20230806 Genesis 26: The Grace of the Partially Sanctified Life
Genesis: Looking Back in Order to Move Ahead Spiritually • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. 19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. 25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Introduction
In the Book of Genesis we get to spend time with some remarkable people
Adam and Eve
Cain and Abel
Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Esau
But there’s a person we often forget: Isaac. Even though Gen 25:19 tells us
19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac,
Everyone else seems to overshadow Isaac: Abraham’s death, Jacob taking Esau’s birthright in chapter 25
And so, in Genesis 26 we get to spend a little bit of time with Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebekah
Now the Book of Genesis is as magnificent as it is inspired and chapter 26 is a wonderful piece of literature.
Notice in your Bible how the Holy Spirit superintended Moses’ writing of this chapter: each section of chapter 26 begins and ends with a key word or a significant place:
God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 2: Ordinary People and the Kingdom of God (Genesis 26:1–33)
Vv. 1–6 Gerar … Gerar
Vv. 7–11 wife … wife
Vv. 12–22 land … land
Vv. 23–33 Beersheba … Beersheba
The four sections of Genesis 26
In verses 1-6 we see the same problem and the same promise
- a famine like Abraham and a promise by the Lord in v4, the obedience of Abraham, the obedience of Isaac
1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
The problems are the same, the promise is the same, the obedience is the same
In verses 7-11 we see the same peril and the same protection
7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Isaac is afraid of being killed - the same peril as Abraham but the same Lord protects him - not with plagues or with threatening dreams but with Abimelech seeing Issac kiss his wife.
In verses 12-22 we see the same pressures and the same providence
Isaac becomes wealthy and there is conflict over water, but the Lord provided and gave Isaac room to be fruitful
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” 17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Then in verses 23-33 we see the same place and, most wonderfully, we see the same peace
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well. 26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
The Lord leads Isaac to Beersheba and then he leads Abimelech and his army commander to make peace with Isaac
Notice my emphasis on the word “same” - the same, the same, the same, the same
Life changes but in many ways it stays the same. Time marches on but the Lord remains the same in His promises, His protection, His providence, and His peace
The problems, the perils, the pressures, the places - the things change the more they stay the same
When I was in elementary school I wanted friends, I wanted people to like me, I wanted purpose, I wanted to know why I exist. Then high school, the college, and today
The more things change, the more they stay the same, but the Lord never changes:
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
We shouldn’t leave this morning without observing what a real place fear has in the lives of God’s people.
How very fragile we are.
Children and teens have fears; all sorts of adults have fears.
It’s not that we can never have concerns or struggles or fears, but we must pray to be faith-full, full of faith, in our fears.
I want to finish with a very important doctrine - the doctrine of sanctification
One of my heroes is RC Sproul - he was young when his father died, he came to Christ in college, he loved to laugh
When Dr. Sproul first became a Christian, he would listen to pastor R.J. Lamont as he took the train to college. One day he made an appt to see hm and when Dr Lamont entered his office he said to Dr Sproul, “What’s on your partially sanctified mind?”
In Genesis 26 we see Isaac claiming that Rebecca was his wife - this was his partially sanctified mind at work. He was redeemed but he was not perfect
The Holy Spirit produces the new birth, regeneration. Regeneration produces faith, faith produces justification. Justification is not partial. It is immediate.
c. It is bad news that our sanctification is partial, but it is real. By it the people of God are actually made holy. Sanctification begins immediately after regeneration.
d. The fruit of our sanctification is inevitable and immediate. People cannot be converted to Christ and never bring forth fruits. There are no “carnal” Christians.
e. We are not justified by the profession of faith, but the possession of faith. II. Our growth in sanctification is not a straight line. It has peaks and valleys. Sometimes we may enter very dark valleys. Maturity means the peaks and valleys are smoothed out a bit.
a. Some in the church teach perfectionism, an instantaneous infusion of God’s sanctifying grace.
b. Others believe in a “leap” corresponding to belief in certain doctrines or experiences. The error here is that one doctrine or experience cannot cause, mechanistically, a victorious Christian life.
c. It is a rare thing for a Christian to see immediate victory over some sin. Nothing happens fast. There are no three easy steps to growth.
Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
No one is completely free of temptations because the source of temptation is in ourselves. We were born in sinful desire. When one temptation passes, another is on its way. We will always have temptation because we are sinners who lost our original innocence in the Garden. Many have tried to escape temptations only to find that they more grievously fall into them.
So fixed are our spirits in slothfulness and cold indifference that we seldom overcome so much as one evil habit.
There is great asurance in knowing that the greatest theologians Sproul, Augustine, Thomas aKempis have never believed that there is a state of sinless perfection or that there is an act of instanteous sinlessness. Instead they recognize that there are ups and downs, highs and lows, moments of great faithand moments of failed faith.
But more important is that this is what Jesus believed. This is why he said come to me all you who are weak and heavy laden. This is why he offers us his grace and his peace.
We may continually rest in the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus, who through his perfect obedience and substitutionary death grants us eternal life despite our ups and downs, our imperfections, and our struggles. Because in Christ we have the promise that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ
HE WHO KNEW NO SIN BECAME SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Grace Be with You: Benedictions from Dale Ralph Davis (1)
The Lord answer you in the day of trouble.
The name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May He send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. Amen.
INTRODUCTION When someone has been justified by faith in Christ, the transformative work of sanctification begins. In this lesson, Dr. Sproul discusses the path of sanctification in the Christian life and the impact that it has for believers’ growth in grace. MESSAGE OVERVIEW I. Sanctification is partial, but real. a. When Dr. Sproul first became a Christian, he would listen to R.J. Lamont as he drove. “What’s on your partially sanctified mind?” b. Justification is not partial. It is immediate. c. It is bad news that our sanctification is partial, but it is real. By it the people of God are actually made holy. Sanctification begins immediately after regeneration. d. The fruit of our sanctification is inevitable and immediate. People cannot be converted to Christ and never bring forth fruits. There are no “carnal” Christians. e. We are not justified by the profession of faith, but the possession of faith. II. Our growth in sanctification is not a straight line. It has peaks and valleys. Sometimes we may enter very dark valleys. Maturity means the peaks and valleys are smoothed out a bit. a. Some in the church teach perfectionism, an instantaneous infusion of God’s sanctifying grace. b. Others believe in a “leap” corresponding to belief in certain doctrines or experiences. The error here is that one doctrine or experience cannot cause, mechanistically, a victorious Christian life. c. It is a rare thing for a Christian to see immediate victory over some sin. Nothing happens fast. There are no three easy steps to growth. Sanctification 133 d. In Philippians 2:12–13, Paul says we should work out our own salvation, but that God is working with us even more so. e. Note that “fear and trembling” is a real part of the work of sanctification. f. Sanctification is a cooperative process. It is synergistic, not monergistic. We are active at some points and passive at others. III. The errors of activism and quietism are evident in the theology of sanctification today. a. Being active without embracing activism is as simple as not being a legalist. Self-righteousness is the danger here, and activism teaches a self-reliance that is deadly. b. Quietism says that we should “Let go and let God.” There are times to be passive and depend upon God, no doubt. But the teaching that we can offer nothing to the work of sanctification is deadly. c. Antinomianism and legalism are also distortions of the doctrine of sanctification. The legalist legislates where God has given us freedom. The antinomian gives freedom where God has given real direction. But we may not create new laws and we may not ignore the ones He plainly has given. d. Avoiding these errors will go far to aid our sanctification. STUDY QUESTIONS 1. In this life, what is sanctification? a. Futile b. Complete c. Partial d. Effortless 2. Because sinless perfection is impossible, it is possible to be a “carnal Christian.” a. True b. False 3. What is the error of thinking that says we can contribute nothing to our sanctification? a. Quietism b. Activism c. Antinomianism d. Perfectionism 4. While the legalist gives commands where God gives freedom, what does the antinomian give where God gives direction? a. Commands b. Freedom c. Scripture d. Tradition 134 Foundations 5. What should be the response of the Christian to the law of God? a. To love it b. To flee from it c. To add to it d. To rewrite it 6. What heresy teaches that Christians can accomplish their sanctification by themselves? a. Quietism b. Legalism c. Activism d. Antinomianism DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is perfectionism? Is this doctrine dangerous? Why or why not? 2. What is quietism? 3. What is activism? 4. What is the difference between antinomianism and legalism? Why are both of these errors harmful to the body of Christ?
1. Sanctification is a process. In this life, we are partially sanctified as we are being sanctified daily. God is constantly conforming us to the image of His Son, and He will continue to do so until we see Him face-to-face. Only then will we be fully sanctified. 2. Though perfection is not attainable this side of eternity, all true Christians bear fruit. Carnal Christianity—faith without sanctification—is a contradiction in terms. 3. Quietism is the view that sanctification is a monergistic work of God alone, and that we do not contribute anything to our sanctification. 4. We cannot add to the law where God has not spoken (contrary to the legalist) and we cannot ignore God’s commands where He has clearly spoken (contrary to the antinomian). 5. The godly person, though he understands he is no longer in bondage to the law, still loves the law of God and meditates on it day and night. This is because he discovers what is pleasing to God and what reflects His character in the law. 6. Activism is the heresy of self-righteousness where sanctification is seen as something that people achieve in themselves, by themselves. This is a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” spiritual mentality that is not aided by the grace of God.
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