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Well, thank you for joining us this Sunday morning as we continue our journey through the book of Genesis.

Now as a preacher, our job is to really feed you God's Word. We want to teach you about the Bible, so that you may know about God and His Gospel, His grace, His glory and that you may live out lives of godliness. But as preachers, not only must we feed you God's Word, we must also teach you how to feed yourselves.

In other words, not only must we provide fish, in a sense; but we hope to teach you how to fish, how to dig into the Bible yourselves, how to learn from the Bible yourselves.

Now, this morning, we come to a passage, a story that is I think rather obscure and neglected. But I think this is a great opportunity for us, not only to study about what the Bible has to say, what the Bible reveals about God and grace and the Gospel and glory and His godliness, and about the need for godliness. But I think it's a wonderful opportunity for us to learn how to approach the passage as well.

So I hope this will be a kind of demonstration also, this is a kind of discipleship that the way we approach the Scripture, will be something you can learn as well. So, this is a demonstration sermon, if I may say, because I'm sure like myself, when you first read the passage, you'll be scratching your head and wondering, "What is this all about?" So let me share with you my approach, and hope that this will encourage you in your personal reading of Scripture.

Now, let me start very simply, let's get to the story, alright. Let's understand what Genesis, chapter 26 is all about. I believe that this statement would be helpful to understand the story in a nutshell and the statement is this, "The apple does not fall far from the tree".

"The apple does not fall far from the tree", what is this statement, the meaning of this statement? It simply means that the child often copies or mimics the behavior of his father or his mother. "The apple does not fall far from the tree" - they seem to be very similar, the father and son can be very similar in their behavior. And it is certainly so in Genesis 26, because we read that Isaac would sin in a very similar way to his father, Abraham.

You say, "How?" Well, both Isaac and Abraham would lie when they were asked about their wives in a foreign land. That's what this story is about. So we look at it in a very quick way, in the verses here. We see first of all, that, "There was a famine in the land." [Gen 26:1]

And Isaac, like Abraham was in Genesis 12, left the land of famine to go somewhere else. Earlier on in Genesis 12, Abraham went to Egypt, but, "Isaac here would go to Gerar." [Gen 26:1] Different place, but doesn't matter, they will fall into the same sin. When Isaac went to Gerar, "God was very gracious to affirm God's desire to bless Isaac, that He will be with him, He will bless him, He would ensure that the covenant, the oath that God has made with Abraham to bless him and his Offspring is repeated to Isaac here." [Gen 26:2-3]

Alright, we see that! And, "Now at Gerar, Isaac was asked about his wife, Rebekah." [Gen 26:7] "Who is this lady that is beside you?" Now, he would have been right to say, "She's my wife." But, Isaac didn't want to do that, he was fearful, he was scared, he was afraid that if he were to tell others that this is his wife, they would kill him in order to get his wife.

So out of fear, out of cowardice, he said, "She is my sister." [Gen 26:7] Now, this is so deja vu, isn't it? Genesis 12, Abraham said the same thing, "She is my sister," about Sarah, his wife. And in Genesis, chapter 20, Abraham repeated the same sin, repeated the same mistake at Gerar as well and said, "She is my sister."

Now, Isaac would years later repeat the same thing. He says, "I am fearful or he thought that, "If the men of the place would know that it is his wife, they will kill him because of Rebekah." [Gen 26:7] Now, we then read that, "Abimelech the king of the Philistines looked out of the window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife." [Gen 26:8] And he immediately knew that Rebekah was not his sister but his wife. "He said, "Behold, she's your wife, how then could you say, 'She is my sister'?"' [Gen 26:9]

Now, what do you mean by Isaac laughing with Rebekah? In the King James Bible, it is translated, "Isaac sporting with Rebekah." SPORTING? "What sport are they playing," you say. "Now, not exactly the sport you're thinking about, but a famous preacher once said, "Whatever sport Isaac was doing with Rebekah, you can be sure it's not a sport that a brother or sister should play."

Whatever it is, there is maybe something suggestive there that Abimelech could see and tell that they were actually husband and wife. "So Abimelech forbade anyone to come near Rebekah, to touch Rebekah and said, "If anyone were to do so, he would be put to death." [Gen 26:11]

Now, you would imagine that after this sin, this dishonesty, this cowardice, this fearfulness of Isaac, God would punish or chastised Isaac. I mean he sinned, he lied. What a terrible testimony this must be before Abimelech!

But it's interesting, we don't read of God punishing Isaac, but instead in the next verse, we are told that Isaac prospered. He was richly blessed, "Isaac sowed in that land and reap in the same year a hundredfold." [Gen 26:12] I mean this is a lot, a lot of harvest, and the reason is clear, "The Lord blessed Isaac." [Gen 26:12]

"So now Isaac became very rich and he gained more and more until he became very wealthy." [Gen 26:13] So it's very strange! Well, Isaac sinned but God blessed him so abundantly. "And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying, "The water is ours. So he called the name of the well, Esek because they contended with him." [Gen 26:20]

Isaac grows so influential, so powerful, so rich people will obviously envious, jealous of him, tried to nudge him out. And Isaac moved from place to place, but you know, everywhere he went, there was blessing, he would discover a well of water. In those days, hard to get water and if you could discover a well of water, it's like discovering a well of oil.

So he was very prosperous as he moved from place to place. And his blessing was confirmed or was reminded to him again because "God appeared to him that same night and said, "I will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake."' [Gen 26:24]

His prospering was obvious to all that Abimelech would come and say, "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. You are now the blessed of the Lord." [Gen 26:28] He will move again from place to place but near the end, we are still reading, "We have found water." [Gen 26:32]

So, what a story! Isaac out of famine left to Gerar, he compromised by sinning, in lying against Abimelech, saying that "She is my sister," when she is really his wife. But instead of being punished, God prospered him abundantly. And this story in a nutshell, is so similar to the stories we hear of Abraham. Abraham lied and he prospered in Egypt- chapter 12, Abraham lied and he prospered in Genesis - chapter 20.

So "the apple does not fall far from the tree", and even as Isaac sins in a similar way to his father, Isaac is blessed in a similar way, like his father.

So, this is the story! What then is the big idea? What then is the main theme of Genesis, chapter 26? I think this is very important when we read the Bible. The Bible is not just a random assortment or collection of stories that make no sense. God is a God of order, and He is a God who wants to communicate to us. So even as we read a story like this, we need to ask, "What is the big idea? What is the theme that we are to grasp from this text?"

Now, I love to play chess, actually I love to watch commentaries of chess, more than I like to play chess, because I'm not good at chess. And often times in chess commentaries, they like to give you a chess board position that would make you think. And this is the puzzle for example, that I will be fascinated by. Because the commentator would say on YouTube, "What is the best move for black? Make one move for black that would win the game for black." And the commentator would pause for maybe 5 to 10 seconds, and so that you can have time to think of the best move forward.

Now, for those of you who might be interested in the move that black would make to win, it's a fascinating move, but if you would like to think of the move, black would make to win, you can ask me after the sermon. But I like you now to pause for 5 to 10 seconds, what is the main idea? What is the significance? What is the theme? What is the big idea we are to gain from this chapter?

Work your head, work your brains, think about it. I know it's Sunday morning, but it's good to think, isn't it? To think, "Hey, I read the story but what is God trying to say?"

Well, when I watch chess commentaries and give ... and when they give a puzzle like this, they don't always give the answer immediately. But they will explore some ways you would common or people would commonly make which are wrong, so I will do the same thing.

What's the significance of this passage? I'll tell you first of all what it is certainly not. This is I think, not a passage that says to you, "It is okay to lie." Ah! Some of you may say, "Alright, Isaac sinned, God blessed him, so is this saying, "It is okay to lie?"' Is this saying that, "I can get away with my sin?" Is this saying that, "God is cool with sin?"

Now, I would say affirmatively to you, this is exactly what God does not want us to take away. He is not saying, "It's okay to sin." It is not saying that, "You will get away with sin," because there are many, many passages in the Bible that tell us, that we will reap the consequences of our sin, and that there will be chastisement for sin, and that God is not cool with sin, but that God is angry with sin.

So this is not a story that you should say, "This is a justification for me to sin." Certainly not! I don't think any Christian would read this passage, and walk away with this conclusion.

Now, some of you may have an idea that perhaps this is the story that teaches us the importance of parenting or exampling. You're saying, "It's so important to set the right example because monkey see, monkey do. Abraham, because he sinned in this way, Isaac learned to pick it up from his father. Maybe from the stories that have been told by the servants later on."

Well, I say "Certainly you could see that that is a possible lesson you can learn, I'm not denying it. It may be that this emphasize the importance for all of us to parent correctly, to example properly."

Some of you may say, "Maybe this is a story that reminds us about our vulnerability to sin, that there is no Christian, no one of the faith who will never ever sin. We are all vulnerable to sin. If Abraham could sin and Isaac could sin, Jason could sin, and we should be vigilant, we should be sober." And I say, "You could walk away, I think legitimately with these lessons too."

But I like to present to you what I think is the best construct of this story in terms of the big idea. I want to remind you how I get to ... I want to show you how I get to this big idea.
[1] God's Covenant Is The Thread That Runs Through Genesis
First, of all, I'd like you to take a step back, not just look at chapter 26, but to look at the whole story and narrative of Genesis thus far. And this is an important point - God's covenant is the thread that runs through Genesis.

God's promise, God's promise to bless the world through a special Offspring, is that a unifying theme as you read Genesis right in the beginning to the end of the book of Genesis. So God's covenant, God's promise, God's arrangement with men, that He would bless the world through a Savior and Offspring is that thread that runs through this entire book.

Now, I would say that, "We could begin in Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 15 that God did say that, "There will be an Offspring of Eve, one human Offspring who will absolutely crush the devil's head." The devil came to deceive men into sin, to plunge men into the darkness of sin, but God is saying, "There will be an Offspring of man, who will absolutely defeat the devil and reverse his works."

So, whole book of Genesis is written in anticipation of this fulfillment. Oh, there will be an Offspring who will defeat the devil! About 2000 years later, God gave this promise to Abraham, God said to Abraham, "So shall your Offspring be." [Gen 15:5] He later on elaborated that, "There will be an Offspring of Abraham, through whom all nations will be blessed."

So again, we should look at this thread of God's promise from Genesis, chapter 3 to Genesis, chapter 15. God later clarified in chapter 21:12, that, "This is through Isaac, no one else. Isaac, God's promise son to Abraham."

And then we read that promise, reiterated in Genesis, chapter 2:16-17 when God not only said to Abraham, but swore to Abraham. And then in Genesis, chapter 24:7, God reaffirms this or this is reminded to the reader about God's covenant. And then we read today in Genesis 26:2-3, that God gave this same promise to Isaac.

So we must really be able, I'm sure, to see that God's covenant is that thread that runs through Genesis. So when you look at Genesis 26, you got to see it in this bigger setting, bigger context.

[2] God's Covenant Was Preserved As Rebekah Was Protected
Number two, this is a chapter that tells us that - God's covenant was preserved, even as Rebekah was protected. Now, she did not have an adulterous relationship with any other men. There was no illicit affair, there was no sexual relationships, as far as we read of because of Isaac's line. She was not compromised in any way.

And this is important because if she were to sleep with someone else, the child she bears would be doubtful whether this is God's fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant at all. So it is very important that Rebekah is kept chaste and pure to Isaac.

Now, it is very interesting, even though chapter 26 is written after chapter 25, the events here in chapter 26 probably precedes the events that you read off in the second half of chapter 25. I say that because if Rebekah was pregnant, or if Rebekah was already with child, or that they already had their child, Esau and Jacob, it will be so obvious to the people at Gerar. They will see the family! You can't run away from that. And you can't say that, "Isaac and Rebekah were at Gerar for staycation for two days." They were escaping a famine, they would have brought their entire family along with their kids, and it will be obvious. So it's very likely, Rebekah was not yet pregnant, this is an event, pre-pregnancy. And so it was very important that she would not have relations with any other men, in order for the promise of God to Isaac and Abraham not to be compromised.

[3] God's Covenant Was Unchanged Despite Isaac's Sin
Then number three, I'd like to remind you that - God's covenant was unchanged, despite Isaac's sin.

Now, we would have thought, when God promised Isaac, Isaac should have remained faithful, so that God may fulfill His covenant with Isaac. But the interesting thing is, even though Isaac sinned, God's covenant was not changed.

We read that this is the idea here! You see in verses 2 to 3. God said, "I will bless you." Then in the later verses we see Isaac sinned, but even after Isaac sinned, now in chapter [sic:24] 26:24 God repeats, "I will bless you." So this chapter tells us that God's covenant was unchanged, despite Isaac's sin.

So when I put these three ideas together, I present to you what I think is the big idea of the text. What is the chess move I need to make, what is the one theme we should draw out from this story. Yes, you could say, "It's about parenting." Yes, you could say, "It's about vulnerability to sin for any Christian."

But I say more than anything else, the best answer probably is this, that: God faithfully and graciously ensures the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant to bless the world through the Messiah, or the promised Savior.

It has always been God's will, God's desire to bless the world with salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is His desire right from the beginning. And the way he will do it is by fulfilling the covenant He made to Abraham. That through one of Abraham's descendants, the world will be blessed.

And this story in chapter 26 shows us just how faithfully God is going to do it. He will faithfully do it, even when man doesn't deserve it. Even when Isaac sins, even when there is a danger Rebekah will be compromised, God steps in faithfully to preserve the covenant. God graciously ensures the covenant. 'Graciously' means it is unconditional, it is not dependent upon the deservedness of men, but God does it because He is good.

So let me repeat the big idea for you. This chapter 26, whilst it can be about parenting, it can be about vulnerability to sin, I think supremely above all, shows how God is faithful and gracious to ensure the covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled, so that He can bless the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

So let me then end this sermon by some statements of faith. So if you realize, this is the approach I've taken. I tried to digest the story, look at a bigger picture of what Genesis is all about, indeed, look at what the whole Bible is about. Look at how chapter 26 fits into this whole context, and then we derive this main theme or idea that you read right here.

And after we develop this theme or idea, then I think there are wonderful spiritual lessons that we can learn and apply to our lives.

Statement 1: The Gospel Is Not Left Up To The Unreliability Of Man

First lesson I like us to look at is that - the Gospel, God's plan of salvation is not left up to the unreliability of men.

The Gospel, God's saving plan is not left to the unreliability of men. When I grew up, I see many cardboard ... cardboard boxes, where they are labels 'Fragile - Easily Broken'. I have a lot of that in my home, growing up.

See, my dad was first a teacher of martial arts, and then he began to formulate his own medical ointment and he produced it at home. So at our homes, at our houses, we would often see many, many boxes, where it says, "Fragile - Easily Broken." But let me tell you that the Gospel is not fragile, is not easily broken, because the Gospel, the plan of God's salvation is not left to the unreliability of men.

If the Gospel is ultimately dependent upon the reliability of men, it will be over before you knew it. Abraham would have blown it in Genesis 12, if not he would have blown it in Genesis, chapter 20 or Isaac would have blown it here in Genesis 26. But this is the point, even though man is unreliable, God is sovereign, He is powerful, He is faithful. And the Gospel, the plan of salvation is firm, is secure, because it is not left to the unreliability of men.

Wow, this is the powerful God working out His salvation plan, and it will never fail! So I bring you back to a story back in Genesis, chapter 15. You remember the story, God told Abraham, "I will bless you, through you all nations will be blessed."
And so God said, "I'm going to make a covenant, I'm going to make a treaty with you."

And in those days, when you make a covenant, you actually take animals, you split them into half, you separate the two halves of the body, so that you form a path that you and another man, that you're making a deal with will walk down. And the idea is this - we agreed to something. And if any one of us would go back on our word, we will end up like the animals who are split before us.

But you remember that story? That when God made this covenant, this agreement with Abraham, Abraham was sleeping. And God alone walked down the aisle. The idea is this - God is making a covenant with Abraham, but God is saying, "It is all on me. I will do it."

And you know this is the message of the Bible, that man's salvation, God's plan of salvation is not something that we come up with, it's not something that we secure or ensure because we can't, we are unreliable, but it is something that God secures and ensures. Oh, the plan to glorify men, the man, the ... the plan to bless men is not left up to men, it is God's work!

What a remarkable passage this is! Romans, chapter 8 and verses 29 to 30, "God is the One, who foreknows, who predestines, who calls, who justifies, who glorifies." You know something, the Actor here, the Person who is performing all these is God. He foreknew. He predestined. He called. He justified. He glorified. God will do it!

And my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the tremendous assurance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That if you are one of the elect, if you are called of God, your justification and your glorification is sure, it's guaranteed, because it is not left to the unreliability of man, but to the sovereign power of God.

Now, of course, we know that in the Bible, God is going to ensure that through persevering us in faith, that we will be a people who will keep believing. But let us be reminded, that even in our desire and commitment to keep believing, it is because God first work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

But this is the remarkable thing we can learn in Genesis 26, Isaac blew it, but the Gospel plan is not forfeited because the Gospel is not left up to the unreliability of men, but to the sovereign power of God alone.

Statement 2: The Gospel Reveals God's Stunning Grace
A second thing, I think we can learn from this passage, and it is this - The Gospel reveals God's stunning grace. Isn't it true?

Like I said, this is not a story that should lead us to think it is okay to sin. God's cool with it. No! But this story does show us God's stunning grace. I mean, Isaac did not deserve all this goodness, he was a coward, he was fearful, he was a liar, he should be punished, he should not have rewards. But then again this is a story that tells us about God's stunning, amazing grace, to bestow goodness to people who absolutely don't deserve it. Not just Isaac, but Abraham, and you and me.

This is a story that just extols the stunning grace of God, because we are reminded about just how undeserving we really are. See, most of us don't understand grace. We still have that deserving mentality in the way we think, that, "Somehow God is good to us because I was a good boy, that if I'm not so good a boy He will be not so good to me." But let me tell you, "The Bible teaches us about amazing grace, that God shows generous goodness to people who absolutely don't deserve it."

I like what Tim Keller says, "The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope."

See, we like to narrow that gap! We are not that sinful and God does not love us so much, because He loves us based on our deservedness. But the message of the Gospel is this - I am so sinful, but God's grace is so amazing. That is what the Gospel should create in those who believe in it, that the Gospel is a message that reveals God's stunning grace.

If you're here today, I want to tell you, "Salvation is not given to the deserved. It's not given to those who have achieved. It's not given to those who have been good, because in God's eyes, there is none good. No, not one!" But I want to tell you the message of the Bible is that, "God is so good that He will give salvation to those who absolutely don't deserve it, but for ... but He will give it to those who would simply repent and believe in His Son." That is the amazing Gospel!

And I hope this would cause you to be thankful to Jesus Christ, because let me tell you, "God did not simply just close one eye to sin, it is not as if Isaac sinned and sin is forgotten, sin is just swept underneath the carpet, but all sin of God's people are dealt with and judged on God's Son."

The Bible says, "Jesus was made sin for us when he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." So we today as we look at God's grace, let us be thankful for what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Statement 3: The Gospel Leads Us To Worship
Finally, this is a story that tells us - True Gospel understanding leads us to worship. "So you would recall that God, even after Isaac sinned, He would reaffirm the covenant to bless Isaac." [Gen 26:24] And the response of Isaac is that, "He went and built an altar there," verse 24 leads to verse 25.

And this is what the Bible teaches, that God and His grace in our lives will and should produce a heart of worship. See this is so different, this is so different from every other religion! Every other religion is you worship, then God is good to you, you bring your chicken, and then God will bless you. You bring your offerings, and then God would somehow hear you.

So you do what you need to do first, earn your audience with God, be good enough for God, bring some bribery before God, so that this deity would be nice to you. But the Bible and the Gospel teaches something that is absolutely opposite. God is not good to you because you are good to Him. You will never be good to him in your own sinful flesh. The Bible teaches, God is good to us unconditionally first, and then, when we really understand His goodness, it changes our hearts and we will want to then worship Him with our lives.

Let me remind you, worship in the Bible is not just coming for a service on Sunday morning. Worship is a manner of life, it's a way of life, it's a way of living that says, "Everything that I do, whether it be eating or even drinking, I do it all for the glory of God." That's what it means to worship! And worship comes from a Gospel-centered heart, a man who understands God's grace to bless me.

So, I hope this is a simple but helpful demonstration. I've taught you today, I have fed you today about the doctrines of God and Gospel and grace and His glory and godliness, but I hope I've also shown you how to feed yourself, how you can fish that when you approach a passage in the Bible, that you can also dig out for yourselves precious things for your soul.

So what's the big idea of this story? I think it's this, that - God faithfully and graciously ensures the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant to bless the world through the Messiah. The Gospel is not left to the unreliability of men. The Gospel shows the stunning grace of God. And the Gospel, when we realize this leads us to true worship.

So the sermon title today I've left it to the end, is simply, "Gospel Hunt in an Obscure Story". It really is an obscure story, you won't find many sermons on it, but actually this is a story that is wonderful for us to hunt for the Gospel.

Now, my time is up. But just one more thing, when you look at this passage, there's still one unresolved segment of verses, and it is found right at the very end from verses 34 to 35.
Like I said this is a demonstration, a kind of modeling of how I approach a passage and I, I like to do that, just to finish this up.

Verses 34 to 35 tells us about Esau, and how he married Hittite wives. Now, you know this is not good, you know this is not God's will, you know this is not what Abraham wanted. Because Abraham earlier on, remember in Genesis 24 told Eliezer, his servant to get a wife for his son Isaac. And he has to go back to his homeland, not get a wife amongst the Hittites, or the Canaanites because they were likely a very sinful people.

So it is very interesting that we read of Esau, doing just that. "Taking a wife among the Hittites, not just one but two." [Gen 26:34] And of course, we read that, "They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." [Gen 26:35]

So we read about Esau, and you wonder, "What is this about?" But I'd like you to then take a little step back and see that actually Esau's life is inserted here not as something out of the blue, but perhaps God is contrasting Esau with Isaac.

You see, earlier on in Chapter 25, the last verse before we come to this chapter 26, we are also told that, "Esau despised his birthright." [Gen 25:34] So you could think of it like a sandwich or a hamburger, you talk about Esau despising, then you talk about God's grace in Isaac, and then you come back to Esau again.

So it's like a burger and the two buns at the top and at the bottom, speaks about Esau, and the meaty, beautiful, juicy part in the middle is about God's stunning grace upon Isaac.

I just want to end off with this statement. So often, we say that, "God is unfair to send anyone to judgment, even though He would save some of His elect." But the bible narrative is this - If anyone is saved liked Isaac is because of God's stunning grace. And if anyone will not be saved is because they are liked Esau, who will despise God and His promise.

So instead of blaming God for not saving anyone, let us praise God for His grace to save anyone at all. And instead of saying, "Wow, he's so good to believe!" Let us recognize that when man is not saved, it's because they are like Esau, who refused to believe.

I think this is what I can learn in Genesis 26. A lot to chew upon, may God bless you as you think about these things, may you digest this fish for your soul this Sunday ... for your soul's sake.

Let's come to God in a word of prayer together.

Father, we thank You today for Your Word. Even though it's a story that perhaps many of us might have neglected in time-past. We are so thankful this is yet another important piece to the puzzle of Your covenant to bless the world through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

So I pray this will enrich and it will fill up more and more, the picture of the Gospel in our soul. Bless my brothers and sisters in Christ, so that as we think and pray through this message that we have just heard, we would live lives of worship. We would praise You for Your grace, and we will be thankful that our hope is secure with You.

I want to pray for guests who are here, or people who do not know Jesus as yet, that they will see very clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message of works and earning salvation by works, but they will see clearly, it's a message of radical, stunning out-of-this-world grace, and the goodness of God.

So bless each one, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for Your Gospel. We pray all this in Jesus' Name. Amen. Not because of who we are, not because of what we have done, but all because of who God is and what He has done. This is the Gospel. May God bless you.

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