Genesis 21:22-34 - Putting Down Roots

[0:00] Father, we thank you again for your word, Lord. And Lord, I just ask you just to set it on fire, Lord, just to speak forth the message that you have. Lord, I often think of that picture when Elijah was on Mount Carmel and when he built the altar, he laid the stone, he laid the wood, he put the sacrifice on, and then he just poured water on it over and over and over.

[0:24] And then the fire came. And Lord, it's the same. Lord, I can bring a message and I can prepare, but if you don't bathe it, Lord, if you don't wash it with your Holy Spirit, Lord, if you don't send the fire and the power of God, then nothing's going to happen here, Lord. But what an amazing promise we have that your word will not return void. So Lord, I pray that you would just take the message that you've put into the text and you would speak it to our hearts. And in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so the title is Putting Down Roots. Putting Down Roots. And if we back up back into verse 20, it says, and God was with the lad, with Ishmael, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. So as you looked on your maps, that'd be further south of Beersheba, out of the land of Israel.

[1:17] And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass at that time. So what time is that? Well, what do we know is going on? Isaac has been born 13 years after Ishmael. Isaac is born. Isaac then gets to an age where they have a feast for him, where he is what they call being weaned, where he's kind of now becoming his own person, his own identity. He threatens Ishmael by coming into Ishmael's turf, right? Isaac could be four or five years old. So at this time, is this the exact time? Is it a little later? I don't know. Let's say, you know, it's a couple years later. We see now Abimelech coming back. If you remember back in verse 20, we had our buddy Abimelech when he had the wool pulled over his eyes by Abraham and Sarah. And God spoke to Abimelech in a dream and protected Sarah. If you read the different commentaries, some says the different Abimelech. I don't think so. The flow of it seems like it's the same one. We're going to see Abimelech doesn't say your God to Abraham. He says God. And if you remember at the end of verse 20 there,

[2:30] Abimelech, or not the end, the middle where he has the dream, he's referring to God on a first name, kind of like personal term basis, that he has experienced, he believes in God. He's not just saying to Abraham, you're God. And it fits too, because he wants to make a covenant where Abraham is sojourning in the land based on the kindness he had shown him. So I think this is the same Abimelech. But before we leave Ishmael, the last thing we know about Ishmael is that Hagar went back to Egypt to get him a wife. I think Ishmael was somewhat of a mama's boy.

[3:02] I think from what we see in the text, Hagar was heavily handed caring for him. And I heard the term this week I'd not heard before, snowplow parents. I've heard of helicopter parents who hover, but snowplow parents who try and push everything out of the way and make it super easy for their kids. I was talking to a guy, he's a pastor now, but he used to be an administrator of a boarding school. And he was saying over the 10 years he was there, how it changed from where in the beginning, the parents were on board. Like, yes, let's, they wanted what's best for their kids.

[3:36] We want, we want what's best for them. We want to educate them. We want to help them when there was discipline needed. He said by the end of that, he had parents who were upset with him because when their child was sick, they bought, he bought the wrong soda water for them. And that the temperature was wrong in the school and all kinds of crazy things. He's like, you know, these parents, he goes, I got them all together and told them all, you're snowplow parents. You need to let your kids fail.

[4:04] And together we're going to watch them fail. And it's going to be good for them. I think that was Hagar to a little bit here. You know, Ishmael has said God was with him. His name means God will hear.

[4:16] You know, you see back where when he's in the desert, Hagar is the one. She lays him under the bush. She's the one kind of taking care of him. He's not really stepping up. And even here, he's letting his mom pick out his wife. Not a problem. I mean, you know, young people who are not married. Yes. You want your parents on board, right? But the choice of your spouse is second only to the choice of your God. And unfortunately for Ishmael, he chose a woman of the world, a woman of Egypt. You know, Paul tells us not to be unequally yoked. We're going to look at that a little later with Abraham's relationship with Abimelech. And with my girls, I always encourage them, you know, whatever guy comes along, make sure he's further on than you in the Lord. You don't want to be dragging him, trying to pull him along and up in the Lord. You want him further along, right? And the best picture of that is to say, what do you want your dad to be like? Do you wish that your dad was some weak guy who didn't know the Lord, wasn't strong in the faith, you know, and that mom had to care for him? No, you want your dad to be a strong guy and be there for you.

[5:26] So, you know, just before we left that, that was something we didn't get to touch on last week, that second only to the choice of your God is the choice of your spouse. And we're going to see when Abraham wants a bride for Isaac. He's willing to go to great lengths to make sure that Isaac's bride is worthy of him and he of her. Anyway, so verse 22, it came to pass at that time. So Ishmael has been cast out. Hagar and Ishmael have moved through this territory because it told us that they were in the wilderness of Beersheba. Well, Beersheba is not going to actually be named until Abraham gives it a name. And then it's, the name is stuck until now. But so it's just giving us a location stamp for them that Isaac, I mean, Hagar and Ishmael, God provided for them there, but they didn't stay there. They moved through, unfortunately, this place of God's provision. And Abimelech comes to Abraham and he says to him, well, he brings this guy, Phicol. Remember, Abimelech means my father is king.

[6:28] And it's the title of the Philistines king, just like Pharaoh was the title of the Egyptians king. And Phicol means strong. So he comes in all this force and power and strength. You know, Abimelech's the picture of the world. He's coming to Abraham with all of his strength and his pomp.

[6:48] But he recognizes something about Abraham. He spake unto Abraham saying, God is with you in all that you do. Abraham, I see this. I recognize that God is with you. Abimelech had experienced the power of Abraham's God, hadn't he? Yeah, he did. Unfortunately, he also experienced the unfaithfulness of Abraham as well. But he couldn't deny that God was with Abraham and God was going to bless Abraham in spite of that. Despite all of his failings, it was evident that Abraham and his God were inseparable.

[7:24] That just no matter how much Abraham failed, man, you couldn't separate him from his God. His failings didn't separate him. His shortcomings didn't. Abimelech is recognizing this. So he says to him, God is with you in all you do. Now, therefore, swear unto me here by God. I want to make an agreement with you, Abraham, but I don't trust you. You lied to me before. But he recognized that Abraham's relationship with his God was foundational in his life. He says, swear to me here by your God that you will not deal falsely with me. Literally, that you will not lie to me. Abraham, you lied to me before. Nor with my son, nor with my son's sons, or with my posterity. But according to the kindness that I have done unto you, you shall do unto me and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

[8:19] So Abimelech, he knew, however, that Abraham would be true to God in the face of his failings. So he knew if Abraham swore by his God that whatever happened in Abraham's life, he was going to come back to his God. He was going to come back then to this covenant. He also recognizes something here.

[8:36] He's, it's the world is recognizing God's promise, recognizing that God's promise has come to pass. And that's what the world does, right? They don't care about God's promise when it's just to them immaterial. To us, us faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

[8:54] To us, the promise is the material thing. You know, God is, Jesus has promised to come and get me. That's a done deal, right? The world's not going to believe that until he actually does. And then how many of them are going to accept that? They're going to believe a lie.

[9:07] But now that the promise has come to pass, that Isaac is here, you know, Abraham and Sarah have been rejuvenated. They have a son. Abraham's prospering. Now, all of a sudden, Abimelech's like, oh, okay, well, maybe I need to go and talk with this guy again. But he's recognizing the generational and the longevity that comes with God's promise. That God's promise influences not just this generation, but those to come. Because he says to Abraham, I want you to make a covenant with me.

[9:41] Abraham, the covenant you make with me, it's going to bind your generations. I mean, Isaac could come on the scene and say, I didn't make that covenant. That's not my covenant. I'm not going to make it. My father made it. Why should I make it? But Abimelech recognizes here that a covenant made, when you include Abraham's God, is not just temporary. It's eternal. So he says, make this covenant with me, but do it according to the kindness I have done unto you. You shall do it unto me and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. So what was the kindness he did? Well, when he gave him back Sarah, he gave him all kinds of goods and material goods and cattle and men's servants and maid servants and said, dwell in my land wherever you will. So Abraham's been dwelling in the land and Abimelech sees this now and he wants to come and make a covenant. And you hope there's also, you would hope that there's something in this where he wants something of Abraham's God. You don't really get that though. He recognizes Abraham's God. He even calls him God, not just your God, here by God.

[10:44] But he doesn't seem to grab onto the fact that he could be his God as well. And Abraham swears. In verse 24, he said, I will swear. I will do that. And this comes back to that idea of not being unequally yoked. 2 Corinthians 6.14, if you look on the wall, says, be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? Abraham, how could you go ahead and swear to this covenant? Well, what does the scripture specifically say? It says not to be unequally yoked, not to have fellowship, not to have communion.

[11:25] Is Abraham yoking himself? Is he in fellowship? Is he having communion with Abimelech? No, he's not. He's not at all. In fact, what Abraham agreed to in this covenant with Abimelech was what he would have done anyway. Abimelech says, hey, don't deal falsely with me. Speak truth to me. Abraham's like, yep, okay, I learned my lesson there. He's like, show kindness to me and to my posterity, to my sons. Yep, okay, I'm going to teach my kids to respect your kids, you know, and according to the kindness I've done to you, show kindness to me. Yes, I will show kindness to you. Our relationship with the world must never compromise our relationship with our God. So Abraham has a relationship with the world. He's making an agreement with the world. But as Paul says, it's not fellowship. He's not yoked with them. He's not trying to pull in the same direction as the world. He's not saying, hey, yeah, come do this covenant with me, this promise of God, I mean, with me. Come and be part of that. No way.

[12:22] We're not going to tell the world, you come and do church with us, as in partnering with them. We're going to say to them, come to church. We'll show you kindness and respect and truth. But we're not going to have communion or fellowship with them. So this was not a covenant of fellowship.

[12:38] What was it a covenant of? Well, Abimelech essentially said, I want to make a covenant of truth and kindness with you. And that should be our response to the world. We should have that in place in our own lives, that that's how we view the world, that we are to have a covenant with the world, a agreement with the world, that we will deal with you in truth and kindness.

[13:00] I'm going to read this Psalm 15, one through five. I think this kind of sums up both Abimelech and Abraham's heart right now. David writes, Oh Lord, who shall abide in your tabernacle? Who shall dwell in your holy hill? He that walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart.

[13:21] He that backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honors them that fear the Lord.

[13:34] He that swears to his own hurt and changes not. He that puts not out his money to usury, nor takes reward against the innocent, does not try to take advantage. He that does these things shall never be moved. You can kind of see both Abraham and Abimelech. They're at that point. They're coming to that point together. And it's beautiful when we can do that. But Abraham was also being given a chance here. So there's like, there's kind of two pictures as we move through this covenant. There's the picture of what this covenant kind of means for us in the bigger picture of what it is. And then there is Abraham's own kind of personal relationship and his walk with the Lord being played out here.

[14:14] For Abraham, he's being given a second chance to show himself faithful. Abimelech's come back around. And he's like, I want to make a covenant with you, but you got to be truthful. And Abraham's like, yes, yes, I'm being given a second chance. And God always gives second chances, doesn't he? He always will.

[14:33] But just like with Hagar and Ishmael, it's will we take advantage of the opportunity he gives us. Abraham recognized this and took the opportunity. Proverbs 24, 16 says, for a just man falls seven times and rises up again. Great scripture, almost fridge worthy, right? Probably not bumper sticker worthy, you know, unless you want to people driving. What does that mean? Sounds good until you live it. It's not very fun to fall seven times and get up again. You know, the third time you fall and you get up. The fourth time you fall, you don't want to get up. The fifth time the Lord says, come on, get back up. New Testament parallel to that in Luke 17, in the beginning there in verse three, Jesus says to the disciples, he says, take heed to yourselves.

[15:26] If your brother trespassed against you, rebuke him. And if we repent, forgive him. And if he trespass again, seven times or against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day, turn again to the saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Seven times your sinned against, forgive him. Now Jesus is, is giving that example to the disciples from the point of those being wronged. Hey, if you're wronged, forgive. Seven times in a day, the same guy comes back and says, yeah, I'm sorry. I did something stupid again to you. Will you forgive me? But there's the other side of that. There's the guy who's done the wrong seven times that day and is coming back and saying, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[16:15] So God gives second chances, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and on out. But will we take advantage of them? Sometimes it requires a lot of humility to do that. Abraham here, if you remember, I don't know, a few weeks ago, we said future obedience is not determined by past failure.

[16:32] You can't let your past failure influence whether you're going to obey in the future, right? Well, for Abraham here, his past lapse in judgment cannot define his future integrity.

[16:42] What do I mean by that? Well, let's say in the past, you've been dishonest. Maybe you've shortchanged your job. Maybe you've out and out stole. Maybe you've lied. You come to a situation again and the enemy's right there going, you hypocrite. You know what you did before. Who do you think you are to be Mr. Honest right now? Who do you think you are to tell that person who you see doing something dishonest that they should be truthful? Who in the world do you think you are? Abraham here in verse 25, he reproves Abimelech. He needs to judge, literally to judge or to bring into, is that the scripture that means that one? Yeah, reprove me. So judged, correct, to dispute. I like this one, to place in the sunshine, to bring it into light. He's like, hey, Abimelech, yeah, okay, before we do that, there's this. And you kind of picture, you know, Abimelech or Phicol standing there like, really, Abraham? Really? After you did?

[17:45] But this is what the righteous man does. He falls down seven times and he gets up. There's another proverb, Proverb 25, 26, that says, a righteous man falling down before the wicked is a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring. What does that mean? That when the righteous allows the wicked to decide for him what his righteousness is going to be, when he falls down before and yields to the wicked, he says, oh, okay, okay, okay. You know, it's like a corrupt source of water. You can't drink it anymore. It's been polluted. And so Abraham, he does the right thing, even though it may be a little awkward. You see, Abraham needed to establish the terms by which him and Abimelech were going to interact. He's like, yes, Abimelech, let's do this covenant. But we have to have the same ground, the same terms we're interacting. It's the same for us. We have to set the tone by which we're going to interact with the world. They're going to say, you hypocrite. You're such a hypocrite, you Christians.

[18:48] You say, oh, we should be all holy and righteous. And look what you do. Or say, yeah, yeah, I fell down, but I got back up. You can't even stand up. You're lost in your sin. All you do is propagate sin.

[19:01] What do you have? You know, do you have someone to help you up? You're right. I fell, but I've got my God to help me up. I've got the body that supports me. What do you have? Well, I got Sunday night football and beer. You know, what do you have? What do you have?

[19:22] And so Abraham, he makes this covenant, but he approves Abimelech because of this well that he had dug. And where it says his servants in verse 25, Abimelech's servants, they had violently taken it away. It literally means to seize or to rob. They let Abraham do the work. He digs the well and incomes the servants of Abimelech and take this away. And so there we saw from our, our, um, our outline, an observation and a proposition. And then Abraham here with his reply and then his reproof. And now we see how Abimelech responds to Abraham's, uh, reproof here.

[20:05] And Abimelech said in verse 26, I wote not who has done this thing or I didn't know who did this. Neither did you tell me, neither yet heard I of it. But today, Abimelech is establishing his integrity and he has integrity. We know from chapter 20. I think he was a little nervous too.

[20:29] You know, this was this prophet that God came to him and said, you're a dead man, Abimelech, if you don't give him back his wife and you're not going to be healed unless he prays for you.

[20:41] So when Abraham kind of turns and says, okay, we'll make this covenant, but your guys stole this and I want it back. I think Abimelech's kind of like, I didn't know anything about it. Okay. You know, don't strike me with lightning. It's all good. I didn't know both Abraham and Abimelech could have kind of taken advantage in this situation. Abraham could have taken an advantage of this and been like, aha, you're right. I'm a prophet. You better do what I say or God's going to get you. He doesn't do that. He doesn't press his, his, uh, spiritual claim. And Abimelech also doesn't try and take advantage of Abraham in this and say, Abraham, you know, you wronged me before. And so if you don't go mean, how could you not because of what you've done, they're both very mature in this, but I think he was probably a little nervous, but look at the three things he says. He said, I didn't know.

[21:33] I wasn't told. I did not hear. Abraham could not expect Abimelech to act upon what he didn't know. Right. And yet Abimelech still is responsible, isn't he? Because they're his guys. Romans 10, 14 tells us about those who've not known, who've not been told and who haven't heard.

[21:56] Paul says in Romans 10, 14, how then shall they call on him who they've not believed when they've not known? How shall they believe on him when they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher to tell? We can't expect, we can't hold people responsible for and expect them to act upon.

[22:18] They don't know. You know, it does us no good to argue with people who do not know, who've not been told, and who have not yet heard of our source of living water. Abraham says to Abimelech, before we make this covenant, we need to understand that your servants have removed from me my source of water, my source of living water. Abraham's going to do what he needs to do to secure that source.

[22:48] And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant. What's lacking from that verse? Who's doing all the giving? Where's Abimelech in this covenant?

[23:01] Or wasn't it two-way? Abraham's going to leave no room for doubt for the question of his integrity. He's like, here you go. I'll take care of the cost, the whole thing. No problem. My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. I'm not going to argue with you. I'm not going to haggle with you. I'm going to see this later on with Abraham when he purchases the field with the cave in it where he wants to bury Sarah. He's like, I'm not going to argue. I'm not going to haggle.

[23:35] Whatever. You know, he knew what he needed to do, and he wasn't worried about the resources to do it. God is going to take care of that. But Abraham's generosity here, it displays where his true values lie, doesn't it? He's willing to give the sheep, oxen, whatever. He's not holding back.

[23:57] Matthew 6, 21 says, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where our treasure is, is where our heart is. 2 Corinthians 9, 7 says, every man according as he's purposed in his heart, where his treasure is, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. So our generosity very often displays what our value system is. You can tell someone's value system by their generosity. So you're like, wait a minute. What about like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos?

[24:29] They give away tons of money. You know, they have lots of, you know, they're very big with philanthropy and things like that. That's not generosity. What does Corinthians say there? Every man according as purposed in his heart, let him give not grudgingly or of necessity. Those men are giving of necessity.

[24:48] As well, I have to offset my earnings, my taxes. I have to, you know, give for this reason. Unfortunately, in the world we live, even generosity, even charitable giving has been turned into a, somehow a way to benefit ourselves. You know, it's more blessed to give than receive, but it's not because we get something from it material, right? Jesus said, he said, don't just give to those that can pay you back. Don't go out and make a feast for all your friends who you know are going to make feasts for you as well. He's like, but invite those who will never pay you back.

[25:24] That's generosity. And that displays our value system. And so Abraham, he carries the full load here. And in verse 28, it says, and Abraham set seven new lambs of the flock by themselves. So he takes these seven female sheep and puts them off by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, what mean these seven new lambs that you set by themselves? So this is new to Abimelech, isn't it?

[25:50] This isn't the first covenant that King Abimelech has made. He's made other agreements and covenants with other people, I'm sure, other, you know, tribes and other nations. But this is new. He's like, what is this covenant of the lambs? What is this covenant of the sheep? What are they off by themselves? This type of integrity was totally new to Abimelech. It was something that was not of his value system, right? Something totally different. Our value system should outpace this world, right? Our value system, we should live in the higher value system of God's kingdom than the lower value system of this world. And so when we have opportunity, many times in our interactions with the world, God will give us opportunity to take it, step it up a notch, to be what? A witness, to be a light. What does Jesus say? He said that men shall know, they shall glorify, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. So as men see your good works, the result is what? Glorifying your father in heaven. It's a witness. So Abraham is asked and he's ready to give an answer to every man for the reason of the hope that is in him.

[27:11] Abimelech says, what are these? Seven lambs off by themselves. Abraham looks a little odd right now. And it may mean being willing to be the odd man out. To live according to God's value system may mean being the odd man out, even among the church, even among believers. When we live by the value system that we're not used to, that this world says is normal, man, we can look really silly.

[27:36] People can look at us, why would you do that? Everybody does that. Everybody writes that down. That's how you do your taxes. Come on, what's it matter? There. Jesus said not to let your right hand know what your left hand's doing or vice versa. Either way, don't let your hands know what the other one knows what it's doing, right? We keep track, and I'm not saying we shouldn't. It's not like, don't feel guilty when you get a, you know, a statement from how much you've given from the church. It's fine. But think of what we've done with giving, where it's like we keep track of it down to the minutest whatever so that we can take advantage of it. Jesus said, don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing when you give. That you give, and give generously. When we were early married, still in upstate New York, I sold a car. And in New York, when you sell a car, every time you sell it, you pay sales tax, like it was brand new, on the amount that was sold for. So the thing that people do is you sell it for $1,000, and they say, can you write on the bill of sale $200? So then they can go. And I was going to sell a car, and the guy's like, yeah, yeah, okay, I'll buy it. And then he called me up. He's like, well, I don't know. If I do, will you write, you know, $700, even though I bought it for like $1,200 or whatever? And I was like, no.

[28:56] That's not what you bought it for. You're like, what? What are you going to cost me money? I'm like, I'm not going to cost you money. The government's costing you money, you know? And he didn't buy my car. I sold it to someone else. He called me a couple days later, and he's like, okay, how about I give you this much? I'm like, dude, it's already sold. And he got mad at me.

[29:13] I'm like, you had your chance. Sorry. But man, you're going to be looked at as a weirdo. If you live by the values of the kingdom, it's not normal, especially in this day and age, even among Christians. I cannot tell you the awkward moments I've had with coworkers and people who there are believers, and they do things. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to. And they're like, what's wrong with you? Anyway, let's continue on for that. So he sets these seven ewe lambs apart by themselves. This is something Abimelech's never seen before.

[29:48] And he said, Abraham said, for these seven ewe lambs that you shall take of my hand, for these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have dig this well. Abraham needed something that was greater than his word, didn't he? He needed something that he could point to instead of his word. When Abimelech says, how do I know this well is yours? Abraham says, look at the lamb. That source of water is mine. Look at the lamb.

[30:25] Instead of arguing with Abimelech to prove his point, Abraham chose instead to appeal to a covenant established by a lamb, a new covenant established by a lamb. For us, instead of trying to prove what we know is true, what we've heard, what we've seen, right? How shall they know? How shall they believe if they've not been told? How shall they be told if they've not heard? Instead of trying to argue with people and prove, what? No, no, no, no. It's really happened. It's true. I've been saved. How do you know? We point to the lamb, point to the covenant with the lamb. Abraham had secured his source of living water by a covenant with the lamb. Abimelech had never seen this before. It was brand new.

[31:06] Wherefore, he called the place Beersheba, because there they swear both of them. Remember, that means the well of the oath. Also, I read could mean the well of the seven because of the seven new lambs, but the well of the oath. He called the name Beersheba because they swear both of them. And here for Abraham personally, you see this lasting effect of his integrity. Abraham says, no, I'm going to be a man of integrity. Abimelech, we've got to deal with this. Before we can make a new covenant, Abimelech, we need to address the wrong. We need to bring the sin into the sunshine. It needs to be brought into the light, Abimelech, before we can make this new covenant. We must address that there is sin.

[31:52] I need a source of water, Abimelech. You took it from me. But I have a payment that'll satisfy, and it's a lamb. The covenant mean with a lamb. Proverbs 16, 7 through 8 says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies be at peace with him. Then it says, better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. And those two things are tied together.

[32:22] That when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies, fill in the blank, he makes even his mother-in-law, he makes even his brother, he makes even his boss, he makes even his, you know, teacher be at peace with him. When a man's ways please the Lord. Better is a little with righteousness. Better to have the knowledge that your ways please the Lord, that you're living by his value system, than great revenues without right. Abraham experienced that in chapter 20, didn't he? He had great revenues, but he didn't come by him honestly when Abimelech gave him to him because of Sarah.

[32:58] And so what happens? They made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech rose up in Phicol, chief captain of his host, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. This new covenant removed what used to be Abraham's enemy at one time. Now he's in agreement with them. It removed the enemy from the land, the new covenant. If I had the screen, I'd put it up here, but I'll read it off.

[33:23] This new covenant of the lamb that Abraham had just made, what did it do? The seven things that I have here. The new covenant of the lamb is silenced the disputer, didn't it? When Abimelech's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't know about that. It satisfied and silenced this disputer. It satisfied the offended party. It completely satisfied Abimelech for, yes, that well is yours. It restored rightful possession to the one whom it was taken from. It restored the rightful possession to Abraham.

[34:00] It brought about reconciliation. These two men now living reconciled with one another. It secured a source of living water. It secured a source of living water for Abraham. And it affected future generations to come. The new covenant of the lamb. We live in that.

[34:18] The new covenant of the lamb has silenced the disputer in our life. It satisfied the offended party, restored rightful possession, brought about reconciliation, secured for us a source of living water. And it has affected every generation since it has come into being. Ephesians 2.13 says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. For to make himself of two, one new man, so making peace that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which were far off, and to them that were nigh. The new covenant of the lamb, the blood of Christ, has reconciled, has made one, has satisfied, has given us a source of living water. What does Abraham now do? So Phicol and Abimelech, they head back into the land of the Philistines. At the end of verse 34, it says Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days. So I think it just meant they went back up into, you know, the main heart of the Philistine land. Abimelech's down here in that area we looked at, Beersheba. He stays there. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting

[35:49] God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. Abraham saw that his God was not confined to a specific place or time. Before, Abraham's experience in the world had been really bad. He'd gone to Egypt when he came to Gerar. It didn't go well. And now he's found out that God can keep him anywhere.

[36:11] And for the first time, we have these two words put together, everlasting, everlasting, and God. He has a new understanding of who God is. He saw that God was not confined to a place and to a time. Did Abraham fight for his rights? No. I don't think he fought for his rights so much as what did he fight for?

[36:30] To secure a place of communion with his God. He plants a tree there and he calls on the name of the everlasting God. Abraham was like, no, I am not going to budge. This is my place that I meet with the Lord. You know, we have those places too. Abimelech's going to come or his minions, the cares of this world, and they're going to choke out fruitfulness. They're going to try and remove from us our source of living water. Abimelech, I mean, Abraham wasn't so much about his rights, his life, as much as he was about his God. And for that, he was willing to pay any price. Abraham now plants and roots himself in this land of the new covenant. My mind is blowing this week, this little section here, like, wow.

[37:18] Ephesians 3.17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, and it continues on, may grow up into him who is the fullness of all things. Abraham now plants himself, roots himself, and grounds himself in this place of the new covenant.

[37:38] You know, there's one other thing before we kind of wrap this up, the rest of this stuff about the covenant, that I kind of wanted to point it out, point out. Who else was here with Abraham? Abraham? Remember? Who's with him now? Who's by his side in everything he does?

[37:54] Little guy, Isaac, probably about seven years old, six, seven years old. He's watching everything Abraham's doing. There's always somebody who's learning the lessons that our lives are teaching.

[38:07] Always somebody is learning these lessons that our lives are teaching, whether it's our children, our friends, whoever. Somebody's learning lessons from our lives. If you flip over quickly to Genesis 26, look at verse 18.

[38:24] In Genesis 26, verse 18 says this, And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

[38:44] Isaac was watching. He was learning these lessons. And at some point in his life, he goes back to the same source of water that his father had gone to.

[38:56] First Timothy tells us, Let no man despise your youth, but be an example of the believers in word, conversation, in love, and spirit, and faith, and purity. To be an example, because people are watching.

[39:09] And then verse, that's verse 12, verse 13 says, Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. How do we be an example? By giving attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. That will affect our lives.

[39:21] So then we can go out and be an example. This covenant, All of these things that have happened to Abraham now, they've come about after Isaac had come into his life, haven't they?

[39:36] There's some things to note. After the son of promise entered Abraham's life, that we see about Abraham. Isaac has entered his life. God had promised his son, his one and only son. Abraham was reconciled to his enemies.

[39:50] After Isaac has come into his life, Abraham is now reconciled to his enemies. After the son of promise enters Abraham's life, he's able to live in the world, but not be of the world.

[40:02] Before, in Egypt and Gerar, it was a mess. And now we see him sojourning in the land of the Philistines many days, and calling on the name of the everlasting God. After the son of promise entered into Abraham's life, he received life-giving water in exchange for a lamb.

[40:19] He used the lamb in exchange for this well. After the son of promise entered Abraham's life, he experienced a greater understanding of who God was. When Jesus came, we understood who God was, who the father was, like we never did before.

[40:36] And Jesus presented almighty God as our father. After the son of promise entered Abraham's life, he was rooted in the land of the new covenant. And after the son of promise entered Abraham's life, his lapses and failures are never seen again.

[40:54] That part. After Isaac, we will never again be given an example of Abraham's failures or lapses. It's only up. As Jesus has entered our life, and he remembers our sin and our failures no more, as we enter the new covenant of the lamb.

[41:11] So, Hagar and Ishmael had a narrow view of God that only saw God's promise in light of this world. Right? There's God's promise. How can it affect me now? How can it help me?

[41:22] How can it give me, you know, a greater experience here in this world? Abraham saw this world in light of God's promise. He looked at everything in this world, and he saw the light of God's promise on it.

[41:34] You know? Oh, a covenant with Abimelech? Oh, sure, take all this stuff, whatever. You know, it's with my gods involved in this. They each had access to God's promise.

[41:45] They each had access to living water, Hagar, Ishmael, and Abraham. They each had a future blessed by God. I will be with you, Ishmael. They each had experienced God's amazing power, but only one chose to respond by faith.

[41:59] Only one chose to respond like Abraham did in faith. So Abraham's in this land. He's now planted by the source of living water.

[42:09] He's putting down roots, but it was only after he had secured the source of living water that he was able to put down roots. It was only after he had secured the well through the covenant of the lamb that then he could be planted, that he could be rooted, that he could grow.

[42:26] Turn to Psalm 1. We'll end with this. I'm sure we've all read Psalm 1 many different times.

[42:46] Especially if you're going to read through Psalms. You start at the beginning, you get like, eh, eh, 30, 40 chapters in, eventually you come back to it, you start at the beginning. It just seems to be how it goes.

[42:58] Psalm 1 says, Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but contrary to doing those things, his delight is in the law of the Lord.

[43:12] And in the law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he does, shall prosper.

[43:28] The man who delights in the word of God is like one who's planted, like a tree whose roots have gone down and have found that source of water and is just pulling it up, pulling it up.

[43:40] That's what Abraham did. God gives this beautiful picture in Genesis 21 that I had never seen before. That this covenant of the land secured, this covenant of the lamb, this new covenant that Abimelech had never seen before, secured life-giving water for Abraham, and he was able to put down roots.

[44:00] Do we need to be rerouted in God's word? Do I have roots in the source? Have I allowed my source of living water to be stolen away?

[44:12] And I no longer am drawing from that. To a certain extent, I think I could say yeah. But, and maybe that's you. Maybe you've removed yourself from God's word.

[44:26] You haven't been rooted in it. If you're not, how are you going to get the source? Where's that going to come from? You know, look at Abraham's source. Look at the value system he had. Look at the boldness he was able to live.

[44:39] Or perhaps God just wants you to put down a new root into that ground of his love like we saw in Ephesians, being rooted and grounded in his love. Maybe there's a new experience of God's love that he's like, I just, I want you to put down a root here.

[44:52] I want you to draw from this totally new source in me that you didn't even know existed. I want to bless you. Or perhaps God wants you to draw from a greater depth in the well of that love.

[45:05] Maybe he's like, I want you to come deeper. That's going to require more time. You're going to have to come and sit with me more. You're going to have to study more. There's a depth you need to understand about my love that I want to bring you into.

[45:18] He's done the heavy lifting, guys. He made the covenant with the lamb. He, like Abraham, it was all on him. He gave everything. All the sheep, all the oxen, it was all on him.

[45:28] We have no part in that except to receive it and take advantage of that. Pray and ask God what it is. Does he want to take you deeper? Does he want to return you to his word?

[45:42] And just ask him, God, take me deeper. Root me and ground me deeper in your word and in your love. And he will. He'll do that. So, Father, we thank you.

[45:55] Just this beautiful picture, Lord. The covenant of a lamb. A man of faith coming to this covenant.

[46:05] All on one side. He's supplying all the resources to regain a source of living water for his son and his son's sons for generations.

[46:18] Rooting himself, grounding himself in the land of the new covenant by the source of life-giving water. Lord, you've done that for each one of us.

[46:31] You've taken us out of the world, out of our sin. You've transplanted us. You've paid the price. You died in our stead. All of your resources are at our disposal. And all you ask of us, will you just, will you put down roots?

[46:49] Will you return to the source? Lord, forgive me for looking for other sources. forgive me for reaching my roots towards something other than your life-giving water, Lord.

[47:06] Thank you for the word of God, which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and it discerns the thoughts and the intents of my heart.

[47:23] But God, I recognize that these weapons of my warfare, we live after the flesh, but we do not war after the flesh. They're not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and taking into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

[47:47] Lord, this is our inheritance. This is our heritage. This is what Jesus secured for us when he went to Abimelech and said, no, you can bring your fight cold, but I'm going to satisfy every demand through the covenant of the Lamb.

[48:07] Lord, let us not leave here, not live our lives in these last of the last days apart from the source of your life-giving water. So Lord, as we sing these songs, as we sit before you, minister to our hearts, Lord.

[48:20] And Lord, this is our time to respond. You've spoken in now, Lord. You've spoken your word to our hearts. Now, Lord, it's our time to respond, that we're to be hearers of the word, not doers only, deceiving ourselves.

[48:32] And so to respond, to hear, and to act upon what we've heard is in prayer, is to say yes. God, I recognize what you've spoken in my heart, and I want to say yes.

[48:43] Would you ratify that in my life? And so, Lord, I pray that we would each, in our own hearts and in the quiet, we would act upon what you've spoken.

[48:55] And in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

[49:45] Amen. Amen.

[50:45] Amen. Amen.

[51:45] Amen. Amen.

[52:45] Amen. Amen.

[53:45] Amen. Amen.

[54:45] Amen. Amen.

[55:45] Amen. Amen.

[56:45] Amen. Amen.

[57:45] Amen. Amen.

[58:45] Amen. Amen.

[59:45] Amen. Amen.

[60:45] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[61:16] Amen. Amen.

[62:15] Amen. Amen.

[63:15] Amen. Amen.

[64:15] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[64:46] Amen. Amen.

[65:45] Amen. Amen.

[66:45] Amen. Amen.

[67:45] Amen. Amen.

[68:16] Amen. Amen.

[69:15] Amen. Amen.

[70:15] Amen. Amen.

[71:15] Amen. Amen.

[72:15] Amen. Amen.

[73:15] Amen. Amen.

[74:15] Amen. Amen.

[75:15] Amen. Amen.

[76:15] Amen. Amen.

[77:15] Amen. Amen.

[78:15] Amen. Amen.

[79:15] Amen. Amen.

[80:15] Amen. Amen.

[81:15] Amen. Amen.

[82:15] Amen. Amen.

[83:15] Amen. Amen.

[83:46] Amen.