and you never really take it seriously radically to get rid of it.

It could be a habit of gossiping with some of your sisters. One dirty habit that you never master, never get a hold of your tongue, and you become just a meeting attender and not a powerful effective member in the body of Christ. Remember the word of God that you hear so that you don’t have any regrets in eternity. The word of God in the church is to save us from regrets at the judgment seat of Christ.

For one meal, he gave up his birthright, and there are millions, millions who have followed in the footsteps of Esau. He was very cunning in earthly matters, cunning to catch that deer, cunning to kill those leopards and the other wild animals. But Satan was too cunning for him. Many who are so cunning in earthly matters, Satan is far too cunning for them. Why does that habit remain?

Only because the person is not radical enough. That’s all. That’s why that one dirty habit remains in many believers. Because they are not radical. They don’t fear God sufficiently.

They don’t value their birthright. It says, see to it that you don’t become an immoral godless person. Think to be called an immoral godless person who gives up what spiritually I can get just for the sake of a little pleasure for my body. Little pleasure for my body. One dirty habit, one cigarette, one glass of whiskey, a little filthiness.

That’s it. And God sees it, but men don’t see. One filthy habit. And He sees that transaction going on between Jacob and Esau, and He saw what Esau valued. And it’s in those moments when we are tempted with the lust in our flesh that God sees what we value.

Our birthright, which is to partake of divine nature. That’s the birthright as far as we are concerned. I can partake of divine nature and be a part of the Christ bride for all eternity. I can despise that and throw it away for the sake of one dirty habit. And I’m just fooling myself if I think I’m following in the footsteps of Jacob.

No, I’m following in the footsteps of Esau. Jacob had his failings, but God called Himself the God of Jacob, but He’s never called the God of Esau. No. Take that to heart.

God’s Different Instructions for Different People

Genesis 26:1, now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham, so Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt, stay in the land of which I shall tell you.

I want you to notice something here, which is very significant. There was a famine in the time of Abraham, and Abraham went to Egypt without consulting God at all. And he came out of Egypt and brought Hagar with him as we saw, and that through Hagar came Ishmael and all the problems associated with Ishmael and his descendants till today.

In Isaac’s time also there was a famine, and he also was ready to go down to Egypt. And the Lord appeared to him and said, don’t go down to Egypt. In Jacob’s time, again there was a famine, and we read in Genesis 46:3-4, God told Jacob, go to Egypt and be with your son Joseph there. You see the contrast? God told Isaac here, don’t go to Egypt.

Many years later, when there was similar famine, God told Jacob, Genesis 46:3-4, go to Egypt. What do we learn from this? Just this one simple truth that God’s will for another person is not God’s will for you. He may tell another person to go to Egypt. He may tell you not to go.

And we must not take our example from others. He did this, so I can do it. We can miss the will of God like that. If it is concerning these external things, we can imitate another person in the way he’s following Christ in his life and character. But in the external details of our life, we are not to say, that brother has got this in his house, so I can have it.

So it must be alright for me to have it. That is stupidity. Learn it. And God told Moses to leave Egypt. Think of that.

All different. Each person has to find God’s will for himself. God told Joseph to stay and be the ruler in Egypt. God told Moses who had the chance to be the ruler, don’t be the ruler in Egypt. See, when we read the biographies of other men, we have to be careful that we don’t imitate what they do.

It is a habit among some usually immature believers. They like to hear anecdotes about some great man of God. Tell me more about what this man did in certain such situation. They got a mental list of all the things that various men of God did in various situations to imitate them. Ah, Joseph stayed and became the ruler in Egypt.

So Moses could have said, maybe I should also stay and become ruler in Egypt, because Joseph was a man of God. He’d have missed God’s will completely. Take this simple warning and be delivered from the immaturity of imitating what some other man of God did. Live by the spirit and seek God yourself. He may have told that man to go to Egypt, He may be telling you to get out.

The Blessing of Godly Parents

So that’s important. The Lord appeared to him and said, don’t go to Egypt. Stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I’ll be with you and bless you. To you and your descendants, I’ll give these lands and establish the oath to transport your father Abraham.

I multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, give your descendants all these lands. By your descendant, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, the same blessing that He gave to Abraham for Abraham’s sake even though Isaac, I think, had backslid a bit by now. But still God for Abraham’s sake keeps that word because not because you’re so spiritual. Verse 5, because Abraham obeyed me. It’s true that children are blessed because of a God fearing father.

I wonder if you dear young people realized that the greatest blessing on earth you can ever have is a God fearing father and mother. So that even if you backslide because your father and mother were so God fearing, some blessings still come down to you.

But even though Isaac’s taken off with venison and deer’s meat now, He says, I’ll still bless you because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge. That’s why I encourage you young people to give thanks to God if you are fortunate enough to have God fearing parents who have led you in the right way. Don’t despise them because Abraham kept my commandments.

He kept my charge. He kept my commandments. He kept my statutes, and he kept my laws. What a testimony God could give about Abraham. A man who obeyed me, kept my charge, kept my commandments, kept my statutes, kept my laws, one with whom God was delighted.

Isaac in Gerar

Blessed are we if we can follow in his footsteps. Isaac lived in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking the men of the place might kill him on account of Rebecca, for she was beautiful. It came about when he had been there a long time that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife, Rebecca.

Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife. How then did you say she is my sister?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, lest I die on account of her.” And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

So Abimelech charged all the people saying, “He who touches this man’s wife shall surely be put to death.”

Children Copy Our Failures

Our children copy not only our good qualities, but also our bad qualities. Who was the first person who had said concerning his wife, “This is my sister”? Abraham. And so we find that his son Isaac also does the same thing.

Children find it easier to follow our sins than to follow our good habits. You’ve probably discovered that. Have you noticed sometimes an older child speaking with a commanding tone of voice to the younger brother, and then you sit and say, “Why did he do that?” He must have heard it from you. That’s why he’s bossing over his younger brother or sister like that now.

They copy our sins and our failures more than our good habits. So Isaac says, “She’s my sister.” The same failure as Abraham’s.

God’s Blessing Despite Failures

Isaac sowed in the land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. We must remember they were living in times when the light was not as bright as it is today.

We can’t get away with it so easily today if you say your wife is your sister. We’re living in brighter light under the new covenant. There are a lot of things God overlooked in those days. God even permitted divorce in Moses’ time. God overlooked many things in Abraham and Isaac which He would not overlook today because the light is brighter.

So God could still bless him. The Lord blessed him. And the man became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy, for he had possessions of flocks and herds, and the Philistines envied him.

The Blocked Wells

And all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth. You see, he was rich. He had many flocks. The Philistines didn’t have so many flocks. And so they didn’t have need of those wells, so they blocked them up. One would think it’s so foolish to go and block up a well unnecessarily. It was just to make life difficult for Isaac.

Amazing, the evil of human nature when we are jealous. What all we’ll do just to make life difficult for somebody else and to be happy when somebody else’s flocks don’t have water. Their flesh is no different from yours and mine. Jealousy made them block those wells.

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.” And Isaac departed from there, encamped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there. Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham. For the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. And Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living water.

Digging the Ancient Wells

I just want to say this in closing, that this is a picture of the wells that were dug in the days of Abraham. “Our father” means in the days of the apostles, which traditions and the denominational churches have blocked up.

And now we come, like Isaac, to dig again those truths that have been buried there for centuries and open them up. And it says, he gave them the same names. Verse 18, this was called the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the days of the apostles; we shall today call it the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This was called the new and living way; we shall call it the new and living way.

To dig up all the wells that have been blocked up because there’s living water, as it says here, in those wells. Living water. That’s our calling, and there was contention. It says when they did it, verse 20, the men of Gerar quarreled. There was a fight. There’s always contention when we dig up those wells from all these denominational people.

That’s our calling. May God help us to be faithful, to open up those things that have been blocked for centuries, that have kept God’s people thirsty. The flock of God thirsty, so they can drink once again.

That’s our calling in the church—to open up every well that the apostles dug, and that have been buried through the centuries. And that is the reason why we are in a constant battle with others who don’t want to accept these truths. But we’re following in the footsteps of men who have fought that battle and fulfilled God’s purpose.

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