King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Chapters: Genesis 25-26
Message: Sons of God
Hello My Friend,
I usually read the Morning and Evening devotional of Charles Spurgeon before I start my Bible reading for the day, some days its later in the day. Many times I will quote him, but end up removing it because it does not fit the message. Today’s, however stuck, [Charles Spurgeon Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, “Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there.” So look for Christ where you lost him, for he has not gone away.]
The most interesting thing, and the reason I mentioned this is because I had just prayed for God to revive His people, bring them out of hiding, give them the courage to step out and start shining Jesus on this nation. We, as a nation, are going to need Jesus more than ever to intervene in all this evil that is heading our way. He has been gone in America for quite some time and I think it is time for another Great Awakening of this nation. Christ is here, to find Him, we only need to look where we left Him, [Luke 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.]
[Strait; Narrow; close; not broad; To put to difficulties.] Remember yesterday we talked about words and how God sees them differently as we do? The word strait is not the same a straight, what Jesus is saying is that many will attempt to get to God on their own merits, and will fail because He is the only way of becoming heirs with God, and receiving the inheritance of eternal life. There are only two types of people in the world, the sons of God, and the sons of man. The sons of God are those whom have entered the strait gate, they have come to Christ called upon Him as their Saviour. The sons of man are those whom reject Christ, some of them may believe in Him, but make up their own rules, and therefore, will have no part of the inheritance. Now, After Sarah died, Abraham remarried and had several children, their lineage is listed not as Abraham’s, but Keturah’s.
[Genesis 25:1-6 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.]
[But unto the sons of the concubines,] There are two kinds of concubines, one, is a woman who cohabits with a man, without the authority of a legal marriage; a kept mistress. And two; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Both Hagar and Keturah were concubines, and while he had many sons with them, they are not recognized as Abraham’s, rather of the concubines. You see, God did not want anyone interfering with His plan, the covenant He made with Abraham was Isaac, and it would be through him that that covenant would be fulfilled. God’s covenant that He makes with His people are not of the world, they are of Christ, and He will give us all that He has to make sure that we are taken care of while we are here, [Luke 21:17-19 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. 18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls.]
Now, Isaac and Rebekah had been married for quite some time, but they had not had any children yet, in fact, Abraham died before he saw his first grandchildren of the promised seed. Isaac prayed for God to Him to open Rebekah’s womb and give them a child. God did grant their request, and He gave them twins.
[Genesis 25:11,20-25 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi. 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.]
[Two nations are in thy womb,] Just because people share the same parents that does not mean that they are all the sons of God. Sadly, many people who grow up in Christian homes revolt and turn to the world, while many who are born the sons of man are in fact converted and turn to Christ. This is why God one, give is the freewill to choose, and two, is longsuffering, He does not want any soul to end up in hell, He would save them all if the would just believe the truth, and call upon Christ. We will understand this more as we learn more about Jacob and Esau in this chapter.
[Genesis 25:28-34 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.]
[thus Esau despised his birthright.] For a bowl of soup, Esau gave up his birthright. This means that he gave up all his rights to anything that he would have inherited from his father when he died. This one act of carelessness not only proved that he had no intention of following God, it also would bring a division between the two countries, so much so that God would eventually destroy it, [Ezekiel 25:12-13]. That strait gate through Christ is what actually makes us the sons of God, and gives us the birthright and the inheritance that comes along with it, [Hebrews 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.]
Even as the sons of God, we must understand that if we want His blessings and protection while we are here, we need to follow His instructions. Keep in mind that the only reason why God is so merciful to us is because of His promise to us, and not of anything that we do. Now, there was a famine in the land, Issac and his family headed to Egypt, but God intervened, [Genesis 26:1-5,12-14 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.]
[Because that Abraham obeyed my voice,] We must realize that God does not keep His promises based on our works, which by the way are filthy rags compared to what Jesus did for us, He does them because He never goes back on His promises. No matter how good we try to be, we are mess, we do not always have a perfect heart for God. God knows this, and that is why He promises that if we believe in and accept His Son, then He will never leave nor forsake us no matter how many times we mess up. However, if we do obey Him, then He will bless us. Well, Isaac did obey God’s voice, and while he did actually make the same mistake that his father made, He would be a great blessing to not only him and his family, but the Philistines as well.
[ Genesis 26:12-14,16,23-25 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. 13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. 23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba. 24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.]
[and called upon the name of the LORD,] There it is again, the people of the Old Testament were not so different then we are today. It does not matter what era we were born into, there is only one way to God and that is Jesus Christ. The only way we get through that gate to God, His inheritance, and all the blessings that come with Him, is by believing in and receiving His Son as our Saviour, [Romans 10:9-13 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Genesis 26:24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank you for giving us a way that we may become your sons and daughters without any merit of our own, we just simply need to believe in and receive Your Son as our Saviour. The gate truly is strait, but if we trust you, call upon You, and obey Your commands You will bless us well before we receive Your inheritance. Thank You also for Your mercy, grace, and longsuffering, it is infinite and given freely to all Your people, no matter how many times we mess up, and You never go back on Your promise to save us eternally. Lord, lead us and guide us through the mercy and grace that only You can provide, while others mock us remind us that Your grace is sufficient enough to keep our heads up high no matter how many times we fall. Put Your hedge of protection around us and shield us from all the evils. And if we have lost our way and cannot find Jesus, remind us that He is right where we left Him, and never as far as a prayer away. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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