The title of the sermon is God's Faithfulness to the Next Generation. God's Faithfulness to the Next Generation. And the text is the whole of Genesis 26. Now, as mentioned earlier, we commemorate our 26th church anniversary today. It's almost 26 years ago that we held our first worship service on the 4th of July, 1999. Over a quarter of a century has gone by, and we are now beginning on the next quarter. Those of us who were born around that time, that is in the late 1990s, the early 2000s, are no longer children, but are already young adults. And those of us who were adults in our 30s and in our 40s when the Church first started, are all fast approaching what is called the golden years, or the years of retirement. We could say that one generation is coming up, and another generation is fading away. But thank God that he never changes and that he is always faithful to his covenant people from one generation to another. And so on the occasion of our 26th Church anniversary, I thought it would be appropriate for us to consider the 26th chapter of Genesis, a chapter that may not be so familiar to all of us, but a chapter which nevertheless wonderfully shows God's faithfulness to the next generation, and hence the title and the text of our sermon this morning. Now there are many, many similarities between the life of Abraham and the life of Isaac. In many ways, Isaac was a rerun of Abraham. Like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca had to wait for many years before they could have a child due to the barrenness of the womb. And just as God sovereignly chose the younger son of Abraham over the older son, so God chose the younger son of Isaac ahead of the older. Now, our text is the only chapter in the whole book of Genesis that is devoted to the life and story of Isaac. And yet, even in this chapter, Isaac is constantly being compared to his father. Throughout this passage, Isaac lives and walks, as it were, in the shadow of Abraham, his father. And just as God was faithful and kind to his father Abraham, so the Lord is faithful and kind to the son of Abraham. This chapter has six smaller sections and you can find them listed in the outline in the bulletin this morning. We begin with famine in the land again. Verse one, and there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto a Bimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerah. So right at the very beginning of this chapter, Moses makes a comparison between the famine in the land during the days of Isaac with the famine during the days of Abraham. It appears that Isaac was intending to do exactly the same thing that his father did many years ago. In Chapter 12, we read that there was famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there. Isaac had travelled to Gera, which marked the southern boundary of the promised land, but before he left Canaan, the promised land, to go into Egypt, the Lord appeared to him and he said, go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which I will tell thee of, sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee. You see, just as it wasn't right for Abraham to leave Canaan to go to Egypt, so it wasn't right for Isaac to do the same. Egypt, you must remember, represented bondage to sin. It represented Satan and the world. and the people of God were not to abandon the Promised Land for Egypt unless, of course, the Lord himself instructed them to do so, like in the days of Joseph and Mary and their child Jesus. So the Lord told Isaac not to go to Egypt, but to dwell in Canaan, and he promised him his presence and his blessing. The Lord said, for unto thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father, I will make thy seed to multiply as stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Now this is the first time in the book of Genesis where the Lord is said to have appeared and have spoken directly to Isaac. And on this occasion, the Lord repeated the words that he had spoken to Abraham many years ago. The Lord assured Isaac of a few things. First, he will give him and his seed all the land. Secondly, he will make his seed like the stars of heaven. And thirdly, in Isaac's seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. The Lord, you see, adds no new information to what he had already revealed to his father. But what is new is that he is now addressing directly and assuring directly Isaac all of these earlier promises to his father. These things will surely come to pass. And the Lord said, because that Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Now we need to properly understand this verse, verse 5. The Lord is not saying that Abraham merited or earned these promises by his obedience and faithfulness. God's promises are always the expression of his sovereign grace and they are never rooted in anything in man. But rather the Lord was saying that because Abraham was faithful and obedient to his voice, the Lord was pleased to give Abraham further revelation and assurances of his covenant. And now the Lord reminds Isaac of his father's obedience, really to encourage him to follow suit. If Isaac would likewise be obedient, as Abraham was, then he can expect the Lord's blessing of assurance and comfort. 12 verse 6 records Isaac's response. This is a short but wonderful statement of Isaac's faith and obedience. You see, Isaac was presented with a choice. Either he followed his own senses and his own wisdom and he went into Egypt where he knew they could find food, or he followed the word of God and remained in the land trusting that the Lord will indeed supply all their needs. Isaac chose the latter. He resisted the urge, the temptation to flee to Egypt on the basis of the promise and the word of God. He didn't ask God for any miracle or sign or try to strike a compromise. Instead, he simply heard God's voice and responded in obedience, just like his father Abraham, like father, like son, in faith and in obedience. But sadly, Isaac did not only emulate the good things of his father, he also followed his father's footsteps in lying about his wife. Which brings us to the second part of this passage, the sin of deception, again. Verse 7, and the man of the place asked him of his wife, and he said, she is my sister, for he feared to say she is my wife, lest the man of the place should kill me for Rebecca, because she was fair to look upon. See, like Sarah, his mother, Isaac's wife, Rebecca, was very beautiful and attractive in appearance. And that can sometimes pose a problem. And Isaac, like Abraham, feared that the men of Gerah, who had eyes for Rebekah, might kill him and take her for themselves. And so, when they asked him who she was, Isaac lied by saying she was his sister. Abraham fell into that same sin of deception not once, but twice. And on both occasions, Abraham's sin led to Sarah being taken away by the king of the land in order to join his harem. And on both occasions, the Lord miraculously intervene in order to rescue Sarah. But things are different in the case of Isaac and Rebekah. The Lord used, as it were, a more ordinary method to preserve them. Verse 8 tells us what that method was. And it came to pass when he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw and behold Isaac was spotting with Rebekah his wife. The Abimelech of this verse is most likely a descendant of the earlier Abimelech during the days of Abraham. The name Abimelech means my father is king and is served really as a title for the ruler of the land, something like pharaoh or like Caesar. We are told that after Isaac and Rebecca had been living in Gera for a long time, Abimelech discovered by chance one day that they were not siblings, but rather they were husband and wife We are told that he looked out of the window and by chance he saw Isaac spotting with his wife Now the word spotting literally means laughing By exactly what this spotting or laughing involved, we are not told, but Abimelech immediately recognized that this kind of behavior was not befitting or appropriate for siblings. Rather, it indicated that the two were married. And so he confronted Isaac about the identity of his relationship to Rebekah, the reality of his relationship. And he rebuked Isaac for his deception. Not only was it wrong for him to deceive, but his deception might easily have led to disastrous consequences. Someone in the land might have unknowingly taken Rebecca to himself and then incurred God's wrath and judgment upon them. Perhaps Abimelech remembered what happened many years ago when God struck their whole household down with an illness, all because of Abraham's lie about Sarah, and he didn't want history to repeat itself. And so verse 11 says, Abimelech charged all his people, saying, he that touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. The Lord thus preserved Isaac and Rebekah despite Isaac's sin, despite his failure to trust in the Lord for protection. But notice again how the Lord preserved them. He did not use miracles or visions as in the days of Abraham, but simply His ordinary providence. Abimelech just happened to find out that they were married. But regardless of whether God uses miracles or the more ordinary ways to deliver us and to provide for us, brethren, we should always be grateful and thankful to Him. But now we come to the third episode or scene of this chapter where we have Isaac's prosperity and his conflict with the Philistines. Now I'd like us to notice two things from verses 12 to 15. First, the Lord was very gracious and very faithful in his dealings with Isaac. In spite of his sin, in spite of his failure to trust the Lord, the Lord was kind and merciful and gracious. He blessed Isaac abundantly, even though Isaac did not deserve it. Now remember that this was supposed to be a time of what? Of famine. And yet, Isaac, by God's grace, was still able to prosper. He reaped, we are told, a hundredfold of what he sowed. Reminds us of the parable of the sower and the seed, how the good ground, some of it brought forth a hundredfold. And Isaac, we are told, had much flock and herd and servants. Isaac must have been a very wise manager and steward. He did not allow what his father had given to him go to waste. In fact, he grew his wealth so that he became rich. gain more and more until he became very wealthy. In fact, Isaac was probably even wealthier than his father Abraham, given the fact that he inherited Abraham's wealth and then grew or multiplied it. But the second thing we notice is that often material wealth brings about its own problems and difficulties. Isaac must have heard his father telling him how his cousin many years ago, by the name of Lot, used to live with them. But because of their great wealth, the land could not support all of their livestock, and it led to strife between their herdsmen, so that eventually Abram and Lot had to part company. But now it is Isaac himself who experiences firsthand some of the problems associated with wealth. The Philistines, we are told, were very envious of him, and they harassed him. Verse 15 says that they stopped all the wells that his father's servants had dug, filling them with earth. And then verse 16, Abimelech said to Isaac, go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. So Isaac was basically expelled from that region, and the wells, which his father had dug, had been filled in by the Philistines What a foolish thing to do, isn't it? Considering that the whole region was much in need of water, and by destroying those wells, they had actually reduced their own water supply But their envy and jealousy of Isaac so great that it blinded them, it hardened their hearts to the foolishness of such a, what we may call, scorched earth policy. But this reminds us of another descendant of Abraham, many years later, who would experience great hostility on account of envy and jealousy. But instead of driving him away, they handed him over to be crucified. But coming back to our text, these Philistines were not only foolish, they also acted contrary to the covenant which Abraham and the older Abimelech had made many years ago. Abimelech, you remember, was the one who came to Abraham and initiated a covenant with him, not just for their own sakes, but for the sake of their subsequent generations. And after they made that covenant at Beersheba, Abraham planted a tree and called upon the name of the everlasting God. Abraham must have realized that even though a covenant between men was a very serious undertaking, yet human beings are imperfect, and even the best of them will fail and falter, either through sin or inability. And this must have reminded Abraham of the one who will never fail in a covenant that he makes. And Abraham was right. Abimelech's next generation did not honor the covenant that their forefathers had made. While Isaac didn't contend or strive with the new Abimelech, instead he left as commanded and he moved to another part of the land and dwelt there. Sadly, we are told his troubles did not end. In verses 20 and 21, we are informed that two of those new wells that his servants had dug became the cause of fresh disturbances. At the first well which they dug, the local herdsmen harassed Isaac's men and claimed that the water was theirs. Isaac didn't fight. Instead, he named it Essek, which means quarrel or contention, and then he moved to another location. And the same thing happened there. They dug a well, and then the local people claimed that it was theirs, and Isaac named it Sidna, which means enmity or contention. And verse 22 says, he removed some tents and digged another well, and for that they strove not, and he called the name of it Rehoboth. Rehoboth means roomy or spacious. The Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land, he said. Isaac's patience and his perseverance and his meekness is really to be commended, and most of all, his faith in the Lord. He did not murmur or complain against God's providence. He didn't say, why, Lord, do you allow me to remain in the promised land and then allow the Philistines to harass me time and again? Why do you seem to give with one hand and then take back with the other? I've had enough. I'm getting out of the land. I'm going to Egypt. No, Isaac didn't do that. He stayed within the boundaries of Canaan. He moved from place to place until he was finally able to settle down, and he acknowledged that it was the Lord who had given them room, and he trusted the Lord to make them fruitful. Now, in all of this, we see Isaac being a good example of meekness and patience, and Isaac certainly foreshadowed the Lord Jesus. Isaac's meekness arose because he trusted in the Lord. The Lord will provide for him and care for him. He didn't need to fight for himself, didn't need to take sinful shortcuts. He simply needed to be faithful and diligent in the task that the Lord has given him, and then to wait upon the Lord. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. But this brings us to the fourth episode of this chapter where we see the Lord appearing again to Isaac. Verse 23, And he went up from Thames to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. So sometime after this, Isaac moved back to Beersheba, and the very first night that he was there, the Lord appeared to him again. The Lord identified himself as the God of Abraham, his father. Then he told him not to fear. Why? Because the Lord is with him. The God who had been with Abraham in time past and never once failed him will likewise be with the son of Abraham. He will surely make good all that he has promised, which must have been a great comfort and encouragement to Isaac. Particularly, the Lord assured Isaac that he will bless him and make his seed numerous and that he will do so for Abraham's sake. Verse 25 records Isaac's response. He built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Yet again, Isaac is following closely in his father's footsteps, because if you remember the story of Abraham in chapter 12, the Lord appeared to Abraham at Shechem, and then Abraham built an altar to the Lord. In the next verse, Abraham moved south to another location, where he built another altar to the Lord, and there we are told, he called upon the name of the Lord. Isaac responds to the Lord's wonderful revelation by building an altar to mark the spot where the Lord had spoken to him and to worship the Lord together with all his house. Then fifthly, we come to this section on Isaac and Abimelech again. Sometime later, Abimelech and his chief captain Philco and his friend Ahuza traveled from Gera to Beersheba to look for Isaac. When Isaac saw the three of them coming to him, he knew the purpose of their visit, which was to make a covenant with him. Back in Chapter 21, Abimelech went to Abraham, who was also living in Beersheba, in order to make a covenant with him. History was about to repeat itself. The question, however, that Isaac had was why they would want this covenant since they hated him and they expelled him from the land not too long ago. Verse 28 and 29 record their response. We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee, and we said, let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee that thou would do us no hurt. Earlier in chapter 21, Abimelech said to Abraham, God is with thee in all that thou doest. And now the younger Abimelech says to Abraham's son, we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. Now we must not fail to notice two things. First, the Lord had indeed been faithful to his promise to be with Isaac and to bless him. In fact, the Lord's presence and blessing was so evident that even the pagans around could recognize it. Then secondly, we notice that the Lord was beginning to fulfil His promise to Abraham that in Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Abimelech recognizes that there is blessing to be found in the seed of Abraham, and so he seeks to be at peace with the son of Abraham. He saw how the Lord was with him, and he concluded that it would be foolish to be at war with him. Perhaps he remembered what the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 12, I will bless them that bless thee, I will curse them that curse thee. Abimelech desired to be blessed rather than to be cursed, and he knew that that would only be possible if he first made peace with the son of Abraham. The same is true of the greater son of Abraham, the Lord Jesus. The only way to escape God's wrath and curse is to be at peace with him. Or in the words of Psalm 2, kiss the son, lest he be angry and he perish from the way. Blessed are they that put their trust in him. Abimelech, however, was not being very honest in the way that he approached Isaac. He said to Isaac in verse 29, the next part, and have sent them away in peace. It's true that they did not physically hurt Isaac, but it is not true that they have done nothing but good to him, and certainly it is not true that they have sent him away in peace. The reality was that they sabotaged their wells, and they made life very difficult for Isaac and his family, and they eventually expelled them from the land. But Isaac, being the meek man that he was, did not repay evil for evil or take issue with their statement Rather, he willingly overlooked their faults and he entered into a covenant with them. Isaac even treated them to a nice meal and provided them with a one-night accommodation. So the covenant between Isaac and Abimelech was sealed, confirmed, and then Abimelech left the next day in peace. Finally, in verses 32 and 33, we are told that on that day, on the day that the covenant was sealed, the servants of Isaac came to him and they reported that they had successfully dug a well. This is no coincidence. Isaac saw it as a token of God's mercy upon them. Not only had the Lord brought them into peaceful relations with their neighbors, but the Lord had also provided another precious source of water. And so he named the well Sheba, which means oath in commemoration of the covenant that had just been concluded that day. But finally, we come to verses 34 and 35, final section, where we have Esau's marriage and his parents' grief. We are told that when Esau was 40 years old, he took two wives to himself. The first is called Judith, the daughter of Biri the Hittite, while the second is Bashimeth, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Like Isaac, his father, Esau got married at the age of 40 But unlike his father, he married a Canaanite woman And as if marrying one Canaanite woman was not enough, Esau added a second to himself which stands in sharp contrast to what happened in Chapter 24, where we see how Abraham went to great lengths in order to ensure that Isaac would marry a woman not from among the Canaanites, but from among his relatives in Mesopotamia. But Esau, the son of Isaac, had no qualms or issues whatsoever with marrying Canaanite women. Esau was essentially a man of the world. Esau had little concern for the covenant and little thought for spiritual and eternal matters. By marrying Canaanite, women, he was demonstrating his love for the world and his blatant disregard for the faith of his father and of his grandfather. One writer commenting on Esau wrote, If you want to know where the priorities of a professing Christian man or woman really lie, watch the decision they make when selecting a mate. It will tell you whether Bible commands matter to them, whether they care about influences on any future family, whether they think there is a proper distinction between the Church and the world, or whether, sadly, none of that really matters." Well, verse 35 tells us that Esau's marriage to two Canaanite women became a source of great grief to the hearts and minds of both his parents. Now we know that Isaac did not want his sons to marry Canaanites. We know that because just before Jacob left home in chapter 28, he specifically instructed Jacob not to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, but to take a wife from the daughters of Laban. his uncle. Likewise, we know that Rebecca was terribly troubled and vexed by Esau's marriages because at the end of chapter 27, Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do to me? And so the chapter, chapter 26, ends on a rather sad and tragic note. Unlike Isaac, whom we have seen to be like Abraham in so many good and godly ways, his son Esau was nothing like him in terms of his faith and his life. And brethren, we are reminded of the sad reality that godly parents can sometimes have children who are anything but godly. And when that happens, when that happens, it is a very grievous and heartbreaking thing, as is the case of Isaac and Rebecca and many other covenant parents down the ages. But as we draw this message to a close, I'd like to call our attention to two thoughts which the Lord would have us take away from this passage. First, the Lord is faithful to His covenant. Praise God for that. The Lord is faithful to His covenant. Twice in this chapter, the Lord appeared to Isaac to renew the covenant that he had made with Abraham and to assure Isaac that his promises will certainly come to pass. And then besides his precious promises, we also see God's faithfulness in action, first in preserving Isaac through a time of famine and even blessing him with an abundant harvest and wealth, and then also in keeping Isaac and Rebekah from being harmed by the Philistines, and then providing for them sufficient water in spite of all the harassment that they face from the locals. and finally in causing the King of the Philistines to come and to make peace with them. Dear Prevents and Brethren, Are you sometimes very concerned, even very anxious, for the spiritual well-being and welfare of our next generation? Well, let this passage be a precious reminder that the Lord is faithful. He will care for His covenant children long after the parents have left this world. He will see to it that His people will not be overcome or overwhelmed by the forces of Satan, but that they will continue to survive and even be victorious in the end. Let the thought of God's faithfulness to his covenant give us great encouragement and great strength and hope in the midst of our own difficulties and trials, but also in the face of great uncertainties ahead of us. And most of all, we see God's faithfulness in sending his son into this world, for he is the true and the ultimate seed of Abraham. And in him, in Christ, all the families and nations of the earth are blessed. Today, if you would but put your trust in the greatest son of Abraham, the Lord Jesus, then you will be rescued, saved from sin, from Satan, from hell, and you will have peace with God forever. The Lord is faithful, and his faithfulness is most clearly demonstrated in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. But the second thought I'd like to leave with us is one that is particularly directed to our covenant children. Dear covenant youth and children, I'd like to encourage you to follow in the footsteps of Isaac and especially of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac was circumcised from young and he grew up in a godly covenant and environment. But Isaac did not merely or mechanically follow in his father's footsteps. When the time came, when the opportunity arose, he experienced and exercised personal faith in God, personal obedience to his word. The covenant was not just for Abraham, but it was for Isaac as well. He owned the covenant for himself. He responded to it with his own reliance upon the Lord and his faithfulness to the Lord's command. Isaac must have attended family worship countless times, but when he was old enough and when he had a family of his own, he likewise led them in worship to the Lord. Abraham and Sarah were long gone. They were not there to compel him to do it. But Isaac did it willingly, out of love and godly fear for the Lord. And the same is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was circumcised on the eighth day, brought up by godly parents. And when he was 12 years old, we see him actively participating in public worship and instruction at the temple in Jerusalem. When his mother asked him why he had remained in Jerusalem after the feast, he said to her, how is it that he sought me? Wist he not that I must be in my father's house? As a church, we greatly long to see all of our covenant children growing up and eventually owning the covenant for themselves. The Lord is faithful. May He, in due time, cause all of our children to exercise their own faith in the Lord and their own willing obedience to His word, just like Isaac and especially like the Lord Jesus Christ. But here again, the words of our text. And the Lord appeared unto Isaac and said, go not down into Egypt, sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee. And the Lord appeared unto him and said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee. Amen. Shall we arise again as we look to the Lord in prayer? Let's pray. O gracious and merciful God, even the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we come humbly before you this morning. We stand amazed at your goodness and your faithfulness. We give thanks, O Lord, that we today continue to know of that faithfulness of the Lord in our own lives. We give thanks that you are a faithful God from generation to generation. O Lord, just as you cared for Isaac, you preserved him, you blessed him, Lord, please continue to bless us and our children and our children's children for many generations to come, cause that we may know and experience your goodness, that we may all be found walking as Isaac did in godly fear and love and faithfulness to the Lord God. But especially we are thankful for the seed of Abraham, this Lord Jesus Christ who came in fulfillment of the Lord's covenant with Abraham, who came to rescue lost sinners, to gather them into the household of God, that we, together with the Lord Jesus, may be found in your presence to glorify and to enjoy you. Lord, as we think among these things that happened so many thousands of years ago, help us nevertheless to still be filled with amazement, with gratitude, with thanksgiving for all that you have done for your people. And may this give us much hope, much encouragement for the days ahead. So be with us as we think on Your Word. Continue to bless us on this first day of the week. May we have sweet meditations of Your Word, especially of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For we pray in His name. Amen.