Issaac & Rebekah

unto her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." And they sent away Rebecca, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebecca, and said unto her, "Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands of millions. And let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them." And Rebecca arose and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant took Rebecca, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well, Laharo, for he would dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field of the evening tide, and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.

And Rebecca lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she said she had said unto the servant, "What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?" And the servant has said, "It is my my master." Therefore, she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he' done. And Isaac brought her unto his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after that his mother's death. Let's b Well, we already prayed here. Let's just go on to the message here and I want to talk about been going through looking at marriages in the Bible and the lessons that we can learn from them.

And so as we look at Isa Isaac and Rebecca, there's a couple things I think we can learn. And that's first of all that they had a longd distanceance relationship. And some of you here in this room can relate to that. Uh a lot more couples have long-distance relationship today especially because of online dating. And sometimes people ask me is there anything wrong with online dating? And I I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with it. As long as you're honest with them and they're honest with you and you do your due diligence to check on these people before you get too involved with them.

Uh I don't think any wrong. It's not where you meet the person. I I do think there are some places you don't want to go to meet your future spouse like a bar or something like that. But it's not where you meet the person, but it's what you do after that that's important. And in this case, this is one of the first longdistance relationships. Uh they didn't have online in that day. So there was no uh touched up pictures to see. There was no lying to tell how nice you really were. There was no facetime. It was all based upon this one servant's description. Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac.

And and he described to this young lady who Isaac was. And then I'm sure he sent back a letter ahead of time to Isaac telling them all about this young lady. And that's all they had when they met for the first time. And uh and I want to remind you and especially those that are single in this room, sometimes you got to wait on the Lord. The Bible says in Psalms chapter 27 13 and 14, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. Isaac was 40 years old. We know that from Genesis chapter 25 and verse number 20.

It says that and the herd men's of of uh that's chapter 26. Let me get chapter 25 verse number 20. And it says, "And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca to his wife." And so he was 40 years old before he got married. And a lot of uh young people think, well, that's just you're an old maid by then. You're never going to get married by then. And and and you might be a little older and not married yet, but you need to learn to wait on the Lord and to trust in him. We had a guy here many years ago in the Navy. His name was Jim Bruse. He was a commander in the Navy. Uh he was 50 years old when he finally got married.

Now, at the time I knew Jim, he was a good-looking guy. He was a a a well-mannered guy. He was a spiritual guy. And yet, he had not found that right person. And he was frustrated with that. He said, "Pastor, I want to get married." And uh I got to see Jim. I got to go to his ordination after he got married and a little later on. And and he already had, I think, two kids at that time. And and I talked to Jim and I said, "Was it worth the wait?" He said, "Pastor, during the time I was waiting, I was so frustrated and and and and just wanted to get married, but you know what? I'm glad I waited because I've got the right person."

And and sometimes you just need to realize you need to wait on the Lord and not rush into it. Somebody once said this, "It's better to wish you were married than to wish you weren't married." And and that's a good a good statement to remember. It's better to wish you were married than to wish you weren't married. And and so wait on that right person. And uh you know, not only did they have to wait to get married, but then they had to wait another 20 years in Genesis 25:26. It was another 20 years before they had a baby. And and sometimes that can be frustrating. Some of you maybe want to have a baby and the Lord hasn't provided that yet.

And and and it's learning to wait on the Lord. Now, it's not just sitting around waiting. Uh what do you do while you wait? What do you do while you wait? Whether it's waiting for a spouse or whatever it may be. What do you do while you wait? Well, if you're a young person and and waiting on the time to get married, here's the things I would recommend to do. And that is have a list of what you're looking for. Now, that's good in marriage, but that's good in any what you're looking for in your job, what you're looking for in your career, what you're looking for in your future. These are all good things to do.

Look at Genesis chapter 24 and look at verses 12- 14. It says, "Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, who had the I'm sorry, I'm chapter 25. Let me get it right here again. Uh chapter 24 12-14. And he said, "Oh Lord God of my master, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of the water, and the daughter of the men of the city come out to draw water. And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, let down pitcher, I pray that I may drink, and she shall say, drink, and I will give thy camels drink also.

Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. Now in this case it was the servant that was going but he had he had a list he was going by. Abraham said I don't want to marry the daughters of the unsaved here. I want to find somebody that's saved and somebody knows the Lord. And he sent his servant to find that young lady. And he had kind of a list to go by. And I always challenge the young people, you before you even start dating, you ought to make up three lists. And the first one is your unchangeables.

These are things I'm not going to compromise on. Abraham said, I don't want him to marry of the daughters of uh uh of the Canaanites. I I want him to find another one that's from our family, from our uh beliefs. And and he didn't want us. So that wasn't unchangeable. And and second, put a marker here in Genesis 26 and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I believe on that unchangeable list ought to be things like she has to be saved or he has to be saved. I I think you ought to have some look for somebody that not only saved but has the same desire to be in church that you do.

There are some people saved but just don't want to be in church. If you're somebody who goes to church, you ought to find somebody that goes to church regularly. Somebody wants to serve the Lord. Find somebody and make a list of things that you're not willing to compromise on. In in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses 14-18, it is be not unequally yolked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath darkness with light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with bile? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and I walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherewith, come out from among them, and be a separate, sayith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. See, he's saying here, you ought to have a a standard that you're looking for. And this ought to be unchangeable. I'm not going to date somebody who doesn't know the Lord. I'm not going to date somebody doesn't go to church. I'm not going to date somebody who doesn't do the things that I want to do. And it's not only the spiritual things, but there may be other things that are on your unchangeable, uncompromising list.

I had a good friend that he was uh he loved the outdoors and he just put he just decided, I don't want to date a girl who doesn't love being in the outdoors. I don't want to be separated every weekend. I I want to find somebody that loves what I love doing. And for him, that was an unchangeable. Now, the second list you ought to work on is the important list. these things that are they're important but not necessary but uh they do add up. Uh Proverbs 31:10 says, "Who can find a virtuous woman for prices far above rubies?" You know, this young lady that Isaac's servant went to find, there was certain things that I think were important to Isaac and the servant knew that the the first thing that was she was good to look at in Genesis chapter 24 and and going back over there, Genesis chapter 24 and verse number 16.

Genesis chapter 24 and verse number 16 it says the damsel was very fair to look upon and even Isaac thought she was beautiful as well later on in the passage as well and and and so I I I don't I don't think you should look for somebody you got to put a bag over their head the rest of their life you know you want to find somebody that you think is pretty that somebody you think is handsome uh that's important I I think good character is important this was a young lady of good character said I want somebody who's got character and this young woman She not only volunteered to give him water, but she volunteered to give all of his camels water.

Now, you got to understand, camels drink a lot of water, and he had a lot of camels. That was hard work. A and yet she had the character to do that hard work. And you ought to have uh certain characteristics that you're looking for in the person that you're going to marry. A and then it's also interesting in Genesis chapter 24 and verse number 16. Just 24 and verse number 16. It not only says that she was very fair to look upon, but she was a virgin. And and we need to realize that we live in a very promiscuous society today. And I think it's important that the person you look for, and by the way, the person that you are is somebody that is pure sexually.

And and I think that's something important to look for. Again, go to 1 Corinthians chap 6 and look at verses 11- 20. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses 11- 20. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number 11. And such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. meats for the belly and the belly for meats. But God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.

And God has both raised up the Lord and will also raise up you in his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that that which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committh fornication sinnth against his own body. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own, for you're bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit which are his. And young people, I want to challenge you that you keep pure and that you look for somebody that's a pure. And that should be on your at least your important list, if not your unchangeable list as well. I had somebody go down and buy me some u toothbrushes here and I'm going to give these toothbrushes out to some of our singles cuz I like you guys. All right. And so I'm going to go ahead and hand these out to some of you right here in the front row. So here are Brandon going to give you one. Faith. I'll give you one back there. Here you are.

Here's a toothbrush. Aren't you excited about this? Aren't you glad to get this toothbrush? All right. I'll give one over here. I've only got Whoops. That one. It's okay. 5-second rule. All right. Now, here's my point. I want you guys to save, and they got some downstairs as well, but I want you guys to save that toothbrush for the day you get married. And I want you to give it to the person you marry on your wedding day. Now, in the meantime, every girl you date, every guy you date that you're intimate with gets to use the toothbrush. Now, can you imagine if you got on your wedding day, you said to the person you're marrying, "Hey, I want to give this toothbrush.

It's been used by three other girls or three other guys, but I really want you to have it." What do you think their response would be? Then why do we think it's okay to give something even more intimate that I've shared with all these other people and say, "I want to give this intimacy to you when I've shared it with all these others." And that's why it's important to be pure and that's why it's important to have that on your list that I want to be pure and I want to find somebody that's been pure is pure also. Young ladies, you ought to look for guys that are not hooked into pornography and have not been with every girl and and that they've dated and spent time.

You know, you ought to be pure. Now, some of you may say, "Well, pastor, it's too late for that." Well, you can start today. You can start today. And that ought to be important to you in your relationship because a lot of married couples will tell you that that's hurt their relationship. And there's many ways that it'll hurt your relationship. And that's why you want to be pure. But you got to as you're waiting for the right person, make sure you're becoming that right person. We've talked about that before. But you notice what it says there. The servant said in Genesis chapter 24, go back there again.

Genesis chapter 24 and look at verses 26 and 27 says the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord and he said blessed art the Lord God of my master Abraham who had not left dust suit my master of his mercy is truth I being in the way the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren and he says that again in verse number 48 and I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother daughter unto his son. We need to be led by the Lord. And when we're in the way the Lord leads us, we're in the right place to make the right decisions, whether it's marriage or career or whatever else it is.

When you're led by the Lord and where you're where the Lord wants you to be, then you're ready to go to the next place the Lord wants you to be as well. You know the problem with a lot of people, instead of being in the way the Lord leads them, they get in the way of the Lord leading them. Did you hear that? Instead of being in the way the Lord leads them, they get in the way of the Lord leading them. And we need to make sure that we are in the way the Lord leads us because that's where God can lead us to make the right decisions. See, God's way is always the best way. In Proverbs 14:12, there's a way which seemth right unto a man, but the end thereof over the ways of death.

You may think you've got life all figured out, but you need to trust in the Lord to guide you through life and to guide you in the right way that you should go. You see, sometimes you got to realize that you can't get there from here. Wherever you're right now, if you're not where the Lord wants you to be, you're not going to get to where the Lord wants you to be tomorrow. The Bible says in Psalms chapter 37 verse number four, delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee desires of thine heart. Then verse number 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He delightth his way. If I want to be in the way the Lord leads me, I got to be in the right place to start with.

Because if I'm not in the right place I start with, I can't get to where God wants me to go. And so I got to make sure if you're looking for somebody to marry, before you can go looking for them, you got to make sure you're right. You got to be in the way which the Lord leads you so you can the Lord then can lead you to the way he wants you to go. And don't get in the way. In Proverbs 3:5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Too often we get in the way of God because we're looking to ourselves and our own wisdom and our own emotions to make the decision.

And those are all part of the decision, but I want to be in the way the Lord wants me to be. And so, whatever the decision, whatever it is in your life, let the Lord lead you in the right way by being in the way the Lord leads you. And then pray about it. This servant prayed again and again and again throughout these passages. In verse number 12 of chapter 24, it says he said, 'Oh Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day and show kindness on my master Abraham. And he prayed about what kind of girl he would find. He prayed about it. And then after he found her, he prayed again and just continued to pray over verses 27, 42, 43, 48, 52, 63.

And that's the key, folks. You've got to pray. Parents, let me challenge you. Whatever age your kids are, start praying for their spouse now. You know, those of you with married kids, you can pray for them by name. But those of you with little kids, you can pray for them even without their name because God knows their names. And you can start now praying for your children's spouse. Abraham looked at Isaac and said, "I don't want him getting the wrong kind of wife." And he started praying to God. He went to his servant. He did something about it. He didn't wait until later. And folks, you need to start now praying for your children's spouse.

And young people, you need to pray for your spouse also. All right. And married people. Genesis chapter 25. Look at verse number 51. Genesis chapter 25 and verse number 21, I'm sorry. Verse number 21. And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. One of the things that Isaac did is he prayed for his wife. And let me tell you something, the word intreated means supplication. In Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7, the Bible says, "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Do you pray for your spouse? Do you supplicate for your spouse? Do you entreat for your spouse? If you want to have a good marriage, then you need to spend time every day praying for your spouse. When I counsel couples that are having trouble, one of the things I say is you need to pray for your spouse every day. And folks, when you pray for it's not praying, hey, change them so they'll be nicer to me. That's not the way you pray for them. You're praying for their needs. You're praying for God to work in their life. You You're praying for them as individuals and and you need to start that now. In Jeremiah, um well, let me let me ask a question.

Brother Jeremy, do you pray for your wife? Good job. All right, let's get another one here. Alex, do you pray for your wife? I'm proud of you. I guess good thing. Tupin, do you pray for your wife? I know she prays for you all the time because All right, now let me ask another question here. All right, Kenny, do you pray for your wife? I don't have one. You don't have one, you can still pray for her cuz one day you're going to have you hope to have one one day. You're hoping to have one. You can start praying again. You can start praying for your wife right now. Even if you're not married, you can pray for her because what's happening in her life right now?

Pray that. Hey, this is Sunday. I'm praying that she's hearing a good sermon and God's working in her life. I'm praying. You know, you can start praying now. You don't have to wait until you're married. But if you're married, you definitely ought to be praying. In Jeremiah 29:11-13, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search me with all your heart. God knows who Kenny's going to marry one day.

And if God knows he's going to marry, couldn't he pray to God about her right now? You don't have to wait. You can do that today. And you ought to make it a habit of doing that every day. I have a my I have a prayer mate app called prayermate. It has lists and one of the lists is my wife. Her names that the the list is list says wife and in that list I have things I pray for her every day. One day I'll pray for her health. Another day I'll pray for joy. Another day I'll pray for her walk with God. Another day I'll pray for her fears in life. Uh, and one day every every once once it comes up, it's got in capital letters me because she needs prayer because she's married to me and that's that's alone by that.

But you ought to pray for your spouse every day. That ought to be a habit in your life. Isaac and treated for his wife. But the thing is when you pray, are you praying to your God? Are you praying to your God? In Matthew 22:32, it says, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. I want you to look back here at Genesis 24. Look at verse number 52. Genesis 24 and verse number 52. Says, "It came to pass that when Abraham's servant's heart servant heard their words, he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth." Now, what's interesting, every other time he prayed before that, look back at verse number 12 again, and he said, 'Oh Lord God of my master Abraham, he says that again in verse number 42.

And I came this day into the well and said, Oh Lord God of my master Abraham. You see, the servant saw him as the God of his master. But I believe by this point when we read there in verse number uh verse number 57 or 52 is that now he knew him as his God. See God needs to be your God. Not your parents' God. Not your pastor's God but your God. You need to have a personal relationship with him. In 2 Timothy 1 and verse 5, Paul wrote unto Timothy says, "When I call to remembrance the unfeign faith that is in thee, which dwelt first, thy grandmother Lois, thy mother Ununice, and I persuade thee also."

He said, he said, "You, Timothy, that personal relationship you have with God." And let me ask you, do you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ? Do you know him as your God? Do you know him in in your life? The Bible says in Romans chap 10:es 9 and 10 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In Romans 10:13, it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved."

And you need to call upon God through Jesus Christ as your God. And the prayer you need to pray, the first prayer is the prayer of salvation. The prayer to make him your God personally so you can pray to him as your heavenly father. And I wonder, do you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ as your savior? This servant started out praying to Abraham's God, but then he came to the point realized, "No, I want him to be my God." And you need him to be your God today through Jesus Christ. And notice every time what he did is he worshiped the Lord. In verse 52 again, it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard these words, he worshiped the Lord.

In John 4:22, it says, "You worship, you know not what you know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." Folks, salvation comes through Jesus Christ. And if you're going to worship God, you need to make sure you're worshiping the God of the Bible. In Matthew chapter 7, it talks about a lot of people said, "Have we not done all these marvelous works of thy names?" And he said, "Depart from me. I never knew you." Because they did not know the true God. You need to worship the true and only God. And this servant when he saw what God did, he bowed down and worshiped to him. So Isaac and Sarah Sarah, Rebecca, they teach us that we need to be willing to wait on the Lord.

And sometimes we have to wait on God. But we also understand the other thing they did is they found romance. Look at, you know, the the in Ephesians 5 20 and 29. It says, "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished it and cherished it even as the Lord the church." And we talked about that word nurse when we talk about Adam and Eve. How that that it's like taking care of the garden. You know, if a plant is dying, whose fault is it? The the farmer. And the Bible calls uh a husband a a a farmer uh the husbandman, the farmer of his family.

And and if your wife, if your spouse is dying and they're not giving you the fruit you want, then you need to do what's necessary to cultivate and nourish them so that they can give them the water they need. Give them the fertilizer they need. Help cultivate that relationship. And that's important. But it also says to cherish it. That word cherish, it means to soften by heat. It's the romance in the relationship. And I wonder, is there romance in your relationship? You know, the story of Isaac and Rebecca is kind of like a hallmark love story. You know, you look down there the end of the chapter there in verses 58-67.

You know, in verse 58, and they, you know, they're coming back and and Rebecca says, "Yes, I'll go." And they get on the camels and they're taking this long journey. And uh and when they saw when Rebecca saw him, she was uh uh she thought he was smoking hot. I mean, when she saw Isaac, she thought he was smoking hot. In fact, the Bible says that when she saw Isaac, she lighted off her camel. She was just smoking cigarettes. She was so excited to see him there. No, that's not what she was doing. But she did get so excited she jumped off the camel. I mean, it's kind of like a hallmark. Hey, who's that guy over there?

That's the guy I'm going to marry. Wow. And she jumps off her camel and she goes running towards him. And then it talks about Isaac there at the end of the chapter in verse number 67. And Isaac brought her unto his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebecca and she became his wife. And he loved her. He loved her. You know what that word loved means? It means he took her breath away. He took his breath away. She was so beautiful. It's like What a romantic story. You know what the sad thing is though? After we've been married a while, the romance kind of goes away. And married couples don't let the romance go out of your marriage.

Now, romance is not always bringing flowers and chocolate and diamonds and all the rest of it. Romance sometimes is just washing the dishes. Romance is helping out and iron your husband's uniform. is doing things for each other that shows you care. The other thing I noticed about Isaac and Rebecca, look at Genesis chapter 26 and verse number 8. They both like sports. How many of you here like sports? Raise your hand. How many here as couples like sports together? Raise your hand. Not a lot, but some do. All right. Isaiah, it's Genesis 26:8. And it came to pass when he had been there a long time that Aimilec, king of the Philistines, looked out a window and saw and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebecca his wife.

They like sports. Now, if you use your imagination a little bit, you'll understand what kind of sporting we're talking about here. Go over to Proverbs chapter 5. Proverbs chapter 5. An important part of our marriage relationship is that sporting relationship. We ought to be sports fanatics in our marriage. In Proverbs chapter 5 and beginning verse number 15, drink waters out of thine own sistern and running waters out of thy own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Let her be as a pleasant, a loving hind, a pleasant ro. Let her breast satisfy thee at all times. And be thou ravished always with her love. Why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman? and embrace the bosom of a stranger. He said, "Listen, you ought to enjoy that. That idea of being ravished is like being drunk with it. Just being a fanatic about your physical relationship as well." God designed the marriage relationship to be fun. In Hebrews 13:4, it says, "Marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled, but mongers and adulterers God will judge." Listen, folks, don't let your sex life be like be like being a Dallas Cowboy fan.

The reason why is because it's maybe next year. Maybe next year. Maybe next year. Ask Dallas Cowboy fans. See folks, God wants us to enjoy the physical relationship. And that's an important part of marriage. And when we neglect that, we are neglecting what God gave us as a beautiful gift. They enjoyed sports together. Now, not everything was perfect. Unfortunately, like father, like son with Isaac. You remember when we talked about Abraham that twice he um told his wife to tell everybody you're my sister because you're so beautiful, they'll kill me and take you away. And twice Abraham let somebody take his wife away from him.

And if God had intervened, something would have happened. And guess what? Isaac did exactly the same thing here in Genesis chapter 24. He did exactly the same thing. in in Judges 26. I'm sorry. And um you know what's interesting here to me is this. The interesting thing to me is that Isaac was not alive when his dad did that. Both times Isaac wasn't around. He didn't see his dad do that, but he still followed his dad's example. Sometimes I think parents should come with a warning label. Caution. bad parent. The Bible says in Exodus 34:7, "Keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and it will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children of the third and the fourth generation."

The word iniquity there means weakness. And here's the thing, folks. Your children are made up of your DNA. And what you struggled with is what they're going to struggle with. Isaac never saw his father deny his mom twice. Maybe he heard a story growing up, but he never saw it happen. But he did it. Why? Because he was the same makeup his dad was. And as parents, our responsibility is to try to help the next generation not to do the same dumb things that we did. to warn them. Son, I struggle with this and you're probably going to struggle with this. This is something we had to deal with and you need to deal with and we need to train up our children to be able to have the victories that we did not have in our life.

In Leviticus chapter 26 and verse 40 it says that they shall confess the iniquity their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespass which they trespass against me and that also they have walked contrary to me basically what it says there if a if a person says listen I don't want to be my dad my dad was an alcoholic he was a drunkard he was divorced he was all kinds of problems gambler I said god I don't want to be that I don't want to continue that heritage because he was following the heritage of his father. And folks, you've got to make a decision. Are you going to follow the generation before you, or are you going to make this a new generation?

We're all ultimately responsible for our own choices. If you go to Ezekiel 18, we have time to go there, you'll read in that passage that talks about the sins of the father and sins of the young people. And it says, "Listen, even though you're your father's makeup, you still have to make the right choices in your own life. You can't blame your parents for everything. Some of you gone through life blaming your parents. My parents didn't do right by me and they did this and that and that's the way I that's why I'm the way I am. But by the grace of God, you can be different. Don't make the same mistakes.

Then the other thing we can learn from Isaac and Rebecca as we close up the message is this, a lack of unity in marriage. In Ephesians 5:31 it says, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh." There needs to be unity within the marriage. And when we don't have unity, that's when we have problems in the marriage. In Ephesians chapter 4 and:es 2 and 3, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 4 2 and 3, with all loneliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of spirit in the bond of peace.

And that's so important in the marriage is to have unity. What happened is they stopped communicating and they became divided. In in first Peter chapter 3, it talks about the good conversation of the wife and that's talking about how you live, but it's also talking about communicating. And I see so many husbands and wives and this happens in my marriage as well where we stop talking to each other and instead of talking to you get mad at each other or ignore each other and and when you have a lack of communication, it'll divide your marriage. That's what happened to Isaac and Rebecca. Don't let your children ruin your marriage.

The Bible says children are inheritance of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward. But in so many marriages, we put such a priority on the kids that we're neglecting each other as husbands and wives. And that's what happened to Rebecca and Isaac. They became favoritist over the two children, the the twins that they had. And he overemphasized the physical. Isaac was a big, tough, strong hunter guy. And she over emphasized the homebody stuff. And Joseph was a homebody guy. and and and they they showed favoritism and and and Isaac stopped being the spiritual leader and um and and Rebecca tried taking that responsibility over in Ephesians 5:23 the Bible says for the husband is the head of

the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body and men a lot of your wives are take trying to take over in the home because you've defaulted your position and Isaac was not being the spiritual leader of his home doing what God had called him to do and and Rebecca thought Well, I have to do that then. And and and they and she lost respect for him because of his actions. In 1 Peter 3:7, it says, "Likewise, your husbands dwell with them according knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel as being heirs together the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered."

And she lost respect for Isaac. And and that's where all their problems began. And of course, she had all these spiritual excuses. She had, you know, when when the boys were born, God told her that one was going to rule over the other. And and so she was just trying to do God's will. And so many wives, I'm just trying to do what God wants me to do, and my husband won't do it, so I have to take over and do it. In Proverbs 14:1, it says, "Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish pluck cutth it down with her hands." There's never any good excuse for usurping God's authority. in 1 Corinthians 11:3.

But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. You know where children learn submission from their moms. And if children are not submitting to you as parents, then you better look to mom's side because that's probably where the problem's coming from. What happened is Isaac and Rebecca started trying to counterbalance each other rather than compliment each other. God gave two parents that can work together. And you might not agree on discipline and all the ways you're going to raise your kids, then come together in unity being stronger parents.

But what Rebecca and Isaac did is they went this way trying to counterbalance each other. and Rebecca thought Isaac's too too tough on Jacob and and Jacob thought Rebecca's too easy on I on on Jacob and and they were counterbalancing each other and it's constant battle who's going to who's and they'll go more you know when you have one parents the disciplinarian then the other parent says well I have to be nicer to the kids and when you have one parent that lets the kids get away with everything the other parent says I have to be the disciplinarian and rather than coming together in unity what we do is we tend to counterbalance each other and that doesn't work.

Proverbs 1:8 says, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother." The word law means to teach. Moms, you need to teach your kids. The word instruction means discipline. Dads, you need to discipline your children. Obey God. They obeyed God, but they didn't trust him. In Hebrews 11:6 is without faith is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is is that he's rewarded them that jealously seek him. If you look back in Genesis, God told Isaac, "Stay in the land." There was a famine. Isaac wanted to go to Egypt. God said, "Stay here."

They stayed there. But then what did Isaac do? Tell everybody you're my sister. He obeyed God, but he did not trust God to protect him. How often have we done that? How often have we obeyed God, but we didn't trust God? That you go on that story in Genesis chapter 26, I wish I had time to go into it. Isaac would they were kind of pushing Isaac away because of how he lied to them. Say what? They wanted to push him away and he kept digging wells and and the people kept coming after him, taking the wells away. And he and he kept digging well after well. In Proverbs 18:4, the Bible says, "The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters in the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook."

And sometimes, folks, we got to dig more than one well to get to where God wants us to be. We got to dig a little deeper. And a lot of us, we stop until we hit water before we hit water. We don't dig deep enough into the word of God. We don't dig deep enough into our character. We don't dig deep enough into our relationship. And you got to dig deep if you want what God wants for you. And Isaac finally in Genesis chapter 26 verse 24 and 25, he dug that last well, hit water and he built an altar to God. And maybe that's what you need to do in your marriage right now is you need to build an altar to God and trust him.

Maybe you singles need to start trusting God for that person for the future instead of panicking and worrying about it. Maybe married couples need to trust God and come together in unity rather than trying to counterbalance each other. In Psalms 37:es 1-4, it says, "Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and withers a green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land. Verily, thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, he shall give thee desires of thine heart." Isaac, he dwelt in the land like God commanded him to. He obeyed God, but he didn't trust God. Is that you today? Let's bow in prayer.