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In my introduction to this recent series of episodes that looked together at this section of scripture that covers the first 11 verses of Genesis 26 , I mentioned how on more than one occasion people have come to me and asked me if I keep sinning can I still go to heaven?  Well, the answer to that is yes.

The question that for some sits on the other side of that coin is, does that mean if I stopped sinning. I will get to heaven. I wonder if anyone out there listening to this thinks they can stop sinning. Of course not. Anyway, that’s not the way we get to heaven according to the Bible. The Bible teaches we get to heaven because Jesus Christ paid for our sins, arose from the dead, and we trust him to get us to heaven but only because he paid for our sin. That is how we get the gift of eternal life. 

God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son that whosoever leaves and it’s not perished but have. Everlasting life.

(John 3: 16)

That’s a covenant, a promise just like the one given to Abraham, but this is called the new covenant. The New covenant although new was in fact mentioned in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah, and it’s repeated by the Lord Jesus himself in Matthew. Mark. and in Luke and it’s called the New Covenant. In this New Covenant God says because my son died for your sins, and arose from the dead that if you trust him, you can now get eternal life, even if you sin after that. I’ve talked to people for nearly 50 years about this promise and I’m here to tell you most people I meet still today think that you get to heaven by living, a good life. But how can anyone know you’ve done enough right things? Good luck, trying to figure that out. Of course, everybody thinks they’ve done some good stuff, and those who think that way are probably hoping that God grades on the curve. Hoping he measures us against other people and their good works I’m better than him. However, God doesn’t grade on the curve, he doesn’t compare us to anyone else. God grades on the standard of his own righteousness, and by that standard, we all fail. Then there are those people who think they’re going to go to heaven. because they’re religious. They go to church, they read their Bibles, they pray, maybe even give money to good causes. Good for you, all good things to do but this is not the standard by which we are judged as fit for heaven. Being religious has absolutely nothing to do with going to heaven. Romans 4: 5 and Titus 3:5, 

“Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saves us”.

(Titus 3: 5)

If we believe this , isn’t it a license to sin, right?  There are a couple of answers to that. One is if you really understand that God has given you the gift of eternal life. Then out of gratitude you want to stick as close to him as possible and live a Godly life. Remember that little phrase and I will be with you, always. That’s the key to this. Once you really get to know the Lord, you want him to be with you, always. That’s the motivation. 

There are other motivations. As you grow in your knowledge of God you learn that it just doesn’t pay anymore to sin. However, we don’t get to heaven because we somehow quit sinning. We get to heaven by the grace of God, and that’s the point of this passage. God is going to fulfil his covenant, in the case of Abraham and Isaac it is to give them the land, to be with them, to bless them, and to multiply their seed to bring the Messiah to the earth. Which then become a new promise for us, a promise that he will forgive us our sins and give us eternal life and God is going to fulfil his covenant even when we sin. A lot of people don’t like that. That’s because they don’t understand the grace of God and they don’t understand human depravity. 

In this story to ensure his promise God had to protect Rebecca when Isaac lied about the relationship with her to Abimelech.  God’s faithfulness in the past can be counted on in the present and into our future. What he has done for the fathers, he will do for his children today. Believers today also have a covenant, a new covenant, and there’s nothing that we can do that’s going to break that promise on Gad’s part. Sin has consequences, even for believers, even for the saints of God but it does not invalidate the promises of God. Even when we are fickle and we fail, God says I’m going to remain faithful to my promise to save. I think that’s one of the most profound truths in all of the Bible. God is faithful even when we fail and for that be thankful.