Wrestling Well: Finding God’s Faithfulness in Our Blessings and Bitterness

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
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[00:00:25] .
[00:00:25] .

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
There is forgiveness flowing down from where the Savior died.
[00:00:50] The Son of Man, the poor, the trapped, the stranger, death, and life.
[00:00:52] Feeling better and more innocent, the body and the blood.
[00:00:56] All the precious love of Jesus With a frown of grace divine Flowing as a mighty river Washing sinners in its time
[00:01:26] There will never be another place in whose name we are redeemed, O the precious love of Jesus.
[00:01:55] The Son began to rise up from the grave, victorious
[00:02:31] The precious love of Jesus, O the frown of grace divine, Flowing as the wind.
[00:03:01] All the changes will be done
[00:03:26] He is Worthy Worthy is the Lamb
[00:04:35] Love of Jesus, glory now for you and me.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Love of Jesus, glory now for you and me.
[00:05:01] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:05:24] Amen.
[00:05:25] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:05:47] Amen.
[00:05:55] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:06:23] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:06:48] Amen.
[00:06:50] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:15] Amen.
[00:07:23] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:44] Amen.
[00:07:58] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:08:13] Amen.
[00:08:41] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:03] Amen.
[00:09:08] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:09:31] Amen.
[00:09:36] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:09:58] Amen.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Well, good morning, Back Creek Church.
[00:10:17] Good to see everybody this morning.
[00:10:19] Let's stand and start with the familiar one, maybe, for some of us.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart I will enter His courts with praise I will say this is a day that the Lord has made I will rejoice for He has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad I will rejoice for He has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad I will rejoice for
[00:11:22] You are giving our name and we will follow You make yourself known by the word that You speak You are giving us life so we'll live forever
[00:11:53] You are the good shepherd watching over your sheep Not a soul will go missing Everyone you will keep You are watching over us We are safe in the arms of the Lord
[00:12:26] He's been given to you by the hand of the Father He is greater than all and you are one in the same Our hearts come alive with the sound of redemption
[00:12:51] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:13] Amen.
[00:13:21] We are safe in Your arms You are the Great Shepherd Watching over Your sheep Not a soul will go missing
[00:13:54] We are safe in the arms of the Lord.
[00:13:59] Amen.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[00:14:01] You may be seated.
[00:14:02] I just want to say again, welcome to you.
[00:14:05] We're so glad that you gathered with us to worship the living and true God.
[00:14:10] We are grateful for your presence with us.
[00:14:12] If you would, if you're using the Church Center app, you can check in there.
[00:14:16] We'd love to have a record of your attendance with us.
[00:14:18] And if you're not using the app or if you are a guest with us today, if you would look to the inside of your row,
[00:14:23] there should be a white folder there and those are a means of connection for us we want to connect with you and so we'd love to have your name and whatever contact information you feel comfortable giving to us so that we can reach out to you and find out if there are ways that we can connect further with you or be of service to you
[00:14:40] Now I will say it doesn't look like it's going to be an issue today, but last week this room was at capacity.
[00:14:49] So speaking only to the members and especially the officers here, if we would just make a conscious effort when we come in to move up
[00:15:00] and to move in for the members and officers of the church so that we can make room for guests so they don't have to come to the front row or toward the front that would be a way to serve those that we would love to welcome in so I want to encourage you to do that especially when the weather is not so inclement
[00:15:18] I also want to let you know about a few things that are going on in the life of our church.
[00:15:21] You'll find an insert in your bulletin for Bat Creek Kids.
[00:15:25] We are going to have a summer intern, a summer assistant, and so you can read the description of that position.
[00:15:31] And if you're interested or know someone who might be, pass along that information to them.
[00:15:35] I also want to highlight just the opportunities that are coming up for women.
[00:15:40] On January the 25th, there's going to be Pastries and Prayer.
[00:15:44] You can find the details there in the bulletin.
[00:15:48] Also, February 8th, Soup and Salad Luncheon.
[00:15:51] And also, I want to mention that yesterday I went to the men's breakfast.
[00:15:55] and it was such a great time of fellowship and time together learning and just speaking to one another from the heart encouraging one another and I would encourage you if you're a guy third Saturday 8 a.m. men's breakfast in the fellowship hall it's a great time together also I just want to make mention that for men every Wednesday at 6 a.m.
[00:16:18] Same location, we have a Bible study as well, and that has been a blessing to me also.
[00:16:24] So both men and women, there are ample opportunities to connect with each other, to connect with the Lord.
[00:16:28] Also, if you look on the back of your bulletin, there are opportunities for our students, for our kids, and listen, if you're a young adult,
[00:16:40] They're going to be having a hide and seek event and some people might hear that term young adult and they might say well what qualifies for a young adult and if you ask that question I have bad news for you.
[00:16:53] but we'll take all comers for that event but the details are there on the back of your bulletin so many opportunities to be together as God's people in various groupings to go deeper in relationship with one another to go deeper in our relationship with the Lord but our great joy and pleasure this morning is to worship the Lord our God and he himself calls his people into his worship from Psalm 113
[00:17:22] Praise the Lord.
[00:17:24] Praise, O servants of the Lord.
[00:17:25] Praise the name of the Lord.
[00:17:27] Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
[00:17:32] From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
[00:17:37] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:17:40] O Lord, our God, we believe.
[00:17:42] that you are worthy of all of our praise as the creator of all that is as our creator the one who has made us in your image for relationship with you the one who has given us capacity for fellowship with you and knowledge of you where we give you praise as our redeemer who saw us in our rebellion
[00:18:12] In our rejection of you in our going our own way and came for us in love Lord Jesus through your life and death and resurrection redeeming us and reconciling us to God forgiving our sins adopting us into your family giving us eternal life in the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to live as new creations for these things we praise you
[00:18:36] Lord we thank you especially today that you've set aside a day for your people to gather in your presence to sing your word and pray your word to hear your word read and preached and Lord we ask that today you would speak to your people by your spirit and through your word so that we would be who you have made us and redeemed us and are calling us to be the body of Christ that connects people with the hope of the gospel so Lord use this service to form us
[00:19:07] and to move us well we wait because we know that your promise is to be present with your people when they are gathered in your name and we wait for you to meet us so that when we leave this place we will be different people having encountered the living and true god we wait with eager anticipation of what you will do for us in this hour and we look to you in the name of jesus our savior amen let's stand together and worship the lord in song

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul.
[00:19:56] Worship His holy name.
[00:20:01] Sing like
[00:20:20] The sun comes up, it's a midday dawning It's time to sing your song again Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
[00:20:52] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, Worship His holy name.
[00:21:34] Your name is great and Your heart is kind For all Your goodness I will keep on singing Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find Bless the Lord, O my God
[00:22:05] My soul worship His holy name
[00:22:35] The end draws near and my time has come Still my soul will sing your praise unending Ten thousand years and then forever
[00:23:15] All my soul worship His holy name Sing like never before All my soul I worship Your holy name Bless the Lord
[00:23:44] Let us pray.
[00:24:15] Lord, I worship Your holy name The people of the risen King Would we like to bring Him praise
[00:24:44] Rejoice!
[00:24:50] Rejoice!
[00:24:57] Let us sing to the Morning Star of Grace From the shifting shadows of the earth We will lift our eyes to Him With steady arms and blessings To gather children in Rejoice!
[00:25:12] Rejoice!
[00:25:18] One voice, O Church of Christ, rejoice!
[00:25:36] On those whose joy is morning sun, and those weeping through the
[00:25:39] From those who tell of battles won and those struggling in the fight For His perfect love will never change and His mercies never cease
[00:25:59] Rejoice!
[00:26:05] Rejoice!
[00:26:10] Let every tongue rejoice!
[00:26:14] One heart and one voice, O Church of Christ, rejoice!
[00:26:32] In the land then and within of the faith Come those with full or empty hands Find the riches of His grace Over all the world His people sing Sure to show we hear them call The truth of Christ through every age
[00:27:02] Rejoice!
[00:27:26] Rejoice!
[00:27:26] Let every tongue rejoice!
[00:27:27] One heart and one voice, O Church of Christ, rejoice!
[00:27:28] Rejoice!

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Rejoice!

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let every tongue rejoice!

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
And all of God's people said Amen.

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Our mission as a church is connecting people with the hope of the gospel.
[00:27:54] And that's because we really believe that the only hope for human beings in this life and in eternity is the good news of Jesus Christ.
[00:28:03] That he can bring us from life to death, from darkness to light.
[00:28:08] And so we're gonna confess that hope with one heart and one voice this morning through question and answer number one of the Heidelberg Catechism.
[00:28:16] I'll ask the question and ask you to help me with the response.
[00:28:21] What is your only comfort in life and in death?
[00:28:25] that I am not my own but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful savior Jesus Christ he has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil he also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my father in heaven
[00:28:53] In fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
[00:28:58] Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
[00:29:11] Amen.
[00:29:12] I'm going to invite one of our elders, David Three, to come and lead us in a prayer of intercession.
[00:29:17] In the bulletin it says it's going to be Elder Nathan Holbrook, but his wife Dawn is pretty sick right now, and so we would encourage you to pray for Dawn as she recovers.

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
[00:29:35] Father, we thank you for your many, many blessings.
[00:29:37] Father, it's amazing
[00:29:40] that you could love each one of us so much that is in John 3 16 for God so loved the world that you gave his own begotten son that whosoever believeth him should not perish but have everlasting life you loved us so much you sent your one and only son to come to live amongst us but ultimately to come here with the purpose of going to Calvary your son came in a humble way as we just celebrated Christmas
[00:30:09] He didn't come as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the reception that the world should have given him but he came and was born and lived in a barn in a manger.
[00:30:19] So help us to be humble as he was.
[00:30:26] In the scripture around there in Luke it says there was no room in the inn.
[00:30:31] Help us to have room in our hearts for him each day and may we focus on that.
[00:30:38] Father, your word teaches us you're the great physician, and we know that healing is done by you.
[00:30:45] Our friends, our family, our co-workers, our neighbors, and our church family, there are many that are suffering different illnesses.
[00:30:54] Some have cancer and many other illnesses.
[00:30:57] And we just pray, Father, for healing as your will would see.
[00:31:03] Father, as the great physician, we know that ultimately healing is through you.
[00:31:08] So I lift up those that are in the hospital, nursing homes, and other places and just bless them and keep them safe.
[00:31:17] I pray especially for the shut-ins of our church.
[00:31:19] There are quite a number.
[00:31:20] And just bless them at this last months and years of their lives.
[00:31:28] Father, I lift up the children and the youth of Back Creek.
[00:31:31] I'm personally blessed every Sunday when I see so many children and young people in our church.
[00:31:38] We are, y'all, each one of these is such a blessing.
[00:31:42] So I lift up Adam, Dawn, and Kelly, our staff members that lead ministry to the children and youth, and I especially lift up all the many volunteers that serve in that area.
[00:31:58] Father many things that for years were taken granted for granted are now being challenged things that are scripturally sound are challenged by society so help our children and youth protect them from the ways of the world and help them to focus on God's word as they grow up and form their own opinions and ways of life I pray that you bless each one of them I pray for the children and young people that have
[00:32:26] I lift up the mission churches in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.
[00:32:55] We literally now have churches all across America, in LA, in Oklahoma, in Massachusetts, but especially on the East Coast.
[00:33:04] Many mission churches in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
[00:33:07] I want to focus on two missions today that are in Western North Carolina.
[00:33:12] I lift up Zach Cuthon, the mission developer at Fletcher Presbyterian.
[00:33:17] Fletcher is up near Hendersonville and Bon Clarkin, and I lift up Tripp Costell,
[00:33:22] in the Hickory Presbyterian Church.
[00:33:25] These are both mission churches that have had a great ministry in the last few months and I just pray for these congregations as they are meeting as we speak and I just pray that they will receive members and more visitors and grow in their ministry as a church family and grow together close as they're very very new churches and I pray in
[00:33:49] Your time, Father, in the next couple years they will be able to organize and be churches away from the missionary but on their own.
[00:33:59] I lift up our session and our Diagonet as they start a new year.
[00:34:05] Thank you for the men that are willing to serve in both of these groups and I just pray that you will bless them and their efforts.
[00:34:12] Thank you for their faithfulness and their willingness to serve.
[00:34:18] I also lift up and give you thanks for Back Creek Church.
[00:34:22] You've blessed this church so faithfully for 223 years, and I just pray, Father, that your will, you will continue to do that.
[00:34:31] May Back Creek Church be a shining light in what is otherwise a world of darkness in the area of the University and of Harrisburg.
[00:34:42] Come, Holy Spirit, upon this time of worship.
[00:34:45] Place on Pastor Parr's heart the message
[00:34:48] That you would have your people here today, we your children Father, accept our tithes and offerings that they may be used to meet the basic needs of this church and to further the kingdom all around the world.
[00:35:03] It's in Jesus Christ our Savior's name and for his sake that I pray.
[00:35:07] Amen.

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:35:34] Let us pray.
[00:35:35] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:35:54] Amen.
[00:35:57] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:36:26] Amen.
[00:36:30] The Gospel of the Apostles
[00:37:03] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:37:29] Amen.
[00:38:08] Amen.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
You may be seated.
[00:38:31] If you're a child second grade and younger, you're welcome to stay with us for the message.
[00:38:35] But if you and your parents agree, then you can be dismissed right over here through this door for kids worship.
[00:38:45] You'll return as we're closing out our service of worship and song.
[00:39:02] We're going to be in Genesis chapter 26.
[00:39:05] Genesis is the first book of the Bible and we're going to be in chapter 26 of Genesis.
[00:39:10] We're going to cover the whole chapter this morning.
[00:39:13] We started this series last week back in the book of Genesis and we're calling it Wrestling with God because that's what we see a lot in the lives of the patriarchs, our patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob.
[00:39:31] And if we're honest, this is what we experience in our lives as well.
[00:39:36] Wrestling.
[00:39:38] Wrestling with God.
[00:39:40] Because wrestling is unavoidable for finite, small people who also happen to be sinful and bent and broken and we're trying to engage with our infinite and eternal and unchangeable and perfect God.
[00:40:02] We're going to wrestle.
[00:40:04] And we're going to see through this narrative as we work our way through the stories of Isaac and Jacob that the Lord actually welcomes our wrestling.
[00:40:13] And even when our wrestling with Him comes from our own sinfulness and selfishness as it regularly does,
[00:40:21] He ultimately still uses our wrestling with Him for His glory in our lives and He uses it to bless us and to give us more of Himself.
[00:40:34] So pray with me as we approach God's Word.
[00:40:38] Oh Lord our God, we thank You that You have spoken to Your people through Your Word.
[00:40:42] We thank You that Your Word is trustworthy and that it is true.
[00:40:46] We thank You for how honest it is.
[00:40:50] Lord, and we pray that as we read your word that we would ourselves be read, that we would be exposed, Lord, and that we would be convicted, and also that we would be comforted, that we would be encouraged.
[00:41:08] that we would be built up Lord so that we might go out from this place into this world into your mission field as those who have heard the word of the Lord what only you can do for us in this time what you desire to do and so we look to you we're dependent on you and so we come to your word with eager and humble expectation in the name of Jesus amen
[00:41:37] Every morning I wake up and I stumble down our stairs and you know what the first thing I do is?
[00:41:48] I make coffee.
[00:41:50] I'm not a coffee snob, but I do need, not proud of it, but I need a cup of coffee.
[00:41:56] And so I get the carafe and I fill it with water and I pour it in the back of the machine and I grind the beans and I get out the filter and I put the ground beans into the filter and I shut the lid and I press on and Lord willing, in two to three minutes, I am able to get that first refreshing sip of my caffeine delivery system.
[00:42:18] but a couple of days ago I went through that whole routine as I do every single morning and I mean I was especially needing this cup of coffee a couple of days ago and so when it when it was just full enough for me to fill up my mug I did so and I remember thinking as I raised the coffee mug to my lips coffee is a blessing and it was
[00:42:43] It was hot and black and smooth and refreshing for a second.
[00:42:54] And then I noticed that there was also something else besides the coffee, well, sort of, in my cup and that there was something gritty and very bitter.
[00:43:07] It was grounds.
[00:43:09] Somehow the filter had gotten pushed over and the grounds had gone with the water into the carafe and then therefore into my cup.
[00:43:18] And there I was with both blessing and bitterness in the same cup.
[00:43:26] And in this life, blessing and bitterness often come together.
[00:43:33] You get the blessing of a promotion at work.
[00:43:36] You also get the stress of increased responsibility.
[00:43:40] You get the tremendous blessing of a new baby in your home.
[00:43:44] You also get the bitterness of sleepless nights.
[00:43:52] There's a recent dad.
[00:43:53] You get the bitterness of grief and loss.
[00:44:00] And Lord willing, you get the blessing with that terrible thing
[00:44:04] An inheritance, a blessing.
[00:44:08] Every blessing comes from God, the author and the giver of every good and perfect gift.
[00:44:18] Every bitterness that we experience comes from sin and from its effects in the world and yet
[00:44:27] The experience of both in our lives, the coffee and the grounds, the blessing and the bitterness can of course cause us to wrestle with God.
[00:44:39] We see that in this passage with Isaac.
[00:44:42] The first thing that we see here is the bitterness of trials can cause us to wrestle with trust.
[00:44:50] The bitterness of trials can cause us to wrestle with trust.
[00:44:54] We see that in verses 1 through 11.
[00:44:56] So look with me at God's word, Genesis 26, 1 through 11.
[00:45:01] Now there was a famine in the land.
[00:45:04] Besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham.
[00:45:07] And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines.
[00:45:11] And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt.
[00:45:15] Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
[00:45:18] Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you.
[00:45:22] For to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
[00:45:30] I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring all these lands.
[00:45:37] And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
[00:45:41] Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
[00:45:48] So Isaac settled in Gerar.
[00:45:50] When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, She is my sister.
[00:45:56] For he feared to say, My wife, thinking lest the men of the place shall kill me because of Rebekah, because she was attractive in appearance.
[00:46:03] When he had been there a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.
[00:46:11] So Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, she is your wife.
[00:46:15] How then could you say she is my sister?
[00:46:17] Isaac said to him, Because I thought, lest I die because of her.
[00:46:21] Abimelech said, What is this that you have done to us?
[00:46:25] One of the people might have easily lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.
[00:46:30] So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
[00:46:38] In these verses, Isaac faces two separate and serious trials.
[00:46:44] Famine and fear.
[00:46:47] Verse 1 tells us that there is a famine in the land that was like the famine that Abraham had experienced earlier.
[00:46:53] And a famine means extreme food scarcity.
[00:46:57] And the experience of famine is extremely bitter.
[00:47:01] When I was doing my research for this message, I read about a young mother, 26 years old, six children.
[00:47:10] Her name is Deka.
[00:47:11] She lives in Somaliland.
[00:47:14] And their family, they have one camel left from a herd that was 200 strong.
[00:47:22] And she says, we eat once a day and only rice.
[00:47:27] I give the children, and there are six of them, tea and water to fill their stomachs.
[00:47:34] She says this without tears because she's not hydrated enough to cry.
[00:47:39] This is the kind of trial Isaac was facing with his family.
[00:47:44] His inadequate instinct, or his immediate instinct, is to follow in his father Abraham's footsteps and go down to Egypt to escape the famine.
[00:47:55] And as he makes preparation to do this, the Lord appears to him and tells him not to do the thing that promises food security, that promises survival.
[00:48:04] But instead, God says, I want you to trust me.
[00:48:08] I want you to trust the promises that I made to your father Abraham that I will be with you and bless you that I will give this land to you and to your children that I will keep my covenant and that I will multiply you and that in you all of the nations and families of the earth are going to be blessed it must have been a wrestle for Isaac looking at the insecurity in Gerar and the possible security in Egypt
[00:48:38] To trust God when facing the trial of famine.
[00:48:43] A wrestle between the promises of Egypt and the promises of God.
[00:48:46] Between leaning on the Lord or leaning on His own understanding.
[00:48:55] Let me just ask you, what trials are you walking through where you really have to wrestle to trust God's promises and obey His commands?
[00:49:06] Maybe somebody has sinned against you and it hurts and you are wrestling with the command that you're to forgive them.
[00:49:18] Maybe someone has made you their enemy and you're wrestling with Jesus' command that you are to bless them when they curse you.
[00:49:28] Maybe you have ongoing frustrations at work and so you're wrestling to trust the Lord and doing everything as unto Him to the best of your ability.
[00:49:39] Maybe scarcity in your life, in your situation has brought wrestling with how to steward your meager resources for God's glory as a first priority.
[00:49:52] The bitterness of trials can lead us to wrestle with trust.
[00:49:57] But verse 6 tells us that Isaac leaned into trust here.
[00:50:01] He didn't go to Egypt.
[00:50:02] He did settle in Gerar.
[00:50:04] Way to go, Isaac!
[00:50:05] You're living up to that spiritual patriarch reputation.
[00:50:10] Wow.
[00:50:12] I glitched for a minute.
[00:50:19] Except he has this momentary win.
[00:50:23] And then another trial comes up immediately as Isaac and Rebekah settle in Gerar.
[00:50:30] This trial isn't external like famine, it's internal.
[00:50:33] It's the trial of fear.
[00:50:36] Like her mother-in-law Sarah, Rebekah is an attractive woman even in her older age and the men of Gerar take notice.
[00:50:45] And Isaac takes notice that the men of Gerar are taking notice of Rebekah when they're like, hey, how you doing?
[00:50:57] And Isaac is afraid to trust the Lord and to tell the truth when they ask, who is she?
[00:51:06] If I do that, they might kill me to take her.
[00:51:10] So the bitterness of his fear leads Isaac to put his own wife in a terrible situation and lie to his new neighbors.
[00:51:22] She's my sister.
[00:51:24] And thankfully, even though there's a long time between this lie and Abimelech's catching on to it, the lie is exposed.
[00:51:31] And while King Abimelech is angry, he shows that Isaac's fear was unnecessary and that he could have instead have just trusted God's promises and told the truth.
[00:51:43] And I would ask you, where is fear challenging what you know to be right?
[00:51:53] And I would remind us that when we face trials, yes, it causes us to wrestle with trust.
[00:51:56] But James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes this at the very beginning of his letter to the church, which we just studied not too long ago.
[00:52:05] Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.
[00:52:13] Why?
[00:52:15] Because the testing of your faith, of your trust,
[00:52:19] produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing the bitterness of trials internal and external perceived and real can lead us to wrestle with trust
[00:52:36] The second thing that we see here is the blessings of success can lead us to wrestle against strife.
[00:52:45] The blessings of success can lead us to wrestle against strife.
[00:52:49] We see that in verses 12 through 21.
[00:52:53] and Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold the Lord blessed him and the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy he had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants so that the Philistines envied him now the Philistines had stopped and filled the earth with
[00:53:15] All the wells filled with earth, all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.
[00:53:22] And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are so much mightier than we.
[00:53:27] So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there.
[00:53:32] And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham.
[00:53:40] And he gave them the names that his father had given them.
[00:53:43] But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen.
[00:53:52] saying the water is ours so he called the name of the well Essek because they contended with him then they dug another well and they quarreled over this also and he called its name Sitna even though Isaac wrestled to trust the Lord the Lord still blessed him isn't that beautiful isn't that the gospel
[00:54:19] God didn't bless Isaac because of his record, but in spite of it.
[00:54:25] Like, whether it's Isaac 4,000 years ago, or it's me right here, right now, we need to recognize that every blessing in our lives, including and especially our salvation, is nothing but God's grace to the undeserving.
[00:54:48] God did not look at Isaac 4,000 years ago or look at me today and say, there's a winner.
[00:54:53] I want him on my team.
[00:54:58] God looked at a sinner and loved him.
[00:55:03] God looked at a needy, struggling, hopeless mess of a wrestler and came for me in Jesus.
[00:55:17] He saw someone who was without hope and without Him in the world and He came and Jesus through His life and death and resurrection He purchased me, He redeemed me, He saved me and even when I wrestle with Him He holds on to me and He blesses me.
[00:55:38] The Lord blessed Isaac even though he struggled to trust him.
[00:55:43] Undeserving Isaac gets outrageous blessing through material success in this passage.
[00:55:51] I want to be clear, we do not believe in the prosperity gospel.
[00:55:56] That if you come to Jesus, then God is just going to give you a whole bunch of money and stuff.
[00:56:02] Jesus was not rich.
[00:56:05] He said, birds of the air have their nests and foxes have their holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.
[00:56:14] The apostles who followed him were not materially wealthy.
[00:56:17] The vast majority of Christians throughout history and the world are not thought of as financially successful.
[00:56:26] And the scriptures actually warn about the dangers of wealth.
[00:56:32] But the reality is that
[00:56:35] At times, for reasons known only to God and His good will and pleasure, He chooses to bless some of His children with significant material success.
[00:56:49] And it is a beautiful thing when the people who are blessed in that way, like Isaac, are good and generous stewards of what God has entrusted to them for the sake of His kingdom and purposes.
[00:57:01] and the truth is that we need to think about success not only in terms of material prosperity we also need to recognize that God has blessed all of us with tremendous resources with gifts given to us to cultivate and to steward and to use for his glory and for the building up of his body and for the mission that he has called us to and when we use what God has blessed us with successfully whether material or spiritual or otherwise unfortunately
[00:57:31] It can bring circumstances wherein we have to wrestle with strife.
[00:57:36] We see that Isaac's success caused the Philistines to envy him.
[00:57:42] They're scraping by, just trying to survive.
[00:57:45] And what does God do for Isaac?
[00:57:46] He prospers him a hundred fold.
[00:57:50] Have you ever experienced envy and conflict over success?
[00:57:56] You are able to use your gifts in a way that makes someone else jealous and they go after you.
[00:58:04] Have you ever felt envy or contributed to strife because you envied someone else's success?
[00:58:12] A co-worker got promoted over you so you talk bad about them to your team?
[00:58:17] A friend has the house and car and vacations and career that you want to have so you take every opportunity that you can to bring them down a notch?
[00:58:26] I've heard pastors in struggling churches say that pastors of growing churches must somehow, someway be compromising the gospel.
[00:58:38] This can be a natural reaction for us, for human beings, because we're naturally prone to covet, to be jealous.
[00:58:52] To be envious, and we've probably experienced both sides of the strife caused by envy over success.
[00:59:02] Honestly, I've been able to see it up close, even with a family in our church where they're family members.
[00:59:12] We're envious of their success and would try to get at them in in various ways and I could see how demoralizing and how difficult the strife was and how it was weighing on their souls and I'm so grateful for God's grace to them that they were able to bear up under it and persevere to the end and I saw the Lord bless them on the other side.
[00:59:35] First Isaac is told to go away.
[00:59:37] To move out of town.
[00:59:39] So he does.
[00:59:41] He moves out of town.
[00:59:41] He doesn't resist.
[00:59:44] He redigs the well his father had dug in the same area which the Philistines had maliciously filled in.
[00:59:52] But when he is successful in drawing water from that well, the Philistines claim it belongs to them.
[00:59:59] So what does Isaac do?
[01:00:00] He names the well Contention and he moves on again.
[01:00:04] He digs another well where his father had dug and the Philistines had maliciously filled in.
[01:00:09] He is successful drawing water there again and what happens?
[01:00:13] The Philistines claim that well as well.
[01:00:15] So what does he do?
[01:00:15] He names it Hostility and he moves on.
[01:00:19] In this case, Isaac provides a good example of leaning into trust even as he faces strife over his success.
[01:00:28] Isaac does not insist on his own rights.
[01:00:31] He does not retaliate.
[01:00:33] He believes that the Lord has blessed him with success and will continue to do so.
[01:00:38] So he perseveres and he digs another well.
[01:00:43] And here it is that we can see that even though the blessing of success can produce strife, that thirdly, the bitterness of problems can lead us to wrestle for praise.
[01:00:58] The bitterness of our problems can lead us to wrestle for praise.
[01:01:02] We see that in verses 22 through 25.
[01:01:06] and he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over it so he called its name Rehoboth saying for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land from there he went up to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said I am the God of Abraham your father fear not for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake so he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord
[01:01:36] and pitched his tent there and Isaac's servants dug a well.
[01:01:44] Sometimes our problems can cause us to wrestle for praise.
[01:01:49] One of the great blessings of my first few years here as pastor was to every week see Barbara Cochran near the front.
[01:02:03] By that point in her life she had had some pretty tremendous physical and cognitive challenges and yet I saw her joyfully worshiping the Lord and wrestling through what had been taken away from her to give Him praise.
[01:02:24] She did that
[01:02:26] until those problems and the bitterness that came with them made it too heavy of a wrestle for her to be here with us.
[01:02:38] And even then, even when so much had been taken from her she was still wrestling to praise.
[01:02:47] Her son Alan, who's one of our elders, Alan and his wife Heather, they took such good care of Alan's mom as she was moving toward heaven.
[01:02:58] And he sent me a video the other day that we actually played at her funeral, where at this particular point in her struggle, she didn't have the capacity for very much memory.
[01:03:12] and she was sitting on her bed and she was holding a baby doll and Alan was sitting there with her and he was playing old hymns on his phone and someone who has very little capacity for memory was sitting there you could see the joy of the Lord on her face as she was singing when I die hallelujah by and by I'll fly away
[01:03:37] And I saw in her joy and in her singing, which was better than mine, the beautiful wrestle for praise.
[01:03:52] Problems in this life are inescapable.
[01:03:55] Big problems and little problems, they are constantly there, and they can easily pull us away from a relationship with God and from praising Him.
[01:04:05] They can be a distraction taking our eyes and our focus and our attention away from the Lord.
[01:04:10] Just caught up in whatever it is that we're dealing with.
[01:04:12] Like Peter when Jesus calls him to walk on the water and he's looking at Jesus and he's doing it successfully until he realizes that the wind and the waves are all around him and his eyes are diverted from Jesus and what happens?
[01:04:25] He starts to sink.
[01:04:27] Sometimes the bitterness of our problems
[01:04:31] has us blaming God for them and growing bitter toward the Lord and questioning His character and questioning His promises and even questioning His love for us.
[01:04:42] And this can rob us of praise.
[01:04:45] Certainly this could have been the case for Isaac.
[01:04:48] Being rejected and undermined that many times, having his plans and his provision for his family constantly under attack, he could have gotten so focused on the problems or so frustrated that the Lord wasn't keeping his promises fast enough that he neglected to praise God.
[01:05:07] But,
[01:05:08] On his third try of moving his family and digging a well, he gets a break from the conflict.
[01:05:14] And instead of saying to the Lord, it's about time, he wrestles to praise.
[01:05:21] He acknowledges that it was the Lord who made room and he names it Rehoboth.
[01:05:27] And he says, we shall be fruitful in the land.
[01:05:31] And he gets reaffirmation of the covenant promises of the Lord with no guarantee.
[01:05:37] of freedom from future problems.
[01:05:41] And he calls upon the name of the Lord and he builds a place for praise, an altar to the Lord.
[01:05:50] What problems are you dealing with right now that threaten your worship?
[01:05:56] I just encourage you that like Isaac, God's promises are the thing to hold on to.
[01:06:03] And when you are facing problems that threaten your praise, and you have to really wrestle to worship the Lord, I would just encourage you to hold on to the promises of God like Barbara did, that when He took her, she would be in His presence.
[01:06:16] Like Isaac, that when a well was finally dug and there was room for him, that the Lord would keep His promises.
[01:06:22] The bitterness of trials can lead us to wrestle for trust.
[01:06:25] The blessings of success can lead us to wrestle with strife.
[01:06:29] The bitterness of problems can lead us to wrestle for praise.
[01:06:32] And lastly,
[01:06:33] We see the blessings of comfort can lead us to wrestle with compromise.
[01:06:39] The blessings of comfort can lead us to wrestle with compromise.
[01:06:43] We're going to finish the chapter starting in verse 26.
[01:06:48] When Abimelech went to him from Jerar with Ahazaph, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?
[01:06:58] They said, We see plainly that the Lord has been with you.
[01:07:02] So we said, Let there be a swarm packed between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good,
[01:07:16] and have sent you away in peace you are now the blessed of the Lord so he made them a feast and they ate and drank in the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths and Isaac sent them on their way and they departed from him in peace that same day Isaac's servants came to him and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him we have found water he called it Sheba therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day
[01:07:42] When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Bere the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
[01:07:57] Finally, the neighbors who have envied and opposed Isaac have been humbled by what?
[01:08:05] By the Lord's blessing of him.
[01:08:07] They say, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you.
[01:08:13] And I want us to see in that that our wrestling can be witness.
[01:08:20] When we wrestle for trust and praise through trials and problems, when the Lord does prosper us, and when we bless others, even wrestling to bless those who curse us, it is a testimony to the Lord's presence and His work in our lives.
[01:08:38] Our wrestling can be a witness.
[01:08:41] The way you handle blessings and bitterness can cause other people to say, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you.
[01:08:49] Abimelech and Ahazath and Phicol, they don't know what else to do.
[01:08:56] No matter what they do, no matter what they take, no matter how they reject Isaac, the Lord continually blesses him.
[01:09:04] So they don't know what to do except for to promise peace from now on.
[01:09:10] That same day, Isaac's guys, they dig another well and they find good water there.
[01:09:15] At last, Isaac has comfort through the blessings of the Lord.
[01:09:21] He has the comfort of plenty in a time of famine, the comfort of peace and partnership with his new neighbors.
[01:09:28] He has the comfort of influence through his prosperity.
[01:09:31] He has the comfort of future hope through the promises of God.
[01:09:34] This is the ancient Near East dream.
[01:09:38] It's not too different from the American dream.
[01:09:42] And this comfort is a blessing, an undeniable blessing from the Lord.
[01:09:48] We confessed our faith earlier.
[01:09:49] What is your only comfort in life and death?
[01:09:54] The Lord means to give His people comfort.
[01:09:58] But whenever we get comfortable, we have to especially wrestle against the temptations to compromise.
[01:10:08] Whenever we get comfortable, we have to especially wrestle against the temptation to compromise.
[01:10:13] At this time, families were very involved in who you married.
[01:10:20] And this still happens in cultures in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.
[01:10:24] We have members of our church whose parents were involved in arranging their marriage.
[01:10:29] As the dad of teenage daughters, that doesn't sound so bad to me like it once did.
[01:10:35] Abraham
[01:10:36] was very intentional about finding Isaac a wife from his own people.
[01:10:42] A wife who knew and loved and worshipped the Lord.
[01:10:46] And Isaac benefited from marrying Rebekah and being faithful to her, of honoring the covenant of marriage all throughout their lives.
[01:10:55] But now, Isaac and Rebekah were comfortable in Canaan.
[01:10:59] And even though they knew very personally the blessings of marrying according to God's will one spouse for life, someone who loves the Lord, they were surrounded by a culture of polygamy and idolatry, of multiple spouses and false gods.
[01:11:20] So when Esau, their son, their oldest, begins to want to settle down, what do they do?
[01:11:28] In their comfort,
[01:11:29] They take the path of least resistance.
[01:11:33] They compromise to maintain comfort.
[01:11:38] And it costs them.
[01:11:40] Isaac and Rebekah don't want to tell their son no.
[01:11:45] So they let Esau marry.
[01:11:48] Not one woman, but two women.
[01:11:51] By the way, the Bible reports polygamy, bigamy,
[01:11:58] what we call it today polyamory right the bible reports it the bible does not god does not endorse it ever and the bible consistently gives us examples of when people marry more than one spouse who is the opposite sex when they step outside of the covenant of marriage that god envisions it never goes well same for this family not only is this a sexual and relational compromise
[01:12:29] It's worse.
[01:12:31] It's a faith compromise.
[01:12:34] Judith and Basemath worship false gods.
[01:12:38] And what happens when we compromise to maintain comfort?
[01:12:44] We trade the blessing for bitterness.
[01:12:49] Esau's wives made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
[01:12:55] They were comfortable, and it was bitter.
[01:13:01] Where does this wrestle against compromise for comfort show up in your life?
[01:13:06] Is it relational like this where not wanting to awkwardly stand up for what you know to be right is the wrestle?
[01:13:16] Is it financial?
[01:13:18] You wrestle with dishonesty or with hoarding resources for security and comfort over generosity?
[01:13:26] Is it spiritual, sliding into laziness in our walks with God?
[01:13:31] Because it really is so much easier, especially on a dark, rainy, cold January morning to hit snooze on the alarm and roll over and pull the covers up than it is to gather with God's people for worship.
[01:13:44] Or is it easier to scroll than it is to pray?
[01:13:52] This chapter
[01:13:54] This part of Isaac's story is a call for God's people to wrestle.
[01:14:00] In our trials and in our problems to wrestle for trust and praise.
[01:14:05] In our success and in our comfort to wrestle through strife and against compromise.
[01:14:12] Knowing that the covenant God
[01:14:16] He made promises to Abraham and to Isaac that are just as true for us as they were for them in Christ who is the yes and amen to all of God's promises and who will be with you and will hold on to you and will see you through all your trials, all your problems.
[01:14:38] He will grant you any success that you ever do have and ultimately He will be your only comfort in life
[01:14:46] and in death.
[01:14:48] Let's pray.
[01:14:50] Oh Lord our God we thank you for the hope of the gospel and Lord we thank you that though we wrestle we wrestle with you Lord that you bless us and we just Lord ask that you would help us to steward our wrestling to wrestle faithfully Lord to to lean into trust
[01:15:12] Whatever it is that we are facing, Lord, help us to do so by your spirit.
[01:15:16] Help us to do so by your grace so that in our wrestling we are subdued and you are glorified.
[01:15:23] Lord, thank you for Isaac.
[01:15:25] Thank you that your word is honest about both his victories and his struggles.
[01:15:29] Lord, we hold blessings and bitterness in the same cup.
[01:15:33] We ask, Lord, that you would help us.
[01:15:36] We can only do this if you help us, Lord, to honor you as we wrestle.
[01:15:40] And we ask these things in Jesus' name.
[01:15:42] Amen.
[01:15:43] Let's stand together and respond to God's word in song.

[01:16:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All sufficient merit Shining like the sun A fortune I inherit By no work I have done My righteousness I forfeit And my Savior
[01:16:36] We're all sufficient where it did what I could not In love He condescended eternal now in time
[01:17:04] Life without a blemish The maker made to die The law could never save us Our lawlessness had won Until the pure and spotless Lamb had finally come
[01:17:36] It is done, it is finished, No more dead I hope, Pain and woe, also fear.
[01:18:19] I'm dressed in my Lord Jesus, a crimson robe made white No more fear of judgment, His righteousness is mine
[01:19:06] It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient.

[01:19:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
The righteousness is mine Sing hallelujah, hallelujah All sufficient merit Firm in life and death

[01:20:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The joy of my salvation shall be my final breath When I stand accepted before the throne of God I'll gaze upon my Jesus
[01:20:46] Yes, I'll fake Him for the cross It is done, it is finished No more debt I owe Paid in full, all sufficient
[01:21:12] It is done.
[01:21:25] It is finished.

[01:21:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
No more debt I owe.
[01:21:30] Paid in full.
[01:21:31] All sufficient.
[01:21:31] Married now my own.

[01:21:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
If you know that your only stand before the living and true God is the merit of Jesus Christ, then you go out into the world with his blessings.
[01:21:56] So lift up your heads and your hands and your hearts and receive now the benediction of the Lord our God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore.
[01:22:11] And all God's people said, Amen.

[01:22:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
... ... ... ... ...

[01:23:29] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
... ... ... ... ...
[01:24:29] Let's have all of this together tonight.
[01:25:00] ... ... ... ... ...

[01:25:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
... ... ... ... ...

[01:25:59] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
... ... ... ...

[01:26:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Thank you for watching!
[01:26:42] ... ... ... ... ...
[01:27:09] What are you doing?
[01:27:30] We just ate.

[01:27:56] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
It's for y'all.
[01:27:56] I'm good.
[01:27:57] Yeah.

[01:27:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I know, but you were a figure in the title.
[01:28:12] I came here this morning, but I didn't think you'd turn me over to these little things.
[01:28:14] Excuse me.
[01:28:14] This little thing wasn't on the list.
[01:28:15] You're the one that's been talking to me the whole time.
[01:28:16] I know, but you were a figure in the title.

[01:28:17] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I know.
[01:28:17] I didn't know.

[01:28:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
We are trying to talk like this
[01:28:33] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[01:28:54] ... ... ... ... ...
[01:29:24] ... ... ... ...
[01:29:50] .

[01:30:01] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
.
[01:30:01] .

[01:30:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[01:30:28] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
... ... ... ...
[01:31:00] .
[01:31:21] .
[01:31:21] .
[01:31:26] Let's pray.
[01:31:43] What's your name?
[01:32:12] Dave?
[01:32:17] ... ... ... ...