WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.480 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:22.879 Father, yours, yours is the name that deserves all praise and all glory and all honor. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:24.399 And so, God, we give it to you. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:34.960 Lord, that's why we sing, because in every way, because of all that you have done, Lord, in creating us and redeeming us through your Son Jesus Christ, Lord, you deserve the praise. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:41.039 And so, Lord, I pray that that would not just be an expression of our lips, but it would be the posture of our heart this morning, God. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:49.840 That there is nothing in this world so worthy as to know you, as to praise you, as to exalt in you. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:50.960 And so, God, we thank you. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.640 We give you all the praise. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.119 Lord, we pray this in the name of your son. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:56.399 Amen. 00:00:58.079 --> 00:00:58.560 Amen. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:05.760 You guys can grab your seat, and as you do, grab your copy of God's word and open it up to Genesis chapter 25. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:11.840 As you're flipping there, I just want to highlight some of the things that God is doing in our midst. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:14.319 That was very angelic. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.719 I have high hopes for what's going to happen in this message now. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:23.840 Um, I want to highlight some of the things, some of the work that God is doing in our midst at Redemption Church. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.719 This past week, uh, we had a number of people here at ANOVA to gather to pray. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.359 And every time we do that, God moves and power. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:34.799 A number of people were incredibly encouraged as they gathered here to pray. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:43.680 And then on Friday, the women of our church met about uh mid-30s, I think women met together, and a number of others of you who wanted to be there but weren't able to make it out. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.319 And the Lord just blessed that gathering. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:57.280 That's what happens when believers gather, whether it's in a small group, whether it's as women or men, as youth, or on a Sunday morning, when believers gather, God promises to show up and bless. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.519 And I've talked to so many women who went to that event. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.439 They were so blessed by it, uh, so encouraged by each other. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:19.599 And I just want to encourage you, if you're not plugging into the life of this church, if you're not plugging into relationships with other people in this church, can I just let you know that you are missing out on the blessing that God promises for you in those relationships? 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.560 You know, it's interesting that when Jesus comes, this is another sermon I'm starting to preach, I'm sorry, but here we are. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:32.319 When Jesus comes, he does not just preach a lecture with the expectation that you come and listen and leave, and then we'll be blessed by that. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.080 He said, What do you find Jesus doing? 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.639 He's with people, he's constantly with people. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.639 And so can I just encourage you to press into relationship in this church? 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.439 We try to make it as easy as possible for you. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.599 You we want you to experience the blessings that many are experiencing in this church. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:49.919 Now, Genesis 25. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:57.360 We've been for several weeks walking alongside the father of faith, many have called him, Abraham. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:05.840 And in the chapter that we're going to study this morning, our friend, our acquaintance that we've become so familiar with dies. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.039 Look what it says in Genesis 25, verse 7. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:15.759 These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 170 years. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:24.960 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:32.719 Now it's good at this moment that we're at in the text, just to maybe spend some time reflecting on the life of Abraham. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:49.039 You'll remember if you've been with us walking through Genesis, that in chapter 12, verses 4 to 5, we were told that Abraham was 75 when he was called from the land that he grew up in to leave her on and to go to the land of Canaan. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:04:04.000 And then after 10 years of journeying and waiting, knowing that God had promised him a son when he arrived there, Abraham was 85 when he was wed to Hagar and birthed Ishmael. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.680 And we're told throughout Genesis 21 to 25 a few other important milestones in Abraham's life. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:13.680 He was 125 years old when he gave birth to Isaac. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:18.319 He was 137 when Sarah, his beloved wife, died. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:23.680 And when Isaac was married to Rebekah, we're told that Abraham was 140 years old. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:35.839 And here we find in Genesis 25, verses 7 and 8, that Abraham finally breathes his last breath at the ripe old age of 175 years. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.360 Now, sometimes you have to use your imagination in scripture. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:45.839 I have no idea what Abraham felt like after living on this world for 175 years. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:52.240 I do know this, that it's a rule that every decade your body breaks down more and more, isn't it? 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:57.439 I remember when I turned 30, everyone giving me the warning, oh man, 30 is it. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.160 30 is where you start going downhill. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:07.120 But you can't be told that without a 40-year-old jumping out of nowhere and telling you, no, just wait till you're 40. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.680 And then you look in the background, and the 50-year-old is not even there yet because he's got so many aches and pains. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.560 He's still making his way across the parking lot, and this is how it goes. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.240 And so if that's how it goes, decade by decade, we just get worse and worse. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:22.720 I have no idea how Abraham feels in his 170s. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:24.639 He's topped us all. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.639 And by all accounts, Abraham's life is extraordinary. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:34.000 He'd experienced extraordinary works of God in his midst. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:40.560 You'll remember the high of God calling him to leave his family, to leave his land, and to go to Canaan. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:44.480 You remember his obedience to God and the call to circumcision. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:52.079 You'll remember the time that Abraham just took a handful of men and defeated all the eastern kings of the Canaanites. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:06:04.160 And especially the high of his life on Mount Moriah, where he met Jehovah Jirah, Abraham, by all comparisons, he lived an extraordinary life. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.000 And yet you know that even though I'm bad at math, I love to do it. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:31.040 And so if we calculate all the extraordinary days, maybe if we pitted extraordinary versus ordinary in Abraham's life, and we stack them up by my estimation, and this really depends on how long the conquest through Canaan took for Abraham, but it's only about a hundred days that Abraham lived, where he saw the extraordinary work of God working in that day. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:40.480 And if Abraham lived 175 years, that means there are 63,000 other days that were just ordinary for Abraham. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:49.839 That means for such an extraordinary life that Abraham lived, only 0.15% of his life was really extraordinary. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:57.360 Now I'm gonna wager that you and I do not have as crazy of a life as Abraham had. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.560 And so it's likely that even for us, the statistics are even less than that. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:10.399 That if we were to mark up all the days in our life that are considered extraordinary, it would be relatively few. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:18.639 Sure, there are the times where we face extreme suffering, or maybe the highs of life's greatest joys. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:29.600 But my question is, what about the other 99% of our life that by all accounts really seem ordinary? 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:38.000 Isn't it true that for many of us, most of our time is spent doing ordinary things, things that we might even call mundane? 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.800 And so many of us have, you know, the 9-5 job. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:47.360 We go Monday to Friday, and on the weekend we gotta do the same laundry that we did last weekend. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:08:04.160 And every night we gotta cook the same dinner that we cooked last week, and some of us have kids, and the days are certainly long, the years are short, but we are experiencing the mundane of raising children. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.279 The reality is as we think about our life, most of our days are ordinary, aren't they? 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.480 We don't hear the voice of God calling us to leave Tehran. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:24.879 And so as I look at Abraham's life, especially in Genesis 25, I'm asking this question: what do how do we live a life that glorifies God on the ordinary days of life? 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:35.120 You know, when life is hard, when we're suffering, when we're walking through those moments where we're like, this is kind of like a once and a lifetime thing, in those moments, it's usually pretty easy to acknowledge God, isn't it? 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.200 That's why, even on unbelievers, even on days like their wedding days, they're they're happy to acknowledge God on that day. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:48.480 And my question is, how do we live a life in the ordinary times that brings glory to God? 00:08:49.840 --> 00:09:00.000 And the answer that we find in Genesis 25 is this: that a faithful life lived to the glory of God, it rests in the sovereignty and the goodness of God. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:11.279 See, what we've seen throughout Genesis 25 is that God is teaching Abraham to rest in him while God takes care of pushing the mission forward. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:25.679 For those 63,000 days that Abraham lived, in which nothing really extraordinary happened, it was required of Abraham that he would rest in God's sovereign control over the universe. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:30.480 That Abraham would rest in this understanding that God is accomplishing things today. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:40.240 And so in chapter 25, what happens is the sovereignty of God is put on full display and it compels us to spend every day of our lives resting in it. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.919 And so I want you to see this in Genesis 25, but before we do that, we need to come to an understanding of what God's sovereignty even is. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.360 So let me maybe define God's sovereignty as simply as I can. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.720 The sovereignty of God is God's power to accomplish anything he wills. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:00.559 The sovereignty of God is God's power to accomplish anything he wills. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:01.840 Think about the psalmist. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:10.480 In Psalm 115, verse 3, he says, Our God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:12.399 He does all that he pleases. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:22.799 If God decides to do something, he has the sovereign power, according to his providence, to be able to accomplish the thing that he has set out to do. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:34.480 You'll remember that God said to Abraham, when Abraham promised when God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child, God said to Abraham, Is anything too hard for the Lord? 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.200 And there we saw the sovereignty of God on display. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:39.200 Like God's saying, like, of course I can do this. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.519 I'm God, I'm sovereign. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:49.200 Prophet Jeremiah responds to that question, saying, Nothing, nothing is too hard for you, Lord. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:59.919 And so in chapter 25 of Genesis, we get this understanding that God is sovereign, and what God is calling us to do this morning is to rest, to rest in his sovereign control. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.759 Well, this is the first thing I want you to see if you're taking notes this morning. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:11.039 I want you to see this in Genesis 25, that the reason we can rest in his sovereignty is because he powerfully designs our stories. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:16.240 The reason I can rest in God's sovereignty is because he powerfully designs my story. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:21.519 Now, in the last days of Abraham's life, we see God's power and sovereignty at work. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:29.679 You remember throughout Genesis that God had given Abraham a threefold promise, a promise of land, blessing, and seed. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:35.120 And in these last days of Abraham's life, we really see these promises coming to fulfillment. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:42.480 So that last week when we were together, we read in Genesis 24:1 that God had blessed Abraham in all things. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:47.440 All the things that God had told Abraham were going to happen. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:54.080 All the promises that Abraham had been given were beginning to come to fulfillment in Abraham's life. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:04.320 And so what we find in Genesis 25, and especially in verses 1 to 6, here, is the continuing of the blessing and fulfillment of the promises that God had given to Abraham. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:09.919 So then in verse 1, Abraham takes another wife after the death of Sarah, whose name was Keturah. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:19.360 And God continues to fulfill the promise that was given to Abraham, that he would bless him, and that from his lineage would come many nations. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:26.960 And so we read of many nations that Abraham and Keturah, many children that they have, they had that would turn into nations. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.879 You will recognize some of the nations there, such as Midian in verse 2. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.039 You may have heard before of the Midianites. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:38.799 The people of God throughout Genesis will run into the Midianites again and again. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:45.759 So they also give birth to in verse 3 Dedan, who is the father of the Dedonites. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:54.639 And what we see is the fulfillment of all these nations begin to come from the lineage of Abraham and this wife that he took on, Keturah. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:04.399 But in verses 7 to 8, we find that God does not only design the days of our life, he also designs the end of our life. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:19.360 So then in verse 7 and 8, Abraham dies, and you'll notice in verse 8 that it says he breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:34.799 Now for Moses to tell us that Abraham died in a good old age, and for his life to be described as full of years, shows us that Abraham was satisfied in all that God had accomplished in his life. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:47.519 Abraham could celebrate in his death because God had worked so faithfully in his life that he looks back and he says, Those were full years. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.080 God was working in my midst. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:55.919 And I want you to see how counter-cultural this is to our culture today. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.279 To find satisfaction through death. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:03.360 You see, our culture is really in death denial, isn't it? 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:14.799 We do everything to ignore death, to put off the thought of death, to think that we are kind of like invincible, that we can escape death. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:24.559 We live in this illusion of invincibility, and our spirit and a desire, I think, is probably better captured by the Bob Dylan song that many of us love, Forever Young. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.960 We have this desire not to grow old, we have this fear of growing old, we elevate youth. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:39.600 That's why entire social media companies are built on filters that make you look younger than you really are. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:53.919 2018, I read this week it was reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons that Americans, no, this is these are Americans, okay, so we can separate ourselves as Canadians from this stat, but I would guess that it's probably not too different here. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:15:01.120 Americans spent over 16.5 billion dollars on cosmetic surgery. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:09.360 On surgery just centered around trying to make ourselves feel and look younger. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:21.200 And yet, as hard as we try, what Genesis keeps reminding us of, and what really life keeps reminding us of, is that none of us will be able to escape death. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:30.559 And I want you to see that you can rest, when you rest in the sovereignty of God, you don't have to fear death. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:39.919 Instead, you can face it and you can find freedom knowing that God is in control of designing your story from beginning to end. 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:47.279 You remember that last week the writer of Hebrews looks at Abraham's life and says, he was living for something past death. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:48.399 Do you remember that? 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:57.759 He said that the reason why Abraham had faith was because he had faith that once he passed through death, he was walking into a city that God had prepared for him. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.399 Death was not the final word. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.360 That's why in verses 9 and 10 you'll see this is really interesting. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:08.000 Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpellah. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:14.080 Which you'll remember from Genesis 23 was the cave that Abraham had purchased and buried Sarah in. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:27.919 And there's this sense in verse 8 where it says that he was gathered to his people, that even as Abraham is buried in this field that he had purchased, this land that God had given to him, a fulfillment of his promise, Abraham believes he's going to be resurrected. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.159 And when he's resurrected, he's going to be resurrected in God's land. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:35.840 This is what God's showing us. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:54.559 That the way to live a satisfying life now, the way to live a life that is full of years, is through the acknowledgement that there is a day coming where according to God's sovereign design, you will breathe your last breath. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:58.960 You woke up this morning thinking, wow, I'm going to go to church and be so encouraged. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:05.519 And here I am to tell you that one out of one people in this room, unless the Lord returns, will die. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:12.480 That's why the psalmist in Psalm 90, verse 12, this is going to come up on the screen, he provides us instruction. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.160 Look what he says in Psalm 90. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:21.279 He says, So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.960 Why is God's design for us that we can only be wise? 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.240 We can only get a heart of wisdom if we number our days. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:38.480 Like the practical application here is that you need to take down your countdown till Christmas thing that's in your living room, and you need to put up a countdown till I die. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.279 The psalmist says, teach us to number our days, then we get a heart of wisdom. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:44.960 Well, why is that? 00:17:45.519 --> 00:18:01.759 It's because thinking frequently, not in a morbid way, but thinking, not trying to ignore our death and thinking about it and numbering our days has this way of trivializing the unimportant things in our life and emphasizing the important things in our life. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.599 You've experienced that before, haven't you? 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:16.400 Where you go to a funeral or something, and for a moment, God forces you to consider the fact that you are not, that your life is not going to last forever. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:17.759 Someday you'll die. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.920 And as you attend that funeral, doesn't it trivialize the unimportant things in your life? 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:26.640 Like, haven't you walked out of a funeral before and just thought, man, I am pursuing the wrong things in life? 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:32.160 I really need to start pouring myself into people and pouring myself into my relate the relationship with God. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:38.720 It trivializes the things that are unimportant and it emphasizes the things that are important in your life. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:45.599 It shows us that only once you come to grips with death can you truly, really live a satisfying and fulfilling life. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:59.279 And the only reason that God, that Abraham here can die in a way that is, he can say his life is filled with years, that he is satisfied, is because he has his vision on something that is beyond death. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:15.279 See, if Abraham believed that his greatest blessing was here on earth, like many do in our day and age, if they believed that their best life, they'll ever eternally live, is the here and the now, then Abraham could never face death with as though it's something he could be satisfied in. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.680 He would have never experienced enough. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.839 All that he would have wanted was to live longer and live longer. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:30.160 And you see, the reason why we struggle to accept and think about death is because we think often too highly about this life. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.240 I love what one man says. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.200 GB cared. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:34.240 It's gonna come up on the screen. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:50.640 He says, the idea that life on earth is so infinitely precious that the death which robs us of it must be the ultimate tragedy, is precisely the idolatry that God is often trying to combat. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:20:02.559 See, the thought that death robs us of this life that is the most precious thing that we will ever have is what God is trying to give us the faith to combat. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:09.359 See, faith looks beyond death and realizes that our greatest blessing is an eternal life with God. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.119 That this place is just temporary. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:25.039 That's why Paul in Philippians he looks at death and he says, to live is Christ, but to die, remember what he says, is gain. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.400 Is gain. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.200 How countercultural is that? 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:35.440 To be able to look at your life and say, in comparison to death, life is nothing. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:40.880 Because Paul recognized once he dies, he's gonna be with Jesus, that this is gonna be the sweetest experience ever. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:46.400 All of a sudden, death is minimized, all of a sudden instead, death is seen as gain. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:21:04.319 Now, the focus of this passage is as it passes beyond Abraham's death, really comes to how God will pass his blessing, how God will fulfill the promises that he had given to Abraham in the lives of his descendants and in the lives of his family. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:08.559 You'll remember that Genesis is a book about God's people. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:19.440 Moses leading the Israelites through the desert is writing this book of Genesis to the Israelites so that they can understand their genealogies. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.200 So they can understand where their ancestors came from. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:27.920 And so the question of Genesis is the origins of the people of God. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:43.519 Now notice that in verse 6, look what it says in verse 6, it says, But to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:55.920 Now, if you've been walking through Genesis with us, you know that anytime in Genesis you read the direction east, in your mind a little soundtrack has to play, and the soundtrack is this dun dun dun. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:02.160 Anytime the people of God go eastward, Horrible things happen. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:03.920 You remember Lot? 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:09.039 He had two lands to choose from a westland and an east land. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:10.720 And guess which one he chose? 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.880 He chose the land to the east. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.759 And that was the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:20.160 That years later, rain of fire would fall down on. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:24.240 Going east, this is not speaking of anyone who lives east of the church, okay? 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.359 We love you. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:33.839 But going east in Genesis is always bad because you're going farther away from the garden, the presence of God. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:42.079 So the nations who the covenant promises were not for in verse 6 are then sent east. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.640 But in verse 11, look what happens with Genesis. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:48.960 It says in verse 11, after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:50.559 Sorry, what happens with Isaac? 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:52.480 God blessed Isaac, his son. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.559 See, Isaac receives the covenant blessing. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.200 What God is saying is that he's going to work through Isaac. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:04.640 He's going to fulfill the promises that he had given to Abraham through Isaac. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.480 Now you know what's interesting? 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.440 That the thing that the people of God had been told to do was to be fruitful and multiply. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:18.240 And the thing that God said he was going to do through Abraham is make his descendants as numerous as the stars. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:25.440 Abraham was promised that he would from him descendants would come, that from him nations would come. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:33.920 And here Isaac is blessed by God with this understanding that the people of God is going to come through the line of Isaac. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.279 Isaac's children are going to be the chosen people of God. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:38.559 But you know what's really interesting? 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:45.039 As you read through Genesis, it doesn't seem like the people of God are multiplying quick enough. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:55.039 Anytime anyone who's not a chosen child of God arrives, that person is the most childbearing person you will ever meet. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:56.880 You remember what happened with Keturah? 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:00.720 Like Abraham and Sarah, it was like 130 years before Isaac was born. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:04.559 They were laboring for a child, waiting for God to give them this child. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:05.680 They just wanted one. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.880 And then Keturah comes, and it's like it's like what happens in our church. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:12.160 Like all of a sudden, all these kids start popping out of Keturah. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.960 And so it is with Isaac and Rebekah. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:23.119 What we're going to read in Genesis 25 is that Isaac and Rebekah wait 20 years for the birth of Jacob and Esau. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:37.359 And yet Ishmael, what we read of in verses 12 to 18, Ishmael as well, and in his marriages gives birth to all sorts of children. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:46.079 And it really seems like God is blessing not his chosen people, but the people that are not his own children. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:48.480 And don't we experience that in our life? 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.839 Don't you look sometimes at the things that you're experiencing? 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.240 And you look at other people's lives and you look at all the things that they're experiencing. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.960 And you think, what is God doing here? 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:00.640 What is God doing here? 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:10.720 And yet, what we see through the line of Genesis, through the storyline of Genesis, is that God is even sovereign over our experiences. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:26.799 The things that you have experienced in life, the blessings that you have gotten in life, but both also the things that you have not experienced in life, the blessings that you feel like you have not received in life, God, He is sovereign over them. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:45.519 Just because God's not working in the life in your life, the way that you see him working in other people's life, just because you want something and you feel like God is not providing it, does not mean that God is not in control of the things that are happening in your life. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.720 Instead, the very opposite is true. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:54.400 There is a day coming for Israel when they will experience the blessing of multiplication through childbirth. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.759 In fact, Jacob will have 12 children. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:06.559 And yet, for this moment, according to God's sovereign design, they're experiencing difficulty in childbirth. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:16.640 And I want you to see this truth that God is sovereignly in control of the things that are happening in your life and the way that they are happening. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:25.599 God is not surprised by the fact that your life maybe feels like it's a bit of a train wreck, like it feels like things are out of control. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:35.200 Instead, God is sovereign over all the things that you've experienced, and He's sovereign over all the things that you have not experienced. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:38.400 And you see the comfort that can come from this reality? 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:44.000 You can rest in this reality that God is sovereign over the things that you have. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:51.920 And so let me just for a moment apply, you can apply this to so many different things, but can I just for a moment apply it to singleness? 00:26:52.400 --> 00:27:05.039 And I know that it can be difficult for you to hear this from a man who is married, but I want you to know that I'm speaking with a heart of compassion, doing my best to apply God's truth here for your comfort. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:11.759 I know that there may be seasons of loneliness. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:21.359 I know that there may be questions, and I know that there are certainly things you face that I will never experience. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:28.319 But that doesn't stop me from your pastor, as your pastor, being able to speak this biblical truth into your life. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:34.880 Do you know that God in this moment has the power, has the sovereignty to provide someone for you? 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:37.279 And but can I ask you this question? 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:43.440 Do you in this moment trust the goodness of God to have not yet done that? 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:50.400 God is doing this out of his sovereignty, but he's also doing it out of his goodness. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:28:01.279 And just because you don't understand why that this might be happening, you don't understand why you have to walk through this season in life, it doesn't disprove his sovereignty. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:07.279 Instead, you in this season, you can trust in God's sovereignty. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:19.920 You can trust in that that at the right time, at the right moment, he could bring someone into your life, or you could trust that he's maybe called you to the life of singleness. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:24.799 It's certainly life that he called to Jesus, it's probably the life that he called Paul to. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:31.359 But the fact is that God is sovereign over any season of life that you find yourself in right now. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:39.759 And I want to encourage you to rest in the arms of the God who is sovereign over every detail of your life right now. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:47.680 The second thing I want you to see in Genesis 25 is that we can rest in God's sovereignty because he powerfully directs our steps. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:51.680 And rest in God's sovereignty because he powerfully directs my steps. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:58.640 So in verses 19 to 20, we find Isaac and Rebecca. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:00.880 And Abraham now has passed. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:06.960 And in verse 21, we're introduced to a massive, massive problem for the people of God. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.640 Look what it says in verse 21. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:14.559 It says, and Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:23.599 Now, if we're watching the movie that you know someone made of Genesis, at this point we are on our the edge of our seats if we don't know the rest of the story. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:26.799 Like imagine that you don't know the rest of what happens in Genesis. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:29.039 You're on the edge of your seat when Rebecca's barren. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:29.440 Why? 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:39.920 Well, because it was through Isaac and Rebekah that God promised the chosen child would come, the chosen people were gonna come through Isaac and Rebekah. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:55.440 You remember that the whole plot of the story is that God said to Eve in Genesis 3.15 that through her line was going to come one who would crush the head of the serpent, and we're waiting for the hero to come, and then now Rebecca's here and she's barren. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:59.839 And if she doesn't have a kid, you know what the story goes to. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.400 Ultimately, we don't have Jesus. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:17.599 Rebecca needs to have a child because God, the same God who by the power of his word created the world, by the power of his word spoke to Abraham and said, Through Isaac, I am going to continue my chosen people. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:22.799 It's through Isaac and Rebekah's lineage that I will do this. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:38.640 And so when we read in verse 21 that Rebekah is barren, it's really a gasp moment for us, we should not be able to believe what is about to happen, because if Rebekah does not conceive, the people of God are finished. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:40.640 There can be no salvation. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.319 The story is over. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:50.480 But I want you to notice that as much as this is a problem for Isaac and Rebekah, it is not a problem for God. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:56.400 God in this moment, he has no concern over whether or not the mission will be accomplished. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:03.680 Rebekah is barren, but for God and his sovereignty and in his power, it's almost like nothing has happened. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.279 He's completely sovereign, he's completely in control of everything. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:14.319 He's able to do whatever he wants from the grandest event to the smallest tiny detail. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:16.319 This is the sovereignty of God. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:20.880 This is why I love what Paul says about God's sovereignty in Ephesians 1.11. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:22.559 This will come up on the screen. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:38.079 Paul's talking about our salvation, and he says, in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:51.200 Look what it says. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:32:01.759 It says that God, regardless of what you believe about salvation for a moment, God works all things according to the counsel of his will. 00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:04.640 I looked up the Greek for the word all things. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:05.680 You know what it means? 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.680 It means all things. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:09.279 It means everything. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:16.240 It means there's not a detail in this universe that God is not working out according to the counsel of his will. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.039 Take a moment to consider how different God is from us. 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:27.680 I can wish all things according to the counsel of my will, can't I? 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:43.200 In fact, in the last few weeks, my favorite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, have made a lot of moves and I've gotten my hopes very high, and I'm wishing a lot of things for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but in these last few weeks, they are making me think that I have empty, foundless wishes. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:47.599 I certainly cannot will anything with the Toronto Maple Leafs. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:53.039 I don't think anybody can do anything to help the Toronto Maple Leafs. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:55.920 That's very different from God, isn't it? 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:04.480 I can wish all things according to the counsel of my will, but I cannot do all things according to the counsel of my will. 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:10.960 But here is God, and the scriptures say God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases. 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:12.640 All that he pleases. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:14.720 I love what Spurgeon says about this. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:15.359 Look what he says. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:16.960 This is gonna come up on the screen. 00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:26.480 He says, I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:38.079 Every particle of dust lands where it has sovereignly been told to land by the God who is in control of the smallest detail to the largest detail. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:47.039 So Paul tells us in Ephesians 1.11 that he's sovereign over every small or large detail. 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:52.000 So much so that he says he's even sovereign over your salvation. 00:33:52.160 --> 00:34:00.480 Even your salvation was predestined according to the purpose of him, according to the counsel of him who works all things according to his counsel. 00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:07.759 That's why Paul also says in Ephesians 2 that in him we were chosen before the foundation of the world. 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:23.599 But right now I want you to recognize that in order for us to be predestined to salvation, God needed to know before the foundation of the world that without a shadow of a doubt, he would send Jesus for our salvation. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:31.280 That means that as Isaac prays for Rebekah's barrenness, God already knows what he is going to do. 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:35.519 God already knows that he is going to answer this prayer. 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:39.599 So we need to ask this question: why is Rebecca even barren then? 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:44.800 Why does God even set up the scenario where Rebekah is barren? 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:49.679 Because this is the way that the sovereignty of God often works. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:59.920 One of the ways that God establishes his holy will, one of the ways that God accomplishes his sovereignty is through human actions. 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:09.119 We can believe here that if Isaac did not pray in that kind of made-up imaginary world, then Rebekah would stay barren. 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:22.719 But what God is teaching us here is that the work of his sovereignty is often through humans who make personal choices that ultimately fulfill his purposes. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:32.480 See what happens in Rebekah's barrenness is Isaac is given this role in the mission that God is pursuing. 00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:36.000 If Isaac doesn't pray, Rebekah doesn't conceive. 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:38.159 But look what happens when Isaac does pray. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:40.719 God accomplishes his predestined purposes. 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:48.159 Can I encourage you, church? 00:35:48.800 --> 00:36:11.519 The choices that you make, the prayers that you offer up, the words of truth that you speak into a brother or sister in Christ in their life, the gospel that you share with that unbeliever in your life, these are all things that God is using to accomplish his holy, sovereign work. 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:21.760 It's so fascinating how God's sovereignty, his predestined plan, and our activities as humans go hand in hand. 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:28.880 On the one hand, scripture holds up this truth that God is sovereign over all things that that over all things. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:31.840 Whatever God wants to do, he accomplishes the psalm say. 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:41.519 But on the other hand, we have personal choice, we have responsibility, our actions change things. 00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:43.840 That's why James, it's so interesting. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:51.440 James says, you do not have, because you do not ask. 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:56.239 See, your prayers change things. 00:36:56.960 --> 00:37:07.119 While God has ordained all things to come to pass, He works through the activities, whether it's the evangelism, whether it's the prayer, whether it's whatever you do, He works through your life. 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:11.519 And yet there's two dangers here we need to be careful of. 00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:14.320 The first is that we don't kind of fall into this fatalism. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:15.440 You know what fatalism is? 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:23.599 It's this idea like God's sovereign over everything, He's predestined everything, so it doesn't matter if I share the gospel with that person because God's gonna save them anyways. 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:27.519 That's fatalism, and what we're seeing here is that's not the way God works. 00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:32.480 God may work through a really hard conversation you have to have with an unbeliever. 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:36.159 God may work through a really awkward conversation you have with an unbeliever. 00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:43.119 God may work, his sovereign plan may be to use that invite, that Easter invite that you give to your neighbor to save them. 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:53.519 But be careful of this other hole that we can fall into, into thinking that our prayers change the eternal will of God. 00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:56.400 If that was the case, our prayers would have too much power. 00:37:56.719 --> 00:38:00.239 God is not in heaven waiting for you to pray something and thinking, oh, that's a really good idea. 00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:01.519 I should go and save that person. 00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:03.119 I hadn't thought about that yet. 00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.280 That's not what God's doing. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:13.760 In fact, if our prayers changed the mind of God, God would not be the all-wise God that He is. 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:20.079 God answers our prayers according to His wisdom, according to His understanding of what is best. 00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:23.920 That's why Paul says God works all things together for good. 00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:25.440 That's an incredible truth. 00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:29.360 God knows what is best and he answers our prayers accordingly. 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:39.920 Here's a comfort I want you to find that because God is sovereign, we can rest in the knowledge that at the end of the day nothing happens apart from his holy will. 00:38:41.039 --> 00:38:42.239 We find peace in that. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.400 We find comfort in that. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:46.159 We find hope in that. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:50.480 That the things that happen in your life have been sovereignly designed by God. 00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:54.400 I love what Calvin says. 00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:56.400 Look at what Calvin says. 00:38:57.039 --> 00:38:58.719 It's gonna come up on the screen. 00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:00.880 Sorry, next one. 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:04.480 Next quote here. 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:09.599 Next one. 00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:11.679 Sorry, no, that is it. 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.599 It's just not Spurgeon, it's just Calvin. 00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:28.880 Um says gratitude of mind for the favorable outcome of things, patience in adversity, and also incredible freedom from worry about the future of all necessary all necessarily falls upon this knowledge, just the sovereignty of God. 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:33.920 Ignorance of providence is ultimately, is the ultimate of all miseries. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:37.519 The highest blessedness lies in the knowledge of it. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:39.119 And don't you start to see this? 00:39:39.280 --> 00:39:43.280 That when you understand that God is sovereign over every detail of your life, you can rest. 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:45.039 You can take a breath. 00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:49.119 Like it was not your presentation of the gospel that did not lead to that person's salvation. 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:50.880 God could have used it if he wanted to. 00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:58.800 It was not your lack of prayer for your children that that was the reason that they didn't follow Jesus. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:01.760 God could have used anything if he wanted to. 00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:09.760 And yet it gives us such confidence, such faith, because God does want to use us, and he will use our acts of faith for his purposes. 00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:23.360 Now, immediately after Isaac's prayer is answered, Rebecca has a problem. 00:40:23.679 --> 00:40:26.239 Here's Rebecca's problem in verse 22. 00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:32.159 The children struggled together within her, and she said, If this is thus, why is this happening to me? 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:34.719 So she went to inquire of the Lord. 00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:44.159 The word uh struggle here, that's the struggle that's happening in her belly, it's translated elsewhere as like this violent jostle. 00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:53.360 It's understanding that like these twins that are in Rebecca's belly, I can tell that the women here are like, listen, every pregnancy is a violent jostle, okay? 00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:55.360 We know exactly what you're talking about. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:04.800 These twins are struggling within her with such a great degree of violence that she's worried that for the life of the children. 00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:11.760 And she wonders, like, God, if you answered Isaac's prayer to give me children, why are they in my womb killing each other right now? 00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:15.519 Let me say this is just the way any brothers are. 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:22.559 And yet Rebecca inquires of the Lord, and the Lord provides comfort in the form of a blessing. 00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:24.320 Look how the Lord responds to her. 00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:28.239 The Lord says, Two nations are in your womb. 00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:31.199 Two people from within you shall be divided. 00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:33.440 The one shall be stronger than the other. 00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:36.800 The older shall serve the younger. 00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:52.559 The response that God gives to Rebekah is that there are twins inside of her, which I'm sure is for a moment a breath of relief for Rebecca, but immediately settles into what her life is going to be for the next few years with the craziness of twins. 00:41:53.199 --> 00:42:05.199