Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #21 of Genesis, chapter 26, and we are reading Genesis 26:23-33:

And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And JEHOVAH 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. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of JEHOVAH, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that JEHOVAH was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of JEHOVAH. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

I will stop reading there.  Last time we were looking at verse 24 and the statement: “And JEHOVAH 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.”  We took a little time to go to a few verses, and we saw that when God says, “Fear not,” oftentimes, He will join it together, exactly as He did here, with the encouraging news, “For I am with thee.”  That is, He is saying, “Do not fear for God is with you.”  And that is Immanuel, which is one of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ, which means “God with us,” and, therefore, we will not fear what man may do unto us.

But not only is God with us, but He will help us.  You know, that is a key thing.  We saw it in Hebrews 13:5-6:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

We also saw this in Psalm 46.  And, yes, I know we read these verses before, but it is so encouraging, why not read them again?

It says in Psalm 46:1-2:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

That is, even in the most severe circumstances and the most catastrophic events imaginable (whether they be physical or spiritual), and even during the Day of Judgment, God’s people have a help.  We have a helper, and it is God Himself and, therefore, we will not fear.

And there is much to fear in the world – circumstances can appear threatening.  There are many dangers.  Man’s evil is spreading across the face of the earth like never before.  At the close of our last study, I just wanted us to stop and think a little bit about what it is that we actually fear about man.  It will be different for different people.  Someone might say, “I have a tendency to fear in this area,” and that might be physical violence, crimes, verbal abuse, or other things people say or do.  And it can be thousands of things and, yet, when we look at it, it all comes from the fact that man is a sinner – desperately wicked, and deceitful above all things.  That is the nature of his heart and, therefore, we really cannot trust men, can we?  You really cannot trust people.  People will do things that are evil and wicked and terrible.  We hear about the things that are done because it is everywhere in the world, with the electronic medium, we hear reports from all over the earth.  And, rarely, is it good news.  Over 99% of the time, it is the most awful news imaginable, as we hear of depraved acts where the depths of depravity are striking and terrifying.  We know these people are all around us, and they could be anywhere, so it may begin to work on a person’s mind, and he may develop a fear of man.  But God says, “No.” 

First, if we are hearing all these reports – and we are – it  would be wise for us to stop receiving and monitoring these reports and to stop allowing them into our minds and before our eyes.  The Bible does tell us to be “babes in evil.”  Why be concerned with these things and be troubled about these things, when there is nothing we can do about it?  That would be the first thing.  “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report … think on these things.”  So we really should turn our attention away from these terrible, ugly and sinful things in the world and turn to the Word of God, the Bible, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  And that will be a big help in itself.

Also, we an go to God and say, “O, Lord, help me in living in this world that has been given over to these ugly sins that are everywhere.  Help me, O, Lord, not to fear man, but to fear you, and not waste fear upon man.”  Man is nothing to be accounted of, as I think God says in Isaiah 2:22:

Cease ye from man…

And to “cease” means “to stop.”  Is that not an interesting way to put it?  Again, it says in Isaiah 2:22:

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Why be concerned with the “creature” man?  The reference to “breath in his nostrils” is a clue from God, as God is letting us know that He is the one that put the breath in his nostrils and life in his physical body that allow him to live to the next instant or to the next day, or however long he lives.  And are you going to waste your fears, your fretting and your troubled mind over his opinions of you or the possible dangers or threats you might face from man?  What is man that he should be accounted of?  The Apostle Paul looked at this and, by God’s grace, considered this, and was moved to write in 1Corinthians 4:1:

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

This statement lets us know that this is especially – and only – for God’s elect.  Only God’s elect are “stewards of the mysteries of God,” because the mysteries are the hidden things and the deep-down truths that God has hidden in parables throughout the Bible.  The churches are not good stewards of them.  They are mostly unaware of them, and they teach contrary to them.  Even their hermeneutic for studying the Bible prevents their followers from coming to the knowledge of these (spiritual) things.  So we can be sure that God is speaking directly to the elect child of God, who are the only stewards of the mysteries of God, especially at this time of the end.  Who else is going to be a steward of the doctrines that the Lord has opened up, since one of those mysteries that was revealed is the doctrine of the end of the church age?  Are the churches going to take good care of that information?  No way – they labeled it as heresy, and they got away from it as soon as possible.

It goes on to say in 1Corinthians 4:2:

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

This is a requirement as we come to the Bible.  As God’s people, we must be faithful, whether it be the smallest of doctrines or the greatest of doctrines (and everything in between).   We cannot dismiss a doctrine and say, “Well, that is not really too important.  We will just concentrate on the really important things of the Gospel.”  And that is the deceitful language some use as they seek to avoid strife.  But when the Bible tells us not to strive, it is not telling us to submit to the enemies of the Word of God who attack it on every point.  They will attack every jot and tittle.  They will attack every word.  They will come against it and try to make it say what it does not say.  They will certainly attack the right spiritual understanding of the Word of God, the Bible.  They will assail without end, and they will come against it from the front, back and in between.

You know, if the enemies of the Word of God, the Bible, and the enemies of the true doctrines of Christ are willing to attack every little thing, as well as every big thing, then that tells us all we need to know.   If it is worthy of the enemies of the kingdom of God to assault, then it is worthy of God’s stewards to attain and to uphold.  So we do so, but we do so without striving.  And when the attacks come, we address them on this point or on that point, or on any point: “This is what the Bible says.”  And, maybe, we have to tell them a second time or a third time, but after the third admonition, we have to say, “I am sorry.  I cannot talk to you any more about this because you are not listening, and you are not coming to the Bible in a proper way.”  So it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and not just in the major doctrines, but in everything that God has revealed, whether it be concerning the end of the church age, or Judgment Day beginning on May 21, 2011, or the Sunday Sabbath, or that there is not to be divorce and remarriage, and so forth. 

It goes on to say in 1Corinthians 4:3:

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

The context of a faithful steward of God’s mysteries is they key that helps us to understand that when we are obedient and faithful men ( a true man without guile, as the Lord said of Nathaniel), and when we are upholding the things that the Lord has graciously and kindly opened to our eyes of understanding, there will be assaults.  They will come against us and, often, the attacks of natural men are not “honorable,” to say the least.  They are not Bereans that search the Scriptures to see if these things are so.  They are of another spiritual father, as natural men.  Their father is the Devil.  That is what the Lord said to unsaved Jews of His day.  And they will lie like their father, the Devil, because they are unable to perceive the truth, and they prefer the lie over the truth, as a matter of fact, and they will not believe the truth, precisely because it is the truth.  That is what Jesus said in John 8:45:  “And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”  

That is the very reason.  Because it is the truth, that is what makes the natural-minded individual reject it.  He has a deceitful heart.  It is the nature of his heart to lie and, therefore, he is drawn to the lie, just as God’s elect are drawn to the truth.  So he will lie, and not even know he is lying.  He may think he is holding the traditions of the fathers or the teaching of the Reformers.  He is upholding his favorite theologian’s positions, and he believes that these things are the pillar and ground of the truth.  But these things are all nonsense.  They are all lies from the imagination of men and from his own imagination, and because he is of a different spirit, he will come in battle over the Word of God and use the Scriptures as a battleground, but his battle tactics are very different from the child of God’s battle tactics.  We follow what the Lord tells us to do.  We are not to hate our enemies.  We are not to revile them.  Remember that the Lord in the Person of Michael would not revile the Devil when the Devil was disputing about the body of Moses.  We are not to strive.  We are not to attack the character or personality of the one we are in a discussion with, because that is not the nature of God’s people.   We will say, “This is what the Bible teaches,” and we will share things that God has given us eyes to see, and when we are making Biblical statements, it is very probable that the other person will feel judged, because the Word of God does judge.  The Word is a twoedged sword, and one of the edges cuts to judgment, so they may feel judged and lash out even more. 

And that is what Paul was saying, as he had experienced it.  Just read further in Corinthians, and you will see how many times he was beaten with stripes and stoned.  Why?  It was all over doctrine.  The trouble that he had was because God had revealed a mystery to him, like the mystery of the Gentiles coming in, or the mystery that Jesus was the Messiah and God in the flesh.  And he proclaimed it.  If he would have kept his mouth shut, he would have had no trouble with his fellow Jews.  He could have lived on in harmony with them, but that cannot be done.  God reveals truth to His people in order that they will proclaim it and speak it, and when they speak it, there will be response.  There will be tribulation for the Word’s sake, and that is the reason for his statement, which I will read again: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.”  It is a very small thing.  We have to acknowledge that it is a thing – it is something when men rise up and, perhaps, join forces, and in unison they say, “You are a false prophet!  You are a liar!”  These forces can be in the thousands or even tens of thousands.  It seems like everyone in the churches and in the world have joined hands in agreement.  There is a “force.”  It is like a power that is very hard to resist.  It is the idea of behind peer pressure.  You are in a room and everybody else in the room is in agreement, and you are the lone dissenter.  You are the one that does not agree with them, and all those eyes are looking at you, and all those tongues are wagging at you.  There is definitely a “power” in that. 

It is like in Babylon, regarding Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when the king commanded that at the time the musical instruments were played, all were to bow down and worship (the image).  And all did so, except for those three young men.  Wow!  It is a force that the natural people of the world find irresistible.  They must bow the knee to their fellow man when the numbers are great, and they find it almost impossible to resist the “push” toward doing what the majority wills them to do.  It is the reason we read this in 1Peter, in 1Peter 4:1-5:

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

You see, in these verses it is called living “the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men.”  What does it mean to “live to…the lusts of men”?  It means that your standard for living and, therefore, the things that you will or will not do, is modulated by the lusts of men or societal norms and what the people around you think, believe and say, as they reach consensus on things such as gay marriage, transgender issues, abortion, or the fact that nothing happened on May 21, 2011, and so on.  Whatever it may be, the world arrives at its position, teaching or doctrine, and it can be very difficult to go contrary to it.  In verse 3, it is also called “the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.”  We are accustomed, as Christians that read the Bible, to the “will of God.”  What is the will of God for our lives?  The will of God is found in the Bible and, yet, over against that and contrary to it, is the will of the Gentiles.  And the word “Gentiles” is the word “nations.”  It is the will of the nations, and nations are made up of people, so it is the will of mankind – unsaved, unregenerate mankind or natural-minded men.  We know what it is, especially those of us that were in the world and unsaved for a while.  We are very much aware what the will of the Gentiles is, and it is why we would never have dreamed in our youth that we would walk around with a Bible.  Why would we not walk around with a Bible?  Because that goes against the will of the Gentiles.  Why would we not wear a shirt with a Bible verse on it?  After all, we can wear a shirt with sports teams on it, or any kind of stupid expression, so why would we not wear a shirt with a Bible verse?  Because that goes against the will of the Gentiles.  We know the things of God and the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, and just the name of Christ will get “an eyeroll” from the world.  That will get a response like, “Holy rollers!”  That is, the will of the Gentiles would be made known: “Keep away from overstepping our bounds, and going too far, or you will be labeled.  You will be called something that will make you an outcast.”  And that is a fearful thing, like the Jews feared being put out of the synagogues.  People of the world fear the will of their fellow man.  And this all gets into what God is saying when He says, “Fear not, for I am with you, and I will help you.”