WELLS OF OUR FATHERS (01.09.05 AM)
GENESIS 26. 12 - 25
We have began this new year. Many good things have already happened to us in this year, & I am sure that God has many more great things in store for us. If you have watched any television, you have noticed that everyone is announcing the NEW AND IMPROVED what ever it is. Our society is encapsulated by new things. We want the newest, most recent, most improved things that we can get. However, let me caution you to be careful when embracing the idea that new is better, that the new improved whatever is better, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. If you go to the local bookstore, you will find a virtually innumerable amount of books that claim to have the newest, latest, & best ideas about spirituality. I think we should be like Isaac & go back to the places our fathers went. The bible tells us that Isaac went & dug the wells of his father. We should do the same. Let’s dig the wells of our fathers in our spiritual lives.
Looking at the text, we see that Isaac had done quite well. The Lord had prospered him and he had reaped one hundred fold. Vs. 13 tells us that he became very great. This is important b/c it tells us that no matter how much we prosper, no matter how great we might become, there are things that we need to re-visit in our lives.
One of the keys to this passage is in vs. 18 - the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. The philistines are a type and shadow of Satan. There are many wells of our fathers that Satan has stopped up. There are things from our fathers that Satan tells us are of no value, are out-dated, are no longer of any use to us. But, if we will dig these wells again, we, like Isaac, will find that there is sustenance & life giving water to be found in them.
The There are four types of wells mentioned in the text that fall into three categories.
1) VS. 18. WELLS OF OUR FATHERS.
* The well of prayer - seasons of prayer, sincere prayer, spirit-filled prayer, solemn prayer
* The well of fasting - for spiritual breakthrough, for the lost, for revival, for a specific need.
* The well of worship - in order to worship, we must first be prepared. You cannot worship if you are living a life characterized by sin. You must come before the throne, be cleaned, & go on in your life. true, genuine, Holy Ghost filled worship. Not 10 - 12 on Sunday morning, not simply three services per week, but a lifestyle of worship, culminating in a time of rejoicing & celebration w/ those who are like-minded in a weekly meeting. Unrestrained by what others will think, unaffected by the societal understanding of what worship should be.
* The well of the altar - there are far too many people that do not respond to leading of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Spirit urges you to go pray, the Spirit places a burden on your heart, & we do not go pray. It is a form of worship.
* The well of brotherhood - when other Christians have a need, we should have a need. If there are those who need to go to the altar, we should not be ashamed to go w/ them. If it is our brother or sister in Christ, we should be willing to pray w/ them about their need. We should be ringing the prayer bells of Heaven when one of our own is in need.
* The well of witnessing - those who have gone before us were those who would witness to the lost. We should do the same. It does not take a bible scholar to witness. It is not our responsibility to save people, it is our responsibility to be obedient to the command to share the gospel. We cannot expect the lost to just show up at church. They do that sometimes, but we are to go to them. The devil has clouded their mind as to their need for salvation, & it is our responsibility as a child of God to go to them & demonstrate a true love for them & their need for a Savior.
* The well of personal purity - desensitization, standing up for what is right regardless of consequences in this world.
2) VS. 20, 21 - THE WELLS OF REMEMBRANCE.
* As Isaac & his herdsmen were digging the wells, the herdsmen of Gerar fought against them claiming that the water belonged to them. Isaac named the well Esek, to denote the striving that existed in the well. In our lives, we need to remember the strife that we have faced & how God has delivered us from it. How that through the blood of Christ we have overcome.
* We also need to remember the strife that faced our Savior while He walked upon the face of the earth. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, & the Jewish leaders were constantly giving Him strife. Our life should be one of remembrance. Let us never forget the strife that our Lord & Savior faced on this earth on our behalf.
* The next well that was dug by Isaac also was met w/ strife. A strife that demonstrated to Isaac that there was enmity between he & Gerar. He named that well Sitnah to memorialize that enmity that was present. In our lives, we should remember that there is enmity between the child of God & the devil & his wicked crowd.
* If Satan never bothers you, never tempts you, never threatens you, then you need to take a close look at your profession of salvation. Satan will not attempt to cause someone to stumble in the Christian race if they are not a Christian. It should be of great comfort to us that Satan is mad at us. The child of God has embraced Christ as their Savior & are eternally secure in the grip of grace. Satan knows that he cannot take away our salvation, but he will attempt to steal our joy. In genesis, God told the serpent that there would be enmity between him & the seed of the woman; that seed being Christ & those who would believe on Him.
3) VS. 22. THE WELL OF SALVATION.
* Rehoboth means - made it so we can stay. Isaac called this well Rehoboth b/c the Lord had made it so that he & his family could stay in the land.
* The typological meaning of this is tremendous. What God did at Calvary so many years ago made room for each & every person in Heaven. God made it possible for all people, regardless of race, sex, education, wealth, or lineage, to be accepted as a child of God through the blood of His dear Son.
* There is room at the cross for each & every person. When we stand at the cross, we stand on level ground. There is no place that is reserved for the great of society, there is no place that is set aside for the best educated. There is no place that is less important. At the cross, we are all the same. It does not matter if you, by society’s standards, have done very little wrong, or if you, by those same standards, are totally reprobate. In God’s eyes, sin is sin. All have sinned & come short of the glory of God, & all are made acceptable by the blood of Christ.
* This well is one that we cannot earn. It is not something that we can fight for, it must be given to us. We must only receive the room that has been provided for us, & accept the offer of staying.
Many of these wells have been stopped up by Satan & his demonic influence in today¡¦s society. They have been stopped up in order to steal our strength, to rob us of blessings, to take away our joy. These wells are wells that need to be dug by us in our lives. It is time for blood bought, Holy Spirit wrought, bible taught Christians to grab our shovels & begin to dig these wells again.
