Good morning. Genesis 25. Now this chapter provides a few details at the close of Abraham's life. And what he does is he sets his household in order and then he gives up the ghost and he dies in a good old age. And now this chapter tells us of another concubine another concubine that Abraham had taken. And her name was Keturah. And we're not told specifically when he took her as his wife. It seems chronologically from when they put it here that it was after the death of Sarah. But we're not necessarily told that. A lot of times in the scriptures, the writer will finish a whole thought without interrupting with little details. And then they come back. when it's relevant, they'll come back and add some things that we should know at that time. And this is the time to know that. This is the time. Now it's appropriate because it's highlighting the difference between the sons of Abraham and Isaac. his son. It's putting a difference. It's highlighting for us that God has made a distinction between all the other sons of Abraham and this one son, Isaac. Why? Because the promise of God to Abraham was that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. In Isaac, all the promises would be fulfilled through his lineage, in him. And so Abraham sets his household in order and he dies and our attention now is turning and staying with Isaac. Now this is made very clear in this chapter that going forward we're going to be looking at Isaac. So let's read the first five verses. Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jochshon, Midan, and Midium, and Ishbak, and Shua. And there's six sons. Six sons. Every time I see that number six, I always think of that is man. That's the number of man. He comes short of perfection. The number seven is complete and perfection. And man was created on the sixth day, and man fell, and he always comes up short of perfection. And here's these six sons according to the flesh. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Man is not perfect in himself. He's incomplete. He's a sinner. He's fallen in Adam. And then you take Jokshin, who begat Sheba and Dedan. And then they tell us three sons of Dedan, which were Asherim, Latushim, and Leumim. There's another six. And then the sons of Midium, Ephah and Ephur, and Hanak, and Abida, and Eldah. All these were the children of Ketorah. And then it says this. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. So we're told of all these children, but stamped at the end of that, boom, everything was given to Isaac. What about all these other children? Everything was given to Isaac. And then you include Ishmael in there, and there's eight sons in all from three different women, but only one son was given all that Abraham had. Now, we'll come back to that in a moment, that all there. Look at verse six. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, and so that's plural, That means more than one concubine, because some have said that this Keturah was Hagar, but it says concubines. Hagar and Keturah, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward unto the east country. Well, what is this east country? Who are these men now? Well, they came to be called the children of the east. Children of the East. Now turn over to Judges 6. I just want to show you some things from these Children of the East and what this signifies to us. Judges chapter 6. Judges comes after the first five books of Moses and then Joshua and then Judges. Judges 6 and we're going to pick up in verse 33. Then all the Midianites, that's Midian, one of the sons of Keturah. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. So these are enemies. These sons of Keturah, they became the enemies of the people of Israel who were of the posterity. of the lineage of Isaac. And they made war with Israel throughout their history. They made war. They're the enemies of Israel. They're the enemies of the people of God. And these children of the East, they picture a number of sinful things to us. They picture worldliness. They picture this flesh, this carnal, wicked flesh. And the East pictures false religion. That's where, when you look at the East, there's all manner of false, idolatrous, wicked, fleshly religion. The doctrine of devils and of the imagination of man's heart is seen just flowing from the East. You think of the religions from the East, and it's very corrupt. It's very wicked. It's a plurality of gods. And in the West, the Lord has has established more of a foundation of one God, of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the true and living God, which is revealed unto us in the face of Jesus Christ, of Christ. And so these children of the East, they picture false religion. They picture fleshliness and and in this world. Now look at Judges 6 verse 3 and here's a description of what these children of the east, these sons of Abraham from Keturah, what they did. And so it was when Israel had sown, when they planted their grains, whether it was wheat or barley or rye or spelt or something like that, they planted their food that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the East, even they came up against them. And they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth till thou come unto Gaza and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass." And so that's a description of false religion. That's what false religion does. To you, that would embrace the lies and embrace false religion. It destroys the sustenance and worldliness. It destroys the sustenance. You're not going to find any righteousness in false religion. You're going to be left hungering and thirsting for righteousness, because that is found in Christ alone. That's given to the people of God in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And so this is describing what false religion and worldliness does to anyone that embraces it and trusts it and puts their hope and confidence in it. Our hope as believers is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse five. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels were without number. and they entered into the land to destroy it. That is the effects of dead letter worldly religion without Christ. Whatever it is. whether it comes from the East, or even it's called Christianity. If it's without Christ, if all your hope is not the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, it's dead letter religion, and it destroys and defiles, and there's no righteousness in it. No righteousness in it. And we've recently gone through Genesis 24. And that's where the father sent out a servant with his riches to seek a bride for his son, his son Isaac. And we're told back in Genesis 24, verse 10. You can leave judges now. Back there in 2410, that the servant took 10 camels of the camels of his master. And we saw that was a picture. of the strength, of the blessings, of the provision of God for his people in seeking the bride for his son, Jesus Christ. All right, those camels picture the provision and the blessings of God given to us in Christ. And that servant went with that provision, the strength of those 10 camels, just 10 camels, and goes through the wilderness And it carries those riches seeking the bride, the bride for the son. And then she heard that word and she received that word being blessed of the Holy Ghost. That's what the Lord does for his people. He blesses the word to the heart of his people by the Holy Ghost. And we hear that and Rebecca was adorned Two bracelets of gold were put on her wrists and a jewel was placed on her forehead as an adorning of the bride of Isaac. Just as we are adorned with the riches of the gospel, the fruits of the Spirit are born in us who were dead and made alive by Christ. She was excited, she received it, she believed the word, seeing the treasures and the riches on those camels that were born. And she went with that servant back through the wilderness on those same camels that carried her through the wilderness to the waiting arms of her husband. And that's a picture of the gospel, how the Lord blesses his people richly. in the gospel. We rejoice in what Christ has done. This is our treasure, our hope. We believe that word and it carries us through the wilderness of this world to the waiting arms of our Savior. who provided all this for us, all this for us. And so there's his camels. And then back up, well, we left judges. But in verse 5, it says that that vain dead religion, that love of this world, comes with their camels without number. And they enter into the land for one purpose, to trample down and destroy the sustenance, to ruin it, to eradicate righteousness from the land. And they come with all their strength and everything, and it shows us we can't defeat them. We need a savior. And that's what God did in Judges 6 there. He raised up a judge, Gideon. And Gideon, by Gideon he destroyed and overthrew the enemy. Again, a picture of Christ. The world and false religion comes with a multitude of camels. When the furnace is open, it's just a fine mist of black dust just permeating everything, just full of lies and hypocrisy. And yet the Lord will not be denied the salvation of his people. He shall save them. There will be this gospel, this simple good news triumphing over all the works of evil. In our text it says Abraham gave them gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son. But Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. And it's a picture. It shows us how that God who created all things All right, everything lives and moves and has its being by our creator, God and creator. And he provides for that which he's created. He gives the sun and the rain. Matthew, he said, you've heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. that ye may be the children of your father, which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. When we heard the gospel and when he made his gospel word effectual in our hearts, we were enemies in our minds and our hearts against God. And yet he blessed that provision unto us. And so we don't know who we're talking to in the world, even though they're an enemy today, the Lord may use his, he may bless them. and open a door to preach the word and save them and deliver them the same way he delivered you and I out of darkness and give us life in himself. So Abraham, he gave them a temporal provision, just a temporal gift. That's all that these things were, what he did not give them was the covenant blessings. That was given to Isaac. And that's what's meant in verse 5, and Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. Well, he couldn't have given every piece of gold and ointment or spices that he had. He gave some to the others. So what is that all? That all is taking in the covenant blessings which was given to Isaac and not to these other sons at all. And so that's the focus of this all. It's not temporary riches. Isaac certainly did receive the lion's share of, he received a worthy portion, a double portion of Abraham's riches. He got everything, the tents, the men servants, maid servants, the cattle, the riches, the spices, everything he had except for a few things. But the emphasis there is on the precious everlasting truths, the promises of God made unto Abraham. that in Isaac shall thy seed be blessed. Shall thy seed come, the promised seed. And so Abraham, or Isaac rather, was given the promise of the land, but he didn't receive it just like his father Abraham. He looked for that. Jacob didn't receive it either. Neither did the 12 sons of Jacob. They never received that land, but they had the promise. Because they looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They looked for that heavenly city. And in Isaac, he received the promised seed of woman that the Messiah would come through his loins, through his lineage. And Isaac would be given that same gift of faith that Abraham was given by God. What gift is that? The gift of faith. The gift of faith. He received that as well. It says this, that, what sayeth the scriptures? Paul says in Romans 4.3, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Isaac believed God and he received that same precious gift of faith whereby he believed God and God imputed righteousness unto him. Graciously, by grace, without his works, without him doing anything, God graciously imputed the righteousness of Christ to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to his twelve sons, and that same blessing is our blessing who believe Christ. God has imputed righteousness to us, not because of our works, not because we're better than anyone else, but because God chose to be gracious unto us in His darling Son, and He gave us to Christ before the foundation of the world. And Christ came graciously, willingly, in the flesh, made like unto His brethren, and suffered and died to put away the sin of His people. And He accomplished that redemption. And all the blessings that we have are not gained by our hand. They're given freely by Christ. He gained it. He earned it for us. He did everything, everything for us. And so we that believe, brethren, are brethren, brethren with Isaac. As Isaac was, we are the children of promise. Paul says in Galatians 3 verse 26, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And then again in verse 29, if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So these blessings, these precious, precious blessings that go far beyond carnal earthly riches are the promises of God made unto us, given to us in Christ. And that's our inheritance, an eternal inheritance which neither moth nor rust can destroy, and thieves cannot break in and take it. All the camels of the world could come trampling through here, and they still will not take away that promise that we've been given in Christ. The hope of eternal life. The hope of eternal life in our Savior. So, as mentioned earlier, this chapter is making clear that the narrative is staying with Isaac. It's staying with Isaac. Our focus is gonna be going from Abraham to Isaac. Why? Because in him, shall the seed come and all the scriptures are teaching us of Christ. They're all given to bring us to Christ. He is the salvation of his people. You cannot be saved apart from Christ. Without Christ, there is no salvation. There's no other righteousness in any other. He is the name given to us under heaven by which we must be saved. God has given us Christ Jesus alone. He said to the Jews, search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. That's what we do by nature. We look into this word as a how-to manual, how to get myself saved, how to earn the blessings of God and the favor of God. That's not what this is. This is a book declaring Christ by whom we hear how He saved us, what He did to obtain eternal redemption for His people. Not what you and I need to do. We can't do anything except ruin it. That's what we do. But Christ is the successful Savior, and He finished the work, and He blesses His people. And we're blessed and fed in Him. And we don't want for any other righteousness. There is no other righteousness. They just trample and ruin and destroy that which was planted. if they can, if God permitted. But thanks be to God, he has not allowed it. He saves us by this precious gospel. Now we're told that it's all of Christ. So we see in Isaac a picture of our Lord, of Christ. Listen, or you can turn to Colossians chapter one, Colossians one and verse 16. We see that all things were given by the Father to His Son. All things are for Him and by Him. Colossians 1 verse 16 For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For please the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. The Father has given everything to his Son. And just as we see the preeminence of Isaac who is preferred before all his brethren, so Christ is the preeminent one. All things are in his hand. He is the last Adam. in whom we stand and have our eternal inheritance. We're not standing in that body of sin in Adam anymore. We're delivered from that body of sin. We're delivered from that judgment. We're not under the covenant of works anymore. We're in the body of Christ. What a joy that is. And we stand in Christ, our head's inheritance. We stand complete in Him. And He shall not fail. He cannot fail. He is Almighty God. He is the Savior of His people who triumphed gloriously over all our enemies, putting down and destroying their camels, frustrating all the wickedness that they would work in us. He delivers us time and time and time and time again. And He shall not fail. He shall deliver us unto the Father in that day. Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me. None of them is lost. None of them is lost. Now, another thing we see while if you're in Colossians, turn over to John 3. John chapter 3. Here's the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Christ. John chapter 3 in verse 31. This is his testimony, John the Baptist's testimony of Christ. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth. He is a faithful, faithful servant of the Father. Faithful servant. And no man receiveth his testimony. That's just fact. No man, by nature, receives the testimony of Christ. Look at the next verse. He that hath received his testimony hath said to his seal that God is true. So what the Lord's saying there is, by nature, you and I will not turn to Christ. We will not receive his word and believe him. But you that do, God has done that. That's what he's saying there. God's made the distinction. God graciously turned your wicked heart and brought you out of darkness into light to behold, to believe Christ, to receive him. Because no man receives them, but if you do receive them, it's by God's grace and power. It's by his, it's his glory. For he, verse 34, whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. The father loveth the son, and hath given all things into his hand. Just like we see with Abraham giving it to Isaac, all is given to him. All is in the hand of Christ. Everything necessary is done in Him. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. It's not Christ plus. Salvation is not Christ plus, what you and I do or don't do. It's Christ and Christ alone. And he that hath the Son and is trusting Him alone, you have life. You have life. You shall not come short of that which you seek in Christ. But you that would come with Christ, plus your works, plus these other religions, plus trusting all these other things that you're doing, thinking you're doing something, you don't have the sun, he says. And you don't have life. And you'll come short of that which you seek. You will be ashamed in that day. But you that trust Christ, you shall not be ashamed. You shall not be ashamed in that day. You have life right now in Jesus Christ. Now, and then one last thing is, Abraham sent those other sons away. Thanks be to God who did not send you away from his son because Christ has all. He's all and is all and has everything that we need. And we weren't sent away by the father. Bless God, praise God, you that believe him. Because that's the grace of God that has done that for you. Now, let me show you one more thing. Go back to Genesis 25. One last thing here. Let's read verses 7 through 10. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, and 103 score and 15 years. A score is 20 years. So that's 175 years he lived. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man, full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre. The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth, there was Abraham buried and Sarah his wife. And so here we are back at that grave, which was purchased by Abraham for his wife, Sarah. And we saw that's a picture of the purchased burying place by the husband for his wife. And what is our burying place? Christ, who paid the price, the demanded price for our life. Christ laid down his life. He purchased a burying place for you and me that believe Christ, the bride of Christ, his wife. And we were buried with him, we died with him, and we're buried with him, and we rose again. When he rose from the dead, we rose from the dead. It's done, brethren. There's nothing stopping it. You're seated right now in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, right now with him. It's done. Nothing, nothing can stop that. You're his, and you're his. So there's that burying place, but there's also a picture here of what we, look for. We know that when Christ returns we shall be raised from the dead. Right now this flesh is a trouble to us. Right now this flesh is an enemy. The closest enemy we have is this flesh. It's corrupt. It's vile. It's dead. It doesn't receive the things of the Lord. We walk by faith in the new man. In the new man, that's what's in us of Christ. That's the down payment you've received of your eternal inheritance. The Spirit of God has given you life in the new man. of the incorruptible seed of Christ. But here's this picture. Who's burying Abraham there? His sons Isaac and Ishmael. And Ishmael is a picture of this flesh. He was first born. He was born before Isaac. He's fleshly and of the earth. And he's that enemy that would trouble, that persecuted Isaac and troubled him. But there he is with Isaac, a picture of the new man, the grace of God. and they're burying their father. In other words, when we die, this flesh will be buried and the new man, but the soul will go and immediately be with the Lord forever. And then at our Lord's return, we shall be raised up with a body like unto our Savior's body. For we shall see him as he is, and we shall be transformed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Paul says, and we shall be forever with the Lord. And so it's laid in the grave now, it'll be laid in the grave. These bodies will go back to the dust from whence they were formed, but we shall be raised again by the grace of our God in Christ. And so I look forward to that day, and I know you that believe Christ look forward to your inheritance as well. We have it now, but we shall have it more fully in that day. Praise be to God.