Address—J. Brereton
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I can open our meeting by singing hymn #139.
This world is a wilderness wide. We have nothing to seek or to choose.
No thought in the waste to abide, we've not to regret nor to lose.
Tis the treasure we found in his love that has made us now pilgrims below.
And tis there when we reach him above, as we're known, all his fullness will know him #139.
We look to the Lord for his blessing.
Our Blessed God and our Father.
This afternoon at the commencement of our.
I would like to read this afternoon in the 26th chapter of Genesis.
2.
Genesis 26.
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 unto Gerard.
And 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 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.
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And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
And Isaac dwelt at Gerard.
And the men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said she is my sister.
For he feared to say she is my wife, Les said. He, the men of the place should kill me for Rebecca, because she was fair to look upon.
The 12Th verse.
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year and hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and the man waxed great, and went forward and grew until he became very great. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and 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 and filled them with earth.
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we.
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Girar, and dwelt there.
And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham, his father.
For the Philistines that stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found their well of springing water.
And the herdmen of Gerard did strive with Isaac's Herdman saying.
The water is ours, and he called the name of the well Isaac, because they strolled with him, and they digged another well and stroll for that also, and he called the name of it Sitna.
And he removed from fence, and digged another well, and for that they strolled not. And he called the name of it Rehaba. And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
And he went up from fence 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 sake.
And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there and there. Isaac's servants digged the well.
Then Abimelech went to him from Girard, and a hazard one of his friends, and Fico, the chief captain of his army. And Isaac, said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.
And we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us even between us and thee. And let us make a covenant with thee, That thou will do us no hurt, 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 the times 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, and said unto him, We have found water, and he called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beer Sheba unto this day.
And Esau was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beery the Hittite, and Bashima the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebecca.
We hope rather than particularly to address our remarks this afternoon to the young people.
You'll recall how previously in the book of Genesis in the history of Abraham we find that there was a famine in the land in Abrahams day and we find here in our chapter at the opening point it says and there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.
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There had come a time in Abraham's life when he was to be tested as to whether he would walk before God. There came a time in his life, dear young people, when the test was made. Would he abide in the land where God had promised to bless him, or would he seek help outside? Well, now we find that the testing that Abraham had had was not sufficient for Isaac. We find now there comes a time in Isaac's life when he too is to be tested.
And dear young people, you who belong to the Lord Jesus, we would address our remarks particularly to you this afternoon.
There is going to be, if there has not come already in your young lives, a time when you are going to be tested as to whether you are going to live for Christ or not, whether you are going to allow him to have the first place in your life, and whether you and I are going to walk in obedience before Him. Here, at the very beginning of our chapter, we find that the time has come for Isaac to be tested.
A famine appears in the land, while we find that in Isaac's case.
He falls into the same snare that befell the feet of Abraham. In Abrahams case he went right down into Egypt. But here in our chapter we find that Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines unto Gerar. Now dear young people, the Lord had promised the land to Abraham and to Isaac the Lord had promised that he would bless them and keep them.
But now we find that the time of testing. When the time comes in Isaac's life when he's going to be tested, will he walk before God in obedience? That's sad to say. He falls in someone of the same snare of Abraham, his father and dear young people. Before we pass on in this chapter, we would like to say that in your life and mind there will be a time of testing.
God will test us as to whether we will walk before Him in obedience.
Satan, the enemy of our souls, is ever seeking to turn us aside, to get us to go to the world for sustenance and for nourishment, to get us to go to the world for something to satisfy our hearts. Because there's a famine in the land sometimes, you know, dear young people, in the little assemblies that we come from the Lord may allow for a little while of famine. There perhaps a difficulty or a problem arises, perhaps amongst the young people that you go, who you go with.
There is a famine arises, some problem, some difficulty arises. Perhaps things aren't going on very well, or perhaps some of the young people here come from very small meetings where there are very few young people. Or perhaps they're the only one, and the time of testing has come for you. There's a famine. You find there's very little fellowship. Are you going to walk with God? Are you and I going to go on to please him? Or are we going to turn aside after something that this world offers to seek to trip us up as children of God?
Here we find that Isaac goes to Gerard, unto the Philistines, and the Lord speaks to him, and says, Go not down into Egypt. Or isn't it lovely to see how the Lord intercedes with Isaac? Don't go down into Egypt, Isaac. Go not down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee, and 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, Beloved brethren, dear young people, I ask you, could God have promised more to Isaac? Could God have said more? He said, Isaac, don't go down into Egypt. There's nothing for you there. Dwell in the land that I've told you of. Stay here. Stay here in the land that God has given to you. And here. I will bless you here. I will be with you here.
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I will bless thee but all it says. 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 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Dear young people. God has promised a blessing to the young people that will go on in obedience. God has promised a blessing in the first chapter of Isaiah, it says If we be willing and obedient, we shall eat the good of the land.
There's a blessing and enjoy, my friend, dear young people, that this world knows nothing about, that comes from walking with God. And you know, one of the devil's lies is that this can only be enjoyed by older people, that this can be only be enjoyed by those who have gone on in the path of faith for years and years and years. But it is not so if we will walk before God in communion, if we will walk in obedience, dear young people, to this blessed book.
To the revealed mind of God. In this book we will know the joy of walking in the Lords company. So here Isaac has this wonderful blessing laid out before him. Don't go to Egypt, Isaac. Stay here. I'll bless you. Well, we find that Isaac does what so many dear children of God have done. I.
And Isaac Dwelt in Gerard. Oh, dear young people, if you look at a map, if you check a map, you'll find that Gerard was the country of the Philistines. It was right down in the South. It was on the border of Egypt. It was right there was just the wilderness, a stretch of wilderness between Gerard and Egypt. And so it was that we find Isaac in his pathway now makes a compromise. He now makes a choice. And he decides true. God said not don't go down into Egypt. And he wouldn't go right into Egypt.
But all he dwell on the border. He dwell on the border. He'd be down there, close to Egypt, not up near Bethel, the House of God, not up in the north where Abraham saw him, so enjoyed the company of the Lord, but right down there on the border.
Down near Egypt, as close as he could get. And not be in Egypt itself. Dear young people, this was the lot. This was what Isaac chose. I wonder, isn't there a danger of you and I choosing this too? The Lord had said, stay here and I'll bless you. But Isaac decides that he won't go into Egypt, but he will compromise. I was talking to a young Christian at the office where I work the other day.
And he asked me, he said you pardon me, referring to myself. And he said, John, are you going to the the company's Christmas party?
And I said, I told him, no, I wouldn't be going. He said, well, why? He says you can come to the first part and enjoy it all right. It's just the second part that you can't stay for. Oh dear young people, that dear child of God, and he is a child of God. He and I have spoken about the Lord together and enjoyed the Lord many times. But that dear man, I fear, is seeking to live down in Gerard. He doesn't want to go right into Egypt. He doesn't want to go right off into the world.
He doesn't want to go off right off into the world and all its wickedness and corruption, but he wants to be part way there. He wants to go in for the better part of it. He wants to sample the part of the world that we might call the respectable part, and he thinks that he can do that and walk in communion. So we were talking a while ago, some of us, about some of the respectable things that go on in this world, some of the things that go on in business.
And in school and in recreation. And the question was put Is there any harm in it? Is there any harm? For instance, there are young people in going to some of the better entertainments of the world going. Someone mentioned the question of music, going to hear fine music. Is there anything wrong with it?
Dear young people, all I ask and all I ask myself is it of God or is it of the world? Is it of the world? Is there not a danger for us, dear young Saints of God, of doing just what Isaac did here, seeking to live in Gerrard? We want to be border livers instead of living for God. Instead of unconditionally walking for God, we seek to live on the border near to Egypt, where perhaps we can have a view of Egypt.
Where we can partake of some of the pleasures of Egypt, some of the better things of Egypt instead of walking before God in happy communion, apart from a scene that has rejected his son. So we find with Isaac, he decides to live in Girard and what is the very first thing we find him doing? The very first thing you know, it struck me. It was mentioned in the meeting this morning. The very first thing that happened to Isaac is he lost his confidence in God.
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The very first thing that happened, he lost his complete and utter confidence in God because now he was on the border, now he was on the ground of compromise. And so he very first thing he does is he says that his wife is his sister, for he walked in fear of his life.
Oh, dear young people, the Lord had just said to him, if you stay up here, Isaac, you stay here. I'll be with you. I'll bless you. What happy better company could there be than that? But instead, he takes the ground of compromise, and immediately his happy confidence in God is lost. And so he finds that now he must adopt some of the world's ways. He must adopt some of the world's systems, some of the things that are looked upon.
As compromises that are all right. It's all right to take steps to protect yourself. The world will tell you it's all right. Sure, you can compromise as long as you're doing it for a good cause. If you're trying to look after yourself, that's all right. Well, that's what Isaac did. Instead of walking before God in happy communion, instead of walking before God with complete confidence in his goodness and in his care, instead he says he now takes steps to protect himself.
And he lies about his wife. Dear young people, you and I as children of God, are called to glory. The word of God tells us our citizenship is in heaven, not down here. We are simply passing through the scene on our way home to glory. And if we would have the joy, the blessed, happy joy, of having peace, of having the joy of walking in complete confidence in God.
It must be in separation from this world, because this world will rob you and I of our confidence in God. It will rob you and I of our joy and of our peace. It will rob us of everything that it can. Because, dear young people, this world has no love.
For your savior and mine, so it says? The men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said she is my sister.
For he and he said, she is my sister. For he feared to save. She is my wife. He was afraid, no confidence, because dear young people, he was in a place, he was on the border, he was on the ground of compromise, where he should never have been.
Now if we go on, our time is going quickly. If we go on to the 12Th verse, then Isaac sowed in the land and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him, and the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great.
For he had possessions, and flocks and possessions of herds, and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him. And for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham, his father, the Philistines, had stopped them and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we dear young people. Here we find Isaac. And if anyone had looked at Isaac at this scene, they would have said that Isaac was prospering.
Outwardly he prospered. Outwardly he had everything flocked and herds. Outwardly he seemed to prosper in this place of compromise. Outwardly, dear young people, children of God, may seem to prosper. They may seem to prosper in business.
I've seen, as I'm sure we all have, young Christians that have gone on to very important jobs, very respectable positions, very high influence. But it can only be done, I say, dear young people, it can only be done on the danger, in the danger of compromising. I don't say that is the only way it can be done. God may lift up someone to a position of responsibility. But here, in Isaac's case, we find that he prospered outwardly. He had heard he had flocks. It says the Lord blessed him. The Lord allowed him to prosper. Here he grew and grew and grew.
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But I ask you, dear young people, read this chapter carefully. Read of all the time that he was in the land of Gerar, and find if the Lord spoke to him. Find out if the Lord communed with him, and find out if there's any mention of him having an altar while he was here in Gerard. No altar here, no way in which he could enjoy the Lord and communion. He was in the wrong place, and though outwardly he prospered.
There was number prosperity in his soul. Dear young people, you and I are in danger of that. The world says go after the things are in the world. The world tells you to be a success. The world tells you ambition is a good thing. How the young people at school, how I've heard it over and over again, as I'm sure you have, How the teachers will drift to the students at school, have ambition. You've got to get a hit in this world. You want to prosper. You want to have a good job.
You want to be a success. You want to be able to raise your family and prosperity. No, dear young people, if you and I are going to walk in communion, what we want is to please God. What we want is to seek His mind. Here in Isaac's case, he prospered outwardly. He grew and grew and grew until the Philistines envied him. He even dug the wells in the very place where Abraham had sought sustenance before, and the Philistines had stopped those wells.
Those wells have been filled up, they have been filled up with earth, and Isaac sought again to find nourishment here.
He sought again to find water here. He dug the wells again. And then we find what? When we read down to the 16th verse, and Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. Oh dear young people. They didn't want Isaacs company. They wanted him to leave. But I asked you, was it because he was walking as a child of God? They wanted him to leave. They wanted. They didn't want him there.
But it was because they envied him. Where was the testimony for God here? Where was there in Isaacs life, that which was for the glory of God, dear young people, some people? It tells us in Peter that we may suffer because of our own acts, not only suffering as a Christian, but suffering because of our own willful disobedience, because of our own violation of the laws of the land, Perhaps because of our own acts, we suffer.
Rather than suffering as a Christian, well, here in Isaac's case he was suffering not because he was walking with God.
Not because he sought God's glory, but he finds that his company is not wanted here. He has to leave. But there's nothing for God here in his separation, nothing for God in the fact that they didn't want him. And so it tells us in the 17th verse in Isaac departed Thence and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerard. Here he finds that he must leave them. But, Oh dear young people, his heart has not yet been weaned away from Egypt.
He's not ready to leave that country, that border country, where he's living. He's not ready to go back where he should have been, where the Lord had promised to bless him. And so here he stays on the border country. He still stays in this place where he thinks he can live on the ground of compromise. Dear young people, dear, dear children of God, are there any of us here? Are any of us in danger? I say this to my own soul. Are we not in danger of doing this very thing?
We find, perhaps, that we can't go in for the very violent pleasures that this world has to offer. We can't be happy there, and thank God we can't. But we try to compromise. We can't live right in amongst them here in Gerard. So we'll live in the valley. We'll live close to them. We'll live close to the world. We'll try to enjoy part of what it has to offer. Well, we find here that this is what Isaac did, and he found a well of springing water.
He noticed it, says, and Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water.
But now this well of springing water, I believe. Here perhaps it may suggest the fact that Isaac tried to introduce Christ down where he was. You notice it says and the Herdman of Gerard did strive with Isaacs Herdman saying the water is ours and he called the name of the well Isek because they strove with him. Now if you have a margin in your Bible, you'll notice that ESEC means contention and they dig another well and strove for that also.
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And he called the name of it Sit now. Well, dear young people, here's another truth.
A truth that I trust has been made good to my own soul. And that is perhaps I can put it this way. I remember a brother saying to me years ago that what he told his children when they asked him if it was all right if they went to a certain place, he used to say to them, it's all right if you can go and speak of Christ. If you can go to that worldly place and speak of Christ, Well, here we have Isaac, and he seeks to introduce into this scene where he is on this ground of compromise.
He seeks to introduce the well of springing water and the result is contention. The result is contention, argument and contention because Isaacs in the wrong place. And then when he goes on and digs another well and tries to do it again, now he finds it. It's hatred. Positive hatred.
Dear young people, These were the people that Isaac had lived with. These were the people that each soldier and amongst. But now when he brings in the water, when he seeks to bring in this well of springing water, there's contention and hatred. You say, dear young people, that you're going to school or to college, and you have friends there.
How often I've heard young people say this. I've got friends at school. They're very nice people. Oh, they're very friendly. We enjoy each others company. But dear young people, if they're not Christians, if they're not children of God, if you want to find out where they stand, just speak to them of Christ. Just seek to introduce the well of springing water, seek to talk to them about Christ, and you'll find, I believe, just what Isaac found first of all contention. And then if you persevere in seeking to present Christ to them.
You will find active hatred to the blessed name of Christ the world.
Does not want your Savior and mine. They just don't want him. So Isaac finds that the well of springing water he has contention there. He can't present Christ or he can't because there's only contention and hatred. Dear young people, I remember years ago now, a young brother came to me and he spoke to me about something, something that he was going on with. When I spoke to him about it, he said to me, he said, John, that's how I can get Christ to them. Says I go in amongst them into this certain world with pleasure so that I can speak to them of Christ.
But all my friend, dear young people, sad to say, he didn't speak of Christ and the result was that he's now gone off into the world. He's no testimony at all for the Lord now. He's compromised and compromised and compromised until his testimony is ruined because he tried what Isaac did to live on the ground of compromise and try to introduce Christ. You can't do it the only way you and I can be a testimony, a real true testimony for the Lord down here.
Is to be separate from the world, to be outside of it. We'll see this as we go on with our chapter. I trust that the place for God's glory for you and I down here is separated from this world and all it contains, every system of it. It's all designed for the exaltation of man.
Whereas your desire, and mine is, if we're true children of God is the exaltation of Christ. So here in the chapter it says And he removed from fence, he found contention and hatred trouble. He couldn't introduce the well of springing water. And so he moves again. But Oh dear young people, where has he moved now? It says. And he removed from fence and digged another well, and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth.
And he said, for now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. Well, if you check again, you'll find in the 36th chapter of Genesis we get mentioned of this real boss again. And we find that this country, this, this place that is mentioned, this well was down in the country of Edom. Why was there no strife here? Why was it they didn't strive with him about this? Well, all we find is because it was closer to Egypt. It was closer to Egypt. Instead of taking a step, taking his, winding his way back to the place where God had promised to bless him, instead we find him taking another step towards Egypt.
Going further and further into compromise. And so it is with you and I. Do you find that in your in trying to be, in trying to be friends with the world, you find it very hard to speak of Christ? Is that my experience at the office in seeking to be a testimony for Christ and yet enjoy the company of the worldly ones with whom we come in contact to be at home with them? We find we can't introduce the well of springing water. What do we do? Is there a danger of us doing dear young people?
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What Isaac did, he goes for a place where there is no contention. He just goes a little further towards Egypt.
Gives up a little more. Give compromises a little more. Stops Introducing the well of springing water. This is just an ordinary well now. He goes on no well of springing water and finds that there's no contention now. So it is dear young people. So it is with some young people. And I know I speak for myself. I've passed through this very same thing we find when we're in school the way to have peace, the way to have no trouble or contention. Just don't speak of Christ.
Don't speak of him. Don't let anybody know. I remember hearing one person, somebody said to them, do you do you have any trouble at the office because you're a Christian? And the answer was, oh, I have no trouble. Nobody knows I'm a Christian there. Dear young people, if you and I are going to be faithful. If you and I are going to be faithful, we're going to have trouble and difficulty down here. But if we want to avoid this trouble and difficulty, if the Lord said in the world, ye shall have tribulation.
But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Sad to say. Some young people, some older ones too. Perhaps what we're speaking particularly to the young. The danger for us is this is what the devil says to do. This is what the enemy of our souls tells us is the path of wisdom. Compromise a little further. You've gone this far, now you're parked way into the world. Compromise a little further. Give up a little bit more truth. Stop Speaking of the well of springing water. Don't bother trying to speak of Christ, and you'll have no striving, no contention. You won't be happy.
You'll have no joy, you'll have no real peace in your soul, but there will be no contention with those around you.
If you'll just leave Christ out, they'll let you be in their company. But try to introduce your Savior. Try to speak of your Savior, the one who bought you with His own precious blood. Seek to speak of Him, and you'll find the contention and the hatred that Isaac found when he brought in the well of springing water well. Now we find in the 3020 third verse.
It says and he went up from fence.
To Beer Sheba. Oh, dear young people, this it just thrills my soul when I think of this. Now we find Isaac doing what he should have done. He takes his step now back towards the center, back up towards Bethel. He's on his way north now, into the country, and he comes to Beersheba. Well, if you'll check if you remember in in David's day, the measurements of the land of Israel were from Dan to Beersheba and all. How I just it just thrilled my soul. So a brother again mentioned it this morning.
How the Lord just delights to come in and bless and remind us of His love If we just want to please him. If we've gone off into the world, If we've been in danger, dear young people, and have compromised the truth. And now we want to be restored in our souls and want to please the Lord. The very first step is met by the Lord and He speaks to us of His love. So here we find Isaac. He takes his steps. He's going back now to where he should never have come away from.
And as it were, as soon as he gets to the border of the land, he comes to the first place. The Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him the same night. Oh, dear young people, do you want to please the Lord? Do you want to go on to please him? And you say to yourself with the devil, I should say, says to you, it's going to be a difficult path. It's going to be a hard path. You're going to have trouble. You're going to have contention. You're going to find that the world hates Christ. You're going to find their young people that they don't want your company you're going to find.
That there's going to be active opposition if you're going to walk to please the Lord. But the same night Isaacs takes his first step backward up to the north, where he should have been. And the same night the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with the dear young people you want to walk to please the Lord. Is that your real desire? Is that what you want to do?
The Lord says, fear not, for I am with thee. The world says there's going to be trouble. God says fear not, for I am with thee. The world says it's going to cost you something. The Lord says, Fear not, for I am with thee, dear child of God. Ask yourself for what would you trade his company for? What would you take from this world in exchange for his company? Fear not, for I am with thee.
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And will bless thee and multiply thy seed for My servant Abraham's sake. And he builded an altar there. Well, what happened to his altar while he was in Gerard? There was no altar there while he was on the ground of compromise. There could be no true worship while he was seeking to enjoy the world, while he was living on the border of Egypt, while he went even a step further right down into the country of Edom to avoid the contention and the strife.
There was number altar and the Lord did not appear to him. The Lord never told him while he was in Sharar I'll be with you. But when he gets back when he takes his step back to the place of the Lords appointment when he comes apart from the world bordering scene.
When he comes right apart from it and he takes his first step back, the Lord appears to him that same night and says, I'll be with you, Isaac. And then he builds an altar. Now worship. True worship comes from the child of God, from the young person if you will, that walks in separation. Dear young people, there cannot be any true true worship going up to the Lord from your life and mind, from your hardened mind, if we're walking in a path of compromise in this scene.
You want to be happy? Let's go on with this chapter. We'll find out what happens now in Isaac's case.
And he builded an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there, and their Isaac servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar all. What a change. What a scene, what a difference this is. What had happened before Isaac had gone to Abimelech. Isaac had gone to the world. Isaac had gone to the world. He'd gone down there to the border country. He'd gone down to the ground of compromise. He'd gone down to this place where the Lord would not have him to be.
But now, now he is back where he should be. Now he is back on the ground of separation. Now he's back within the confines, we might say, of the land proper. Now he's back in the place where the Lord would have him to be separated from the scene around him. And now we find.
That is a true child of God walking in communion. Abimelech comes to him.
And what does he say? He says, Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Huzzah, one of his friends, and Feical, the chief captain of his army. And Isaac, said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me? Why are you coming to me, seeing that you hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. And we said, let there be now an oath betwixt us, even between us and thee. And let us make a covenant with thee, that thou will do us no hurt.
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. Compare that to young people with the end of the 16th verse. And Abimelech said unto Wisely, go from us, for thou art much mightier than we all. They'd send Isaac away before, but they've never meant any mention of the Lord now that Isaac is in the path of separation.
Now that Isaac is on the ground that he should be as separated to God, now that he's back in the place where God had promised to bless him and to be with him, now the king of Gerard has to admit thou art now the blessed of the Lord. Isaac was no testimony for God at all. Down there in Gerard it was only contention and hatred, and then finally giving up of even the contention.
But now he's a testimony, so that even the king comes to him and says, now thou art blessed of the Lord, dear young people, one of the devil's lies, especially to the young people. One of the devil's lies is compromise, and you'll accomplish more. Give up a little bit of the truth.
And you'll be able to reach more souls. Join up with other Christians that aren't really children of God, but are not walking in separation, and you might be able to help them, but it is not so. The place where Isaac was a testimony to the king of Gerar was back in the place where he should never have left on the ground of separation to God. Now he's a real testimony. Now the king comes to him.
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And says thou art now the blessed of the Lord, even when Isaac was down there in Gerard, and prospering, and prospering and prospering. No mention about Abimelech, seeing in him then the fact that God was with him, but now he owns it, Now thou art the blessed of the Lord.
Dear young people, do you and I want to be a testimony for the Lord? Do we want our lives to be for his glory?
Is that the real earnest desire of our hearts that day by day we might live for His glory?
Whether it's in school or in the office, whether it's in college or whatever set of circumstances it may be in.
Then walk in separation and you'll be a testimony. And dear young people, I tell you.
The world will respect you for it. The world will have to respect the child of God that walks in separation. Here we find with Isaac that even the king comes to him. The king comes to the child of God in separate, on a separate ground, and the result is and he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink them.
How many times I've heard young people say, well, if you keep apart from everything that goes on at school, if you don't join in with some of the things that go on at school or at the office, how can you possibly be a testimony? How can you speak to them about the Lord if you're not in their company?
But all dear young people here, Isaac walked in separation. The king came to him and owned that he was a man of God. Thou art now the blessed of the Lord, something that he couldn't would never have owned while Isaac was down in Gerrard. And Isaac made him a feast. Dear young people, you have a feast. You have something to give to the ones who are not the Lords. But don't go down to Gerrard, because you can't give the feast down there.
You can't give the feast down there.
Walk. May God give you an eye, the grace to walk in separation from everything that is of the world, and we'll be able to be a testimony for God. We'll be able to walk in happy communion with the Lord. The world will be able to see in your life and mine that we are children of God and have got a joy that they know nothing about, that we don't need.
To go down into Gerard for our satisfaction that we can find all our joy and sustenance in the Lord's company. And the result will be that you'll then be able to give them a feast. You'll be able to speak to them about the Lord apart from all the world systems. You'll be able to speak to them of the Lord apart from everything, every connection of the world. And God will bless you and your soul.
So it was with Isaac. He prepared them a feast, and he sent them away. Oh, I love this, you notice it says. And they rose up by times in the morning and swear one to another. And Isaac sent them away. And they departed from him in peace. Isn't it just lovely to see how Isaac is in complete control of the situation here? Here's a man of God walking in communion on the ground that he should be on, separate from the world, far away from Egypt.
Back towards the center, where the Lord had blessed Abraham, and we find that he now controls the situation.
Not down in the border country, not trying to partake of the world, but apart from it. And he sends them away. Oh dear young people, you and I, as children of God, we can walk through this world in the conscious sense that we're children of God, in the conscious sense in our souls that we are children of His, and that we're on our way home to glory. That we need nothing that this world has to offer, nothing that this world would seek to give us.
Because we have Christ.
All that tells us here 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, and said unto him, We have found water. Dear young people, this takes us back to the very first part of our chapter. You notice there it said, there was a family in the land, and God said to Abraham, stay, and I'll bless you. But Abraham goes down on the at least. Isaac goes down on the ground of compromise.
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Now, when he's come back, now that he's restored, now that he's in happy communion again, now that he's a testimony back here, he finds what the Lord had said all along was right. The Lord said that he would look after him now that he's back here, did Isaac wait till he found that there was water there?
He walks in obedience. So, dear young people, if there is a famine where you are just now, if you find it hard to go on to please the Lord. If you find that it's a difficult path. There's water there for you. If you'll just wait on the Lord for it. There was water for Isaac. He could have had this water before without ever going down into Gerard at all. But because there was difficulty, because there was famine, he went. Now that he comes back, they come and tell him we've dug a well and we found water.
Dear young people, if you and I will walk to please God, in spite of the family, in spite of the difficulty, in spite of the trials, in spite of the persecution, in spite of the difficulty of the pathway, we'll find water day by day for our souls, and we'll know the joy of the Lord's company. I will be with you. We'll know the joy of preparing A feast for those that are around us.
Because we can speak to them of Christ and be a testimony so that they have to look at you and say thou art now the blessed of the Lord. I would just say our time is gone. We didn't cover these last two verses, but for the those of us here that are parents, for those of us that have young children, I believe dear young people, for the ones that are married here now with young families, I believe these last two verses are a very, very solemn addition to this chapter.
We find that in Isaacs case he's restored. He'd gone down and bordered on the world. He'd gone down on the ground of compromise and had been restored. He now comes back and he's enjoying the large company once again, happily and fully restored and and a testimony to the Lord and his glory. But his son, His son Esau, who had been introduced to the world, who had been taken down to the borders of Egypt.
Who had been taken down on the ground of compromise, where he could have part of the world and part of Christ, or thought they could. Now we find that Esau. Esau goes off on his own and marries A Hittite, goes far farther away than Isaac had gone, steps much further away than Isaac had ever gone, goes right up into the North Country, if you know the map went right up into the North Country, to the Hittites, far beyond anything that Isaac had ever done.
And so it is with you and I, Dear young parents, I say this to my own soul. If we seek to walk on the border of this world, if we try to enjoy the world partly, if we decide that we're going to be partly content with walking in this world and seek to have just a part of Christ, if we go on in that path, dear young people, the Lord may restore you and I in our souls.
The Lord may come in and His goodness and His mercy, and restore us so that we're happy and in the enjoyment of His love once again.
But the effect on our children may be that they, having had a taste of the world, will go out after it. So it was here. May God grant to you and I that our parents with young children, that we might so walk in separation from this world, that our children will have no taste of it to want to choose it when they come to the age when they must make a choice.